Illumians: Who are they and where do they belong? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Illumians: Who are they and where do they belong? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
RavingDork
03-12-07, 11:07 AM One of my players is interested in playing an Ilumian, but I don't have the time right now to read up on them in full (though I do own the Races of Destiny). :)

Can someone please tell me, in brief, what they are all about (specifically their flavor and how they might fit into an Eberron campaign setting)? :confused:
Zumarai
03-12-07, 11:13 AM In a word: Illithids.
Richmud
03-12-07, 11:30 AM In a word: Illithids.

Illumians do not have any particular connection to illithids

Illumians are descendants (or the actual people depending on how recently they came about) of a group of humans who discovered a powerful magical language and preformed a ritual that transformed them into a new race of people who are magically connected with words and language. After that they formed secretive cabals with several purposes, primarily the protection of the spell that formed them, the creation of new words in the magical language, and (this part won't work in Eberron) attempts to turn one of them into a god

I'm not fully versed in Eberron so I'm not sure where they would fit, however they are a sufficiently secretive race that can pass as human (it costs them a pit of power though as they can't gain the benefit of their symbols {that float around their head} while hiding them) that they can be a generally unknown race
Zumarai
03-12-07, 11:43 AM Illumians do not have any particular connection to illithids

Really, I thought I remembered in their flavour text in RoD something about mindflayers in their past?
UCsimplyme
03-12-07, 11:48 AM Githyanki are involved with their past. Not Mind flayers. Githyanki are the ones who have destroyed their library and are seeking to unmake them.
Zumarai
03-12-07, 11:53 AM Githyanki are involved with their past. Not Mind flayers. Githyanki are the ones who have destroyed their library and are seeking to unmake them.

Aw, thank you.

I guess I saw the word Githyanki and thought of their past enslavement by the tentacle boys.
Richmud
03-12-07, 11:53 AM Looking it up I see that it mentions that a vengeance cabal will occasionally work with illithids against the githyanki but its uncommon and there is no strong connection with the illithids
Zumarai
03-12-07, 11:56 AM The illumian library in Limbo was destroyed in an attack by the Githyanki at one point and for that the illumian hate them with a passion. Thus its reasonable to believe an enemy of my enemy thing could occur between one the vengeance Cabals and the illithids but I don't think its a common practice for the race as a whole or even most vengeance cabals

Cool – the Illithids and the Illumians join up to gank some githyanki ass?

...Where would the Githzerai fit into this?
JulesCARV
03-12-07, 12:02 PM I don't have Races of Eberron, but my idea of the Illlumians in Eberron is that they were once aristocratic magical experimenters in pre-Inspired Sarlona. They discovered ways of unlocking magical potential, and they became cruel sorcerer-lords over a Sarlonan kingdom, abducting their subjects to conduct magical experiments and murdering any dissenters.

Eventually, the Riedrans, lead by the Inspired, invaded their kingdom, where they were welcomed by many of the ordinary people as liberators. Many Illumians were publicly executed before cheering crowds after brief show-trials by the Inspired.

Some Illumians managed to escape to Khorvaire, though. There, they've continued to exist, with a little more of their history lost in each generation. Some Illumians have kept good records, and dream of revenge against the Inspired, while other Illumians come from families which think of themselves more as Karrns or Aundairans than Illumians and don't even know the history of their race. As far as most people in Khorvaire are concerned, they're people with odd ioun stones around their heads or something, and the modest magic of the typical illumian's sigils don't really stand out in the "wide magic" setting of Eberron.
Richmud
03-12-07, 01:15 PM Cool – the Illithids and the Illumians join up to gank some githyanki ass?

...Where would the Githzerai fit into this?

The illumians prefer to work with the githzerai when fighting the githyanki primarily because illithids are really disturbing to work with (its hard to cooperate with someone who thinks of you as a meal)
Darth Syntax
03-12-07, 01:35 PM I have made use of Illumians in Eberron as natives of Daanvi, the plane of Order. I have removed the Plane of Shadow flavor for them and replaced it with (the arguably more appropriate) theme of a strong connection to Truename magic. Illumians are the descendants of an iconoclastic human culture that existed some 4,000 years ago (in what I have termed the Sarlonan Bronze Age) that was eventually transformed by the Plane (and it's masters) into the embodiment of the perfect librarian. Now, the vast majority of Illumians live on Daanvi's second layer which is an infinite Library filled with all possible books. Here they spend their lives searching for the Archetypal Book, a sort of platonic Ideal book, which supposedly contains the secrets of the cosmos.

Most Illumians are dispassionate librarians, rarely traveling more than a few hundred meters from their galleries of books, talking only with their closest colleagues. Some, however, brave the endless corridors of Library and go in search of the Book. Traveling in small bands these explorers form a kind of nomadic society of information merchants, selling secrets in exchange for food, clothing, and of course more secrets. Both of these groups represents what might be called Orthodox Illumians. There are also Heretics.

Heretic Illumians are those who have rejected the search for the Book and instead pursue other paths to knowledge. Most leave the Library altogether, and some have made their way to Eberron. The only Illumian community of any note on Khorvaire is in Zilargo, in the city of Trolanport. The Zil are more than happy to house these refugees from Daanvi for they seldom cause trouble, and their desire for knowledge makes them right at home among the Zil.

--

For the origins of the Orthodox Illumians, I am heavily indebted to Jorge Luis Borges and his fabulous story The Library of Babel (http://www.analitica.com/bitblioteca/jjborges/library_babel.asp)
Danvac
03-12-07, 08:18 PM The library was on the Astral plane, not limbo.
Richmud
03-12-07, 08:25 PM The library was on the Astral plane, not limbo.

