- This article is about elemental titans. For the language of elemental creatures, see the Primordial language.
The Primordials, also known as elemental titans,[1] primordial titans,[3] or simply the titans,[4] were a race of great, ancient elementals that once inhabited the Material Plane.[1]
History[]
The Founding[]
Prior to the arrival of the gods into Exandria, the Primordials claimed the world as their own and dwelt deep beneath its surface, the sole form of life upon the young planet. However, during what became known as the Founding, the still young and formless gods arrived from another, unknown realm. They created the first mortals, including the first humanoids and dragons, who began to grow and prosper under the gods' guidance and aid.[6][7]
This greatly angered the Primordials, who caused the planet itself to rise against the mortals with chaos, earthquake, and fire. The gods granted mortals the gift of magic to allow them to successfully subdue the elemental forces they faced and continue their growth.[8]
At some point, however, a malevolent being the gods named Predathos arrived from beyond the world, creating twisted life forms on Exandria, and devouring two of the gods: Ethedok the Endless Shadow, god of darkness and winter, and Vordo the Fateshaper, god of fate and order. Seeing the danger posed by this entity, the Primordials collaborated briefly with the gods to imprison Predathos within a piece of the planet that became its second moon, Ruidus.[9]
The proliferation of the mortals upon Exandria continued to rankle the Primordial forces, who increased the assault upon them of the elemental forces of Exandria, to the great sorrow and anger of some of the young gods. The cooperation between gods and Primordials broke down and the Primordials rose from the earth to attack the gods themselves. During the ensuing struggle, the gods split into the Prime Deities, who wanted to fight the Primordials and protect their creations, and the Betrayer Gods, who sympathized with the Primordials and wished to join in the chaos. One of the Prime Deities, Corellon the Arch Heart, taught mortals the secrets of making their own arcane magic, which they developed and used to subdue the Primordials, in turn allowing the Prime Deities to overcome the Betrayer Gods. In the end, the Betrayer Gods were individually imprisoned or banished while the Primordials were destroyed and scattered to their own planes.[6][7][10] One popular legend holds that the Prime Deities scattered the essence of the defeated primordials across Exandria, and that this not only created the Elemental Planes but also gifted many humanoids with magical power to shape the elements; some of these people would become Ashari.[11] According to Keyleth, the death of the primordial titans itself created the Elemental Planes as they are today, with most of their elemental inhabitants being born or created from the remains of the titans' power.[12]
One of the defeated titans, the Molten Titan, was felled by elves at the end of the Founding and was subsequently sealed within and consumed by the earth, forming the Daggerbay Mountains of Tal'Dorei.[13]
Two mighty Primordials, Rau'shan the Emperor of Fire and Ka'Mort the Empress of Earth, were laid low and sealed away by the Dawnfather and the Wildmother under Mount Ygora on a continent known as Domunas.[14][15] They were two of the only primordials that were never killed before the Calamity,[16] and the travels of the city of Avalir along the ley lines of Exandria inscribed protective runes upon the world that helped to keep them sealed away.[17]
Post-Founding[]
The children of the titans, the elemental eidolons, managed to hide from the gods and came to inhabit different corners of the planet as spirits of the land.[18]
The massive skeletons of three "titans" litter the Calamity-era battlefield of Incanter's Rest.[19]
The Titanstone Knuckles, one of the Vestiges of Divergence, was forged from the heartstone of an earth titan.[1] During the fourth age, the archlich Vecna raised this same Earth Titan, atop the shoulders of which rested his city of Thar Amphala.[20]
During the Icelost Years, Errevon the Rimelord, an ice behemoth believed to be an ancient scion of the Primordials, led an invasion of Tal'Dorei before being resealed in the Frostfell.[21][22]
The heartstone of a fire titan, called a soul anchor, was attached to Thordak to seal him in the Elemental Plane of Fire.[23]
On a quest to retrieve Grog Strongjaw's soul from Pandemonium, Vox Machina were pursued by and then fought a dust titan referred to as "the rolling danger" or "the thunder that comes".[24]
After the apogee solstice of 843 PD two adventurers, Ashton Greymoore and Fearne Calloway, became the wielders of the remaining power of the Empress of Earth and the Emperor of Fire respectively, as part of their mission to save Exandria.[25]
Titan of blood[]
In rare circumstances a fragment of a primordial titan's power marks a humanoid, transforming them with that power similar to how an elemental's influence would transform a genasi.[26] The only known case is Ashton Greymoore, presumably acquiring the fragment of primordial magic during the accident that killed their family in Hishari. Keyleth of the Air Ashari identified said power, and called the barbarian a "titan of blood".[27]
Trivia[]
- According to legend, the primordial titans and the gods met for the first time at the Ascendant Bridge Mountain, the tallest point in Exandria. It was where the gods first arrived in the world, and where the titans rose up to meet them when they arrived during the Founding.[28]
- According to Morrigan the Fatestitcher, primordials and fey are considered opposite ends of the magical ancients.[29]
- Matthew Mercer explained that he started developing the idea of the titan of blood after learning about Ashton's elemental transformation in his backstory, at the beginning of Campaign Three. Interestingly, a critter also had an earth genasi connected to a titan in their own home campaign, and Matt joked about having watched those sessions for inspiration.[30]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 6.
- ↑ See "The Ominous March" (1x109).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 14.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 54.
- ↑ See "Into the Frostweald" (1x48) from 2:15:00 through 2:15:13.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, pp. 5–6.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 12.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 13.
- ↑ See "Axiom Shaken" (3x43) from 3:03:05 through 3:05:41.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, pp. 13–14.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 226.
- ↑ See "For The Tempest" (3x68) at 2:52:34.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 87.
- ↑ See "Excelsior" (E3x01) at 2:22:54. See also 3:05:10.
- ↑ See "Bitterness and Dread" (E3x02) at 3:31:26.
- ↑ See "Blood and Shadow" (E3x03) at 5:13:16.
- ↑ See "Blood and Shadow" (E3x03) at 5:16:33.
- ↑ See "Crisis of Faith" (3x61) at 3:50:28.
- ↑ See Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 154.
- ↑ See "The Ominous March" (1x109).
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 10.
- ↑ See Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, p. 20.
- ↑ See "Duskmeadow" (1x57) at 3:12:35.
- ↑ See "The Search For Bob" (Sx45) at 2:08:17.
- ↑ See "The Eve of the Red Moon" (3x81).
- ↑ See "For The Tempest" (3x68) at 2:33:54.
- ↑ See "For The Tempest" (3x68) at 2:34:12.
- ↑ See "Somewhere Out There" (3x59) at 4:03:14.
- ↑ See "To Hurt Is to Heal" (3x79) at 1:36:48.
- ↑ See the Rose City Comic Con podcast at 49:38.
Art:
- ↑ Official art of four elemental titans, by Kent Davis from "Exandria: An Intimate History" (Sx61) at 1:42. Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of the legacy of Rau'shan, by shalizeh7 (source). Used with permission.
External links[]
Primordial on The Forgotten Realms Wiki (note)