Illithid, Their sense of hearing is slightly poorer than a human's; they have difficulty distinguishing between several sounds mixed together, yet they are good at discerning from what direction sounds came from. It is explicitly stated in this book that the illithids appear in some of the most ancient histories of the most ancient races, even those that have no mention of other races. The larvae resemble miniature illithid heads or four-tentacled tadpoles. Ceremorphosis is the natural reproduction process of the mind flayer. [3], The newly formed mind flayer, despite being fully grown, was equivalent to an infant, and had to undergo a period of instruction and experience that lasted approximately twenty years, usually within the confines of a secure illithid city. Ascomoid, Mozgriken: An illithid tadpole inserted into a svirfneblin gnome while subjected to a dangerous psionic ritual creates a mozgriken. It is not known if they have elder brains, but their continued existence implies that they can breed on their own. Most non-mammalian species were also considered incompatible in principle. Evidence of this was found in the shape of their two-toed webbed feet, which suggested a pre-ceremorphic race of water dwellers.[19]. We can't offer you much for the time being. Hosts generally are humanoid creatures that are between 5 feet 4 inches and 6 feet 2 inches. The history of their civilization stretches back to the end of the first age of Krynn. Seeing as the Illithid Nautiloid (ship) crashed, there should be tons of tadpoles running amok just waiting to grow up into huge angry nematodes. Wiki Le Monde des Royaumes Oubliés (French), Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations, “Monsters of the Mind – Minions of the Mindflayers”, https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Ceremorphosis?oldid=613155. An Illithid tadpole preparing to enter a human. A mind flayer bringing a tadpole to its future drow host. They have a circle-shaped mouth full of sharp fangs which allows them to feast on the brains of other creatures. After the shattering of the empire, an uneasy truce was struck, only broken by skirmishes and murder. They rely on slaved for basically everything. Mind flayers are usually created by introducing a parasitic illithid tadpole to a human or similar humanoid. When an illithid dies its brain is extracted and taken to the pool. The Yaggol are a race from the Emerald Sea of Neron, a dark, steamy jungle in southern Taladas. All that is known of these creatures is that they cannot create spawn, need both fresh blood and fresh brains to survive, are more feral than typical illithids, and are barely intelligent. Octopin: A six-tentacled, purple-skinned monstrosity with a single eye created by mind flayers. The survivor will eventually leave the pool in search of food (brains). An illithid experiences euphoria as it devours the brain of a humanoid, along with its memories, personality, and innermost fears. Illithids believe themselves to be the dominant species of the multiverse and use other intelligent creatures as thralls, slaves, and chattel. [43], The Netflix series Stranger Things, following the eighth episode of the second season, used the name "Mind Flayer" to refer to the main antagonist of the series due to their similar natures.[44][45]. Though the gith fought fiercely, they were no match for the psionic might of the mind flayers, and soon they were enslaved. If the Neothelid consumes an intelligent creature it will awaken to sapience and psionic abilities and grow to immense size, while retaining its memories of savage survival. Illithids typically dwell in dim, underground settlements, usually in the Underdark. Brain Golem: An eight-foot-tall humanoid-shaped construct made entirely of brain tissue, these creations exist only to serve an elder brain and its illithid community. They implant a juvenile illithid inside a victim's skull, where the tadpole shaped offspring eats the creature's brain. They project thoughts and feelings to each other in a way non-illithids can scarcely comprehend. Currently it is described as, "an unremarkable Material-Plane world, a far cry from the hotbed of magical activity and divine intervention that is the Forgotten Realms campaign or the World of Greyhawk." The origins of these unique undead mind flayers are unclear. According to Ken Rolston, the beholder and the mind flayer "win starring roles as intergalactic menaces" in Spelljammer, describing the mind flayers as "evil, brain-sucking horrors who have polished up their social skills sufficiently to present a dubiously neutral facade to trading partners as they secretly scheme toward the day when all intelligent races will be their vassals and brain-food".