DM NOTE: The Illdarin have only been playtested infrequently as NPCs, so they have not been developed as fully as some of the other races for my campaign. Other gamemasters are advised to make the Illdarin as tough and deadly as possible for the simple reason that most players tend to fireball first and cast Speak with Dead later. Illdarin should be hated and reviled more than Drow are, especially since they so closely resemble Illithid.
The Illdarin are a subrace of Illithid. According to legend, they and the Illithid were once the same species. But thousands of years ago, an Illithid Hive was the first to grow to full maturity, as part of the process for invading an as yet unknown world, when the unexpected happened: The Elder Brain went insane, disrupting the coordinated efforts of all the Hives on that world. Whether this insanity was somehow introduced by that particular Hive's attempts to incorporate the abilities of a new creature, as a deliberate attack by the inhabitants of that realm, or occurred by chance, the event allowed that world's natives to launch a counterattack, halting the mind flayers' advance. The insane Hive, meanwhile, transmitted and propagated its illness to all its member Illithid Elders, Illithid, and Spawn. Some destroyed themselves. Others evolved new abilities, new states of mind. And still more conducted mindless rampages of slaughter on their own Hive, other Hive's Spawn, or on the native creatures of the world they had invaded.
So devastating were the mad Hive's death throes, that not even its fellow Elder Brains and their servitors could approach it to end its suffering. It psionically lashed out at its brethren, damaging them greatly. Indeed, they were hard pressed by the uncontrolled, and unpredictable, Spawn that assaulted their own Hives. These mad Spawn, telepathically linked only to the Elder Brain that created them, were nearly indistinguishable from the Spawn of allied Hives, and so could easily penetrate deep into the Hive proper, some even physically assaulting Elder Brains.
Finally, the mad Elder Brain died, along with most of its Spawn. The survivors, whether by chance or by their creator's mad design, all had one characteristic in common: Independence from the Elder Brain's control. These Illithid, Elders, and Spawn had been afflicted with the great weakness their kind has sought for millenia to extinguish: Free will.
With the vestiges of the Hive, one Illithid Elder arose to leadership. Kiaruchin united the remnants of the Hive's forces and sent envoys to the natives of the world he had so recently tried to destroy. They formed an alliance. Now armed with intimate knowledge of the Illithid strengths and weaknesses, and with allies from what was once the most powerful Hive on the world, the allies attacked and eventually destroyed each of the remaining Hives. The wars took centuries, and left the Illdarin's new "homeworld" devastated.
During the Madwar, Kiaruchin realized quickly that his followers, as they now existed, were doomed to failure and extinction. Without an Elder Brain, the new Illithid could not reproduce. With their reluctant allies' help, combined with the Illithid's ability to incorporate new physical traits into their own biology, Kiaruchin was able to incorporate gender into the surviving Illithid, and some of the Spawn. A new form of creature was created - the Illdarin.
The Illdarin are always few in number. Only a small percentage of their offspring survive to reach full adulthood. They are fiercely individualistic and independent. Their society has evolved such that the most skilled and most powerful hunters become the leaders.
Illdarin society is organized around The Hunt. It is the rite of adulthood, the test of the soul, the means by which an Illdarin earns the right to live. The Hunt is, quite simply, to track down and slay Illithid. All of their efforts as a race are dedicated to this goal.
Illdarin hunt in packs of anywhere from 3 to 30. The largest groups will contain several experienced warriors leading untried youths on their first expedition. Rarely will a single hunter be encountered. Then, it is the most dangerous of Illdarin: One who is highly skilled and powerful, out to prove him or herself by a Great Hunt; or a rogue, a Mad One who has become consumed by bloodlust and need for slaughter.
The more powerful the Illithid, or Spawn, that a hunter kills, the higher his or her rank, the greater his authority, the more Illdarin will ask to serve under her. Failure in a hunt, resulting in reduced rank, does not occur frequently - usually only if a challenger steals the kill out from under the hunter, or if the prey escapes and the hunter is forced to return in disgrace.
