Elegy For the First World

Elegy for the First World

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.

Summary

"Elegy for the First World" was an ancient draconic poem of unknown origins.
"Elegy for the First World" narrated the story of creation of the First World, a world that existed before the many worlds of the Prime Material plane were created. According to the poem, the dragon gods Bahamut and Tiamat worked together to create the First World, as the poem named the Prime Material plane. After finishing their work, Bahamut and Tiamat then created the firstborn of dragonkind, Sardior, in their own likeness. Sardior helped them to create the intended inhabitants of the First World, the different metallic and chromatic dragons.
The poem then narrated the invasion of the gods of the Outer Planes, who wanted to make the First World the home of their mortal creations. The dragons opposed the invaders but were overwhelmed by their incredible might. After Bahamut was defeated by the gods, Sardior hid in the heart of creation. Alone, Tiamat continued the fight until eventually she was defeated as well and sealed in a place of darkness. The victorious gods then gave the First World to their creations, who went to live in different lands according to their individual natures. Elves went to live in the forests, dwarves in the mountains, humans all over the world, and so on. When Bahamut recovered, he began to travel the world striving to understand the gods and their creations, eventually being accepted as one of the deities of Mount Celestia. Meanwhile, Tiamat, loosened from her prison, set her chromatic dragons against the gods and their creations as her revenge.
Finally, the poem narrated the sundering of the First World in some unexplained catastrophe. The poem implied that Sardior died during this catastrophe and the First World was divided into the infinite seedling realities that eventually became the different worlds of the Material plane.

Historical Basis

According to scholars, the "Elegy for the First World" was found in the traditions of dragons across the many worlds of the Prime Material plane, and it was also said that the various creation myths of the different worlds reflected some elements of the poem, specially those myths that described dragons or dragon gods being involved in the creation of these worlds. However, there were unique elements of the poem that were not reflected in any myths.
These elements were the implication that the many worlds of the Material plane were derivatives of the First World, created from its sundering. It also explained why Bahamut and Tiamat existed in the myths of many worlds, even if they were known by other names. However, the poem also included a third divine dragon, Sardior, that wasn't known in many worlds. Another implication of the poem was that dragons were intrinsically tied to the Material plane, being the living embodiments of the primordial magic of that plane. It also implied that while metallic and chromatic dragons were created by the dragon gods, gem dragons were created from the remains of Sardior.
Some sages from Toril believed that "Elegy for the First World" contradicted with the evidence of the existence of the proto-dragons, the reptilian ancestors of dragonkind that existed in the Days of Thunder, implying that dragons appeared recently on the world. However, proponents of the poem believed that this was no contradiction, stating that the proto-dragons were a way for Toril to try to recreate its original inhabitants, the dragons, after being sundered from the First World. As evidence, they pointed to the fact that the most common dragons of the multiverse, the metallic, chromatic, and gem varieties, also existed on Toril; and that Bahamut and Tiamat were among the oldest deities of Toril, even if they were known by other names in ancient times.

Tiamat, Queen of Dragons

Bahamut