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PattPlays
Senior Scribe
469 Posts |
 Posted - 25 Oct 2020 : 08:16:19
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I have used a Gith (githyanki in this instance) settlement as a seemingly random element of my homebrew campaign's local setting and they served to reflect that area's worldbuilding values back at itself in a very novel way. 5e realma has really lacked for Gith presence upon Toril, especially with little presence of Mind Flayer colonies explicitly. Sure recent core rulebooks have given loads of lore, stats, and explanation of the gith and the illithid since Volo's and Mordenkainen's (either of which can show up as actual books im your Fprgotten Realms campaigns). However I don't recall seeing anything Gith related in amy of the recently published adventures set on Toril proper..
So! I was wondering if any DM's here (of any edition) have any recollection of vacant spaces in the play-area of any given published campaign area where it could be written in that a small breeding colony of Githzerai are located, likely with some Red Dragon rearing as well, in a way that would surprise players and shake up the campaign from what it used to be. Like having the great modron marh ambush the battlefields of Rise of Tiamat's climax (or those of the blood war in BGDIAvernus).
That- or is there a vast space on Toril's surface that you could imagine enjoying dropping in an illithid-cleansing patrol visit from the githzerai by way of a 7 mile devastation field surrounding a grounded-nuclear-bomb-level depression housing a githzerai anarch's citadel.
Personally I think it would be *insane* to horribly derain a Tomb of Annihilation hex crawl with veteran players by rolling a random locatoon on Chult to crash an anarch's citadel onto by way of a plane-shift spell powerful enough to hoist an almost neutron-star-density hunk of mass and visible as a torn-open giant gate to limbo in the sky over a period of a few minutes.
What if you completely swapped out or added in a settlement in Ten Towns in ROTFM with a githyanki town rearing red dragons in the cold. They could have some absurd campaign-derailing heat-source being used to incubate eggs.
Where and how would you slip in some Gith temporal visits in your game if you were going to?
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:The world's greatest OOTA fan/critic: :"Powder kegs within powder kegs!": :Meta-Dimensional Cheese: :Why is the Wand of Orcus just back?: :We still don't know the nature of Souls and the Positive Energy Plane: :PC on profile, Aldritch Elpyptrat Maxinfield: :Helljumpers, Bungie.net: :Rock Hard Gladiator, RIP Fluidanim, Long Live Pluto: :IRC lives:
https://thisisstorytelling.wordpress.com
T_P_T |
Edited by - PattPlays on 25 Oct 2020 08:28:45
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7969 Posts |
Posted - 25 Oct 2020 : 09:56:27
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Giths can planeshift at will (described in planeslore as them literally "stepping between worlds"). So their strongholds are located in the Astral or Limbo or wherever. They're unassailable to anyone lacking similar planar talents. They use this advantage constantly when dealing with other species.
So why would they "colonize" the Realms? As in, why would they exile themselves to one world and deny themselves their greatest advantage? They send scouting parties, hunting parties, raiding parties, and other military expeditions. They focus on achieving their objective(s) quickly and efficiently, they don't want to be stuck on some backwater mudball. I recall an adventure with a pair of githyanki - they'd been sent to Oerth to recover a stolen silver sword, they refused to return without it (because failure equals death, death before failure) - they were the last survivors of their expedition, and they utterly hated everything about the world after just weeks of being there, arguing bitterly about whether they should call it "imprisonment" or "exile".
Gith Pirates in Spelljammer still operate from the Astral, mostly. Unless they're somehow unable to access the Astral (because stuck in the Phlogiston, etc).
Giths in Darksun are unable to leave Athas because nobody can leave Athas, lol. And they've been stuck there so long that they're now a devolved degenerate species variant.
You might be interested in this ancient scroll.
http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14329&whichpage=1 |
[/Ayrik] |
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PattPlays
Senior Scribe
469 Posts |
Posted - 25 Oct 2020 : 12:02:15
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| Gith must travel to the material to experience time to have children and to raise them. |
:The world's greatest OOTA fan/critic: :"Powder kegs within powder kegs!": :Meta-Dimensional Cheese: :Why is the Wand of Orcus just back?: :We still don't know the nature of Souls and the Positive Energy Plane: :PC on profile, Aldritch Elpyptrat Maxinfield: :Helljumpers, Bungie.net: :Rock Hard Gladiator, RIP Fluidanim, Long Live Pluto: :IRC lives:
https://thisisstorytelling.wordpress.com
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7969 Posts |
Posted - 25 Oct 2020 : 12:55:16
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Giths could raise children anywhere. Their children would experience subjective time and grow into adults normally on the Astral. Just at one-tenth the rate as seen from the objective perspective of other planes.
