Aberration Deities

[Masterbard Alyster Darkharp]

Ilsensine

The Tentacled Lord, the Great Brain, the God Brain

Greater Deity
Home Plane: Deep Caverns (The Cavern of Thought)
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Domians: Evil, Law, Knowledge, Magic, Mentalism, Mind, Slime, Tyranny
Symbol: Glowing brain with two tentacles or a stylized illithid face with four mouth tentacles rendered in jade green.
Portfolio: Mental domination, magic
Worshipers: Mind flayers, tyrants, psionic creatures, psions, psychic warriors, sorcerers, wizards
Cleric Alignments: LE, LN, NE
Favored Weapon: Tentacle (unarmed strike)

Lords of Madness Entry #1
Illithid religion differs from most theologies in that it lacks any concern with the afterlife. Mind flayers know what becomes of them when they die—they meld with the elder brain. Instead, mind flayers revere a deity whose philosophies mirror their own: that knowledge is the greatest commodity, darkness the greatest illumination, the mind the greatest power, and illithids the greatest race. They have such a deity in Ilsensine. Ilsensine resides in the vast Caverns of Thought in the Deep Caverns. It has no physical body but manifests itself as cohesive thought in the shape of a gigantic, pulsing brain. Ganglia of infi nite length trail outward in all directions from its glowing shape and reach to all corners of existence. Through these ganglia, Ilsensine taps all the knowledge that is. It peers into the minds of the greatest sages of all dimensions, saps fading memories from the desiccating brains of dead wizards, and stares across space and time itself to learn all there is to know. Of everything it surveys, it judges the mind fl ayers as the most worthy of mortal creatures.

Mind flayers do not worship Ilsensine in the same sense that humans or elves worship their deities. They revere the god for its gigantic, all-sensing mental capacity. To them, Ilsensine is the ultimate form of what an elder brain aspires to be and might become, in the fullness of uncountable eons of growth. The illithids envy its vast knowledge, which in practical terms appears limitless. They entreat Ilsensine for favors and even supplicate it, but their innate, overpowering egoism prevents any true
“worship.” The priesthood of Ilsensine is small and selective. Illithid clerics live monastically, pursuing knowledge for its own sake and engaging in experiments to develop new psionic powers. Through their worship, they enlist the aid of all-sensing Ilsensine, who knows things that are hidden even to the elder brains. Mind flayer priests are not reviled the way wizards (and especially sorcerers) are, but they don’t mix with illithid society. They rarely leave their temples except when conducting important ceremonies. Taking a cue from Ilsensine, the clerics sometimes use cranium rats (see page 167 of the Fiend Folio) as spies or to convey messages across long distances. When Ilsensine needs to intervene directly in material affairs, it most often sends its proxy, Lugribossk. Clerics of Ilsensine can choose from the Evil, Knowledge, Law, Magic, or Mind domains (see Chapter 9). They rebuke undead.

Lords of Madness Entry #2
Deity of the mind flayers, Ilsensine is a cold and calculating being that embodies the illithid ideals of mental prowess, infinite knowledge, and purposeful dominion over all other forms of life. Ilsensine manifests as a disembodied brain of emerald hue that trails countless ganglionic tentacles through the infinite planes. It gathers information from all worlds and planes simultaneously, learning every secret and perceiving every thought. Ilsensine’s symbol is a stylized illithid face with four mouthtentacles, rendered in jade green.

Monsterous Arcana: The Illithiad Entry
The constant burn of Ilsensine's brain waves sizzles in the mind's ear. No secrets stay dark; no evil thought or mental sickness remains unrevealed. Ilsensine's thoughts pound against the mind like waves of hatred, dark lies, perversions beyond imagining, and megalomania. This power believes that illithids are meant to
rule the multiverse, to enslave the "cattle" that overrun the lands, to use them, and to consume their minds. Ilsensine resides in the plane of Deep Caverns, within the Cavern of Thought.. The illithid god is a mental/spiritual entity manifesting as a disembodied brain of lambent emerald hue that trails countless ganglionic tentacles throughout its cavernous desmesne and out into the infinite planes. It is said that its far-reaching "nerves" allow it to gather information from all worlds and planes simultaneously, learning every secret and storing it away for later use. It is also said that on extremely rare occasions, Ilsensine sends an avatar (a huge, two-tentacled spectral brain that radiates green light) or proxy (Ilsensine's favored proxy is Lugribossk) to those illithids that most revere the deity's name, or to those communities that could most benefit from a specific godly intervention. Illithids so honored offer up any scholars or sages currently kept captive in order to pay Ilsensine homage, and they dedicate a small number of illithids within their community to the priesthood of Ilsensine. This priesthood is a small and select one, given to dying out after the demise of the initial illithid priests so chosen. Mind flayers seem more interested in developing their own personal psionic powers than in channeling the power of another—even a deity.

