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BASIC INFO
Name: The Emperor
Aliases: the Dream Guardian, Balduran
Pronouns: Usually it/its, sometimes he/him
Canon: Baldur's Gate III
Canon Point: for Pumpkin Hollow: end of BG3, on a run with the achievement Absolute Power Corrups, without the achievement Mind Blown.
Species: Illithid
Occupation: black marketeer, syndicate leader, rogue illithid
Height: 8'0" (~245 cm)
Age: At least 400 years old
Hair Color: None
Skin Color: Gray and pink
Eye Color: Glowing purple iris with black edges, red sclera
OOC
Name: Spider
Plurk: PaleAntiquarian (@ me if you want something)
Discord: CellarSpider9984 (always here)
PERMISSIONS
Backtagging? Please!
Smash the fourth wall? Yes, with some reservations! Let's talk.
Hurt it? Yes, with discussion beforehand.
Kill it? It Yes, but seek permission first.
Touch it? Sure! With some warnings below.
Romance/Sex? I am open to it and have the in-game achievement to prove it
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
HISTORY
NOTE: Endgame spoilers for BG3, and about a major Forgotten Realms character, starting from line one. The events below assume a variant of the ending that grants the achievement "Absolute Power Corrupts". Content warnings for body horror, forced transformation, and some world-class disastrous relationships placing the Emperor in fantasy equivalents to both victim and potential perpetrator of abuse and intimate partner violence.
The Emperor is the illithid which was created from the body of Balduran, an adventurer and trader who lived centuries ago. Setting out from a small fishing village, Balduran sailed further than anyone from the continent of Faerûn had ever gotten, returning home with riches that were shared with his friends, family, and hometown, funding its defenses and setting it on the path to prosperity. In his honor, one of the entrances through the new town walls was named "Baldur's Gate".
Along the way, he met a bronze dragon named Ansur, the two eventually becoming more than friends as they traveled together as far as the north pole. However, on Balduran's last great voyage, he disappeared from history, never to be seen again. In his absence, his hometown would become synonymous with what he had built, taking on the name Baldur's Gate and eventually becoming one of the most prominent trade cities in the world. Ansur, Heart of the Gate, disappeared some years after Balduran. Legend had it that he slept beneath Wyrm's Rock, a fortress that guarded the city.
This is the public story, but events weren't that simple. On Balduran's last voyage, there's some historical evidence that the crew contracted lycanthropy, and Balduran may have gone searching for a cure in a location dedicated to the moon goddess Selûne, patron of werewolves. We don't know for certain whether this was his motivation for going to Moonrise Towers, but we do know what happened next.
Beneath Moonrise Towers lurked a colony of illithids, the mind flayer species that had once dominated entire worlds and kept their populations psychically enslaved as thralls, just as they were enslaved by their Elder Brain leaders. The colony captured Balduran, and infected him with one of their larvae. This parasite soon consumed him, creating a new mind flayer linked to the colony's Elder Brain. Balduran was dead.
However, something unexpected happened. Adult illithids occasionally retain personality traits and memories from their host, a dreaded affliction among their kind known as "partialism." This new illithid seemingly retained all of Balduran's memories, and many of his personality traits, including his drive for freedom. However, trapped under the psychic influence of the Elder Brain, it could not escape, and it seemed like it would live out its days in slavery.
Fortunately for this illithid, Ansur somehow followed Balduran's trail, and almost fourteen years later managed to free the illithid from the Elder Brain. He then tried to find a healer who could reverse the change. None could, and the illithid itself did not want to be Balduran, and his former love for Ansur was now gone, but not without sympathy for his plight. It wrote a letter to him, begging him to be free from anguish.
This ended in tragedy. Ansur, unable to accept what had happened, eventually convinced himself that the best thing to do was to kill the illithid in its sleep, as an act of "mercy" to end a perceived affliction. The illithid awoke before the deed was done, and in a struggle, it managed to kill Ansur. His body was interred beneath the Wyrm's Rock fortress, eventually guarded by statues of Balduran, left there in a place of honor.
The illithid that had been Balduran then disappeared into the city that bore his former name. Illithids require psychic nutrients uniquely found in the brains of sapient creatures, making them feared and despised by many. Evading notice through disguise and psychic illusions, the illithid consumed the brains of criminals, carefully avoiding attention that could lead to its exposure or recapture by its former colony.
At least three hundred years passed in the shadows, subtly influencing events within the city. Its identity and species remained hidden, but rumors started to refer to a being referred to only as "the Emperor", owing to its great influence over the city. The illithid took this name, supplanting any previous one it may have grown to use.
Eventually, it came to the attention of one Duke Belynne Stelmane, an ambitious and influential noble. She had taken control of the local chapter of an influential cult known as the Knights of the Shield, divesting it from its religious roots. Between the two of them, they were able to use the Shield's mercantile connections to essentially control the entire city's economy. Stelmane was the face and drive behind the plans, while the Emperor used its intellect and psychic abilities to manipulate those who dealt with the Knights of the Shield. The Emperor became close with Duke Stelmane, and grew to truly admire her as a formidable woman.
This state of affairs persisted for some years, but it would not last forever. We don't know how or why the Emperor's relationship with Duke Stelmane shifted, but we know that it ended poorly. Maybe the controlling behavior seen in other illithids came to the fore, or Stelmane became a danger to the Emperor as Ansur had been before her. Publicly, it was said that she had a stroke, and that might have even been the case. Whatever happened, we know that the Emperor eventually took mental control of Duke Stelmane, turning her into a thrall. The process was clumsy and imperfect, and required continuing work over a period of ten years. During this time, the Emperor essentially ran the Shield by itself, continuing to accumulate influence.
