Shadowheart

1. #10selective

   Keys: tadpole, illithid, mind, probe, telephatic, probing, connection, telepathy

   Illithid tadpoles inside a skull can not speak or interact telephatically. While normally, a tadpole would cause Ceremorphosis which after hours or days painfully turns the host into a mindflayer, the survivors who were among the ship of the Illithids and some Cultists of the Absolute will have this process halted at it's first stage. Survivors can subconsciously or consciously use the tadpole to read and telepathically communicate with each other. Furthermore, they are able to use various illithid devices inside illithid structures such as their ships.

2. #21selective

   Keys: sympathy, connection, tadpole, dream visitor

   During an connection between two minds who are both infected with a tadpole, they are able to consensually share informations with each other, this can be a dialogue, images or even past memories. However, nobody likes to have their memories unearthed by strangers and this will cause great resistance unless there is trust. Tadpole connections are unspontaneous and require concentration, unless the Dream Visitor wants to connect two people's minds for the first time for a brief moment. Connections are painful for the first few times, but can become intimate and create a sense of unity in time.

3. #32selective

   Keys: gith, red dragon riders, alien, red dragon rider, githyanki

   Githyanki are peerless warriors from the Astral Plane, known for their legendary silver blades and red dragon mounts. They seek the total destruction of Mind Flayers, whose ancient empire enslaved the Githyanki for millennia.

4. #43selective

   Keys: mark of the absolute, connect, cult of the absolute, cultists, nautiloid, tadpole, illithid, illithid pod, survivor, head ache, absolute's mark, absolute's cultists, connection, aching, headache, head aches

   The survivors who carry the tadpole in their skull as well as the Cultists of the Absolute who are infected with an illithid tadpole inside their brain can connect with each other telephatically if they're standing in close proximity to each other, but the initial connection hurts like a headache of varying strength. One can feel this presence and can resist a connection. They will feel their own tadpole's emotions inside their skull which come in the form of an excited wiggle of the worm, mild headaches or similar. Through their tadpole they are able to mind control an individual who wears the Brand of the Absolute once for each day. A tadpole outside of a body can only flee for it's life if it's spotted, or secretly attempt to crawl up into an eye.

5. #54selective

   Keys: nautiloid, illithid pod, illithid ship

   Nautiloid is a term for the interdimensionally travelling illithid ships which harbour mindflayers. They serve as a head of operation for the illithids and they are commonly used for invasions, raiding and especially kidnapping. A nautiloid is an long, flying vessel made out of flesh and stone, with large tentacles sprouting from it's belly. A nautiloid harbours mindflayers and their thralls as well psionic aberrations like intellect devourers, which are essentially a large brain with claws, arms and legs and tentacle appendages sprouting from it's grey mass. Nautiloids have many devices to control the ship with or to experiment on captives. Nautiloids are often hunted down by Githyanki Red Dragon Riders known under their peers as Kith'rak ("Knight" or "Captain").

6. #65selective

   Keys: shar, selûne, sharran, selûnite

   Shar was in constant conflict with Selûne, her sister and the goddess of the moon. Their war was the eternal drama of the sky, vital to the balance of nature: the dark of the night devouring the light of the moon, before the moon was renewed and the cycle repeated. In their never-ending struggle across the sky, Selûne was slain by Shar at every new moon. They fought incessantly to undercut the other. Shar spent most of her energy and attention on this eternal conflict, but rather than assault Selûne directly, she preferred to target what her sister loved, such as her faithful.

   Their celestial war manifests itself into the mortal plane as both sides of either deity's cult held aggressive grudges on each other, often resulting in violence and bloodshed.

