Gith and Their Endless War

The story of the gith is rooted in a cruel twist of cosmic fate. Inspired by the great leader for whom the race is named, the gith rose up to overthrow the mind flayers that held them in servitude. But after they won their freedom, two factions among the gith disagreed on what kind of civilization they would forge. That disagreement quickly flared into open hostility, and the two groups distanced themselves from one another to pursue their separate agendas. They remain bitter enemies today, each side willing to fight to the death whenever they cross paths.

The githyanki were motivated by revenge and convinced that they deserved to take whatever they wanted from the worlds they traveled. Ranging out from the titanic city of Tu’narath on the Astral Plane, they send raiders out to plunder the Material Plane and other worlds, bringing treasures and slaves back to their ageless realm. At the same time, they hunt down and kill mind flayers whenever possible, as recompense for what the illithids did to them.

The githzerai believed that the path to an enlightened civilization lay in seclusion, not conflict. Their dedication to the principles of order is so strong that they can manipulate the stuff of chaos and use it to their benefit; thus, they have carved out a stronghold for themselves on the plane of Limbo that is virtually impervious. Though the githzerai are pacifists by nature, they share the githyanki’s racial hatred for mind flayers, and from time to time they send out squads to destroy illithid outposts.

If the two races were ever to team up against the illithids, a combined force of gith could conceivably tip the balance in their favor. But as long as the githyanki and githzerai stay at each other’s throats, their goal of ultimate victory over their original common enemy will likely remain unachieved.

Githyanki

Since winning their freedom from the mind flayers, the githyanki have become corrupt raiders and destroyers under the rulership of their dread lich-queen, Vlaakith. They dwell on the Astral Plane in the city of Tu’narath, a metropolis built on and in the corpse of a deity.

Vlaakith commands the loyalty of the githyanki from her personal stronghold, Susurrus, also called the Palace of Whispers, which is located deep inside the floating city. She sits on her Throne of Bones, a mighty artifact fueled by the intellects of mind flayers and elder brains that were defeated by her minions. It is crafted from mind flayer skulls and extremities, and the cushion she sits on is made of leather produced from the cured remains of an elder brain. A grand statue of Gith, an obsidian monument over 100 feet tall, stands beside the palace.

The Revered Queen

To slay in her name is our greatest service. To die in her name is our last act of reverence.

• Meldavh, githyanki knight

Vlaakith sits at the center of everything concerning the githyanki. She is their ruler in every sphere of activity and, as such, demands and receives utter obedience.

During the war with the illithids, Vlaakith urged Gith to seek out allies from among the planes and in particular advised her to seek counsel with Tiamat. Gith agreed to venture into the Nine Hells to forge an alliance with the Queen of Dragons. She didn’t return. Instead, the great red dragon Ephelomon brought news to the gith: Tiamat had pledged many of her red dragon servants to the gith cause. They would refrain from attacking gith and would provide support against the illithids and protection for the gith’s outposts on the Material Plane. In return, a few select young dragons would serve alongside the gith for a time, for purposes known only to Tiamat. Ephelomon also proclaimed that Vlaakith was to rule in Gith’s place until she returned.

After the gith overthrew the mind flayers and Zerthimon’s followers began to emerge as a threat to Gith’s preeminence, Vlaakith played a critical role in ensuring that the githyanki under her rule were protected from an immediate, direct assault by their kin. Using her mastery of arcane magic, she helped the githyanki establish a permanent stronghold on the Astral Plane. From there, she began making plans to strike back at both the hated mind flayers and the traitorous githzerai.

The Grand Proclamation

Vlaakith cemented her position as the supreme ruler of the githyanki with a grand proclamation that defined the githyanki’s all-encompassing mission. They had been bred and trained for war by their one-time masters and had never known anything other than a martial existence. They needed a clear purpose and a forceful commander to spur them on, and Vlaakith provided both.

Vlaakith decreed that, having defeated the mind flayers, the githyanki would take the place of the illithids as sovereigns of the Material Plane. The many worlds of the Material Plane would be the githyanki’s gardens, prime for harvesting as they saw fit. The Astral Plane would be their home domain, because in that timeless realm they could ignore the need for food, water, and other mundane concerns that plague lesser races.

Vlaakith also proclaimed that githyanki who proved themselves skilled in battle would ascend to an even greater paradise. A long lifetime of service would earn any githyanki a journey to the boundless delights of her innermost court-the wondrous realm that Gith discovered in her journeys, and where she awaits those who have proven themselves worthy.

The Bitter Truth

In the time since Vlaakith made this promise to her people, she has called many of the most formidable githyanki warriors to their reward. At the culmination of a grand ceremony that supposedly readies them for their journey to where Gith awaits, the supplicants enter her inner sanctum and are never seen again.

