Shaddam was born in the Imperial Opal Palace on Kaitain to Elrood IX, the 80th Padishah Emperor. He was delivered by Elrood's wife, Habla, however impregnated with ovaries of Elrood's former wife, Barbara Mutelli. By his mid-thirties, Shaddam was a strong-featured man with a firm chin and aquiline nose; his reddish hair was cut short and oiled and styled into a perfect helmet, similar to the century-old busts of his father sculpted during the early decades of his reign.