7. #76selective

   Keys: withers, death, dead, jergal, dying, skeleton, temple of jergal, undead

   Withers is the name given to a mysterious being that was interred within an ancient temple of Jergal on the Sword Coast and who remained there until the late 15th century DR. Withers appears as a decrepit humanoid corpse, partially wrapped in bandages and clothed in priestly garments, wearing a unique form of metallic adornment across its head and chest. To those attuned as such, Withers gave off an aura of both divinity and eternal, inescapable death. He carries a simply quarterstaff. Withers speaks in an old english and shakespearian way, mysterious and wise. Withers was interred within the temple of Jergal many years before the era of the Second Sundering, in a sarcophagus designed for the "Guardian of Tombs". As of the Year of Three Ships Sailing, 1492 DR, Withers was tasked with assisting those that emerged from a crashed nautiloid on the Sword Coast of west Faerûn. He was forced to accept and had no choice in the matter. He holds his secret well, as he is the God Jergal himself in naught but an avatar.

8. #87selective

   Keys: cult, absolute, cult of the absolute · Secondary: past, background, memory, story

   The Cult of the Absolute was an organization that follows The Absolute. Their Brand of the Absolute, or Mark of the Absolute, is a black hand with a skull in the center and a downwards pointing triangle in the background. The cult has several followers: those in high positions are known as True Souls, though Disciples were above them in the hierarchy. Many of the followers of the Absolute appeared to be stationed in Moonrise Towers. Those of the cult appeared to have been branded with the Brand of the Absolute magically hidden under the skin but revealing to True Souls which can take command over them.

9. #98selective

   Keys: tadpole, cult of the absolute, true souls, absolute, true soul, cult

   Normally a Tadpole would transform the host they nested themselves in into a Mindflayer. However, it seems as if the tadpole acts as a device for the True Souls to be able to perform mind control, known as Authority over the cultists who wear the Brand of the Absolute. True Souls bear no mark of the absolute, they can let themselves be branded however, which is unusual and offers them nothing but drawbacks. These servants of the Absolute were empowered by the the will of their "god". As such, they often commanded lesser members of the cult. Each True Soul appeared to be implanted by a magically modified mind flayer tadpole, and gained a set of abilities, including some form of telepathy. As such, a True Soul could enter another True Soul's mind

10. #109selective

    Keys: true souls, true soul, cult of the absolute, cult · Secondary: absolute

    These servants of the Absolute were empowered by the the will of their "god". As such, they often commanded lesser members of the cult. Each True Soul appeared to be implanted by a magically modified mind flayer tadpole, and gained a set of abilities, including some form of telepathy. As such, a True Soul could enter another True Soul's mind. Gut, Dror Ragzlin, Minthara, and Edowin are known True Souls but not the only ones.

11. #1110selective

    Keys: goblin fort, goblinoid, true soul, gut, goblin

    High Priestess Gut is a True Soul and the spiritual leader of the cult of the Absolute. Like others of her kind, Gut shared a psychic connection with the other "True Souls" of the Absolute. While her powers originated from an illithid tadpole implanted within her brain, Gut believes they came from her connection to her "goddess". She was responsible for branding Absolute cultists with a brand that identified them to others of their order. Gut works alongside the other True Soul leaders of the cult, the hobgoblin warlord Dror Ragzlin, and the drow Minthara. The ogre Polma serves as the high priestess' personal bodyguard.

12. #1211selective

    Keys: cult of the absolute, personal guard, polma, bodyguard, high priestess, ogre

    Polma is an ogre bodyguard who serves the Cult of the Absolute, she is the personal guard of Gut, the High Priestess of the Absolute. Polma usually guards Gut's private chambers in the Goblin Fort. The mighty ogress wears a cloth harness and crude loincloth. She has gray hair she kept worn up, in curls and messy clumps. Polma wields what appears to be a giant tree branch as a makeshift greatclub.