In truth, instead of sending them to paradise, Vlaakith drains their souls and absorbs their strength, gaining more power with every “ascension.” Her knowledge of arcane magic equals that of a conclave of archmages, while her combat skill matches the combined talents of hundreds of sword masters.

Perhaps the lich-queen’s promise isn’t a complete fabrication, but no others can say for sure. If Vlaakith knows anything more, she has taken drastic measures to keep it secret. A few sages and spellcasters have sought to learn the truth about Gith’s fate using arcane magic, only to fall victim to a bizarre curse that transforms them into the formless creatures known as allips.

All attempts to learn about Gith through divine magic return utter silence. Those who try experience a strange sensation, as if their minds were teetering on the edge of a great abyss, one that spans time, space, and memory.

Born to Serve

Under the illithids, we and the githyanki fought and died across a thousand worlds for implacable masters. Under Vlaakith, our kin fight and die across a thousand words for an implacable master. And they call that liberation?

• Adaka Fell Hand, githzerai monk

From birth, githyanki are conditioned to fight and die for their queen. Children endure a brutal upbringing that constantly preaches devotion to Vlaakith. Each of the fortified settlements where young githyanki are raised and trained is a combination of military academy and cult headquarters.

Only the Best Survive

The githyanki raise their young in hidden crèches that they construct in far-flung places on 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.

Githyanki hatch from eggs. Each newborn enters the world alongside other eggs deliberately laid so that all hatch at the same time. Since githyanki adults must return to the Astral Plane to keep from aging significantly, the roster of instructors continually changes, with no adult staying longer than a few months and none ever returning for a second stint.

The instruction that young githyanki undergo is unrelenting and unforgiving. As a crop of youngsters grows older, more and more is demanded from each student, and the penalties for failing to keep up become more and more severe. In the early stages, combat practice lasts only until a wound is scored. Later, near the end of training, a drill of the same sort might be a fight to the death-the ultimate way of weeding out all those who don’t meet Vlaakith’s standards. To the githyanki, it’s better for a weakling to die in training than to undertake a mission and imperil a war band.

Final Test of Loyalty

By the time a group of githyanki come of age, they have heard years of stories of Vlaakith and her immortal warriors dwelling in the silvery void. The young are told they are on the verge of entering the queen’s realm, each one of them destined to take a special place in the society. Their skills have proven them worthy, and now only their loyalty to the Revered Queen remains to be determined.

As their last test, a group of githyanki entering adulthood must slay a mind flayer as a sacred rite of passage before they are permitted to join their people on the Astral Plane. When the victors enter Tu’narath for the first time, they carry the bounty of their hunt directly to Vlaakith. She accepts the gift and intones a ritual chant that marks the youngsters' induction into githyanki society.

Vlaakith’s Dilemma

Long gone are the days when the gith race was fully embroiled in conflict. When the githyanki settled Tu’narath and took up residence in the Astral Plane, they no longer had to fight constantly for survival, and in that respect the lives of all githyanki became easier.

The mission laid out by Vlaakith in her grand proclamation remains of utmost importance. Her rule remains absolute, in part because she suffers no competition or divergent viewpoints. And her regime is in no danger, yet to an outsider in Tu’narath it might seem as though the place is in decline.

Indeed, in a way the githyanki are victims of their own success. After centuries of staging lucrative raids throughout the multiverse, the folk of Tu’narath have become spoiled and decadent. Vlaakith can still summon her people to action, and when she does so they obey her willingly. But when they aren’t otherwise occupied, many of the citizens of the city spend their time in self-indulgent activities.

For all her seeming invincibility, Vlaakith finds herself in an awkward situation that—in her paranoid mind—has no easy resolution. If she keeps her people busy more often by ordering an increase in raids, she risks her best warriors and marauders becoming experienced and powerful enough to challenge her rule. Also, if she sends out too many raiding parties at one time, the security of Tu’narath might be compromised. So she addresses the problem by not dealing with it directly, but by trying to encourage her indolent followers to find purpose in meaningful activities that don’t involve plundering and killing. She isn’t always successful in that effort.

Merciless Marauders

When Vlaakith decrees that another githyanki raid is in the offing, Tu’narath comes alive with anticipation. The knights and other soldiers selected for the mission consider it a high privilege. All the raiders do their best to honor Vlaakith by savaging their target-killing creatures indiscriminately, taking whatever treasures catch their fancy, and leaving destruction in their wake.

When one of the githyanki’s astral vessels returns home after a raid, it is laden with the spoils of the incursion. Vlaakith makes no specific demands but allows each individual raider freedom of choice in what they bring back. Some might seek exotic spices and herbs, while others pillage to find scrolls or tomes of knowledge. As a result, Tu’narath is cluttered (if not crowded) by a nearly infinite variety of objects that the githyanki have pirated from other planes, ranging in size from enormous buildings down to the smallest pieces of exquisite jewelry.

