Who is Tiamat?

Tiamat - image source stenudd.com

The title of the first book in the Dragon's Blood Chronicles refers to a being by the name of Tiamat. If that name sounds familiar, it's because I didn't make it up. Tiamat is an ancient name, older than any god or deity worshiped on Earth by humans today. The name has a very specific and significant meaning in my books.

If you've read the book you'll notice that the dragons use the term "To the Shadow of Tiamat," as a benediction. Several dragons also use the term "Praise Tiamat!" or reference her in some reverent manner. This would usually lead people to conclude that the dragons worship Tiamat as a god.

In fact, they do not.

In ancient Babylon, Tiamat was an important part of their creation myths and the mother of all monsters. Ancient Babylonians did not specify that she was a dragon, but they believed in dragons and that she was their mother:

When the skies above were not yet named
Nor earth below pronounced by name,
Apsu, the first one, their begetter,
And maker Tiamat, who bore them all,
Had mixed their waters together,
But had not formed pastures, nor discovered reed-beds;
When yet no gods were manifest,
Nor names pronounced, nor destinies decreed,
Then gods were born within them. (Dalley 233)

In my books, Tiamat was a dragon...though a different kind of one. Her children were the dragons of Earth. They revere her as the mother of their race, and believe she will be waiting for them in the afterlife (the aforementioned "Shadow" is a reference to this) but do not worship her as a god.

Tiamat, band. Image source: 

Tiamat has been used in other forms of media as well. One of my favorite bands is called Tiamat: I've been listening to them since I was very young, and that is part of what sparked my interest in the name. Tiamat is also an important part of the Dungeons and Dragons role playing game, and even made an appearance on the old Dungeons and Dragons cartoon show. In this incarnation, she is depicted as a multi-headed dragon. She is also evil. My Tiamat is not evil, nor does she have more than one head. She is also depicted as being able to turn into a beautiful woman, particularly in the Forgotten Realms DnD setting (in Dragonlance, she is referred to as Takhesis). Since dragons in my world can assume human form, presumably so can Tiamat.

Apsu is not mentioned in the first book, but he was a dragon as well. He and Tiamat spawned the race. Where they came from is something you'll just have to wait to find out. The mystery of how dragons (and, for that matter, all otherworldly beings) came to be is answered over the course of several books. I can't just give everything away at the beginning.

If you looked closely at the names of some of the dragons in my books, you'll see some other familiar names as well. Many of the older dragons were worshiped as Gods or other great powers by primitive beings. Whether the humans based their gods on dragons with those names, or the dragons took their names from the mythology of humans they lived near, is up for the reader to learn...

...got Dragon?                                                    

From Formspring: How much research do you do for your books? What kind of resources do you use?

It depends on the book. My first book, The Shadow of Tiamat required very little research. Most of the lore I either invented, or drew on my own knowledge. Subsequent books have required slightly more research. Sometimes I check things out on Wikipedia, but only when it's not something really important, i.e. something that absolutely has to be accurate. In those cases, I do a Google search, or find someone who knows.

I have several books about mythology and supernatural lore that I find very handy. One of the best is The Encyclopedia of World Mythology by Arthur Cotterell. Another book I find handy is Peter Haining's A Dictionary of Ghost Lore. The latter is one of the oldest books in my collection, and was a gift to me by my father when I was very young. Since some of my books involve things from ancient civilizations, I've used an online Bible for reference. That particular site allows for multiple versions of the Bible to be searched at a time.

Though not so much in my first book, in subsequent books firearms play a decent sized role. Particularly in Max's book and in the third and fourth of the Dragon's Blood Chronicles, where there are a more gunfights. Jane's Guns Recognition Guide by Richard D. Jones and Andrew White packs a lot of good firearm information into a very small book with color illustrations. The Book also gives information about how to check and disarm the weapons. This book was intended as a forensic diagnostic tool for military and police, who often have to deal with a variety of firearms in their work, and need to be able to tell what they are and how to handle them safely. Another book I use, though not for its intended purpose, is D20 Weapons Locker by Keith Potter. This book was written to be used for the D20 Modern role playing game, which is basically a modern (or futuristic) version of the 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragon's role playing system. The book lists thousands of firearms, and even has some black and white illustrations. There are some inaccuracies, as the book wasn't meant for scholorly or reference use. But, it does give a history on many of the weapons, and what in which countries they are in use.