I suppose they could accelerate their population growth on the Astral tenfold if they colonize other planes. Except that giths born elsewhere will not be "planars" (in the old Planescape rules, anyhow) and will therefore lack their Astral-native species ability to planeshift ... they would effectively become permanent locals in the places they were born.
Also, the Astral is seemingly infinite but it has finite (known) resources which can sustain civilization and habitation. Many giths already war with each other (and with everyone else) over these resources. Overpopulation (from accelerated population growth) would inflate these conflicts greatly, and it would consume/waste limited resources in a self-defeating effort to prevail in the endless conflict over limited resources.
I did read an adventure which involved the ruins of a gith citadel containing a silver forge. Which is necessary for them to craft their famous silver swords. It was suggested that the forging process involves exposure to many different planes and worlds - it's how these swords are "attuned" to everywhere in the cosmos instead of having their magic/psionic powers anchored to any single plane of existence. A good possibility for why they might establish "permanent" occupation sites away from the Astral. |
[/Ayrik] |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11695 Posts |
Posted - 25 Oct 2020 : 14:00:01
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I forget where, but I remember reading what Pattplays describes (that Gith have to leave the astral to age to adulthood. I want to say it was back in some 3e resource.
As to where you could stick a gith settlement that's out o the way and where you might have some red dragons, you could stick them pretty much in dozens of places in Faerun, but why not stick them somewhere OUT of Faerun so that you don't have to "work it". If you look at northeastern anchorome. there's a long peninsula headed towards Faerun. It almost looks like a long stretch that could be caused by continued volcanic activity. Having this area being volcanic also makes it less likely that the area is just a frozen wasteland. I could see a volcanic mountain that's got underdark connections, perhaps a hidden spelljammer dock, with some young red dragons, etc... and absolutely noone would bitch about it being there because noone but a few folks are even remotely talking about what to do with the area.
Also, wasn't stardock recently introduced to have been taken over by githyanki (would have to look at the waterdeep adventure). |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3737 Posts |
Posted - 25 Oct 2020 : 15:22:22
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-Not really that related, but the Gith and the lore behind them is pretty cool and well thought out.
-More related to the actual question, I don't think I've ever introduced a..."big time" random event into the middle of a game. Like I've used random d100 charts to spice up travel with events that might take place, some of which have grown into a little more in games, but never anything big like the Blood War or the Modron March. |
(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)
Elves of Faerūn
Vol I- The Elves of Faerūn
Vol. III- Spells of the Elves
Vol. VI- Mechanical Compendium |
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PattPlays
Senior Scribe
469 Posts |
Posted - 25 Oct 2020 : 16:32:58
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quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
I forget where, but I remember reading what Pattplays describes (that Gith have to leave the astral to age to adulthood. I want to say it was back in some 3e resource.
My source is 5e. To quote from my copy of Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes:
"ONLY THE BEST SURVIVE:
The githyanki raise their young in hidden cre'ches that they construct in far-flung place son the Material Plane. Such measures are necessary because birth and growth are impossible on the Astral Plane, whose occupants don't age. The adult overseers in these places train young githyanki to harness their psychic and physical abilities." They also hatch from eggs.. and wait- their astral ships have HELMS? Githyanki can traverse the phlogiston?! Perhaps a 5e editor just mashed up planescape and spelljammer terms when writing this.
and for the anrch's citadels..
"The appearance of an adamantine citadel on another plane creates a blot on the natural world. Life, the one thing that can't be spontaneously created from the stuff of Limbo, is driven away from the location in a wave of dread. Depending on the size of the citadel, the affected area can have a radius of between several hundred feet and several miles. Birds avoid flying over or neat it, other animals flee the area, and plants in the vicinity wither and die." |
:The world's greatest OOTA fan/critic: :"Powder kegs within powder kegs!": :Meta-Dimensional Cheese: :Why is the Wand of Orcus just back?: :We still don't know the nature of Souls and the Positive Energy Plane: :PC on profile, Aldritch Elpyptrat Maxinfield: :Helljumpers, Bungie.net: :Rock Hard Gladiator, RIP Fluidanim, Long Live Pluto: :IRC lives:
https://thisisstorytelling.wordpress.com
T_P_T |
Edited by - PattPlays on 25 Oct 2020 16:34:20 |
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cpthero2
Great Reader
USA
2285 Posts |
Posted - 26 Oct 2020 : 03:14:42
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Learned Scribe PattPlays,
quote:
So! I was wondering if any DM's here (of any edition) have any recollection of vacant spaces in the play-area of any given published campaign area where it could be written in that a small breeding colony of Githzerai are located, likely with some Red Dragon rearing as well, in a way that would surprise players and shake up the campaign from what it used to be. Like having the great modron marh ambush the battlefields of Rise of Tiamat's climax (or those of the blood war in BGDIAvernus).
