Dungeons and Dragons Lore: Draeden 

TINFOIL THEORY Dead Draeden don't die....they break down into lesser creatures. The point at which we considered them "dead" is actually just the point at which their regeneration cannot rebuild the body as a whole, but it does not stop trying. Every cell in their body tries to become its own being, creating a internal bio-diversification event that would be tantamount to setting off the RNA world, the Ediacaran period, and the Cambrian Explosion all at once. Clumps of these independent cellular beings rapidly begin combining and forming new, more advanced forms of life, eventually creating the proto-forms of things we would now recognize as Beholders, Grell, Oozes, possibly the pre-existential behemoths like the Kraken and Tarrasque, and perhaps even Illithids. Its possible that each of the creatures made this way are representative of specific organs or tissues from the Draeden. I could see how their eyes could become Beholders, their blood, bile, and lymph becoming the Oozes, their stomachs becoming the Astral Dreadnoughts, and their brains becoming the Illithid, and, as AJ suggested, things like the Grell could have been part of their immune response, suggesting that the capacity for life to evolve inside a Draeden exited even before death.(Although to me the Grell look like a nerve cell that grew a beak)

Yeah, I like your "conjecture" parts better than the official lore. It actually makes a lot more sense that what's cannon the majority of the time. The lore on the Raven Queen had never made any sense at all to me, but your "conjecturing" in that video sorted out that jumbled mess quite nicely. Keep up the good work, Sir. 😁

13:05 What is this footage? Half-cooked cinnamon rolls under a weak microscope?

I love how they included a compelling reason to risk seeking a Draeden out and engaging with it. Boulders made of solid diamond are a pretty powerful incentive for any character. They might have to choose between dying poor or living like a king.

These would make a perfect stand-in for the Ogdru Jahad in a Hellboy setting

. . . Worst episode of Magic School bus ever

You released Tharizdun?!? Party: Oops?

I love the shot of raw marinated Barbecue chicken randomly thrown in there to represent the Draeden lol

That scenario of Tharizdun escaping his prison. Man. Basically anything that's not a god is gone without a trace. Imagine running on through that. The player characters would basically be powers in their own right at that point, and the NPCs and encounters would all just be other gods.

The beings trapped in the walls of the plane of ice are thought to perhaps be Draeden as well; and ‘the great maw’ on the map of Spelljammer charts (far from any flow paths) is said to be one; or perhaps just damage they did to reality in their struggles Draeden predate any of the active forces of great wheel cosmology; way way predating things that we call gods (which are different than the immortals they did battle with at the dawn of the cosmology; predated perhaps only by beings from timeless places (far realm, temporal prime, other cosmologies); and arguably the LeShay (who came from the cosmology that predates the great wheel but in the same ‘spot’... that maybe the Draeden are?)

AJ: “Imagine that Tharizdun escapes” Me: *closes eyes*

This Draeden video wasn't the one I knew I needed, but the creativity is flowing now. Thanks for opening more doors AJ! Can't wait for the Spell Weavers update!

Seems there's far more questions than answers with these lads.

It is this kind of lore that makes me laugh at DMs who say "Gods are completely invulnerable."

Fantastic video aj! You are the bane of Vecna! Also could you do a video on Anguiliians? I found out recently that Sahuagin came from them, after they got screwed by elves and destroyed their civilization. (Like always)

Once again, cosimic horror runs rampant while the Constellates are too busy screwing around on their phones to even pretend to notice.

I can only imagine a Draeden encountering a Constellate.

Weird thought. In the apocalyptic scenario posed at the start, hypothetically could a world like Athas be used as a bulwark against the madness, with the grey prison cutting it off from the astral sea and phlogiston then be used as a form of planetary/sphere system defence barrier

Do you think you could build a city in a Draedens? Also would a Draeden talk with a mortal? Could you become friends with one?

I don’t understand how you would perceive something like that as a dragon. Unless you are only conversing with it and can only see one of the tendrils or something.

Wild tangent: Are the crystal spheres formed when a draeden finds itself in the philogiston. It form a cyst around itself as protection until it can transport itself back to the outer planes?

If Tharizdun was released, why would psionics and magic stop working? I get that he's a powerful entity but as i understand it, he's not omnipotent. Plus if madness takes over the multiverse how would psionics NOT be involved?

considering the form of the Ilithids, I could see them also being created by the Draeden (or something like that) as the original colossal Elder Brain. it'd be funny if Elder brains were the 1st larval stage of a Draeden, & it'd be very ironic to see Dragons helping the Gith fight against baby Draeden larvae.

Its quick. But you mention at the beginning that the undead would be destroyed alongside the world if the far realm took over. I love making undead the way youve described them. A tax on the universe that inherently brings its heat death. But even the worst undead could be allies against the destruction of all reality

More please. Always nice to have a theme of the week creature thrown out for each session

What a pleasant surprise to wake up to.

This made my morning drive to work so much better! Great work as always and thanks!

