Githzerai
Focused philosophers and austere ascetics, the githzerai pursue lives of rigid order. Lean and muscular, they wear unadorned clothing free of ornamentation, keeping their own counsel and trusting few creatures outside of their own kind. Having turned their backs on their warlike Githyanki kin, the githzerai maintain a strict monastic lifestyle, dwelling on islands of order in the vast sea of chaos that is the plane of the Astral Sea.
The progenitors of the githzerai adapted to—and were transformed by—the psychic environment imposed on them by their Illithid overlords. Under the teachings of Zerthimon, who called on his people to abandon the warlike ambitions of Gith, the githzerai focused their mental energy on creating physical and psychic barriers to protect them from attack, psychic or otherwise. Fighting is personal to a githzerai, which uses its mind to daze and incapacitate opponents, leaving them vulnerable to physical punishment.
Githzerai fortress-monasteries stand resolute against the chaos that surrounds them, virtually impervious to the turmoil of their surroundings, because the githzerai will it. Each monastery is overseen by monks that impose a strict schedule of chants, meals, martial arts training, and devotions according to their own philosophy. Behind their psionically fortified walls, the githzerai embrace thought, learning, psionic power, order, and discipline above all other things.
The social hierarchy of the githzerai is based on merit, and those githzerai who are the wisest teachers and the most skilled at physical and mental combat become leaders. The githzerai revere great heroes and teachers of the past, emulating those figures' virtues in their everyday lives.
Disciples of Zerthimon.
Githzerai revere Zerthimon, the founder of their race. Although Gith won their people's freedom, Zerthimon saw her as unfit to lead. He believed that her warmongering would soon make her a tyrant no better than the mind flayers.
Skilled githzerai monks that best exemplify the teachings and principles of Zerthimon are called zerths.
These powerful and disciplined monks can shift their bodies from one plane to another using only the power of their minds.
Though githzerai rarely deal with the realms beyond the Astral Sea, advanced monks of other races sometimes seek out a githzerai monastery and attempt to gain admittance as students. More rarely, a githzerai master establishes a hidden monastery on other planes to train young githzerai or to spread the philosophy and teachings of Zerthimon.
As disciplined as they are, the githzerai have never forgotten their long imprisonment by the mind flayers.
As a special devotion, they organize a rrakkma—an illithid hunting party—to other planes, not returning to their monasteries until they slay at least as many illithids as there are hunters in the party.
Comments