Duties of the Priesthood: Illithid priests concernthemselves with the pursuit of knowledge, the exploration of new territory, and the exploitation of knowledge gained through these explorations, Standard illithids do not abhor priests of Ilsensine in their communities as they would illithid sorcerers, However,there is usually not much mixture between each group.

The main advantage Ilsensine offers to those who serve it is the ability to cast clerical spells. Thus, an illithid priest does not have to forgo its development of personal psionic power. Knowledge is the secondary advantage Ilsensine offers to its worshipers, and, as any reasonable illithid understands, knowledge equals power. If an illithid priest can prevail upon Ilsensine's favor, it can gain answers to difficult questions. There is almost no place in the planes inaccessable to llsensine's neurons. In addition, the deity dispatches deceptive spies, in the form of cranium rats, to serve as its eyes and ears in those places beyond its influence. Ilsensine remembers all and knows more than possibly any other entity. The disadvantages to an illithid pledging its service to Ilsensine are twofold. First, the illithid loses its right to join the elder brain. Secondly, but more immediately, the priest loses most of its magical resistance so that it can effectively channel the godly power of Ilsensine! This reduction of magic resistance occurs through a simple act of will on the part of Ilsensine. The mucousal integrity of illithid priests remains unbreached; however, their ability to negate magical effects decreases.

Note: The names of home planes have been edited to represent this deities proper home in the FR cosmology.

Sources: Monster Mythology, Monstrous Arcana: The Illithiad, Faiths and Pantheons, Players Guide to Faerun, Lords of Madness, Greg Hall (Deity Symbols #2 & 3)

[Masterbard Alyster Darkharp]

Maanzecorian



The Illithid-Savant, The Keeper of Secrets

Intermediate Deity (Dead)
Home Plane: Unknown (possibly the Deep Caverns)
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Domians: Astral, Charm, Divination, Law, Numbers, Darkness, Thought, Time
Symbol: Silver crown set with a red gem.
Portfolio: Knowledge, philosophy
Worshippers: Mind Flayers
Favored Weapon: Unknown

Like Ilsensine, Maanzecorian believed that illithids are the natural rulers of all planes, worlds, and other races. Although the veneration of Maanzicorian could never have reached even the select sphere of Ilsensine's influence, illithids that once revered the deity were dismayed to wake one sleep-period to find that their channeled spells no longer functioned, and their prayers were no longer answered in signs and omens. Finally, divination showed that Maanzecorian's very realm dwindled towards extinction! Such dire indications point towards a single, inescapable conclusion: Something killed this illithid deity. Maanzecorian is now a dead god.

Sources: Monster Mythology, Monstrous Arcana: The Illithiad

[Masterbard Alyster Darkharp]

The Great Mother



Progenitor of Beholders

Greater Deity
Home Plane: The Deep Caverns (Realm of a Million Eyes)
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Domians: Chaos, Evil, Death, Hatred, Strength
Symbol: Egg with an eye
Portfolio: Magic, fertility, tyranny
Worshippers: Beholders
Favored Weapon: Greataxe

Lords of Madness Entry #1
From birth, beholders know that they came not from their parent, who disavows them and turns on them as an enemy, but from an ancient being known as the Great Mother. To beholders, the Great Mother epitomizes the truth. All else is imperfection, and as a result, each beholder strives to become as perfect in mind and body as the Great Mother. Each beholder vividly recalls its birth not as the event occurred, but as if it had been spawned personally by the Great Mother herself. Each beholder also believes to the core of its being that it personifies the closest approximation the flesh can hope for in replicating the true majesty of the Great Mother. All others are pretenders that must be destroyed, for each moment that another beholder lives is an insult to the Great Mother. To a beholder, there is no greater way to demonstrate its faith than to slaughter and kill.

Lords of Madness Entry #2
Progenitor of beholders, gibbering orbs (Epic Level Handbook page 191), and less well-known aberrations, the Great Mother exists to fill the multiverse with its offspring. By replacing all other creatures with monsters spawned in its own image, the Great Mother intends to remake the multiverse. Beholders believe that the Great Mother’s mind encompasses all the knowledge in the cosmos, and in fact the Great Mother possesses secrets and lore that no other creature knows. However, the entity comprehends so much that it is virtually impossible for it to communicate with beings that lack nigh-infinite knowledge themselves. Students of the monstrous gods believe that the Great Mother is hopelessly insane—whereas in truth they simply lack the intelligence to perceive the reason in the beholder god’s actions.

Some human cultists revere beholders as deities in their own right; the Great Mother answers their supplications on behalf of her spawn, thus perpetuating the cultists’ belief in the divinity of the beholder race. The Great Mother’s symbol is an eye in an egg.

