ILLITHID2

Thus far, the illithid have made relatively little progress understanding the
secrets of the Kindred. The animation of corpses came easily enough to them,
but the hidden mysteries of the Continuum have proven to be exceptionally
elusive. But the illithid are nothing if not patient in their longevity,
certain in their superiority, and confident in their ability to understand and
counter all that which might even slightly threaten the Hives.
 
Usual Size: 
Taller than the average human, but shorter than minotaurs or giants. Much
thinner than either.
 
Hometown: 
The Hive outpost, beneath the sewers of Miruvhor
 
Religion: 
The illithid were old when the world itself was young. They remember the rise
of long-forgotten gods who by far predated even the Cataclysm of Damnil, and
remember the falls of those gods as well. This is why, as a society, the
illithid worship no gods at all, although they obey the Elder Brain of each
Hive as though they were gods.
 
True to their name, Elder Brains appear as gigantic brains which lie unmoving
in gigantic tanks filled with a type of amniotic fluid. They are formed from
the remnants of extremely ancient illithids who died, but were so psionically
powerful that their minds reanimated their brains. Elder Brains are held in
extremely high reverence by the illithid, and when an illithid dies, their
brains are extracted and merged within the Elder Brain, with all of their
experiences, knowledge, psionic power, and personalities transferred over.
Consequently, Elder Brains are unbelievably intelligent and knowledgeable
creatures, and it is said that the eldest of the Elder Brains have enough
power to deserve the status of godhood which the illithid all but confer upon
them.
 
Some of the individual illithid who hail from the Hive outpost established
beneath the sewers of Miruvhor have been allowed to experiment with following
various religions, but they are by no means representative of the species as a
whole, and even amongst many of them, their interest in a particular religion
lies more with their own motivations and goals, as opposed to holding any
actual faith in or worship towards a particular god.
 
Physical Features: 
Illithids are tall, thin, genderless and asexual humanoid creatures with
bald, slick, octopus-like heads. Due to living in the near-total darkness of
the Elder Earth, illithid are exceptionally sensitive to light; their eyes
appear as nothing more than flat, shining white spheres that allows them
to see almost perfectly in the dark. Each illithid has a lamprey-like
mouth, surrounded by four tentacles up to two or three feet long in length
which serve as secondary appendages and can be used to grip or grasp. Some
exceptionally powerful or old illithids may go so far as to grow two
additional tentacles, giving them a total of six tentacles.
 
All illithids have two more long tentacles which serve as arms; each of these
long tentacles end in thin, claw-like hands. These hands can be used to grip
and hold items, but are too weak and spindly to be used to wield weapons.
These tentacles can also be used as a last-resort melee weapon, as they can
emit shocking electrical blasts from their tips. Illithids are also known to
parry physical attacks with them. The rest of the illithid body is relatively
humanoid, although their flesh has a translucent, watery quality to it, due
to a form of ichor flowing through their body as opposed to blood.
 
Illithids have many unique and powerful traits. Their bizarre physiological
structure allows them to shrug off lightning-based attacks like few other
races, as their ichor-like blood absorbs electrical fields. Due to their
exceptional mental prowess, illithid are highly resistant to mental spells and
attacks. In addition, each day they are able to project a powerful cone of
mental force that damages and stuns enemies in the same room with them.
In dire emergencies, they can even instinctually redirect all of their mental
powers into healing their bodies, allowing them to withstand wounds which
would be fatal to any other creature. This does, however, dramatically tax
their physical and mental resources for some time, causing them to recuperate
at greatly slowed rates.
 
See also: ILLITHID3