Gith Origins
The ancient origin of the gith is clouded in mystery, though most agree that the race was enslaved by the expanding mind flayer empire in eons past. Over time some slaves developed some resistance against their masters' mind control and started secretly improving their psionic abilities. When the time was right, under a leader named Gith, the slaves rebelled and broke free from their illithid masters and their elder brain overlords.
Civil War
After gaining freedom, the people disagreed on which course to take next. Gith, the wartime leader, sought to chase down all the illithid and exterminate the species. Zerthimon, the calm-spoken, argued against that course of action, as it would lead their people to become tyrants themselves.
The disagreement led to civil war and a sundering of the peoples:
- Githyanki - "Children of Gith", warlords, expansionists, conquerors, astral pirates and mercenaries
- Githzerai - "those who spurn Gith", monks, explorers, hermits, pacifists, yet aim to twart their githyanki cousins' imperial plans
Scales of War
After thousands of generations, the githyanki and githzerai had settled into more or less of a stalemate, while the illithids slowly grew throughout the multiverse. Sha’sal Khou, a faction within the githyanki empire, sought to reunite the two gith political parties into one people to prevent the mind flayers from dominating them again.
Zetch’r’r, the leader of Sa'sal Khou, plotted to overthrow the Lich Queen Vla'a'kith and negotiate a truce with the githzerai but was consumed by power and made deals with Tiamat to secure the title of emperor of githyanki.
Tiamat employed githyanki raiders and astral pirates as shock troops to lead the first attacks on the material plane. In exchange, the githyanki sought
Terrajuncture, a place abundant with portals across the inner and outer planes, where they could launch raids on other settlements.
In the beginning of the war, the githyanki led by
Marshal Gir'a'akis | Gith Exile were thwarted at almost every step. Bands of heroes stopped gith plots before they gained any advantage. Some even allied with githzerai including:
- Master Tokk'it - Monk of the Akma'ad Fortress
- Gall'ott - Charismatic githzerai leader who called his people to fight the githyanki
- Azitt - Resident of Sayre who discovered the githyanki's psychic communication device, the Bitter Glass
- Chend - Elderly man who wanted to lead the githzerai back to a life of ensalvement, as he saw that a better alternative than living on the racist material plane
- Most Exalted Odos - Logical but uncertain religious leader
Calamity
After General Zithirun captured one of the more problematic resistance groups, the
Heroes of Brindol, the githyanki's efforts finally paid off. With a clear path to victory, the dragon armies attacked. The fighting took years but Tiamat's forces prevailed.
Unfortunately for the gith, General Zithirun's actions were the downfall of both githyanki and githzerai communities.
Dragonsight
Zithirun, as power-hungry as any githyanki warlord, sought to learn Tiamat's most powerful ability so that he could overthrow Emperor Zetch'r'r. Tiamat and some other ancient dragons had
dragonsight, the ability to detect their twin-selves in alternate realities across the multiverse. An entity fully aware of its own alternates could project their will anywhere and expand their power to that of gods.
Psychic Interrogations
No one is certain what he learned or where he got most of his information, but he was very interested one of his captives,
Gorgoroth Flamesbreath | Dragonborn Psi Warrior. He visited the
dragonborn's prison hundreds of times over a period of years and tortured Gorgoroth's friends to elicit certain psychic responses.
Eventually Zithirun pushed too far. Gorgoroth... did... something. For a brief instant, the dragonborn tapped into a power source of incredible depth and eminated a psychic surge throughout all planes of existance. Zithirun and his two assistants, psychically connected to Gorgoroth, exploded from the inside out. That was only the beginning.
For a moment, every gith in existance connected to each other in a hive mind. Githyanki and githzerai everywhere were united as a single thought burned through them: the visual image of the eyes of Gorgoroth Flamesbreath. When the image departed, immense pain wracked each individual gith. Many millions died immediately. Those who survived were permanately damaged. Some lost their sight or hearing, others manifested incurable diseases, while others physically deformed.
The Source
A psychic blast of that magnitude was surely to be noticed by other species as well. Illithids (for one) would be looking for the source of that power. Probably other psychic peoples and monsters too. They will be looking for the one with the eyes that all the gith have seen.
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