Here's my PDF Store! I am currently playing Zug Zug the Ogre in an Eberron campaign and its the best. Having mechanics to support using a dead sahuagin, in order to smack another sahuagin, is just the best :D mrrhexx.store/
Whats your thoughts on the artstyle change of the gith? look how they used to look so...alien cadaver. Also the hint that they were made by the illithids from certain races like elf/orc/human.
great video, thank you. the diagram you showed right before the end of the video of the difference between githyanki and githzerai writing shows both of them as being "Clockwise" but you said something different
@@JohnBrowningsGhost This is the understanding we have, which is to say it could be false, as "our sources" for it could effectively be Vlaakith's propaganda. It's possible, for instance, that Vlaakith was simply lying about dying and having an heir, and it was just Lich Vlaakith being reborn into a new body. That said, I think it undermines the moral message underlying the githyanki conceptually. The idea is a very Nietzschean, "Gaze long into the abyss" type thinking -- the revolution went too far and ended up being a tyrannical recreation of their past oppression. This is the same critique Orwell famously made of Stalinism in Animal Farm: the revolution was good in its conception, and Lenin and Trotsky tried their best and made good progress, but Stalin went too far and now the pigs are just the new humans, rather than the farm not having a human presence at all.
Isn't this what Orpheus tells you in BG3? Depending on your choices in the game we might have a githanki civil war on our hands (Somthing wich would make a intresting back drop for a plancescape campaign)
i will literally make this a thing when i play a githyanki. why kill and torture a guy when you could just chain them to the ground and force them to watch a wall?
When you understand Gith lore you begin to fully appreciate how incredibly written Lae’zel’s arc is and how significant her actions and emotional scenes are, especially if you romance her.
I had detect thoughts runnin' constantly but that doesn't help you detect emotions that easily lol. Deep diving into her, she's basically got a heart of gold for a Githyanki and was terrified practically the whole time. Her being a jerk? Justified because she figured a lot of the stuff we were up to was wasting time while her races ancient and very real satan babies were gestating in our heads. Man do the other Gith make her look like she's practically a saint. We'd have just been decapitated.
Yes, I never got he hate for her. People angry she mean at the start, I mean yeah? Worst fucking day of her life, her worst nightmare. She's scared shitless Lae'zel/Shadowheart and Astarion were amazing for me, love them.
I romanced her on my new playthrough but also romanced Karlach simultaneously (apparently possible and both are aware of it). I expected to ultimately choose Karlach because Lae'zel would eventually wear thin with her brutish nature. I just got to a part in Act 3 where I genuinely appreciate the writing for this Gith. She really is all heart. Raised and abused by a cruel culture and it takes one journey with someone she admires to change her outlook on life. She won me over the sweetheart Karlach. Did not think that was possible.
Kinda nuts how both factions of Gith fall back into following the mindfayers strategies (Githyanki using plane shifting and the other faction's leader essentially became a nonhivemind elderbrain.
you said 'both' but only talked about githyanki... I don't really know what the githzerai picked from mindflayer... if anything they went the opposite way, living a life of nomads and peace in their own little "freedom above all" community
@@RukaDesu mainly talking about how their leader has become an immobile creature akin to an elder brain in how he exerts his power through supreme psychic energy and not so much his physical body (which kinda shows that the mind flayer philosophy of relinquishing their physical bodies in search of mental enlightenment actually won out in terms of actual viability)
I honestly feel like they would get along well with Duergar. Both of them are angry psionic creatures who hate the mind flayers with a burning passion. That feels like there could be some fun plot points with that. A githyanki creche within a duergar city, duergar made weapons being given to githyanki raiders, duergar gaining access to the outer planes through their githyanki allies and maybe assaulting the dwarven heaven...
If they have to kill a mindflayer to gain a right of passage, either there would be so many mindflayers that it would suggest they are failing at wiping them out, or the githyanki warriors would only be an elite few...I have a hundred questions about that.
I think it's more likely a slip up of the writers here. They just wanted to have a cool sounding rite of passage. The mind flayers have dwindled to very small isolated colonies that exist in hiding on multiple material worlds. As a gith, you would have to do extensive expeditions, possibly spend years on one planet just to find a hidden illithid colony. Something very unrealistic to put a single young gith through. Although becoming a Rambo in a strange world, surviving off the land and delving in deep caverns or sunken ancient cities sounds like a great premise for a book/movie. Maybe not all gith partake in this ritual, maybe some of them choose to live as the worker casts in the citadels of the Astral Plane. I imagine only a select few actually return with a mind flayer head and become inducted into the warrior casts. Gith lore isn't al that fleshed out, but we can fill in the gaps with our imagination :)
@@andrewhalverson6974 Possible but very unlikely. The way i see it, githyanki are bred and indoctrinated from a very fragile age into the ways of Vlaakith and most of them would not even know about the githzerai. I don;t imagine any of the gityanki priests talk openly about that off shoot faction of gith that just happened to rebel against Vlaakith and went into a totally different direction following their dreams and hugging trees or...ermm... dead bodies of giant alient creatures that exist in the Far Realm. I think that by punishing people from talking about the zerai, Vlaakith eventually removed them from githyanki culture altogether. That is how i would have done it if i were an undying totalitarian dictator.
That's....just not true lmfao. Both races can easily planeshift and can easily procreate en masse in many different worlds and planes. Gith killing an Illithid as a right of passage makes perfect sense and neither of what you said would be true
my personal theory on Vlaakith is that Valkith (the original) kept switching/possessing bodies (vlaakiths 2-156) until she could become a Lich (Vlaakith 157). Now she's spamming Wishes in hopes of becoming a God, which she can do pretty much eternally due to her lichdom.
@@archmagemc3561 She's supposed to also be behind a huge group of "ascended" Gith honor guards...aka lvl12 soul-siphoned undead thralls acting as her meatshields.
Wait, so in BG3, by using Command to get that one gith to drop his really good silver sword and pick it up, I now actually have armies of gith after me. Well shit.