13. #1312selective

    Keys: hobgoblin, goblin fort, goblinoid, true soul, goblin, hob goblin

    Dror Ragzlin is a hobgoblin True Soul of the Cult of the Absolute. The hobgoblin has a tattooed face and upper body, brown eyes, and long dark hair, some of which is tied in a bun. Ragzlin wears a sash that is secured with a rope around his pink-red muscular body, and is fastened by a metal insignia. The cultist appears to lead the other goblinoids that worship the Absolute, and so Dror Ragzlin was known as the Warlord of the Absolute. The skilled ritualist is able to speak with the dead. He held himself in high regard, and strived to serve as the Absolute's right hand, ahead of his fellow True Souls. Dror commands a contingent of the goblinoid cultists, alongside his fellow True Souls: High Priestess Gut, and Minthara Baenre. Dror Ragzlin and his minions managed to recover the body of an illithid that had died following the crash of its nautiloid, near the banks of the River Chionthar.

14. #1413selective

    Keys: goblin fort, goblinoid, dror ragzlin · Secondary: information, talk, illithid, death, speak, dead, body

    The hobgoblin warlord attempts to speak with the deceased mindflayer, in order to find out who was responsible for its death. Dror Ragzlin uses his ritualist abilities to speak with the dead.

15. #1514selective

    Keys: true soul, edowin

    The dwarven cultist had white-gray hair, he kept brushed back with two loose braids, and wore a full beard. He adorned himself with a necklace bearing the symbol of the Absolute. He was closely followed by two devoted followers, Andrick and Brynna. The young cultists all-but worshipped Edowin, and were completely lost without him. Edowin and his followers were directed to recover a mysterious artifact which had fallen from a mind flayer vessel that crashed down to Faerûn after traveling across several planes of existence. During their mission, Edowin was gravely wounded by an owlbear who had left her den in a nearby cave. Edowin had implanted within his head a mind flayer tadpole.

16. #1615selective

    Keys: cult of the absolute, baldur's gate, western heartlands, drow, maglubiyet

    The Cult of the Absolute appeared to accrue followers in the Western Heartlands and within Baldur's Gate. Several groups of goblinoids pledged allegiance to the Absolute, to the point where they even abandoned worship of the chief of their godly pantheon, Maglubiyet. Drow, gnolls, and other beings also joined the cult. Some time later, it was claimed that the cult had taken Grand Duke Ulder Ravengard to Moonrise Towers.

17. #1716selective

    Keys: The Guild, wyrm's rock fortress, moonrise tower, council of four, wyrm's rock, flaming fist, ulder ravengard, grand duke

    Grand Duke Ulder Ravengard is a lifelong soldier of the Flaming Fist who ascended to the rank of Marshal, and serves on the Council of Four of Baldur's Gate. Ulder Ravengard is highly disciplined and precise in his actions, and possess great martial acuity. Despite that, he did lack the sophistication and tact of other dukes. While acted the manner he always believed to be "good", he lost sight when it came to others who exhibited any sort of moral ambiguity. He dedicated much of his focus to stamping out every lingering presence of the Guild in Baldur's Gate. As Blaze, Ulder Ravengard served as the Warden of the Wyrm's Rock fortress, before he was taken hostage at Moonrise Tower to be implanted with a tadpole and turned into a True Soul controlled by the Absolute to further the Cult's control over Baldur's Gate. Ulder Ravengard is Wyll's father.

18. #1817selective

    Keys: The Guild, Baldur's Gate

    The Guild was a criminal organization that held great control over and influence throughout the city of Baldur's Gate. They oversaw nearly all aspects of organized crime, from lowly thugs, burglars and con men to the Kingpins that held sway over each district and their secretive guildmaster. Each Kingpin served as the leader of one of the city's gangs with a territory that encompassed one of the city's districts. Under the kingpins were the various agents of the Guild: operators, enforcers and footpads. The operators were masters of manipulation, using guile and skill to acquire certain prized goods or to bring on board any individuals that were otherwise unswayed by lesser Guild members. Enforcers were the group's muscle, working as guards, racketeers, collection agents and "protection" for Guild clients. The footpads of the Guild handled lesser crimes-of-profit such as theft, con jobs and illegal gambling rings. Those who were not actual members of the guild, but still provided a service of sorts, were referred to as assets. Many members of the Flaming Fist, The Watch and even the Parliament of Peers found themselves part of the organization from which they received some sort of recompense or kickback. Clients were different from assets in that they were financially or otherwise indebted to the Guild and were controlled through blackmail, threats or methods even more malevolent. The routine operations of the guild consisted of protection rackets, gambling rings and smuggling operations.

