Gith (race)

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Greyhawk Creature
Gith
A githyanki riding a red dragon faces a githzerai. Art by Zoltan Boros (2018)
General information
First appearance:Fiend Folio 1st edition

The gith are a race of humanoids who were enslaved by mind flayers for countless generations.[1] Some sages claim they were once descended from humans,[2][3][4][5] while others maintained that their original race was in fact unknown.[6][7][8] After breaking free from their enslavement, philosophical differences led to a bitter internal conflict, which divided the gith into two main different races at constant odds with each other: the githyanki and the githzerai.[6][9][10]

Description

Gith are tall and emaciated-looking humanoids.[6] They have pale yellow skin, sometimes with greenish or brownish tones. Their skulls are long and angular, with deep-set eyes, flattened noses, and pointed, serrated ears. Typical hair colors include black, red, russet, and sometimes gray.[1][11]

Society

The gith are an utterly sundered race. Divided by generations of conflict and ideological differences, the two main sects of the gith people regard each other with nothing but contempt, hate, and wariness.[6][9] The intense hatred which divided the race was further exploited and amplified by the mind flayers themselves, who kept spies in both githyanki and githzerai communities tasked with stoking their ancient rivalries.[8]

However, a splinter faction of renegade githyanki and githzerai known as the Sha'sal Khou seek to overcome the differences between the two races and bring them together as a single people.[12][13] They worked secretly within the two races discouraging violence against each other in the hopes of becoming able to call their people simply "gith".[12][14][15]

Two other subraces existed among the gith:

  • The isolationist "pirates of Gith" chose to remain in the Prime Material plane and did not follow their cousins into the Astral Plane or Limbo. Instead, they chose a lifestyle of piracy in wildspace, although they retained their extremely militarized society.[16][3]
  • The githvyrik, a small group of gith who did not identify as either githyanki or githzerai.[17]

Language

The githyanki and the githzerai each speak their own dialect of the Gith language, which uses a unique form of writing called tir'su. It is an alphabetical set of runes in which words are formed in circles instead of linearly, with the letters of a given word linked in a ring. Githyanki arrange the characters clockwise from the top, while githzerai arranged them counter-clockwise from the bottom. Sentences are formed by a series of these rings.[18][6][19]

History

Origins

The ancient origin of the gith is clouded in mystery. Even the name of the original race, which some referred to as "the forerunners",[20] was lost to time.[6] Some sources claimed that they were originally humans from a world called Pharagos,[21] located in an unknown crystal sphere which had been conquered by the illithids during the expansion of their empire, and who had been slowly altered by the mind flayers' genetic experiments.[5] Others claimed that they might have been created by the illithids themselves through mixing humanoid hosts with powers from the Far Realm.[20]

A githyanki attacks a mind flayer. Art by Wayne Reynolds, 2005.

It has been suggested that the enslavement of the gith and the duergar happened during the early expansion of the mind flayer empire.[22] Whether the gith were human or some unknown humanoid race, centuries of servitude and selective breeding changed them considerably. In a practical sense, the gith are in fact made by the mind flayers.[8]

Although revolts were not uncommon among the mind flayers' slaves, for a long time they posed no challenge. However, over time some slaves developed some resistance against their masters' mind control and started secretly improving their psionic abilities. When they judged that the time was right, the forerunners, under the guidance of their leader Gith, revolted in an unprecedented uprising, causing a chain reaction that culminated in the death of countless elder brains and ushered the downfall of the entire illithid empire.[2][23][1] In less than a year, the devastation brought the mind flayers to the brink of extinction and forced the surviving enclaves into hiding, a downfall from which they never fully recovered.[24]

Civil War and Separation

Soon after conquering their freedom, Gith ordered the continuation of the war effort. The mind flayers were to be hunted down to the last one and the gith were to establish a new empire based on conquest. At this point, Zerthimon, a gith who had gathered a significant following during the fight for freedom, challenged Gith's leadership and her motives, arguing that she would end up leading the people into a similar tyranny that their former masters enforced.[1][9]