My D&D group slew a bunch of Githyanki, took their silver greatswords, and immediately sold them off cheap; since the RAW says they'll hunt down whoever possesses the sword, not the one who originally took it. We got so rich since our DM had nothing to go by but legendary greatsword +3, and a chart recommending the cost of a legendary +3 weapon, then giving us 40% of it's value. 12 of these at 40% is still an absurd amount of money for five level 13's. :P To be fair, I doubt they were all Githyanki Knights; but the Mad Mage module says they each carry a silver sword.
On Earth, New York has long been an outpost creche for the Gith, or Gith-Yankees. It is a land known for a society with a highly competitive and industrious nature, especially when it comes to sports. Many feared the Githyankee silver bats, one reason metal bats were quickly outlawed in baseball. Baseball is a seemingly simple game simulating raiding bases and establishing creches on new worlds while avoiding outfielders (Out Worlders) trying to touch you with a ball (Ilithid tadpole). Strange foods can be witnessed being eaten in these arenas. The "hotdogs" are thought to be magically grown in vats within the Astral Plane. That is why no one can source the animal the meat comes from, while it is nonetheless tasty. Most Githyankees hide well in Human society using their psionic abilities and magical talents with illusion. But sometimes after a long night of festivities the magic slips. Thank goodness for beer goggles.
That is a very interesting blend of fantasy and reality. I never looked at baseball as a raid, but it does make sense. You launch a ball - distraction propaganda - then you raid 3 outposts, then you go back home. All this while the enemies are busy handling the distraction. As for meat being grown in labs, this is already something that is happening in our Earth realm with genetic experimentation having reached this level currently. Several European countries are introducing lab grown meat in supermarkets soon.
appreciate the fact that you covered one of the few races in d&d that got sort of forgotten until BG3 came up (i remember that creating a githyanki character years ago was a pain because you couldn't find any good image apart those from official book sources, you HAD to ask for a commission xD). Good job, keep it up Rhexx PS: Now we only have to wait something to focus on githzerai, they are really a cool race with much potential, just for the fact that some head monks in some monasteries in truth are githzerai xD
In Baldur's Gate 3 there's a character named 'Orpheus' who claims he is Gith's son. I think he is a sort of rewritten version of Zetch'r'r, who in the Lich Queen's Beloved is a Githyanki warlord leading a rebellion movement against Vlaakith - the Sha'sal Khou. Otherwise, I would also find it interesting if Zetch'r'r and Orpheus are separate characters after all and in the future meet canonically :D
Frankly, it would have been so much cooler if they had included Zetch'r'r instead of introducing Orpheus (kinda) out of nowhere. Especially that Zetch'r'r is familiar with the current political climate, whereas Orpheus is the contemporary of Gith and Vlaakith I. There have even been speculations among the community whether Orpheus would bring about real change or just keep the status quo. With Zetch'r'r, we already know that he wants not only to dethrone Vlaakith CLVII, but also make peace with the githzerai - now that would be a huge thing. :)
Planescape Torment tells us a different story about Zerthimon - he emerged as a freedom fighter roughly the same time as Gith did, long before the liberation. He started a seperate freedom movement and cought up with that of Gith's.
It saddens me a little that you won't do a video on the Githzerai as well, Dak'kon in Planescape Torment was easily the most interesting party member I feel and the stories he would tell about their existence and lessons surviving in Limbo were amazing. I dearly hope that you will reconsider and look further into making this video.
Really cool stuff! I think it's interesting that bg3 seems to paint Gith as more of a benevolent figure, stating or at least implying that the reason she never came back from meeting Tiamat is because Vlaakith betrayed her, and maybe the stories of her being a great conqueror and wanting a world-spanning githyanki empire could even be lies spread by Vlaakith to justify her own ambitions. "I'm only acting out Gith's final wish so don't question me, just do it" sort of thing I feel like it adds a bit more depth to their story and makes the possibility of good-aligned githyanki more believable in the lore
It would probably quickly turn into that scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, when that dude drinks from the wrong cup and start aging so rapidly, he turns into a dusty skeleton on the spot.
That's a good point. Is this spell like a permanent buff on the gith, or would it be an instant spell to be cast right before plane shift and that prevents it for that shifting? The dispel damage would kill the gith instantly in the first case, but in the second there would not be anything to dispel. I mean, if I were dm'ing I would not like to have a thousand-year experience gith veteran be able to be oneshot without revival chance by a 2nd level spell...
but first you must know that they use such spell at all, because you are not even supposed to know they are under any spell at all. And to countrer it you must learn it first and you can't, no one would teach you the spell so you could start to think how to dispell it.
Ah yes! The Gith, a part of D&D lore not directly based on folklore, Tolkein, or HP Lovecraft. Instead, we can credit them to *checks notes* no wait, that can't be right...
Tiamat is a greedy tyrant, so that's a valid assumption. Hopefully with the rising popularity of githyanki, WotC can expand their lore further and clarify what happened to Mother Gith.
Vlaakith was already an important presence in gith society before Gith made the journey to Tiamat. It is likely that Vlaakith was corrupted by Tiamat and so convinced Gith to go meet the dragon demi-god. However, the pact holds firm and there doesn;t seem to have been any attempt by Tiamat to make any moves against the githyanki since all those thousands of years ago. It is unclear what the long term plan of Tiamat is, but she has not made a move as of yet.
I swear I was about to leave the same comment but I decided to read a couple of comments first I love these videos I really believe these are the best dungeons and dragons Lor videos. The other ones feel so dry are they talk about the subject as if it’s not cool since they never used it in the campaign. Most people are adventurous goblins are pretty scary. Talk about them as if you are normal person not a level 20 barbarian thank you for these videos. They are so immersive.
What's neat is there's a third type called Pirates of Gith from spelljammer who are gith who live in wild space and act as pirates and do hate mindflayers
Other than other mindflayers or mindflayer adjacent species/races (ie; intellect devourers, elder brains); can you name any factions who don't hate Illithids?
@@nephicus339 Not really I think there's some other brain eating monsters called nehtheglu or something like that that are chill with them but again they also eat brains
I can only imagine a scene out of Scooby Doo, if they make it. Being chased through one door, to emerge out of another, only to run in a different one, and so on. xD@@labibsaud8064
Thank you so much for this! I was scouring youtube for lore on the Gith, looking for a MrRhexx video hehe. I devoured all the old videos I could find but was so excited when I saw you posted one today. You truly make the best lore videos :)
Make sure you do your employer 401K match and have no bad debts before you spend money on patreon! Like Hawk said you have to support yourself first :)
I think the supplements are all pretty good. They're fun reads. I wish it elaborated on the mechanics for redeemed succubus's kisses, or Mind Flayer dietary needs.
