# Elegy for the First World *Source: Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, p. 5*  > [!readaloud] > > Breathe, dragons; sing of the First World, forged out of chaos and painted with beauty. Sing of Bahamut, the Platinum, molding the shape of the mountains and rivers; Sing too of Chromatic Tiamat, painting all over the infinite canvas. Partnered, they woke in the darkness; partnered, they labored in acts of creation. > > Breathe, dragons; sing then of Sardior, ruby-red jewel they made in their likeness; Sardior, first-born of dragonkind, labored alongside Bahamut and Tiamat, Shaping the dragons they crafted: dragons metallic and dragons chromatic. Breathe, dragons—draw in the life-gift breathed into you at the dawn of creation. > > Breathe, dragons; sing of the outsiders, war-bringer gods with their mortal adherents; Teeming, they came to the First World, seeking a home for their legions of followers. Mighty in magic and numbers, conquering deities seized their victory. Fallen was noble Bahamut, Sardior hid in the heart of creation. > > Breathe, dragons; sing now of Tiamat, raging in battle with no hope of victory. She would not flee or surrender, fighting as death reached its cold claws toward her. War-bringers seized her and bound her, snatched her from death, entombed her in torment—Sealed in the darkness forever, captive to gods laying claim to creation. > > Breathe, dragons; sing of the conquest, seeding the world with their legions of followers, Each to their own habitation, elves in their forests and dwarves in their mountains, Orcs in their caverns and canyons, goblins in badlands and halflings in green fields, Lizardfolk lurking in marshes, humans throughout every part of creation. > > Breathe, dragons; sing of Bahamut, maker of peace with the outsider deities, Welcomed to mountains celestial, worshiped by some as the Platinum Paladin. Sing of his journeys of seeking, striving to understand gods and their children, Longing for Tiamat's freedom, grieving her loss from the face of creation. > > Breathe, dragons; sing of her freedom—Tiamat loosed from her prison of torment! Tell how she rallied her children, dragons chromatic, a spectrum of mayhem. Sing of her fury, her vengeance, lightning and venom, ice, fire, and corrosion, Five-headed, monstrous, and mighty, rampaging on a campaign of destruction. > > Breathe, dragons; sing of the First World, scattered in infinite seedling realities. Sing of Bahamut and Tiamat, watching its sundering, mourning their labor. Sing too of Sardior, sundered, consciousness scattered in minuscule fragments. Breathe, dragons: you are inheritors, ruling the wreck of the First World's destruction. ^001 ## A Treasury of Dragons > [!quote] A quote from Fizban > > This book insists on sorting dragons into little, understandable boxes as if the readers had only 100 years or so to live and their tiny baby-brains could hold only so much knowledge... In the real world, dragons are a staple of folklore and fantasy literature, resonating as symbols of power and wisdom—and sometimes greed—across countless cultures. In the many worlds of D&D, dragons are ever-present monsters, relevant at every level of play as dangerous threats, wise patrons, or mysterious schemers. *Fizban's Treasury of Dragons* is a comprehensive guide to the dragons of the worlds of D&D. It introduces the gem dragons—a family of five dragon kinds—as well as a variety of other Dragons and dragon-related monsters, character options, and inspirations. This introduction sets the scene for what's to come in the rest of the book. It introduces the myth of the First World, created by Bahamut and Tiamat, then discusses the role that dragons play in the myths of many Material Plane worlds, as a reflection of that primordial story. It begins to explore the connections linking dragons on different worlds, which is elaborated throughout the rest of this book.  "Chapter 1" introduces draconic-themed options for adventurers, including three variant dragonborn races, two dragon-oriented subclasses (the Drakewarden ranger and the Way of the Ascendant Dragon monk), feats, and roleplaying suggestions that can connect characters of any class to a draconic theme. "Chapter 2" discusses magic related to dragons, including new spells, magic items, and draconic gifts (supernatural gifts explicitly connected to a dragon's power). "Chapter 3" presents tips, advice, and tables to help Dungeon Masters build encounters, adventures, and whole campaigns around dragons. "Chapter 4" discusses dragon lairs and hoards, examining what a lair means to a dragon and exploring the correlation between a dragon's magical might and the value of the dragon's hoard. It also provides an alternative method for randomly creating a dragon's hoard. "Chapter 5" provides extensive resources related to each of twenty different draconic creatures. For each kind of dragon, this chapter provides inspiration to help DMs craft dragon personalities and dragon-themed adventures, including sample lair maps. "Chapter 6" includes stat blocks and lore for a variety of new Dragons and dragon-oriented creatures. The family of gem dragons, aspects of the dragon gods, dragon minions, and more can be found here. > [!note] Dragons and Dragons > > *Fizban's Treasury of Dragons*, as the name states, is a book about dragons, but only secondarily a book about Dragons—that is, creatures with the Dragon type. Most of this book is concerned with the chromatic and metallic dragons described in the "Monster Manual", as well as the gem dragons introduced in this book. These three families of dragons share a deeply magical nature