Illithid

X Worldbuilders:

GM James R

Illithids (also known as Mind-Flayers) are a race of squid-like humanoids who primarily reside in The Underdark. They are famous for their cruel and villanous demenaor, often seeing themselves as inheritors of the universe. All other races are subservient and inferior in their eyes, which keeps them in constant conflict.

About

Illithids absorb knowledge and devour souls through the brain-sucking tendrils located on their lower face. 

Illithids have a written language known as quallid.  

History

In the beginning, there were Illithids, no one race or being can seem to remember the point in time they appeared, leading many to believe they have always existed.

Illithids have always been said to have originated from an extra-dimensional place of unknown origin, but are now trapped in the Quelmar Universe. As they are so far from home, they have collectively united under the goal of conquering this universe instead. As such, they are a war-faring race of masterminds seeking to enslave and control all others.

At some point in their experimental history, they created the race known as the Gith. Since then, the Gith have made it a point to extract vengeance on the Illithid, and have also began to spread through the planes hunting them down and stopping their crusade.

Abilities

Illithid are psychic creatures, able to telepathically convey thoughts, as well as read them to a limited extent.

Illithid have no control over the undead, as they are immune to all psionic abilities. As such, necromancers provide the biggest threat towards Mind Flayers.

Society

Magic

Illithids look down upon magic, relying instead on their potent psionic abilities. However, the study of magic is tolerated as long as it only adds to the collective knowledge of the group, and is not used as a replacement for the Illithid's already otherworldly abilities. Illithids who instead abandon their psionics in favor of magic are often outcast or killed.

Elder Brain

All Illithids are connected via a shared memory and collective conciousness, run by a creature known as an Elder Brain. The Elder Brain is a massive globule of knowledge and secrets, housed in a special basin and surrounded in a unique fluid that sustains it's life. All Illithids within 50 miles can be used as tools of the Elder Brain, and can also use the Elder Brain as a sort of library of memories and knowledge to draw from.

When an illithid dies, it's body is taken to the Elder Brain, where it is believed to be absorbed and assimilated. Massive Elder Brains with centuries of experiences and countless assimilated Flayers are known as "God-Brains", and they exert their psionic abilities to a degree that rivals even that of an aboleth.

Technology

• Brainmate
• Cephalometer
• Dampsuits
• Exoskeletons
• Galregoggles
• Straitor

Notable Illithid Populations

Skull City

Home of the massive institution known as The Bleak Academy, Skull City is notable for being the most eldritch and perhaps the most cursed of the Illithid centers in the Underdark.