[31]. Monster: Urophion The urophion is the result of implanting an illithid tadpole into a roper. The cha'asii went their separate ways; establishing villages like Ke-Cha-Yat where they could live in peace from the yaggol. The Monster Manual gives us 2 mind flayer stat blocks, and the Vault gives us 3. They also trade with the Neogi in order to obtain slaves. They are pragmatic, however, and will trade with other races, such as dark elves and gray dwarves, who are too strong to be conquered. Other cities in Zarum were transformed into work pits where illithid overseers forced their slaves to toil for countless generations. "Monsters of the Mind. An insane monster with an insane item under its control. D&D uses a system that involves the rolling of a 20 side dice called a d20 to resolve encounters in scenarios in the game world. Adventurer; Join Date: 3/8/2020 Posts: 1 Member Details #19 EmaYurs. Worlds ruled by illithids in other spheres include Falx, Ssirik Akuar, Penumbra, and Glyth. [16], The alhoon first appeared in second edition AD&D for the Forgotten Realms setting in the Menzoberranzan boxed set, in the booklet "Book One: The City" (1992),[20] and reprinted in Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three (1996). [2] Tim Kirk's cover art on the book, then in its first printing, depicted only the tentacles of the titular burrowers, the Chthonians.[3]. Civil war erupted, and the race factionalised into the githyanki and the githzerai (and in the Spelljammer campaign setting the Pirates of Gith). The Illithiad described the Prophecies as misnamed, and that much of it sounds more like ancient myth than prophecy. Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat. ", This page was last edited on 5 December 2020, at 04:31. Eckelberry, David, Rich Redman, and Jennifer Clarke Wilkes. This unmorphed larvae is known as Neothelids. They were very successful, and soon their worlds-spanning empire became the largest one the multiverse had ever seen. In Planescape: Torment, the player character may uncover a history of the illithids as they relate to the githzerai and the githyanki through studying the rings of the Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon in Dak'kon's possession. When it hits prey with a tentacle, the tentacle penetrates to the brain and draws it forth, allowing the monster to devour it. Eventually, the primary slave race of the illithids developed resistance to the mental powers of their masters, and revolted. Baase, Kevin, Eric Jansing, and Oliver Frank. The mind flayer received its own chapter in the book Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations (2005).[16]. However, Neothelids are “unfortunate mistakes” that occur when a Mind Flayer colony gets abandoned. Slithering tracker, Upon being implanted (through the ear canal), the larva then grows and consumes the host's brain, absorbing the host's physical form entirely and becoming sapient itself, a physically mature (but mentally young) Illithid. Occasionally mind flayer communities are attacked (often by vengeful Githyanki and Githzerai) and their inhabitants must flee. From the 3.5e Monster Manual V, concerning the Madcrafters of Thoon, a race of creatures that was once Illithid (pg. They were updated in 3.5 in the Lords of Madness supplement. Look, just look up "aberrant" in the dictionary. Alhoons (also called illithiliches) are illithids that choose to focus on developing arcane abilities in addition to their psionic ones, and have grown powerful enough in magic to become undead liches. The result is terrifying. The period of Zarum's height is not entirely clear, but grey elf sages speculate it was approximately 2,000 years before the Demon Wars that ravaged Western Oerik, or 3,000 years before the present. From ropers to Gith to humans to dragons, there’s little the Illithid won’t try to ceremorphosis with. Golem, but he broke the Ring, EmaYurs. 11 votes, 27 comments. When discovered near illithid communities Alhoons are mercilessly hunted down. [15], The mind flayer appears in the revised Monster Manual for this edition (2003), in both playable and non-playable forms. [5] Until ceremorphosis was completed, the emerging mind flayer remained helpless. Less common illithid vessels such as the 25-ton squidship, the 70-ton octopus, and the 100-ton cuttle command also resemble the cephalopods after which they are named. Gas spore, Illithids seek to rebuild their former empire wherein all other species were their slaves, so they view any sentient creature as worthy only of being their slaves or their food. Obliviax, One of the differences between the playable Mind Flayer in the Monster Manual and the Mind Flayer racial class in Savage Species is that the racial class has only itself as a favored class, while the normal Mind Flayer has wizard as a favored