Illithid Empire Campaign Setting
From ENWiki
"Something's back, there!" he screamed. I turned to look, and beheld the incarnation of my fear staring back. A robed figure stood just out of the light, but I could see just enough to make out a misshapen head from which depended a writhing, coiling cluster of slick tentacles. As I opened my mouth to give warning of the true enemy, I felt a scratch across the surface of my mind… (Bruce R. Cordell)
(art by Wayne England)
Introduction
The Illithid Empire Campaign Setting (IEC) is a custom D&D 4E setting, shared and open to editing.
Primary scope is to gather in a consistent group of entries all the material and lore concerning the Illithid Empire, updating rule references to D&D 4E if not already covered by official sources.
Secondary scope is to provide a setting suited to adventuring and a campaign set in the ancient past, when the Iliithid Empire was still mighty. In such environment, custom additions to the existing material and lore can be easily worked in.
Here are some basic IEC Editing Rules.
External Links
Preface
The Illithid Empire Campaign is a fantasy setting set in the ancient past, when illithids held incredible power and a vast empire across the planes. Once, the mastery of the mind flayers over lesser races, especially humanoid populations, was unmatched - at first.
As generation after generation of slaves labored under the psionic whip of illithids overlords, their minds acquired the necessary resistance to counterattack this domination, and the spark of slave revolt originated after years of oppression.
The forerunners of this revolt are named Gith, after the name of the female slave champion who first lead them. This is how it began. Prophets and seers may tell you that the illithid empire is doomed, but how many battles are to be fought to achieve such a result? Now you can find the answer by yourself in the Illithid Empire Campaign setting, because it's all happening... now!
"Live, but only if you live free." (Gith)
It is difficult to give a detailed timeline of what happened after the Great Revolt. Once, the illithid influence enfolded worlds beyond number; their dominion even infested multiple planes of existence. Now the great empire is shattered and vast portions of the mind flayer race have been slaughtered. But the most powerful bastions of the illithids still resist, untouched by the slave revolts. On their own ground the mind flayers are powerful and still rule and feed upon legions of slaves, scheming to regain the control of their lost territories. The Illithid Empire Campaign revolves around the most powerful of these bastions, Anthra'kt'tor, the Elder Citadel, an immense illithid city that floats in the Astral Sea and that used to be the capital of vast regions of the empire. It is so big to be considererd a small world in itself, and it is said to be comparable in size even to the fortress of Malsheem in Nessus, the ninth pit of Hell.
Currently, this gargantuan citadel is under siege, though it's not likely to fall in a short time… in fact this age is referred to as the Age of the Eternal Siege. One of the most important things preventing the fall of Anthra'kt'tor is the contrast between the two main factions of the rebels, the githzerai and the githyanki. These two races have a common heritage, as they both originated from the gith that first started the revolts against the illithids. The unity among rebels has been compromised by a mysterious and evil figure, a gith sorceress named Vlaakith, who operated as an advisor for the leader of the rebels, Gith herself. Under the influence of Vlaakith, Gith began to lean towards evil, plotting with fiends and malignant entities such as Tiamat, the goddess and patron of chromatic dragons. Gith eventually disappeared in the depths of the Nine Hells, and currently nobody has knowledge of her whereabouts. With the disappearance of Gith, Vlaakith became the new leader of the rebels, but not everybody was happy with this. A new figure stepped forward, by the name of Zerthimon. He tried to oppose the path of evil taken by Gith and then the diabolical leadership of Vlaakith. Soon this conflict degenerated into a civil war among the rebels, and now two distinct groups exist: the githyanki (the "Children of Gith") that are the self-proclaimed leaders of the rebellion and have their base of operation in the Astral Sea citadel of Tu'narath; and the githzerai (the "Followers of Zerthimon"), that, although maintaining their siege strongholds in the Astral Sea, retreated to the Elemental Chaos, where they have founded the city of Zerthadlun. The role of the illithids in the civil war that separated the gith is still matter of debate. The meaningful thing is that if the contrast among githzerai and githyanki is not resolved, at least temporarily, the citadel of Anthra'kt'tor and the illithid Empire are not likely to fall.
"Githzerai. Those-that-should-not-be. Betrayers of Gith. Followers of the traitor, Zerthimon. Slayer of children and perverter of the noble race." (a True Son of Gith talking of Zerth lovers)
"Githyanki. The corrupted breed. The tainted souls. Those-that-lost-themselves and that cannot see the Way of the Zerthimon." (a True Zerth talking of the Denied Brothers)
"Better the perpetual suffering of a free soul than the grudging obedience of a slave" (an old saying among the gith races: Githzerai say "the heartfelt devotion of a free soul", while Githyanki say "the last cry of a dying free soul")
Index
- Illithid Empire Campaign Setting
