Baldur's Gate 3: Why Would An Illithid Leave Their Kind?

you're probably at least a little familiar with mind flares or illithids by now since they seemingly play an integral role in the plot of Baldur's Gate 3 and illiths are indeed fascinating if not terrifying creatures but not all elephants fit the mold of what you might have come to expect with respect to them indeed we meet one such one in the underdark amalum in Baldur's Gate 3 who is a member of the Society of Brilliance showing us that not all illithids conform to the expectation of a tentacled villain seeking to dominate all sentient creatures albums example of or although rare is not entirely unique and there is more than one way an illith might affect from its Society this then is the purpose of this video to explore the few ways illithids might diverge for both good or ill from the classic aberration we've come to expect of them to understand why a mind flare might defect from its Community whatever the specific intent behind it it would be wise to understand how illithid Society Works mind flares are by their very nature collectivists in the extreme dream which is something easily forgotten as one tends to focus on their evil and less so on the strict hierarchy that governs their lives to be sure ilethids do want to blot out the Sun and sink the world into Eternal Darkness but there are rules on how they wish to achieve that ill of that societies based on the premise that all creatures are beneath them to either exist as a source of food to serve them as slaves or thralls or as vessels for their parasitic reproduction and within this broad perspective is the view that illithids should dominate the world and even the Multiverse which they view as a chaotic fragile thing deeply in need of caretaking in order of the sort that only the illithids can deliver megalomaniacal in the extreme they believe that dominating devouring and enslaving others is in fact granting the Lesser racist a gift that they are simply too stupid to comprehend or recognize although competitive with each other and ruthless being extremely lawful creatures and collectivists in Nature illithib's View gaining knowledge and power at the end individual level as beneficial to the group as it potentially adds resources to the greater Collective to a mind player knowledge is power which on the face of it seems cliche and yet when one considers how physically weak they are but how mentally prodigious they are it makes perfect sense elothids will routinely go to Great Lengths to acquire knowledge if they deem it useful and will kill bargain trade and steal and do just about anything else to obtain it if they feel the knowledge is Justified illith is rarely if ever share the same range of emotions as humans and demi-humans do as the range of their emotions would typically be described as negative Envy hatred pride and other negative emotions are not infrequent and the closest emotion a mind flayer might have to Joy is the sensation of pleasure it has as it devours the brain of a lesser creature as different brains provide different sensations of pleasure and enjoyment to a mind flare mind flare communities or cities if one wishes to use the term are comparatively small numbering from a few hundred individuals to a few thousand at most in terms of actual illithids and many many more of one Count's thralls and food stock and it is from here that they plan and plot but every ill with the community is dominated by one creature that controls virtually all things and that is the elder brain the Elder brain is the centerpiece and linchpin of any an all-elected society as integral to a functional community and most illiths follow a particular life path they are created through the process of seromorphosis a process you are likely familiar with by now here a tadpole is placed under the eye in the nostril or in the ear of a humanoid and the ilitha tadpole buries itself into the brain of the victim if all goes according to plan then an illithid will be born after approximately a week something the heroes of Ballers gave three are an exception to for obvious plot armor driven reasons and after this the illith although seemingly an adult requires mentorship to mentally encycl ecologically mature for which a period of 20 years is typically required an illith it usually lives for approximately 120 years at the end of this life cycle in ilford's brains collected and added to the massive brains that make up the Elder brain and illiths commonly believe that their Essence will be added to it becoming part of a collective consciousness of the Elder brain and thus living on in some capacity however the great secret known typically only to the Elder brain is that only the collective knowledge of the deceased illithids is absorbed as the Elder brain is actually a singular Consciousness possessed a collective knowledge rather than a collection of consciousnesses meaning that illithids are deceived and do not live on as part of the consciousness of the Elder brain this secret is guarded with utmost scrutiny as were to be known that common illithids were being lied to about their ultimate fate it would almost certainly lead to rebellion and defection