Dungeons and Dragons Lore: Vlaakith the Lich Queen
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 พ.ค. 2020
- Evil Lich Queen of the formidable Githyanki, Vlaakith has ruled from the exotic city of Tu'narath in the Astral void for over a thousand years.
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BG3 has a great line about Vlaakith that goes something like "To the Undying Queen the Githyanki are not her subjects, they are her livestock".
*casually waves at Vlaakith*
Helping the Gith stop Vlaakith's impending apotheosis would make for a fine high-level campaign. :3
It is, it exists :)
There's an adventure for this: Lich Queen's Beloved, in Dungeon Magazine 100.
Dancing Vorpal silver sword... yeah now she is just showing off!
Fun fact: Vlaakith will never allow any Githyanki to go over Level 15 as she believes that they would become a threat to her rule and her ascension and will “Notice” (no matter what plane a Githyanki is currently on) when a Githyanki reaches level 12 and will command them to come to her so she can suck out their souls. Ironically enough in Balders Gate 3 you end the game at level 12.
I literately just wrote up a Gith character to play a few days ago. This is perfectly timed, thank you.
Ahhhh...
There’s nothing like the smell of Gith in the morning.
I have a headcanon that suggests that given the nature of the time travelling shenanigans of Mind Flayers and how they tie to the Gith; that the Gith are the origin stock of all non-elemental humanoids and contain the genetic traits of all of them.
Like they're so displaced from linear time as we understand it that they can simultaneously be our possible ancestors and our possible future selves at the same time.
It also follows that; just as the Gith have no species name; they themselves are so morphologicaly diverse because they're complex genetic make up allows them to appear more or less as one particular species depending on which combination of genes is expressed. This expression could be magically directed of course.
Gith in elven settlements become more elven. Gith in human societies become more human, etc.
That's pretty much how I see it too. Since the Mind Flayer Empire is a past/future "bootstrap" paradox, the gith are a mix of various humanoid species genetically modified by the flayers to serve as slave stock.
When the Gith were introduced that was initially what they were. A combination of human, orc and elf
You just made my Birthday mate. Vlaakith and the Githyanki is one of my all time favorites, and am currently planning a sequel for her release after my players tricked her into sealing herself in her own phylactary (Vecna was involved, so of course even she didn't see it coming). Hopefully between you, Baldur's Gate 3, the Neverwinter expansion, and their sheer badassness we'll see more of Vlaakith and her horde of bloodthirsty dragon riding space pirates from across the dimensions of space and thought (who should totally be on a metal album cover).
Also WOTC or Paizo should pay you, I have gone back and bought sooo many Dragon Magazine issues since I started watching your channel.
We share a birthday, happy birthday to us.
WotC are nice to me, from a safe distance. Like, they pet me with a broom.
"3 types of Gith." Everyone always forgets the Spelljamming subspecies, the Pirates of Gith for some reason
One gets the feeling that vlaakith actually cut a deal with tiamat and betrayed Gith, allowing her to to rise to power.
That's exactly what she did.
That thumbnail of her, you know shes saying "pathetic"
After you kneel down and plead for your life like "please my queen please please please don't kill me please I don't wanna die Im afraid please don't hurt me"
I was a smart-ass when I met her in bg3. She did not appreciate it and promptly wished me dead. Game over screen.
Blessed are thee who help the like ratio
This is a good video choice especially with the githyanki as a playable race and the antagonists being the mindflayers in the upcoming video game Baldur's Gate 3.
I love the amount of lore in this. The Gith race is so interesting 😄
The Gith are so damned cool. I hate that so many D.M.s hate using them because they are so closely tied to psionics.
Welcome to the party BG3 players!
This became homework for people playing BG3, go Lae'zel !
The longer the Gith are not enslaved by mindflayers, the more human they will become. - Dr . Samuel Hayden
Yessssss! Give me ALL of the Gith lore! And a new race? What fantasy lottery did I win?!!
There's a race called Gith found on the dying planet Athas, which is generally isolated from the rest of the multiverse. They are the degenerate descendants of the githyanki who lived there in a previous age. A book called....I think it's Guide To The Astral Plane that goes into detail on their presence on that plane. Aj goofed & missed a subspecies. You're awesome sir
Oohh. Athas Gith
A missed opportunity... Githyanki versus Githredsoki. I'll get my coat.
