A question about the Tarrasque

[Badgercloak]

While looking stuff up on the Tarrasque I found this.

"Even in campaign settings where multiple tarrasques exist, such as the Forgotten Realms' Faerûn..." - Wikipedia.org

This confuses me because I play FR and haven't read that there are multiple Tarrasque. Is this misinformation or are there two niegh undestructible engines of mass destruction stopping around Fearun?

[RTGoodman]

Hmm... I'm certainly not enough of a Realms scholar to know for sure, but I'd say it's possible. The Spelljammer setting (D&D... in SPACE!) had a planet full of Tarrasques, so it's not unheard of. I don't know where you'd go to find out about multiple Tarrasques in FR, though, except maybe some older 2E-type books.

EDIT: Or maybe some of the Dragon Magazine issues cited on the Wiki page: #296, #329, or #359.

[Waspinator]

I'm not sure, but it seems possible. Something like "only one of this thing exists" is the kind of fluff that varies a lot between settings.

[Tsotha-lanti]

The only tarrasque in Faerûn I can think of is in one of the old AD&D Netheril books, where - I think? - the PCs are expected to fight it. (You play ultra-super-powered characters who can all use immensely powerful magical "winds" and advance to level 30 or 40 or something.) It's featured on the cover, albeit it looks way too tiny, if I recall rightly.

But there might certainly be more.

[Zhalath]

I've never heard of multiple tarrasques in Faerun, but I sure hope that if there are, they don't travel in groups.

[Tam_OConnor]

Alrighty, I checked out my Dragon collection, and this is what turned up:

#296: Waker of the Beast prestige class. While interesting, it was a source for Tarrasque alignment stuff, with no unique FR content.

#329: D&D acknowledges the source of the tarrasque, which you can read more about on the Other Wiki. Again, no FR content.

#359: The Ecology of the Tarrasque. They wanted to go out with a bang, I suppose. They even brought back the Monster Hunter's Association, and I can't tell you how happy that made me. Sure, it isn't a complete story, but something's better than nothing. But it seems the world hates us, and doesn't mention anything about multiple tarrasques.

In short, I have absolutely no idea where they got this idea. Put out a call for Realms grognards; I was brought in through Baldur's Gate, so my lore outside of the Western Heartlands is kinda fuzzy. Throw a [citation needed] down on it, and see what turns up?

[Tsotha-lanti]

Okay, after Googling, as far as I can tell, "multiple tarrasques in Forgotten Realms" refers, in fact, to Realmspace, which is part of Forgotten Realms (not Faerûn or Abeir-Toril, but the multiverse) and Spelljammer. There's supposedly a planet of peaceful, silica-eating tarrasques somewhere in Realmspace (I think this means the same "gem" that contains Abeir-Toril?).

Here's a Gleemax thread on the topic. Much information.

Quote from the thread, from Practical Planetology for Spelljammer:

"While the true tarrasque is reputed to be unique, there are several hundred of these enormus monsters spread over the surface of Falx. (Some sages claim that this world is the home of the tarrasque, and that the unique creature is actually a single specimen transported through space for some reason. Other sages point out that there might be subtle differences between the Falx tarrasques and the terrestrial version. Space is large, after all, and the similarity might be just coincidence.)"

[Harperfan7]

I remember reading somewhere that the Tarrasque once attacked Heralds Holmfast (spelling?). I remember it saying "the" tarrasque, not "a".

[herrhauptmann]

As far as multiple tarrasques in Faerun, I've only heard of it from one person, who says he encountered the second one while performing the quest to kill the Witch King Zhengyi (Zengi?).
At some point in the campaign, they have a choice: Take the left fork and enter the city of liches/archliches/demiliches ruled over by 13 deathknights. Or take the right fork and pass through a demiplane containing the 'true tarrasque.' (Party of 8, various alignments and faiths, voted unanimously to go to the lich city)

Once upon a time, 2 tarrasques existed, and they were like the given tarrasque, but also had 20 levels of cleric. So even without divine rank, the two of them were more powerful than any of the gods (especially since few of the gods were willing to ally together). Eventually the gods managed to split the tarrasques up, locking the female in a demiplane. And once the male was alone, they managed to lobotomize him. Removing his intellect and cleric levels, turning him into the monster we now all know and love.

However, all that is hearsay, and while I've reported it as I heard it, I can't state that my friend didn't get something wrong.

So has anyone played in that campaign?