Illithid (Ill-ah-thid)

Illithid, also known as mind flayers, are a species of humanoid-aberrations which are feared sentient creatures amongst the Planes. Upon the surface of Runetalras the illithid are regarded as a myth or folktale as they rarely interact with those upon the surface; however, those who make their home within the Underdark know the illithid very present threat to sentient life, due to their powerful psionic abilities, slaving nature, and pension for conquest.
From their twisted lairs deep in the Underdark, these alien entities seek to expand their dominion over all other lifeforms, controlling their minds to use them as obedient thralls. They consume their victims' very personality by extracting and devouring their brains while they are still alive.

Appearance

The height, weight, and build of Illithid are generally roughly comparable to thin Humans, however, they have been noted Illithid who were comparable to thin Dwarves , Gnomes, and even Goliath. The flesh of illithid are soft, supple, moist, and rubbery, resulting in an unmistakable texture easily distinguishable from any other creature by anyone familiar with it. Their skin ranged from mauve to greenish-violet in colour, and secretes a thin film of slimy, glistening mucus that keeps it moist and gave off a faint odour similar to onions, garlic, or even vanilla, although the smell was imperceptible from afar. Their blood has a silvery-white colour.
Illithid have a bulging, ridged, elongated head that is reminiscent of an octopus, with a cluster of four flexible, unsegmented, extendable, purplish-black tentacles surrounding their mouths. The tentacles can range in length from 2 to 4 feet (0.61 to 1.2 metres), appearing shorter when an illithid is at rest. Illithid’s tentacles are also incredibly dexterous, powerful, and could be fully controlled by the mind flayer to perform both fine and strength-based tasks.
An illithid's mouth resembles that of a lamprey, with a circular, jawless orifice ringed by several rows of small, rasping teeth. Their tentacles hang above and around their mouths and an oily slime constantly drips out of their maws. Illithid do not possess exterior ears, rather hosting small, fleshy, ridged holes on both sides of their heads, nor did they have nostrils. Their eyes, are sheltered by brow ridges and are uniformly pale and devoid of pupils in addition to being bloated and featureless, similar to those of blind cave fish.
Illithid hands are long, slender, and lack an index finger, but are otherwise similar to those of most humanoid creatures. The remaining fingers and opposable thumb are red to mauve in coloration, and their nails were thick and black. Though illithid nails seemed dangerous, they are actually blunt and composed of soft cartilage, so have little hope of being effective weapons. Illithid feet were webbed and had only two toes, which were also nailed and could flex widely apart, as if to assist in swimming.
Illithids are known to dress in flowing and dramatic robes and cloaks. They are rarely seen without distinctively two-lobed boots, which concealed their webbed feet. They often were high, flaring collars, dark hats, and various other pieces of ornamentation.

Abilities

Illithid lack in pure physical strength, in spite of this they are feared by creatures throughout the Underdark for their psionic power and mental prowess. They are capable of using effects which takes control of their prey’s minds and also frequently employ a powerful mind blast to affect a multitude of foes
Their abundant psionic powers allows illithid to levitate at will, as well as to detect the thoughts of nearby creatures and to dominate or charm any kind of creature in their vicinity. Additionally, there are reports of mind flayers capable of controlling others by power of suggestion.
Some illithid dedicate themselves to studying and honing their innate abilities. Known as illithid psions, they are capable of even more remarkable feats of psionic power, including telekinetic abilities akin to mage hand and telekinesis.

Language and Names

Illithid are capable of speaking Undercommon and Deep Speech but preferred telepathic communication. They also have a form of written language called Illthane, which consists of patterns of four lines imbued with psionic energy, capable of conveying not only text but also the author's thoughts. Without the use of magic, it can only be read by other illithids.
Illithid names are strains of thoughts and images that identify them to other members of the race. Since these names are too complex to be pronounced or even expressed in words, other races of the Underdark adopted rough translations in Undercommon by usually combining descriptive words that conveyed the general idea of the Illithid' original names in order to identify them. Sometimes, the illithid themselves chose to adopt pronounceable names for the benefit of their thralls or to instil fear in their enemies

Senses

illithid nervous system are unique in that every nerve had a direct connection to the brain, meaning that a illithid's entire body was an extension of its brain, granting illithid an incredible awareness of their physical condition.
Illithid eyes are extremely sensitive to bright light, and they considered it painful, a characteristic. Their eyes are more sensitive to infravision than to visible light, and they could see two additional colours in the spectrum. In total darkness or under starlight, an Illithid has remarkably good vision, but under direct sunlight their visual range decreases remarkably.
Illithid hearing is a little less acute than that of humans due to their lack of exterior ears. Their rigid auditory canals collect sound over a wide surface area, and they were relatively good at discerning the direction of sounds, but they were lacking in overall hearing and the ability to separate and recognize individual components of given sounds. Illithids also lacked noses, and in fact ha no olfactory capacity whatsoever.