Eventually, the Emperor was discovered, and by possibly the worst group possible. Cultists of Bane, Lord of Tyranny, captured the Emperor as part of a plan that put the entire world in danger. Along with representatives of the Lord of Murder and Lord of the Dead, these followers of the Dead Three had used ancient magic to dominate the Elder Brain that the Emperor had escaped from, using it to produce illithid larvae that were magically modified to display strange powers and remain locked in their immature forms until they were called to transform. These larval sleeper agents hid within the skulls of infected, controlling them just as it controlled adult illithids. The Emperor, vulnerable to the Elder Brain's control, was enslaved once more.
This might have led to the death of the world, but the Elder Brain had its own plans. It secretly retained enough control to manipulate events, sending the Emperor out on a mission to collect an artifact that could subvert its own mental link to its progeny. The Emperor found this device, known as the "astral prism", which deadened the Elder Brain's control over it as soon as it touched the artifact.
Believing that it had experienced a lucky break, it took quick action, and found a way inside the folded space concealed within the astral prism. Inside, it found the source of the artifact's power: an ancient enemy of the illithids, Prince Orpheus. Imprisoned by his enemies long ago, Orpheus's latent resistance to Elder Brain control had long been used as a weapon against them. The Emperor, desperate for freedom and believing Orpheus would never freely help a hated enemy, took mental control of him, using his power to keep itself free, and to protect others it could use as allies.
Freeing whoever it could reach, the Emperor managed to protect a small group of larva-infected people, keeping them from feeling the Elder Brain's influence, saving them from death on several occasions, and keeping them from transforming into illithids. This was complicated by a number of factors: Orpheus's honor guard had been locked within the prism with him, and they assembled to fight off this intruder. The Emperor also felt it necessary to hide its identity from the people it protected, while formulating a plan to guide them toward the representatives of the Dead Three, take their means of controlling the Elder Brain, and use that to force it to destroy itself.
However, the Emperor judged that the group it had saved was not strong enough to successfully do this. It began contacting them in their dreams, hiding behind an illusory guise of a humanoid guardian figure, revealing pieces of its role and its plan. It tried to convince the group that they needed to take advantage of the dire straits they found themselves in: they should seek to use the psychic powers that the illithid larvae granted them, and hone their abilities. To maximize their chances of survival, they would need every advantage they had.
Eventually, the Emperor was forced to reveal itself when it came under concerted attack by Orpheus's honor guard. Unable to hide its identity, the Emperor pleaded with the group it had saved to believe it, and to help it keep control over Orpheus. The group agreed, and killed the remaining honor guard. Now able to focus its attention entirely on protecting the group and no longer forced to hide itself, the Emperor revealed more of its history to them, and repeated its belief that they still required more strength to successfully defeat the Elder Brain. The leader of the group agreed to further empower the parasite in their head, achieving a state of partial transformation that increased their abilities and left them mentally changed.
The Emperor remained within the Astral Prism while the others went out to find and defeat the representatives of the Dead Three, but it kept watch over their progress, and continued to directly contact their leader. In their quest to find more allies, the group eventually heard of Ansur, and the stories that he might lie sleeping beneath the city. Though the Emperor tried to warn them away, the group found Ansur's body, his restless spirit furious at the Emperor's refusal to accept death, and seeing his own as a betrayal. The group was able to overcome Ansur, and the Emperor was forced to admit to its former identity.
Despite eventually collecting the control mechanisms the cults had used to keep the Elder Brain dominated, it was revealed that the Elder Brain had been manipulating events all along, and that the Emperor had been a pawn in this. Shaken, the Emperor pulled the group to safety, and and had to improvise further. With the Elder Brain having manipulated the Dead Three and then used the Emperor to remove the restrictions it had willingly submitted to, it was now ready to transform all of its larvae into fully-grown illithids, beginning an invasion that could sweep over the world.
While the Emperor's control over Orpheus had thus far protected them, it wasn't enough. To bind the Elder Brain, someone with Orpheus's powers would need to directly use the artifacts they'd collected, combining the two to overwhelm the Elder Brain. The Emperor believed Orpheus would never help them willingly, and so offered the others a choice: One of them would have to become an illithid, and consume Orpheus's brain. If they didn't, then the Emperor would do so itself. It saw no other option.
The leader of the group agreed, transforming and consuming Orpheus. The Emperor believed that now, they had a chance.
And they did, in fact, manage to subdue the Elder Brain, in a battle that tore Baldur's Gate apart. But something went very, very wrong in the final moments. Maybe the transformation into an illithid had added something dark and twisted to the leader's mind, or maybe it was always there, and the Emperor had been too willing to look past it. Whatever happened, the newborn illithid killed the Emperor, taking control of the Elder Brain. Things look bleak for the city, unless a miracle might intervene.
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PERSONALITY
The Emperor is in many ways an oddity among illithids, while simultaneously possessing many of their general traits. This is possibly due to its high degree of partialism, yet the Emperor does not entirely consider itself to be Balduran. It has Balduran's memories, and sometimes self-identifies with the man it was created from, using "I" to refer to refer to things Balduran did, but it does not self-consciously try to act as Balduran would have, or retain his identity. In fact, it tries to avoid mentioning Balduran's name, or identifiable events in his life. It's highly likely that if Balduran's fate were to become widely known, his status as a cultural hero would be undermined. The Emperor, for its part, seems unwilling to let that happen.