The greatest of hunters, those who have taken an Illithid Elder in single combat, bear the sun-symbol tattoo on their foreheads. These select few can never lose their standing in society, save by becoming a Mad One.
No Illdarin, since the time of Kiaruchin, has succeeded in taking an Elder Brain alone.
Illdarin mages and priests are extremely few. The inner conflicts of their society prevents most lengthy study of magic as hunters vie for position, and prevent the formation of any really structured religion. All hunters make public reports of their hunts, what they have seen and done, which is recorded by elders (hunters who have retired due to age or injuries) and disseminated among all the Illdarin. As a result, mages and priests will almost always be those Ildarin who were either injured or infirm when young and therefore could not participate in the more physically competitive general society. They tend to compensate by being far more vicious - they have psionics in addition to magic.
Individually, Illdarin will celebrate any victory over the Illithid, ritually tattooing and scarring themselves. They are willing to undertake nearly any hardship, endure nearly any humiliation or suffering, all to see the destruction of the Illithid and their Spawn.
Illdarin society is incredibly flexible and cohesive, in spite of the infighting. Innate telepathy, coupled with a near-consuming hatred for a much more numerous and powerful enemy, unites them in a way nothing else could. It is very likely that if the Illithid were actually ever exterminated, the Illdarin would fragment into many warring tribes.
Illdarin, having discovered the benefits of free will, of chaotic expression of art, creativity, and innovation, hate their Illithid brethren as only a brother can. They now understand the full monstrous enormity of the threat the Illithid represent as not just the extinction of all other forms of life, but as the hellish incorporation into a singular, emotionless, coldly logical, immobile creature slithering its slimy tentacles through the minds of teeming thousands of slaves. An Illdarin would gladly sacrifice him or herself to destroy even a single Illithid, regretting only that more could not be taken into the Final Beyond. Young Illdarin dream of dying in glorious battle against hordes of Spawn, Illithid, and Elders. Older, more experienced Illdarin dream of living long enough to kill just one more Spawn, Illithid, or Elder.
The Illdarin are taught their origins very young, carefully implanted with the thoughts, feelings, and memories of long-dead Kiaruchin. They view themselves as the antithesis of the Illithid. Indeed, they would gladly ally with all who know of the Illithid threat. Unfortunately, their physical resemblance to the monstrous mind flayers and intolerance for the resentment other species feel for them as a result makes such alliances sporadic and short-term. Indeed, the best way of insulting an Illdarin is to compare it to an Illithid. This will most assuredly result in immediate hostilities.
There are some species the Illdarin will not work with, most notably the Githyanki and Githzerai, who regard the Illdarin the same as they do Illithid.
The Illdarin are far better equipped for physical combat than the Illithid. This is reflected in their psionic abilities - almost always combat-enhancing powers rather than psionic combat. An Illdarin knows her chances of killing an Illithid are best if she can get close for physical melee. To this end, many Illdarin take psionic invisibility and body control powers.
Illdarin tend to favor long weapons, and like their ancestors, have taken various creatures, altered them, and now make use of them as living weapons. Unlike the Illithid, the Illdarin actually care about their tools. Indeed, many Illdarin consider their creatures extensions of their own physical selves, and feel sympathetic pain when their tools are injured, or weariness when their tools are exhausted. The Illdarin will never perform their alterations on living creatures, nor cause the extinction of a species to serve their own selfish ends. Instead, they will make their alterations to selected sperm or egg cells - only a few - and then collect those young to be nurtured and further altered in the next generation.
