Illithid

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The iconic Illithid Mindflayer from Dungeons & Dragons.

In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, illithids (commonly known as mind flayers) are monstrous humanoid aberrations with psionic powers. They live in the moist caverns and cities of the enormous Underdark. They believe themselves to be the dominant species of the multiverse (see Spelljammer), and use other intelligent creatures as thralls, slaves, and cattle.

Mind flayers were created by Gary Gygax, who has said that one of his inspirations for them was the cover painting of a book by Brian Lumley, The Burrowers Beneath. Illithids first appeared in the official newsletter of TSR Games, The Strategic Review #1, Spring 1975.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1 Physical description
2 Illithid biology
3 The Adversary
4 Illithid variants
5 History
6 Activities
7 Society
8 Relations with other races
9 Similarities and inspirations
- 9.1 Other Dungeons & Dragons references
- 9.2 Mind flayers in other media
10 References
11 External links

[edit] Physical description

Illithids have four octopus-like tentacles around a beaked or lamprey-like mouth, and require the brains of sentient creatures as part of their diet. An illithid who snares a living creature in all four of its tentacles can extract and devour its living brain. Their eyes are pale white, and though their vision is limited to roughly 60 feet, they can see perfectly well in both darkness and light. Their sense of hearing is slightly poorer than a human's; they are unable to distinguish between several sounds mixed together. Their skin is purple and covered in mucus, and is very sensitive to sunlights; illithids who make extended forays to the surface must wear protective clothing to maintain their skin moisture.

One of the most feared powers is the dreaded Mind Blast, where the illithid emits a cone-shaped psionic shockwave to incapacitate any creature with its mind for a short amount of time. Illithids also have other psionic powers, generally telepathic in nature, although their exact effects have varied over editions. Other powers include a defensive psionic shield and powers of psionic domination for controlling the minds of others.

[edit] Illithid biology

Illithids are hermaphroditic creatures who each spawn a mass of larvae twice in their life. The larvae resemble miniature illithid heads or four-tentacled tadpoles. Larvae are left to develop in the pool of the Elder Brain. The ones that survive are inserted into the brain of a sentient creature. A human gives best results. Upon being implanted, the larva then grows and consumes the host's brain, absorbing the host's physical form entirely and becoming sentient itself, a mature Illithid. This process is called Ceremorphosis. Illithids often experiment with non-human hosts, but ceremorphosis involving other creatures usually fails, killing both host and larva.

When an illithid undergoes ceremorphosis, it can occasionally take on some elements of the absorbed host creature's former mind, such as mannerisms. This typically manifests as a nervous habit and/or reaction, like nail-biting or tapping one's foot. An adult illithid has even been known to hum a tune that its host knew in life. 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 surely be killed. This is due to an illithid legend of a being called the Adversary. The legend holds that, eventually, an illithid larva that undergoes ceremorphosis will take on the host's personality and memory in its entirety. This "Adversary" would, mind and soul, still be the host, but with all the inherent abilities of an illithid. Although due to the current game mechanics of ceremorphosis, total assimilation of the host's personality and memories is technically impossible, there may at some time be a game supplement elaborating this point.

Occasionally, ceremorphosis can partially fail. Sometimes the larva does not contain enough chemicals to complete the mutation, sometimes there is psionic interference. 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. These unfortunates must still consume brains, typically by cutting open heads (as they lack the requisite tentacles). These beings are sent as spies to the surface, where they easily blend in with humans.

The illithid society also maintains a long-standing taboo. Every so often, a mind flayer community is attacked (often by vengeful githyanki and githzerai) and its inhabitants must flee. This leaves the larvae unattended. Bereft of exterior nourishment, they begin to consume one another. The survivor will eventually leave the pool in search of food (i.e., brains). This unmorphed larvae is known as a Neothelid. If the neothelid consumes an intelligent creature it will awaken to sentience and psionic abilities, while retaining its memories of savage survival. In Complete Psionic, it was revealed that illithids have a step between larva and neothelid called a Larval Flayer, which looks like an overgrown tadpole. The existence of these beasts is a guarded secret among illithids, and it is considered impolite to speak of them.

[edit] The Adversary

In the 2nd Edition AD&D adventure Dawn of the Overmind, author Bruce Cordell revealed the nature of the Adversary. This being was an illithid created from the host body of a man named Strom Wakeman, a character referenced in some of Cordell's other 2nd Edition works, most notably as the "author" of The Illithiad supplement.

