Aboleth

Aboleths were a race of malevolent, eel-like aberrations with potent psionic abilities.

Description
Aboleths were fish-like amphibians of immense size, often reaching 20 feet (6.1 meters) in length and weighing up to 6,500 pounds (3000 kilograms), though they continued to grow as they aged and some fantastically ancient specimens might reach 40 feet (12.2 meters) in length. They resembled a bizarre eel, with long, tubular bodies, as well as a tail at one end and two fins near the head and another along the back. Aboleths' mouths were lamprey-like, filled with serrated, jawless teeth. Aboleth bodies were also segmented, like a worm or insect.

Aboleth underbellies were often orange-pink, while their topsides were typically sea-green. A little bit back from the head were four long tentacles, two sprouting from across each other on the top, and two more of the same on the underbelly. Their heads were roughly triangular-shaped, with a spherical, somewhat beak-like nose. Above the nose were their three eyes, each one set atop the other. Tendrils and a few shorter tentacles dangled from the bottom of the head. Four blue-black slime-secreting orifices lined the bottom of their bodies. Aboleth blood was green and thick, oozing like sap.

Aboleths breathed through a thick gray mucus-like substance, which covered their body and which they exuded from four pulsating organs along their body as they moved. If robbed of the ability to exude this slime, an aboleth would suffocate in water or on land alike. As such, an aboleth had to take care of its mucus. Out of the water, an aboleth's membrane-like skin dried out quickly, but this did not prove fatal in and of itself. Instead, the aboleth would eventually enter a state of suspended animation, called long dreaming, a fate considered far worse than simply dying amongst aboleths. During this process, the so-hampered aboleth formed a tough, waterproof membrane. However, if this membrane was pierced, liquid flooded out and death was usually not far off for the aboleth.

Aboleths did not die of old age and so lived on indefinitely, barring violence or disease.

Abilities
Aboleths had powerful psionic powers and were natural psions like mind flayers and many other denizens of the Far Realm. However, aboleths had a much more fearsome ability, the capacity to secrete a viscous gray fluid, much like mucus, which brought about a terrible transformation in air-breathing creatures so unfortunate as to be caught in the stuff. The skin of the victim was transformed into a membrane that allowed it to breathe in water, and changed the creature's consciousness to that of a mindless servant. This allowed aboleths to keep slaves, known as [[aboleth servitors, which they dominated and kept captive through their mind. Only the most powerful aboleths could do this, however, completing the process through a powerful ritual.

Another strange feature of aboleths was their memory. An aboleth was born with a racial memory, each individual inheriting the memories of its ancestors. Furthermore, it assimilated the memories of those it consumed. Each aboleth's memories were stored within an ever-growing part of its brain that extended down its back as it aged. Aboleths enjoyed spending time lost in particularly fine memories of their ancestors, and if they had nothing better to do, they might relive entire portions of their forebears' lives.

Aboleths were all hermaphroditic, possessing both male and female reproductive organs. When aboleths bred, they did so in private, laying roughly three to nine eggs once every five years. When laid, the eggs gestated for the same five years before hatching into fully functional aboleths. Although these young aboleths were, for all intents and purposes, adults in all but size, they typically remained with their parent for roughly a decade, obeying the elder aboleth without question before setting out on their own.

Psychology
Aboleths are both extremely cruel and highly intelligent. As a result, they are among the most dangerous foes that exist in the multiverse. Holders of many terrible secrets due to their unique racial memory, aboleths are born fully aware and with all the memories of their ancestors, making even the youngest aboleth a frighteningly deadly predator. They are well aware of their weaknesses, however, and will not attack land-bound foes if they consider it to their disadvantage.

Aboleths are utterly self-centered as a race; they know they were among the first beings in existence, and see all else as theirs, having a particular loathing for land-dwelling creatures. Their enmity towards other races stems in part from their perception that these "upstart" races have stolen what is rightfully the aboleths'. All that stops them from conquering the surface is their weakness on land (though an aboleth is always a fierce opponent) and the fact that they would rather enjoy themselves than waste time subduing feeble creatures such as humans. By contrast they are greatly unsettled by the similarly powerful mind flayers, in part because they lack knowledge of the race's precise origins.

Ecology
Wholly alien but dangerously intelligent, aboleths are among the most powerful creatures in all of the known multiverse and, although often removed from human affairs, do not hesitate at any point to kill or use any unfortunate mortals who cross their path.

Culture
Aboleth society is utterly alien in many ways to that of more familiar races, in part due to the racial memory all aboleths exhibit as well as their generally bizarre psyche. Some aboleths form clusters known as broods, ruled over by powerful "overseers." These broods are often accompanied by aboleth servitors or other minions, such as the kuo-toa who are known to sometimes serve the race.

Aboleths have no gods that they worship. While they acknowledge the presence and power of gods, they have memories of a time long before any modern gods were worshiped and recall such gods' birth and often demise within their own lifetimes. They are not concerned with an afterlife since their perspective on death is to consider it a failure and they intend to live forever. Aboleths do, however, have a certain respect that sometimes approaches reverence for the powerful beings known as elder evils.

Aboleths use the term boorm (meaning "flow") to indicate a period of time.

Homelands
Like most aberrant creatures, aboleths are originally from the Far Realm, though long ago many of them emigrated from the distant plane to the Prime Material Plane, where they settled in the Underdark. There, the vast majority of Toril's aboleths dwell, though they can be found elsewhere, most commonly haunting ruins, deep lakes, or old temples. In some of these places the kuo-toa foolishly serve them.

Aboleth cities are vast affairs of bizarre and alien architecture, located deep underwater. The Shape of Water, located in the Underdark's Glimmersea, is the largest known aboleth city and is the main place the leaders of the race reside and hold council.

Aboleths originally came to Toril when the world was young. The ancient obelisk-shaped city of Xxiphu plummeted to the world and settled deep in the earth's crust, below what is now the Sea of Fallen Stars. The oldest known aboleth and possibly the progenitor of the entire species, the Eldest, is an enormous creature that rests atop the city like a throne. The ancient aboleths of Xxiphu form an organization called the Abolethic Sovereignty; they were recently roused from a period of hibernation that spanned millennia, and the city of Xxiphu has since risen above the Sea of Fallen Stars and conquered territory for the Sovereignty.

Notable aboleths

 * The Eldest : Ruler of Xxiphu and the Abolethic Sovereignty.
 * Oothoon : Ruler of Zanhoriloch.
 * Jooran : An aboleth of Zanhoriloch who was consumed by Oothoon.