Sources: Monster Mythology, Lords of Madness, Faiths and Pantheons, Players Guide to Faerun, Monsterous Arcana: I, Tyrant

[Masterbard Alyster Darkharp]

Mak Thuum Ngatha



The Nine-Tongued Worm

Greater Deity
Home Plane: The Far Realm
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Domians: Destruction, Knowledge, Madness, Travel
Symbol: A fan shaped glyph of nine squiggly lines
Portfolio: Forbidden knowledge
Worshippers: Psurlons, cultists
Favored Weapon: Morningstar

The Nine-Tongued Worm is an entity of the Far Realm. Unlike many of the terrible and powerful creatures that dwell in the mindless chaos of the Far Realm, Mak Thuum Ngatha is interested in the Material Plane. Psurlons, tsochari, and nilshai (Unapproachable East page 67) pay the Nine-Tongued Worm homage, but it has few worshipers among other races; only a handful of alienists, cultists, and half-farspawn monstrosities even know of its existence. No being outside the Far Realm can say what the Nine-Tongued Worm’s desires or goals might be, but they are certainly inimical to every living creature on the Material Plane. The Nine-Tongued Worm embodies the opening of infinite knowledge, the destruction of barriers, and the spanning of space and time.Several other entities of similar power and disposition exist in the Far Realm, some with their own cultists andadherents. Mak Thuum Ngatha’s symbol is a fan-shaped glyph of nine squiggly lines.

Sources: Lords of Madness

[Masterbard Alyster Darkharp]

Ghaunadaur





That Which Lurks, The Elder Eye, The Elder Elemental God, Gormauth Souldrinker

Lesser Primordial Deity
Symbol: Purplish eye on purple, violet, and black circles, (older symbol) an inverted triangle of amber on a purple background, with amber lines inside it forming an upside-down Y shape whose arms end by bisecting the sides of the triangle.
Home Plane: Demonweb Pits (The Cauldron of Slime)
Alignment: Chaotic evil
Portfolio: Oozes, slimes, jellies, outcasts, ropers, rebels
Worshipers: Aboleths, drow outcasts, fighters, oozes, ropers
Cleric Alignments: CE, CN, NE
Domains: Cavern, Chaos, Drow, Evil, Hatred, Slime, Cavern
Favored Weapon: An amorphous tentacle (warhammer)


Lords of Madness Entry
Also known as That Which Lurks or the Elder Eye, Ghaunadaur is a primordial deity of Faerûn, the world of the FORGOTTEN REALMS campaign setting. It is the lord of oozes, slimes, and nameless underground monstrosities that slither and seep through the lightless places of the world. Aboleths and renegade drow seek its divine power, but Ghaunadaur is an unpredictable patron at best. It might reward casual worshipers by granting great boons, or it might devour or maim its own high priests without warning.
Ghaunadaur is nominally considered part of the drow pantheon, but in truth the Elder Eye is simply a dark power of the deep underground. All who venture there would be wise to respect its hunger. Ghaunadaur’s symbol is a purple eye on a black circle.

Drow of the Underdark 2E Entry
Legend whispers that the largest slimes, jellies, oozes, slugs, and other crawling things are intelligent, and worship their own gods. These tales go further: once, all such beings worshipped one god, who struck most of them mad in a fit of fury at some transgression. The deityss revenge stole their intellect. Consequently, many of its worshippers, and most of its power, ceased to exist. A few of the intelligent dwellers below remain.enough to continue and spread worship of this fell deity. It still lurks somewhere in the Elemental Planes (perhaps on the planes of Earth, Ooze, or Smoke).

This amorphous, dark purple blob with many tentacles is called Ghaunadaur (pronounced .GONE-ah-door.), That Which Lurks. Ghaunadaur and its giant roper servants have been worshipped for eons by various creatures of the Underdark, particularly lone or sub-intelligent monsters. (whom it occasionally aids, in return for adulation). Evil beings seeking an alternative to established deities including drow dissatisfied with the rule of Lolth have also begun to worship That Which Lurks. Most humans find the worship of Ghaunadaur (also known as The Elder Elemental God, The Elder Eye, or Gormauth Souldrinker.) disgusting, but there are secret, subterranean altars and cults to the Eye all over Toril, particularly in the older and more degenerate lands of the Sword Coast South, Thay, and Kara-Tur.

Roleplaying Notes
Ghaunadaur is unpredictable by human standards. It may aid worshippers who merely pay lip service to its rituals, even expending great power to grant permanent magical boons.but may also devour or maim them, without warning. Ghaunadaur enjoys watching the hunting and devouring activities of large, horrible monsters, and the suffering they cause. Ghaunadaur is silent and terrible when outside the Inner Planes, but old records tell of jibbering, bestial, language spoken in the deity's great court of mingled mud and gelatin pools. Ghaunadaur can communicate telepathically with all beings within 90 feet of his avatar, when present in Faerun. He can understand and contemplate complex emotions, schemes, and reasoning, but keeps his end of such communications blunt and simple (e.g. .Approve; No, Not; Slay; Come To Me; Go To (mental picture of desired place), and so on).

