Sept of Ill’Ghact
A secret society of mind flayers-slavers, predators, and breeders.
Sept of Ill’Ghact
Traits: Duplicitous, secretive Power: 4
// W >▼/
Membership: 23 illithids, 79 thralls of various races Headquarters: Phanlinksal Religious Affiliation: llsensine (weak)
Leadership: Galgast EI-Venken Allies: House Baenre Rivals: House Oblodra
The Sept oflli’Ghact is a sinister force in the Underdark that operates in near total secrecy. Few know about this hidden society ofillithids, and fewer still know its reach and ambitions. Keeping its secrecy is vital since the illithids in this faction have many foes throughout the Underdark. In particular, the drow ofMenzoberran- zan would crush the sept if they knew ofits existence.
So the illithids move in secrecy while they gather their strength. Their psionic ability is a growing menace that could one day threaten the City ofSpiders.
History
El-Viddenvelp (also known as Methil) founded the Sept oflll'Ghact during the Year of the Lion (1340 DR, late in the Sable Years) in the wake of the destruction of the elder brain at his home city ofPhanlinksal in the previous year. Methil was in Menzoberranzan, serv¬ing as an advisor to Matron Mother Yvonne! Baenre at the time, and escaped the fall of his city that claimed so many ofhis fellow illithids. Methil vowed to rebuild the city and restore the elder brain.
For the next eighteen years, Methil slowly built the sept while continuing to serve House Baenre. He recruited other illithids and dominated new thralls to serve them. He chose the ruins ofPhanlinksal as his base, but purposely left the city’s appearance as an abandoned ruin. Working deep within the city’s bowels, he started creating new illithids and prepar¬ing the briny pool for a new elder brain.
Methil accomplished one goal toward re-creating the elder brain when an ulitharid arose from an illi- thid tadpole implanted in a drow psion from House Oblodra. This more powerful form of an illithid gave him a foundation for the elder brain.
In the Year of Shadows (DR 1358), the sept nearly collapsed. Methil was grievously injured in the attack
“My will is not my own—/ do what my lord and master commands.”
Join the Sept of III'Ghact if you want to:
+- Be free of any responsibility for your actions.
+- Serve horrific alien creatures who aim for nothing less than the subjugation of all the Underdark.
+- Become a powerful psionicist by learning from the ultimate psions.
MINDPLAGUED THRALL
You are a thrall of the Sept of III’Ghact, but probably don’t even know it. At some point in the past, the mind flayers kidnapped you and whisked you away to a secret laboratory. There, the illithids implanted powerful mental controls deep in your mind. They then returned you to Menzoberranzan with a colorful cover story for your absence.
Your life continues as it always has. Your friends don't notice anything different. You don't notice any-thing different, except in yourvivid and horrible dreams where soulless, milky-white eyes look down on you from an alien head, while a mucus-covered tentacle strokes your face. When one ofthe tentacles slips inside your ear, you awaken screaming.
Someday the illithids will call upon you. You don't know when, and you don't know for what. But when they do, you will not be able to resist their commands.
Characteristics: Any (the illithids have need of thralls with a wide variety ofabilities)
Prerequisites: Mindslaved by an illithid
MENTORED PSION
You have always had incredible potential with the power of the mind, but recently a stranger approached you and made an enticing offer. With his face hidden inside a deep hood and his body swathed in voluminous robes, you were rightfully suspicious of him, but his offer was too good to refuse. He would tutor you in the ways of psionics and teach you power beyond your imagination. In return, you would be an obedient student and under¬take tasks for him from time to time. Lacking any other instructors in Menzoberranzan, you agreed.
You quickly discovered that your instructor was an illithid. This did not surprise you. lllithids are not unheard of on the streets of Menzoberranzan, and they are renowned for their psionic might. Lately, you have begun to suspect that this illithid is part of a larger organization, but you don’t know its numbers or its intentions.
Your mentor has been good to his word. He has revealed many psionic secrets toyou, and your power has grown immensely. The tasks he asks of you are trivial in comparison towhat he is offering. He has notasked you to betray your city, your house, or Lolth, but your suspicions have grown. Illithids are not known for their generosity.
You are right to be doubtful of the open hand of the mind flayers. They intend to harvest you as a host for an illithid tadpole at some point in your future. When yourpsionic power reaches a desirable level, the Sept of III’Ghact will come for you, and they will come in force. And if you’re unlucky, shortly thereafter, a new illithid will join the ranks ofthe sept.
Characteristics: Treacherous, haunted, ambitious
Prerequisites: Character with psionic power
on Mithral Hall, and he vanished into the Underdark. The sept slid into several decades oflistless passivity until the ulitharid Galgast came into full control ofits abilities. This creature now runs the organization.
Goals
The Sept oflll’Ghact intends tore-create the elder brain ofPhanlinksal that was slain years ago. This process is long and laborious, but the illithids are patient. They have created the ulitharid. When they have enough illithids of sufficient ability in the sept, the members of the elder council will join their minds with the ulitharid to create a new elder brain.
Until the elder brain is created, the sept has three main goals that can all be met by capturing more thralls: to serve the illithids, to provide a steady supply ofbrains for illithid consumption, and to create more powerful illithids to strengthen the sept.
The final task is proving to be the greatest chal-lenge. Methil believed that the chance for creating an ulitharid relies on the psychic power of the host.