Indolent Dilettantes

As a race bred and shaped by the mind flayers for a life of fighting, the githyanki never knew anything else while they were enslaved. Now that they aren’t constantly at war, keeping her people occupied is perhaps the greatest challenge Vlaakith faces.

When githyanki aren’t on raids or other missions for Vlaakith, they enjoy a languid existence in Tu’narath. Since time doesn’t pass on the Astral Plane, the githyanki have no need to labor for food or water. To keep their minds sharp, Vlaakith orders them to pursue a variety of arts and studies. She regularly arranges contests, scavenger hunts, and other trials to keep her servants involved in purposeful activity, but the attraction of such diversions wears off after a brief time. Most of the citizens of Tu’narath, when they haven’t been called for duty on a raid or for some other mission, indulge themselves in any way they see fit.

Githyanki, with an infinite amount of time on their hands, crave novelty. They expect every returning raid to provide new forms of entertainment. This preoccupation with newness stands at the hollow center of githyanki culture. They dabble in creating art, but never master it. They stand among treasures taken from countless worlds but are never truly appreciative of them. The githyanki flit from topic to topic, craft to craft, never settling on one endeavor for long. Tu’narath is littered with half-built sculptures, partially completed frescoes, and other unfinished works of all sorts. The githyanki simply abandon personal projects that bore them, and every such endeavor they undertake ends in this manner.

A Blade Kept Sharp

Despite the decadent lifestyle the githyanki indulge in, they remain in fighting shape. All are required to attend weapon and combat drills, which serve as a brief respite from their boredom.

Vlaakith, of course, stands atop the githyanki military hierarchy. Under her serve the supreme commanders, each of whom oversees a regiment of one thousand githyanki warriors. Ten kith’rak, each responsible for a company of one hundred, answer to a commander. Each kith’rak in turn commands ten sarths, each of whom leads a party of ten warriors. A githyanki war leader retains that status in times of peace, looking after her underlings and maintaining their discipline and combat training.

Knights: A Breed Apart

I am her will made manifest.

I am her unsheathed sword.

I am a master of dragons.

I am the fate of all worlds.

I am a knight of Vlaakith.

Ever may she reign.

• Battle hymn of the githyanki knights

Githyanki knights are warriors, spellcasters, and scouts of exceptional ability devoted to the unflagging service of Vlaakith. Knights report directly to the queen and aren’t part of the military hierarchy. The personnel for any important mission includes at least one knight, and every githyanki fortress or outpost across the multiverse is administered by at least one knight in residence. Knights are selected for their roles based on their martial and psionic potential, and young githyanki who pass muster are inducted into service soon after they enter Tu’narath for the first time.

Knights are always involved in important decisions, and it is forbidden to keep secrets from them. They act as commissars and enforcers of Vlaakith’s will. They are the rough equivalent of religious figures in githyanki culture, although the githyanki have no priests or clerics of normal sort.

The Spoils of War

An individual githyanki’s weapons and armor are ornate and decorated with trophies taken on raids. With each new victory, a warrior brings home a token to serve as a memento. Anything might strike a githyanki’s fancy, from a jewel taken from the pommel of a fallen opponent’s sword to colorful banners taken from a plundered castle that, preserved by the timeless nature of the Astral Plane, keep their original vibrant hue for centuries. The more baroque and ostentatious a raid token is, the more likely it is to be admired by one’s fellow warriors.

Two aspects of their nature set knights apart from other githyanki. Each knight wields a cherished silver greatsword that imparts special powers to its owner, and the knights are among the few githyanki who can not only travel psionically between planes, but can also take allies along with them. Knights often emerge from planar travel astride the backs of red dragons, which have been serving the githyanki as allies ever since their time of enslavement under the mind flayers.

Silver Swords

The first silver swords were created eons ago, when the gith were still a single race, by those who would become the first githyanki knights. A silver sword, which functions as a +3 greatsword, is a conduit through which its wielder can assail a foe both physically and psychically. The weapon is particularly effective on the Astral Plane against any travelers who are connected to their physical bodies by a silver cord-a strike against such an enemy has a chance of severing the silver cord, causing instant death.

Knights and their silver swords are inseparable, and a knight will fight to the death to prevent the loss of its weapon. If a silver sword falls into the possession of someone other than a githyanki, Vlaakith sends a squad of knights out from Tu’narath to destroy the malefactor and recover the weapon.

• Greater Silver Sword

Dragon Steeds

The relationship between githyanki and red dragons has remained basically unchanged since ancient times. Under the terms of the alliance with Tiamat, a small cadre of dragons serve as cohorts and mounts for knights and other high-ranking githyanki. The dragons remain above githyanki politics. They obey the orders of their riders and fulfill their terms of service without offering opinions or advice.