"The githyanki and the githzerai were so profoundly scarred by their enslavement to the mind flayers that they forget they were one race, united. Having won their freedom, they wage war against each other with a hatred none can fully comprehend." - Aristul the Yellow[6]"

The disagreement led to a violent civil war among the gith. Zerthimon was killed, and his followers, who called themselves "githzerai" (meaning "those who spurn Gith" in the Gith language[20]), retreated to Limbo in defeat–but not before dealing substantial damage to Gith's forces, which could no longer sustain a continuing campaign against the mind flayers.[1][9][23][4] This internal struggle gave sufficient time for the surviving mind flayers to retreat and hide in well defended underground locations.[25]

Gith led her surviving followers, who at this point started calling themselves "githyanki" (meaning "children of Gith"[1]), to the former illithid settlements in the Astral Plane, where they could regroup and gather their strength in order to resume their plans of conquering the entire multiverse, as well as exterminating both the mind flayers and the githzerai.[1]

Thus, the two divided races remained bitter enemies that constantly thwarted each other's plans. The githyanki expanded their conquering efforts to include raids into githzerai strongholds. The githzerai, while also deploying missions to root out and destroy illithid settlements, maintained a steady effort to oppose the githyanki militaristic expansion.[26] This enduring conflict prevented either race from obtaining a decisive victory against the mind flayers and brought the conflict to a stalemate.[9]

Vlaakith I was an advisor to Gith and helped seal the pact between red dragons and the githyanki. All subsequent queens of the githyanki have been named after her. Vlaakith CLVI, the immediate predecessor of the current lich-queen, ruled for over six centuries, becoming a lich at some point during her reign, before being destroyed by Xinfyrit, first of the devourers. The last queen of the githyanki, Vlaakith CLVII, died after ascending the throne without giving birth to an heir, but (like her predecessor) returned as a lich. Vlaakith CLVII has ruled the githyanki for well over a thousand years, making her the longest-reigning monarch the githyanki have ever had. Her home, the Castle Susurrus, is in the githyanki capital city, Tu'narath, which is built on the god-isle of a deceased power known only as "The One in the Void."

Notable Gith

Appendix

See Also

Appearances

Adventures
Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
Novels
Dawn of Night

References

Citations

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g A Guide to the Astral Plane (1996), p.44-46.
  2. ↑ a b Fiend Folio 1st edition, p.43-45.
  3. ↑ a b Monstrous Manual (1993), p.152-156.
  4. ↑ a b Planes of Chaos (1994), p.The Travelogue, 29.
  5. ↑ a b "Incursion: Knights of the Lich-Queen".  Polyhedron #159 (Dungeon #100, Jul 2003), p.6.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g Monster Manual 5th edition, p.158-161.
  7. ↑ "Playing Githzerai".  Dragon #378 (Aug 2009), p.80.
  8. ↑ a b c Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations, p.72-73.
  9. ↑ a b c d e Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (2018), 4.
  10. ↑ Monster Manual 4th edition, p.128-131.
  11. ↑ Player's Handbook 3, p.9.
  12. ↑ a b "Tyranny of Souls". Dungeon #168 (Jul 2009), p.51
  13. ↑ a b Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, p.193.
  14. ↑ Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (2018), p.97.
  15. ↑ a b "The Lich-Queen's Beloved". Dungeon #100 (Jul 2003), p.98
  16. ↑ Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix 1, p.41.
  17. ↑ a b Dawn of Night, p.3,7,47.
  18. ↑ Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (2018), p.90.
  19. ↑ "The Lich-Queen's Beloved". Dungeon #100 (Jul 2003), p.104-105
  20. ↑ a b c Dragon #378 (Aug 2009), p.80Playing Githzerai.
  21. ↑ "Incursion: Knights of the Lich-Queen".  Polyhedron #159 (Dungeon #100, Jul 2003), p.38-39.
  22. ↑ Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations.
  23. ↑ a b Monstrous Arcana: The Illithiad (1998), p.39.
  24. ↑ Volo's Guide to Monsters (2016), p.71.
  25. ↑ Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations, p.71.
  26. ↑ Planes of Chaos (1994), p.The Book of Chaos, 72-73.
  27. ↑ Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, p.209.

