Illithoid roleplay - I'm needing help/input/advice. I've always thought that there's a great potential here, but recently I'm finding that my desire to continue playing an Illithoid and doing it "properly" is matched by an equal amount of confusion and, perhaps, frustration.

From what I remember, the Elder Gods that did splinter did so both to "survive" in a way and to continue fighting the Soulless. To me the logical conclusion here, insofar as the Illithoid are concerned, would be that as they are Illiith splintered, they should in no way be fighting against the Soulless. If anything, it would seem they should be continuing furthering the goals, however alien/destructive they might be, of the Soulless.

I'd thought about this before, but I was asked recently why no one in Magnagora worshiped any Soulless and my response was that, if Their goals were completed, there'd be no more existence and no one would want that. But then I got to thinking that, not only did it seem most logical to me for Them to be the objects of Illithoid worship, the entire idea struck me as very Lovecraftian - cultists of Cthulhu and Azathoth gleefully giving themselves up for sacrifice in service to alien beings.

The more I think about it, the less it makes sense to me for Illithoid to be working against the Soulless, let alone worshiping Elder Gods. Maybe I'm thinking too much about all this and there is a justification for them to behave like any other race, but seeing as they are so very different from the others, it would seem a bit of a cop out to me for their differences to be purely aesthetic and minimally ideological.

So, thoughts?

I'm not positive on this, but I'm fairly certain the entirety of the illithoid population within the Great Iliithoid Prison still worship Illith, and wish to see her set free. Their whole quest line involves empowering Cthoglogg as her Avatar, so they probably would like to see at least Illith set free so they can rejoin her.

My assumption is that most illithoid that have left the prison to live elsewhere didn't quite agree with those goals and have more of a sense of self-preservation as an individual.

Just as not all of the Elders get along, I don't think you should lead yourself to believe that all of the Soulless necessarily want to cooperate. When the inner temple in the prison is open, you can find the Heart of Illith and "hear" an inner monologue from her, which at least suggests that she is resentful of Kethuru now being greater than what she once was. If you want to be as pure an illithoid as possible that wants to actively work towards a full resurrection of Illith, I think it's still perfectly sensible to oppose the other Soulless, at least until Illith can be whole and grow again.

An afterthought that Vendetta ninja'd.

A little further thinking, I think it certainly makes sense if an illithoid worships Illith. They're in a rather unique position where the divine they sharded from still exists, so the rejoining their progenitor thing totally fits despite how self-destructive it is.

But like Vendetta said, it doesn't fit as well with the other Soulless. I got the impression that the only reason the Soulless weren't constantly at each other throats was that they were too busy eating divine and then the mortal races. I think they might have occasionally helped each other when they were at war, because they weren't just dumb animals, but I'm sure if they had defeated the Vernals and devoured all mortal races, the first thing they'd do is start fighting amongst themselves until there was only one giant soulless that had essentially devoured all of creation.

An idea I had for illithoid RP a while back:

Basically, according to this RP the reason Illith sharded is in hope of being able to co-exist with the world as it now stands. Illith is not the enemy of the world, but instead a lover spurned. The character's goal would be to either change Illith's nature so she can coexist with the world at large, or else change the nature of the world to no longer reject the soulless.

Thanks for the replies, this definitely helps. I was getting nervous that I'd get stuck unsure of where to go with Agnlaa and didn't want to relegate myself to simply killing things. I've got more material to work with and it reinforces some ideas I'd had, so this is happy making.

Zenos wanted to eat the Illithoid for a reason: Soulless are more palatable to each other then Elderspawn are to them. The Illithoid want Illith, and only Illith free, and even then, they wouldn't want her freed unless she could renite with her other half and devour the imprisoned pieces of the remaining soulless in an attempt to surpass Kethuru. If any of the soulless gods, like Kethuru, were freed, the Illithoid would be devoured as they are now.

So their goals coincide with the goals of the rest of the basin. Just barely.

^

I thought of the same. The Elders one-upped the Soulless because sharding essentially broke down their souls into an ever-increasing spiral, so they can't be defeated unless the Soulless somehow managed to gulp down all of the mortal races. Illithoids, though, have no souls, so their essence would be more filling than an Elder-splintered race.

I play an Illithoid extensively, and my character does remember his origins as a shard and pays his respects accordingly. However since Illith is basically weak now, he thinks that she's just useful as fuel for another more established God, and so wants to restore her so that said God can omnom her and grow stronger.

It's not elegant, but at least it's something to work with.