It's quite possible that this is due to its emotional attachments to Balduran's life. Illithids tend to be extremely dismissive of other species, and find the idea of partialism to be terrifying, something to be feared and/or hidden from fellow illithids. The Emperor, however, seems to have held onto quite a few personal possessions of Balduran's, which hold no value beyond the sentimental. For example, it's kept a set of cutlery too small for its own hands that was a gift to Balduran from his mother, the recipe for his favorite soup despite not eating it anymore, and the collar of his beloved dog, Rascal, of which the Emperor speaks fondly.
Another reason to keep its history private is personal security. The Emperor has had to hide its identity as Balduran and as an illithid for centuries, using illusions and half-truths to disguise itself. Rogue illithids both face persecution from other races and their own, with the Emperor particularly fearing the possibility of being forced back to its colony. While survival is its ultimate goal, the one thing it wants from life is freedom, just as Balduran did. This has kept it in the shadows, sustaining itself on the brains of criminals in the back alleys of the city named for its former self.
While one might be tempted to conclude from this that the Emperor has some antipathy toward its status as an illithid, this is not the case. The Emperor is quite adamant that being an illithid is good, and that it enjoys being as such. Psychically endowed senses and powers combined with a more capable mind are all benefits it is glad for. While some others may think it looks like a monster, the Emperor seems to be seen as beautiful among illithids--and, to break tone for a moment here, it's enough of a dork to say it outright. I will expound upon its dorkitude in a moment.
In fact, the Emperor would probably argue that being an illithid is better than being humanoid. This is something it shares in common with other illithids: while they are openly and aggressively chauvinistic toward other species, it is less overtly so, though it can end up stating positions that have overlap with general illithid thought on the matter.
While this and its history might suggest that it has secret, dark plans for world domination, all evidence points to the contrary. If allowed to follow its own instincts, it will turn down the option to take control of its colony's Elder Brain, destroying it instead. It will also prioritize rebuilding and guiding Baldur's Gate from the shadows, though the option to take greater control is explicitly there. The Emperor lacks the monomaniacal drive toward domination that many illithids have, and instead has maintained a connection to its home, which it seems to value more than the possibility of rule.
This is particularly ironic, given how influential it's been in the city's economy. It's called the Emperor for a reason, but it's unclear how long it's actually held that name. As laid out above, it seems like the Emperor often requires an external push to seize power for itself, usually coming in the form of influence from a person it has grown attached to. And to get a sense of why that doesn't happen very often, we have to step back and take a look at its relationships. And my god, those are a mess. Content warnings back in force here.
Ansur and Balduran were married in all but name, and Ansur tried everything to find Balduran and bring him back, and to change him back. The attempted murder forced the Emperor to kill him in self-defense, but it seems like it may have still felt a connection to Ansur, even then. Ansur's body was entombed, presumably where it fell. We have no knowledge of whether the Emperor had any relationships in the centuries after that, but the particular trauma of Ansur's response to it seems to have strongly affected its decision to remain so thoroughly hidden from then on.
It's only a few decades before the events of Baldur's Gate III that we know of another relationship, with Belynne Stelmane. The Emperor fully seems to have cared for her deeply, and found her a formidable and admirable woman, but we also know that Stelmane was an extremely ambitious member of the city's nobility, and seems to have been the driving force behind their partnership and the Knights of the Shield. The events surrounding her eventual enthrallment are never explored, however the Emperor's personal history and seeming lack of experience with enthrallment suggest that this was an extraordinary event, one that it would not have chosen to happen on its own, but also one that it does not speak of with any regret. Whatever the facts of the matter, it kept her enthralled for at least several years.
Part of what leads to the ambiguity around this event is the fact that it remains so hidden. The Emperor only reveals it if met with concerted hostility in a life-or-death situation, and it needs to establish its credentials as one that should not be attacked. The version of events it therefore presents emphasizes its own monstrousness, as a tool for survival.
Because at this point, that is at the forefront of the Emperor's mind. Survival, and escape to freedom. Its entire existence has been bent around the calculations it deems necessary to achieve those goals, and anything else is a secondary concern. However, that does not mean that it is capable of that total focus, though it might believe otherwise.
The Emperor is, despite its attempts to hide it, deeply lonely and in need of social bonds. Illithids seem to be particularly vulnerable to the psychological effects of isolation, and the Emperor is only slightly more resilient. It wants to form connections, and it can make some deeply unwise decisions as a result. At the same time, it seems to have trouble believing that a non-illithid could be safe as a long-term partner or friend.
...and its attempts to convince others to become illithids are, frankly, clumsy as hell. Lightening the mood a bit here because holy hell, the Emperor is absolutely unsmooth about this. It's a failsquid. A complete dork. It's a crime accountant, for crying out loud, it's not the face of the operation with political savvy and ambition, it's the guy with the spreadsheets and the mild brianwashing of business partners. When it has neither, it's lost. All it has are its good looks and charm, if you find clueless nerds charming. It is, without a doubt, BAD at being an evil temptor. It couldn't tempt its way out of a paper bag.
in summary the emperor is a land of contrasts
APPEARANCE
The Emperor stands taller than the average illithid, almost as tall as the more powerful ulitharid subspecies. It sometimes chooses to stand, but it can also float if it wants to, adding to its already impressive eight feet (245 cm) of height.
Its head is an elongated ovoid shape that comes to a point, with two boneless patches on each side that rhythmically pulsate. These are of unknown biological function, possibly related to breathing or circulation. Its eyes have round pupils, glowing bright purple irises with black tendrils reaching in from their edges, and dark red sclera. Its eyes are slanted at an angle of about 30 degrees.
