Alhoon

Alhoons were magic-using outcasts from mind flayer societies who had defied the ruling elder brains to achieve a limited form of lichdom. Only the most powerful mind flayer mages could achieve true lichdom and were known as illithiliches; however, many in the Realms did not make this distinction.

Alhoons combined powerful wizardry and sorcery with their innate skill at psionics to become a new threat to the established order of the Underdark and beyond. Their skin possessed none of the wet, smooth, slimy texture of living illithids, instead appearing dry, wrinkled, and cracked as a result of the powerful magic resistance that had prevented a perfect conversion to lichdom.

Alhoons were ignored, feared, and hated by mortal illithids for their rejection of the illithid circle of life, culminating with the physical and psychic merging with an elder brain.

History
Due to conflict between Netheril and the race of phaerimm. In −339 DR, Netherese sorcerer-kings Ioulaum disappeared from Netheril as phaerimms' lifedrain spells were causing his life-sustaining magic, Ioulaum's longevity, to fail. Ioulaum embraced lichdom and established a lair in the depths of the Northdark.

The first illithiliches are believed to be the students of Ioulaum recruited from nearby mind flayer city of Ellyn’taal that called themselves Alhoons. Ioulaum’s intentions for recruiting mind flayer students became clear when he created an undead elder brain from the minds of his illithid students and then merged his own sentience into it. Most of his illithilich apprentices were destroyed in this arcane ritual, but a few escaped and spread the secret of illithilich creation to mind flayer communities throughout the Realms Below.

Ioulaum's last human apprentice, Tabra, thought the mind flayer students had betrayed their master and murdered him. To avenge her master she cast the now perfected Ioulaum's longevity spell in midst of the city of Ellyn’taal, and slaughtered the last few of remaining mind flayer inhabitants.

Locations
In 1369 DR, alhoons were known to have taken up residence in the abandoned drow city of Telnarquel.

Appearances

 * Novels:
 * Dissolution
 * The Nether Scroll