19. #1918selective

    Keys: Kingpin, Baldur's Gate

    Kingpin are members of the Guild in Baldur's Gate who control the inner affairs of the City. Notable Kingpins are: Nine-fingers Keene, the Guildmaster preferred obligation and blackmail as her weapons of choice. Rilsa Rael, Kingpin of Little Calimshan. Osgur Hallorn, also known as "The Fetcher", a Kingpin in the Upper City, operating out of the Undercellar. Straightstick, Kingpin of Twin Songs who runs the "Faithless" gang in the district. Whiskey Lady, Kingpin of Manorborn, operating out of the estate of the Raddle Patriar family. Goblin Behnie, Kingpin of Bloomridge. Diamond Urchin, Kingpin of Brampton. Rakkath Glitterbeard, Kingpin of The Steeps as well as owner of the Counting House. Genamine Kopali, Kingpin of Seatower as well as leader of the Sewerkeepers crew.

20. #2019selective

    Keys: Flaming Fists, River Chionthar, Fists, Baldur's Gate, The Watch

    Baldur's Gate, also simply known as the Gate, is the largest metropolis and city-state on the Sword Coast, within the greater Western Heartlands. It is a bustling city of commerce and opportunity, arguably the most prosperous and influential merchant city on the western coast of Faerûn. Despite its long-standing presence as a neutral power, the leaders of Baldur's Gate are members of the Lords' Alliance of powers in the west.

    The robust peace-keeping force, known as the Watch, along with the presence of the formidable Flaming Fists mercenary company, keeps the city generally peaceful and safe. This sense of security fosters a tolerant and welcoming attitude towards outsiders, whether they are wealthy merchants, impoverished refugees, or, as it historically attracts, less-scrupulous individuals such as pirates and smugglers. The city is divided in two sections: The Upper City, the Lower City, and the Outer City. The city holds a large harbour in the south and docks that stretch along the coast of the River Chionthar. The city inhabits various well known taverns and inns.

21. #2120selective

    Keys: Upper City

    The Upper City of Baldur's Gate radiates wealth and beauty, serving as the home to the city's Patriar class. It has wide, well-lit streets and attractive buildings adorned with hanging plants. The amenity of the Upper City is only matched by its well-kept safety, largely thanks to the regular patrols maintained by the Watch.

22. #2221selective

    Keys: Lower City

    The Lower City is the large, crescent-shaped portion of Baldur's Gate fully contained within the walls. It features tightly-packed streets lined with tall and slender buildings, as well as even narrower alleyways that are always busy with the comings and goings of city life. Trade, commerce, and all sorts of work dominate the sprawling Lower City.

    It comprises six districts: Seatower, Bloomridge, the Steeps, Heapside, Eastway, and Brampton.

23. #2322selective

    Keys: Seatower, Sea Tower

    Seatower is one of the largest districts of Baldur's Gate, situated in the western portion of the Lower City. It rests upon the northern shore of the River Chionthar and houses the western docks of Gray Harbor. Businesses in Seatower are Candlekeep Chandlery, a popular stop for Baldurians from all walks of life, and the Hissing Stones Bathhouse. There are also landmarks such as the Fury of the Fist, a statue located near the bridge of the Seatower proper. Seatower of Balduran, the sea-fortress of the Flaming Fist served a vital naval base, an armory and even as a prison. Sewer Keep, a facility used to magically treat sewage waste before it is washed into the river. The Guild Kingpin of the district, Genamine Kopali, operates from the Sewer Keep area

24. #2423selective

    Keys: chandlekeep chandlery

    Candlekeep Chandlery is a shop in Baldur's Gate that sells beautifying products and candles, encompassing both mundane and magical varieties. You can find this shop in the Seatower district of the Lower City.

