#illithid

[klyukvav]

Timelapse pushed me to try again to make a speedpaint, I don't know if it's interesting at all, but I'll just try to make at least a piece. I also don’t know if I will bring this work to some logical end because I just randomly wanted to draw my bg3 squid Zalret 🦑

[bigmfrat]

Join the Ceremorphosis Anonymous Discord Server!

LGBT community for Illithid enjoyers no matter what edition you prefer! | 452 members

It's been an age since I shilled the Squid Server.

If you're 18+ and enjoy Illithid (and other monsters), come join us 🦑💗

We have a lot of artists, writers, and easy access to canon dnd lore books.

[bigmfrat]

More artfight and a com

[bigmfrat]

Emperor in elephant slippers as per request

[diximixy]

I've had this character appear as of yesterday twice with a few years in between, in my dreams. So I decided to draw her finally and mske her an oc of mine. Named her Dahlia.

[bigmfrat]

Some artfight revenges from today and yesterday :) They belong to @z3phyr4s, Nip_Eternal, and @wyrmur

[bigmfrat]

Thank you Illithid fashion mod for giving me the ability to dye their clothes; however-

where they pants at

[thecrookedanimator]

Mind Flayer notes highlights

apparently I can get things done efficiently and concisely, just not for things of academic or monetary value.

anywho, mind flayers are neat. All of these are taken from the Mind Flayer Forgotten Realms wiki page with some commentary on my part and desperately hyper-fixating on BG3 and Gale specifically.

Appearance

Mouths are similar to lampreys just with thick slime dripping out (horrifying)

Tentacles can extend and are considered "incredibly dexterous and powerful" (cold showers, all of you)

Skin is slimy with mucus which can smell of garlic, onions, or vanilla when well fed.

Webbed feet may mean they are adept swimmers.

Blood is silvery-white.

Personality

Constantly seeking new information or re-checking old ones to see if they're still accurate (college in a nutshell)

View themselves as the supreme race that are actually helping other races by enthralling them, eating them, enslaving them- yeah I can see how Lovecraft inspired them.

Mind flayers can get very attached to their thralls, feeling "incomplete" without one, feeling pain when they die (whether emotional or physical is not described), and can lose their minds without one. They may play favorites, giving their favored one gifts. They also feel emotions very intensely, where they may behave without thinking (and I have another terrible role model for BPD /j)

Very, very, egotistical and ambitious. Their egos make it difficult to work together without the help/control of an elder brain. Wish to dominate every plane of existence, control everything, KILL THE FUCKING SUN (sometimes), and reestablish the Illithid empire.

Rumors

There are various species under the branch "Illithidae" AND I NEED TO KNOW THE ENTIRE ZOOLOGY OF THESE THINGS, WHERE IS THE $700 TEXTBOOK?

Nobody knows where the fuck they came from, how the fuck they got here, and when the fuck they showed up.

Abilities

Can teleport to other planes.

Can craft artifacts usable only by flayers or thralls.

Despise arcane magic (except for a few renegade illithids). Sorcerer mind flayers are not very common, but are much stronger than most mind flayers.

Culture

Flayer colonies can range from 200-2,000 (not counting thralls, slaves, farms, etc.) Colonies are hiveminds under the control of an elder brain.

Colonies are tiered through individuals, creeds, and elder concords. If several colonies share a goal, they will form a Grand Elder Concord.

Inquisitions are essentially mind flayer adventuring parties, cults are bigger inquisitions that go on more dangerous quests.

Renegade illithids are mind flayers with their own free will when separated from their elder brain and can establish their own colonies (sometimes turning into an elder brain themselves, Emperor, I am watching you).

Nobody knows how to make Nautiloids anymore, sad days.

Don't typically worship deities aside from Ilsensine, which is a more abstract idea with a few appearances from their image here and there within battles. There is also Maanzecorian, which seems to be a figure of knowledge and secrets, but seems to have been killed (somehow) in 14th century DR, although colonies following it reappeared in late 15th century DR.

They seem to enjoy and produce art with patterns and geometric shapes that give off emotions when viewed by other mind flayers (I need to see illithids debating art, PLEASE fight over Picasso)

Mind flayers have experimented with constructs and biological matter (experiments regarding ceremorphosis on different races and species will be discussed later), including cranium rats, golems, intellect devourers, and mind worms (WHICH ARE BIG ASS WORMS THAT LIVE IN WATER, ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT)

Typically respected by Underdark races, do not get along with gith.

Biology

They do not need thermal energy from the sun to survive, and can thrive from the heat within planets (put them in a heat wave)

Do not like bright light (pissing off the Emperor by clicking a flashlight on and off in its face), can see two extra colors in the spectrum.

Cannot smell.

I found an entire list of how different brains taste to them.

The reasoning behind flayers eating brains is that they need hormones, enzymes, and psychic energy, all of which found in brain tissue. They do also require water, and can eat organs to get enzymes and hormones- they mainly need psychic energy, which is apparently found in grey matter.

Mind flayers are sexless (non-binary hivemind, we love it) but may lay a clutch of eggs within their lifetime (WHO LAID THE EGGS THAT PRODUCED THE TADPOLYCULE? EMPEROR OVIPOSITION CONFIRMED??? HOW FUCKING MANY DO THEY LAY IN A SINGLE CLUTCH? ARE THEY LIKE WHIPTAIL LIZARDS????)

Tadpoles are kept for 10 years until they reach maturity, in which they are assisted by caretakers into ceremorphosis. If they do not go through this process for any reason, they could become illithocytes or neothelids, neither of which are well-liked by mind flayers.

Now for the ceremorphs/flayer-kin

anywho I love taking notes on stuff, expect plenty more as I research more of the stuff in BG3 for the fancomic :3

also Gale is absolutely fucked if he marries a mind-flayer, sorry to say, he's getting eaten and not in the fun way.

AND! I WOULD LIKE TO SAY!!! I absolutely recommend reading through the page, as I passed over a lot of stuff that wouldn't be relevant to the comic, but there is so much detail put into the creatures, and it is fascinating to learn about.