Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse
“Better the heartfelt devotion of a free soul than the grudging obedience of a slave.”
— Common githzerai saying
The warlike githyanki and the contemplative githzerai are a sundered people – two cultures that utterly despise one another. The brutal githyanki are trained from birth as warriors, while the githzerai hone their minds to a razor’s edge in their fortresses within Limbo. But before there were githyanki or githzerai, these creatures were a single race enslaved by the illithids.
Although they attempted to overthrow their masters many times, their rebellions were repeatedly crushed until a great leader named Gith arose. After much bloodshed, Gith and her followers threw off the yoke of their illithid masters, but another leader named Zerthimon emerged in the aftermath of battle. Zerthimon challenged Gith's motives, claiming that her strict martial leadership and desire for vengeance amounted to little more than another form of slavery for her people. A rift erupted between followers of each leader, and they eventually became the two races whose enmity endures to this day: the Githyanki in the way of Gith, and the Githzerai in the way of Zerthimon.
Whether these tall, gaunt creatures were peaceful or savage, cultured or primitive before the illithids enslaved and changed them, none can say. Not even the original name of their race remains from that distant time. Either way, Githzerai migrated to the Everchanging Chaos of Limbo after the ancient schism that split their ancestors from their cousins, githyanki. Limbo is a roiling maelstrom of matter and energy, collapsing and reforming without purpose or direction, until a creature exerts deliberate will to stabilize it. Through their potent psionic power, githzerai carved a home for themselves amid the chaos. As the ages passed, githzerai explorers ranged out to other planes and worlds of the multiverse. Focused philosophers and austere ascetics, the githzerai pursue lives of rigid order. Lean and muscular, they wear unadorned clothing free of ornamentation, keeping their own counsel and trusting few creatures outside of their own kind. Having turned their backs on their warlike githyanki kin, the githzerai maintain a strict monastic lifestyle, dwelling on islands of order in the vast sea of chaos that is the plane of Limbo.
Like all gith, Githzerai are tall and emaciated-looking humanoids, but, thanks to their rigid training, have more muscular bodies with speckled skin in shades of yellow, green, or brown. Their skulls are long and angular, with deep-set eyes, flattened noses, and long pointed ears. Typical hair colors include black, russet, and sometimes gray, which male githzerai either shave or wear in braids. Their facial hair is also carefully groomed. Female githzerai usually wear their hair in buns or braids. Eons of cultivating their mental powers within the endless chaos of Limbo have imbued githzerai with the ability to shape psionic energy to protect themselves and probe minds.
Githzerai society is monastic and introspective. Many githzerai train as monks, while others choose to lose their natural magic resistance and become mages. Some multi-talented githzerai became zerths, blending magic, combat, and psionics into their fighting. The zerths also hold special significance as religious leaders in githzerai society. Like their cousins and enemies, the githyanki, githzerai often form hunting bands for the purpose of seeking out and destroying the hated illithids.
Dwelling mostly int he chaos of Limbo, they use their natural psionic abilities and mental focus to channel the power of the Spawning Stone to control the swirling chaos around them, shaping their great adamantine fortresses and monasteries. These fortresses are maintained by extremely powerful Githzerai minds known as anarchs, whoare are capable of mentally manipulating the raw stuff of Limbo into whatever form and landscape they desire.