Skull of the Void

Description

The Skull of the Void is located about 50 million miles (80 million kilometers) from the crystal shell, and remains in a fixed position relative to the sun. The object is 12 miles (19 km) high and 10 miles (16 km) wide and resembles a human skull exactly. The enormous structure appears to be made of bone, and is able to repair itself if damaged in any way. It also constantly generates its own air supply.

Inhabitants

The hollow structure is inhabited by a colony of mind flayers that are secretly keeping about 100 beholders and beholder-kin of seven different subspecies as "skull cattle". To prevent the beholders from using their eye-powers, the illithids constantly cut off their eye-stalks, and brand their large central eyes with their owner's marks to keep theft to a minimum - and to keep them effectively blind. Because the illithids and the various beholder nations of Realmspace have come to a fairly shaky accord, the mind flayers living within the Skull have been at pains to keep their existence a well-guarded secret.

The illithids are attempting to use the selective breeding techniques developed by the humanoid breeders of Glyth to produce the ultimate in beholder brains, which they hope to exploit as a lucrative trading commodity. After several generations of consuming beholder brains, the Skull of the Void's inhabitants have developed the ability to levitate, leading to conflict with illithids from elsewhere, possibly due to jealousy or resentment. The consumption of beholder brains, and the resulting ability to levitate, has become a cornerstone of their way of life, to the point where it has led to a permanent mutation in their genetic makeup, ensuring that all their future descendants will also be capable of levitating.

Appendix

External Links

• Skull of the Void article at the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.

References

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