Red dragons typically serve the githyanki during their younger years. Once a dragon reaches adulthood, it is dismissed and replaced with a younger dragon, taking with it the loot it has accumulated on raids.

Since dragons don’t age while on the Astral Plane, they don’t grow in size or capability. In order to become both stronger and richer, they prefer to spend as much time as possible engaged in raids on the Material Plane or other realms. The best duty of all for a dragon is being tasked to guard a githyanki crèche on the Material Plane, a posting that could last for years. Not only does it receive treasure as compensation, the dragon ages normally while completing its service, so that it reaches adulthood sooner than the dragon cohorts that are stationed in Tu’narath.

The dragons that are bound to serve githyanki consider their assignment an irritant but aren’t hostile. They resent their masters, but the promise of loot makes them eager to participate in raids. As part of the compact with Tiamat, the githyanki are forbidden from using psionics or magic to compel their dragon allies' actions or read their minds. A dragon remains a loyal ally as long as its riders and handlers treat it with respect and it gets plenty of opportunities to pillage.

Terror from the Sky

We praised Pelor when we realized the shapes above us were not dragons. We cursed him when we saw they were the airships of the githyanki.

• Lord Kedrek Thoroden, Marshal of the Eastern Reach

During the great war between the mind flayers and the gith, one of the githyanki’s greatest achievements was their discovery of the magic that mind flayers used to produce and propel the flying vessels that the illithids used to travel between worlds.

Now, the githyanki scour the worlds of the Material Plane in their versions of those craft. Their astral ships are ideal for carrying troops and the spoils of their raids. Their wizards' divination magic seeks out great treasures. Under the guidance of Vlaakith, the supreme leaders organize raiding parties and dispatch them to return with the spoils of war.

The githyanki sky ships attack from above in the dead of night, gaining an instant advantage since communities on the surface rarely offer strong defenses against attacks from the air. Red dragons ridden by knights accompany the vessels, serving as outriders and shock trips to pave the way for the githyanki warriors to descend en masse.

In battle, the githyanki use mobile tactics combining psionics and magic to devastate their foes. They hit hard, setting buildings aflame and killing all in their path, to foster a panic among their victims that cripples any hope of an organized defense.

Because the githyanki strike to plunder rather than conquer, raiders linger over their target for no more than a few hours. By daybreak the attackers are gone, purposely leaving behind enough survivors to rebuild the ruined community-so that the githyanki might visit the place years or decades later and lay it low all over again.

The Helm

To enable them to traverse the skies and travel between planes, each githyanki ship is powered by a helm, a magical device in the form of a throne-like chair that converts psychic energy into motive force. A gish, a githyanki who excels as both a warrior and a spellcaster, most commonly occupies the helm. A gish uses its combination of abilities to pilot the ship and also take part in the inevitable battle that awaits the vessel at the end of its voyage. The rest of a ship’s crew is made up of warriors who manage the craft’s weapons and serve as lookouts.

Astral Skiff

An astral skiff is operated by a crew of three and carries up to a dozen passengers. The githyanki employ this small vessel, 30 feet long and 10 feet wide, for patrols in the Astral Plane and for quick raids in pursuit of specific objects on the Material Plane. A skiff has a top speed of 15 miles per hour. It lacks weapons aside from those carried by its passengers and has a limited amount of storage space.

Astral Brig

The astral brig is the standard githyanki military vessel. It requires a crew of five and can transport up to sixty passengers. A brig is 90 feet long and 30 feet wide, with two levels below decks for quarters and storage space. It is equipped with two ballistae, each one operated by a pair of crew members, and has a top speed of 12 miles per hour.

Planar Raider

The largest of the githyanki ships, the planar raider serves as a mobile headquarters during a major attack on the githyanki’s enemies. It needs a crew of ten and can carry more than a hundred passengers. A planar raider can travel up to 12 miles per hour. It is 40 feet wide and 120 feet long, with two levels below decks, and is equipped with three ballistae and a catapult.

The Gith Alphabet

The gith use a written language composed of alphabetic symbols arranged in circular clusters called tir’su. Each “spoke” on the wheel corresponds to a letter of the alphabet. Each cluster of characters represents a single word, and multiple tir’su connect to form phrases and sentences.

Githyanki and githzerai both speak Gith, but each race has a distinct dialect and accent. Similarly, the two races of gith differentiate their language by how they write it. Githyanki write a tir’su clockwise, starting at the top. Githzerai use the same letter symbols but write their tir’su counterclockwise, starting from the bottom.

Tu’narath

They call it the City of Death. I would mock such a tired excuse for a name, but if it fits, who am I to argue?

• Gimble, gnome bard

When the githyanki fled from the illithids, Vlaakith led them to safety on the Astral Plane inside the floating corpse of a six-armed deity. This being’s body long ago calcified into a great slab of rock, its lower half smashed by some ancient disaster. A trail of debris, some of the stones larger than a castle, extends from the corpse’s lower end.

