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Neverwinter

Developer Blog: Stardock

By Julia (nitocris83) | Mon 22 Jul 2019 07:00:00 AM PDT

[WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD]

 

The illithid are horrific and evil beings who dominate and enslave other creatures with psionic energy, forcing them to do their terrible will with little hope of being freed. Their more fortunate victims have their brains devoured, sparing them the eternal suffering of being a prisoner in their own body.

Eons ago the illithid were masters of the Inner Planes, dominating and harvesting humanoids from countless worlds. They built and maintained their power on the backs of the gith, forcing them to provide labor and serve as food. Countless gith suffered the illithid’s tyranny, resulting in a race whose entire purpose was to serve the illithid.  

After generations of subjugation, the enslaved gith revolted and slaughtered most the illithid tyrants. This drastic and sudden upheaval caused the illithid empire to fail catastrophically and collapse into dust, leaving only a tiny number of illithid outposts scattered across the Material Plane.

After this great victory, two factions of gith formed from the flames. One, the githyanki, believed they should inherit the illithid’s mastery of the Material Plane. They became tireless marauders who thrive on bloodshed and destruction. Mercilessly raised to be indiscriminate killing machines, they pillage across the stars in brutal raids just to assuage their boredom.

In contrast, the githzerai opposed their kin’s goals of tyranny and planar domination, instead pursuing an ascetical path of order and philosophy. Withdrawing from the Material Plane to the relative safety of the ever-turbulent plane of Limbo, they created drifting fortresses of order and knowledge. From these fortresses the githzerai now work to prevent the githyanki from achieving their plans and the illithid from regrowing their empire. 

Both githyanki and illithid seek to dominate the Material Plane and will not rest until they accomplish this goal. The githzerai are dedicated to fighting both githyanki and illithid and work tirelessly to prevent either faction from gaining a decisive advantage over the other. This delicate stalemate between the githyanki and illithid is the only thing preventing them from conquering the stars.

Now the endless war between the githyanki and the illithids has overflowed into Undermountain. Both factions have come in force to search for the Teachings of Zerthimon. This powerful and ancient githzerai artifact allows safe entry into Shra’kt’lor, the central fortress city of the githzerai in the plane of Limbo. 

If either faction gains control of both fragments they will assault Shra’kt’lor and destroy it, destabilizing the tenuous balance of power the githzerai maintain between the githyanki and illithid. The collapse of the current balance would allow the domination and enslavement of the Material Plane by the githyanki or illithids. 

A small band of githzerai has traveled to Undermountain to recover the Teachings of Zerthimon before the githyanki or illithids can. They are coordinating a guerilla campaign against the illithid and githyanki forces within Undermountain from their hidden camp in Stardock.  

With the heroic aid of Adventurers, the githzerai may reclaim the Teachings of Zerthimon, thus preventing the destruction of Shra’kt’lor and the inevitable enslavement of the Material Plane and Neverwinter. 

Only you can thwart the githyanki and illithids, Adventurer. The fate of Neverwinter and the Material Plane rests with you. 

Good hunting!

 

Ryan “Wolf Fightmaster” Horn
Content Designer  

 

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