Sir, it's like Christmas.... I'm running the Incursion game now. Seeing as how she's the big bad, I couldnt have asked for more... You rock
And this info isn't in the issues of the dragon or dungeon magazines I hunted down. Greatly appreciated
Didn't Maanzecorian kill The One in the Void?
@@michaelbeal1400 I have not researched that yet :)
Rewatching now, you just mentioned incursion (+ the artwork, I'm an idiot)... But Scales of War kicks ass
Ha, replying to you on both threads is getting complicated. Thanks for all your work. I hadnt seen his website yet, I just collected both adventure sets from the magazines
Charlie Stross didn't stop after inventing the githyanki. They've be writing ever since. I'd strongly recommend their most recent series, the 'Laundry Files'.
On my bucket list
The Gith pictured in 19:51 is actually a Githzerai Zerth named Zhjaeve. She was a companion in Neverwinter Nights 2
Indeed.
@@AJPickett dont forget about the athasian gith sub race In dark sun.
This was my favorite video you've ever done AJ. Your expressive voice makes these a joy to listen to. Keep up the great work.
Thanks! 😄
It's hard to say who's 'right.' Undead or constructs are great ways to skirt illithid mental radar. But what's the difference between a lich queen and an elder brain? Reminds me a lot of the Blue Oyster Cult, Veteran of the Psychic Wars.
I would love to find out more on the Consorts of Tiamat
Is it a coincidence this was released the same day Wizards gave out a free adventure about the Lich-Queen?
Heh! Actually yes it is, I had no idea they were doing that.
@@AJPickett Hmm not sure if I buy it, do I sense a Githzerai plot?
@@yavayen4796 No I am on Team Gith.
Currently running The Tyranny of Dragons adventure and I integrated the Gith (both sides) into the story right after I got MTOF and read about Tiamats relationship with the Githyanki. One of my players is Githzerai. This video is very relevant right now in my game so thank you for the great vid!
Gith have always been interesting and full of possibilities. Really Good Vid. Thank You
I wonder how much of this will be relevant in the latest Baldur's Gate game.
Whaaat! My prayer has been answered! You made a Vlaakith video! Whoo!!
Yep, this was the direct result of a fan request.
@@AJPickett I suggessted it on a live stream of yours. Thanks man!
mf wished me out of existence right after an annoying-ass boss fight 🙃 kinda respect the fact that she might have rolled a 1 in 3 chance of never being able to use the spell again just to spite my smug ass
You kind of left out the part where Vlaakith betrayed Gith and came back with that story she told to rest of the Githyanki, taking over the rest of the people. Seeing what the rest of the githyanki were becoming under Vlaakith's leadership, the githzerai left to follow a different path.
That was not the current Vlaakith, that was original recipe Vlaakith and I did talk about it from the Githyanki point of view. The idea being to convey their mindset.
@@AJPickett the one that made the red Dragon Deal with Tiamet and is the Lich Queen is the 143rd Queen Vlaakith, there were 142 queens before her
I'm still relatively new, and didn't know much about the gith. I certainly didn't know anything about Vlaakith, and holy hell she is awesome.
Sometimes it seems proper to let evil destroy evil. Letting an eternal war between the Githyanki and Mind Flayers rage on sound all good and well, kinda like letting the blood war between Devils and Demons continue. However, every battle that last as long usually spills over into peaceful society. Now I DO hate Mind Flayers...but I'd rather not see Vlaakith ascend to godhood. We don't need another Vecna.
Why not just have the githzerai, elves, gnomes, and humans set up a mystic order to wipe out all mindflayers? Just wipe them out with psychic energy, and watch them freak the fuck out as their brains liquify.
Simple minded mammals can't understand the awe inspiring power of queen vlakith!
I wouldn’t call githyanki evil, just militaristic
@@stephen8342 there alignment is literally lawful evil
Fuck that noise. The Githyanki need to vanquish the wretched soul less mind flayers. While we’re at the denizens of the abyss need to be destroyed.
This lady is ruining all my plans (I play a lilthid ) another epic video
One can play a lithid?
@@TheHornedKing Well, if one can play a Githyanki, why not?
Thank you the Gith are are among my favorite in all fantasy lore. Still not fascinating as Kender though.
Kenders? Like those elf ears little people from dragonlance rigth?
Kender are the best thing to come out of Dragonlance, and I love the dragon lance setting, but they're just so original
I find gith to be more fascinating, and kender more interesting.( How/why are they fearless) This may be just symantics and it's definitely just my personal opinion
Ah the Kender, the other scourge of the Multiverse...