The handiest research tool I have, however, are my family, friends and acquaintances. For example, when writing Max's first book, I needed to know how much a woman would be showing after 8 weeks of pregnancy. I asked three women I knew who were mothers, and got the information I needed. Likewise, in one of my books a female character needs a very expensive, very attractive dress for a party, something from a known designer. I asked my wife, since she knows a lot about that stuff. Friends who have lived in other countries or different States also provide information when I need it: I have only to ask.  

From Formspring: How big can dragons in your book series get?

The short answer is, "Pretty damn..."

Dragons do most of their growing in dragon form. The more time they spend in human form over the course of their lives, the slower they will grow. Older dragons (5000+ years or so) are much bigger at that age than younger dragons (3000 years or less) will be at age 5000 because the younger dragons must spend more time in human form, thus stunting their growth. There were once far fewer humans on Earth, and those that there were didn't have much in the way of technology. Even modern weapons have a hard time damaging dragons. Stone spears and rocks are basically hopeless. Also, primitive humans were kind of stupid: they assumed everything they saw was magical and should be avoided if it was too big to eat. Many of them treated dragons as gods. A dragon could afford to spend the majority of his time in dragon form, thus allowing him to grow. Those days are passed, and while dragons are very powerful, they have to hide out among humans. This stunts their growth a bit.

On average, a hatchling is about the size of a Ford Taurus. They grow rapidly in their first 100 years, and as such are required to spend more time in dragon form than most older dragons. This is the dragon equivalent to puberty. Dragons don't have an infancy, since they are hatched with intelligence that exceeds most humans. They also posses some of the knowledge of their mother, especially things that happened while the egg was still inside.

As far as how big a dragon can get, I can't really say without giving away part of the books. As you've probably guessed from reading the excerpt, Veles Fraise is very old. In dragon form, he is GIGANTIC. Think aircraft-carrier size. The odds of another dragon ever being able to get that big are slim, since Veles was able to spend most of his life in dragon form, without having to hide among humans. This is part of why he hates humans as much as he does. Garrett Terago, in dragon form, is large enough that Meg can lie comfortably on his snout or fit in his hand. Benjamin Ardeth is a couple-thousand years older, and therefore bigger by about half, but Ardeth is old enough that part of his life was spent while humans didn't dominate the planet. So Garrett Terago will probably not grow at the same rate.

Some dragons enhance their shape-changing ability to allow them to assume different forms. Another character introduced in the first book, Aoni'a, is able to take any human form she wishes. She can even change her gender--and does. However, honing this kind of ability limits her growth, so Aoni'a is a bit smaller than other dragons her age, like Garrett Terago. She is therefore not as powerful in dragon form, though far from helpless. In subsequent books, a dragoness who is capable of disguising herself as animals is introduced. This requires a much greater strain on her growth, and as such she is very small for a dragon her age (she's fairly young) and therefore not as powerful.

Blog Name Change

I decided to change the name of my blog. Why? Well, the previous name: Sean Writes Things struck me as a little presumptuous. I figured it would be better to name my blog something a little less self-important.

So, it's King of the Dragons. No presumption there.

Other possible choices included:

My Dragon can Beat-up Your Vampire (Still like this one...)
South of Heaven (Too Slayer)
Willkommen im Drachekopf (German for Welcome to the Dragonhead...I think.)
Face the Blog that Should Not Be! (Too Lovecraftian...not that that is a bad thing)
The Lex Draconic (Doesn't really make sense unless you've read the books)  


Anyway, it'll be King of the Dragons until I think of something more entertaining.

From Formspring: Where did you get your characters names from?

Some of the names I picked have cultural and mythological significance. I use a lot of resources for this, but one of the most valuable is the Encyclopedia of World Mythology by Arthur Cotterell. In addition to an exhaustive amount of information about mythology and folklore from ALL parts of the world, it is lavishly illustrated. Highly recommended.

For more mundane names, the handiest book I have for that is The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook by Sherrilyn Kenyon. More than just a list of names, it breaks them up by gender, nationality and ethnicity. In addition, the opening text of each chapter explains how specific cultures go about assigning and structuring names. Not everyone does the First name + middle name + Family name, and anyone trying to construct realistic characters from those cultures are well served to research how they assign names. Plus, it has an index so it's fun to look up other people's names.

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