Illithid Hive Community

*WhenWizardsWar
Posts: 353
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *WhenWizardsWar »


Im interested in seeing how this pans out, i would love to play your elder brain but,...you'll need to find one or grow one! I would love to work with the illtihid players on this!.

I do have my own illithid char whos a merchant of sigil (surprise surprise) but i dont think he would really fit in with your community for reasons youll need to discover in game.

But yeah, if you lot are on and i am bored shoot me a pm, id love to play headgames with you.
*Alersia
Posts: 308
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *Alersia »


Its really not easy to play a traditional Illithid. Here are some thoughts:

Conversations are difficult: People fear Illithids because they know some lore - Illithids are creatures that dominate and enslave everything. The fear of becoming a Illithid's thrall hangs above every conversation. Mind Flayer Players face another problem. So far I know do mind flayers do never laugh, tell jokes or make ironic statements - the things we like so much. They wont simply sit on a campfire and interact socially with other races. More likely they would visit an eat performing and talk afterwards about the new tricks their thralls learned.

Domination is difficult: Not only that Sigil prohibits the domination of other beings, its also impossible to do without consent from players. Everything you force upon a player needs consent. Dont get me wrong, its a good thing. It just makes it difficult for a mindflayer to play the assigned role. Not to mention that mind-affecting immunity is common on our server.
I'am glad that some players offer to play a thrall so an Illithid can truly play his role. However that leads to another obstacle - The master/slave relationship. It starts somehow, is maintained a certain time and ends someday. But how does an Illithid do this? Propably like it would be done in real life except that an illithid has the power to read the mind and convince better. So its rather done through mental manipulation then physical harm. Not that easy...

Characterbuilding: When people start to play a race like Beholder, Illithid, Hezrou, Golem or Undeads, most of them do it because they want to play the "race".
1) At the same time they project their own imagination on this creatures. As example constructs are things animated through binding a spirit into it. An awaken spell might grant this spirit greater intelligence, so it can think, learn, remember and unterstand more complex things but it does not grant emotions. We impute emotions to something because it feels more comfortable for the human mind behind the pc.
2) However a character consists of race, profession, personality, heritage, afflictions and probably even more. For a race like illithid its extremly hard to create a well-rounded character because we know so little about their culture. Playing only a race often becomes a problem when people of the same race meet each other. I think its not the same appearance but the lack of personality and a real background that makes it a weird situation - at least at the bazaar.

Proper Environment: Roleplay depends much on its environment. What would a group of mindf flayers do at sigil's bazaar? Probably shopping. What would they do within a hive cluster? Propably train their thralls, enjoy a eat perform, expriment, prepare targets for ceremorphosis...and so on. And within a faction? Though extractor once a month? The environment has a huge affect on how we roleplay.
*Xndar
Posts: 282
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *Xndar »


I think a lot of the above RP difficulties can be tentatively resolved by the simple fact that Illithid are rational and highly intelligent beings, even if they are also evil, egotistical, selfish and arrogant. I'm pretty sure somewhere in the psychology section of Lords of Madness they note that when confronted with creatures too powerful for them to dominate/enslave, they are apt to pursue either long-term plans of destruction, or else alliances for mutual gain (where the possibility of such exists).

Think about (though I am loathe to use this author's work as an example) the illithid vizier Matron Yvonne Baenre employed in the Driz'zt books. It advised her, interrogated prisoners and protected her mind against other psions. Did it probably give absolutely zero figs about Baenre, drow in general, or their society? Yep, but it was likely working toward a long-term goal for the Hive and thus adopted a subservient role (however much it likely galled the illithid in question).

Is an Illithid likely to be a bucket full of laughs or a good drinking buddy? Nope. But if you want a more personable sort of play-style for an illithid, you could always play up the sarcastic, dry humor that tends to come naturally to high-int characters.

The role your illithid takes on in Sigil society in general will depend on the Hive's goals. Will integration with the Factions be critical? If so, there are plenty that could find the illithid's talents invaluable, and if not they might form a mercantile cartel of some sort or another.

It will be a somewhat different play-style, but ultimately doable.
*Alersia
Posts: 308
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *Alersia »


@Info
We are currently 3 players (2x illithid 1 thrall) which are about level 21. A few more are catching up (2 llithids, 1 goblin thrall) i think.
*Born2BeWild
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *Born2BeWild »


Groovy is not a thrall, he is a friend!
*Whitefly
Posts: 315
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *Whitefly »


I'd be all in on this if the Psion class was fully implemented and unlocked. I had a little poke around the .2da files for it earlier today and it looks awesome :3 Can't wait!

But until Psion comes out, I don't really want to make an Illithid. It shouldn't be all about the class, but I love stuff like Psions and Truenamers and all those crazy unusual classes. They bring a special spark to the game for me ^^
*Azulfae
Posts: 238
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *Azulfae »


Is this group still active?

I've made an Illithid. 

Name: Synaaz
Class: Psion/Illithid Mentalist
Faction: Mercykiller 
(Aim is to be an interrogator for Sigil's Law factions, exploit the protection of such factions and siphon off prisoners to save room in the jail for Illithid thrall use.)

I see several squid heads around here.

I would very much support the establishment of an Elder Brain in Sigil. Perhaps in RP near the mind flayer area. 
*witchinghour
Posts: 188
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *witchinghour »


I don't think this group has been active in over a year, but you're free to pick it up if you'd like! Considering most of the players haven't been active in a year or more.
*Azulfae
Posts: 238
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am

Posted by *Azulfae »


It seems it died whilst people were waiting for the psonic classes to become active. Now they are. Sigil needs some darkness beneath the surface again. Some menacing groups of evil bastards working on dark interests behind the infrastructure. Illithids are the best race at this. They even make Drow look and feel like infants.
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