@@eldarhighelfhealermiriella7653 Tasselhof Burrfoot. A great character, ya gotta love'm.
(Probably spelled wrong)
I still love that old art.
The Githzerai always make me think of Dakkon. What an outstanding character.
Absolutely
The best
21:13 Look at that skull....they’re living in Lisa Simpson’s skeleton.
Appreciate the research. I didn’t know most of the things in this video.
I was always curious about the Gith name and RR Martin‘s story.
Gith are my favorite, great video!
I read this as “the LICK Queen” and clicked. But this is cool too
9:00 LMAO 🤣 Is the guy flying through the air the same guy from the last video?! "Why didn't I LEEEEEEEeeeeeeave?!"
That's Owe'shet the god of critical fails.
@@AJPickett 🤣❤️
I remember playing Neverwinter Nights, and there was maybe two or three gith encounters in the whole game and they were brutal.
I always enjoy your lore video's & also your outlook on playing D&D.
The Forerunner Pangenesis theory interests me. It would make sense that something had to bring humans to all of the other spheres. I would assume that there are two scenarios; either the Forerunners were highly advanced and traveled to these places of their own volition or they were a slave species and were brought to these places by a greater power.
Also, I’d like to think that Quaggoth are also a species descendant from the Forerunners.
Hmmm, could be.
interesting theory
Neverwinter Nights 2 didn't do em very good justice.
It's crazy to me that you in d&d, and baldermort in war hammer 40k are stuck at 90k subscriptions. Your both the best in your fields. Love ya A J. Keep up the good work
I'm getting there the hard way :)
I've got 60+ pages written into my current campaign setting and your video just made me have the most brilliant idea, Gith are coming to my world! Thanks for the entertainment and inspiration my dude.
My pleasure
Check out Dragon Magazine 309 for what a Githyanki incursion looks like.
Damn. I had no idea Tiamat one-upped Bahamut like that lol Vlaakith sounds like a good patron for a Githyanki Undying Warlock lol (for a few levels, at least...)
Haven't said this in a while. But I freaking you AJ. These research projects are awesome.
She sounds like a mix of Dragon Ball’s Frieza and Star Wars’s Emperor Palpatine with paranoia and fear mixed in. Sounds like it’s time to amass a multiverse spanning Spirit Bomb and nuke the D&D “NOT” Death Star.
MORE SKULLS FOR QUEEN VLAAKITH. you can't find a race as hardcore as the Gith. ride red dragons, fight mindflayers, have a lich queen that has a throne made from the skulls of slain mindflayers, how metal of a race can you be.
Wait, Charlie Stross? The British SF writer Charles Stross of the Laundry Files created the gith? (checks wikipedia) And the Death Knights? Welp, today I learned something.
Has anyone else noticed that the Gith are similar to the Romulans and Vulcans of Star Trek?
Yep
Thank you so much for this video, my players have gone to war with the Gith and so Vlaakith information was a great help! ^_^
AJ delving deep into the baddest of the bad. Love those super villians and eldar evils.
Racial adaptability to their environs or sources of influence is absolutely how I run all my games and my own mechanics system and lore. If you logic it a bit, regional racial traits is absolutely necessary and possible. It helps to not only trace bloodlines and adaptaions that exist, but also as DMs to expand and create within that powerhouse of possible creation possibilities. AJ is on point as usual. Like minded. Delve deep my friend.
I really appreciate the videos you make my friend. They are fantastic. I've been running games for almost 27 years now and yet I learn a lot ov good in-depth information about creatures and places. So I thank you, my good man
Glad to help :)
Great video! Really wanted to know who she really is when Lae’zel couldn’t shut up about her. Also surprised you’re still reading the comments here, extra kudos to you for that.
I genuinely enjoy the interactions. I find people inspire better content out of me.
Here's one for the algorithm, I wish you had more subscribers cuz I feel that your content is very interesting. Especially for people who find the fantasy sci-fi genres interesting. Keep up the great work
Man, Lae'zel's character-progression has sent me down a rabbithole. The Gith written language has totally captivated me, I haven't learnt a script so fast since I memorized Elder Futhark in my teens. The cipher itself is nifty as heck, I haven't been able to determine whether sentences flow horizontally or vertically though.
