Githyanki Historical Personalities

Githyanki Historical Personalities:

Fune-Zaad (FOO-neh ZAHD):

One of the first of the Githyanki knights, Fune-Zaad is often regarded as a role model for future generations of zealots. Tireless and unwavering in his loyalty to the Revered Queen, he did not hesitate to carry out some of Her most unpopular orders. Some believe that Fune-Zaad was particularly instrumental in the extinguishment of all other members of the royal family, though one won't find that detail in Githyanki history books. Those books do describe how he personally thwarted multiple assassination attempts, at considerable risk to his own life.

Even by knightly standards, Fune-Zaad was notorious as a smiter of heretics. (Unfortunately, not only were genuine unbelievers purged en masse during this period, a huge number of intellectuals, scholars, artists, philosophers, and similar sorts were tortured and slain as well.) Despite the swath he cut through the Githyanki intellectual and artistic communities, Fune-Zaad knew his way around a pen himself, and wrote a number of articulate tracts defending the reign of the most recent Queen and picking apart the arguments of various heretics and unbelievers. More than once his contemporary detractors accused him of 'doing things' with the dead that one ought not to, a practice that githyanki generally regarded as horrific at that time. (Githyanki knights have been periodically accused of this practice ever since, though it seems to raise fewer eyebrows these days.)

Fune-Zaad was eventually 'retired' by the Revered Queen and rewarded with undeath. Exactly which form of undeath is mostly uncertain, and believed to be one of the mysteries kept by the knightly orders. Some outside these orders claim that he was transformed into a fairly typical sword-spirit, while others claim he became a death knight, a vampire, or something else. It is one of the great historical ironies that Fune-Zaad originated, long ago, from the same warband that Warlord Zetch'r'r now commands. Whatever his current form, Fune-Zaad is probably not happy about the latter fact.

Sar'yel-Reth (saar-YEHL-REHTH):

One of the most famous Githyanki playwrights, Sar'yel-Reth's works date back some four thousand years. Many quotations from his plays have since become common Githyanki sayings. Sar'yel-Reth was unusually well-traveled for a Githyanki, with a great deal of knowledge concerning the far-flung Githyanki cities (and their various cultural idiosyncracies) and even of enemy and barbarian races. A few historians have accused the playwright of various questionable political leanings, as he did not hesitate to deal with inflammatory subjects (the githyanki-githzerai war, the possible return of the Liberator, the nature of githyanki-graith cultural relations among them), though this idea is inconclusive at best -- his characters espouse a huge variety of political views applicable to his day, and it's less certain which ones Sar'yel-Reth himself favored. In any case, his work remains very popular among modern githyanki.

Not all that much is known of Sar'yel-Reth's life, beyond his great personal charisma and the fact that he and his troupe personally performed for the royal family on several occasions, bringing them vast honor and status. He also traveled to and performed in Sigil (!) several times, doing much to popularize the Githyanki arts there, but was eventually slain by an audience member mid-performance. The official story is that he was killed by a young Githzerai looking to make a name for himself, but some claim differently... Some believe that he was quietly assassinated during a period of particularly vicious infighting among the royal family. Others believe that Sar'yel-Reth orchestrated his own death, in order to die in as dramatic and 'artistic' a manner as possible. Still others believe he was assassinated in order to 'heat up' a particularly violent period of the War of Two Skies, while others think he was bumped off by one or another of Sigil's "powers that be" who seriously disliked him.

Ezad'ara (eh-zahd-AHR-a):

A renowned scholar even today, Ezad'ara dates back quite some time, to the reign of Vlaakith XXIV. He is also one of the earlier historical examples of a projective telepath among the Githyanki. According to contemporary accounts, after Ezad'ara had been driven out by his home city, he deliberately came to Tu'narath and successfully sought an audience with his Queen. [It is to be noted that some of the line of Vlaakith, particularly in more ancient times, were significantly more accessible than the most recent wielder of the Scepter of Ephelomon.] He promptly claimed that two members of Her own court were Illithid thralls, and that he could provide proof of it. It did not take long for Ezad'ara to gain prestige (along with his share of enemies) in the royal court, and it is during Vlaakith XXIV's reign that telepathy begins to be used in a systematic manner as a way to maintain and extend royal control over the Githyanki populace -- not only by identifying illithid thralls and githzerai assassins, but to keep an 'eye' on githyanki malcontents.

Even Ezad'ara's worst contemporary detractors commented positively on his profound personal loyalty to his Queen, and the psion is particularly well-known for his writings on the nature of shij (which are still enjoyed by many knights today). He also wrote on many other subjects, particularly those of interest to psions. His texts on psi-domination and the nature of the Githyanki mind, however, might make a typical githyanki more than a bit uncomfortable. While those particular writings are not actually forbidden, they are not usually readily accessible to the general public (being considered too inflammatory for them to handle). However, many psions, and most telepaths, have read them.

While Ezad'ara enjoyed an unusually long life, he eventually expired, like so many famous Githyanki, in a spectacular manner. During the course of his service to the Revered Queen, he accidentally discovered what historians referred to "something he ought not to know" or even "a mystery of the royal house." [Githyanki of more extreme political views love to make claims about exactly what the 'mystery' was -- perhaps something threatening to the legitimacy of the line of Vlaakith and their right to rule.] In any case, because of this, Vlaakith XXIV very politely and graciously 'asked' him to commit suicide and had one of her personal guards hand him a blade; Ezad'ara took his own life on the spot.