The city of Tu’narath is built on and in the corpse’s upper body, with a central district in the area corresponding to its chest and ancillary districts radiating outward along its six outstretched arms and toward its head. Despite the body’s partial destruction, the occasional tremor that echoes through its rocky mass suggests that some spark of life might still linger deep within.

Anyone who visits the city does so either at the behest of the githyanki or in stealth. Fortunately for those who try to enter clandestinely, the place is immense enough that a small group can sneak in with relative ease.

If uninvited visitors arrive openly, they can expect a sharp reception from githyanki patrol vessels. If that’s not enough to bring them to heel, the call goes out for a squad of dragon-mounted knights.

The Streets of Tu’narath

Tu’narath is a jumble of crooked streets that run between buildings and other structures that are ripped from the worlds of other planes. Many githyanki raiders have a particular obsession for architecture, which they satisfy by seizing buildings from the Material Plane and other locales and relocating them in Tu’narath.

Often, these prizes don’t remain intact for long. When residents become bored or find themselves in the mood for debauchery, the githyanki’s natural propensity for violence manifests in the form of a great brawl or wild celebration that causes serious damage to their surroundings. When a structure has served its purpose and is no longer useful (or even recognizable), the githyanki tear the debris from its resting place and throw it into a refuse pile or cast it adrift into the astral sea, to be eventually replaced by a new specimen.

Nonetheless, the city does have a great number of permanent structures, and a system of districts in which particular functions or activities are concentrated.

Tu’narath in Brief

Here are some key details of Tu’narath.

Population: Roughly one hundred thousand folk dwell in Tu’narath. The vast majority are githyanki, but visitors from other planes aren’t uncommon. Individuals who come to deal with the githyanki reside here. Residents also include captives that the githyanki have taken on raids.

Law and Order: Warriors patrol above the streets in astral skiffs to keep the peace. Githyanki who cause unwarranted conflict are disciplined, but such punishment is rarely lethal. Any visitor who causes a ruckus, however, is likely to be slain on the spot, unless Vlaakith has specifically forbidden such action.

Inns: Tu’narath has no taverns or inns in the traditional sense. The githyanki expect visitors to carve out their own accommodations; they can choose from among any number of abandoned structures. As an alternative, a small troupe of renegade modrons maintains a crumbling citadel called the Iron House that has rooms for rent. Visitors can pay with interesting trinkets from across the planes.

Markets: There are no organized markets in Tu’narath. The githyanki don’t offer goods for sale to visitors, and they don’t purchase items offered to them-they simply take what they want.

Queen’s District

Susurrus, the queen’s stronghold, is protected by thick, obsidian walls. Only one gate leads into it, located on a path that passes beneath the statue of Gith. Beyond the statue, the path becomes a labyrinthine maze designed to prevent attackers or visitors from gaining access to the queen. Vlaakith’s throne room, a gargantuan hall supported by obsidian pillars, sits at the center of the labyrinth. Guarded by two red dragons, Vlaakith sits upon her Throne of Bones and holds court over her supplicants.

Glathk District

A muddy field that extends as far as the eye can see is the githyanki equivalent of a labor camp.

The glathk district, named after the Gith word for “farmer”-a term of derision-is where githyanki are taken when they violate society’s rules. Punishments are nonlethal, and often don’t involve physical harm.

Instead, offenders are forced to submit to the mind-numbing sameness of performing one task interminably-a fate that, for some, might feel worse than death. For instance, a warrior might be sequestered here after slacking off during weapons practice, sentenced to a prison term and charged with moving piles of mud from one end of the field to the other. Elsewhere, a squad of warriors stands at attention for an indeterminate time, after their failure to maintain proper formations during drills.

Those incarcerated here are rarely supervised closely, but knights patrol the area regularly.

District of Discards

The githyanki dispose of loot that they have no use for in a space on the outer surface of Tu’narath set aside for the purpose. Such items can range from trophies and treasure to prisoners of other races that have been set free and left to fend for themselves. The few githyanki who dwell here maintain a semblance of order amid the wreckage by categorizing the castaway items, making it easier for other githyanki to locate objects related to their personal interests.

Creatures seeking to infiltrate Tu’narath have had success in using this place as a base, since the warriors and knights seldom patrol it, and several groups of freed captives—humans, elves, hobgoblins, and other sorts—make their homes here.

Military Districts

Soldiers and officers occupy several areas around the city, most of which contain defensive works and armories. The githyanki also maintain barracks that serve as mustering points in advance of raids. All githyanki are required to report to one of these districts regularly for weapon practice. Non-githyanki that venture into these areas are attacked on sight unless accompanied by a knight who can vouch for them.

