The Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon

The Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon

Preface One: The Illithidae, Githyanki and Githzerai

Excerpt from "Planar Structure of the Known Multiverse"

"There is one species which is rumoured to have originated from the Far Realm - although this rumour is not well grounded. These are the Illithidae. Called mind flayers after the fact that they predate on sentient beings' minds and brains, the Illithids are creatures of genius intellect and matchless psionic powers. They dominated the Astral Plane and the entire Prime Material realm ages ago. They captured a group of humanoids from a Prime Material world, Oerth, and turned them into slaves, breeding them and performing hideous experiments on them until they believed they had a perfect race of servitors. It is one of the Multiverse's great ironies that their own slaves were their downfall. You will now Know how it happened, as I remember it from the story of a Githyanki ambassador on Ysgard.

Led by a woman called Gith, the slaves rose up and slew the Illithidae who had trusted them on every world, destroying the empire. Indeed, this took many decades. I was told that the key to victory was organisation, and the fact that the Illithidae refused to use matherial weapons. It is thought that Gith would have ended the Illithid threat forever, but on the eve of her victory one of her greatest generals, Zerthimon, claimed she had become a tyrant and led his followers against her in a civil war that even now has yet to end. Gith's followers, the Githyanki, inhabit now the Astral Plane and siege the remaining Illithid citadels. Zerth's followers, the Githzerai, dwell onto Limbo and have mastered shaping matter and energy because on Limbo, the plane-domain of pure chaos, matter rarely is static for long."

Preface Two: Githzerai Sentience

This record is the history of the Illithidae, Githyanki and Githzerai as told amongst the Githzerai. I have recorded it under dictation by the Githzerai known as Daika, on September 8th, 2201 AAoP. To understand the text below, it is important to remember that knowing, awareness, conscious will are key points to the Githzerai culture. After centuries of slavery under the Illithids who suppressed their mental functions, the People as they call themselves believe Knowledge to be sacred. Also, you will find that they refer to their Prime Material home world as to the one original plane of existance, refering to all other places as "false worlds" or "false images", "reflections", "shadows". The word "turning" denotes one full turn of seasons, or in other words, one year.

- Sage Miriel Xilo

The Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon

"Know I shall tell you The Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon as it was told to me by Dak'kon Two Deaths as One. To learn, you must Know the People. To Know the People, you must Know The Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon.

Know that we are the First People. Once all was chaos. The First People were thought drawn from chaos. When the First People came to Know themselves, they were chaos no longer, and became flesh. With their thoughts and Knowing of matter, the People shaped the First World and dwelled there with their Knowing to sustain them. Yet the flesh was new to the People and with it, the People came not to Know themselves. The flesh gave rise to new thoughts. Greed and hates, pains and joys, jealousies and doubts. All of these fed on each other and the minds of the People were divided. In their division, the People were punished.

In becoming flesh, the First People became enslaved to those who Knew flesh only as tools for their will. Know these beasts were the Illithids. The Illithids were a race that had come not to Know themselves. They had learned how to make other races not Know themselves. Their blood was as water and they shaped minds with their thoughts. When the Illithids came upon the People, the People were a people no more. The People became slaves. This you already Know.

The Illithids took the People from the First World and brought them to the False Worlds. As the People labored upon the False Worlds, the Illithids taught them the Way of the Flesh. Through them, the People came to Know loss. They came to Know suffering. They came to Know death, both of the body and mind. They came to Know what it is to be the herd of another and have their flesh consumed. The Unbroken Circle is the Knowing of how the People lost themselves. And how they came to Know themselves again.

Two Deaths as One has said: Strength lies in knowing oneself. I learned that once someone does not Know themselves, they are lost. They become tools for others. Know the First Circle. Now Know the Second. Know that flesh cannot mark steel. Know that steel may mark flesh. In Knowing this, Zerthimon became free.

One of the places where flesh served their will was the Fields of Husks on the False Worlds of the Illithids. The Fields were where the bodies of the People were cast after the Illithids had consumed their brains. Zerthimon worked the Fields with no Knowing of himself or what he had become. He was a tool of flesh, and the flesh was content. It was upon these Fields that Zerthimon came to Know the scripture of steel. During one of the turnings, as Zerthimon tilled the Fields with his hands, he came across a husk whose brain remained within it. It had not been used as food. Yet it was dead.

