The God Brain is back...

[Gemathustra]

I think you'll have trouble selling tickets to that one, what with the warning you'll have to put out: WARNING: viewing this spectacle may induce horror checks with DC > 30.

I thought that a DC that high would involve something as horrific as looking at the unspeakable contents of Azalin's Forbidden Closet of Silken Unmentionables.

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

I think you'll have trouble selling tickets to that one, what with the warning you'll have to put out: WARNING: viewing this spectacle may induce horror checks with DC > 30.

I thought that a DC that high would involve something as horrific as looking at the unspeakable contents of Azalin's Forbidden Closet of Silken Unmentionables.

That would be in the region of DC 50+, so a DC 30 for the battle would be quite fair, so long as no one notices all the appendages Gwydion has, or the placement of them *gulp*

[The Nightmare Man]

Considering what little I do know about the domain of the God-Brain...

1. What is the God Brain's curse?
2. How or why did It and the illithid arrive in Ravenloft
[...]
6. Why did Bluetspur break away from the Core in the Grand Conjuction?

these are properly the three most important questions I would like to see answers for. Illithids are a particularly favorite nasty of mine, and while I've now made every efforted to get to know more about this domain, I've noticed that these are questions that have curiously, never been answered.

As for my source material, in addition to some obvious 2nd edition Ravenloft material, I will draw upon The Illithiad, which has hints in it about the origin of The God Brain. Its subtle, but its there.

Hmmm... If you're drawing from a particular portion of text that I think you're drawing from in order to establish your source material... my tentacles are tingling with even greater anticipation than they were previously... .

[Coan]

The God Brains curse is talked about in the Ravenloft DMG under Bluetspur. I believe it is something about wanting to experience true emotions and feelings.

However it doesn't state how this curse came about.

I look forward to this web enhancement.

[The_God_Brain]

I think you'll have trouble selling tickets to that one, what with the warning you'll have to put out: WARNING: viewing this spectacle may induce horror checks with DC > 30.


Welcome back God Brain. Looking forward to your Bluetspur work. The question I'd most like to see answered is: What did this particular elder brain do to be more evil than all the others? (Always the problem with evil-species darklords). IIRC, the BoS version did a decent job of it by making him human to begin with, which allows for a fall into darkness. But most illithids are already firmly evil.

Oh, you'll find out. That is actually what is hinted at in The Illithiad. More on that later...

[The_God_Brain]

The God Brains curse is talked about in the Ravenloft DMG under Bluetspur. I believe it is something about wanting to experience true emotions and feelings.

Yes, but it doesn't say why. Also, its kind of lame. Mine is better.

[Mangrum]

Yes

Sigh. No, that's not what it says.

[Jester of the FoS]

The God Brains curse is talked about in the Ravenloft DMG under Bluetspur. I believe it is something about wanting to experience true emotions and feelings.

It actually says, and I quote from page 19:

More than anything else, the God-brain desires experiences - to move; to breathe; to truly live.

Now overlooking the split-infinitive in the last line I actually rather like this.

See, the God-brain is dozens if not hundreds if not thousands of Illithid brains all joined and possibly united by a single powerful consciousness (who would be the person who is cursed and is being punished). It hungers for all knowledge, it wishes to know everything. Illithids can have a kind of collector’s mentality for information.
The God-brain should be much, much older than any other Elder-brain and thus posses that much more information. It knows pretty much anything Illithids can think of having seen it through the eyes of donated brains hundreds of times already.
There are two sets of information it can no longer have. What it is like for it to do something new, as it can only ‘live’ and do new things through the minds of its donors, and to experience the life of a non-Illithid, as no non-Mind Flayer will ever be added to the God-brain’s mass. No matter what else it learns, no matter what other secrets it extorts or mysteries it unveils it will forever be denied two vast spheres of knowledge.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Hey, it's the God-Brain! Howdy, God-Brain! Good to see you.

[The Nightmare Man]

Here's a question for you G-B...

Does the God-Brain have an astral component on the Astral Plane as well, or is it completely confined to the Realm of Dread? This would require it to shift it's entire mass to the Dread Demiplane, which as I recall, is not something that elder brains should do...

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

Does the God-Brain have an astral component on the Astral Plane as well, or is it completely confined to the Realm of Dread?

Given that access to other planes is denied, with the exception of the Near/Border Ethereal, I would say the God Brain is entirely in the demiplane of dread.

However, I would believe the DP's would have compensated for this in some way.

[ScS of the Fraternity]

Indeed, perhaps the excess mass of brain tissue has been shunted into the ethereal plane? This might lead to an interesting ethereal resonance - all of Bluetspur comprised of throbbing brain tissue.

[Jasper]

Hmmm.. What if the GB WAS mostly in the Astrial at the time of domain contruction and when Bultespur was created the main part of his inteligance was severed and lost the the Astrial winds. His curse now could litteraly be a form of amnesia, he knows who he/it is and what he/it is but eons of experiance and knowledge is forever lost to it.

And a lingering poison to the land that makes one out of three Illithads sterial and the Gb has a King Croc style curse- He is eternaly hungry for new illithad minds but if he eats them too early they can not produce new tadpoles.
The population of illithads has dwindled over the years due to its hunger and the experiances of those it does eat are a far cry from what it has lost (A Illithid brain of one who has been feeding on Bravoian villagers pales in comparison to one who has eaten the brains of Githyanki and tieflings.)

Soon the last illithad will leave Bultespur leaving the GB alone and eternaly hungry.

[The_God_Brain]

Yes

Sigh. No, that's not what it says.

Yes, in fact it is. Someone else already beat me to QUOTING IT EXACTLY OUT OF THE TEXT, and CITING THE PAGE. God, thats freakin' hillarious.

[The_God_Brain]

You all have such wonderful ideas about The God Brain, a true testament to the creativity of Ravenloft fans and writers. It is something that makes this such a rich and enjoyable game setting, and makes conversing with you all (most of you) so pleasant an experience.

As to your questions....remember that nothing I say about the God Brain is official or cannon in any way, shape or form. It is all completely optional, so if something I write doesn't suit your game or your imagination, of course you can change it all you want. In fact, I'd be honored if you'd share your changes with me because it shows me the creative processes of people who read my stuff and put thought into it. Unlike some writers, I actually enjoy that.

Without giving away too much...I'll answer some of the questions as guardedly as I can.

The God Brain is fully and completely confined to the Demiplane of Dread. Its one of the reason's why Its so big. Just one, though. Its link to the Astral plane, or any other plane, is severed. Whether or not extra portions of It are contained in the etheral plane, and therefore connected to Ravenloft, will be dealt with later.

As to the God Brain's curse...lets just say that it is less like King Crocodile's, and more like Azalin's. Curses can be broken up into several different catagories, including the Inescapable Hunger curse, the Stunted Power Curse, and the Tourtured by Past curse. God Brain's curse falls into the second catagory. And since curses always relate in some way to the nature of one's confinement to the Demiplane....rest assured that The God Brain's imprisonment had something to do with a lust for power....on a scale that dwarfs other illithids and that even THEY would consider over the top. You'll see...


No one has mentioned what they thought of my stories....