Origin Myth

The birth of the Gith race is closely tied to their enslavement by the illithids. The original Illithids that had arrived in the chaos of the Dawn War were powerful Elder Brains. They used their mind control and biology to enslave early humanoids. Through the process of Ceremorphosis, Illithids known as mind flayers were created by implanting a tadpole into a humanoid host. The tadpole would devour the host’s brain and merge with the body, transforming it into a full-grown Mindflayer. They became the generals of the illithid’s army central to the conquest of the planes of existence. Their brains were hyper-evolved for telepathy, mind control, and psychic attacks. They fed on sentient brains to sustain their intellect and power. These mindflayers used these abilities to enslave whole groups of humanoids as thralls and to further procreate future generations of mindflayers.

Over eons, some humans adapted—evolving psionically. The transformation from human to gith was a result of generational exposure to psionics, Far Realm influence, and biological manipulation.

Spark of Rebellion

The Illithid Empire’s grip was Multiversal Slavery. The illithids once ruled a vast empire spanning the Astral Sea, the Feywild, the Shadowfell and the Prime Material planes. The gith were among their most brutally subjugated slave races. The Illithids used psionics to suppress free will, turning gith into obedient thralls. The gith were used for labor, experimentation, and psionic sustenance. This left deep psychic scars that still influence gith culture and behavior. Over time, the gith developed resistance to illithid control. Led by the warrior Gith and her son Orpheus, they launched a rebellion that shattered the empire and nearly drove the illithids to extinction.

The Rise & Fall of Gith the Hero

Gith, the Liberator of the People, was once a slave under the illithid (mind flayer) empire. She led a rebellion that shattered their dominion, earning her the loyalty of her people. Gith united scattered resistance cells across illithid-controlled worlds, forging a single, unstoppable force. The illithid empire, once thought invincible, crumbled under the weight of the revolt. Elder brains were destroyed and mind flayers were hunted to near extinction. After the rebellion, Gith wanted to wage war across the planes and annihilate all remaining illithids. Gith sought a pact with Tiamat through her advisor Vlaakith, to gain the support of red dragons for her forces. Zerthimon, a rival leader, opposed her vision, fearing she’d become a tyrant. Their ideological clash split the People into two factions: the githyanki (who followed Gith) and the githzerai (who followed Zerthimon). This became known as The Pronouncement of Two Skies.

Seeking power to fuel her conquests, Gith traveled to the Nine Hells to forge a pact with Tiamat, the queen of evil dragons. The pact was known as the Scepter of Ephelomon. This deal bound the githyanki to red dragons and gave them immense strength—but at a terrible cost. Gith never returned. According to legend, she was betrayed by her advisor Vlaakith with the support of Tiamat. Her soul was trapped in the Nine Hells as part of the pact, and Vlaakith declared herself queen, claiming Gith’s final decree as justification. Vlaakith also imprisoned her son Orpheus in an artifact known as the Astral Prism and labelled him a heretic. For centuries, the githyanki awaited Gith’s prophesied return. Her name became taboo and her memory twisted by Vlaakith’s regime over the millennia.

The Lineage of Vlaakith

The Githyanki claimed the long dead divine corpse of Miska, the Wolf Spider, also know as the Dead God of the Void, in the Astral Plane as the base of operations and renamed it Tu’narath. This became the seat of power for Vlaakith & her descendants. The name “Vlaakith” has been held by many queens of the githyanki, each taking the title in honor of the original Vlaakith I, who was an advisor to Gith and helped forge the alliance with red dragons. There most recent ruler was Vlaakith CLVII. She became infamous once her true nature was revealed as she transformed herself into a lich and ruled for over a thousand years. Her reign is marked by paranoia, soul consumption of githyanki heroes, and a ruthless grip on power.

The Resistance Within

Within the ranks of the Githyanki & the Githzerai, a secret society known as the Sha’sal Khou was born after the Pronouncement of Two Skies. Their knowledge of Gith and Orpheus kept alive through generations. There goal was to unite githyanki and githzerai as one race.

Upon learning Vlaakith’s CLVII true persona and the fate of the great Githyanki warriors sent to her in ascension, members of the Sha’sal Khou took upon themselves to plan for the removal of Vlaakith. With the freeing of Orpheus and the Conquests of Lae’zel (a Gith hero from Baldur’s Gate) to serve as a distraction, the Sha’sal Khou set into motion the plot to eliminate her. Upon her death, a power vacuum ensued.

Multiple factions vied for control, and Zetch’r’r emerges as the strongest contender. Zetch’r’r’s was crowned emperor by Tiamat’s priests amid the ruins of Vlaakith’s palace. His alliance with Tiamat and the red dragons was fully negotiated after the coronation, to give up more control to Tiamat, further angering a large sect of the Githyanki.