WHAT IS AN ABERRATION?
CHAPTER 1
Aberrations spawned by alien deities might or might not be aware of their origin. Some worship their progenitors, divine beings shunned by all other gods and races. Others despise the callous divinities that birthed and then abandoned them to existence in an inimical universe. Aberrations born of a deity’s power or interest seek to appease or serve the divinity in question through fervid worship and the sacrifice of beings they deem enemies of their alien god. By founding widespread cults and destroying the worshipers of conventional gods, they hope to weaken the humanoid pantheons and make possible the ascendancy of their own deities. Beholders are the best known of the godspawned aberrations. The cryptic being known as the Great Mother has no place in any other pantheon, but from the moment it first entered the multiverse, it began to seed its progeny, the multifarious race of beholders, throughout the world. Every beholder that exists is merely a reflection of the Great Mother’s will and instinct to replicate itself. Destrachans likewise arise from the dark dreams of a nameless god, but they revile their creator (and all gods, for that matter). No nondestrachan knows the purpose or identity of the sinister being that created these monsters.
MAGICAL MUTATION Some aberrations are created through the actions of other mortals. With powerful enough magic, the laws of nature can be perverted to manufacture mockeries of other creatures. Sometimes this magical mutation is purely accidental, the unintended result of some terrible cataclysm or curse. All too often it is a deliberate act. Twisting life itself into pleasing or convenient forms is evil and reckless, a blasphemous deed that frequently leads to unforeseen consequences—but the desire to create the perfect warrior, or the most fearsome servant, has led more than one archmage into folly. Aberrations created through magical mutation tend to be few in number and rarely have much of a racial history, since they originated in a specific program or event that might only be a few decades or centuries old. They are solitary brutes as opposed to evil masterminds. Wizards who are interested in creating slave-soldiers or useful servants don’t go out of their way to breed highly intelligent creations for fear of creating things with the ruthlessness and genius to supplant their masters. The chuul and the umber hulk provide examples of aberrations created through magical mutation. Strong, hardy, and armed with powerful natural weaponry, both races were bred as slave-soldiers. The creators of the umber hulks are lost in the deeps of time; umber hulks have been extant for thousands of years now. Chuuls, on the other hand, were created several hundred years ago by an evil mage-king who dreamed of conquering vast territory with an army of his own creation. Although the mage-king was defeated by an alliance of the neighboring realms, and his keep was destroyed, his army of chuuls escaped to plague the world thereafter.
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ABERRATION CHARACTERISTICS Whatever their specific origin, the great aberration races share several common characteristics, even if they are unrelated physically. While there exist other creatures that are evil masterminds, or that are hateful to nature, or that are unspeakably unhuman, few combine these traits in the same way that the dangerous aberrations of the world do. Not all aberrations possess all of the following characteristics, but most possess these traits to at least some degree.
SINISTER MASTERMINDS The master aberration races—aboleths, beholders, and mind flayers, specifically—are all extraordinarily intelligent, perceptive, and strong willed. While individual humans might match a particular aberration in intellect, wisdom, or force of personality, only a handful of humans possess the overall mental strength of the typical aboleth or mind flayer. Only the most powerful of human wizards come close to the vast lore and incisive logical capability of an exceptional aberration, such as an aboleth savant or mind flayer mage. Not only do aberrations possess the natural gift of mental strength, they have also amassed tremendous amounts of lore and learning. The great aberration races understand that knowledge is power. For generation after generation they have devoted themselves to the pursuit of knowledge in any form, confident that their efforts will be rewarded with unmatched magical or psionic power. This frightful intelligence means that aberrations are masterful schemers, patient and subtle. They routinely contemplate complex and subtle plans requiring lifetimes to unfold. Their plans have few weaknesses, and they anticipate the exact moment at which an enemy is likely to become aware of their plots—and what course of action the enemy is likely to take in response. Master aberrations are far more likely to ambush or trap a would-be attacker than to be surprised by their foes. As masterminds with the natural ability to dominate or enslave their minions, aberrations surround themselves with a cadre of the most useful guards, slaves, and agents they can find. Brutes such as minotaurs, trolls, ogres, or even giants guard the outposts and lairs of master aberrations. Human adventurers are captured, turned into spies and assassins, and sent back into the lands above to gather information for their sinister masters and to strike against those who would oppose the dark influence of the aberrations below. Better yet, a few whispered rumors or carefully planned “leaks” of fabricated evidence might turn a company of adventurers into the unwitting servants of the unseen masters without a single confrontation. Countering a plot of a master aberration is rarely as simple as finding a lair and attacking. First, the heroes must somehow discern the presence of a faceless enemy that moves in the
