Great Mother (Dungeons & Dragons)
Encyclopedia
In many campaign setting
s for the Dungeons & Dragons
fantasy
role-playing game
, The Great Mother is the creator and primary racial deity of beholder
s, gibbering orbs, and the various races of beholder-kin. The Great Mother is the beholder deity of magic, fertility, and tyranny. Its symbol is an egg with an eye peering out of its center.
(1992), including details about her priesthood. Her role in the cosmology of the Planescape
campaign setting was described in On Hallowed Ground
(1996).
believe the Great Mother changes appearance from one moment to the next.
Unlike its primarily lawful evil children, the Great Mother is chaotic evil and quite insane by human or even beholder standards (though it's possible that mortals simply lack the intellectual capacity to comprehend its motivations). Its mindset is incredibly alien, and few of its children are able to contemplate its thoughts or understand its actions, assuming they survive an encounter with it. Unlike beholders, the Great Mother is an egg-laying being.
and considered the enemy of Callarduran Smoothhands
, Laduguer
, Lolth
, and Vhaeraun
, but she is largely unconcerned with the affairs of other gods.
The Great Mother is said to have mated with demons
, demodand
s, and worse, always consuming its mates in the process. Some of its offspring are said to still wander the Lower Planes.
Of its spawn, Gzemnid
, its only offspring to achieve godhood, is perhaps the only one relatively safe from its seemingly mercurial whims when in its presence. Gzemnid, while he cannot entirely comprehend his mother either, does seek to understand at least some of the wisdom produced by its insanity. He greatly admires it, as much as any deity can another.
The Realm of a Million Eyes was discovered by the mind flayer Illionth using its mental powers. It considered the Realm to be the source of all corruption and foulness, and attempted unsuccessfully to destroy it.
and Boccob
do, because it has always known all that it could ever need to know. However, it cannot or will not communicate this knowledge to lesser beings, including its own offspring. It neglects its children, not bothering with omens or portents. Sometimes it will allow beholders to be entirely wiped out on a given world, while other times it will become enraged when even a small beholder community is threatened.
s, worship the Mother.
Some human cultists worship beholders as deities; they are actually granted spells by the Great Mother, though they credit the mortal beholders as the source of their powers.
Campaign setting
A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place...
s for the Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
, The Great Mother is the creator and primary racial deity of beholder
Beholder
The beholder is a fictional monster in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It resembles a floating orb of flesh with a large mouth, single central eye, and lots of smaller eyestalks on top with deadly magical powers....
s, gibbering orbs, and the various races of beholder-kin. The Great Mother is the beholder deity of magic, fertility, and tyranny. Its symbol is an egg with an eye peering out of its center.
Publication history
Great Mother was first detailed in the book Monster MythologyMonster Mythology
Monster Mythology is a sourcebook for the second edition of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. Released by TSR in 1992 and written by Carl Sargent, with interior illustrations by Terry Dykstra, John and Laura Lakey, and Keith Parkinson, Monster Mythology was released as a companion volume for...
(1992), including details about her priesthood. Her role in the cosmology of the Planescape
Planescape
Planescape is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, originally designed by Zeb Cook. The Planescape setting was published in 1994...
campaign setting was described in On Hallowed Ground
On Hallowed Ground
On Hallowed Ground is an accessory book for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, for the Planescape campaign setting.-Contents:This book contains information about deities' planar domains from 20 separate pantheons...
(1996).
Description
In avatar form, the Great Mother appears as a huge, bloated beholder with rocks, gems, scraps of armor and weapons, shells, monstrous teeth, intact skeletons, and other debris stuck in its carapace. However, because the eyes of its Abyssal layer are the eyes of the deity itself, its true form must be much vaster and stranger. Scholars who worship GzemnidGzemnid
Gzemnid is a fictional deity in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It is a beholder deity. Gzemnid is the beholder deity of gases, fogs, obscurement, and deception.-Publication history:...
believe the Great Mother changes appearance from one moment to the next.
Unlike its primarily lawful evil children, the Great Mother is chaotic evil and quite insane by human or even beholder standards (though it's possible that mortals simply lack the intellectual capacity to comprehend its motivations). Its mindset is incredibly alien, and few of its children are able to contemplate its thoughts or understand its actions, assuming they survive an encounter with it. Unlike beholders, the Great Mother is an egg-laying being.