The Emperor has three fingers and one thumb on each hand, which are almost twice the length of an average human hand. Its fingers have long, straight, dark gray claws with sharp tips. Its feet have two toes, with thicker, blunt claws. Beneath its clothes, it has long limbs with lean muscle, with bony hips and a thin waist compared to its shoulders and bony hips. A series of prominent veins demarcate a paler gray heart-shaped patch that covers most of its torso. As it is not a mammal, it has no nipples or navel.
The most obviously alien aspect of the Emperor's appearance are the four tentacles around its mouth that are about half its body length, with gray skin shading down to pink. Its mouth opens vertically, does not have bony jaws but does possess sharp teeth that are oddly-arranged in its mouth. Illithids have limited physical capacity for human-like speech, and usually rely entirely on psychic projection of their thoughts. Thus, the Emperor's mouth does not move when it speaks, though it may emote using its tentacles. When speaking as itself, its mental voice is an echoing baritone, usually relatively detached and even, but not always. Illithids are usually silent, but under some circumstances may produce hissing or high-pitched keening shrieks, especially when in pain. Illithids are technically capable of speaking aloud, but it requires some uncomfortable tentacle gymnastics that are often distressing for all parties involved.
Healthy illithids have moist skin, making it shine slightly more than most. A well-fed illithid can also smell like vanilla, garlic, or both, depending on the illithid and what they have eaten.
The Emperor can look or sound like anyone, if it has a clear mental model to work with, and sufficient concentration to maintain the illusion. For more information, see Abilities below.
ABILITIES
MUNDANE
Consume Brain
Illithids consume brains for sustenance, using a combination of sharp teeth, boneless muscle, and flesh-dissolving enzymes temporarily secreted during feeding to crack through the skull and extract the brain. This is generally performed on those who are already somehow immobilized or taken by surprise. To remain healthy, an illithid must eat one brain every month, sometimes every two weeks if under particular strain or healing from an injury.
Administrative Ability- The Emperor has spent centuries analyzing and influencing events in a city that has grown from a few thousand to a height of 140,000 people, and it is extremely adept at gathering information and spotting patterns in its data.
Darkvision- Illithids see better in lower light than humans, with clear vision in dim light. Depending on who you ask, they are sometimes more easily dazzled by bright light.
PSYCHIC
Detect Thoughts- Illithids can sense the presence of creatures within 30 ft (~10 m) of them, particularly if they are capable of language or telepathy.
Plane Shift(?)- The Emperor has been seen traveling between the demiplane within the astral prism and the Material Plane, in line with the illithid 5e stats. However, it was able to create an actual portal that others could enter, something illithids can't do by default, and they're usually limited to one cast per day. The Emperor has managed at least two per day on some occasions, though it's unclear whether this under special circumstances. If the Emperor encounters an area where it's theoretically possible to step between dimensions or folded points in space, it will be more capable of opening a portal than the average person.
Telepathy- The Emperor can read minds, both surface thoughts and actively sift through minds to look for information, though its presence will be felt unless it manages to conceal itself. Its only form of communication is to project thoughts into the minds of others, which it can do as long as it has a clear view of them or some means of sensing them. If it is not able to make a mental connection with someone, it will generally appear mute.
Illusion- The Emperor is capable of creating illusions, doing so to illustrate past events, to demonstrate ideas, or to disguise itself. When successful, these illusions can sometimes be made realistic enough to fool those affected by them, even when coming into physical contact with the Emperor.
Levitation and Telekinesis- The Emperor can levitate, hovering in mid-air or move in any direction, with a speed up to that of a sprinting human. It can also levitate others, though how successful this will be depends on the willingness of the target or their ability to resist psychic influence. The Emperor can also use this power to lift heavy objects, demonstrated by picking up boulders the size of its torso and flinging them at targets.
Shield of Thralls- The Emperor can support allies or itself by conjuring a volatile shield that temporarily protects them from harm. The shield will break after sustaining enough damage.
The following all can be resisted by people who have a focused or resilient mind (i.e. an INT save or WIS save)
Mind Blast and Tentacle Whip-The Emperor can use its mental powers to strike targets with a conical wave of energy that can possibly stun targets. It can also empower physical blows with psychic energy, including with its tentacles.
Mind Flayer Domination and Sleep- Mind flayers can dominate the wills of others, causing the target to consider the illithid their ally. If they are harmed in any way, the illusion may break on its own. Targets can also be compelled to sleep, particularly if they are already fatigued or injured.
Evard's Black Tentacles- Surprisingly, the Emperor is also able to cast what appears to be a magical spell, which illithids usually can't do. One can assume that this is actually a psychic manifestation or illusion equivalent to the spell, which causes tentacles to sprout from the ground, grabbing onto anyone in a 20 ft (6m) radius, attacking them and smothering them if desired.
Slow- The Emperor can, with sufficient focus, alter time itself in a target area, causing anyone or anything within the affected region to experience time slower than those outside.
Counterspell - The Emperor can, theoretically, disrupt the spellcasting of others. Amusingly, this has never actually been witnessed, because a game bug prevents it from using the power.
In crunchy game stats, on normal mode it's level 12 (the maximum BG3 allows) with 140 HP, AC 18, +2 Initiative, +4 proficiency bonus, and a standard movement speed of 9m (30 ft). STR 12 (save +1), DEX 14 (+2), CON 15 (+2), INT 21 (proficient, +9), WIS 17 (proficient, +7), CHA 19 (proficient, +8). Illithids use INT to cast by default. On Tactician Mode, the Emperor's stats are the same but it fights meaner and has 184 HP. Its weight, hilariously, is listed as 60 kg (120 lb).
TO BE ADDED
VISUALS
Here's a few visual references.