Sakheledroh (1-8/1-10) P
This short polearm is a mainstay of the Illdarin warrior. It's outer casing is hard as steel, yet it is far lighter than that metal. Capable of regenerating itself fully even if 80% of its body is destroyed, the Sakheledroh consists of a shaft some 6' in length able to extrude a five inch wide curving, jagged blade from either end. The blade can secrete acid on mental command, inflicting an additional 1-3 hp damage per attack. The acid makes wounds inflicted by the Sakheledroh resistant to any form of accelerated healing, even by magical or psionic means. Such wounds must heal naturally. The weapon contains nine doses and can regenerate one dose every three hours.
Vhok (1-6 + special) P 3"/6"/9"
A rubbery disk surrounded by eight long claws, normally folded against the underside, encircling the tube-like mouth. When thrown at an opponent, the claws unfold and will latch onto whatever target they hit. The vhok then punches its mouth down into the victim, inflicting damage, and begins planting eggs. These eggs will quickly hatch in 1-3 rounds, and the maggots begin burrowing through the victim and inflicting 1 hp damage per round until removed, killed by poison (which all Illdarin carry) or curative magics/psionics are applied. The maggots are particularly fond of Illithid flesh, inflicting double damage. After implanting eggs, the vhok will fall off to be recovered and used again. Victims slain with vhok maggots in them will bud and grow 1-8 new vhok.
Illdarin appear as unusually tall (up to 6'6") and bulky Illithid (weighing up to 300lbs), with two extra mouth tentacles. Their skin does not exhibit the same wet mucous typical for Illithid and their Spawn. Their respiration and heart rate are extremely low, considering how physically active they are. Coloration ranges from the mauve colors of the Illithid, in splotches across their skin, to mottled green camouflage, depending on the environment they were born and grew up in.
Illdarin live for, on average 80 years, when their bodies begin to fail. Living beyond 100 years is a rare exception.
The Illdarin have evolved to the point where they are immune to incorporation attempts by the Illithid. They are physically tougher as well, gaining +1 to Strength (maximum of 18/00) and Constitution (maximum of 19). In order to maintain their psionic and physical advantages, however, they have also had to keep the appearance of their forebearers. They suffer a -9 penalty to Charisma, with the ability to go negative. Needless to say, the Illdarin are extremely careful when approaching others, and do so openly only in the most extreme and rare circumstances. They can not interbreed with any other races. They also heal twice as fast as a normal human, and can even regenerate lost body parts over time. An eye will take six or eight months. A limb, four months. They retain some vulnerability to sunlight (suffering a -2 penalty to hit and saving throws in full sunlight, -1 in bright light) and have lost some of the infravision abilities of their forebearers (90' range).
All Illdarin are psionic to some degree, and are almost always multiclassed psionicists. Psionicist/Warriors are the most common, followed by Psionicist/Thieves, and even more rare Psionicist/Mage or Psionicist/Priest. They cannot triple-class. Illdarin can advance unlimited as Psionicists and Warriors, but are restricted to 14th level as wizards, 12th as priests, and 10th as thieves. In exceptional circumstances (1% chance), individuals are born with drastically reduced psionic potential. The childhood survival rate of these Illdarin is poor - fewer than one in two thousand survive to puberty because of attempts via psionic surgery to try and correct their mental defects. However, if they live to adulthood, these rarities will quickly rise in level and ability, far outstripping their fellows in mastery of class abilities as warriors, priests, mages, and thieves. These are the single-classed Illdarin, serving as instructors and guardians of Illdarin cities. These Illdarin are dangerous!!! They are often equipped with the best anti-psionic and psionic-nullifying devices the Illdarin possess or can create. They are never encountered alone, usually having an entourage number twenty or more of the Illdarin elite. Imagine, if you will, a force of some twenty Illdarin Psionicist/Warriors, immune to psionic attack but able to use their own mental powers to enhance their combat abilities, led by a high level berserker - facing a thousand Spawn and their Illithid masters. The odds are significantly in favor of the Illdarin. It is said that Kiaruchin's first child, Ahinshelon, was one of these "disfigured" Illdarin, and first began the practice of branding each member of her retinue with the sun-symbol of victory over the Illithid.