11:52 That seems to be based on a rather infamous picture of a hydrothermal worm.

Regarding Neth, the Plane that Lives: If they are a Draeden, Are they pretending to not know the Multiverse outside themselves or have they been stuck in the Astral Plane for so long they're actually unaware?

What sort of person(or deity) would go looking for the home plane of such nigh-invulnerable monstrosities? Perhaps Alienist in their mad search for more information of the outer planes and a deeper connection to the Far Realm.

-spit take at that thought experiment in the beginning- Bloody hell.

Tardigrade ohh man i wonder what adaptions they'd have living in this

dame if you think that someting tha big got a "living" immune system... what if one got as big as saturn and ppl live inside of him xD

How did Vecna get tasked with keeping the secret of Tharazdun? Does anyone know what video he answers this question? I didn't find it in his video on Vecna.

It's funny I just watched a recommended video before this one about the largest black hole discovered so far and compared to these things they are just specs on a spec. When our sun is smaller then a pixel on your screen compared to that black hole puts things into perspective how our minds can't process scales like that even in our fantasy works.

This is sweet. I never heard about these things. Love the abyss and anything related. Thanks duder

I'm not usually around to post this early do to the time zone difference between New Zeeland and Canada but today my insomnia works for me. I am always in the mood for a little elder god horror looking forward to thisa vid.

Wait, there's a living plane?!

if you'd had a reason to give a draeden stats, what would it be?

Hail Tharizdun! Great video. By the way, any lore on why Mephistopheles changed colors from bluish black to red? Tharizdun is amazing and I love any and all lore on Him and His Doom Dreamers.

I do so love watching the automatic closed caption losing its mind Theris dune Theros tunes There's doom 😂😂😂

Bigger fishes :p never give power to the big man! Never. Oh odds are...a fookery ensues.

their backstory of being older then the gods with some conflict between the 2 and such reminds me of the aboleths wonder if their is a connection between the 2 and which species is older which source can you get the stats from for these things?

Yo, Pickett. You gotta do Rovagug from Pathfinder.

"Cough" - Cthulhu

That intro shook me lol, Jesus

If any movie producers are watching... The World Of Dungeons And Dragons would make a great LOTR style movie trilogy of trilogies Trilogy 1: Dungeon Master and his 2 children get stuck in the FR care of the amusement park ride. Then the issues with Kaylia and Venger happen Trilogy 2: the group of kids come into play Trilogy3: after DM, Venger, and Kaylia leave

Heavily reminded of the Mystery Flesh Pit National Park story AKA Permian Basin Super-Organism. What if a dormant draeden were discovered slumbering beneath the surface of a prime material world? The humans, of course, add a gift shop and charge for admission.

DAMN! That's one MIGHTY gluestick!

Question:can a overgod like ao stop a draeden? Does the luminous being let things like this exist beyond the overgods to exist? Many questions, few answers

I just learned about these creatures about a week ago and was so mad that no one had made a video on these creatures

Great video oh Lore Master of Many. So question, the Dreaden fully powered can wipe dimensions out with a thought basically, could a weaken and scared Dreaden be then killed by mortal heros?

Well that's just absolutely pleasant

Tinfoil Hat?? HA!! I've got Tinfoil Platemail, son. Lets Get Deeply Nerdy.

They remind me of the eclipse realm from berserk, very cool

It's kind of cool how many intro assets you have.

WOW. I had no idea these things existed. I shall have to read these sources myself now. Good work, AJ.

Could atropus be an undead draeden?

Great content as always.

One of your best videos! So many fun possibilities with Draeden in my Epic 3.5 game!

Thank you for making sure I won't sleep tonight! :)

Any connection between Neth the Demiplane that Lives and the draeden?

This made my curios, what is the actual strongest entity in d&d? My candidates are: Therizdune, the elder evils like dendar, the lady of pain, kronos, and now the draeden. Therizdune is an apocalypse waiting to happen, the lady of pain repelled an invasion of gods without seeming to exert much evert, kronos is canonically ripping his way through a fake reality of gods, and draeden seem to be the oldest creatures in existance

Reminds me of the animated film "Light Years". It's available on RU-vid if you're interested

That’s no moon…

I wonder if a dragon can hypothetically become the champion of a draeden?

A little beyond my ability to comprehend, frankly. What purpose would it serve in a game?

Cool a creature from mystara

Thank you.

Love your videos.

Great video, I love this deep lore.

Draeden warlock patron?

good video AJ

They look neurons I wonder what would happen if you brought 86 billion together

Thank you

Also who the hell are the 6 people that thumbs down this video lol, I mean do they just like come here and be like.bhahah bhaha blurpurburble tgat isn't what dreadens are thumbs down

As far as I'm concerned even your conjecture is cannon or will be

3rd 😁 These things seem to work almost exactly the same as elder brains, just older and better at it. I wouldn't be surprised if Illithid worship them for exactly what they are, with no pretence of religion. They know they exist and that they are a higher being. They don't "believe" in them the same way we don't believe in tables and chairs.

