Editing Zaerith Menyar-Ag-Gith

'''Zaerith Menyar-Ag-Gith''', also known as the Great Githzerai, is an obscure character from the [[Planescape]] campaign setting of [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. A powerful [[githzerai]] [[Fighter]]/[[Wizard]] (19th level and 23rd level, respectively), he is also known as the Wizard-King and the God-King, for he rules over the githzerai as an immortal master who is revered like a god, in a mirror-image of [[Vlaakith CLVII]], from his throne in the great city of [[Shra'kt'lor]].

Despite this auspicious status, Zaerith is actually a true non-entity in Planescape lore - maybe because the writers realized how hokey it was to give the [[githyanki]] and the [[githzerai]] mirrored rulers. First introduced in the Manual of the Planes for 1st edition AD&D, he was later covered in slightly more detail in The Book of Chaos, a component of the Planes of Chaos boxset. He was actually stated to exist in the githzerai's Monstrous Compendium entry, but he was deliberately left nameless - likewise, when 3rd edition's version of the Manual of the Planes was published, he was mentioned in passing in the single paragraph dedicated to Shra'kt'lor, but only as "The Great Githzerai".

According to the Book of Chaos, Zaerith rules Shra'kt'lor with the aid of ambitious generals, who think they are secretly usurping control from their God-King but are actually being manipulated by Zaerith, who takes great amusement from their "secret" plots and ploys. Like Vlaakith CLVII, he fears the potential of being overthrown by a strong githzerai mage, and so he forbids any who live in Shra'kt'lor from reaching higher than 9th level; on the rare occasions he needs the assistance of a more skilled githzerai mage, he takes them as an apprentice and trains them up, and then kills them when he doesn't need them anymore. However, he hasn't indoctrinated the githzerai to the same extent that Vlaakith has done with the githyanki, and so he hides this fact from his followers, less they follow their natural anarchistic inclinations and rise up to overthrow the tyrant they had once dared to trust.

For obvious reasons, Zaerith was never really that popular, and is slowly being pushed out of the limelight over the editions in favor of [[Zerthimon]].

[[Category: Planescape]]