Abandoned Codex

[Guest]

This is a long post, so please bear with me.

I don't know much about the origins of Gith in fantasy literature. Indeed,
most hits on Google on the word lead to Smaug-related and other
lesser-known gaming systems, which suggests to me that it's not
something that's been widely documented. However, what I have seen
elsewhere is various involvements with "space fleets", which isn't
something I want for Arathnos. Also I've noticed different descriptions
which contradict each other (e.g. one system describes them as wise
where another says they're less wise than humans, if perhaps more
intelligent.)

Therefore, it's my suggestion that we write, from scratch, a purely
Arathnos version of Gith, which will replace any version of Gith seen
elsewhere in order to more properly merge the race with Abandoned
Codex lore.
And because I don't know much about it other than what I've found on
Google and in the helpfiles, I'd like to do that writing in this forum so that
the Gith players can interject with their own theories and knowledge.
Here goes then:
---
Average Life Span: 200 years (varies) *
Approximate Age of Adulthood: 25 years (varies)
Adult Height: 5 to 6 1/2 feet
Adult Weight: 90 to 160 pounds

The gith are a race descended from a group of humans who were
abducted by mind flayers in the First Age, over a thousand years ago.
These people were tormented as part of an elaborate set of
experimentation over the course of centuries.
Eventually, a savior by the name of Gith led them to freedom, although
their bodies had long since been altered by the power of the flayers. All
gith pay homage to their namesake, a tradition that has grown into a
sort of worship of their ancestor that more closely resembles a
celebration of their people. The gith live in closely knit groups, having
little allegiance to the race of their ancestry. They have had vehement
hate of the flayers bred into them from birth, and cannot stand the sight
of them.

The race is split into three distinct groups: The good, the Githzerai, the
selfish neutral, the Pirates of Gith, and the evil, the Githyanki.**

The Githyanki fled to the Astral Planes. Driven by hatred they seek
revenge on their former captors, and to this day will often spend time
hunting mindflayers.

The Pirates of Gith, blaming their human descendants for not coming to
their aid in the First Age, now roam the lands as bandits and soldiers of
fortune.

The Githzerai also returned to the land, where they work towards the
establishment of a safe home.

All gith have thick, rough jaundiced skin pulled taut over their features.
Their bodies are gaunt and long of limb. Sunken eyes peer from
yellowing sockets, now strangely capable of naturally detecting invisible
things. In the Second Age of Arathnos, they number a little over two
thousand.***

* Remember that the age displayed in 'score' isn't used for RP purposes.

** Note however that an individual gith may in theory take any alignment
regardless of his group, though as a player you should have a good
reason for doing so.

*** This means that PC gith represent about 5% of the total population at
the time of writing.

[Gareth]

oh, that last post was from me, incidentally, but the phpBB administration panel won't seem to let me change the Author for some reason. :/

[Gareth]

I've had it put to me that in AD&D, gith are psionic. Unfortunately we don't have psionics on Abandoned Codex as yet, so I'm afraid you'll have to live without.

[Lucifer]

this is from http://www.planetadnd.com/interactive_books/mm00132.php

Legend of the Zerthimon: In githzerai lore there is a central figure that is revered above all others -- Zerthimon. The githyanki believe him to be a great god that was once a man. According to githzerai lore, when the original race broke free of the mind flayers, it was Zerthimon that opposed Gith, claiming that she was hateful and unfit to lead the people.
There ensued a great battle and the people were polarized by the two powers. Those that chose to support Gith became the githyanki. Those that supported Zerthimon became the githzerai.
Zerthimon died in the battle, but in his sacrifice he freed the githzerai from Gith. The githzerai believe that someday Zerthimon, in his new godly form, will return and take the them to a place on another plane.
Zerths are special among the githzerai, acting as focal points for the attention of Zerthimon. The githzerai believe that when Zerthimon returns for them, he will first gather all of the zerths and lead them to their new paradise. It might be said that the zerths are the center of githzerai religion. Unfortunately, they are not free from religious persecution.
The wizard-king (whose name is not known) that rules over the highly superstitious githzerai would like very much to stamp out the legend of Zerthimon. The wizard-king believes that this legend challenges his authority, and very likely it does. However, he has never been able to rid the githzerai of this legend and he is now forced to tolerate it.

