Human breeding stock required to support Mind Flayer / Illithid Community

[Hrihayal]

Just working on some independant Illithid Community Concept.

As they want to stay secret/independant of raids for food supply,
I want all their nourishment needs (1 brain per month, afair) to
be covered by their enslaved human breeding stock.

Assuming they are using force breeding in their slave camps
how many humans (male/female) would you need to secure
a steady supply of brains for a community of approx. 100
Mind Flayers?

Looking forward to your replys : )

 

[thedungeondelver]

Just working on some independant Illithid Community Concept.

As they want to stay secret/independant of raids for food supply,
I want all their nourishment needs (1 brain per month, afair) to
be covered by their enslaved human breeding stock.

Assuming they are using force breeding in their slave camps
how many humans (male/female) would you need to secure
a steady supply of brains for a community of approx. 100
Mind Flayers?

Looking forward to your replys : )

AD&D 2nd Edition supplement THE ILLITHIAD that covers those very subjects. You should be able to find a copy for around $20.00 or so.

 

[DMH]

Don't forget that they need humans for implantation as well. I would say ~ 2500 humanoids could support an illitihid colony that large.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Just working on some independant Illithid Community Concept.

As they want to stay secret/independant of raids for food supply,
I want all their nourishment needs (1 brain per month, afair) to
be covered by their enslaved human breeding stock.

Assuming they are using force breeding in their slave camps
how many humans (male/female) would you need to secure
a steady supply of brains for a community of approx. 100
Mind Flayers?

Looking forward to your replys : )

I don't think that would work, sorry Mind flayers hate light, and humans need it. If you raise humans in such an environment, they might refuse to reproduce due to depression. You also might have too many humans to actually control, so they would outnumber you and rebel.

Mind flayers could use grimlocks; they're suitable for implantation and consumption, or at least were in the Illithiad. Grimlocks don't mind the dark, although there's still that issue of keeping them under control.

 

[NexH]

25.000 humans, according to the guidelines found in pg. 74 of Lords of Madness.

 

[Pbartender]

Just working on some independant Illithid Community Concept.

As they want to stay secret/independant of raids for food supply, I want all their nourishment needs (1 brain per month, afair) to be covered by their enslaved human breeding stock.

Assuming they are using force breeding in their slave camps how many humans (male/female) would you need to secure a steady supply of brains for a community of approx. 100 Mind Flayers?

Looking forward to your replys : )

Must Illithids eat human brains? Or even humanoid brains?

The most sustainable course of action would be to breed Trolls (if they require sapient brains to survive), Hydras*(if they only require sentient brains) or other regenerative monster stock to meet basic food needs, and leave the tasty humanoid brains for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner -- and for when you want to spawn new mind flayers.

*When you think about it, one good hydra could feed the entire town... "Each time a head is severed, two new heads spring from the stump in 1d4 rounds. A hydra can never have more than twice its original number of heads at any one time, and any extra heads it gains beyond its original number wither and die within a day." You suck the brains out of a hydra head, then cut it off, and two more heads grow back within 30 seconds. The extra heads stick around for a day, before they shrivel away. Just keep keep chopping off the heads you brain suck, and you can feed all 100 Illithid within a matter of minutes off of one creature that will not die as a result of the process.

 

[Doghead Thirteen]

What the illithids need to do is set themselves up as 'gods' of some Aztec-like sacrifice-happy nation.

I think you get my drift...

 

[painandgreed]

Well, 100 mindflayers would be 100 brains a month which equals 1200 brains a years. To replace that, they need 1200 births a year. Ignoring deaths due to other means, and assuming that these brains are of at least breeding age, breeding age is 15, and that 50% of all breeding couples produce an infant every year, then there would be 2400 adults plus 18,000 children. So 22,400 minimum where the few leveled adults keep the others in line and most offerings are young adults.

Ideally, up the number of slaves and you have much less of a percentage of the total becoming an offereing, less fear of becoming one among the humans who keep order for the mindflayers and are profiting from the arrangement just as much if not more. Eventually, you might even have a large human society that might not even know who is actually ruling it.

 

[Umbran]

Assume it takes 9 months to bear a child. Assume forced breeding that is 100% efficient. Assume that your females can have one baby every nine months indefinitely and still remain healthy. If you have 10 females, you can start a cycle such that there is one child born each month.

Thus, absolute bare minimum, you need nine women to keep an illithid fed. For a colony of 100 mind flayers, you'll need 1000 women, absolute minimum. And a paltry few men to keep them pregnant.

Now, you break the assumptions, that number rapidly skyrockets into the many thousands. That's not what I'd call tenable.

 

[Bad Paper]

you'll need 1000 women, absolute minimum. And a paltry few men to keep them pregnant.

Where do I sign up?