Ylthoth

Ylthoth are grey skinned, lanky creatures. Their distinct lack of eyes along with their physique causes most other races to have some prejudice in their dealings with Ylthoth. For that reason, Ylthoth choose to build their settlements in isolated places such as islands, mountain tops, deserts and depths of the Underdark.

Despite their appearance Ylthoth usually have a friendly and helpful nature. They often choose to defuse the situation if they can before engaging in violance.

Born of Failure

Ylthoth are product of a failed experiment conducted by Illithid.

Despite their overwhelming psionic power, Illithid are hindered by their reproductive cycle. In their efforts to mutate developing tadpoles during their ceremorphosis so that they would retain the host's reproductive system, they also inhibited the tadpole's ability to digest the brain tissue, resulting in a merge of the tadpole and the host instead of a complete takeover of the tadpole.

Resulting creatures were not Illithid, but they were capable of sexual reproduction. Illithid decided to use them as their slaves and subjects for more experimentation in their continued efforts to reach a better result.

Though Ylthoth historians have many theories as to how the first Ylthoth managed to free themselves from Illithid, the most prominent theory is that they escaped when the mind flayer colony was destroyed by unknown parties.

Ylthoth Language Ylthoth language is a far derivation of Deep Speech with undertones of Elvish and Common. Some linguists think that Ylthoth learned Deep Speech from Illithid, but the language branched out over time. This theory however is opposed by others since most Ylthoth also speak Deep Speech. Considering the similarities between the braille script used by Ylthoth and Qualith, some theorize that the merge of Illithid tadpole with the host was not only physical, but mental as well and that Ylthoth language is a merge between the hosts' original language and the language of the tadpole.

Illithid Hunters

Ylthoth despise Illithid and if they encounter them, it is almost a certainty they will come into conflict with them. Ylthoth usually do not actively seek out mind flayer colonies, however some among them do go in search of Illithid. Such Ylthoth are called Qatilthyd, meaning Illithid Hunter.

Qatilthyd venture far and often alone in search of mind flayers. Though very few of them come home, Illithid Hunters are considered heroes in Ylthoth culture and are greatly respected by other Ylthoth.

Qualith Readers Some Ylthoth learn to read Qualith using their four fingers to interpret it. Unlike it would be for other races, learning Qualith is easy for Ylthoth since their language uses braille script similar to Qualith. Moreover, thanks to their unusual resistance to psychic effects Ylthoth can read Qualith without fearing its potential negative effects. Primary purpose of learning Qualith is to gain information about Illithid and their activities by reading inscriptions seized from them.

Sightless Fighters

Credit: Kira Mayer

Ylthoth's lack of conventional vision, force them to be quicker in reacting to things that enter their field of perception. For that reason, Ylthoth go through training to decrease their reaction time and quicken their reflexes.

Their training begins in early childhood. While many stop training in their late teens, soldiers and spies keep training for most of their lives.