The Astral Plane, Supreme Command of the Space Mind Flayer Interstellar Fleet.
"Another Nautiloid has been destroyed. This is an outright tragedy. Our strength is dwindling, and we are doomed to lose this war against the Githyanki."
A circle of mind flayers watched the biological star chart in the center of the bridge. Their leader, known as the Overlord, had endured countless wars over his long existence.
The protracted interstellar war against the Githyanki had left the mind flayers exhausted in body and mind. They could not understand why simply wanting to eat well and survive had offended so many races.
Was granting lesser species advancement into a higher species-by infecting humanoids with mind flayer tadpoles and turning them into mind flayers-not the greatest of blessings?
"We need divine guidance."
The Overlord began trying to contact their gods, the mind flayer pantheon. Light flickered in his small, deep-set purple eyes as his slender fingers tapped the biological star chart, tracing mysterious mind flayer script. Fluctuations of psionic ability grew increasingly active as energy was drawn from the incubation pool beneath the chart. Angered at having their contemplation interrupted, the mind flayer gods sent a thought sweeping over them. Every mind flayer naval commander fell to their knees, clutching their octopus heads in agony.
Ilsensine, chief deity of the mind flayers, reluctantly answered the Overlord's summons.
An enormous image of an elder brain manifested there. Scenes were faintly visible within its folds, each fold containing a world-a parallel world born from Ilsensine's boundless imagination and meticulous extrapolation.
A peculiar power enveloped the area. Ilsensine, dwelling in a deep plane amid the stars, had been awakened. Roused by the ancient prayer ritual, the chief deity of the mind flayers gradually merged into the elder brain in the incubation pool. Soon, dark green