Wakeman, an enterprising trader and scholar of Underdark exotica, allowed himself to be captured by the illithids on one of his expeditions. Through the use of a non-magical mixture of various herbs that Wakeman named laethen, he was able to preserve his consciousness through ceremorphosis, and learned to use his psionic powers to keep from having to consume brains. Thus he worked against the illithid plots from within. The legend of the Adversary was born from his frequent sabotage, though the actual acts were never connected to him. The players' characters in the adventure become his agents in stopping the illithids' plans, as his own movement rely upon secrecy from his "fellow" illithids.

For another person to imitate Wakeman's deed would require at least one dose of laethen (the making of which Wakeman kept secret) and to be put under ceremorphosis within a week of consumption. The drug only has a 40% chance of success, and the new illithid must also never consume a brain, for the act destroys the host's personality and replaces it with the illithid personality.

[edit] Illithid variants

Cover art of Dungeon #94 depicting an Illithid prisoner devouring the brains of its jailer.

[edit] Ulitharid

Ulitharids are created from tadpoles much like standard illithids; less than 1% become ulitharids. It is impossible to determine whether a tadpole will become an ulitharid until ceremorphosis is complete.

Superior in nearly all ways to a regular mind flayer, ulitharids possess two extra tentacles and extreme arrogance. Only the elder brain holds more sway within an illithid community.

[edit] Vampiric illithids

These unique undead mind flayers origins are shrouded in mystery. All that is known of these creatures is that they cannot create spawn, need both fresh blood and fresh brains to survive, and are more feral and far less intelligent than typical illithids.

[edit] Yaggol

The yaggol are a variant presented in the Dragonlance campaign setting.

The Yaggol are a race from the Emerald Sea of Neron, a dark, steamy jungle in southern Taladas. The history of their civilization stretches back to the end of the first age of Krynn. Their empire thriving at the same time the High Ogres of Ansalon founded their own empire. 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. A great war was fought, and the empire crumbled as both sides nearly wiped each other out. All that remains of this once aberrant race was seven obsidian temples in the valley of Akh-Tazi.

After the shattering of the empire, an uneasy truce was struck, only broken by skirmishes and murder. The cha'asii went their separate ways; establishing villages like Ke-Cha-Yat were they could live in peace from the yaggol. This would all change with the coming of Gloomwing, a former orthlox Black Dragon that joined with the Brethren, the cult followers of Maladar an-Desh, Lord of Wizards.

[edit] Alhoon

Alhoons (also called illithiliches) are illithids that have grown powerful enough in magic to become liches. Alhoons are generally pariahs in illithid society because they go against most illithids' eventual goal; to merge with the Elder Brain, both physically and psionically. Alhoons, on the other hand, are more concerned with their own, personal, survival.

[edit] Related creatures

Brain Golem: An 8-foot-tall humanoid-shaped construct made entirely of brain tissue, these creations exist only to serve an elder brain and its illithid community.

Brainstealer Dragon: A horrible mix of illithid and dragon, these powerful wyrms occasionally rule over illithid communities that lack an elder brain.

Illithidae: Illithidae are to mind flayers as animals are to humans. Known types include the cessirid, embrac, kigrid, and saltor.

Illithocyte: Illithid tadpoles that survived the fall of a mind flayer empire, they evolved into a new life form and crawl about in groups seeking psychic radiation on which to feed.

Kezreth: A living troop transport and battle platform created from the severed head of a shamed illithid. They serve in this capacity in the hope of redeeming themselves and being allowed to return to the elder brain.

Mind Worm: Created by illithids to serve as assassins and bounty hunters, these powerful psionic creatures resemble smaller purple worms. They can attack from far distances with their probe worms.

Mindwitness: Inserting an illitid tadpole into a beholder results in these horrid abominations, which are used as guards and sentries.

Mozgriken: An illithid tadpole inserted into a svirfneblin gnome while subjected to a dangerous psionic ritual creates a mozgriken. These three-tentacled ceremorphs are despised by all, but their aptitude for stealth and psionic powers of stealth and shape control make them useful spies for the illithids.

Neothelid: If an illithid tadpole survives but fails to undergo ceremorphosis, it will eventually grow into an incredibly powerful worm-like creature with illithid tentacles at the forefront of its body and immense mental powers.

Nerve Swimmers: Derived from immature illithid tadpoles, these entities are living instruments of torture and interrogation.

Nyraala Golem: A flailing, slimy, tentacled construct capable of launching surprise attacks. They often serve as guards, and are prized because their creation does not involve petitioning the elder brain to surrender part of its mass.

Octopin: A six-tentacled, purple-skinned monstrosity with a single eye created by mind flayers.

Tzakandi: Illithid tadpoles inserted into lizardfolk create tzakandi, which the mind flayers use as slave labourers and personal guards.