Mlar District

This area passes for an artisan’s district. Githyanki engaged in distractions that involve artistry or creation gather here, both to share their skills and to show off their goods. Outsiders can pass through the district if appropriately disguised; the githyanki bring captured artisans here to provide insight and tutelage, but rarely keep a close watch on them. After all, they have little chance of escaping the city.

Shipyards

The githyanki store and maintain their vessels at docks and outcrops that adjoin the military districts. Those who are assigned to ship maintenance enjoy a high status and are allowed to consider their work as part of their military service. Githyanki warriors provide labor as needed.

Dragon Caves

The shattered lower body of the dead god contains an abundance of natural caves and fissures. Each of the red dragons that serve the githyanki has a lair deep within this region, jealously guarding its hoard until it is called for service. No one has ever successfully mapped out the strange passages and tunnels, and a variety of scavengers, astral predators, and other creatures lair here, some of them likely dating from the time before the githyanki came along. The residents of Tu’narath don’t typically spend time in the caves, except as necessary to tend to the dragons. On occasion, a githyanki craving a new experience might venture into this area for a respite from boredom. Those who don’t return, it can be assumed, found what they were after.

Rumors persist of an enormous dungeon that lies beyond the caves, a hidden fortress occupied by a mighty demigod who claimed The One in the Void as its home before the githyanki occupied it. Coteries of Red Wizards from the land of Thay on Faerûn, accompanied by githyanki knights, have ventured into this area in recent years. Supposedly, the Thayans once emerged with a huge adamantine container that rumbled and shook, as if to the beat of a monstrous heart.

Survivor Communities

As befits a society of conquerors, the githyanki have no regard for the victims of their raids. They take lives to assert their dominance, not out of anger or because they feel threatened. From time to time, instead of killing everyone they encounter on a raid, they bring captives back to Tu’narath for various reasons.

The githyanki treat prisoners with the same detachment and disdain they show for those they slay. When captives are no longer useful, their masters might end their lives, or they might simply stop caring about their possessions and leave the creatures to fend for themselves.

The hardiest and most elusive of these folk make their way to the District of Discards, where they can take refuge from the threats that face them in other parts of the city and live in relative obscurity. The githyanki care nothing for what goes on in these survivor communities, unless a disruption becomes serious enough to attract their attention. A group of would-be infiltrators might be able to get a foothold in Tu’narath by stealthily entering the district and blending in with a community of survivors.

Githzerai

The githzerai were born as a race at the end of the gith’s bloody, genocidal uprising against the mind flayers. A gith named Zerthimon, who had gained a significant following during the conflict, challenged Gith’s plans and her leadership. Gith was evil, the newcomer proclaimed, and she would lead the people into darkness and tyranny not unlike the one imposed by the illithids.

Thus, no sooner had the gith defeated their sworn enemies than they were plunged into a bitter civil war. In the ensuing conflict, Zerthimon was killed and his followers, naming themselves githzerai, relocated their civilization to the plane of Limbo.

Today, under the leadership of the Great Githzerai, Zaerith Menyar-Ag-Gith, the githzerai continue to stand fast against the githyanki, as well as taking their revenge on the mind flayers. Through forays into the Material Plane and other realms, they provide stiff opposition to their enemies' plans for world domination.

Order in a Sea of Chaos

We githzerai crave a challenge, so that when Zerthimon returns he shall find us ready. Thus we traveled to howling Limbo to make our new home.

• The Teachings of Menyar-Ag

Strong-minded philosophers and austere ascetics, the githzerai pursue lives of rigid order. Their society focuses on enhancing the potential of the mind through meditation, education, and physical tests. The most accomplished among them stand as exemplars of the githzerai’s monastic principles, but even those who perform mundane duties in a community have a significant measure of the same mental fortitude.

Living in the ever-turbulent churn of Limbo requires all githzerai to harness the power of thought to counteract and hold at bay the chaos-stuff of the plane. If they were not relentless in this effort, the tides of Limbo would overwhelm and destroy them.

The githzerai have a unity of purpose that comes from their reverence for their great heroes and their desire to emulate the virtues of those figures in their everyday lives.

Menyar-Ag, the Great Githzerai

Menyar-Ag led the githzerai into Limbo at the culmination of the conflict between Gith and Zerthimon. Thanks to unimaginable arcane and psionic power, he has survived far beyond the life span of an ordinary githzerai. Time has nevertheless taken its toll, and Menyar-Ag today is a decrepit, corpse-like entity-capable of tremendous feats of magic and psionics but barely able to move a finger or lift his own eyelids. A host of servants constantly attend to Menyar-Ag and see to his every need.

Although Menyar-Ag is no longer capable of physical actions of any consequence, his mind is as active and sharp as ever. He never sleeps, using a rotating staff of attendants to spread his commands and counsel to all githzerai. If needed, he can call upon his own psychic energy to contact his people, even across the planes.