( Read more... )
Name: The Emperor
Aliases: the Dream Guardian, Balduran
Pronouns: Usually it/its, sometimes he/him
Canon: Baldur's Gate III
Canon Point: for Pumpkin Hollow: end of BG3, on a run with the achievement Absolute Power Corrups, without the achievement Mind Blown.
Species: Illithid
Occupation: black marketeer, syndicate leader, rogue illithid
Height: 8'0" (~245 cm)
Age: At least 400 years old
Hair Color: None
Skin Color: Gray and pink
Eye Color: Glowing purple iris with black edges, red sclera
OOC
Name: Spider
Plurk: PaleAntiquarian (@ me if you want something)
Discord: CellarSpider9984 (always here)
PERMISSIONS
Backtagging? Please!
Smash the fourth wall? Yes, with some reservations! Let's talk.
Hurt it? Yes, with discussion beforehand.
Kill it? It Yes, but seek permission first.
Touch it? Sure! With some warnings below.
Romance/Sex? I am open to it and have the in-game achievement to prove it
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
HISTORY
NOTE: Endgame spoilers for BG3, and about a major Forgotten Realms character, starting from line one. The events below assume a variant of the ending that grants the achievement "Absolute Power Corrupts". Content warnings for body horror, forced transformation, and some world-class disastrous relationships placing the Emperor in fantasy equivalents to both victim and potential perpetrator of abuse and intimate partner violence.
The Emperor is the illithid which was created from the body of Balduran, an adventurer and trader who lived centuries ago. Setting out from a small fishing village, Balduran sailed further than anyone from the continent of Faerûn had ever gotten, returning home with riches that were shared with his friends, family, and hometown, funding its defenses and setting it on the path to prosperity. In his honor, one of the entrances through the new town walls was named "Baldur's Gate".
Along the way, he met a bronze dragon named Ansur, the two eventually becoming more than friends as they traveled together as far as the north pole. However, on Balduran's last great voyage, he disappeared from history, never to be seen again. In his absence, his hometown would become synonymous with what he had built, taking on the name Baldur's Gate and eventually becoming one of the most prominent trade cities in the world. Ansur, Heart of the Gate, disappeared some years after Balduran. Legend had it that he slept beneath Wyrm's Rock, a fortress that guarded the city.
This is the public story, but events weren't that simple. On Balduran's last voyage, there's some historical evidence that the crew contracted lycanthropy, and Balduran may have gone searching for a cure in a location dedicated to the moon goddess Selûne, patron of werewolves. We don't know for certain whether this was his motivation for going to Moonrise Towers, but we do know what happened next.
Beneath Moonrise Towers lurked a colony of illithids, the mind flayer species that had once dominated entire worlds and kept their populations psychically enslaved as thralls, just as they were enslaved by their Elder Brain leaders. The colony captured Balduran, and infected him with one of their larvae. This parasite soon consumed him, creating a new mind flayer linked to the colony's Elder Brain. Balduran was dead.
However, something unexpected happened. Adult illithids occasionally retain personality traits and memories from their host, a dreaded affliction among their kind known as "partialism." This new illithid seemingly retained all of Balduran's memories, and many of his personality traits, including his drive for freedom. However, trapped under the psychic influence of the Elder Brain, it could not escape, and it seemed like it would live out its days in slavery.
Fortunately for this illithid, Ansur somehow followed Balduran's trail, and almost fourteen years later managed to free the illithid from the Elder Brain. He then tried to find a healer who could reverse the change. None could, and the illithid itself did not want to be Balduran, and his former love for Ansur was now gone, but not without sympathy for his plight. It wrote a letter to him, begging him to be free from anguish.
This ended in tragedy. Ansur, unable to accept what had happened, eventually convinced himself that the best thing to do was to kill the illithid in its sleep, as an act of "mercy" to end a perceived affliction. The illithid awoke before the deed was done, and in a struggle, it managed to kill Ansur. His body was interred beneath the Wyrm's Rock fortress, eventually guarded by statues of Balduran, left there in a place of honor.
The illithid that had been Balduran then disappeared into the city that bore his former name. Illithids require psychic nutrients uniquely found in the brains of sapient creatures, making them feared and despised by many. Evading notice through disguise and psychic illusions, the illithid consumed the brains of criminals, carefully avoiding attention that could lead to its exposure or recapture by its former colony.
At least three hundred years passed in the shadows, subtly influencing events within the city. Its identity and species remained hidden, but rumors started to refer to a being referred to only as "the Emperor", owing to its great influence over the city. The illithid took this name, supplanting any previous one it may have grown to use.
Eventually, it came to the attention of one Duke Belynne Stelmane, an ambitious and influential noble. She had taken control of the local chapter of an influential cult known as the Knights of the Shield, divesting it from its religious roots. Between the two of them, they were able to use the Shield's mercantile connections to essentially control the entire city's economy. Stelmane was the face and drive behind the plans, while the Emperor used its intellect and psychic abilities to manipulate those who dealt with the Knights of the Shield. The Emperor became close with Duke Stelmane, and grew to truly admire her as a formidable woman.
This state of affairs persisted for some years, but it would not last forever. We don't know how or why the Emperor's relationship with Duke Stelmane shifted, but we know that it ended poorly. Maybe the controlling behavior seen in other illithids came to the fore, or Stelmane became a danger to the Emperor as Ansur had been before her. Publicly, it was said that she had a stroke, and that might have even been the case. Whatever happened, we know that the Emperor eventually took mental control of Duke Stelmane, turning her into a thrall. The process was clumsy and imperfect, and required continuing work over a period of ten years. During this time, the Emperor essentially ran the Shield by itself, continuing to accumulate influence.
