Githyanki

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Dungeons & Dragons creature
Githyanki
Alignment
Type Humanoid
Subtype Extraplanar
Source books
First appearance Fiend Folio (1981)

The githyanki are a fictional humanoid race in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. They are cousins to the githzerai. In the Dark Sun setting, they are simply called gith. Githyanki appeared in, and on the cover of, the 1981 edition of the Fiend Folio.

Contents

[edit] Licensing

The githyanki is considered a "Product Identity" by Wizards of the Coast and as such is not released under its Open Gaming License.[1]

[edit] Ecology

All githyanki children possess minor telekinetic abilities, but only a few work to develop them into something stronger. Githyanki generally prefer psionics over magic.

[edit] Environment

Githyanki make their homes on the astral plane.

[edit] Typical physical characteristics

Githyanki resemble tall, gaunt humanoids with almost skeletal features. Their garb tends to be ornate.

[edit] Alignment

Githyanki are commonly neutral evil.

[edit] Society

Githyanki society is martial, with both males and females training heavily in magic and swordfighting. Although they are loyal to each other, they are also fiercely individualistic. Raiding illithid strongholds is considered a rite of passage.

The current queen, Vlaakith CLVII, is an undead wizard who has ruled her people for more than a thousand years. So paranoid is she, that when any githyanki achieves a certain level of power and skill, she summons them to her palace to consume their souls, thus preventing them from ever threatening her power. Most githyanki willingly present themselves out of blind loyalty and pride, whilst those who try to flee this fate are hunted down and dragged before her in shackles. These victims afterwards become some form of undead servant under her direct control.

Vlaakith will sometimes present powerful githyanki with an incredibly rare silver sword. These swords possess several unique properties, most notably the ability to sever the silver cords that act as lifelines to travelers on the astral plane, killing the traveler instantly. These swords are highly sought after, and a cult of githyanki knights called the Sword Stalkers is tasked with recovering any swords that fall into the hands of the unworthy, i.e. non githyanki.

The githyanki use a unique form of writing called tir'su. It is an alphabetical set of runes in which words are formed in circles instead of linearly, with the letters of a given word being linked around a ring clockwise from the top. Sentences are formed from a series of these rings. Much as runes were given a mystical significance, the Githyanki employ the tir'su when creating magical wards and symbols.[citation needed]

[edit] History

The ancestors of the githyanki (the "forerunners") were once slaves to the illithids, a race of powerful telepaths who mentally enslaved sentient humanoids to work as the backbone of their vast worlds-spanning empire. It is believed these slaves were originally humans transformed through selective breeding. Eventually, these slaves developed mental resistance to their masters' mind control and, under the guidance of their leader Gith, revolted; thus did the greatest empire the universe ever saw fall.

Gith, however, was not satisfied with the destruction of the illithids alone, and sought to spread the war to any race that could potentially enslave her people again. She was opposed in this endeavor by the followers of Zerthimon, who believed that such a path would lead their people to corruption and ruin. Thus, at the Pronouncement of Two Skies, the gith race factionilized into the githyanki and the githzerai, the latter of whom would found their own domain in Limbo. The githyanki hate the githerzai because their betrayal allowed the surviving illithids to retreat to isolated subterranean strongholds; the two races have been at war ever since.

After settling her people on the Astral Plane, Gith is said to have visited the Nine Hells, where she made a pact with Tiamat. In exchange for Gith's servitude, the githyanki could call upon red dragons anywhere in the multiverse as allies. Gith's advisor, Vlaakith, became the new queen of the githyanki, and all her heirs were named after her.

Dwelling in the timeless Astral Plane, the Githyanki inhabit numerous fortresses constructed from materials imported to the Astral Plane as well as cities built atop god-isles, the vast stone corpses of deceased gods. Their capital and largest city, Tu'narath, is built on the god-isle of a deceased power known only as "The One in the Void."

[edit] Creative origins

The githyanki were created by Charles Stross[2] for his Advanced Dungeons & Dragons campaign. It was first published in White Dwarf in the late 1970s[3] , and in 1981 in the Fiend Folio. Stross borrowed from a fictional race created by George R. R. Martin in his 1977 science fiction novel Dying of the Light. George R. R. Martin himself was not aware of the name being borrowed until the 2000s. The githyanki/ illithid relationship was inspired by Larry Niven's World of Ptavvs. The Githyanki have appeared in all three editions of the Dungeons & Dragons game and has been featured in the new 4th Edition preview book Worlds and Monsters.[4]

[edit] Martin's githyanki

In Martin's novel, the githyanki were called "soulsucks" because of their dangerous psychic powers. They were slaves of another alien race called the hrangans, and were used by them in their long space wars with humanity. Unlike the D&D race, they were barely sentient. No githyanki actually appear in Dying of the Light, as the book takes place after the war between the humans and the hrangans is long over, and the soulsucks are nearly extinct. There is also passing reference to them in Martin's short-story collection Tuf Voyaging.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Frequently Asked Questions. D20srd.org. Retrieved on 2007-02-23.
  2. ^ *Interview with Charles Stross by Sevendead blog. http://www.sevendead.com/?page_id=11
  3. ^ Turnbull, Don (April/May 1979). "Fiend Factory" (feature). White Dwarf (Issue 12): 8-10. Games Workshop. 
  4. ^ Clark-Wilkes, Jennifer (2008). Wizards Presents: Worlds and Monsters (D&D Supplement), 1st, Wizards of the Coast, 96. ISBN 0786948027. 

[edit] References

[edit] External links


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