tied to the mythic history of the Material Plane. A few other Dragons share many similar characteristics, and several of them are presented alongside the chromatic, metallic, and gem dragons in "chapter 5". These include "dragon turtles" and "faerie dragons", as well as the "deep dragon" and "moonstone dragon" introduced in "chapter 6". > > It should be clear throughout this book whether we're discussing a specific kind of dragon, the members of the three great dragon families, or all creatures with the Dragon type. But if you see the word "dragon" (not capitalized) and you're not sure, assume we mean chromatic, gem, and metallic dragons. ^dragons-and-dragons ## The First World > [!quote] A quote from Fizban > > Poets do have a way of editing and exaggerating. I remember that time as one big, boring, patience-trying dilly-dalliance. A lot of hurry up and wait. "Elegy for the First World" is an ancient Draconic poem of unknown origin, found with minor variations in the collections and traditions of dragons across many worlds of the Material Plane. Various creation myths told on different worlds echo some of the themes and notions of this poem, particularly when they describe dragons or draconic gods being involved in creating the world. But the heart of the poem is a profound assertion not found in any of those individual myths. The elegy suggests that before the myriad worlds of the Material Plane came into being, before Oerth and Toril and Eberron and Krynn existed, the primordial dragons—Bahamut and Tiamat—worked together to create the Material Plane in the form of a single First World. All the worlds that now constitute the plane are, in the words of the poem, "seedling realities" formed when the First World was sundered in some unexplained catastrophe. The story told in "Elegy for the First World" suggests a number of truths regarding the nature of dragons. First, it portrays the ten varieties of metallic and chromatic dragons as the first inhabitants of the Material Plane. Dragons were made to populate the First World before any other worlds came into being, but they were supplanted by the teeming peoples that the gods of the Outer Planes brought to inhabit that world. The elegy likewise suggests that dragons are living embodiments of the primordial energy of the First World, which now flows throughout the Material Plane, and that they are thus inextricably linked to the magic of that plane. The religions of numerous worlds teach that Humanoids are creatures of a dual nature—part material and part spiritual, made of the essence of both the Material Plane and the otherworldly Outer Planes. But dragons, at least in the view of "Elegy for the First World," are wholly material, dwelling in the Material Plane and embodying its essential nature. Many worlds have myths and legends about Bahamut and Tiamat, though these primordial dragons are sometimes known by other names. But "Elegy for the First World" differs from nearly all those legends in its mention of Sardior, "first-born of dragonkind." The poem suggests that Bahamut and Tiamat created Sardior together, and that "ruby-red" Sardior then joined with Bahamut to craft the metallic dragons and with Tiamat to craft the chromatic dragons. Some dragons who have studied the poem believe that Sardior was destroyed and shattered along with the First World and that the Ruby Dragon's splintered consciousness became the gem dragons on the new worlds of the Material Plane. ### Dragons of Many Worlds Whether it is regarded as interpretive myth or historical record, "Elegy for the First World" offers an explanation for the common elements that appear in the legends and mythology of so many worlds across the Material Plane. Dragons populated the First World from the time of its creation, and a variety of peoples came to live in the First World after their gods made war on the dragons. As such, the similar natures of the creatures now inhabiting the many different worlds of the Material Plane can be seen as a product of the First World's sundering. And because dragons are so tightly linked to the essence of the Material Plane, they are thought to be the only creatures that appear on every world formed from the shattering of the First World, even when they take on different forms. #### Forgotten Realms The most comprehensive histories suggest Toril (the world of the Forgotten Realms setting) has not always known dragons, at least not in their current forms. Many scholars theorize that Toril's dragons evolved from some reptilian ancestor. And though it's possible to read these theories as contradicting the story of "Elegy for the First World," it's also possible to imagine that the newly formed Toril, fragmented from the First World, retained a hazy memory of the full ideal of dragonkind, which then took thousands of years to manifest. Certainly, the dragons of Toril cleave closely to the draconic archetypes described in the "Monster Manual", and although Bahamut and Tiamat have sometimes been known by other names on that world (such as Xymor and Tchazzar), they have always had a part to play in the world's divine drama. #### Greyhawk Myths concerning the creation of Oerth (home to the Greyhawk setting) are few and often contradictory. Still, a number of those myths mention the dragon gods—or a single draconic creator, Io, who shed his own blood to inspire creation. Dragons have been reclusive and rare for most of Oerth's recorded history, but ancient annals of the Suel Imperium record that that empire created the mighty [Orbs of Dragonkind](/Rules/Source/items/orb-of-dragonkind-xdmg.md) for use in a war against a