An Adventurer’s Guide to Gith, Mother of the Githyanki
Before there were Githyanki and Githzerai, there was one Gith who lead a rebellion that would topple a planar empire. But just who is Mother Gith?
In eons long past, the mighty Illithid had an empire that spanned multiple planes of existence. With powerful psychic abilities and thralls enslaved beneath them, the Illithid Empire was a network of hive minds, intricately linked between Elder Brains. Their psionic experiments left a mark on some peoples, even to this day: the Duergar, for instance, possess powerful abilities imbued in their whole lineage by Mind Flayer adaptation.
But even when they weren’t being intentional, the Mind Flayer Empire produced some truly remarkable results. Including one that would ultimately bring the empire to its slimy, mucus-covered knees: the mother of freedom, the gith known to her people as Mother Gith.
Gith Among the Illithid
As with many stories that pre-date the fall of the Illithid Empire, the earliest stories of Gith are unclear, According to some, she was a favored servant to a tyrannical Mind Flayer. While others maintain that she was a high-ranking bodyguard and champion for a powerful mind flare. Still, others insist that she was little more than an unremarkable foot soldier.
Whatever the truth is, all the stories agree that Gith possessed a singular gift. She had a powerful psionic ability, some say a mutation, that prevented elder brains from controlling their Illithid hive minds. Gith could disrupt telepathic communication, leaving mind flayers without orders, without directives; disoriented, and able to be picked off.
For the first time in the long centuries of the Illithid empire, they were vulnerable. Gith first united the different rebel groups, bringing together groups of thralls against their masters, sundering their psionic chains in a massive rebellion. As the gith rose up against the Illithid empire and broke free, Gith herself insisted that all remaining Illithids be hunted down and destroyed wherever they were throughout the multiverse.
Gith Under Two Skies
Some say that Gith wanted to lead her people to conquer all planes of existence. And many of the people known now as the Githyanki believe that still. However, another leader at the time, Zerthimon, said that freedom was the goal and that they should begin repairing the damage that had been done to their people.
As the two leaders debated they, insisted that only one path could emerge for their people. As Gith said, they would be one people “under the same sky.” Zerthimon is said to have proclaimed “There cannot be two skies.” This event known, as the Pronouncement of Two Skies, sundered the gith. Those who followed Gith became the Githyanki, while those who followed Zerthimon became the Githzerai.
In Hell, No One Knows Your Sins
After this fracturing, Gith led her people to the starry seas of the Astral Plane. There, they began training and building new enclaves for her people. And there she might be still, if not for her trusted advisor, Vlaakith, securing a powerful opportunity. Communing with the Nine Hells themselves, Vlaakith brokered a pact with red dragons. They would unflinchingly bear the Githyanki into battle, but Goth herself would go to the hells to serve at the side of Tiamat herself, the Queen of Evil Dragons.
After this pact was made, Gith ventured into the hells, while the consort of Tiamat, Ephelomon, traveled to the Githyanki to declare Gith’s sacrifice for her people. This ushered in the era of Vlaakith, who rose as Queen of the Githyanki. And under her rule, the Githyanki have become marauders and conquerors in the name of Mother Gith.
Of course, there are those who say Gith was betrayed by Vlaakith, and that Gith’s son may one day return to truly free his people from the lich-queen’s yoke.
