Oortling

Oortlings were docile humanoids with enlarged brains who were bred by illithids inhabiting Realmspace as a food source.

Description
Oortlings resembled dwarves, but were very pallid and had bloated skulls that housed overdeveloped brains.

Personality
Oortlings, despite a lack of curiousity and creativity, still contained the potential for great intelligence. The breeding for larger brains by illithids had resulted in a massive gain for potential intellect, even though circumstances usually prevented them from reaching it. They were timid by design, and flinched with fear at even minor shows of dominance.

Combat
Oortlings possessed no desire or ability for battle and fled during times of conflict. If cornered they pathetically scratched and bit at their foes.

Society
The majority of the oortling people lived in skull farms maintained by the illithids on the planet Glyth and in its rings. There, they were subjected to a rigid breeding program, as their brain growth was constantly watched and monitored to produce best results, which were then sold to merchants. The richest of Glyth's skull farms, kept by the illithid Surrell, was popular even in Greyspace.

Oortlings who were not being actively raised as cattle in Glyth's rings lived in small communities inside comets across Realmspace. They fed on the mineral-rich ice from the comets, which provided them nourishment that simple water could not replace.

Ecology
Their brain fluids could be used as a useful component for potions related to mental abilities such as telepathy, hinting at the capability for psionic powers.

History
Oortlings once had a sophisticated culture and were capable of constructing beautiful palaces from the ice of their comet homes, until they were dominated early in their history by the mind flayers across most crystal spheres.

In Realmspace, oortlings originally inhabited the comet K'Thoutek, but they were kidnapped by the mind flayers and transferred to the rings of Glyth to be bred and raised as cattle.

By the mid-14 century DR, even though oortlings could be found on many comets across Realmspace, the entire race had been reduced to a broken and fearful tribal society, its once advanced and sophisticated culture destroyed. However, although all creativity and curiosity had been bred out of the race by the illithids, the potential for great advances still had not.