The Githyanki's name comes from the race in Dying of the Light by George R.R. Martin, while their relationship with the Mind flayers comes from the relationship of the Tnuctipun and Thrintun in Larry Niven's World of Ptavvs
i've been mastering a campaign for 2 years (still ongoing) about mind flayers... and i didn't know about githyanki originating from humans! This opens so many different scenarios for my campaign, where humans were once enslaved by elves and now are consumed by their greed for power, advancing in technology, stealing knowledge from everything and everyone. Oh boy. I guess it must continue even after lvl 20 now.
I have to agree. He's making a comparison while apparently never having heard the word spoken aloud? He pronounces more words in odd ways too, like "plannar" vs planar, recesses like it's a chocolate, "molnourished", etc, and refers to a group as githyankiS (with an added 'S') half the time. He's probably not a native english speaker, which is fine, as is his content, but it's triggering nonetheless.
@@humptusdumptus4123 I mentioned him probably not being a native english speaker, did I not? Implying I *also* think it *is* indeed an accent? Still doesn't explain the "Jedi" bit though.
@@CptWindwalker82sorry it’s so triggering that every single person doesn’t pronounce and enunciate words in a manner acceptable to you. you know there’s more to the world than just English right? like you are aware that people speak other languages natively and that learning English after another language leaves one with a noticeable accent and differing pronunciation, right? and you are also aware that you likely also have an accent that comes from your own regional location, whether that be European or American, and someone who hails from a different English-speaking country likely pronounces words completely differently from you as well? don’t be an asshole because someone speaks slightly differently from you lmao
Thank you for the video! since I started playing BG3 I have been watching all your videos to fully understand The Forgotten Realms, all of them are amazing and well made.
Your videos are some of my favorites. The fascinating and intriguing lore combined with your soothing voice and passion for storytelling, I could never get tired of them!
I have in my world lore a group of Gith rebel and take up life strictly on the prime material. Now that making a PC as Gith is supported, I can build on this. Thanks for sharing this information.
@MrRhexx @ 42:40 You show the entry for the Silver Sword and explain that Gith are one of the only things that can sever the silver cord from an astral projection. I do remember reading in AD&D 2E Planescape that Astral Dreadnoughts can do the same (and still can). I also remember reading (looking for the source) that the dreadnought’s claw is a material component in creating the Gith’s silver sword.
Just came across this video, I used to watch MrRhexx way back when I was a kid. He would do the “monster vs monster” matches in Skyrim. Gave me a lot of fun and joy growing up, thank you MrRhexx
What I want to know is why the Githyanki haven't done anything about the Mind Flayer presence on planets like Glyph (in Realmspace), which is something like an Illithid homeworld, or at least a major linchpin of Mind Flayer society in the current D&D world.
One of my favorite articles from the old Dragon Magazine was in issue #78, "The Ecology of the Mind Flayer" which gave some of the first real insight into the illithid-gith races. The Illithiad expanded upon this to some extent, but the githyanki were a fascinating addition to the game, and the saga was well-researched for Baldur's Gate III. I appreciate when the devs do their homework.
See, I kinda see the Githyanki as a bit like Klingons, victory through straight forward combat. The Star Trek TTRPG has some fascinating honor system for Klingons and I want to use it for a Spell Jamming Gith party.
Thanks for the video. And I can’t wait for Sands of Doom. May very well be the first module I run instead of doing my own adventure. Everything about it sounds really engaging
Hey MrRhexx! Love your videos and honestly you've been a very strong presence in some very difficult times for me. Have you ever thought about making a shorts series about the Asathalfinare and/or their respective peoples (sea-Elves, Tritons, Merfilk, Locatha and Shalarin)? I feel like the underwater world is very under-developped in what comes to lore in 5e.
So, on the topic of githyanki weapons, there were a couple of articles in Dragon/Polyhedron for the Incursion campaign, which centers around a githyanki invasion. It actually notes that the githyanki like blades in general, with swords being the absolute preference, but glaives, halberds, bladed chains, scythes and crossbows are also weapons they tend to like using - all silver much like their renowned swords where possible.
I wonder if part of the silver swords isn't some of the warrior's soul or essence. That eould explain the massive response to losing one, you're effectively defiling their dead just by holding it. although perhaps I isn't the individual warrior's essence that poses such a threat to them, perhaps something else. It could honestly be that they don't see any other races as being worthy of weilding such powerful weapons.
The Astral Plane is like a crawlspace behind the walls of reality. It's a part of the basic frame, there for utility, to sort out the wiring and stuff, but your not really ment to see it or need to think about it.
46:50 I believe the gaming term "gish" is just short for "gestalt" which is what many (most?) RPG players called multi-class characters back in the day. I always thought the "gish" of D&D are breaking the fourth wall by offically using the unoffical term and similtaneously making fun of how weird all their Githyanki words are.
Thinking about this a lot with BG3 - maybe some of the ancient Gith were born with an innate Nondetection wild talent, and Gith (the person) was bred by the rebellion to emanate than as an aura to break down the Hive Mind. - the Mindflayers are implied to have originated in a future than no longer exists (unless their machination succeed), so was their Empire in the ancient past or the far flung future? - Are their an adventures set in the Etherial plane with Mindflayer ruins or outposts? Seems like a really fun setting for some Lovecraftian tomb raiding into an Etherial Ilithid city out of time and overrun by a Neolithid and other corrupted Ilithid flesh
@@MrRhexx You should've showed the older version to display that discrepancy too, because that's the interesting stuff you are known for showing off; especially since that's a part of “what they don't tell you about Githyanki”~ :P Thanks for the clarification, though! :)
Even after years of watching this channel, until today I never realised Mr Rexx might be a really cool play on words with Misdirects.....of course it might just be a coincidence.
Love this lore dump reminds me of the various Neverwinter nights 2 story lines both main and Mask of Betrayer story lines. Obvious tie ins to Baldurs gate lore as well.