Well, how about a black dragon called Insithryllax, from the area of the Shaar? It is a large, open area that could have that (7) mile devastation zone, while at the same time allowing for any Githzerai to go unnoticed for the most part, and if on the eastern side, could allow you to gain access to water ports easily.
Best regards,
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Higher Atlar
Spirit Soaring |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7969 Posts |
Posted - 26 Oct 2020 : 04:00:53
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This 5E source seems retcon to me.
Perfectly fine standalone lore full of interesting possibilities.
But incompatible with a vast collection of earlier (mostly 2E) lore full of interesting possibilities.
Giths and illithids will kill each other on sight. Gith children get trained and educated into capable (or dead) illithid-killing gith adults - but until they've grown enough they remain vulnerable and would have to be protected. So I imagine giths would avoid settling any terrain which is preferred by illithids. No caverns or pools of water nearby if they can avoid it.
Giths would be hated on sight by all other races, much like the drow are hated on sight, except that few people would know or recognize giths. Still, they'd want remote isolated areas and no contact with outsiders. Because, again, their young are a precious liability which must be protected. Their lich-queen has established a sort of alliance with red dragons, so they might be able to make some sort of agreement to inhabit a red's territory (perhaps even a deal to protect young red dragons which are also not grown enough to properly defend themselves). Giths seem likely to associate with drow - but very carefully, very suspiciously - because their unique abilities and interests would work well in combination. They seem unlikely to associate with mages, liches, and shades - because these beings could all prove extremely dangerous to a planeshifter. They'd probably use illusion magics/psionics whenever they need to interact with locals (to obtain supplies and information).
I'd put them somewhere in the Ride north of the Moonsea, or Vaasa, or even at the fringes of the Anauroch. Somewhere "just off the edge of the map". I wouldn't put them anywhere close to cities or "populated" regions, I wouldn't put them anywhere near enough greenery to attract skulking elves, enough rocks to attract bellicose dwarves, enough comfort to attract smarmy halflings, or enough mystery to attract adventurous humans - because it would just be too much risk of too many encounters these ruthless xenophobes wouldn't tolerate near their young. They're evil and they're highly intelligent, they won't have any qualms over killing strays but they're also well aware of anything which could attract unwanted attention. Then again, maybe the giths could make "special arrangements" with Zhents or beholders, who knows.
I expect a settlement full of githy children will be able to call upon a Knight with a silver sword (along with his elite killer entourage), if needed. I expect they would observe, guard, and trap all approaches - indeed, the location ideally be "impossible" to access without using planeshift abilities, "impossible" to access without running into a planeshifting ambush. |
[/Ayrik] |
Edited by - Ayrik on 26 Oct 2020 04:17:03 |
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cpthero2
Great Reader
USA
2285 Posts |
Posted - 26 Oct 2020 : 04:35:23
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Great Reader Ayrik,
I was going to argue for the githzerai sticking with a very remote location such as the Shaar, however, the githzerai are known for performing better in severe weather locations that help them cover their tracks and what not. So, in that case, the north does seem like a better area, and there is a lot of space up there of course.
Great selection.
Best regards,
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Higher Atlar
Spirit Soaring |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7969 Posts |
Posted - 26 Oct 2020 : 06:42:04
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There could be any number of githyanki and githzerai enclaves. Unaware of each other. Specifically because they make efforts to be undetectable (or to at least leave no witnesses).
So the Shaar is just as valid as Vaasa. There's all sorts of secluded places scattered across the Realms.
Compare with the Saurials in their magically hidden vale. Located not very far from the heart of Cormyr, lol.
Compare with the "mithral/star elves" who have their own pocket feywild plane anchored to the Yuirwood. An extraplanar place which is always difficult to find ... and which can be locked from the other side. |
[/Ayrik] |
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cpthero2
Great Reader
USA
2285 Posts |
Posted - 26 Oct 2020 : 07:34:45
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Great Reader Ayrik,
True on the Shaar, I only meant that I feel your view of the north being most suitable is the superior point, due to the gith enjoying utilizing the weather to their advantage.
Other than that, I think they could just hide in northern Shou Lung, anywhere: the lore is so thin, it doesn't exist, right? ;) lol
Best regards,
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Higher Atlar
Spirit Soaring |
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Temporary Gith settlements for use in campaigns