Relationships
The Great Mother is allied with KiaransaleeKiaransalee
Kiaransalee is the fictional drow deity of slavery, undead, and vengeance. She was created for the AD&D Second Edition, first appearing in Monster Mythology, and as such is a general deity not specific to any one game world.-Publication history:Kiaransalee was first detailed in the book Monster...
and considered the enemy of Callarduran Smoothhands
Callarduran Smoothhands
Callarduran Smoothhands is the gnome god of the earth in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.He is the patron deity of the svirfneblin , and is not very popular among other gnome subraces. Unlike other gods of the Underdark, he is not an outcast...
, Laduguer
Laduguer
In many campaign settings for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, Laduguer is the evil deity of the duergar, the Underdark-dwelling cousins of dwarves. He is a strict and unforgiving god. His holy symbol is a shield with a broken crossbow bolt motif.-Creative origins:Laduguer was...
, Lolth
Lolth
Lolth is a fictional goddess in the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Lolth , the Demon Queen of Spiders, is the chief goddess of drow elves...
, and Vhaeraun
Vhaeraun
Vhaeraun , also known as the Masked Lord and the Masked God of Night, is the drow god of thievery, drow males, and evil activity on the surface world in many Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings.-Publication history:...
, but she is largely unconcerned with the affairs of other gods.
The Great Mother is said to have mated with demons
Demon (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, demons are the most widespread race of fiends. The demons are chaotic evil by nature, and are native to the Abyss...
, demodand
Demodand
In the fictional worlds of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, demodands are a race of fiends native to the Tarterian Depths of Carceri. The gehreleths worship or honor a patron deity called Apomps the Three-sided One, a renegade baernaloth who was exiled to Carceri for the act of...
s, and worse, always consuming its mates in the process. Some of its offspring are said to still wander the Lower Planes.
Of its spawn, Gzemnid
Gzemnid
Gzemnid is a fictional deity in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It is a beholder deity. Gzemnid is the beholder deity of gases, fogs, obscurement, and deception.-Publication history:...
, its only offspring to achieve godhood, is perhaps the only one relatively safe from its seemingly mercurial whims when in its presence. Gzemnid, while he cannot entirely comprehend his mother either, does seek to understand at least some of the wisdom produced by its insanity. He greatly admires it, as much as any deity can another.
Realm
The Great Mother inhabits the 6th layer of the Abyss in the domain known as the Realm of a Million Eyes. The layer is made up of thousands of tunnels, the walls, ceilings, and floors of which the living eyes of the deity protrude. Every known kind of beholder and beholder-kin inhabits these tunnels, preying on one another and on any demons foolish enough to venture near. The Great Mother moves through the planes as it desires, laying the eggs that form Hive Mothers on many worlds.The Realm of a Million Eyes was discovered by the mind flayer Illionth using its mental powers. It considered the Realm to be the source of all corruption and foulness, and attempted unsuccessfully to destroy it.
Dogma
The Great Mother exists to remake the multiverse in its image by filling it with its spawn, replacing all forms of life with monsters that resemble the Mother itself. It does not bother to acquire knowledge as IlsensineIlsensine
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, Ilsensine is the patron deity of illithids . While not the creator of illithids, Ilsensine sees mind flayers as the entities most worthy of dominating the universe...
and Boccob
Boccob
In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting and the default pantheon for the third edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, Boccob is the god of magic, arcane knowledge, balance, and foresight. He is known as the Uncaring, the Lord of All Magic, and the Archmage of the Deities...
do, because it has always known all that it could ever need to know. However, it cannot or will not communicate this knowledge to lesser beings, including its own offspring. It neglects its children, not bothering with omens or portents. Sometimes it will allow beholders to be entirely wiped out on a given world, while other times it will become enraged when even a small beholder community is threatened.
Worshippers
All beholders and beholder-kin revere the Great Mother as the creator of their race, but the Mother is a fearful power who they hope will ignore them most of the time. It is unknown if other possibly related races such as the astereaters and gibbering orbs, or the amoeboid argos and gibbering moutherGibbering mouther
In the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role-playing game, a gibbering mouther is a horrific aberration which feeds on the bodily fluids and "sanity" of its victims...
s, worship the Mother.
Clergy
The Great Mother does not have regular priests, though she may invest hive mothers with clerical powers in times of conflict.Some human cultists worship beholders as deities; they are actually granted spells by the Great Mother, though they credit the mortal beholders as the source of their powers.