Githyanki remind me of Clan warriors from Battletech. Right down to the engineered warrior society "grown" in small creche's of children with no family unit, brutal training that results in deaths, a honor system, and survival of the fittest mindset that looks down on outsiders yet respects those who have proven their competence.
Oh wow, the more I read about Githyanki lore and especially their military the more I thought they remind me a lot of Jedi. Awesome to hear that I'm not the only one who got that impression :D
Love the video! I think that the rapid re-aging that occurs was something from past editions. In 5e, the DMG doesn't explicitly say that they re-age. It just says that things do not age while on the Astral Plane. I feel that it makes more sense for the Githyanki, as astral raiders, to not have to resort to casting a spell to make themselves not age as quickly upon exiting the Astral Plane. Conversely, I suppose it does make for an interesting idea of what could happen to the older warriors that have aged little by little over the course of multiple epochs of raids now needing spells to maintain their agility and strength. Perhaps they have some sort of magical drug or spell that they become addicted to?
I understood only that which 30+ hours of Baldur's Gate 3 allowed me to. Never played much D&D (mostly MERP) but this was a fantastic background resource for the super-vanilla Githyanki fighter I'm playing! Thank you, or Thanki' Y' ou as the case may be. Subb'd
Thanks for making this. My D&D party's campaign ended on a cliffhanger after being dropped in the Astral Plane and meeting some gith. Now I have to figure out where to go from there, lol
I miss in older editions where all silver swords were just straight up vorpal blades, because they always made me desperately want one. Even if it meant that I would forever have gith hunting me. Made for some really cool paladin quests and stories.
Here's my PDF Store! I am currently playing Zug Zug the Ogre in an Eberron campaign and its the best. Having mechanics to support using a dead sahuagin, in order to smack another sahuagin, is just the best :D
mrrhexx.store/
Whats your thoughts on the artstyle change of the gith? look how they used to look so...alien cadaver. Also the hint that they were made by the illithids from certain races like elf/orc/human.
Is it possible that mind flyers are an artificially made race? Their adolescence suggests this.
Would love an opportunity to buy more merch from you MrRhexx!!
great video, thank you.
the diagram you showed right before the end of the video of the difference between githyanki and githzerai writing shows both of them as being "Clockwise" but you said something different
Please do Chromatic Dragons for the next Monster Races, So we can have Red-Dragon/Gith Party!
Githyanki, the ones who actually have 20 years of experience at 18
Just like an Indian engineer's resume
I'm 100% convinced that Gith never even made the deal with Tiamat. Instead, Vlakith betrayed Gith and she was the one whom made the pact with Tiamat.
But isnt the current timeline Vlakith the only one that's a Lich and shes like the 150th Vlakith?
I smell a campaign plot hook
@@JohnBrowningsGhost This is the understanding we have, which is to say it could be false, as "our sources" for it could effectively be Vlaakith's propaganda. It's possible, for instance, that Vlaakith was simply lying about dying and having an heir, and it was just Lich Vlaakith being reborn into a new body. That said, I think it undermines the moral message underlying the githyanki conceptually. The idea is a very Nietzschean, "Gaze long into the abyss" type thinking -- the revolution went too far and ended up being a tyrannical recreation of their past oppression. This is the same critique Orwell famously made of Stalinism in Animal Farm: the revolution was good in its conception, and Lenin and Trotsky tried their best and made good progress, but Stalin went too far and now the pigs are just the new humans, rather than the farm not having a human presence at all.
Isn't this what Orpheus tells you in BG3?
Depending on your choices in the game we might have a githanki civil war on our hands
(Somthing wich would make a intresting back drop for a plancescape campaign)
Ill add githyanki to my list called “races to show no mercy to” they have a place right next to mind flayers and drow
Githyanki using boredom as corporal punishment is such a fucking mood
Boredom is the worst torture
Until you get that one weird Githyanki...
Boss: _"As punishment, you'll watch the paint dry!"_
Weird Gith: _"Alright!"_
I mean, that’s essentially what solitary confinement is in real life.
A mood?
i will literally make this a thing when i play a githyanki. why kill and torture a guy when you could just chain them to the ground and force them to watch a wall?
When you understand Gith lore you begin to fully appreciate how incredibly written Lae’zel’s arc is and how significant her actions and emotional scenes are, especially if you romance her.
I had detect thoughts runnin' constantly but that doesn't help you detect emotions that easily lol. Deep diving into her, she's basically got a heart of gold for a Githyanki and was terrified practically the whole time. Her being a jerk? Justified because she figured a lot of the stuff we were up to was wasting time while her races ancient and very real satan babies were gestating in our heads. Man do the other Gith make her look like she's practically a saint. We'd have just been decapitated.
Yes, I never got he hate for her. People angry she mean at the start, I mean yeah? Worst fucking day of her life, her worst nightmare. She's scared shitless
Lae'zel/Shadowheart and Astarion were amazing for me, love them.
ngl understanding her just makes me dislike her more
@@Tony-nt5zd why is that?
I romanced her on my new playthrough but also romanced Karlach simultaneously (apparently possible and both are aware of it). I expected to ultimately choose Karlach because Lae'zel would eventually wear thin with her brutish nature. I just got to a part in Act 3 where I genuinely appreciate the writing for this Gith. She really is all heart. Raised and abused by a cruel culture and it takes one journey with someone she admires to change her outlook on life. She won me over the sweetheart Karlach. Did not think that was possible.
Kinda nuts how both factions of Gith fall back into following the mindfayers strategies (Githyanki using plane shifting and the other faction's leader essentially became a nonhivemind elderbrain.
Chilrden will always copy and adopt the behaviors of their parents, good or bad, because that is all they know...
you said 'both' but only talked about githyanki...
I don't really know what the githzerai picked from mindflayer... if anything they went the opposite way, living a life of nomads and peace in their own little "freedom above all" community
@@RukaDesu mainly talking about how their leader has become an immobile creature akin to an elder brain in how he exerts his power through supreme psychic energy and not so much his physical body (which kinda shows that the mind flayer philosophy of relinquishing their physical bodies in search of mental enlightenment actually won out in terms of actual viability)
The illithid may be relentlessly cruel and sadistic slavers but when strategies work they work
@@evankrueger7321
True. The gith essentially became d&d's version of the krork in 40k.