Daus:

I play an Illithoid extensively, and my character does remember his origins as a shard and pays his respects accordingly. However since Illith is basically weak now, he thinks that she's just useful as fuel for another more established God, and so wants to restore her so that said God can omnom her and grow stronger.

It's not elegant, but at least it's something to work with.

Seems kind of suicidal. You want to cut your arm off to try and feed your jerk of an older brother?

Kialkarkea:

Seems kind of suicidal. You want to cut your arm off to try and feed your jerk of an older brother?

Okay maybe not restore Illith to full power, but just the other half that's still trapped in ice

From what I remember, the Illithoid are pretty nihilistic. Their ultimate goal is to release Illith, and then be eaten by her. As Kialkarkea said, they don't really want to be eaten by other Soulless, or free other Soulless - but they sure wouldn't mind feeding them to Illith!

I'm not sure the Illithoid would draw a distinction between Cthoglogg becoming super powerful and eating all the other illithoid and then Illith, and Illith eating all the illithoid. Some might, of course, but it seems pretty par for the course for the Soulless to feel that, even if their original form is destroyed, a branching of it becoming powerful and then consuming their original is the same to them. See: World Serpent, Eye of Zenos.

If I were to engage in pure conjecture, I would suspect the Soulless, being such alien entities of raw energy, and lacking a soul, don't have a strong sense of self-identity. They're driven by a primal hunger that can't be sated, so what do they care if they're eating themselves or their selves are eating them - the ultimate goal is for the essence of Illith to have consumed everything else. If it's the World Serpent or the half that sharded and ate itself back into godhood or the seventy-five cents frozen under the ice (Half seems inappropriate, as after the splitting one half went on to eat a lot of Elders, Vernals, etc).

But I don't engage in conjecture. B)

(Note, when I say 'the Illithoid' I'm talking about the Prison and their associates (blastedlands illithoid, ixthiaxa illithoid). I can't speak for whatever motivations drive player illithoid.)

Eventru:

From what I remember, the Illithoid are pretty nihilistic. Their ultimate goal is to release Illith, and then be eaten by her. As Kialkarkea said, they don't really want to be eaten by other Soulless, or free other Soulless - but they sure wouldn't mind feeding them to Illith!

I'm not sure the Illithoid would draw a distinction between Cthoglogg becoming super powerful and eating all the other illithoid and then Illith, and Illith eating all the illithoid. Some might, of course, but it seems pretty par for the course for the Soulless to feel that, even if their original form is destroyed, a branching of it becoming powerful and then consuming their original is the same to them. See: World Serpent, Eye of Zenos.

If I were to engage in pure conjecture, I would suspect the Soulless, being such alien entities of raw energy, and lacking a soul, don't have a strong sense of self-identity. They're driven by a primal hunger that can't be sated, so what do they care if they're eating themselves or their selves are eating them - the ultimate goal is for the essence of Illith to have consumed everything else. If it's the World Serpent or the half that sharded and ate itself back into godhood or the seventy-five cents frozen under the ice (Half seems inappropriate, as after the splitting one half went on to eat a lot of Elders, Vernals, etc).

But I don't engage in conjecture. B)

(Note, when I say 'the Illithoid' I'm talking about the Prison and their associates (blastedlands illithoid, ixthiaxa illithoid). I can't speak for whatever motivations drive player illithoid.)

I seem to recall some of the lore where Illith is really unhappy that Kethuru got stronger (after the halving); that would imply that there is at least some level of desire for 'personal' supremacy / dominance over the others.

/me engages you in conjecture.

(Where have you been?)

It pays to remember that the soulless are somewhat tragic. The unloved, malformed, first children, abandoned and abused into insanity by Magnora. They hate the world, the elder gods, and the shards because they remind them of the love they never had, and what they could never be.

Remember also that Illith is unique amongst the soulless; she sharded, allowing here essence to live in the world, preserved by an artificial soul. There is pretty huge potential for RP in this. You could claim that Illith loves the world dearly, a very toxic, obsessive love that would have her embrace it until it is smothered. You could claim that Illith wants to rejoin the world, and she created the Illithoid in an attempt to change her nature so this is possible. Lots of interesting RP potential for Illithoids.

But the Heart in the Undervault clearly said that when she sharded, the only thing on her mind was hatred, or "countless hatreds". That doesn't seem very loving to me.

I've been wondering a long time about my own RP, how I'm supposed to pull off the entire Soulless shard routine. How does a soulless actually think? Feel? Act? From what I've seen all they want to do is eat and eat until there's nothing left in the universe.

