Aberration Characteristics

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 sacrifi ce 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 fi rst entered the multiverse, it began to seed its progeny, the multifarious race of beholders, throughout the world. Every beholder that exists is merely a refl ection 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.

M AGICAL MU TATION

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 specifi c 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.

ABERR ATION CHAR AC T ERISTICS

Whatever their specifi c 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 M ASTERMINDS

The master aberration races—aboleths, beholders, and mind fl ayers, specifi cally—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 fl ayer. 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 fl ayer 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, confi dent 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 fi nd. 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 infl uence 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 fi nding a lair and attacking. First, the heroes must somehow discern the presence of a faceless enemy that moves in the

shadows, manipulating other creatures in the same way that a chess master moves his pieces. Then, the would-be heroes must fi ght their way through ranks of dupes, underlings, and mind-slaves, some of whom might not even realize that they serve a master aberration. They must pierce layers of secrecy, lies, and false leads planted by a brilliant and patient antagonist. Then, fi nally, they must confront their unhuman foe in a time and place of the aberration’s choosing, since the master aberration observes the heroes’ efforts against its underlings and dispassionately determines the best way to exercise its own terrible power to end the threat the heroes pose to its agenda, whatever that might be. seek to pervert the natural world to their own purposes. Perhaps deliberately, most aberrations dwell deep underground, where few druids contest their depredations.

UNHUM AN

INIMICAL TO NATURE

Aberrations have no rightful place in the natural order of things. They are interlopers and invaders, creatures whose presence damages the fragile chains of being that define the natural world. A monster such as a chuul is more than a large and voracious predator, it is an affront to nature. Nothing in nature feeds on a chuul, and nothing in nature possesses the instincts or behavior to avoid the monster. Its depredations, if allowed to continue unchecked, eventually depopulate a wide swath of territory, destroying all normal fauna in its vicinity. Aberration civilizations are even more dangerous to the natural order. Master aberrations such as aboleths or mind fl ayers see no value in any kind of “natural state.” All things are theirs to manipulate or defi le as they deem appropriate. Worse yet, some aberrations actively seek to corrupt or alter their environs to suit their tastes and needs. Armed with ruthless intellects, powerful magic, and absolute amorality, master aberrations see no reason not to warp natural creatures into guardian monsters for their dens, create magical plagues to drive off inconvenient neighbors, or spread foliage poisonous to all other creatures across a forest to provide themselves with a “better” environment. As despoilers and corruptors of the natural world, aberrations have earned the unending enmity of druids. Aberrations

Creatures such as beholders or mind fl ayers are certainly evil in the traditional sense—they are rapacious, greedy, self-serving, ambitious, murderous, and utterly unscrupulous. They are not necessary malicious, however, since they do not commit evil acts simply for the sake of doing evil. Instead, master aberrations regard themselves as exempt from any lesser race’s notions of morality or decency. A mind fl ayer would argue that notions such as good and evil are simply relativistic, self-determined, and ultimately pointless exercises in justifying strength or weakness to oneself. If you regard destroying a sentient creature for your own sustenance as evil, then how is the mind fl ayer to regard itself as defi ned by your ideas on the subject? It must eat to survive, after all, and surviving clearly can’t be an “evil” end when all things desire survival. Beyond the question of their amorality, master aberrations regard themselves as innately superior to all other beings. Their potent physical, magical, and psionic gi fts clearly give them the power to behave as they please toward others who lack similar gifts. Why A priestess of the Great Mother adopt a set of ethical restrictions that would interfere with the exercise of power in whatever fashion seems most useful and necessary at the time? Aberrations have no “better nature,” no good side, no sense of justice or propriety to which a captive might hope to appeal. The evil of a master aberration is clinical, detached, and brutally logical. Cold and unemotional creatures such as mind fl ayers or beholders see no value in the emotional arguments or wishes of lesser creatures—and things without value are not considered when action is required.

Illus. by M. Cotie