races or gathering new magic sources for study. A beholder cluster becomes the prevailing force in the region and, if left alone, can eventually challenge the rule of nations. Even beholder clusters do not represent the most dangerous aspect of beholder society. For this, one need look no further than the dreaded beholder hives.
HIVES AND HIVE CITIES
• 1 hive mother • 2 to 4 overseer beholderkin • 6 to 12 director beholderkin (each with a bonded vermin mount, usually Huge monstrous centipedes) • 11 to 30 beholders • 5 to 15 gauths • 3 to 8 beholderkin guardians (death kisses or gougers) • 12 to 24 gas spores (see page 148), used almost like traps at the outer city perimeters • 30 to 120 charmed minions (these can be of any of the races that are dominant in the region)
CHAPTER 3
One of the most terrifying manifestations of beholder society is a beholder hive. It is not unheard of for similarly shaped beholders to live in close proximity to one another, cooperating to build incredible and alien cities in the far corners of the world. The existence of beholder hive mothers and overseers makes these gatherings possible. These thankfully rare creatures possess a supernatural ability to command and dominate other beholders. Hive mothers are powerful beholders said to have been spawned directly from the shuddering folds of the Great Mother herself. Overseers are horribly mutated creatures that only superficially resemble the original beholder stock from which they sprang. Both can organize a large collection of beholders to work toward a common goal. The appearance of a beholder hive varies wildly. Some are little more than tangled underground mazes of chambers and circular passageways carved by a multitude of disintegrate eye rays, while others are fantastic cities of alien, disturbing architecture. These hive cities are built by charmed minions, with finishing touches by particularly artistic beholders that use their disintegrate eye rays to carve sculptures from solid stone or metal. A beholder hive’s population depends on the nature of its leader. An overseer can command only a relatively small number of beholders at once, and thus its hive consists of only twenty or so beholders and beholderkin. These hives are typically underground warrens. A hive ruled by a hive mother, on the other hand, has no limit to its size. Such a hive usually even incorporates a few overseers (all under the hive mother’s control, of course). These hives are more on the scale of cities, and although they are often found in underground regions, a rare few appear in remote regions
THE EYE TYRANTS
on the surface. The primary goal of a hive mother that rules a hive city is almost always the collection of other beholders and beholderkin; hive mothers believe that they themselves are the chosen of the Great Mother and must work to bring unity and order to the beholder race. Other beholder cities ruled by rival hive mothers are their greatest enemies, for they represent all that is tainted and wrong about the beholder race. Once all other hive cities are destroyed or assimilated, the surviving hive mother can turn its vast resources to the other races of the world and begin the final cleansing to prepare for the Great Mother’s return. A typical hive city has a population that breaks down roughly as follows:
Of course, these numbers represent only the average population of a hive city. Particularly massive hive cities are reputed to be located in the deepest underground reaches or the farthest corners of the world. Life for a beholder in a hive city is an unusual prospect. The hive mother knows at all times where its commanded minions are, and even if this command is disrupted (by the antimagic eye of another beholder, for example), the beholders do their best to maintain a civil air, for to disrupt the city is to invite the terrible wrath of its ruler. Yet even a hive mother is incapable of directing an entire hive. It allows favored beholders or overseers to rule its city as a council of sorts. All city activities are directed by this council, and the hive mother
pqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqrs WHY DON’T BEHOLDERS DISINTEGRATE THE WORLD? This question has haunted sages and adventurers, in particular the famed half-elf scholar Odiit Tenrest. In his famous speech about beholders, delivered to students in the Mages’ Guild some years ago, Tenrest put forth his theories on the matter. Tenrest wondered why these horribly powerful creatures, capable of using great magic virtually at will, haven’t used these abilities in a more obvious show of force. Sure, beholders are more concerned with fighting others of their kind, but certainly there must be at least a few that would use their disintegrate eye ray to try to destroy the world, one 10-foot cube at a time. His answer lay in the mindset of the beholder. Although typically insane with xenophobia, beholders are also incredibly arrogant and vain, and nothing pleases them more than to have other creatures fawn over them and worship them, bolstering their own overinflated egos. A beholder that runs
amok with disintegrate and finger of death eye rays quickly finds itself without anyone to dominate and menace. Thus, beholders use self-control to avoid destroying everything around them, simply to keep something nearby to give them a sense of power. Without a matrix of fearful worshipers, a beholder could not exist. When several students challenged him on this theory, Tenrest simply smiled and told them to trust his sources. Newer students wrote him off as a lunatic, but older students were not so quick to ignore him. They knew that Tenrest spent much of his time exploring the depths of the Guild Library, and, according to rumor, the forbidden depths were themselves patrolled by beholders—invisible beholders, which might have whispered advice into old Tenrest’s ears, telling him what he wanted to hear. . . .
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