This is pretty different from what my character has achieved so far, having a family, having friends within the city. Is it possible that going through the Portal effects Illithoids in more ways then one? Is the quantum twin of the Other that's connected to the Soulless Illithoid effecting them more than they realize? How would this fit in with their role in the Basin?

foolofsound:

It pays to remember that the soulless are somewhat tragic. The unloved, malformed, first children, abandoned and abused into insanity by Magnora. They hate the world, the elder gods, and the shards because they remind them of the love they never had, and what they could never be.

Remember also that Illith is unique amongst the soulless; she sharded, allowing here essence to live in the world, preserved by an artificial soul. There is pretty huge potential for RP in this. You could claim that Illith loves the world dearly, a very toxic, obsessive love that would have her embrace it until it is smothered. You could claim that Illith wants to rejoin the world, and she created the Illithoid in an attempt to change her nature so this is possible. Lots of interesting RP potential for Illithoids.

Like Elmyra!

Daus:

But the Heart in the Undervault clearly said that when she sharded, the only thing on her mind was hatred, or "countless hatreds". That doesn't seem very loving to me.

I've been wondering a long time about my own RP, how I'm supposed to pull off the entire Soulless shard routine. How does a soulless actually think? Feel? Act? From what I've seen all they want to do is eat and eat until there's nothing left in the universe.

This is pretty different from what my character has achieved so far, having a family, having friends within the city. Is it possible that going through the Portal effects Illithoids in more ways then one? Is the quantum twin of the Other that's connected to the Soulless Illithoid effecting them more than they realize? How would this fit in with their role in the Basin?

A very long time ago, the RP in Magnagora was that the souless did the whole "creative destruction" bit. They created by destroying things. Sure, the Elder gods and everybody thought they were just out to feed, and that was the metaphor they used the most, but really by "feeding" they were "growing" and creating through the means of destroying things.

I would imagine that Illithoids have families and friends, but they might also tend to be self destructive, making new friends and family by destroying others. It's almost always possible to say that you built X relationship by acting in the destruction of Y.

edit:
re-reading the original post.. What ever happened to Morgfyre(sp?) wasn't He supposed to be the Edler god that Soulless lovers and illithoid could worship?

daganev:


A very long time ago, the RP in Magnagora was that the souless did the whole "creative destruction" bit. They created by destroying things. Sure, the Elder gods and everybody thought they were just out to feed, and that was the metaphor they used the most, but really by "feeding" they were "growing" and creating through the means of destroying things.

I would imagine that Illithoids have families and friends, but they might also tend to be self destructive, making new friends and family by destroying others. It's almost always possible to say that you built X relationship by acting in the destruction of Y.

Hmmm, I never really thought of looking at it that way because IG materials all suggest that the Soulless were all driven by one thing, their insatiable hunger. Because of the very nature of their soulless existence, there was a void in their beings that cannot be filled permanently. Being immortal, they had to endure the agony of starvation for eons, which literally drove them mad with hatred and jealousy. At least that's how I see it.

I suppose that because of my character's soulless nature, I could say that trying to establish relationships with others could be my own way of dealing with that void inside me. That'd be pretty nihilistic since I knew deep down that no matter how many friends or family I could get my slimy hands around on, it would never be enough.

Daus:


Hmmm, I never really thought of looking at it that way because IG materials all suggest that the Soulless were all driven by one thing, their insatiable hunger. Because of the very nature of their soulless existence, there was a void in their beings that cannot be filled permanently. Being immortal, they had to endure the agony of starvation for eons, which literally drove them mad with hatred and jealousy. At least that's how I see it.

I suppose that because of my character's soulless nature, I could say that trying to establish relationships with others could be my own way of dealing with that void inside me. That'd be pretty nihilistic since I knew deep down that no matter how many friends or family I could get my slimy hands around on, it would never be enough.

Well yes, that's what "they" want you to think isn't it... :)
I vaguely remember somebody once saying that Weeky Peedia was an Elder sympathizer and the world library would thus never contain the "Truth". And the Truth was buried and sealed away with the soulless.

I like your spin as well.

Since I originally started this, I've developed Agnlaa's personality and such more thoroughly. A lot my inspiration came from the Spectres in Wraith: the Oblivion (specifically, Dark Reflections: Spectres, for those of you familiar with the line). Essentially, existence as a soulless shard is extraordinarily painful - death, going to the Fates and coming back to life even more so. For Agnlaa, there's an overriding, consuming urge for everything to end and she sees the restoration of Illith as the only way to accomplish this. She works to grow stronger because she believes it will help with said restoration and it keeps her from dying. While she's utterly nihilistic, she's not immediately suicidal because of the knowledge that she'll just get reborn again.