Duties of the Priesthood
Priests of Ghaunadaur have simple duties: they are to ensure, by force or threat, that a ready supply of sacrifices reaches Ghaunadaur's altars. The god supplies them with spells and tentacle rods (detailed in the Drow Magical Items chapter) to ensure success in this. Most of all, Ghaunadaur delights in creatures that offer themselves to him without resistance (regardless of whether these sacrifices have been charmed or otherwise coerced by its clergy). Priests who can bring such offerings to the Eye's altars often are highly valued and favored by the god.

Aims, Credo, and Ethos
All creatures have their place, and all are fit to wield power. Those who hunt weed out the weak and strengthen the stock of all. Those who rebel or who walk apart find new ways and try new things, and do most to advance their races. Creatures of power best house the energy of life, which Ghaunadaur reveres and represents. Faithful of Ghaunadaur are to make sacrifices to the Eye, persuade others to sacrifice themselves to Ghaunadaur or in service of the Eye, further knowledge and fear of Ghaunadaur, and in the end give themselves to Ghaunadaur in unresisting self-sacrifice. Priests of Ghaunadaur are to convert all beings they can to the worship of Ghaunadaur. They must slay all clergy of other faiths, plundering their temples and holdings for wealth to better their own lot and to further the worship of Ghaunadaur.

Rituals
Ghaunadaur expects a prayer of adulation and praise, accompanied by a sacrifice, at least once a day. If live sacrifices cannot be procured that often, the Elder Eye will accept offerings of bones and food, burned in oil, as braziers of perfumed incense are also burned. If a priest is unable to procure such offerings, the priest must pray while holding one hand in an open flame. The priest's hand must be covered with any magical oil or potion. (Oils or potions of fire resistance are instantly converted to lamp oil, with the appropriate results.) If the prayer is good (55% chance), the hand is restored. Priests of Ghaunadaur are to do whatever pleases Ghaunadaur best, and serve the Eye absolutely.

Customs, Rules, & Taboos
No thief, or priest of another faith, is to enter a temple of Ghaunadaur, leave again, and live for more than eight days thereafter (unless conversion to the worship of Ghaunadaur occurs). All such blasphemers must be destroyed, preferably as sacrifices on the altar. must either perform at least one task for Ghaunadaur (and preferably to enter the service of the Eye), or sacrifice to Ghaunadaur. Failing that, the offending priest of the Eye must sacrifice himself in the unbeliever's stead. No creature who receives the aid of Ghaunadaur is to allow eight days to pass thereafter without praying and making offerings to the Eye. Priests of Ghaunadaur must not knowingly befriend or consort with priests of any other faith. If such a relationship arises out of ignorance, the unbeliever must either perform at least one task for Ghaunadaur (and preferably to enter the service of the Eye), or sacrifice to Ghaunadaur. Failing that, the offending priest of the Eye must sacrifice himself in the unbeliever's stead.

Equipment, Garb, & Offerings
In any place of worship to Ghaunadaur, all cloth furnishings and garments worn by priests are to be of hues pleasing to Ghaunadaur's eye. Accepted colors are: copper, amber, flame-orange, russet, gold, dark red, plum, purple, amethyst, violet, heliotrope, mauve, lilac, lavender, black, and silver. Smoke and flame are to be a part of all sacrifices to Ghaunadaur. No creature is to speak out against the will of Ghaunadaur in the presence of the Eye, its avatar, or its manifestation. If such defiance occurs, a sacrifice of appeasement is to be performed (preferably involving the creature who defied the Elder Eye). Priests of Ghaunadaur are encouraged to become familiar with the use and manufacture of acids, poisons (including gases and incenses), and flaming oils of all sorts. (Temples and priestly abodes are typically well-supplied with such weapons, in a ready state.)

Temples
Temples to the Elder Eye are typically lit by purple, mauve, and lavender rays of light, radiances, and drifting, eddying luminous mists. These temples are usually located underground but sometimes can be found concealed in remote ruins. The walls are decorated with mosaics depicting beings of all races crawling in self-sacrifice to be eaten by vaguely squid-like creatures, each with ten hairy tentacles. The devouring creatures (Ghaunadaur's long-unseen bodyguard. ropers) are purple, violet, and mottled mauve in hue. Temples to the Eye always have well polished floors, usually of porphryry, obsidian, red and black hornblende, or black marble.

Sources: Faiths and Pantheons, Drow of the Underdark 2E, Lords of Madness, Greg Hall (Deity Symbol #2)