Grand Design

The Grand Design was an illithid philosophy. "I have broken free from the elder brain's yoke. I no longer serve the Grand Design."

- Omeluum

Description
The idea of the Grand Design was to rebuild the lost empire of the mind flayers. Mind flayers would work on accomplishing the Grand Design as soon as they had established their colonies.

Part of the Grand Design involved enslaving (or eliminating) all gith, as they once had, as well as other humanoids. To achieve the Grand Design, illithids spent much time studying different phenomena and subjects, such as the culture of other creatures.

Illithid colonies had different methods of contributing to the Grand Design. Some may have thought to rediscover the method of creating nautiloids, whilst others may have thought to find and destroy the homes of the gith.

History
Not all mind flayers wished to further the efforts of the Grand Design. In the 15 century DR, an illithid, known as Omeluum, had broken free from the elder brain's influence. As such, this mind flayer no longer served the Grand Design. However, in 1492 DR, a nautiloid was spotted in the Western Heartlands, hinting that the mind flayers were getting ever closer to achieving the Grand Design.