The thought that one of the husks had died a death without serving as food for the Illithids was a thought Zerthimon had difficulty understanding. From that thought, came a desire to Know what had happened to the husk. Embedded in the skull of the husk was a steel blade. It had pierced the bone. Zerthimon realized that was what had killed the husk. The steel had marked the flesh, but the flesh had not marked the steel.

Know the Riddle of Steel. Zerthimon took the blade and studied its surface. In it, he saw his reflection. It was in the reflection of the steel that Zerthimon first Knew himself. Its edge was sharp, its will the wearer's. It was the blade that would come to be raised against Gith when Zerthimon made the Pronouncement of Two Skies.

The Illithids were powerful. Zerthimon had believed that there was nothing that they did not Know. Yet the Illithids never carried tools of steel. They only used flesh as tools. It was then that Zerthimon came to Know that flesh yielded to steel. In Knowing that, he came to Know that steel was stronger than the Illithids. Steel became the scripture of the People. Know that steel is the scripture by which the People came to Know freedom. Know the Riddle of Steel.

Know the Third Circle. Zerthimon labored many turnings for the Illithid Arlathii Twice-Deceased and his partnership in the cavernous heavens of the False Worlds. His duties would have broken the backs of many others, but Zerthimon labored on, suffering torment and exhaustion. It came to pass that the Illithid Arlathii Twice-Deceased ordered Zerthimon before him in his many-veined galleria. He claimed that Zerthimon had committed slights of obstinance and cowardice against his partnership. The claim had no weight of truth, for Arlathii only wished to Know if flames raged within Zerthimon's heart. He wished to Know if Zerthimon's heart was one of a slave or of a rebel.

Zerthimon surrendered to the Illithid punishment rather than reveal his new-found strength. He Knew that were he to show the hatred in his heart, it would serve nothing, and it would harm others that felt as he. He chose to endure the punishment and was placed within the Pillars of Silence so he might suffer for a turning. Lashed upon the Pillars, Zerthimon moved his mind to a place where pain could not reach, leaving his body behind. He lasted a turning, and when he was brought before Arlathii Twice-Deceased, he gave gratitude for his punishment to the Illithid as was custom. In so doing, he proved himself a slave in the Illithid eyes while his heart remained free.

By enduring and quenching the fires of his hatred, he allowed Arlathii Twice-Deceased to think him weak. When the time of the Rising came, Arlathii was the first of the Illithid to Know death by Zerthimon's hand and die a third death. Endure, in Enduring Grow Strong.

Know the Fourth Circle. Know that the Rising of the People against the illithid was a thing built upon many ten-turnings of labor. Many of the People were gathered and taught in secret the ways of defeating their Illithid masters. They were taught to shield their minds, and use them as weapons. They were taught the scripture of steel, and most importantly, they were given the Knowing of freedom. Some of the People learned the nature of freedom and took it into their hearts. The Knowing gave them strength. Others feared freedom and kept silent. But there were those that Knew freedom and Knew slavery, and it was their choice that the People remain chained. One of these was Vilquar.

Vilquar saw no freedom in the Rising, but opportunity. He saw that the Illithid had spawned across many of the False Worlds. Their Worlds numbered so many that their vision was turned only outwards, to all they did not already touch. Vilquar's eye saw that much took place that the Illithid did not see. To the Rising, the Illithid were blinded. It seemed that the Rising would die before it could occur, and the Illithid were pleased with Vilquar's eye. On Knowing Vilquar's eye, Zerthimon forced the Rising to silence itself, so that Vilquar might think at last his treacheries had succeeded, and the Rising had fallen. He knew that Vilquar's eye was filled only with the reward he had been promised. He would see what he wished to see.