I'm guessing your channel is having a surge of new viewers after BG3 dropped. Like me 😂
BG3 doesn't have an in-game codex, and the gith lore is poorly explained. So here I am.
I don't have any hard evidence for this, but I strongly suspect that Githzerai and Githyanki are inspired by Vulcans and Romulans respectively.
The githzerai are like Jedi or something
Actually they were created by george rr martin. i forget the book though
@@user-jq9iz3do1o George HarHar Fartin didn't make a balagna sandwich he is a hack
@@user-jq9iz3do1o did you not watch the video, the name of a GRRM novel inspired someone to create them, GRRM had nothing to do with.
The necrons from Riddick have been cited
I really love the Gith. They're so much fun to use in all sorts of time travel stories and anytime there is Mind Flayer shenanigans.
I'm betting death tyrants or other forms of undead beholder were involved in making that crown
Inspiring plenty of fantastic ideas in my deeply geeky heart! Another great video. Thank you,
I don't see the problem with wiping out the mind flayers.
not like they ever do anything that would be considered "good"
Lol, need a hand? Muhahahaha
i dont think anyone would but it seems like they're just using it as an excuse to maintain the statuesque
Man...I don't know how else to say it; NSFW. Dragons are the greatest magical hoers in the multiverse. Is there any species they don't "lend" their DNA too, LOL! That aside, it is interesting and I wonder how much of that red dragon blood influences their attitude toward the Dragon born.
To be fair Bards are incredibly charismatic.
Loved the topic and can't wait to see more
That was good I love all that gith lore so out there it,s great!
6:00 - "Your aunt has no nice photos of you...it's not going to kill you to pose for just one"
Heh! Accurate.
Oh I always loved the Gith races, knowing about that proposed setting was an eye opener and ideas for a campaign. What's the name of the planet again? Feregos? Pheregos?
Vlaakith and Acererak had a thing going in Toril but she did not like his vision of a dream home in Chult.... apparently the view was not up to par and 2 of the 3 front doors were not working
There’s another subspecies of Gith?! That I’ve never even heard of?! I’ve been out-nerded again, I love it!
Not knowing the lore in the past I have had the ancestors of the gith be hobgoblins. Leading to both bloodlines martial prowess and warlike mentality.
Unknown, Wizards of the Coast seems to think they were once humans... it's an origin story concealed in the twists and folds of time.
Glad to see some Gith love, best races in D&D
Came here looking for backstory information for my tiamet serving githyanki horizon walker for the new Vecna Campaign. Good to know she has her own subrace of Gith minions
Wow. Charles Stross invented the Gith? He's a great SciFi author too!
Gith Yanki lay eggs. Humans are more closely related to peacocks.
Propaganda.
In some lore the Gith are created by Mindflayers and are a mix of humans. Elves and goblins..
It's a little bit weird that almost all of this lore originally comes from A Guide to the Astral Plane and yet that book is never even mentioned. Might be worth a look if you can track down a copy.
You sir make epic content thank you
I was looking for something cool to watch you never fail to amaze picket
Thank you.
Dying of the Light and GRRM’s early sci fi is amazing, couldn’t recommend Tuf Voyaging any more
Also have thought about doing lore video on humans and there mysterious origins? Ps also great video!
AJ, since you are looking at more Spelljammer lately, there is another sub-species of Gith's followers to incorporate into the lore... the Spelljammer setting's pirates of Gith. To quote from the MC7 source material, "When the githyanki, under their liberator, Gith, freed themselves from the yoke of mindflayer slavery, this branch of the race fled not to the Astral plane, but to arcane space."
These guys are designed as pirates and raiders, displaying a philosophy of the strong take what they want, with a hierarchy based on the rule of strength, but they combine that with a lawful alignment and a structured militaristic society. When these guys move into the neighborhood, they are the ruin of shipping, and woe to any settlements and civilizations that are near their asteroid hideout.
In an era before the lore gave githyanki their void ships capable of sailing from the Astral sea into the material plane, the pirates of Gith had the unique ability of being able to bond with the organic living ships of the elves and transport those ships to and from the Astral.
I like how they are even in Dark Sun
good video AJ
Thanks Chris 🧙🏼♂️
Before watching, I bet Varina (Lich Queen) artwork is in this vid.
Edit: [saddening violin plays]
Sorry Matt.
@@AJPickett
It's quite alright, sir.
The existence of an Imaskar vid was quite enough already.