I feel like Tharizdun is narratively designed to punish players for successfully defeating Vecna. That's just... mean. Like, why? Why does this game ACTIVELY punish players for making progress on ACTUALLY saving the multiverse? I don't understand it. No, I CAN'T understand it. It's grimdark, but tries to present itself as not. Artifacts, elder deities like Tharizdun, it's all built to stop the players from being powerful and winning the game. Some parties LIKE being powerful and winning the game. It's just unnecessarily mean.

I wonder if ojukalazogadit started as a draeden

Yay!

this is an odd one

мне понравилось ! накрутка лайка и комментарий , для алгоритмов ютуба =)

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what is the relationship between the lady of pain and the draeden?

I want Lolth to unleash Draeden on the Prime Material and then the epic-level adventurers convince a constellate to fight the horrible thing. Cosmic devouring brain versus animate spirit of multiple star systems! XD

Here’s an interesting bit of optional lore for you: The Yochlol handmaidens of Lolth aren’t her loyal priestesses. The Draeden she has access to in the demonweb pits takes her loyal priestesses to consume and creates the yochlol, telling her that the yochlol are totally loyal to her, which they aren’t. Lolth has been feeding it for millennia and surrounding herself with beings loyal to the Draeden, not her. That’s why the yochlol aren’t forbidden from the prime material unless summoned, as demons are. The Draeden will eventually consume Lolth as well as all of the demonweb pits, before beginning to consume all of the abyss. The only way to prevent it is to move the Draeden to the Astral, where it will hibernate for all of eternity as a form of dead god. As long as Lolth hides the existence of the Draeden, the danger will never be known. Her own lust for power will someday be her downfall for a second time, only there won’t be a third. If the Draeden can swallow the shard of evil that caused the abyss to grow into infinite planes, it will create infinite planes from its own being. It became mired in the abyssal layers around the demonweb trying to get to the shard of evil when the abyss was forming. It will bargain with any being to get that shard of evil, which is why it has been so helpful to Lolth. It will convince PCs that they need to bring the Shard to it to destroy Lolth, which it will indeed do, in addition to destroying the outer planes and countless prime material world. Tharizdun is not the only world-destroying thing out there.

I love how your vids are a genuine source of amazing D&D knowledge. I had no idea these critters exist! So many possibilities... *crazed DM laugh*

The reflect spells and regen and the maw of the one breathing fire on the earth...reminds me greatly of the terrasque

The size doesn't make sense. Maybe I just missed something, but at various points they're described as incomprehensibly vast, galaxy-sized things that just straight up eat anything smaller than a planet, yet they're only about 20 or so miles long including the nodes? Is everyone and everything else in the D&D multiverse just incredibly tiny or did I miss something?

Fun fact, you can measure the individual ages of every demon lord by seeing how long they stop dead in their tracks for after so much as hearing the name “Therisdun”.

Are the Gith what would happen if humans Orcs And elves all interbreed over a long period of time. I got to go watch that other video love the channel

Wondered why I was awake at this hour. Now I know.

Omg! A Tharizdun video! Pretty sure I’ve commented on every video that mentions him. As well as my plot hook comments... I was under the impression Tharizdun himself created the 333 gems as his final F.U to the gods that imprisoned him. Each containing a fragment of his essence so he could be freed should enough gems be brought into close proximity... 333 is his holy number And that there was a different number of seals (🦭🦭??? Can we free him if we go clubbing? Ibiza here we come!! Sorry tangent) on his prison. Who says no one what’s the gems found?

Side Note: Bits like this are how you can absolutely SHATTER a game if played strictly rules as written. Draeden should technically be creatures. If it's willing (Presumably Ulgurshek would prefer NOT being trapped for eternity) you can Plane Shift it. Remove a layer from the abyss. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! At what point does knowing a bunch about the game turn you into a Wizard supervillain? I couldn't tell you, but I'm probably well past that point.

Great idea for a Great Old One warlock pact, if some mortal was suddenly made to be aware of one of these beings and be given a glimpse what their existence even means

Very lovecraftnian

As a guy who was into AD&D since forever and a day, adapted the D&D Immortals boxed set into my own homebrew campaign of divine ascension and the struggles, I now see what inspired my Loom Dragons... the Draeden. My campaign universe's first sentient beings were humanoids that evolved on the Loom Dragons' bodies before they created the Loom of Magus as their spherical galaxy with many of the life-friendly planets having them live upon those. Before they created Loom of Magus, two of those dragons spun off to create the reality the Loom Dragons boomed into. The story of Asmodeus actually fits well with my Loom of Magus creation story too. In Loom of Magus, planets are mere dust dots in any universe of the multiverse.

is swear AJ you are a wizard who scrys me whever i talk to my friends about an obscure D&D monster, this is the second time you post a video the day after i talk about one, the last time being the aurumvorax

It's like "the thing" but dnd Good movie.