dear_mun | (no subject)

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[Ahh, there we are. Do you know, I was beginning to wonder if you had forgotten me? Of course you are admittedly the sort of entity whose notice often brings as much ill as good, but I am not hypocrite enough to judge you for that. My time in Oryndoll was going to end sooner or later no matter your actions in advancing the plot, and at least now I may have some guarantee of getting out undissected.]

[I look forward very much to this little excursion you've planned for me. It's about time my business went planar. And you've even found a city with resources in place for those of us with unorthodox dietary requirements! Thank you, truly. Not even Sigil makes my life that easy.]

[For now, shoo. You've work to do before all this, as do I. Don't worry about taking your time: I shall remain ever in your thoughts.]

[Promise.]

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[Well this is weird.]

[How so?]

[I'm just used to being the only alien god of my physique in the spotlight.]

[Well, if it helps, I am not strictly speaking a god. I am an illithid; we are a species rather than a pantheon. But I can understand the confusion - Mr. Gygax made no great secret of his ~~copyright infringement~~ fondness for you.]

[Ah that makes sense. Though my mun always thought we were just creatures of a species that asserted ourselves as gods. Of course it's open to interpretation since we would never say.

And eh it's really okay. My original writer is long dead and it's better I'm out there in one way or another.]

[That is an excellent point your mun makes. Once one reaches a certain level of eldritch the line does begin to blur considerably, does it not?]

[Two excellent points, really. Your first writer left quite the legacy for all of us younger horrors to follow, and I expect that it shall last a long, long time. Strange aeons, etc.]

[Of course though it wasn't just him either. Seeing as he wasn't the only human to write about me during that time with his blessing. Some were better than others about developing me.]

Well now, this is certainly a bit of a rarity. I haven't seen an illithid in many years, especially one that has visited my home of Sigil.

[What can one say; perhaps understandably, we tend not to get out much. And then there is Sigil's unfortunately large population of gith-folk...still, I consider it worth the risk.]

That's strange, I usually run into more demons than the gith, but then I suppose your race would be more prone to draw their attention. Some folks just don't take having your entire race enslaved, and their brains devoured too well do they?

[Indeed not, which is somewhat hypocritical when one takes into consideration how many of them eat meat themselves. Does a deer consent to its fate? Indeed, are even plants not alive? It is what it is; the natural order treats no creature kindly.]

Well now, so it's true what they say about your race's intelligence. One could always argue of course, that while a deer runs wild through the wilderness, the creatures you feast on are of a more sentient, or intelligent nature. However, considering the intelligence of your own race, comparing it to us 'lesser' species, it almost makes us seem like mindless cattle, doesn't it? Still, I must wonder, where do you draw the line? If you do even draw the line somewhere.

[If there is a line, it can only be drawn in personal bias. "It is morally wrong when it happens to me, or when it happens to those like myself and thus could happen to me." As I noted, this is somewhat hypocritical.]

[Certainly I myself do not wish to die, but if some creature should manage to kill me to sustain its own life I will not pretend that my death is special. The universe will not mourn me any more than it did my last meal. I see no reason not to be sensible about that.]

It does sound like the basic laws of nature, eat or be eaten. I am inclined to agree with your line of thinking, when it comes to the greater scope of the universe. All things must end eventually, surrendering at last to entropy, why quibble so much over the why of it? Heh, I simply find it rude to eat someone you're having a pleasant conversation with. Although one might call that more of the personal bias, it seems to me that if you're capable of conversing with your meal, one might want to consider something else to eat.

[One might. Yet there we come to the unavoidable truth that there is nothing else to consider. The brain of that same deer has never held the spark of sentience. We may consume its flesh and organs, but it cannot give us the psychic nutrition we also require.]

[It takes a considerable expenditure of time, energy and resources to keep an illithid community from starvation. Were there an easier way, I assure you, many of us would have taken it already, if only to focus our efforts on other matters.]

Ahhh, is that how your race developed its psionic powers? I had not known of this. It makes sense now that you have told me, but to be honest this is the first time I've been able to ask an illithid about its dietary needs, without... well becoming part of his dietary needs. Very interesting indeed.

Has your race considered trying to negotiate with any of the slightly larger civilizations to become prison guards? It would seem to be mutually beneficial to both races. They don't want their criminals, you use them as thralls for you menial labors, keeping them in check with your psionics, and those that would be executed are dinner. It wouldn't be much worse than any other prison I've been in, you get what you need, and they don't have to hire prison guards.

[Our origins are a bit more complicated than that, but certainly as individuals that is more or less the case, and death by psionic starvation is a nasty fate. It's true that we don't often bother to discuss life's...messy necessities like this, but I suppose that's illithid practicality for you: we tend to simply get on with it.]

[I believe some individuals have indeed managed to obtain similar arrangements, particularly those prisons on various levels of Baator. Certainly we are lawful enough, and efficient at keeping order. But in larger numbers our needs quickly outstrip the ability of most prisons to meet. Such an arrangement would still be useful as a supplement to a community's other imports, but...well, suffice to say that it would be a delicate balancing act to establish such an arrangement, and even more delicate an act to maintain it indefinitely.]

Well, it did seem a little too simple to be the origins of your entire race, but it is an interesting insight into your race to be certain. Then I suppose I should be grateful for this rare opportunity then, as it is rare enough to meet an illithid, never mind discuss the inner workings of their society with them.

A planar prison would indeed have a much larger supply of prisoners to fulfill the needs of your kind, so Baator does seem like an ideal location for such a thing. You are wise to realize that such an arrangement would indeed be quite delicate to keep intact. One misguided individual could lead the entire arrangement into a chaotic battle between your race, and the civilization you were working with. It would be rather delightful to see the attempt made though, as it would indeed require great skill in diplomacy, the likes of which that would keep any bard entertained.

So, what of you then? How have you been managing to keep yourself from psychically starving this past while?

[Oh, I get by. You can buy, sell or trade nearly anything in the right market, which as a fellow planar traveler I expect you know well. My business provides the means for buying and selling...and as for trading, well. The drow in particular are notoriously wasteful with their prisoners and slaves, and there is plentiful profit to be had for as long as one is willing to endure doing business with drow.]

[For the most part I prefer to get things over with quickly and keep my meals preserved until I need them. It seems neater.]

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