Kzamnal
Kzamnal is said to be the first beholder, born from the Great Mother directly. Every beholder breed believes Kzamnel had the same pattern of hide or carapace and placement of eyestalks as they do, thus justifying their belief that they are the proper kind of beholders and all others are blasphemous mutations. Kzamnal birthed the mortal ancestors of all other beholders and instructed them to gather knowledge, that one day they might be as omniscient as the Great Mother. Some of the children treacherously gave birth to offspring that did not resemble Kzamnal, and genocidal war has resulted between the various beholder breeds ever since.The Beholder Ancients
The Beholder Ancients (or Elders) are said to have emerged from a cluster of cosmic eggs laid across the planes by the Great Mother. The Hive Mothers are their descendants, but the Great Mother devours her offspring when they displease her. It is said that Gzemnid only survived because of his powers of illusion.Vikhrispa
Vikhrispa is the legendary beholder who, after being blinded in battle, became the first beholder mage. It discovered the secrets of planar travel and explored the various planes, taking other beholders of the "true breed" with it on its travels. Eventually, however, Vikhrispa was captured by beholders of other breeds, who stole its knowledge and fled to other planes to infest them with their own young.The Fragmented God
Some philosophers of other races have postulated the existence of a greater deity they call the Fragmented God. According to this theory, the Great Mother was this deity's Evil Eye and other gods correspond to other eyes, mouth, brain, and limbs of this vast, dismembered being. There were supposedly good eyes and good hands opposed to evil eyes and evil hands, and lawful eyes and hands opposed to chaotic eyes and hands, but it is unknown whether good or evil was dominant. Some hope the god could be reunited and balance returned, while some fear the evil side would be dominant and the reunited deity would be an unstoppable force of wickedness.Additional reading
- Allston, AaronAaron AllstonAaron Allston is an American game designer and novelist of many science fiction books, notably Star Wars novels. His works as a game designer include game supplements for several role-playing games, several of which served to establish the basis for products and subsequent development of TSR's...
. I, Tyrant. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1996.
- Baker, RichRichard Baker (game designer)Richard Baker is an American author and a game designer who has worked on many Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings.-Early life, education, and military:...
, James Jacobs, and Steve WinterSteve WinterSteve Winter is a game designer who has worked on numerous products for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game from TSR and later Wizards of the Coast.-Early life:Steve Winter was born in Dubuque, Iowa on December 8, 1957...
. Lords of MadnessLords of MadnessLords of Madness is an official supplement for the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy roleplaying game.-Contents:It includes new content for aberrations including new aberration monsters and monsters related to them, and information on how to hunt aberrations.-What Is an...
(Wizards of the CoastWizards of the CoastWizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
, 2005). - Conforti, Steven, ed. Living Greyhawk Official Listing of Deities for Use in the Campaign, version 2.0. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2005. Available online:http://www.wizards.com/rpga/downloads/LG_Deities.zip
- Grubb, JeffJeff GrubbJeff Grubb is an author and game designer. He has worked on a number of computer and role-playing games and has written a number of successful novels, short stories and comics...
, David NoonanDavid Noonan (game designer)David Noonan is an author of several products and articles for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game from Wizards of the Coast.-Role-playing games:...
, and Bruce CordellBruce CordellBruce Robert Cordell is an American author of roleplaying games and fantasy novels. He won the Origins Award for Return to the Tomb of Horrors and has won several ENnies as well...
. Manual of the PlanesManual of the PlanesThe Manual of the Planes is a manual for the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. This text addresses the planar cosmology of the game universe....
. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2001).
- Redman, Rich and James Wyatt. Defenders of the Faith (Wizards of the CoastWizards of the CoastWizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
, 2000).
- Smith, Lester W, and Wolfgang BaurWolfgang BaurWolfgang Baur is an American game designer, best known for his work with Dragon magazine. He designs role-playing games and also is known for his work at Wizards of the Coast.-Biography:...
. Planes of ChaosPlanes of ChaosPlanes of Chaos was a boxed set for the Planescape campaign setting of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.-Contents:Planes of Chaos is an expansion set for the Planescape campaign setting which details the five chaotic Outer Planes: Arborea, Ysgard, Limbo, Pandemonium, and the Abyss...
. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1994.
- Stark, Ed, James Jacobs, and Erik MonaErik Mona-Career:Erik Mona served as the editor-in-chief of Dragon magazine since 2004 and Dungeon magazine from 2004 to 2006; at the time, both magazines were published by Paizo Publishing, until the license through Wizards of the Coast expired in September 2007...
. Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the AbyssFiendish Codex I: Hordes of the AbyssFiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss is an optional supplemental source book for the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.-Chapter 1: Demonic Lore:...
. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2006.