Manual of the Planes

CHAPTER 5:THE TRANSITIVEPLANESstumble upon a dead deity probably also encounter worshipers,clerics, or perhaps even a permanent contingentof followers. Some may be former followers of thedeity, seeking to protect its physical form from violators.Some may be worshipers of later deities who wishto keep this particular deity dead. Neither type of followertakes kindly to trespassers.Githyanki on the Astral PlaneThe githyanki live on the Astral Plane in cities,fortresses, and citadels. The largest cities are built uponnameless and forgotten dead deities, where deific fleshhas given way to simple stone.Compared to the communities of most other races,githyanki communities are very militaristic in nature.Though they do not live in barracks, their homes andbusinesses are arranged according to the rank and standingof each individual or training group. Githyanki donot arrange themselves into families, but instead identifythemselves by the training groups they belong to. Trainingis one of the most important githyanki values, and itrarely ceases. Each githyanki strives to excel over his orher companions.Training centers, magical and psionic laboratories,libraries, and practice fields are the most frequented portionsof any githyanki community.Tu’narath: Tu’narath is the largest and greatest githyankicity. It is built upon the body of a deity that hadbeen dead for eons when the githyanki first came to theAstral Plane. Subjective directional gravity holds swaywithin 200 feet of the stony form, allowing the city’sinhabitants to walk around normally.Tu’narath boasts a githyanki population of about100,000. The city is also cosmopolitan enough to hostother races in their own quarters: bariaurs, humans, and afew fiendish races. The leader of all githyanki, the lichqueen,dwells here, rarely leaving the inner sanctum ofher gigantic palace. The palace is carved from what mayhave been the forehead of the gargantuan dead deityupon which Tu’narath is nestled. It is by far the highestand broadest structure in all of Tu’narath.The Lich-Queen: The current ruler of the githyanki race,Vlaakith the lich-queen, has ruled supreme for over athousand years. She has her lichdom to thank for herlongevity. She has no heirs and is unlikely to produce any.However, she has no intention of ever relinquishing herrule, so heirs are unnecessary.Hideous in appearance, the lich-queen resembles anaged, blackened corpse with smoldering emerald eyes.She prefers long purple robes trimmed in gold andembroidered with precious gems. An elaborate headdressof gold and rubies and a dragon-headed scepterencrusted with yet more rubies are her badges of office.The scepter was given to Vlaakith by Tiamat’s red consort,Ephelemon. It is possible the scepter is the physicalrepresentation of the truce between red dragonsand githyanki.The githyanki revere the lich-queen as the stepmotherof their race, and few would ever gainsay her. To them,her word is truth. Despite this, the lich-queen jealouslyguards her position. She devours the life essence of anygithyanki who gains more than sixteen character levels.This act both nourishes her own undead spirit and eliminatesfuture rivals.Githyanki Astral Ships: The githyanki possess specialitem creation feats that enable them to create theirfamed astral ships. Each ship is difficult to create, requiringyears of work. Small communities have access to onlypqqqqrs52ASTRAL CARRACKThis 100-foot-long astral ship has an open main deck and acompletely enclosed middle deck and bottom deck. It requiresa crew of twenty, but generally runs on a crew of forty, includingan 11th-level captain, an 8th-level first officer, and five 4thlevellieutenants. The attack and damage entries below onlyapply when the ballistae are manned by the normal complementof githyanki. Likewise, the ram attack is only possiblewhen the captain is at the wheel.CarrackColossal ConstructHit Dice: 18d10 (99 hp)Initiative: as the captain – 4Speed: 50 ft. (only on the Astral Plane)AC: 30 (–1 size, –1 Dex, +22 natural)Attacks: 10 ballistae +23 meleeDamage: Ballistae 1d12Face/Reach: 100 ft. by 30 ft./0 ft.Special Attacks: Ram 10d10Special Qualities: Construct, hardness 10Astral ships are magically created craft of great utility on theAstral Plane. They are certainly not creatures in their own right,but if properly manned, they can be treated as colossalconstructs moving through the Astral Plane.Combat: Astral ships are armed with ballistae, which whenfired by a “standard” crew of githyanki possess the attackrating noted above. Individual githyanki can launch rangedattacks, psionic powers, or spells from the deck of the carrackat other creatures.Ballistae: Mounted ballistae have a range increment of 300feet on the Astral Plane.Ram: In any round in which no ballistae are fired, a captaincan command a ram attack against a Huge or larger creature.If the prow of the astral ship is more than 50 feet away in astraight line from a target, it can move up to double its speedin order to deliver the ram attack with an attack bonus of +23,dealing 10d10 points of piercing damage if successful.pqqqqrs