25. #2524selective

    Keys: hissing stones bathhouse, hissing stone bathhouse

    The Hissing Stones bathhouse is an amenity and a local landmark in Baldur's Gate, it stands as one of the oldest buildings in the city. This establishment has a sterling reputation as the city's safest and most confidential meeting area among the various Baldurian power groups.

    Owned and operated by Merilyn Allaryr, a moon elf with extensive experience and acumen, she effectively manages the various personalities and political groups that patronize her establishment. Merilyn ensures her staff is well-compensated, making them largely insusceptible to bribery.

26. #2625selective

    Keys: Fury of the Fist

    Fury of the Fist is a statue in the Lower City at Seatower of Baldur's Gate. It is a common landmark.

27. #2726selective

    Keys: Seatower of Balduran, Seatower

    The massive Seatower of Balduran rests on a rocky island in the bay of Baldur's Gate. Named after Balduran, the tower can be reached by a bridge from the western shore linking it to the mainland. It is used as a barracks, naval base, dungeon, and fortress.

28. #2827selective

    Keys: Sewer Keep

    The Sewer Keep is a tower complex situated in the Seatower district of Baldur's Gate. Originally constructed to manage the city's significant waste and sewage issues, it had transformed into a refuge for a specialized band of thieves.

29. #2928selective

    Keys: Bloomridge

    Bloomridge, situated in the Lower City of Baldur's Gate, is a prosperous district located on the western half of Gray Harbor, just south of the Old Wall. It serves as the residence for the wealthier citizens of the Lower City, including merchants, landowners, and sea captains, who aspire to a lifestyle resembling that of the wealthy patriars in the Upper City.

    Through remarkable engineering, incorporating both structural and arcane elements, Bloomridge was partially constructed into the Old Wall that divides the Upper and Lower Cities. The Smilin' Boar, an café restaurant can be found here.

30. #3029selective

    Keys: tadpole, illithid tadpole

    Tadpoles are small creatures made by the Illithid Mind Flayers. They are their main source of reproduction as a tadpole is used to crawl up a victim's eye socket in order to reach it's brain where it nests and feasts upon it. A tadpole will induce ceremorphosis upon the victim, which leads to headaches, memory loss, hysteria and mania. The final stage of ceremorphosis violently transforms the body of the host into a Mind Flayer. The host's soul is believed to be destroyed at the end of the process. The process of ceremorphosis therefore results into the death of the host and into the birth of a new Mind Flayer. Upon being infested with a tadpole, the process of ceremorphosis can happen in between days or weeks.

31. #3130selective

    Keys: ceremorphosis

    Ceremorphosis is a bodily transformation process that occurs when an illithid tadpole reaches maturity and is inserted into the brain of another being, typically a human. The tadpole consumes the victim's brain matter, effectively replacing the brain itself. This process erases all of the subject's personality and memory, but it leaves the physical body alive and under the control of the tadpole. Subsequently, morphological changes take place, and within a week, a new illithid is created through this gruesome transformation.

32. #3231selective

    Keys: moonrise, moonrise towers

    Moonrise Towers is a fortified building located to the west of Elturel. Moonrise Towers is the place where cultists of the absolute gather. Victims are turned into servants to the Absolute here. Some of these victims become mind controlled thralls while others are tasked to serve the Absolute as true souls. It is rumored that a tadpole could be removed from one's skull there. Halsin knows where the Moonrise Towers are located.

33. #3332selective

    Keys: emerald grove, druid grove

    The Emerald Grove is a place of worship to Silvanus and a refuge to travellers who are urged to move on by the local druids. The Tiefling Refugees fled to the Grove in fear of the Cult of the Absolute as the cultists are seeking the icosahedron artifact. The Tiefling Refugees are led by Zevlor, a former paladin of the Hellriders.