I honestly feel like they would get along well with Duergar. Both of them are angry psionic creatures who hate the mind flayers with a burning passion. That feels like there could be some fun plot points with that. A githyanki creche within a duergar city, duergar made weapons being given to githyanki raiders, duergar gaining access to the outer planes through their githyanki allies and maybe assaulting the dwarven heaven...
That unholy alliance seems like a match made in hell. It's perfect.
Weren't they both enslaved by mind flayers at some point? This would make sense
If they have to kill a mindflayer to gain a right of passage, either there would be so many mindflayers that it would suggest they are failing at wiping them out, or the githyanki warriors would only be an elite few...I have a hundred questions about that.
I think it's more likely a slip up of the writers here. They just wanted to have a cool sounding rite of passage. The mind flayers have dwindled to very small isolated colonies that exist in hiding on multiple material worlds. As a gith, you would have to do extensive expeditions, possibly spend years on one planet just to find a hidden illithid colony. Something very unrealistic to put a single young gith through. Although becoming a Rambo in a strange world, surviving off the land and delving in deep caverns or sunken ancient cities sounds like a great premise for a book/movie. Maybe not all gith partake in this ritual, maybe some of them choose to live as the worker casts in the citadels of the Astral Plane.
I imagine only a select few actually return with a mind flayer head and become inducted into the warrior casts.
Gith lore isn't al that fleshed out, but we can fill in the gaps with our imagination :)
@@mancamiatipoola maybe that's where Githzerai pad out their numbers.
@@andrewhalverson6974
Possible but very unlikely. The way i see it, githyanki are bred and indoctrinated from a very fragile age into the ways of Vlaakith and most of them would not even know about the githzerai. I don;t imagine any of the gityanki priests talk openly about that off shoot faction of gith that just happened to rebel against Vlaakith and went into a totally different direction following their dreams and hugging trees or...ermm... dead bodies of giant alient creatures that exist in the Far Realm.
I think that by punishing people from talking about the zerai, Vlaakith eventually removed them from githyanki culture altogether. That is how i would have done it if i were an undying totalitarian dictator.
That's....just not true lmfao. Both races can easily planeshift and can easily procreate en masse in many different worlds and planes. Gith killing an Illithid as a right of passage makes perfect sense and neither of what you said would be true
Could be that it’s not down to the individual, maybe it’s once they Gith has participated in a successful hunt of a mindflayer.
my personal theory on Vlaakith is that Valkith (the original) kept switching/possessing bodies (vlaakiths 2-156) until she could become a Lich (Vlaakith 157). Now she's spamming Wishes in hopes of becoming a God, which she can do pretty much eternally due to her lichdom.
I wonder how many groups have played out defeating her lol
you cant spam wish, it have chance to fail permamently, you cant use wish after
@ThellUndeadll 1: that's if you use it for an unintended purpose
2: she uses other souls for wishing so she doesn't suffer the consequences
@@KaelWrit Shes CR23, so shes very squishy if you get to fight her.
@@archmagemc3561
She's supposed to also be behind a huge group of "ascended" Gith honor guards...aka lvl12 soul-siphoned undead thralls acting as her meatshields.
Wait, so in BG3, by using Command to get that one gith to drop his really good silver sword and pick it up, I now actually have armies of gith after me. Well shit.
free exp mine
Play BG2. That actually happens at one point.
@@dragonmanfirebane5078 that's what I'M saying!!! githyanki creche? more like gith-thank-ye betch!!
Thinking of how screw Dammon going to get after i sell him many silver swords
My D&D group slew a bunch of Githyanki, took their silver greatswords, and immediately sold them off cheap; since the RAW says they'll hunt down whoever possesses the sword, not the one who originally took it. We got so rich since our DM had nothing to go by but legendary greatsword +3, and a chart recommending the cost of a legendary +3 weapon, then giving us 40% of it's value. 12 of these at 40% is still an absurd amount of money for five level 13's. :P
To be fair, I doubt they were all Githyanki Knights; but the Mad Mage module says they each carry a silver sword.
On Earth, New York has long been an outpost creche for the Gith, or Gith-Yankees. It is a land known for a society with a highly competitive and industrious nature, especially when it comes to sports.
Many feared the Githyankee silver bats, one reason metal bats were quickly outlawed in baseball. Baseball is a seemingly simple game simulating raiding bases and establishing creches on new worlds while avoiding outfielders (Out Worlders) trying to touch you with a ball (Ilithid tadpole).
Strange foods can be witnessed being eaten in these arenas. The "hotdogs" are thought to be magically grown in vats within the Astral Plane. That is why no one can source the animal the meat comes from, while it is nonetheless tasty.
Most Githyankees hide well in Human society using their psionic abilities and magical talents with illusion. But sometimes after a long night of festivities the magic slips. Thank goodness for beer goggles.
This
That is a very interesting blend of fantasy and reality. I never looked at baseball as a raid, but it does make sense. You launch a ball - distraction propaganda - then you raid 3 outposts, then you go back home. All this while the enemies are busy handling the distraction.
As for meat being grown in labs, this is already something that is happening in our Earth realm with genetic experimentation having reached this level currently. Several European countries are introducing lab grown meat in supermarkets soon.
boooo
@@mancamiatipoola At least someone got my insomnia inspired sense of humour! In truth all games are practice for war. It's evolution really.
This was great, lol!
appreciate the fact that you covered one of the few races in d&d that got sort of forgotten until BG3 came up (i remember that creating a githyanki character years ago was a pain because you couldn't find any good image apart those from official book sources, you HAD to ask for a commission xD).