Uchuulon: A chuul implanted with an illithid tadpole becomes an uchuulon. Also known as slime chuuls, illithids use them as hunters and guardians.

Urophion: Inserting an illitid tadpole into a roper results in these miserable creatures, which are used as guards and sentries.

Ustilagor: Mind flayers farm these larval intellect devourers for food and sentries.

Vampire Squid: Servitor creatures created by illithids to extend their reach below the surface of Underdark waters. They have a maw of sharp teeth which can be turned inside out and function as defensive spikes (found in Dragon #227).

[edit] Illithid symbionts

Illithids often create symbionts both for themselves and their slaves. Some are intended to sow fear among their enemies, while others enhance their own offensive and defensive capabilities. Known illithid symbionts include the mnemonicus, wriggler, and carapace symbionts.

Carapace symbionts are bred to serve as personal armor and boost other abilities. Known varieties include the backwatcher, fastbreak, hardy, silent, slippery, and strongarm carapaces.

[edit] History

The origins of the illithids are often shrouded in mystery, with conflicting stories offered in various D&D products, in past editions and in the current version of the game. These different versions can be taken as successive retcons or simply different stories hiding the true nature of the illithids, which may be something else entirely.

The 3rd Edition D&D book Lords of Madness states that they are refugees from a far distant future. Facing extinction at the hands of some unknown adversary, they sacrificed a large number of elder brains to generate a temporal rift that transported the survivors aeons into the past, but little more than a mere two thousand years before the present (in this sense, they are aberrations because they exist before their natural time).

The 2nd Edition book The Illithiad suggests they may be from the Far Realm, an incomprehensible plane completely alien to the known multiverse. There is no mention of time travel in this theory. Instead, they emerged somewhere and somewhen countless thousands of years ago, beyond the histories of many mortal races, and spread from one world to another, and another, and so on. 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.

In these two differing versions of the story, much of the variance hinges upon a fictional text called The Sargonne Prophecies. The Illithiad described the Prophecies as misnamed, and that much of it sounds more like ancient myth than prophecy. Lords of Madness takes the name more literally, and states that The Sargonne Prophecies are in fact prophecy - or, perhaps more accurately, a history of the future.

Yet another version came from The Astromundi Cluster, a Spelljammer boxed set produced before The Illithiad. This version holds that the illithids are descended from the outcasts of an ancient human society that ruled the now-shattered world called Astromundi. The outcast humans eventually mutated, deep underground, into the mind flayers. (This boxed set also introduced the entity known as Lugribossk, who was depicted as a god of the Astromundi flayers then, but was later retconned into a proxy of the god Ilsensine.) In the retconned history of the illithids found in either The Illithiad or Lords of Madness, the emergence of illithids in Astromundi becomes a freak occurance due to the intervention of Ilsensine through its proxy, since the illithids of Astromundi have their own histories as emerging solely upon that world.

However and whenever it occurred, when the illithids arrived in the Material Plane of the far past, they immediately began to build an empire by enslaving many sentient creatures. They were very successful, and soon their worlds-spanning empire became the largest one the multiverse had ever seen or would ever see (barring the possibility of a future empire). They had the power - in terms of psychic potency and the manpower of countless slaves - to fashion artificial worlds. One such world was this empire's capital, called Penumbra, a discworld built around a star, and which was a thousand years in the making. Such was their might that the Blood War paused as the demons and devils considered a truce to deal with the illithid empire.

Eventually, the primary slave race of the illithids developed resistance to the mental powers of their masters, and revolted. Led by the warrior Gith, the rebellion spread to all the illithids worlds, and the empire collapsed. The illithid race itself seem doomed.

Fortunately for the illithids, Gith was betrayed by one of her own generals, Zerthimon, who believed she had grown tyrannical over-aggressive. Civil war erupted, and the race factionalised into the githyanki and the githzerai. This disruption allowed the illithids to retreat to underground strongholds where they still dwell.

[edit] Activities

Currently, the illithids are in a period of intense study and experimentation, gathering knowledge of all sorts that will enable them to eventually reconquer the universe and hold it for good. They frequently meddle in the politics of other races through subtle psychic manipulation of key figures, not to cause chaos but so as to better understand the dynamics of civilization. They regularly probe the minds of surface dwellers so as to gather intelligence and learn about new advances in magic and technology. They also do a good deal of research themselves, mainly focused on developing new psychic powers.

Illithids regularly conduct raids on all sentient settlements to acquire new thralls, because their existing stock of sentient thralls do not breed fast enough to satisfy their food and labor needs. Typically, a group of mind flayers will teleport to the settlement and swiftly incapacitate them with their psychic powers. The captives will then be marched all the way to the illithids' underground settlement by specially trained and conditioned thralls. Great care is taken to cover their tracks.

