Githyanki sacrificial practices.

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Zimrazim's picture
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Factol
Joined: 2007-01-14
Githyanki sacrificial practices.

Yes, it's icky.

The Guide to the Astral Plane indicates that githyanki do, at least occasionally, sacrifice people to the Revered Queen. (I'm not talking about the routine soul-eating of high-level Githyanki by the Revered Queen herself here, but ritual sacrifice.) However, as githyanki are neither Aztecs nor Lolth-worshipping drow, I'm wondering exactly how they go about it (I doubt it would be the traditional 'stick the guy on an altar and remove his heart' method).

I'm guessing that the practice is relatively informal -- it probably has an established ritual form, but the when and where are more random, and large-scale sacrifice is probably not common. (For example, if the githyanki ritually sacrificed X number of people every month, the Revered Queen would probably have attained godhood much sooner.)

Are there any other sources referring to this practice?

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Squaff's picture
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Joined: 2007-03-03
Githyanki sacrificial practices.

Here is idea: Githyanki have few alies among other races, but those few that githyanki accept sa equals also grow in power (levels). So I was thinkig that maybe the sacrfice those alies that reach 11 level to lich queen as sign of honor.

For example: human warrior helps githyanki in ilithid hunt and he save some of them in process, they accept him as an comrade in arms and over time that bond grows stronger untill they start accepting him as one of his own. In the mean time fighter have reached 11 level, and gityanki have decided to give him the ultimate honor: audience with their queen.
Truly the gratest honor for non-githyanki.

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Zimrazim's picture
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Factol
Joined: 2007-01-14
Githyanki sacrificial practices.

I was referring to "sacrificing in the name of the Queen," not "sacrificing TO the Queen," actually.

Though, come to think of it, the Guide doesn't explicitly state which is taking place (it says that captives are sacrificed). Although carting slaves/captives around from all corners of the Prime and Astral would be a logistical annoyance, not to mention a bunch of them are probably too low-level to be good eating.

__________________

BoGr Guide to Missile Combat:
1) Equip a bow or crossbow.
2) Roll a natural 1 on d20.
3) ?????
4) Profit!

Rhys's picture
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factotums
Joined: 2004-05-11
Githyanki sacrificial practices.

I don't think anything specifically talks about how the githyanki like to sacrifice people, but I imagine that they're mean enough to do it.

"You wish to know why we are doing this to you? Do you not know the millennia of warfare which our people have survived? Do you think that it was easy for our ancestors to crawl their way out of the disgusting slave pits of the hak-chaisso ijotemp Enemy? It required focus. It required dedication to those ideas that set us free. It required sacrifice. Peace breeds nothing but complacency. The spirit of our people demands blood. It demands violence because we must never forget that life is a war against all those who would deny you it. In this way, young warrior, your ritual death is a death in the spiritual war which our people wage. You fall on the field of battle, and your spirit shall join those of our ancestors. You shall die today, a warrior. A Son of Gith. Hail, the Revered Warrior-Queen!"

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