Eventually, the Emperor was discovered, and by possibly the worst group possible. Cultists of Bane, Lord of Tyranny, captured the Emperor as part of a plan that put the entire world in danger. Along with representatives of the Lord of Murder and Lord of the Dead, these followers of the Dead Three had used ancient magic to dominate the Elder Brain that the Emperor had escaped from, using it to produce illithid larvae that were magically modified to display strange powers and remain locked in their immature forms until they were called to transform. These larval sleeper agents hid within the skulls of infected, controlling them just as it controlled adult illithids. The Emperor, vulnerable to the Elder Brain's control, was enslaved once more.
This might have led to the death of the world, but the Elder Brain had its own plans. It secretly retained enough control to manipulate events, sending the Emperor out on a mission to collect an artifact that could subvert its own mental link to its progeny. The Emperor found this device, known as the "astral prism", which deadened the Elder Brain's control over it as soon as it touched the artifact.
Believing that it had experienced a lucky break, it took quick action, and found a way inside the folded space concealed within the astral prism. Inside, it found the source of the artifact's power: an ancient enemy of the illithids, Prince Orpheus. Imprisoned by his enemies long ago, Orpheus's latent resistance to Elder Brain control had long been used as a weapon against them. The Emperor, desperate for freedom and believing Orpheus would never freely help a hated enemy, took mental control of him, using his power to keep itself free, and to protect others it could use as allies.
Freeing whoever it could reach, the Emperor managed to protect a small group of larva-infected people, keeping them from feeling the Elder Brain's influence, saving them from death on several occasions, and keeping them from transforming into illithids. This was complicated by a number of factors: Orpheus's honor guard had been locked within the prism with him, and they assembled to fight off this intruder. The Emperor also felt it necessary to hide its identity from the people it protected, while formulating a plan to guide them toward the representatives of the Dead Three, take their means of controlling the Elder Brain, and use that to force it to destroy itself.
However, the Emperor judged that the group it had saved was not strong enough to successfully do this. It began contacting them in their dreams, hiding behind an illusory guise of a humanoid guardian figure, revealing pieces of its role and its plan. It tried to convince the group that they needed to take advantage of the dire straits they found themselves in: they should seek to use the psychic powers that the illithid larvae granted them, and hone their abilities. To maximize their chances of survival, they would need every advantage they had.
Eventually, the Emperor was forced to reveal itself when it came under concerted attack by Orpheus's honor guard. Unable to hide its identity, the Emperor pleaded with the group it had saved to believe it, and to help it keep control over Orpheus. The group agreed, and killed the remaining honor guard. Now able to focus its attention entirely on protecting the group and no longer forced to hide itself, the Emperor revealed more of its history to them, and repeated its belief that they still required more strength to successfully defeat the Elder Brain. The leader of the group agreed to further empower the parasite in their head, achieving a state of partial transformation that increased their abilities and left them mentally changed.
The Emperor remained within the Astral Prism while the others went out to find and defeat the representatives of the Dead Three, but it kept watch over their progress, and continued to directly contact their leader. In their quest to find more allies, the group eventually heard of Ansur, and the stories that he might lie sleeping beneath the city. Though the Emperor tried to warn them away, the group found Ansur's body, his restless spirit furious at the Emperor's refusal to accept death, and seeing his own as a betrayal. The group was able to overcome Ansur, and the Emperor was forced to admit to its former identity.
Despite eventually collecting the control mechanisms the cults had used to keep the Elder Brain dominated, it was revealed that the Elder Brain had been manipulating events all along, and that the Emperor had been a pawn in this. Shaken, the Emperor pulled the group to safety, and and had to improvise further. With the Elder Brain having manipulated the Dead Three and then used the Emperor to remove the restrictions it had willingly submitted to, it was now ready to transform all of its larvae into fully-grown illithids, beginning an invasion that could sweep over the world.
While the Emperor's control over Orpheus had thus far protected them, it wasn't enough. To bind the Elder Brain, someone with Orpheus's powers would need to directly use the artifacts they'd collected, combining the two to overwhelm the Elder Brain. The Emperor believed Orpheus would never help them willingly, and so offered the others a choice: One of them would have to become an illithid, and consume Orpheus's brain. If they didn't, then the Emperor would do so itself. It saw no other option.
The leader of the group agreed, transforming and consuming Orpheus. The Emperor believed that now, they had a chance.
And they did, in fact, manage to subdue the Elder Brain, in a battle that tore Baldur's Gate apart. But something went very, very wrong in the final moments. Maybe the transformation into an illithid had added something dark and twisted to the leader's mind, or maybe it was always there, and the Emperor had been too willing to look past it. Whatever happened, the newborn illithid killed the Emperor, taking control of the Elder Brain. Things look bleak for the city, unless a miracle might intervene.
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PERSONALITY
The Emperor is in many ways an oddity among illithids, while simultaneously possessing many of their general traits. This is possibly due to its high degree of partialism, yet the Emperor does not entirely consider itself to be Balduran. It has Balduran's memories, and sometimes self-identifies with the man it was created from, using "I" to refer to refer to things Balduran did, but it does not self-consciously try to act as Balduran would have, or retain his identity. In fact, it tries to avoid mentioning Balduran's name, or identifiable events in his life. It's highly likely that if Balduran's fate were to become widely known, his status as a cultural hero would be undermined. The Emperor, for its part, seems unwilling to let that happen.
