So I have been through the Lusternia website and been suitably ensnared by the history, particularly the Elder Wars section which is exceptionally well done, and upon creating a character I have decided to be illithoid partially due to my obsession with psionicism/telepathy and partially due to the way Illith is described. I have some questions on the illithoid race and several miscellaneous subjects though.

First off I've noticed a key theme in Lusternia is the existence of souls and essence and surmise that the idea of Ascension centres largely upon "levelling up" the power of the soul to become stronger. As illithoids do not have souls can they not Ascend to higher levels of power and more importantly how do they view and deal with death?

Secondly which organisation would be best suited to a new player who is an illithoid? I've read through the histories on the website fairly extensively but I have not interacted with any of the in-game organisations just yet though I'm quite interested in Gaudiguch or Magnagora.

Thirdly how is the inner worm viewed by illithoid and the Lusternian world at large? The help file on illithoid states that it is "a creature that resides within every illithoid's body that feeds on psychic energies" - I find this slightly ambiguous and was wondering does it boost intelligence or magical damage, or something else?

Finally how is the Taint viewed and dealt with? Judging from the histories it can be viewed as ranging from a biblical plague to a modern mutagenic cancer to some kind of divine provenance, based on how some races are apparently rendered stronger and smarter by it. I was just wondering what the prevailing attitudes are. Thanks in advance for any replies.

Illithoid have an inner worm that acts like a "soul" for all intents and purposes. It even shows up where the spirit normally is when you die, and you can move and speak the same as any other race in this condition. I think it is implied that this worm is enough like a soul that it Ascends the same way. Functionally, Illithoid have a cool ability with it that involves sucking out the essence of corpses to inflate their own ego attribute.

Magnagora and Glomdoring are pro-Illithoid, anti-Kephera. Celest and Seren are the opposite. Gaudiguch, Ackleberry, and Hallifax are not playable organizations (they might be someday, if the playerbase supports it, but don't hold your breath, they were saying that 3 years ago).

You pretty much hit the nail on the head as far as Taint is concerned. It's a mutanagenic substance that corrupts life, but also empowers if used correctly (Necromancy, for instance) Basically it came from the Soulless God Kethuru, went through the Astral Plane, down through Shallamar/Nil, then to Earth, then Magnagora, where it spread to surrounding areas. Hallifax blew it into Glomdoring with Aeromancy, but in recent times the Kethuruness of it was taken out, and Glom now reveres it as a substance called the Wyrd.

Because of game balance and mechanics, illithoids can do everything other races can do. That includes ascending and death (though they wander as worms instead of souls).

Gaudiguch is currently stuck in time. Illithoids are only accepted in Glomdoring and Magnagora.

I do not know how illithoids view their worms, though I imagine most of the denizen illithoids would praise them. Player illithoids all have their own RP, of course. Most people in Serenwilde and Celest hate illithoids because of their link with the Soulless God Illith.

Celest tries to destroy the Taint in any way possible. Serenwilde don't really like the Taint. Glomdoring, in more recent times, have been quite friendly with it. Magnagora is what you could call 'city of Taint'. Taint can really be played in many ways. But generally, they see themselves as being above others, sort of like an 'bad' thing (in a very loose way).

Ah, always good to see another Illithoid player. Trust me when I say that you'll find it one of the most fun roles to play in this game if done correctly.

This has already been mentioned, but mechanically, they level and gain Titan and Demigod just like other races. However, IC'ly, Illithoids, being shards of a Soulless God and not an Elder God, are not inherently connected to the Immanidivinus (The source of the Elder Gods' power) the way other races are. Instead, they are connected to the Excoroperditio, which while similar to the Immanidivinus, is fundamentally different. While the Immanidivinus is best envisioned as a massive, unending resevoir of power, the Excoroperditio is best described as a perfect vacuum. Thus, instead of being fragments of Life, Illithoids are fragments of Death, thus we can consume life just as the Soulless are able to.



Glomdoring tolerates Illithoids, but most of us make our home in Magnagora. Also, from an IC view, the Illithoids are more closely allied with Magnagora than Glomdoring.

The Inner Worm is open to interpretation, but my personal view is that the inner worm of an illithoid is actually the true form of an illithoid, as it is a snake-like creature that is very much like a miniature version of Illith. IC'ly, this is justified by a belief that when Illith splintered, She had recognized the strength that resided within mortals and the one-headed, four-limbed star form in particular, and so gifted Her progeny with a twisted mockery of the star form, to better provide them the ability to succeed where She and the other Soulless had failed. Thus, think of the inner worm as your true self, and your outer body as a living shell, a vessel to hold you, controlled by your psionic will.



D) All of the Above. Depending on what side of the Basin you live on, everyone has a different view of the Taint. However, it is best to learn these views in the game, from those who hold them.

If you have any more questions, approach Seretenin in-game if you see him. He's always happy to answer any questions newly-emerged brethren may have about the Overworld or their own heritage and origin. The magic of the Portal of Fate has a horrible habit of inducing violent amnesia, even upon our kind.

I tend to play my illithoid as a dumb brute, always willing to fight or eat someone, especially novices.... mmm.. tae'dae nihilist novices are the best.

BUT, that's just me.

And for the taint. If you have ever played Fallout 2, the taint is like the radioactivity in Gecko. That village loves it, and it makes them stronger/longer living, but the nearby city hates it, and wants to destroy the village. Magnagora is all about the "neccesary evils" in life.

There is still some debate over wether illithoids are actually soulless. Most of it stems from the fact that the inner worm behaves almost exactly like a soul.

Celest and Seren will kick you out for lacking a soul. Glomdoring and Magnagora will be fine with you. Seeing as I play there and you seem to like the place, I'd say go for Magnagora



It works almost exactly like a soul, both in an IC and OOC sense. Celest and Serenwilde think it's definatly not a soul, while people in Glomdoring and Mag are more likely to think that it's similar to or actually is a soul.



Celest and Serenwilde vary between thinking that it's a horrible and dangerously contagious sickness which they would rather kill themself than catch and thinking that it's pocession by Kethuru himself. They hate it to the point of getting genocidal over the issue.

Glomdoring doesn't like the taint and will get REALY REALY REALY MAD if you mention the words Glomdoring and taint in the same sentence. They like the Wyrd, which is what came out when Isune and Virivian fed the taint to a gaint worm and is definately 100% not taint, no sir, not taint at all.

Magnagora likes the taint and tries to spread it. Because almost everyone is undead, killing, disease and torture are the norm in Magnagora. Death is taken lightly. Before the recent changes to lichdom (which allowed you to skip the death step of undeath), you'd hear people asking over the city aether for someone to come kill them so they could lich.

Thanks to everyone who replied. I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do with Kalugaar's character and the responses were very helpful. I guess I'll be joining Magnagora.