GoCorral

Physical Description

Githyanki are humanoid creatures from outside the normal reality of Cimmeria and Earth. They are tall and thin, often standing more than six feet tall, but rarely weighing more than 200 pounds. They have yellow skin with brown patterned markings that are distinct for each individual. Their skin is tight against their skeletal structure giving githyanki a withered, shrunken appearance. Their eyes and hair can be red, yellow, and gray, or a mix of these colors. They have sharp ears like an elf and no nose, although they still possess nasal passages. Githyanki do not have facial hair.

Githyanki have many advantages granted to them from their time in the Astral Plane. They move with rapid grace due to training in all kinds of gravity. Their strange eyes can see in the dark. Their skin is resistant to magic, repelling the spells of lesser magicians. Stronger githyanki also master innate magic of their own. They are telekinetic, able to move things with their mind. They can also teleport short distances. The most powerful githyanki are even able to step between the dimensional planes.

Culture

Githyanki culture before they lived in the Astral Plane is a distant memory. Over time their technology and bodies adapted to life in the featureless wastes between dimensions. Githyanki wield specially made silver swords with an edge that cuts through the body, mind, and spirit. The silver swords are perfectly constructed for cutting the silver cords of dreamwalkers in the Astral Plane. Severing a soul from the body in this way is instantly lethal. For transportation githyanki have airships that can move through any atmosphere. There are numerous other small psionic devices that githyanki developed over their millennia in the Astral Plane. These devices make their daily lives easier. Other psionic pieces are used in warfare, mainly to locally replicate the conditions of the Astral Plane that githyanki are accustomed to and that their enemies find disorienting.

With their cultural roots long gone, githyanki are always looking forward to the next new thing. Fads catch on quickly and burn rapidly through githyanki society. They are a people of consumption first and foremost. When a new song is written every githyanki will have heard it by the end of the week and be tired of it by the end of the next. While githyanki still create a few artistic and performance pieces of their own, their culture has largely stagnated. With a stable immortal population and no external events within the Astral Plane, githyanki must look outside their own communities for cultural stimulation.

To fulfill their cultural needs, githyanki turned to piracy. They raid entire worlds for songs, plays, stories, paintings, sculptures, and cuisine. Githyanki weaponry and magic proved devastating against hundreds of worlds they found while sailing through the Astral Plane. When they find a new world the githyanki brutally occupy the civilized areas and take every novel art piece captive. The art is enjoyed, but not savored. Rapid consumption burns through the githyanki psyche as they seek to experience everything a world has to offer as quickly as possible. This swallowing of a native world’s entire oeuvre is a harrowing process that leaves many dead in its wake. Those that have heard of githyanki often fear them.

Githyanki society is hierarchical and at the top is the Lich-queen. She has ruled since the race moved from their home world to the Astral Plane. Vast eons of experience are contained within the Lich-queen and she is akin to a god for the githyanki. Those that have lived long enough or amassed enough power are called to go through a ritual where they “ascend to the Lich-queen.” It is a closely guarded secret that she consumes the souls of those that “ascend.” These souls remove the threat of any potential rivals to the Lich-queen’s position while also providing fuel for her near divine powers. She also drives githyanki invasions of other worlds so that she may consume the greatest among every world’s population.