Jazirian

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Jazirian is the couatl deity of Community, Peace, Learning, and Parenthood. The couatls believe Jazirian to be the embodiment of supreme purpose and fate, the invisible force that moves the strings upon which all other gods move. They think themselves uniquely fortunate to be able to apprehend Jazirian where other races cannot, and give humble thanks for this gift. They are driven by this sense to help improve the lot of others.

Jazirian's symbol is a couatl with its tail in its mouth.

Publication history

Jazirian was first detailed in the book Monster Mythology (1992), including details about his priesthood.^[1] A retelling of his origin story appeared in Guide to Hell (1999).^[2]

Description

Jazirian manifests as a vast, rainbow-colored couatl simultaneously winding through the air and forming a circle with his/her tail in his/her mouth. Couatls see Jazirian as hermaphroditic and sexless at once, though nagas see Jazirian as male. Jazirian is a wise and contemplative being.

Relationships

Couatls believe Jazirian is a perfected manifestation of the World Serpent archetype; other serpent gods, such as Io, Merrshaulk, and Shekinester (and perhaps Beltar) are less perfect or immature manifestations of the same greater concept. Even the toad-god Ramenos is considered to be an (extremely corrupted) aspect of the World Serpent. Certain obscure texts consider Asmodeus to be a variation on the theme, even naming Asmodeus as Jazirian's twin.

Jazirian is said to have fathered the naga deity Parrafaire, whose mother was Shekinester.

Realm

Jazirian's realm, known as Uroboros, the Gates of Wisdom, can be found in Solania, the fourth of the Seven Heavens. Uroboros is an invisible, intangible realm in the clouds above the layer; it can be reached only by making a leap of faith off the peak of a mountain, or by flying upward until one can fly no more, and plummets toward the earth. The seeker discovers a realm of lightness, exhaustion, relief, and utter bliss. Feathers float through the realm, as do ghostly serpents, couatls, and wind walkers. Words become flesh in this realm. Jazirian permits evil creatures to enter, although they must undergo tests and be given a chance to repent.

Uroboros is the only gate between Solania and the higher Heavens. Those who would climb to the very top of the celestial mountain must pass through it and answer one of the riddles of Jazirian before they can go any further.

The ruby palace of Sardior is said to appear here periodically on its journeys through the planes.

Dogma

Virtue untested is merely innocence. Good must be tempered by temptation in order to become as steel. Death is with us always, but each death is a rebirth. Failure is an essential learning experience that forms the building blocks of endurance. All lives flow into one another, as all streams and winds. Life is a cycle, as is all reality.

Worshipers

Jazirian is revered by couatls and nagas. He/she has no clerics or shamans.

Myths and legends

The Serpents of Law

According to a scholar named "Chrystos" in Guide to Hell, the multiverse was originally nothing but swirling Chaos. Gods slowly formed in the primal confusion, and among them formed the greatest of Law's champions, the Twin Serpents Jazirian and Ahriman. In the beginning they were intimately intertwined with one another, Jazirian's tail in Ahriman's mouth and vice versa. Together they established the fundamental principles of the planes: the Unity of Rings, the Rule of Threes, and the Center of All, creating the ring-shape of the cosmos, the triads that dominate it, and the plane of neutrality called the Concordant Opposition or the Outlands.^[2]

Ahriman and Jazirian, who originally worked together in all things, warred over which plane would be the center of everything. Ahriman chose Baator and Jazirian chose Heaven. They struggled so greatly that, with their tails still in one another's mouths, they forcibly tore apart. The blood from Jazirian's damaged tail formed the first couatls, while the blood of Ahriman, whose terrible fall created a vast pit called the Serpent's Trench, formed the first pit fiends. Ahriman, wounded and imprisoned by the laws he himself created, now goes by the guise of the archfiend Asmodeus, while Jazirian remains quietly in the background, using her couatls to gather intelligence on Ahriman's goals.^[2]

Forgotten Realms cosmology

The Forgotten Realms supplement Serpent Kingdoms describes Jazirian as an early aspect of the now-deceased overpower named the World Serpent.^[3] Whether Jazirian is alive or not is not sure, as Serpent Kingdoms states she was killed by Mersshaulk, a dark aspect of the World Serpent, and other products state she is alive in Mount Celestia.

References

Additional reading

• McComb, Colin, Wolfgang Baur, and Dori Jean Hein. Planes of Law. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1995.