With the destruction ofHouse Oblodra, he was unable to gain subjects for further experimenta¬tion. Today, Galgast attempts to encourage psionic use among the drow. He has offered training in the power of the mind to several of the lesser houses in Menzoberranzan. None have accepted his offer, but a few are tempted.
Organization
The Sept oflll’Ghact is based out of t he ruins of Phanlinksal (page 112), but it has agents both in Menzoberranzan and on the surface world. An elder council of five illithids leads the sept. El-Viddenvelp steered the council when he was alive, but with his loss, Galgast the ulitharid has taken over.
The sept also increases its membership by creat¬ing illithids from drow hosts, a process known as ceremorphosis. The rest of the sept is composed of mentally dominated thralls or charmed sleeper agents in nearby communities.
Notable Personages
El-Viddenvelp (Methil): Methil was born in Phanlinksal from the host of a human sorcerer. He quickly rose to become one ofthe most influential illithids in the city. When the drow of House Baenre threatened the illithid settlement, Methil agreed to return to Menzoberranzan as an advisor to Matron Yvonnel Baenre in exchange for sparing his city.
After decades of service to House Baenre, Methil was severely injured in the failed siege ofMithral Hall. Suffering from a severe head wound and bereft of his sponsor after the death of Matron Mother Yvonnel Baenre, Methil left the drow behind and wandered the Underdark in blinding and delusional pain for years. His ultimate fate is unknown, but he is almost certainly dead by now.
Galgast: Galgast is an ulitharid, a rare and espe¬cially formidable form ofillithid. He was born from the host of a drow psion of House Oblodra. He rose to power in the wake ofEl-Viddenvelp’s loss in the Under¬dark. Galgast is determined to pick up the goals of the sept where Methil left off and f inish the completion of the elder brain.
Galgast’s abilities greatly outstrip those of other illithids. While Methil considered the elder council more or less as equals with the same goal, Galgast treats the other illithids as subordinates to use as he sees fit. The highly lawful illithids see this relation¬ship as only natural. He is an ulitharid, and only an elder brain is greater in their society.
Uluruela Drael Tuabbar: This female drow is the main agent of the sept in Menzoberranzan. Uluruela owns a business in Duthcloim where she sells travel goods. This profession is the perfect cover, since she often deals with outsiders or drow leaving the city. She buys most of the supplies for the sept, which she deliv¬ers to couriers sent to the city by the sept mind flayers.
Uluruela was trained as a priestess ofLolth in Arach-Tinilith but graduated low in her class. She has since learned the techniques of a warrior. The illithids’ mental control ofher guarantees that she will never reveal their existence or their goals in Menzoberranzan.
RELATIONSHIPS
Illithids do not have allies. They view the rest of the world as thralls or potential food. When an illithid treats a creature of another race as anything other than something in one of those two categories, it is a pretense. However, the illithids respect the strength and numbers of the drow. They move cautiously with the dark elves, seeking to remain an elusive threat that the Menzoberranyr have little desire to hunt down.
House Baenre: While Methil El-Viddenvelp was alive, the Sept of Ill’Ghact had a tenuous alli¬ance with the First House of Menzoberranzan. In fact, with the exception ofMatron Mother Yvon¬nel Baenre, the drow of House Baenre were never aware of the sept’s existence. Yvonnel Baenre used El-Viddenvelp as an advisor for psionic matters. She also utilized his mental abilities to give her an advan¬tage in drow house politics. At the same time, Methil exploited his relationship with the matron mother to study the drow and their city. The information he gleaned over the decades is invaluable to the sept or any other enemy ofMenzoberranzan.
With Methil’s loss after the defeat at Mithral Hall, the alliance between the sept and House Baenre evaporated. The illithids have not approached Quenthel, the current matron mother of the house , believing her to be more a religious zealot ofLolth and less a pragmatic opportunist as her mother was.
Instead, the sept now works independently of House Baenre.
House Oblodra: The drow ofHouse Oblodra have incredible psychic talent, which the mind flay¬ers consider a threat. For much of its history, the sept sought to destroy the house at all costs. When Methil El-Viddenvelp discovered that using powerful drow psions as hosts for illithid tadpoles greatly increased the possibility of creating ulitharids, the sept’s view of the house completely shifted. Instead of eradica¬tion, the Sept oflll’Ghact seeks to capture the scions ofHouse Oblodra for implantation. The illithids con¬sider the destruction of the house at Lolth’s hands as either a tragic waste of potential hosts or a deliber¬ate act by the Spider Queen to prevent the sept from gaining more influence.
ENCOUNTERS
The illithids of the Sept oflll’Ghact prefer to remain in the safety of their fortress at Phanlinksal. How¬ever, their constant need for brains to feed upon draws them forth into the Underdark for raids and ambushes. They also need supplies and special¬ized equipment that they and their thralls cannot make, which is found in places like the Bazaar in Menzoberranzan.
When illithids leave their fortress cities, they take numerous thralls along for protection. The illithids choose their thralls based on the needs of the mis¬sion. A trade delegation has bodyguards, scribes, and interpreters, while raids for thralls and brains resem¬ble war parties.
Sometimes, the illithids entrust their missions to reliable and thoroughly dominated thralls. Thralls without an illithid overseer are usually composed of members of the same race to avoid suspicion.
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