Good job, keep it up Rhexx
PS: Now we only have to wait something to focus on githzerai, they are really a cool race with much potential, just for the fact that some head monks in some monasteries in truth are githzerai xD
Perhaps the supposed BG3 expansion will expand on them :D
In Baldur's Gate 3 there's a character named 'Orpheus' who claims he is Gith's son. I think he is a sort of rewritten version of Zetch'r'r, who in the Lich Queen's Beloved is a Githyanki warlord leading a rebellion movement against Vlaakith - the Sha'sal Khou. Otherwise, I would also find it interesting if Zetch'r'r and Orpheus are separate characters after all and in the future meet canonically :D
Frankly, it would have been so much cooler if they had included Zetch'r'r instead of introducing Orpheus (kinda) out of nowhere. Especially that Zetch'r'r is familiar with the current political climate, whereas Orpheus is the contemporary of Gith and Vlaakith I. There have even been speculations among the community whether Orpheus would bring about real change or just keep the status quo. With Zetch'r'r, we already know that he wants not only to dethrone Vlaakith CLVII, but also make peace with the githzerai - now that would be a huge thing. :)
Planescape Torment tells us a different story about Zerthimon - he emerged as a freedom fighter roughly the same time as Gith did, long before the liberation. He started a seperate freedom movement and cought up with that of Gith's.
It saddens me a little that you won't do a video on the Githzerai as well, Dak'kon in Planescape Torment was easily the most interesting party member I feel and the stories he would tell about their existence and lessons surviving in Limbo were amazing.
I dearly hope that you will reconsider and look further into making this video.
Neverwinter Nights 2 also featured the Gith, and a Githzerai character.
Dak’kon >>> Lae’zel
Really cool stuff!
I think it's interesting that bg3 seems to paint Gith as more of a benevolent figure, stating or at least implying that the reason she never came back from meeting Tiamat is because Vlaakith betrayed her, and maybe the stories of her being a great conqueror and wanting a world-spanning githyanki empire could even be lies spread by Vlaakith to justify her own ambitions. "I'm only acting out Gith's final wish so don't question me, just do it" sort of thing
I feel like it adds a bit more depth to their story and makes the possibility of good-aligned githyanki more believable in the lore
I know this spell is probably a secret but Imagine just...dispelling the "Out of time grasp" on a githyanki tho.
It would probably quickly turn into that scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, when that dude drinks from the wrong cup and start aging so rapidly, he turns into a dusty skeleton on the spot.
That's a good point. Is this spell like a permanent buff on the gith, or would it be an instant spell to be cast right before plane shift and that prevents it for that shifting? The dispel damage would kill the gith instantly in the first case, but in the second there would not be anything to dispel.
I mean, if I were dm'ing I would not like to have a thousand-year experience gith veteran be able to be oneshot without revival chance by a 2nd level spell...
but first you must know that they use such spell at all, because you are not even supposed to know they are under any spell at all. And to countrer it you must learn it first and you can't, no one would teach you the spell so you could start to think how to dispell it.
Just started my second bg3 playthrough as a gith - perfect timing
Ah yes! The Gith, a part of D&D lore not directly based on folklore, Tolkein, or HP Lovecraft. Instead, we can credit them to *checks notes* no wait, that can't be right...
Wait wah?
Wait, are the gith’yanki based on a preexisting fantasy creation?
@@De_La_EvoIt was George R. R. Martin
@@De_La_Evo A psychic, politically divided race fighting against a hivemind--if that isn't the most GRRM thing I've ever read
what are they based off of?
The Githyanki really love those swords see NWN2 for a real good example of this if you play it get used to hearing Kalach-Cha a lot
To be fair, the one from nwn2 was the actual sword of Gith, not just a silver sword.
@@Hekk. the difference between stealing a book from barnes and noble and stealing the declaration of independence
Why do I get the sense Tiamat killed Gith and sent Vlaakith back as a puppet of hers to rule over the people without suspicion?
Tiamat is a greedy tyrant, so that's a valid assumption. Hopefully with the rising popularity of githyanki, WotC can expand their lore further and clarify what happened to Mother Gith.
Vlaakith was already an important presence in gith society before Gith made the journey to Tiamat. It is likely that Vlaakith was corrupted by Tiamat and so convinced Gith to go meet the dragon demi-god. However, the pact holds firm and there doesn;t seem to have been any attempt by Tiamat to make any moves against the githyanki since all those thousands of years ago. It is unclear what the long term plan of Tiamat is, but she has not made a move as of yet.
@@mancamiatipoola Tiamat is not a "demi-god".
@@mancamiatipoolademi-god? Isn’t Tiamat the true god of dragons?
@jeshonloonskin4176 well, one of 2--there's also Bahamut
Bro, I missed you! Was having a bad day. This notification changed that.
Agreed.
I assume he's been busy with Sands of Doom.
I swear I was about to leave the same comment but I decided to read a couple of comments first I love these videos I really believe these are the best dungeons and dragons Lor videos. The other ones feel so dry are they talk about the subject as if it’s not cool since they never used it in the campaign. Most people are adventurous goblins are pretty scary. Talk about them as if you are normal person not a level 20 barbarian thank you for these videos. They are so immersive.
What's neat is there's a third type called Pirates of Gith from spelljammer who are gith who live in wild space and act as pirates and do hate mindflayers
Other than other mindflayers or mindflayer adjacent species/races (ie; intellect devourers, elder brains); can you name any factions who don't hate Illithids?
@@nephicus339 Not really I think there's some other brain eating monsters called nehtheglu or something like that that are chill with them but again they also eat brains
Tbf, mindflayers, very easy to hate 😂😂
44:55 Fun fact: This is no ordinary silver sword. This is the silver sword of Gith herself, wielded by the Warlock Ammon Jerro.
Is it cannon?
me out loud: man i want to learn more about DnD
UA-cam: literally 2nd recommendation.
they have eys n ears everywhere...
Imagine some force taking a silver sword and running to Sigil with it.
Sounds like a plan. I'm on it.
I can only imagine a scene out of Scooby Doo, if they make it. Being chased through one door, to emerge out of another, only to run in a different one, and so on. xD@@labibsaud8064
Imagine what the Lady of Pain will do to you when you're caught.
@@joshuarichardson6529 then we better make sure it never happens.
Thank you so much for this! I was scouring youtube for lore on the Gith, looking for a MrRhexx video hehe. I devoured all the old videos I could find but was so excited when I saw you posted one today. You truly make the best lore videos :)
MrRhexx, as soon as I get a better job, I'll absolutely start helping out on Patreon. Thank you for all of your hard work and storytelling.