and indeed when an elephant does defect from greater mind flayer Society it necessary necessarily means that it is cutting ties from the Elder brain as Elder brains are in constant telepathic communication with illithids within several miles under their Sway and in many cases have complete control over them the primary and most natural way in which illith is might part ways from the standard life cycle of their kin is for an ulathar to be born between only 1 and 25 to 1 in 100 mine flare tadpoles will evolve into a so-called ulatharid which is effectively the equivalent of a Noble in illithus society they are smarter stronger longer lived and more powerful and typically possess six long tentacles instead of the shorter standard four whereas normally an elder brain has control over illithids and other tharid is not subject to the control of an elder brain and eventually most ulothyroids will seek to break free from their original Community taking several normal illicit followers with them and it is in this manner that new illicit communities are formed when the new Authority ages and eventually dies its brain famous place in a vat to become a larval Elder brain and the cycle has begun Anew as the brains of deceased illithates are added to it adding to its knowledge base and power but true Renegades are those who wholly reject the aforementioned life paths available to the illithids for Less predictable reasons exceedingly rare are mind flares that for reasons unknown reject the deep-seated and intrinsic evil of the species if nothing else exceptions prove the rule this usually requires a trait that allows them to break free in the first place omelum the orthod you can meet in the underdark and member of the Society of Brilliance states that it is broken free at the Grand Design which refers the illithid's desire to rebuild their Lost Empire and their long-term goals and plans such illithids are rarely good in any traditional sense and tend towards much more neutral alignments but neither do they desire to pursue the standard activities of domination of so-called lesser species and races and they become targets to be eliminated by the Elder brain through its normal illicit agents as those who break free from the Elder brain's control are always considered a threat to its Authority consequently all of Mind flayer Society perhaps the greatest threats and renegades within illicit Society are those mind flayers who either discover magical aptitude as amalum did or choose to practice Arcane magic for whatever reason mind flayer culture views Arcane magic as an Abomination something unnatural and worthy of being purged from the universe viewing only their own psionic and mental Powers as appropriate a large part of this view is cultivated as could be expected by the Elder brain because Arcane power is something that could lead to an upset in the balance of power thus undermining the Elder brain's influence and control however because illithids are supremely intelligent and intelligence is the muscle of the wizard when illithids do study the Arcane they tend to excel at it and indeed are fully capable of combining their native psionic Powers with any Arcane spells they might have learned and for these reasons when a magic reeling illithib becomes known it will be ruthlessly hunted down as it will be perceived as a threat to the Grand Design of illithit society omelam itself tells you as much as it was born with a propensity for Arcane magic such magic wielding illithids are exceptionally dangerous both in part due to their Arcane power coupled by their normal abilities but also in part due to their desperation and the situation they find themselves in with no allies either within mind flayer Society or outside of it often finding themselves resorting to The Most Extreme Measures in order to survive and not all such illithids are of the somewhat benign nature we encounter in omelim essentially any and all illithids that do not fall in line with the established hierarchy of Mind flayer Society with the Elder brain at the top will be deemed Renegades and dangerous and therefore worthy of Destruction which leads us to the question as to how the tadpole infected adventurers fit into this because stasis controlled tadpole are definitely not part of the standard mind player protocol and what is most obvious is the Curious absence of any real mention of an elder brain in Baldur's Gate 3. hinting at the rather obvious magical nature of the tadpoles something that no Elder brain would ever agree to and thus giving us hard evidence that the entire plot that has been contrived around the Mind players has not been voluntary in their part and that something most certainly is taking control of them from the outside this much we know they are a means to an end but not the end itself they are simply a tool for somebody else's goals as always thank you for tuning in please leave a like comment share and subscribe as it really helps out the channel and I'll check you out later take care

Channel: Spell&Shield

Views: 5,707

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Id: O67yqCf79fo

Length: 9min 45sec (585 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 07 2022