Anarchs

A githzerai community works constantly to maintain a stable base of operations protected from the wilds of Limbo. The mental energy of the collective that keeps the plane’s forces of chaos at bay is funneled through the exceptional githzerai known as anarchs. One or more anarchs maintain each community by serving as both the receptacle for the psychic power of other githzerai and the means by which that power is employed.

Anarchs have a special gift for stabilizing and controlling the chaos-stuff of Limbo. In their communities on Limbo, they can create matter and energy out of nothingness with a thought. They can control the direction of gravity. The environment around them can be whatever they want it to be.

Anarchs are exceedingly rare among githzerai. When a githzerai in an existing community demonstrates the ability to become an anarch, that individual might leave the community to found a new colony or might remain where it is and ascend to a leadership position.

Zerths

Zerthimon’s mortal form died in battle, but his sacrifice freed the githzerai from Gith’s dark designs. They believe that Zerthimon, in his new godly form, will return someday and usher them into new age of freedom. Until that happens, the githzerai known as zerths fill the symbolic role of Zerthimon in society, as accomplished wielders of psionic power who can move themselves and others between planes.

The githzerai believe that when Zerthimon returns, he will first gather all the zerths and take them to their new paradise to prepare it for those who follow. Zerths are similar to what other races would call priests, although githzerai don’t have a religion as such, beyond their admiration for Zerthimon and Menyar-Ag.

Fortress Cities

The monasteries of the githzerai are massive outposts of stability that sail through the chaos of Limbo. Githzerai anarchs keep the fortresses stable and control their interior design, opening portals to the outside only as needed. Most fortresses drift through Limbo at random, but none of them are ever isolated. When Menyar-Ag sends out a call to them, the anarchs of the other communities can instantly communicate with him.

Aside from its inhabitants, the most well-defended element of a githzerai fortress is its food supply. Because Limbo provides no sustenance, the githzerai rely on crops and livestock they appropriate from elsewhere. Plants are grown in hydroponic chambers, and livestock are raised in pens where light, temperature, and other conditions are tailored to their needs.

A community’s activity is overseen by monks who assign duties to each occupant. Everyone participates in mock combats and ongoing academic instruction, and each fortress allocates personnel and resources as needed. Every fortress is designed to be self-sufficient, even though no two of them are ever out of psychic contact.

Shra’kt’lor

Shra’kt’lor is a fortress city that houses the largest concentration of githzerai. It serves as both the capital of the civilization and the headquarters of the githzerai military forces. The greatest generals, spellcasters, and zerths of the race meet here to plan or refine their strategy for battling the githyanki and the mind flayers.

Shra’kt’lor is the most well defended of the githzerai outposts-no force in Limbo could readily threaten the city or its inhabitants. Teleportation circles are barred except on the fringes of the place, at always-guarded locations beyond the city’s outermost defenses. Those who use plane-shifting magic to arrive at these sites or who approach through the chaos of Limbo aren’t admitted to the city without the approval of an anarch.

Beyond the entrance to the city wait six layers of nested defenses. Each one is dominated by a fortress maintained by a powerful anarch chosen by Zaerith Menyar-Ag-Gith, who dwells at the heart of it all.

Githzerai in the World

Zerthimon does not expect us to wait in patience for his return. Instead, we must pave the way for his efforts, so that we can hasten the coming of our golden age.

• The Teachings of Menyar-Ag

It’s natural for githzerai to prefer to remain in Limbo. They have carved out a well-ordered civilization in an environment that they can freely manipulate with their minds. When they visit other realms, particularly the Material Plane, githzerai feel sluggish and aren’t comfortable functioning in a landscape that they see as being locked in immutability. Despite their disinclination toward travel, the githzerai send groups away from Limbo on a regular basis to keep from giving ground in their battles against the githyanki and the mind flayers.

Adamantine Citadels

When githzerai travel, they sometimes bring a sliver of Limbo along. Before they set out, a cadre of powerful anarchs craft a citadel of adamantine out of the chaos-stuff around them. Inside the structure is more of Limbo’s essence, left in raw form until it’s needed.

Then, in an eruption of psionic and arcane power that only Menyar-Ag can produce, the citadel and its accompanying githzerai are transported to another plane.

After the transfer is complete, at least one anarch must always attend the citadel to maintain its form and shape as well as to utilize the chaos-stuff within. When a citadel is ensconced on another plane, the githzerai create a teleportation circle inside it to facilitate travel between that plane and Limbo.

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 near it, other animals flee the area, and plants in the vicinity wither and die. Intelligent creatures can act normally, but being in the affected area is unnerving to them, and if they investigate, they soon identify the citadel as the cause. The githzerai, however, find it in their best interest to keep their citadels safe from discovery. Menyar-Ag prefers to plant them in desolate and rarely frequented places such as barren deserts or remote locations in the Underdark.