It's quite possible that this is due to its emotional attachments to Balduran's life. Illithids tend to be extremely dismissive of other species, and find the idea of partialism to be terrifying, something to be feared and/or hidden from fellow illithids. The Emperor, however, seems to have held onto quite a few personal possessions of Balduran's, which hold no value beyond the sentimental. For example, it's kept a set of cutlery too small for its own hands that was a gift to Balduran from his mother, the recipe for his favorite soup despite not eating it anymore, and the collar of his beloved dog, Rascal, of which the Emperor speaks fondly.
Another reason to keep its history private is personal security. The Emperor has had to hide its identity as Balduran and as an illithid for centuries, using illusions and half-truths to disguise itself. Rogue illithids both face persecution from other races and their own, with the Emperor particularly fearing the possibility of being forced back to its colony. While survival is its ultimate goal, the one thing it wants from life is freedom, just as Balduran did. This has kept it in the shadows, sustaining itself on the brains of criminals in the back alleys of the city named for its former self.
While one might be tempted to conclude from this that the Emperor has some antipathy toward its status as an illithid, this is not the case. The Emperor is quite adamant that being an illithid is good, and that it enjoys being as such. Psychically endowed senses and powers combined with a more capable mind are all benefits it is glad for. While some others may think it looks like a monster, the Emperor seems to be seen as beautiful among illithids--and, to break tone for a moment here, it's enough of a dork to say it outright. I will expound upon its dorkitude in a moment.
In fact, the Emperor would probably argue that being an illithid is better than being humanoid. This is something it shares in common with other illithids: while they are openly and aggressively chauvinistic toward other species, it is less overtly so, though it can end up stating positions that have overlap with general illithid thought on the matter.
While this and its history might suggest that it has secret, dark plans for world domination, all evidence points to the contrary. If allowed to follow its own instincts, it will turn down the option to take control of its colony's Elder Brain, destroying it instead. It will also prioritize rebuilding and guiding Baldur's Gate from the shadows, though the option to take greater control is explicitly there. The Emperor lacks the monomaniacal drive toward domination that many illithids have, and instead has maintained a connection to its home, which it seems to value more than the possibility of rule.
This is particularly ironic, given how influential it's been in the city's economy. It's called the Emperor for a reason, but it's unclear how long it's actually held that name. As laid out above, it seems like the Emperor often requires an external push to seize power for itself, usually coming in the form of influence from a person it has grown attached to. And to get a sense of why that doesn't happen very often, we have to step back and take a look at its relationships. And my god, those are a mess. Content warnings back in force here.
Ansur and Balduran were married in all but name, and Ansur tried everything to find Balduran and bring him back, and to change him back. The attempted murder forced the Emperor to kill him in self-defense, but it seems like it may have still felt a connection to Ansur, even then. Ansur's body was entombed, presumably where it fell. We have no knowledge of whether the Emperor had any relationships in the centuries after that, but the particular trauma of Ansur's response to it seems to have strongly affected its decision to remain so thoroughly hidden from then on.
It's only a few decades before the events of Baldur's Gate III that we know of another relationship, with Belynne Stelmane. The Emperor fully seems to have cared for her deeply, and found her a formidable and admirable woman, but we also know that Stelmane was an extremely ambitious member of the city's nobility, and seems to have been the driving force behind their partnership and the Knights of the Shield. The events surrounding her eventual enthrallment are never explored, however the Emperor's personal history and seeming lack of experience with enthrallment suggest that this was an extraordinary event, one that it would not have chosen to happen on its own, but also one that it does not speak of with any regret. Whatever the facts of the matter, it kept her enthralled for at least several years.
Part of what leads to the ambiguity around this event is the fact that it remains so hidden. The Emperor only reveals it if met with concerted hostility in a life-or-death situation, and it needs to establish its credentials as one that should not be attacked. The version of events it therefore presents emphasizes its own monstrousness, as a tool for survival.
Because at this point, that is at the forefront of the Emperor's mind. Survival, and escape to freedom. Its entire existence has been bent around the calculations it deems necessary to achieve those goals, and anything else is a secondary concern. However, that does not mean that it is capable of that total focus, though it might believe otherwise.
The Emperor is, despite its attempts to hide it, deeply lonely and in need of social bonds. Illithids seem to be particularly vulnerable to the psychological effects of isolation, and the Emperor is only slightly more resilient. It wants to form connections, and it can make some deeply unwise decisions as a result. At the same time, it seems to have trouble believing that a non-illithid could be safe as a long-term partner or friend.
...and its attempts to convince others to become illithids are, frankly, clumsy as hell. Lightening the mood a bit here because holy hell, the Emperor is absolutely unsmooth about this. It's a failsquid. A complete dork. It's a crime accountant, for crying out loud, it's not the face of the operation with political savvy and ambition, it's the guy with the spreadsheets and the mild brianwashing of business partners. When it has neither, it's lost. All it has are its good looks and charm, if you find clueless nerds charming. It is, without a doubt, BAD at being an evil temptor. It couldn't tempt its way out of a paper bag.
in summary the emperor is a land of contrasts
APPEARANCE
The Emperor stands taller than the average illithid, almost as tall as the more powerful ulitharid subspecies. It sometimes chooses to stand, but it can also float if it wants to, adding to its already impressive eight feet (245 cm) of height.
Its head is an elongated ovoid shape that comes to a point, with two boneless patches on each side that rhythmically pulsate. These are of unknown biological function, possibly related to breathing or circulation. Its eyes have round pupils, glowing bright purple irises with black tendrils reaching in from their edges, and dark red sclera. Its eyes are slanted at an angle of about 30 degrees.
