creatures of influence information society

Their eyes, sheltered by brow ridges, were uniformly pale and devoid of pupils in addition to being bloated and featureless, similar to those of blind cave fish. Illithids did not possess exterior ears, rather hosting small, fleshy, ridged holes on both sides of their heads, nor did they have nostrils.

The tentacles hung above and around their mouths and an oily slime constantly dripped out of their maws. In reality, an illithid's mouth was more like that of a lamprey, with a circular, jawless orifice ringed by several rows of small, rasping teeth. In many apocryphal descriptions and diagrams, mind flayers were portrayed as having beaked mouths, possibly owing to their octopus-like heads. They were also incredibly dexterous, powerful, and could be fully controlled by the mind flayer to perform both fine and strength-based tasks. They writhed and undulated almost constantly and absent-mindedly while the illithid pondered or otherwise was not using them, and flexed in anticipation when sentient beings drew close. The tentacles could range in length from 2 to 4 feet (0.61 to 1.2 meters), appearing shorter when an illithid was at rest. Īn illithid's bulging, ridged, elongated head was reminiscent of an octopus, with a cluster of four flexible, unsegmented, extendable, purplish-black tentacles surrounding their mouths. Mind flayers that were healthy from brain-rich diets excreted a thin film of slimy, glistening mucus that kept in moisture and gave off a faint odor similar to onions, garlic, or even vanilla, although the smell was imperceptible from afar. Their skin ranged from mauve to greenish-violet in color. An illithid's flesh, was soft, supple, moist, and rubbery, resulting in an unmistakable texture easily distinguishable from any other creature by anyone familiar with it. A mind flayer's body was, in fact, a gruesome mockery of the humanoid form.

In terms of height, weight, and build, mind flayers were roughly comparable to thin humans, but it was at this point that any external comparison to humanoids ended.

Creatures of influence information society