The Illithid Faction

Having multiple factions in a dungeon encourages the suspension of disbelief. NPC's from factions usually seem more organic and significant because their faction lends them purpose. The dungeon with factions in conflict feels less like a caricatured fun-house, and more like an environment with the potential for evolving conflicts and resolutions. With that said -- the Illithid or "mindflayer" faction is one of the first factions my players might be unfortunate enough to encounter in the Cult of Aois megadungeon.

As mindflayers have the tendency to be rather potent adversaries, the level 1 players will probably not encounter these monsters in our first few sessions. But it is likely that plenty of the mindflayer's minions will be an ever-looming threat. I'm placing such an emphasis on the Illithid because my aim is to craft the Cult of Aois as a sci fantasy megadungeon. I've been cooking up ideas for some sickening and depraved mindflayer thralls, and I will post more about these minions after our game tomorrow night.

Every faction has a goal. In Cult of Aois, the mindflayer faction seeks to infiltrate the dwarven capital. The illithids hope to harness the mythical dwarven "Runewright," an artifact which is believed to be able to re-open the illithid's now-dead portal to the "space realm." The illithid are an antediluvian race that was once guided by their patron deity across the stars. But their deity ascended eons ago, joining the ranks of the forgotten. Their god abandoned his people as all forgotten do. Since then, the illithid have brooded beneath the darkness of their "material realm"prison while cursing the name of the god who used then stranded them.