With greed beating in his heart, Vilquar came upon the Illithid Zhijitaris and spoke to his master of his success. He said that the Rising had fallen, and the Illithids were safe to turn their eyes outwards once more. He praised their wisdom in using Vilquar's eye, and he asked them for his reward. The Illithid gave to Vilquar his reward, opening the cavity of his skull and devouring his brain. Vilquar's corpse was cast upon the Fields of Husks so its blood might water the poison-stemmed grasses.

Know my Truth, as Dak'kon's Two Deaths as One Truth, as Zerthimon's Truth. Zerthimon was the first to know the way of freedom. Yet it was not he that first came to Know the way of rebellion. The knowing of rebellion came to the warrior-queen Gith, one of the People. She had served the Illithids upon many of the False Worlds as a soldier, and she had come to Know war and carried it in her heart. She had come to Know how others might be organized to subjugate others. She Knew the paths of power, and she Knew the art of taking from the conquerors the weapons by which they could be defeated. Her mind was focused, and both her will and her blade were as one.

She Knew the Riddle of Steel - But not the Riddle of Will. The turning in which Zerthimon came to know Gith, Zerthimon ceased to Know himself. Her words were as fires lit in the hearts of all who heard her. On hearing her words, he wished to Know war. He Kknew not what afflicted him, but he Knew he wished to join his blade to Gith. He wished to give his hate expression and share his pain with the Illithid. Gith was one of the People, but her Knowing of herself was greater than any Zerthimon had ever encountered.

She knew the ways of flesh, she Knew the Illithids and in Knowing herself, she was to Know how to defeat them in battle. The strength of her Knowing was so great, that all those that walked her path came to Know themselves. She Knew herself, yet she was Divided. Gith was but one. Her strength was such that it caused others to Know their strength. And Zerthimon laid his steel at her feet. Know: In Unity Lies Strenght. Know the Fifth Circle.

Upon the Blasted Plains, Zerthimon told Gith there cannot be two skies. In the wake of his words, came war. Upon the Blasted Plains, the People had achieved victory over their Illithid masters. They knew freedom. Yet before the green fires had died from the battlefield, Gith spoke of continuing the war. Many, still filled with the bloodlust in their hearts, agreed with her. She spoke of not merely defeating the illithids, but destroying all Illithids across the Planes; And after the Illithids had been exterminated, they would bring war to all other races they encountered. In Gith's heart, fires raged. She lived in war, and in war, she Knew herself. All that her eyes saw, she wanted to conquer.

Zerthimon spoke that the People already Knew freedom. Now they should Know themselves again and mend the damage that had been done to the People. Know that Gith's heart was not Zerthimon's heart on this matter. She said that the war would continue. The Illithid would be destroyed. Their flesh would be no more. Then the People would claim the False Worlds as their own. Gith told Zerthimon that they would be under the same sky in this matter. The words were like bared steel. From Zerthimon came the Pronouncement of Two Skies. In the wake of his words came war.

Know the Seventh Circle. Know that the Rising of the People against the Illithid was a thing built upon many turnings. Many were the People who lived and died under time's blade while the Rising was shaped. The Knowing of much of the ways was slow, and in all these things, time's weight fell upon all. From the Knowing of one's reflection in a steel blade, to the Knowing of submerging the will, to the Knowing of seeing itself. All of these things and more the People built upon. In time, they came to Know the whole. Know the Missile of Patience cannot be stopped; And thus, Know the Eight and Last Circle.

Know that it is the most difficult to Know. Know that a mind divided divides the man. The will and the hand must be as one. In knowing the self, one becomes strong. Know that if you Know a course of action to be true in your heart, do not betray it because the path leads to hardship. Know that there is nothing in all the Worlds that can stand against unity. When all know a single purpose, when all hands are guided by one will, and all act with the same intent, the Planes themselves may be moved. A divided mind is one that does not Know itself. When it is divided, it cleaves the body in two. When one has a single purpose, the body is strengthened. In Knowing the Self, Grow Strong.

Thus is the story of The People; The story of Zerthimon; The story of The Queen. From Daika's Truth, from Dak'kon Two Deaths as One's Truth, from Zerthimon's Truth."

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Verified and signed,

(Mrs. Miriel Xilo)