The first part is meant to make some curious as to what I'm talking about.
The edited/additional bracketed text is meant to get a chuckle. I was being goofy.
Yay!
I love those issues. Im planning on using the Incursion adventure for my realms game. They will be attacking waterdeep to destroy the Sha'sal Khou. Also doing a adaption if the movie Predators with a Githvyrik as the main villian.
How mad will Vlaakith be if you break her crown while she's around?? "Sooooo mad" Lol i love it
Sadly the ice-cream haircuts seem to have fallen out of fashion. XD
Everybody likes the githyanki but what about the gith-dixie?
There must be some incongruity in the lore surrounding the Lich-Queen. As far as I know, she is the first Vlaakith to be a lich, however, in the old devourer lore (from Dragon magazine 355) there is mention of a Lich-Queen that is one before the current one. She was part of the cause of the creation of the first devourers. How would you explain that the 157th and the 156th were allegedly both liches? I'm running a Sha'sal Khou campaign with all Githyanki player characters. I'm not sure how to explain it if it comes up in game. Maybe there really has been previous Lich-Queens but the 157th has expunged records of previous ones?
Or spread the lie that it is normal practice for the queen to be a lich....
@@AJPickett Devious and right up Vlaakith's alley. I would put that at a high probably.
I learnes alot about the Gith and Eberon setting from this vidio, than I did about the vidio's title-sake.
easy way to lay waste to the githyanki = revive the dead god their city is built on top of, if u can find the followers and ritual
First you have to find out what god it is. Its very old and no one alive knows what its name was.
8:00 ...hmm...
The gith, humans, and orcs came from the same " Forerunner " race. .. ?
Been in a few D&D campaigns over 15 years where we set up humans came from orcs as a divergence blood line. Of coarse we started the game off in the Stone Age and ran the epochs in myth cycles.
One of the main themes was 3.5e sorcerers becoming liches/ ghosts and are reincarnated a few times over. Then gaining the power of Wish to give themselves and their city a 1,000 years life span.
One myth cycle was Bh'or father of Woo'tan, grand father of Don'ar,..
Boar, Oo'ding, Donner..
Bor, Odin, Thor.
It took few games for some of the younger players before they caught on.
The " Gith " on the other hand, were scarier than the Drow spelljammer fleet.
After awhile, we just had to switch over to WotC Star Wars game book to run space combat.
God there was way too much math work and book keeping.
The other problem was you get these " rule lawyers " that claim PC can't have a ship larger than 100 meters.
And you can't run frigates or other types of capitol war ships.
Then again who wants to run in to 20 ft/ 6 m. tall frost giants in Ironman armor power suites with star fighter grade armor ( Hull points).
WotC: D&D3.5e and Star Wars system ( d20 open game system ) , just treat a padawan lightsaber as a +1 weapon doing 2d8 dmg and a Kight lightsaber " 8th-level Jedi guardian " as a +2 weapon that does 3d8 dmg. As for the Psionic powers vs Force skill powers. .... Yummy .. !
Any Jedi or Sith that has built their character as a " Telepath " is going to get wreak !
As for the D&D spell " Lightning Bolt " the bolt of energy does damage in a 5 ft wide area and travels for a few hundred ft till it dissipates. Since base on what edition of D&D you are using, " I run with 3.5e " Lightning Bolt melts gold & silver. So L.B. doesn't " ionize " the starship's computer system, it turns them into steam vapor.
Sorry for rambling on.
D&D3e earliest " death spell " is the 4th-level illusion spell Phantasmal Killer, fail your Fort save your character just dies of fright. Then you have the 5th-level spell " Death Spell " that kills a select few of HD.
Home brew house rule spell effect. Instead of just falling dead if the Fort save is fail, you see the targets Soul get rip out of the body. So I ran Gith 13th-level wizards/ necromancers as " Soul Collectors."
And from time to time my old game shop DM would drop them into a Star Wars.
His wife had a " Thing " for necromancers and Efreeti, along with the Gith. She was also known for screwing players over in any game she ran. It was a train wreak waiting to happen, and the fun was, seeing how she is going to pull it of.
When we started some games we each draw an index card for the character we will play. Who ever draws the Darth Vader card, pray, just pray you are not the one to also to draw the " Efreeti " card.
LOL, a lot of gaming history to digest there. I would absolutely thumb my nose at anyone who says player characters can't operate capital ships... how lame.