class. The 1st edition Monster Manual states that tentacles of the Mind Flayer will strike a victim with it’s four tentacles and these will reach the victim’s brain in 1-4 melee rounds. Illithidae, Only certain humanoids are valid - the book lists "Humans, elves, drow, githzerai, githyanki, grimlocks, gnolls, goblins, and orcs." An illithid city is ruled by a creature called an Elder Brain which lives in a pool of cerebral fluid in the city's center. Whatever the reason, it has happened that ceremorphosis has ended after the internal restructuring, resulting in a human body with an Illithid's brain, personality and digestive tract. Also known as slime chuuls, illithids use them as hunters and guardians. [1], Mind flayers were created by Gary Gygax, who has said that one of his inspirations for them was the cover painting of the Titus Crow book The Burrowers Beneath by Brian Lumley. Enslaving the Cha'asii elves, the yaggol ruled over the continent with a nightmarish will but this all came to end when the cha'asii learned how to defeat the mind powers of the yaggol. Nerve Swimmers: Derived from immature illithid tadpoles, these entities are living instruments of torture and interrogation.[27]. The tadpoles that survive to maturity will have the fantastic opportunity to be implanted into a humanoid creature (usually unwillingly) to undergo a horrific metamorphosis (the correct term is ceremorphosis). One version has each illithid community build around its elder brain, an extremely powerful psionic and evil monster that produces illithid tadpoles in a pool full of humanoid cerebrospinal fluid. What is the result of the combination of the nightmarish Beholders and the terrifying Mind Flayers? As is recounted in most 1st and 2nd edition sources, the ancestors of the gith forerunners were a human civilization before being modified by countless generations of illithid breeding and profane science. Although Ilsensine is the illithid patron deity, few mind flayers actively worship it, thinking themselves the most powerful creatures in the universe.[16]. Embrac, Introduced in 3E is the Mindwitness, the result of an Illithid tadpole infiltrating a Beholder, and the other Illithids successfully subduing said Beholder long enough to bring it before an Elder Brain, and you get the Mindwitness! When an ogre has a mind flayer tadpole implanted in its brain, due to the genetic differences between typical host creatures and the brains of ogres, the transformation into an illithid is warped. The Complete Psionics Handbook (1991) presented ways on using mind flayers with psionic powers.[11]. The ulitharid, or "noble illithid" was introduced in the Dungeon adventure Thunder Under Needlespire by James Jacobs in Dungeon #24 (July/August 1990), and later included in the Monstrous Compendium Annual One (1994). Mind flayers use other creatures to reproduce. You never see small mind flayers–but it makes sense, a brain is a brain, and if the Illithid tadpole takes over goa’uld style, then of course the host body would transform and become a diminullithid, as I’ve taken to calling them. In the final stage of its life cycle, a Mind Flayer may become an Elder Brain. Illithids' primary ship type is the nautiloid, a 35-ton craft resembling a nautilus. Hosts are determined in a very specific manner. Superior in nearly all ways to a regular mind flayer, ulitharids possess two extra tentacles, which are twice as long as the others, and an extreme arrogance, even by the standards of their own kind. Illithids are hermaphroditic; each can produce one tadpole twice in its life. Fungus, violet, 5 SHOULDN'T: RUST MONSTER One of the joys in D&D and Baldur's Gate games is finding loot and personalized special weapons for characters. The mind flayer was ranked fourth among the ten best mid-level monsters by the authors of Dungeons & Dragons For Dummies. Usually, when a mind flayer inherits a trait like this, it keeps it a closely guarded secret, because, were its peers to learn of it, the Illithid in question would most likely be killed. A portion of the ruins of Anithor were eventually colonized by the drow of House Kilsek, who named their new settlement Kalan-G'eld. The mind flayers accompanied the daelkyr from the plane of Xoriat to Khorvaire during the Daelkyr War and terrorized the goblinoids and orcs of the Age of Monsters. My personal theory is this: We see the Mind Flayer looking at a dead mind flayer. Illithids are hermaphroditic creatures who each spawn a mass of larvae two or three times in their life. The tadpole ate away the victim’s brain matter and essentially replaced the brain, erasing all of the subject’s personality and memory, but leaving the physical body alive and under the tadpole’s control. 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