[edit] Society

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. When an illithid dies its brain is extracted and taken to the pool. Illithids believe that when they die their personality is incorporated into the Elder Brain, but this is not the case. When the brain of an illithid is added to the Elder Brain, the memories, thoughts and experiences are consumed and added to the sum of the whole, but all else is lost. This fact is a closely guarded secret of the Elder Brains, since all illithid aspire to a form of immortality through this merging process. An extremely ancient Elder Brain is called a God-Brain because its psionic powers are almost limitless.

Since the Elder Brain contains the essence of every illithid that died in its community, it functions in part as a vast library of knowledge that a mind flayer can call upon with a simple telepathic call. The Elder Brain in turn can communicate telepathically with anyone in its community, issues orders and ensuring everyone conforms.

Illithids generally frown upon magic, preferring their natural psionic ability. Psionic potential is an integral part of the illithid identity, and the Elder Brain cannot absorb the magical powers of an illithid mage when it dies. They tolerate a limited study of wizardry, if only to better understand the powers employed by their enemies. However, an illithid who goes too far and neglects his psionic development in favor of wizardry risks becoming an outcast. Denied the possiblity of ever merging with the Elder Brain, such outcasts often seek their own immortality through undeath, becoming alhoons.

Illithids typically communicate through psychic means. They project thoughts and feelings to each other in a way non-illithids can scarcely comprehend. Instead of typical alphabet-based writing, illithids write by making marks consisting of four broken lines. They use each tentacle to feel the breaks in the lines, making it basically similar to braille. However, the illithid written language is extremely complex, as each line modifies the preceding lines through explaining abstract concepts associated with the above words in ways no human can understand; only by understanding all four lines simultaneously can the meaning be understood properly.

Illithids revere a perverse deity named Ilsensine, and once had a second deity named Maanzecorian.

[edit] Relations with other races

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. They are pragmatic, however, and will trade with other races, such as dark elves and gray dwarves, who are too strong to be conquered.

Their archenemies are the githyanki and the githerzai, descendants of the rebellious slaves who destroyed their empire millenia ago. Hunting and slaying illithids whenever they can is an integral part of their cultures.

Illithids fear the undead because these creatures, even the sentient ones, are immune to telepathic detection and manipulation, and have no brains to consume. Confronting such mindless creatures can even be traumatising to some of them.

[edit] Similarities and inspirations

A painting of the Lovecraftian alien deity, Cthulhu, a possible inspiration for the Illithid Mindflayers.

[edit] Other Dungeons & Dragons references

Illithids are the rulers of an "Island of Terror" in the Ravenloft campaign setting called Bluetspur, where their God-Brain is actually directed by the mind of a human psion fused inside it. Incidentally, this "Psionic Human God-Brain" is also one of the infamous Darklords.

Illithids are also one of the primary factions in the Spelljammer campaign setting.

[edit] Mind flayers in other media

A particularly unfortunate young mind flayer plays the main star role in the webcomic Mind Flayed, having somehow been transported to the surface mid-ceremorphosis.

Mind flayers appear in other role-playing games, including Angband, Final Fantasy and NetHack.

The mind flayers themselves were originally inspired by either the Spawn of Cthulhu from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos or (perhaps more likely) by the Thrint from Larry Niven's "Known Space" setting who, like illithids, have three-fingered hands and tentacled heads, are powerful psionicists, and ruled an ancient empire finally destroyed by a slave rebellion. Certainly, Charles Stross was inspired by the Slaver Empire of the Thrint when he created the githzerai and githyanki.

In the world of Tenebrae: The Emblem of Ea, the illithid are a long-forgotten race from outside the eidolons' creation, an ancient evil who blend science, religion, magic and philosophy in unfathomable ways and, now freed, approach the rest of the world with a cruel curiosity that has lead them to wipe out entire villages and use innocents in their twisted experiments.

In a Doctor Who episode there is a race which resembles the Illithids called the Ood.

A very similar species, called "Brain Slayers" appeared in the "Fighting Fantasy" series of gamebooks. Unlike Illithids however, Brain Slayers looked like ordinary human beings with octopuses in place of their heads. They possessed hypnotic gazes and the power to consume the mind of any entity whom they managed to enfold in their tentacles.

Mindflayer is the name of a Providence, Rhode Island-based noise rock band. The covers of their first and third albums, Take Your Skin Off and Die & Mold Services respectively, feature squid-like faces similar to the Ilithids of Dungeons & Dragons.

A Doomsday cult consisting of Mind flayer-like creatures have made appearances as recurring antagonists in the webcomic 8-Bit Theater.