Githyanki - Proscriptive Texts

I made these up from whole cloth, though as far as I know there aren’t clear-cut contradictions with existing (2e) canonical material. (Screw 3e.)

The section on slaves/captives is iffy. The exact wording from the Guide to the Astral Plane is that “For themselves, they make slaves of their enemies only for short periods of intense humiliation. Slaves’re always ritually sacrificed to the queen, eventually.”

I can easily see the githyanki (a painfully theologically rigid race) as having a series of proscriptive texts defining proper behavior. I am interested in commentary/criticism of the canonical/thematic appropriateness of the passages.

[The following are excerpts from the ‘proscriptive texts’ of the githyanki – passages that explicitly forbid certain behaviors and usually indicate punishments for trangression. Use of ‘brother,’ ‘he,’ etc., can just as easily be substituted with ‘she,’ ‘sister’ and so on, as the githyanki language contains very few gendered words. References to 'the Enemy' always refer to illithids. Quotations indicate the original text; italicized text within brackets indicates scholarly commentary, interpretations, and clarifications.

These excerpts are believed by githyanki to have come from the direct word of Gith during the early Liberation period, prior to the establishment of the pact with red dragons.]

“Any being who defiles a hatchery, be he the Enemy or a barbarian or any creature great or small, who attacks it with sword or fire or by any means, he and his kind shall be hunted unto the very edges of the planes and annihilated utterly. Not one of their kind, male or female, old or young, shall be spared.”

[Regardless of their religious beliefs concerning Gith, Vlaakith, Ephelomon or any other party, one thing that will incite utter white-hot rage in almost any githyanki is the destruction of a hatchery. Such actions awaken their most deeply imbedded survival instincts.

Many other species might consider githyanki overzealous in the interpretation of this passage. It’s a given that githzerai, illithids, illithid agents will be wiped out whenever encountered, but there have been some incidents involving third parties. There have been cases where a single human (or dwarf or what have you) managed to enter a hatchery by sheerest accident, triggering genocidal wars on that world. There was even an incident where a hatchery was badly damaged by an infestation of a nonsentient creature similar to giant centipedes - the githyanki went to extreme lengths attempting to
wipe out the entire species.]

“No child of Gith shall ever make another his thrall, as we were once the thralls of the Enemy. This is the most wicked of sins. Any child of Gith who commits such evil shall be destroyed utterly.”

[Githyanki may not enslave each other under any circumstance.]

“No child of Gith shall make a barbarian his thrall. Any being who keeps a thrall weakens and debases himself, as the Enemy weakened and debased Itself. A child of Gith who makes a barbarian his thrall shall be punished, and his thralls shall be destroyed.”

[These passages indicate that Githyanki consider the institution of slavery to be degrading not only to the slaves, but also to their masters.]

“But if the need is dire, the children of Gith may keep a barbarian as captive for a short time, to toil on the ground or for some other purpose, but a captive shall not be given arms for any reason whatsoever. It shall be kept for no longer than [period of time], and must be slain when the work is complete. Whoever keeps such a captive shall be watched by his brothers, that he should not become debased and weakened.”

[The githyanki measure of time used is archaic and has been interpreted as being anywhere between about 1.3 and 5 years in Sigil Reckoning. In practice, taking captives is socially discouraged unless there is some extreme wartime need – a shortage of githyanki workers and an extreme need for food during a Prime-based war is one example. ‘To toil on the ground’ is an explicit reference to agriculture. The wording of these passages makes a distinction between ‘thralls’ – permanent slaves – and ‘captives’ – persons captured in war for a specific and temporary purpose.

While is is not explicitly mentioned in the scriptural texts, taking a captive to squeeze information out of him is considered normal and permitted.]

“A child of Gith who refuses to take arms against the Enemy shall be accounted a coward and shall be outcast, and the hands of his brothers shall be turned against him.”

“A child of Gith who refuses to take arms against the servants of Zerthimon shall be accounted a coward and shall be outcast, and the hands of his brothers shall be turned against him.”

“Whosoever is discovered to be a servant of the Enemy, who gives It aid or any thing – who serves It as a thrall serves, who provides It with food or provides It with knowledge of our plans and movements, he shall be no more our brother, and he shall be slain with pain.”

“But if he is believed to be used against his will, he shall be examined. If he is found to be unwilling, the one who enthralled him shall be slain. If no remedy can be found, he shall be slain without pain, and he shall remain our brother.”

[Examined by whom, and how? Most likely by githyanki with the ability to telepathically probe. It is also a sign that psionic arts were not entirely primitive even as far back as the early Liberation period.]

“A child of Gith who defiles himself by choosing a servant of Zerthimon as his mate shall be hunted unto the very edges of the planes and slain with pain, along with his mate.”

“A child of Gith who defiles himself by choosing to mate with a barbarian, or with an animal, shall be denounced and cast out. If he renounces his perversion, he may rejoin his brothers.”

[Yes, this passage considers intimate relations with non-githyanki/non-githzerai to be equivalent to bestiality. Most modern githyanki only apply these two passages to consensual relationships with alien races; rapine is considered in bad taste, but tacitly permitted.]

“If he is healthy and able, every child of Gith should attempt to produce hatchlings, to preserve the People. But he shall not be forced to do so.”

[The ‘should’ here is especially important. The precursors of githyanki were forcibly bred to each other as part of selective breeding programs; forcible reproduction is accordingly forbidden. It’s one of the few passages in the proscriptive texts that uses a ‘should’ rather than a ‘shall’ or ‘must.’]

“A child of Gith who suffers an injury, whether in battle or by some other means, shall not be abandoned, nor cast out. His brothers shall help him all his days. If he can, he shall help them in any way he is able. One who casts out a brother because he has suffered an injury shall be cast out himself.”

[Later interpretations of this passage clarified that it is permissible, though not optimal, to abandon githyanki who have been wounded in battle – though reasonable effort should be used to help them. Abandoning friendly wounded for no reason would be severely punished, but it is allowed if the tactical situation would make it very dangerous or impossible to move them. Githyanki will also triage the wounded if – as is usually the case – healing resources are scant. This triaging takes into account both the wounded person’s rank and the severity of the injury; i.e., even a badly wounded supreme leader will never be treated last.

It is likely that this passage is somewhat obsolete in any case. It is believed that the battle-thralls of the illithids would simply be abandoned to die by their fellows if they were wounded, without significant medical treatment. Gith explicitly forbids the practice. This passage is likely the reason why githyanki who have been too badly crippled to fight remain socially accepted.]