Bibliography


This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Gith (race) on the Forgotten Realms Wiki (view authors.

Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index

The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.

Topic Type Description Product Page/Card/Image

Citadel of Gith {Floating City} (Limbo) Settlement Manual of the Planes, AD&D 1e 99
Citadel of Gith {Floating City} (Limbo) Settlement Manual of the Planes, AD&D 1e 99
Floating City {Citadel of Gith} (Limbo) Settlement Reference SEE Citadel of Gith {Floating City} (Limbo)
Gith Monster Monstrous Arcana: The Illithiad, AD&D 2e 39
Gith Monster Manual of the Planes, AD&D 1e 98
Gith Monster Oerth Journal #18 14
Gith Monster PHBR5 - The Complete Psionics Handbook 124
Gith Non-player character TSR Jam 1999 20
Githyanki Adventure OP1 Tales of the Outer Planes, AD&D 1e 86-87
Githyanki Monster Dragon magazine #067 39-42
Githyanki Monster Fiend Folio, AD&D 1e 43-45
Githyanki Monster Monstrous Arcana: The Illithiad, AD&D 2e 58-60
Githyanki Monster Monstrous Compendium - Planescape Appendix I 46, 47
Githyanki Monster MC8 - Monstrous Compendium - Outer Planes Appendix Insert (Githyanki)
Githyanki Monster Monstrous Manual, AD&D 2e 153, 154
Githyanki Monster Monstrous Manual, AD&D 2e (Premium Edition) 153, 154
Githyanki Monster Monster Manual 1, D&D 3.5e (Premium Edition) 127, 128
Githyanki Monster Monster Manual 1, D&D 4e (Deluxe Edition) 128, 129, 277
Githyanki Monster Monster Manual 1, D&D 5e 158-159, 160
Githyanki Monster Manual of the Planes, AD&D 1e 3, 61, 65, 66, 67, 72, 99
Githyanki Monster Oerth Journal #21 48,53
Githyanki Monster OP1 Tales of the Outer Planes, AD&D 1e 86, 87, 92, 93
Githyanki Monster PHBR5 - The Complete Psionics Handbook 124
Githyanki Monster Saltmarsh Encounters, D&D 5e 13
Githyanki Monster Slavers, AD&D 2e 107
Githyanki Monster White Dwarf #012 9
Githyanki Monster White Dwarf #BOV1 43
Githyanki Fortress Settlement Defensive Structure, OP1 Tales of the Outer Planes, AD&D 1e 45-47
Githyanki Outpost Settlement Defensive Structure, Dragon magazine #067 39-42
Githzerai Adventure OP1 Tales of the Outer Planes, AD&D 1e 42, 47, 87-88
Githzerai Monster Fiend Folio, AD&D 1e 45
Githzerai Monster Monstrous Arcana: The Illithiad, AD&D 2e 58, 59, 60
Githzerai Monster MC8 - Monstrous Compendium - Outer Planes Appendix Insert (Githzerai)
Githzerai Monster Monster Manual 1, D&D 5e 159, 161
Githzerai Monster Manual of the Planes, AD&D 1e 65, 66, 67, 72, 97, 99
Githzerai Monster OP1 Tales of the Outer Planes, AD&D 1e 87, 88
Githzerai Monster PHBR5 - The Complete Psionics Handbook 124
Necklace, Silver (Githzerai) Item OP1 Tales of the Outer Planes, AD&D 1e 88
Zaerith Menyar-Ag-Gith (The Great Githzerai) Non-player character Male, Githzerai, Ftr16/Mu23, Manual of the Planes, AD&D 1e 99
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