The Emperor has three fingers and one thumb on each hand, which are almost twice the length of an average human hand. Its fingers have long, straight, dark gray claws with sharp tips. Its feet have two toes, with thicker, blunt claws. Beneath its clothes, it has long limbs with lean muscle, with bony hips and a thin waist compared to its shoulders and bony hips. A series of prominent veins demarcate a paler gray heart-shaped patch that covers most of its torso. As it is not a mammal, it has no nipples or navel.
The most obviously alien aspect of the Emperor's appearance are the four tentacles around its mouth that are about half its body length, with gray skin shading down to pink. Its mouth opens vertically, does not have bony jaws but does possess sharp teeth that are oddly-arranged in its mouth. Illithids have limited physical capacity for human-like speech, and usually rely entirely on psychic projection of their thoughts. Thus, the Emperor's mouth does not move when it speaks, though it may emote using its tentacles. When speaking as itself, its mental voice is an echoing baritone, usually relatively detached and even, but not always. Illithids are usually silent, but under some circumstances may produce hissing or high-pitched keening shrieks, especially when in pain. Illithids are technically capable of speaking aloud, but it requires some uncomfortable tentacle gymnastics that are often distressing for all parties involved.
Healthy illithids have moist skin, making it shine slightly more than most. A well-fed illithid can also smell like vanilla, garlic, or both, depending on the illithid and what they have eaten.
The Emperor can look or sound like anyone, if it has a clear mental model to work with, and sufficient concentration to maintain the illusion. For more information, see Abilities below.
ABILITIES
MUNDANE
Consume Brain
Illithids consume brains for sustenance, using a combination of sharp teeth, boneless muscle, and flesh-dissolving enzymes temporarily secreted during feeding to crack through the skull and extract the brain. This is generally performed on those who are already somehow immobilized or taken by surprise. To remain healthy, an illithid must eat one brain every month, sometimes every two weeks if under particular strain or healing from an injury.
Administrative Ability- The Emperor has spent centuries analyzing and influencing events in a city that has grown from a few thousand to a height of 140,000 people, and it is extremely adept at gathering information and spotting patterns in its data.
Darkvision- Illithids see better in lower light than humans, with clear vision in dim light. Depending on who you ask, they are sometimes more easily dazzled by bright light.
PSYCHIC
Detect Thoughts- Illithids can sense the presence of creatures within 30 ft (~10 m) of them, particularly if they are capable of language or telepathy.
Plane Shift(?)- The Emperor has been seen traveling between the demiplane within the astral prism and the Material Plane, in line with the illithid 5e stats. However, it was able to create an actual portal that others could enter, something illithids can't do by default, and they're usually limited to one cast per day. The Emperor has managed at least two per day on some occasions, though it's unclear whether this under special circumstances. If the Emperor encounters an area where it's theoretically possible to step between dimensions or folded points in space, it will be more capable of opening a portal than the average person.
Telepathy- The Emperor can read minds, both surface thoughts and actively sift through minds to look for information, though its presence will be felt unless it manages to conceal itself. Its only form of communication is to project thoughts into the minds of others, which it can do as long as it has a clear view of them or some means of sensing them. If it is not able to make a mental connection with someone, it will generally appear mute.
Illusion- The Emperor is capable of creating illusions, doing so to illustrate past events, to demonstrate ideas, or to disguise itself. When successful, these illusions can sometimes be made realistic enough to fool those affected by them, even when coming into physical contact with the Emperor.
Levitation and Telekinesis- The Emperor can levitate, hovering in mid-air or move in any direction, with a speed up to that of a sprinting human. It can also levitate others, though how successful this will be depends on the willingness of the target or their ability to resist psychic influence. The Emperor can also use this power to lift heavy objects, demonstrated by picking up boulders the size of its torso and flinging them at targets.
Shield of Thralls- The Emperor can support allies or itself by conjuring a volatile shield that temporarily protects them from harm. The shield will break after sustaining enough damage.
The following all can be resisted by people who have a focused or resilient mind (i.e. an INT save or WIS save)
Mind Blast and Tentacle Whip-The Emperor can use its mental powers to strike targets with a conical wave of energy that can possibly stun targets. It can also empower physical blows with psychic energy, including with its tentacles.
Mind Flayer Domination and Sleep- Mind flayers can dominate the wills of others, causing the target to consider the illithid their ally. If they are harmed in any way, the illusion may break on its own. Targets can also be compelled to sleep, particularly if they are already fatigued or injured.
Evard's Black Tentacles- Surprisingly, the Emperor is also able to cast what appears to be a magical spell, which illithids usually can't do. One can assume that this is actually a psychic manifestation or illusion equivalent to the spell, which causes tentacles to sprout from the ground, grabbing onto anyone in a 20 ft (6m) radius, attacking them and smothering them if desired.
Slow- The Emperor can, with sufficient focus, alter time itself in a target area, causing anyone or anything within the affected region to experience time slower than those outside.
Counterspell - The Emperor can, theoretically, disrupt the spellcasting of others. Amusingly, this has never actually been witnessed, because a game bug prevents it from using the power.
In crunchy game stats, on normal mode it's level 12 (the maximum BG3 allows) with 140 HP, AC 18, +2 Initiative, +4 proficiency bonus, and a standard movement speed of 9m (30 ft). STR 12 (save +1), DEX 14 (+2), CON 15 (+2), INT 21 (proficient, +9), WIS 17 (proficient, +7), CHA 19 (proficient, +8). Illithids use INT to cast by default. On Tactician Mode, the Emperor's stats are the same but it fights meaner and has 184 HP. Its weight, hilariously, is listed as 60 kg (120 lb).
TO BE ADDED
VISUALS
Here's a few visual references.
( Read more... )
