What about the 'zerai ?

War on a large scale is always a matter of incredibly solvent variables. Numbers are only a small part of the recipe for victory or defeat, and generally defense is always easier than attack. The Githzerai are certainly a dangerous enemy for the Githyanki, but a civil war doesn't simply allow them to conquer the Githyanki like they were nothing. Logistics, unfamilliarity with the territory (most Githzerai have never even been to the Astral) and the difficulty in assaulting magically secure fortresses in an environment where the enmy cannot be starved out make any major victories difficult to achieve. There is a reason the conflict has lasted many millenia even through major planar upheavals.

I find a far more likely Githzerai reaction to any Githyanki intercine conflict to be systematic attacks on Githyanki on the Prime, pushing back those Githyanki holdings is a far more reasonable objective for cautious Githzerai commanders. Additionally the Githzerai will probably bring forces to bear on Githyanki scattered about the various planes if they have fortresses there.

The slaadi certainly help make Limbo hazardous for the githzerai, but they're not actually at war. The slaadi aren't organized enough to be at war with anything, except possibly themselves. The two species coexist, and githzerai defend themselves when they need to. That is all. They've even been known to make alliances at times.

Well, now that Vlaakith is dead, the Githyanki won't have any problems with the pirates. Maybe they'll help 'em out against the Zerth's.

I agree that the githyanki aren't going to be pushovers, and that githzerai figures like the god-king won't want to rush into a bad situation (Mechalich's military notes were good, I hadn't even thought about seiges!). I think that an increase of small githzerai raids is more than likely, though, since the 'zerai are about freedom after all. Maybe the god-king doesn't want to commit the whole army right now, but no Son of Zerthimon would think about stopping others from doing what they want. Increased githzerai raids would also lend credibility to the military cabals, who scare the People with warnings of githzerai terrorist threats (sound familiar?).

If the Githyanki have some kind of fortifications then even if there are less of them they could defend successfully.

(Ie. the templar castles during the crusades could hold out even if the defenders where a fraction of the number of attackers)

Wouldn't the Githzerai be at a disadvantage on the Astral plane rather than in their home in Limbo?

Finally, would the Githzerai really attack? They really dont like the Githyanki but to attack you'd have to be prepared for really heavy causalties, and the associated grief etc

It occurs to me the 'Zerai were always the more numerous, on the planes in any case, for they made a significant part of the population of Sigil and the Burgs on the chaotic side of the ring, while the Githyanki were mostly restricted to one plane.

Of the two, the 'Yanki would probably be more committed to the war with the 'Zerai than the other way around. The 'Yanki are more warlike in general, and 'Zerai society would not demand that any individual take up that particular fight. Indeed, the 'Zerai seem a little more committed to the eradication of the Illithid, what with their tradition of the Rrakkma, than even the loyal children of Gith (dash of irony, anyone?)

I like the idea of Githzerai infiltrators. I also think that Githzerai society, with such an empisis on freedom, was always so fragmented that there really ins't likely to be any coordinated response to the situation, just individual responses, as Mephit James says.

Another little dash of irony, what if the God-King of the Githzerai decides to solidify his powerbase, or bring the Zerth and the Monastaries under his control? The roles of the races could be reversed!

As I recall - when the idea was discussed - it was such that if she died, none of the yanki would want to let that news slip, but after awhile it just can't be concealed. There's persistant rumors that Vlakith was not just *a* lich - but *the* lich. That's she's the one who betrayed Gith in the first place. Now - of interest here for us to remember, is that even if the rumor isn'tr true, she was not just your run of the mill lich. She'd built herself up with the souls of her followers. And left no heirs behind - previous transistions or power moved fairly easily from mother to daughter, but such a transistion hasn't happened in a Long Time (see that bit above about the rumor). She's spent centuries building up her control and the avid cult-worship of her followers. she's a very very core piece of their mentality. We're talking about a society where the most powerful members felt it a great honor to go to their queen to be *consumed*... It's not like we're talking about the British royal family here.

Immediately after her death, those nearest and those under direct command would be able to respond first. The news would probably travel throughout the 'yanki society with them being *very* careful not to mention it to outsiders. In fact, on the outskirts of things there's probably a few hold-out 'yankis who think she's in hiding or not dead.

At the same time, those races with which the yanki are in direct confrontation with (psurlon, illithids) will notice a sudden shift in the direction, command style, and possibly the coordination of their opponents. They may not know *why* the yanki are suddenly softer targets - but heck if they care...

Meanwhile all of her non-yanki allies are certainly aware of it. I mean, they call up her kip and no one answers the phone - they'll know something's wrong. Maybe not that she's dead yet though... This includes Tiamat, and by extension the red dragons who are bound to the deal she and their goddess had. Inevitably someone will let something slip, or a spy within the 'yanki society will notice it...