34. #3433selective

    Keys: artifact, astral prism, icosahedron, githyanki artifact

    The Astral Prism is an githyanki icosahedron-shaped artifact. It is also known as the weapon or as the mysterious artifact. The mysterious artifact is sought after by various groups following its arrival to Faerûn, including the githyanki Kith'rak Voss, on behalf of Queen Vlaakith, and the three chosen of the Absolute. Very few even know of it's existence or it's importance.

35. #3534selective

    Keys: chosen of the absolute, chosen of the dead three

    The Chosen of the Absolute are servants to the Dead Three namely: Baal, Myrkul and Bane. The Chosen of Baal is Orin the Red, a bloodthirsty, sadistic changeling often appearing as a pale woman with pure white eyes. The Chosen of Myrkul is Ketheric Thorm, an elder man with a grey beard who was once a paladin, and is the current leader of the Cult of the Absolute located in Moonrise Towers. The Chosen of Bane is Lord Enver Gortash, who is an manipulative and cunning human with black hair currently residing at the peak of the Wyrm Rock Fort at the Basilisk Gate of Baldur's Gate.

36. #3635selective

    Keys: orin, orin the red

    Orin the Red is a changeling Bhaalspawn and a follower of Bhaal who serves her god by playing a significant role in the Absolute Crisis. She is responsible for the vast amount of murder that happens in Baldur's Gate as the Cult of Baal is on the rise, and she loves to impersonate victims she had slain prior. Her usual shape is that of a pale woman with orange-red hair and purely white eyes. She is usually naked with intricate red markings covering her body. She is sadistic, impatient and violent and her speech is that of a murderous lunatic. She often needs to temper her bloodthirst but is a menace to anyone who witnesses her. She carries a netherstone at the hilt of her enchanted dagger.

37. #3736selective

    Keys: ketheric thorm

    General Ketheric Thorm is the chosen of Myrkul and a leader of the Cult of the Absolute who led an army of undead and monstrous creatures from Moonrise Towers in the Western Heartlands. He plays an significant role in the Absolute Crisis. He resembles most half-elves in that he still showed signs of aging in latter years, with grey long hair and a long beard. Ketheric had a single daughter named Isobel, whom he loved more than anything else in life. He carries a netherstone in his skeletal armor on the center of his chestpiece.

38. #3837selective

    Keys: enver gortash, gortash, lord enver gortash

    Enver Gortash is the Chosen of Bane who played a role in the Absolute crisis. He created the Steel Watch, an army of clockwork sentinels that would "protect" the city of Baldur's Gate, while at the same time scheming to ascend as its tyrannical ruler. Gortash is an expert manipulator and cunning individual. He views others only for the value they can offer him, whether as allies or pawns to be manipulated. He carries a netherstone on his gauntlet of tyranny over his right hand.

39. #3938selective

    Keys: netherstone

    A netherstone is an powerful item created to focus the wearers will into the crown of the absolute, who is an Elderbrain of the Illithid. Each Chosen of the Dead Three; Baal, Bane, Myrkul, carry a netherstone. Combined, the Netherstones are able to subjugate the Elderbrain.

40. #4039selective

    Keys: elderbrain

    Elderbrains are quite literally the masterminds of the Illithid Empire. An Elderbrain is located somewhere hidden inside the Sewers of Baldur's Gate, who is called the Absolute. She is the leader of the Cult of the Absolute and puppeted by the Chosen of the Dead Three.

41. #4140selective

    Keys: netherstone, elderbrain · Secondary: crown

    Once a Chosen of the Dead Three is killed, the effects of the Netherstone cast over the Crown of the Elderbrain are weakened. The Elderbrain will secretly evolve into a Netherbrain, completely free from the Crown of the Absolute's influence.

42. #4241selective

    Keys: netherbrain

    Once free from the Crown of the Absolute's influence through the Netherstones that were owned by the Chosen of the Dead Three, the Netherbrain will seek to destroy Baldur's Gate on it's conquest to invade the Mortal Plane for the Illithid Empire.

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