Eh, his stated plans are irrelevant when compared with his actual deeds - I doubt Baldur’s Gate had that many “criminals” even assuming some kind of strict telepathic observation to “judge” targets. Illithid need to eat a sapient brain every week - hence their immense slaver empire - those tentacles secrete a flesh-and-bone melting enzyme that allows them to wrap around the brain of their victim and shlorp it out into their lamprey teeth. The pain makes them taste better!
This is glossed over, because BG3 relied on constant mcguffins to keep up momentum and not stumble over its lack of interest in any particular element… though thinking about it, by my own logic, that’s a pretty crazy situation and just riding that wave of chaos with good intentions is probably the best anyone could do. Dude says he’s going to help? Believe him until you need to stab him in the face.
Oddly, undead Illithid have an easier time avoiding mass murder and living peacefully with non-Illithid - theoretically.
Only to tech bros and reddit brains is this not evil. The zoidberg lookin mf deceives you from the very beginning. Omelum is the better example of a good mind flayer trying to curb those urges (even then I wouldn’t trust the mf at all) but emps? I make it a rule never to trust anyone called emperor and its served me well. Withers tells you straight up mindflayers have no souls (unless durge surprises him and keeps his). Thats a big red flag
The lack of souls thing is a new thing, and kinda weird since Illithid have deities (though I guess it accentuates their lovecraftian Far Realm-ness), but FR already has some horrible stuff going on with souls anyway - sure a soul might mean you go to your afterlife of choice, but you might also just be rendered down into soup to make an angel or demon. Non-theists or the disingenuously pious are turned into screaming bricks - someone like Ketheric is very likely to end up damned to the Wall of the Faithless once Myrkul’s flossed his teeth with him.
Since Illithid can clearly do whatever they want and are all psychic badasses, and going to an afterlife in Faerun is a crapshoot, having a soul doesn’t seem to be particularly important… usually it would mean “you’re evil” or whatever, but “evil” souls already exist and get to go to evil heaven and have evil rewards (or just get turned into a maggot). It might mean psychological issues, sure, Illithid are brain-eating slavers… but the Drow are pretty much just as awful and they get to be rewarded with an eternity in the Demonweb Pits being eaten by spiders. Lucky.
Eh, his stated plans are irrelevant when compared with his actual deeds - I doubt Baldur’s Gate had that many “criminals” even assuming some kind of strict telepathic observation to “judge” targets. Illithid need to eat a sapient brain every week - hence their immense slaver empire - those tentacles secrete a flesh-and-bone melting enzyme that allows them to wrap around the brain of their victim and shlorp it out into their lamprey teeth. The pain makes them taste better!
This is glossed over, because BG3 relied on constant mcguffins to keep up momentum and not stumble over its lack of interest in any particular element… though thinking about it, by my own logic, that’s a pretty crazy situation and just riding that wave of chaos with good intentions is probably the best anyone could do. Dude says he’s going to help? Believe him until you need to stab him in the face.
Oddly, undead Illithid have an easier time avoiding mass murder and living peacefully with non-Illithid - theoretically.
To be fair it’s both, but it don’t take a god to predict that genetic superhumans stuffed by chaos powers will have and cause some problems.
And now hes a chaos power getting stuffed by genetic superhumans (psykers)
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The lack of souls thing is a new thing, and kinda weird since Illithid have deities (though I guess it accentuates their lovecraftian Far Realm-ness), but FR already has some horrible stuff going on with souls anyway - sure a soul might mean you go to your afterlife of choice, but you might also just be rendered down into soup to make an angel or demon. Non-theists or the disingenuously pious are turned into screaming bricks - someone like Ketheric is very likely to end up damned to the Wall of the Faithless once Myrkul’s flossed his teeth with him.
Since Illithid can clearly do whatever they want and are all psychic badasses, and going to an afterlife in Faerun is a crapshoot, having a soul doesn’t seem to be particularly important… usually it would mean “you’re evil” or whatever, but “evil” souls already exist and get to go to evil heaven and have evil rewards (or just get turned into a maggot). It might mean psychological issues, sure, Illithid are brain-eating slavers… but the Drow are pretty much just as awful and they get to be rewarded with an eternity in the Demonweb Pits being eaten by spiders. Lucky.
Hold on screaming bricks? Is that wall of the faithless or a different fate?