[Gareth]

That story doesn't contradict anything we've got so far, so in principle it could go into Arathnos lore.

Pros: It's another bit of history for gith to relate to, and anyone coming to the mud from an AD&D background will have familiarity with it.

Cons: Arathnos is a pretty unique world history-wise, so adding historical stories to it from outside the system would degrade that uniqueness somewhat.

Personally I'm undecided - what do the rest of you think? Should we include the story of Zerthimon in Arathnos history?[/b]

[Gareth]

Also from the site you sent me:

" Although the githzerai are not a bitter or overly violent race, they still tend to hold a strong enmity and hatred for the race of illithids that originally enslaved the gith race so many thousands of years ago. By human terms, that may be a very long time to hold a grudge, but the githzerai see the mind flayers as the cause of the split of the Gith race and much of the hardships the githzerai are forced to endure. Thus large rrakkma (in the githzerai tongue) bands are often formed to hunt mind flayers. These bands typically consist of 30-60 githzerai warriors led by the githzerai equivalent of a sergeant. For roughly three months, these bands will roam the outer and inner planes, searching for groups of illithids and destroying them utterly. The rrakkma bands are very popular in githzerai society and it is considered to be an honor to serve in one.
The githzerai fortresses on the Prime Material plane tend to be very large affairs with great, impenetrable walls. Wherever these fortresses stand, they destroy the landscape for miles. No plants or animals live within many miles of the fortresses and the land is reduced to wasteland around them. It is not known if the effect is just the land's reaction to the "other-planar" stuff of which the castles are constructed, or if githzerai mages magically produce the effect in order to keep material beings away from these fortresses.
The most likely purpose of these fortresses on the Prime Material plane is to keep tabs on the githyanki. The githzerai, not being a particularly war-mongering or violent race, have no desire to conquer the Prime Material plane like the githyanki do. However, the githzerai realize that if their enemies have a strong hold on the Prime Material plane, they will become more powerful and thus will hold power over them. The githzerai carefully monitor the progress on the githyanki and lead coordinated, focused strikes against strongpoints of the githyanki, thus hampering their ability to expand and grow in the Prime Material plane."

So it seems that Githzerai do hunt mindflayers after all.

[Guest]

i like the idea of Rrakka bands being formed, could be good to roleplay that, maybe more mindflayers would be needed in area

[Gareth]

well, this is the problem I've historically had with gith - mindflayers aren't the sort of thing I'm massively keen on. I'm trying to bring the mud more towards a low-to-mid fantasy setting, with the more traditional sort of Elves, Warriors, and Dragons type setting. Freaky Cthuloid type tentacle monsters that dip around the astral planes is a step backwards in my view. :/

[Guest]

as i remember we have had black puddings invade xantheus

[Nightblade]

That was due to players deciding to have a bit of fun at the expense of lowbies. Thus why the cauldrons can no longer be picked up.
_________________
"Eye level for a kender is door-lock height for the same reason a chipmunk has extra cheek space."

"A kender will take anything that's not nailed down, and a kender with a good claw hammer will get those things too"

[Gareth]

Yes, as Nightblade says, it happened, and we put a stop to it
Incidentally, 'guest', could you use your name so we know who we're talking to?

[Lucifer]

sorry it was me, forgot to log in earlier

[Cedrick]

Yeah, I agree that the gith pirates are a bit out of place here, but I do think the githyanki and githzerai aren't -- after all, we do have the area Astral Plane still in, so unless you intend on removing that, we may as well use the AD&D rules. Perhaps two separate races, the good-align and the evil-align? I dunno; I've never really RP'd a gith. If we were to re-do them, though, we'd have to start by removing them from the game.
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Huh?

[Gareth]

Does anyone here consider Astral Plane to be an important (or even slightly notable) part of the game? Would anyone miss it if it vanished?
(genuine question)

[Gareth]

oh, and I'm perfectly happy to say that the Pirates of Gith all died out in the First Age, unless anyone has any major objections.