There may be a great deal of doubt about her death outside of the 'yanki society, and the news is likely to only travel on intellegence networks at first. It's likely, unless the 'yanki do something within a year or two to either actively conceal the death, spin it, or find a replacement - that the news will burst on the scene, and everything'll just go up in chaos. This is probably what concerns a great number of the factions that are developing in the society - they know they have to move, and move *fast* to avoid one of their outside enemies from coming down on them or noticing the problem. That means that for at least a few of them, they consider the situation to 'have no time for debate'.

Just a thought (and I haven't read every single post, so if I'm repeating something just ignore, maybe the starting assumption is her death), but what if Vlaakith somehow survives the Incursion campaign? Her (final) death is hardly the only possible outcome of the events following the invasion of Pharagos and the PCs taking the fight back to her in Tu'narath. The invasion plans could be foiled without this occurring.

Or, if we're assuming her name's been scribed in the Dead Book once and for all, another possibility could be the "Return of Gith". If there were foul play involved in Gith's disappearance, in contradiction to the "official" story that she was taken as payment by Tiamat for the service of Ephelemon's kin on the Prime, we could surmise that the Vlaakiths had a hand in removing her, and perhaps imprisoning her on some demiplane or remote Prime world (or Baator, of course). The death of Vlaakith CLXVII might automatically release Gith from bondage/hibernation/whatever, or 'yanki knights and warlocks examining Vlaakith's notes and spellbooks might discover references to the details of Gith's imprisonment.

The return of Gith as leader of the Githyanki (who would resist, the change would be almost guaranteed), perhaps as a demigod, would certainly maintain the balance of power between 'yanki and 'zerai at very least. Gith would still need to rebuild her power base and the 'yanki population after Vlaakith's excesses, the character of Githyanki culture would likely not change dramatically (except perhaps for the addition of actual clerics if you go with the demigod angle).

In my homebrew campaign (which is a Planescape/Dragonstar mix), I just had Vlaakith survive (her philactery was never found by the PCs, so she wasn't destroyed), albeit in a somewhat weakened state. Of course, most of the action in this campaign takes place on the edges of the Dark Zone, and the Githyanki inhabit the planet (you guessed it) "Gith", which was ceded to them by the red dragon Emperor. Anyway, I'm starting to ramble.

kill the rest of them?

Two important points deserve mentioning here. Yes, it is important to think about the githzerai response to the Lich-Queen's death.

1. To predict a reaction, you must first analyze existing motivation. Blind hatred only gets you so far, and as has been mentioned, warfare without any serious intention to aquire resources is an enormous drain on any attacker. So why do the githzerai wage this neverending "war of extinction" against their "mortal enemies" in the first place? In at least some of the material, it's explained like this:

Well, the death of Vlaakith sure as hell can be described as putting githyanki societly off balance. So even for old-school githzerai, there's a healthy chance that the death of the lich-queen offers the githzerai the first moment of relaxation in millenia. Instead of trying to wipe out the githyanki, a wise alternative would be regroup, acquire resources, increase the side of your army, and train them. These are people with a very long-term view of this situation, after all. If they are looking forward to having to fight githyanki that have risen to unprecidented, even epic, levels, then making hasty moves at this critical period could mean winning a few more battles, but losing the war.

And don't forget that an easing of the fighting with the githyanki gives the githzerai breathing room to hit the illithids extra hard, which is more important anyway.

2. For at least some githyanki and githzerai, there need not even be a war to win. In Dungeon 100, the death of the lich-queen adventure begins when the PCs are contracted by a coaltion of radical githzerai and githyanki who have decided to call a truce. They are called the Sha'sal Khou

They support a githyanki warlord who is a member of the Sha'sal Khou by name of Zetch'r'r. Zetch'r'r will happily dethrone the lich-queen, but he needs the PCs to do the deed as mercenaries while he plays political intrigue games. In exchange, Zetch'r'r swears that if the PCs kill Vlaakith, he will do his best to unite the gith, focus their aggressions on the illithids, and most importantly, declare the PC's homeworld perpetually off-limits to any gith attacks.

Zetch'r'r may or may not gain a foothold after the death of the lich-queen. But if the Sha'sal Khou can gather momentum, that deemphasizes the githyanki-githzerai conflict, at least for some of the population. Again, the time seems ripe for concerted attacks against the illithids, the one thing all gith can agree is priority one, and this will can easily lead to successes not rivaled in many centuries.

Either way, the githzerai will be attacked by the githyanki less for a while (because they really couldn't be attacked more). They have the freedom to deploy their armies in other ways for the short term, and they may not have a choice. The fact that githyanki society is in chaos opens up all sort sof new opportunities other than simply trying to wipe out githyanki.

Now, the issue of how the mindflayers react to sudden githyanki weakness is another thread entirely...