I thought he dissolved his Patreon…
He did. Can instead support him though his merch store, and kick start projects
Support yourself first, youtubers don't need your help that badly
Make sure you do your employer 401K match and have no bad debts before you spend money on patreon! Like Hawk said you have to support yourself first :)
'sorry for being long'?
bro I could listen about this FOR HOURS!
Thank you for giving us this bomb of a video!
I think the supplements are all pretty good. They're fun reads. I wish it elaborated on the mechanics for redeemed succubus's kisses, or Mind Flayer dietary needs.
The Githyanki's name comes from the race in Dying of the Light by George R.R. Martin, while their relationship with the Mind flayers comes from the relationship of the Tnuctipun and Thrintun in Larry Niven's World of Ptavvs
i've been mastering a campaign for 2 years (still ongoing) about mind flayers... and i didn't know about githyanki originating from humans! This opens so many different scenarios for my campaign, where humans were once enslaved by elves and now are consumed by their greed for power, advancing in technology, stealing knowledge from everything and everyone.
Oh boy. I guess it must continue even after lvl 20 now.
First time I've stumbled onto this author's video and the way he pronounces "jedi" is just mind boggling.
I have to agree. He's making a comparison while apparently never having heard the word spoken aloud? He pronounces more words in odd ways too, like "plannar" vs planar, recesses like it's a chocolate, "molnourished", etc, and refers to a group as githyankiS (with an added 'S') half the time. He's probably not a native english speaker, which is fine, as is his content, but it's triggering nonetheless.
@@CptWindwalker82do you people not know what an accent is lmao
@@humptusdumptus4123 I mentioned him probably not being a native english speaker, did I not? Implying I *also* think it *is* indeed an accent? Still doesn't explain the "Jedi" bit though.
@@CptWindwalker82sorry it’s so triggering that every single person doesn’t pronounce and enunciate words in a manner acceptable to you. you know there’s more to the world than just English right? like you are aware that people speak other languages natively and that learning English after another language leaves one with a noticeable accent and differing pronunciation, right? and you are also aware that you likely also have an accent that comes from your own regional location, whether that be European or American, and someone who hails from a different English-speaking country likely pronounces words completely differently from you as well? don’t be an asshole because someone speaks slightly differently from you lmao
Glorious day! The day that MrRhexx blesses his followers with an upload!! Just started the video!! This gonna be good!!
Thank you for the video! since I started playing BG3 I have been watching all your videos to fully understand The Forgotten Realms, all of them are amazing and well made.
Your videos are some of my favorites. The fascinating and intriguing lore combined with your soothing voice and passion for storytelling, I could never get tired of them!
@MrRhexx
Not event word about Karach Blades?
These githzerai swords are (or at least have the potential to be) even more powerful than silver swords.
I have in my world lore a group of Gith rebel and take up life strictly on the prime material. Now that making a PC as Gith is supported, I can build on this. Thanks for sharing this information.
@MrRhexx
@ 42:40 You show the entry for the Silver Sword and explain that Gith are one of the only things that can sever the silver cord from an astral projection. I do remember reading in AD&D 2E Planescape that Astral Dreadnoughts can do the same (and still can). I also remember reading (looking for the source) that the dreadnought’s claw is a material component in creating the Gith’s silver sword.
Thank gosh its been awhile ive been checking for you daily for a week or two brother,good too see you
39:02
I'm sorry, COME AGAIN? 👂
40:35
ONE MORE TIME? 😳 👂
Just came across this video, I used to watch MrRhexx way back when I was a kid. He would do the “monster vs monster” matches in Skyrim. Gave me a lot of fun and joy growing up, thank you MrRhexx
Yes Mr Rhex!! So good to see you back! Thank you so much for your insight into this world! I hope your doing well
they don't tell you you're gonna want to spend your life with one
Why? She’s literally a weird gangly goblin/orc from outer space!
@@jonathanwells223 She's a Klingon
Most people who meet a Githyanki spend the rest of their lives with them.
It’s just usually a short life.
@@jonathanwells223yes, and everyone likes goblin girls
@@rainbowmothraleoand orc women
What I want to know is why the Githyanki haven't done anything about the Mind Flayer presence on planets like Glyph (in Realmspace), which is something like an Illithid homeworld, or at least a major linchpin of Mind Flayer society in the current D&D world.
it's possible they tried and were just successfully repelled?
One of my favorite articles from the old Dragon Magazine was in issue #78, "The Ecology of the Mind Flayer" which gave some of the first real insight into the illithid-gith races. The Illithiad expanded upon this to some extent, but the githyanki were a fascinating addition to the game, and the saga was well-researched for Baldur's Gate III. I appreciate when the devs do their homework.
I've been checking in on you MrRhexx always a real treat when I see you've made a new video.
Ever since you gave notice you were doing this video. I've been waiting in excitement for it. THANK YOU.
Great history of the Gith. As usual, very thorough.
I was so happy to see a newly posted video. I love them all. Great work
I really wanted to have a githzerai full video
Team Dak'kon assemble!
@@maciejhammer2266 "Your path is mine."
One of the lil' helpers wither can invoke for you is supposedly a Githzerai
That sands of doom art at the end of the video i siiiiiick, you picked some great artists to work with
Finally gith video! My new favourite video from you! Thanks you! 🙏
Githyanki make me think of ancestors of Romulans/Vulcans (Startrek) and the psionic flavours and love of law and logic are a bit on the nose. Lol.
See, I kinda see the Githyanki as a bit like Klingons, victory through straight forward combat.
The Star Trek TTRPG has some fascinating honor system for Klingons and I want to use it for a Spell Jamming Gith party.
Thanks for the video. And I can’t wait for Sands of Doom. May very well be the first module I run instead of doing my own adventure. Everything about it sounds really engaging
The way you say Impenetrable in your accent is so unorthodox but I love it
Hey MrRhexx! Love your videos and honestly you've been a very strong presence in some very difficult times for me. Have you ever thought about making a shorts series about the Asathalfinare and/or their respective peoples (sea-Elves, Tritons, Merfilk, Locatha and Shalarin)? I feel like the underwater world is very under-developped in what comes to lore in 5e.
I have a long running character who is a runaway githyanki g'lathk and a spore druid. Being able to heal among the githyanki is an important skill.