My mistake, I knew it was on the githyanki home plane and sometime confuse the home planes of the githyanki and githzeria

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
RavingDork 03-12-07, 11:07 AM	One of my players is interested in playing an Ilumian, but I don't have the time right now to read up on them in full (though I do own the Races of Destiny). :) Can someone please tell me, in brief, what they are all about (specifically their flavor and how they might fit into an Eberron campaign setting)? :confused:
Zumarai 03-12-07, 11:13 AM	In a word: Illithids.
Richmud 03-12-07, 11:30 AM	In a word: Illithids. Illumians do not have any particular connection to illithids Illumians are descendants (or the actual people depending on how recently they came about) of a group of humans who discovered a powerful magical language and preformed a ritual that transformed them into a new race of people who are magically connected with words and language. After that they formed secretive cabals with several purposes, primarily the protection of the spell that formed them, the creation of new words in the magical language, and (this part won't work in Eberron) attempts to turn one of them into a god I'm not fully versed in Eberron so I'm not sure where they would fit, however they are a sufficiently secretive race that can pass as human (it costs them a pit of power though as they can't gain the benefit of their symbols {that float around their head} while hiding them) that they can be a generally unknown race
Zumarai 03-12-07, 11:43 AM	Illumians do not have any particular connection to illithids Really, I thought I remembered in their flavour text in RoD something about mindflayers in their past?
UCsimplyme 03-12-07, 11:48 AM	Githyanki are involved with their past. Not Mind flayers. Githyanki are the ones who have destroyed their library and are seeking to unmake them.
Zumarai 03-12-07, 11:53 AM	Githyanki are involved with their past. Not Mind flayers. Githyanki are the ones who have destroyed their library and are seeking to unmake them. Aw, thank you. I guess I saw the word Githyanki and thought of their past enslavement by the tentacle boys.
Richmud 03-12-07, 11:53 AM	Looking it up I see that it mentions that a vengeance cabal will occasionally work with illithids against the githyanki but its uncommon and there is no strong connection with the illithids
Zumarai 03-12-07, 11:56 AM	The illumian library in Limbo was destroyed in an attack by the Githyanki at one point and for that the illumian hate them with a passion. Thus its reasonable to believe an enemy of my enemy thing could occur between one the vengeance Cabals and the illithids but I don't think its a common practice for the race as a whole or even most vengeance cabals Cool – the Illithids and the Illumians join up to gank some githyanki ass? ...Where would the Githzerai fit into this?
JulesCARV 03-12-07, 12:02 PM	I don't have Races of Eberron, but my idea of the Illlumians in Eberron is that they were once aristocratic magical experimenters in pre-Inspired Sarlona. They discovered ways of unlocking magical potential, and they became cruel sorcerer-lords over a Sarlonan kingdom, abducting their subjects to conduct magical experiments and murdering any dissenters. Eventually, the Riedrans, lead by the Inspired, invaded their kingdom, where they were welcomed by many of the ordinary people as liberators. Many Illumians were publicly executed before cheering crowds after brief show-trials by the Inspired. Some Illumians managed to escape to Khorvaire, though. There, they've continued to exist, with a little more of their history lost in each generation. Some Illumians have kept good records, and dream of revenge against the Inspired, while other Illumians come from families which think of themselves more as Karrns or Aundairans than Illumians and don't even know the history of their race. As far as most people in Khorvaire are concerned, they're people with odd ioun stones around their heads or something, and the modest magic of the typical illumian's sigils don't really stand out in the "wide magic" setting of Eberron.
Richmud 03-12-07, 01:15 PM	Cool – the Illithids and the Illumians join up to gank some githyanki ass? ...Where would the Githzerai fit into this? The illumians prefer to work with the githzerai when fighting the githyanki primarily because illithids are really disturbing to work with (its hard to cooperate with someone who thinks of you as a meal)
Darth Syntax 03-12-07, 01:35 PM	I have made use of Illumians in Eberron as natives of Daanvi, the plane of Order. I have removed the Plane of Shadow flavor for them and replaced it with (the arguably more appropriate) theme of a strong connection to Truename magic. Illumians are the descendants of an iconoclastic human culture that existed some 4,000 years ago (in what I have termed the Sarlonan Bronze Age) that was eventually transformed by the Plane (and it's masters) into the embodiment of the perfect librarian. Now, the vast majority of Illumians live on Daanvi's second layer which is an infinite Library filled with all possible books. Here they spend their lives searching for the Archetypal Book, a sort of platonic Ideal book, which supposedly contains the secrets of the cosmos. Most Illumians are dispassionate librarians, rarely traveling more than a few hundred meters from their galleries of books, talking only with their closest colleagues. Some, however, brave the endless corridors of Library and go in search of the Book. Traveling in small bands these explorers form a kind of nomadic society of information merchants, selling secrets in exchange for food, clothing, and of course more secrets. Both of these groups represents what might be called Orthodox Illumians. There are also Heretics. Heretic Illumians are those who have rejected the search for the Book and instead pursue other paths to knowledge. Most leave the Library altogether, and some have made their way to Eberron. The only Illumian community of any note on Khorvaire is in Zilargo, in the city of Trolanport. The Zil are more than happy to house these refugees from Daanvi for they seldom cause trouble, and their desire for knowledge makes them right at home among the Zil. -- For the origins of the Orthodox Illumians, I am heavily indebted to Jorge Luis Borges and his fabulous story The Library of Babel (http://www.analitica.com/bitblioteca/jjborges/library_babel.asp)
Danvac 03-12-07, 08:18 PM	The library was on the Astral plane, not limbo.
Richmud 03-12-07, 08:25 PM	The library was on the Astral plane, not limbo. My mistake, I knew it was on the githyanki home plane and sometime confuse the home planes of the githyanki and githzeria