Diet

Illithid sustain themselves on the brains of sentient creatures, mainly those of humanoids. Brain tissue provides illithid with the required combination of the three essential components needed to sustain themselves: hormones, enzymes, and psychic energy. They also eat other foods which contain the critical enzymes and hormones partially internal organs. Illithid also drink liquids, they favour water, however, they drink wide variety of other liquids when cannot guarantee that water is disease or parasite free.
In the process of consuming a brain illithid can also obtain stray memories from their prey. As a result of their parasitic nature, traces of the victim's individuality can also be retained by an illithid.
Without consuming, like many humanoid species, an illithid would slowly suffer physical debilitation and grow so weak, however, it would likely take months for an illithid to die in such a way. Ideally they would consume the brain of a sentient creature each week to avoid discomfort, however, most consume once every two weeks or so.
It is possible, although extremely rare, for an illithid to restrict its feeding by only consuming the brains of sufficiently intelligent lifeforms. A few animals that demonstrated extraordinary intelligence, such as exceptional cats, dogs, or bears, for example, sometimes had the psychic quotient required to properly nourish an illithid

Reproduction

Illithid were all sexless, without biological sex, and once or twice in their life they would lay a clutch of eggs from which tadpoles hatched. The tadpoles are kept in the elder brain tank, where they were fed brains by caretakers and engaged in cannibalism for around ten years. The elder brain also feeds exclusively on tadpoles. Tadpoles that survived to maturity are put through the ceremony of ceremorphosis, where each was implanted into a humanoid victim and devoured its brain, taking its place and merging with the body to transform it into a new illithid.
The multiplication of Illithid colonies happens when a tadpole, quite rarely, through ceremorphosis, created a more powerful form known as an ulitharid (meaning "noble devourer" in Undercommon), which is larger, stronger, and more powerful and intelligent than regular Illithid. They possess six face tentacles instead of the regular four. Most notably, however, they are not controlled by the elder brain. The appearance of an ulitharid caused a burst of growth in both the colony's size and capabilities. Elder brains grudgingly accept the appearance of a potential rival, because eventually the ulitharid will break off from the colony. When doing so, they take a few Illithid with them and seek to establish a new colony in a distant location from the original. Eventually, the ulitharid transformed into a new elder brain.
If a mature tadpole does not undergo the process of ceremorphosis, it becomes a ravenous predatory creature known as an illithocyte or, if allowed to grow out of control, a neothelid. These creatures were considered abhorrent by the illithid.

Religion

Illithid do not worship entities from the Celestial Heavens and do not share the same mythical thoughts about the afterlife. Furthermore, illithid themselves do not believe in the concept of a soul.
Instead, illithid desire to be rejoined with its elder brain in death, thus attaining a form of immortality by having its life experiences merged into the elder brain's consciousness. Elaborate funerary jars, also known as brain canisters, with the individual's biography inscribed in Illthane are commonly used by Illthane colonies to preserve a dead Illithid's brain until it is consumed by the elder brain.

Deities

Illithid claim not to have deities of their own, instead choosing to revere entities, these revered beings are nonetheless entities capable of granting divine powers to their followers, even non-illithid ones. However, this does not hold as much allure as illithid are much more interested in developing their personal psionics.
When illithid do revere an entity it is more for its concept and a desire to inhabit it. There are two primary entities revered by illithid:
Ilsensine, embodies the mastery of mind and union with universal knowledge. Mind flayer colonies interpreted this concept in different ways. Some viewed it as a promise of power and domination to its followers, a feature that was also attractive to non-illithid followers. Others interpreted this as perfection attainable through dominance or destruction of other deities.
Maanzecorian, embodies the concept of comprehension of complete knowledge and perfection of memory, thought, and aptitude. It is also viewed by the illithid as a keeper of secrets. Some mind flayers viewed the perfect memory of the Aboleth as a manifestation of Maanzecorian, alliances between them.

Personality

Illithid have an utterly alien thought processes and eldrich objectives. They see themselves as masterminds that twisted others into serving their own sinister and far-reaching schemes. While some individuals can show extreme variance in mindset, the majority share many common beliefs and precepts.
The Illithid strongly believe that it is their destiny to bring the multiverse to heel as they see themselves as the perfect species.

History

The illithid are thought to be an extremely old species with and predate recorded history. Even the illithid themselves appear not to have much knowledge of their eldritch origins. Even Aboleth, with their perfect racial memories, do not remember the beginnings of the illithid race.
They are believed to be an an alien species which originate from the Far Realms and to have once have a great empire in stars brought down by the Gith. They have existed within the Underdark before recorded history began. The illithid were disrupted and warred with the Drow when they entered the Underdark, and also with the dwarves and gnomes who arrived in the Underdark following the Darkquake. For centuries the powers of the Underdark have remained locked in cold and hot war for control of territories and resources.

An Illithid

An Illithid tadpole in the process of ceremorphosis

Origin/Ancestry

Far Realms

Lifespan

135