powerful cabal of shadow-wielding red dragons. #### Dragonlance Legends say the world of Krynn (home to the Dragonlance setting) was created in the interplay between the High God and Chaos. Its most important cosmic powers have always been the three children of the High God—Paladine, Gilean, and Takhisis, with Paladine and Takhisis easily identifiable as Bahamut and Tiamat. According to the creation myths of Krynn, Paladine and Takhisis worked together to create five dragons to rule the world, but Takhisis secretly corrupted them, creating the first five chromatic dragons. Mourning the corruption of his children, Paladine worked with the forge-god Reorx to create the metallic dragons. Much of the history of Krynn involves the strife between Takhisis and Paladine and the ongoing effort to maintain balance between good and evil. Chromatic dragons have long been Takhisis's favored agents as she strives to dominate the world, while metallic dragons have helped the peoples of Krynn to foil her schemes. Meanwhile, Paladine, in the guise of a doddering old wizard named Fizban, walked among the peoples of Krynn to aid them—just as Bahamut has done on many worlds throughout their long histories. #### Eberron The myths of Eberron describe the involvement of the three Progenitor Dragons in that world's creation: Siberys, the Dragon Above; Khyber, the Dragon Below; and Eberron, the Dragon Between. These godlike beings are said to have created a microcosm of the multiverse in the depths of the Ethereal Plane, sequestered away from the Outer Planes and all the influence of the gods and other cosmic powers. Viewed through the lens of "Elegy for the First World," Eberron is thus not actually a fragment of the First World, but a second-generation derivative of that original realm—yet even Eberron is profoundly shaped by dragons. ### Dragonsight A little-known phenomenon supports the central ideas expressed in "Elegy for the First World." Occasionally, dragons develop a sense known as dragonsight—an awareness of multiple incarnations of themselves across different worlds of the Material Plane. Dragonsight is most common in ancient dragons, especially when their enormous hoards include items from other worlds or powerful artifacts whose histories span multiple worlds. Gem dragons, perhaps because of their connection to Sardior, are most likely to develop dragonsight. Dragons who develop dragonsight amass knowledge that spans the Material Plane, making them among the foremost experts on worlds beyond their own. With time, dragonsight can expand beyond passive awareness to allow active communication between a dragon's incarnations. Some ancient dragons with well-developed dragonsight begin to weave grand plans that involve coordinating activities across multiple worlds, culminating in cosmos-shaking events. As one example, tales are told on multiple worlds of the Material Plane regarding the red dragon Ashardalon. Less widely understood, though, is the fact that as one Ashardalon developed his dragonsight, he concocted a scheme to preserve his existence by consuming his echoes on other worlds. All these different Ashardalons thus became a single, immensely powerful [greatwyrm](/Rules/Source/bestiary/dragon/red-greatwyrm-ftd.md) that fed on soul energy—and that prevented souls from incarnating into newly born creatures across the worlds. Given most people's limited understanding of dragons' beliefs and philosophies, let alone dragonsight, many mortals are quick to describe dragons with heightened dragonsight as "dragon gods"—which they are not. Still, some powerful dragons have so successfully extended their consciousness across multiple incarnations, and so expertly coordinated their activities across multiple worlds, that they can seem godlike even to younger dragons. The [black greatwyrm](/Rules/Source/bestiary/dragon/black-greatwyrm-ftd.md) Chronepsis once accomplished a feat similar to Ashardalon's, with one version of the dragon devouring multiple echoes before leaving the Material Plane and establishing a lair in the Outer Planes. > [!note] Dragons and Dungeons > > Just as individual dragons have echoes across multiple worlds of the Material Plane, some places of tremendous power that have a connection to dragons resonate across the plane. Dungeons such as the Sunless Citadel (buried by Ashardalon in his wrath), Dragon Mountain (the lair of the red dragon Infyrana), and the ruined city of Xak Tsaroth (home to the black dragon Khisanth) manifest in various ways across multiple worlds. Similarly, the power of mighty dragonslayers often resonates around sites they build or inhabit. The Tomb of Horrors is one such site, crafted by the lich Acererak, whose uncountable evils included slaughtering metallic dragons for the magic of their blood. > > Artifacts associated with dragons can also resonate across the different worlds of the Material Plane. The clearest examples are the [Orbs of Dragonkind](/Rules/Source/items/orb-of-dragonkind-xdmg.md), described in the "Dungeon Master's Guide". On the world of Greyhawk, these artifacts were made during an era when the Suel Imperium battled a cabal of red dragons. On Krynn, the orbs (known there as *Dragon Orbs*) were created to defend the Towers of High Sorcery from dragon attack. In Faerûn, the *Orbs of Draconic Influence* were made by dragons to extend their influence over other dragons. The similarities among these artifacts are not a matter of coincidence or convergent magical evolution; these items partake of dragons' unique connection to the magical fabric of the Material Plane and echo across its many worlds. ^dragons-and-dungeons