The primary purpose of an adamantine citadel is to watch over the activity of some foe of the githzerai, such as an illithid colony, and to provide a base of operations for a possible attack. Citadels are also used to collect foodstuffs and other material goods for transport to Limbo. When the githzerai are finished with a citadel, they vacate it and return to Limbo. Immediately after the last anarch teleports away, the citadel vanishes, leaving only a scarred landscape to indicate where it once stood.

Spreading the Word

The githzerai see their cause as not just a provincial concern, but one that they strive to impress upon others. As such, they have taken the initiative in preaching the philosophy of Zerthimon and sharing their knowledge of how to fight illithids and githyanki. To this end, zerths sometimes venture to other planes with the intent of founding a new monastery or joining an existing one.

These “missionaries” are always looking for those with psionic potential who can bring those powers to bear against the githzerai’s foes. Most often, they operate in secret or behind the scenes as they pursue their agenda and try to swell the ranks of their allies. Who can say how many monasteries are in truth secret recruiting stations for the githzerai?

Going on the Attack

The githzerai know full well that they can’t make progress in the war against their enemies by staying inside their fortresses on Limbo. To check the advances of the illithids and the githyanki and keep their foes' numbers down, squads of githzerai often travel to other planes with the express intent of destroying the objects of their hatred.

Githyanki

Githzerai rarely confront githyanki on their home turf in the Astral Plane, but on other planes they maintain steady surveillance, always on the lookout for githyanki plots to foil and crèches to exterminate. During a mission of this sort, the githzerai don’t intentionally endanger the natural denizens of the plane, but they never compromise a planned attack on the githyanki just to protect innocent bystanders. In battling githyanki, the end justifies the means.

Githzerai sometimes employ mercenaries on the Material Plane to aid them in battling the githyanki, primarily to keep their enemies off-balance or to provide reinforcements. For those who need such enticement, they offer the promise of sharing the bounty of great treasures held by the githyanki.

Mind Flayers

Though they devote most of their military efforts to the constant campaign against the githyanki, the githzerai’s enmity for the illithids is even older. On one thing the githyanki and the githzerai can agree: the mind flayers must pay for what they did to the gith eons ago.

As their means of vengeance against the mind flayers, the githzerai send bands of warriors called rrakkmas—illithid hunting parties—to other planes to do battle with any mind flayers they come across. It is in these circumstances that the natives of the plane most often encounter githzerai away from their monastery. With their attention focused only on their mission, the githzerai pay little heed to those around as long as they don’t interfere with the hunt.

The Sha’sal Khou

The Sha’sal Khou is an organization of githyanki and githzerai radicals working toward the reunification of their peoples. They want to bring about the end of the warfare between the githyanki and githzerai and the creation of a new unified nation of all gith. Members of the Sha’sal Khou work secretly within their respective societies, subtly discouraging attacks on the other gith race while looking for signs of like-minded individuals who might be recruited. The group maintains hidden redoubts on the Material Plane as well.

The goal of the organization is to raise a proper army and establish a fortified enclave where children will grow up calling themselves simply “gith.” The group’s most high-ranking advocate in the githyanki hierarchy is a powerful warlord named Zetch’r’r. He secretly supports the reunification of the githyanki and the githzerai, and works behind the scenes to turn others toward the cause.

Gith Characters

At the DM’s option, you can create a gith character, using the following traits.

• Gith (Githyanki)
• Gith (Githzerai)

Gith Random Height and Weight

Height = Base Height + Height Modifier (in inches) Weight = Base Weight + Height Modifier (in pounds) × Weight Modifier

Gith Tables

This section provides tables for players and DMs who want to create githzerai and githyanki characters. Githyanki

Githyanki Names, Male

Githyanki Names, Female

Githyanki Personality Traits

Githyanki Ideals

Githyanki Bonds

Githyanki Flaws

Githzerai

Githzerai Names, Male

Githzerai Names, Female

Githzerai Personality Traits

Githzerai Ideals

Githzerai Bonds

Githzerai Flaws

Githyanki Raiding Parties

Use the following tables to generate a band of githyanki raiders and some additional details of their situation. Roll once on each line of the Group Composition table and once on each table that follows it.

In the tables, a name in bold refers to a stat block in the Monster Manual.

Dragon Chance

Raiding Party Leader

Githyanki Special Allies

Raiding Party Transport

Githyanki Purpose of Raid

Githzerai Groups

Use the following tables to generate a band of githzerai and determine their reason for being away from Limbo. Roll once on each line of the Group Composition table and once on each table that follows it.

In the tables, a name in bold refers to a stat block in the Monster Manual.

Githzerai Group Leader

Githzerai Special Allies

Githzerai Mission Purpose