So, on the topic of githyanki weapons, there were a couple of articles in Dragon/Polyhedron for the Incursion campaign, which centers around a githyanki invasion. It actually notes that the githyanki like blades in general, with swords being the absolute preference, but glaives, halberds, bladed chains, scythes and crossbows are also weapons they tend to like using - all silver much like their renowned swords where possible.
I love your videos. I've been listening to them all since I've been off work. I hope see new ones soon❤
I wonder if part of the silver swords isn't some of the warrior's soul or essence. That eould explain the massive response to losing one, you're effectively defiling their dead just by holding it. although perhaps I isn't the individual warrior's essence that poses such a threat to them, perhaps something else. It could honestly be that they don't see any other races as being worthy of weilding such powerful weapons.
Fantastic video, Mr. Rhexx!
Aaah, so glad to see you back, sir!)
oh hell yes. i knew we were in for a banger after it had been a couple months, a one hour video was definitely worth the wait
The Astral Plane is like a crawlspace behind the walls of reality. It's a part of the basic frame, there for utility, to sort out the wiring and stuff, but your not really ment to see it or need to think about it.
I loved the video! And so long! Thank you so much Mr. Rhexx. This will help me even in my current campaign!
46:50 I believe the gaming term "gish" is just short for "gestalt" which is what many (most?) RPG players called multi-class characters back in the day. I always thought the "gish" of D&D are breaking the fourth wall by offically using the unoffical term and similtaneously making fun of how weird all their Githyanki words are.
Thinking about this a lot with BG3
- maybe some of the ancient Gith were born with an innate Nondetection wild talent, and Gith (the person) was bred by the rebellion to emanate than as an aura to break down the Hive Mind.
- the Mindflayers are implied to have originated in a future than no longer exists (unless their machination succeed), so was their Empire in the ancient past or the far flung future?
- Are their an adventures set in the Etherial plane with Mindflayer ruins or outposts? Seems like a really fun setting for some Lovecraftian tomb raiding into an Etherial Ilithid city out of time and overrun by a Neolithid and other corrupted Ilithid flesh
You called “Out of Time's Grip” a Transmutation Spell, when showing it as Alteration, despite the Abjuration nature of the spell.
Alternation was how that school of magic was called in 2nd edition. The name was changed to Transmutation in 3rd edition and onwards.
@@MrRhexx You should've showed the older version to display that discrepancy too, because that's the interesting stuff you are known for showing off; especially since that's a part of “what they don't tell you about Githyanki”~ :P Thanks for the clarification, though! :)
Bravo, Absolutely And Complicatedly Fascinating!
Even after years of watching this channel, until today I never realised Mr Rexx might be a really cool play on words with Misdirects.....of course it might just be a coincidence.
As an absolute sycophant of the gith, i demand a part two! 😂😂
Can you write that demand in Gith, though? :P
@@nephicus339 gimme ten minutes to practice the script, and I can write it in their format, but it definitely wouldn't be in the actual language lol
@@mackenziemoore5088 In *knowing* the teachings of Zerthimon, you will become stronger.
Ho l y shit Rhexx is back!!!
Zerthimon was Gith’s general I thought
I love it when you put one of these together and I learn something! Thank You Mr Rhexx. :)
masterpiece!!!!!superb vid!!! Larian NEEDS YOU!!!!!!!!
You live! Woot cause its fun to listen to your lore videos. Thanks for another one.
I really hope you come back to make more videos because you're the best source to learn about DND more from imo
Obligatory supporting comment
Love this lore dump reminds me of the various Neverwinter nights 2 story lines both main and Mask of Betrayer story lines. Obvious tie ins to Baldurs gate lore as well.
I love your videos, they're awesome & in-depth.
Woooo! Notification bell club!
"a stolen silver sword is the most serious raid that any Githyanki will ever perform" meanwhile, my Lae'Zel has been using one since act 1 😂
I searched up this video like 2 weeks ago and it did not exist, I'm glad you sensed my distress.
Now you realize you're going to have to do a video on the Githzerai too and their chaos matter blades!
@MrRhexx Please do Astral Elves!
Githyanki remind me of Clan warriors from Battletech. Right down to the engineered warrior society "grown" in small creche's of children with no family unit, brutal training that results in deaths, a honor system, and survival of the fittest mindset that looks down on outsiders yet respects those who have proven their competence.
Perfect timing, I'm about to reach the Gith Creche in BG3 (after spending 200+ hours in act 1 lol).
Did I missed things in the first act ? I smashed it in 20h. What level are you ?
Oh wow, the more I read about Githyanki lore and especially their military the more I thought they remind me a lot of Jedi. Awesome to hear that I'm not the only one who got that impression :D
thx for that video brotha, you dropped a few tidbits I didn't know, very cool.
Love the video! I think that the rapid re-aging that occurs was something from past editions. In 5e, the DMG doesn't explicitly say that they re-age. It just says that things do not age while on the Astral Plane. I feel that it makes more sense for the Githyanki, as astral raiders, to not have to resort to casting a spell to make themselves not age as quickly upon exiting the Astral Plane. Conversely, I suppose it does make for an interesting idea of what could happen to the older warriors that have aged little by little over the course of multiple epochs of raids now needing spells to maintain their agility and strength. Perhaps they have some sort of magical drug or spell that they become addicted to?
I understood only that which 30+ hours of Baldur's Gate 3 allowed me to. Never played much D&D (mostly MERP) but this was a fantastic background resource for the super-vanilla Githyanki fighter I'm playing! Thank you, or Thanki' Y' ou as the case may be. Subb'd
I just wanted to say thank you for the amazing content as always!😁
Thanks for making this. My D&D party's campaign ended on a cliffhanger after being dropped in the Astral Plane and meeting some gith. Now I have to figure out where to go from there, lol
I remember being utterly fascinated by them since the AD&D Fiend Folio.
oh u r still alive !!! welcome back !
Bro u and aj are awesome at telling us new scholars about the lore. Your awesome
great yanki empire capital city: 100k
rando towns in limbo: 1 mill+ zerais 😮
I miss in older editions where all silver swords were just straight up vorpal blades, because they always made me desperately want one. Even if it meant that I would forever have gith hunting me. Made for some really cool paladin quests and stories.
ty so much Rhexx always look 4ward 2 ur vids and cant w8 4 SoD