Gith

Gith is a term that pops up in Dungeons & Dragons, originating out of the Planescape setting, that can mean... well, one of several things.

Firstly, it is a generic term used to refer to the githyanki and githzerai races collectively. A little clunky, perhaps, but as both races are defined by their connection to the original Gith, it's sort of understandable. The Gith were a race of humanoids, or even humans depending on which version of the fluff you read. Both accounts agree that they were enslaved for untold generations by the illithid, who mutated and reshaped them to serve as slave-soldiers, laborers and food. This is the source of their more unique traits, like their distinctive appearances, their egg-laying, and their knack for psionics.

Secondly, it also is used as the name for two other branches of the Gith species. Dark Sun is home to a species of degenerate, cannibalistic githyanki-offshoots, the inbred and insane descendants of a conquering army that was stranded on Athas when their invasion didn't go so well. Meanwhile, the Spelljammer setting reveals that when the 'zerai and 'yanki split during the Sundering of Two Skies, a subfaction of the ancient gith race fled to Wildspace instead of the Outer Planes and became a race of ferocious, cannibalistic marauders called, simply, the Pirates of Gith.

Finally, it refers to the legendary proto-gith champion Gith (getting confused yet?), who liberated the proto-gith from their enslavement by the illithid.

The ancient Gith was a mighty warrior, who led her people to rise up overthrow their former masters in a massacre that spanned the planes and even destroyed the proto-gith's original homeworld (in 4e, at least). She pushed them to the brink of annihilation... but then, dissent arose from within their ranks, as led by Zerthimon. Traditional D&D lore claims that this was a result of Gith's desire to conquer and enslave all other races in the multiverse, which Zerthimon and his rebels protested against on moral grounds. 4e instead asserts it was more that Gith turned out to be a lousy peace-time leader, running the now-free gith like a great military army and ultimately keeping them as little freer than they had been under the illithids. Whatever the reason, the races split and went their seperate ways, with Gith leading her githyanki followers to the Astral Plane (or Astral Sea). There, they founded a loosely-knit empire of raiders, centered on their capital city of Tu'narath.

Gith's ultimate fate is a mystery: in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons' "Guide to the Astral Plane", it is simply mentioned that, on the suggestion of her ally, a githyanki wizardess named Vlaakith I, she went to Baator and bargained with Tiamat. The end result was that Gith never returned, but Ephelomon, Tiamat's fiendish red dragon consort, presented Vlaakith with a magical scepter that now bears his name, stating that Vlaakith was to rule in Gith's absence, and so long as the pact, symbolized by the scepter, was maintained, the githyanki would be able to count on the aid of red dragons. Incidentally, the precise details of the pact are unknown, save for one term: that the githyanki were to continue the Eternal Crusade, the battle to seek out and slay the illithids to the last.

Of course, this has led to much speculation; what really happened between Gith and Tiamat? Where is she now? Is she dead? A prisoner? Was she betrayed by Vlaakith? And what did Tiamat hope to gain out this bargain?

Well, 4th edition provided the most concrete answers so far; in "Secrets of the Astral Sea", it's stated that after the githyanki settled in the Astral Sea, they sought allies; Vlaakith in fact specifically suggested that Gith seek an alliance with Tiamat, for who better to reciprocate Gith's endless desire for vengeance and to goad the githyanki into continuing the Eternal Crusade than the Goddess of Revenge? According to this book, Gith bartered away her soul, and the souls of Vlaakith and all future githyanki leaders, in exchange for the Red Dragon Pact. It also notes that nobody is sure what Tiamat has actually gained from the pact; the three most common theories are that she mistakenly believed the githyanki would ultimately become her personal dedicated race of humanoid worshippers (only to be backstabbed by their psycho-atheist beliefs), that she has manipulated the contract so she can call in one fucking huge debt when the githyanki finally end their Crusade by killing off the illithids, or that the souls of the githyanki leaders hold sufficient magical power that she can ultimately use to force the githyanki to serve her.

Further details would be provided in Dragon Magazine #377; initially, Gith had reluctantly sought alliances with other deities, but was rejected either due to being too evil, too warlike, too weak, or simply because she refused to let the githyanki worship a god. The closest thing she had to a success was in Baator, with Dispater, and even then they couldn't close the deal because Gith wisely refused to sell the souls of all githyanki in perpetuity to the archdevil. Instead, Dispater ended up arranging for the meeting between Gith, Vlaakith and Ephelomon, with himself as mediator and observer, of course. It was Dispater who suggested that he be allowed to "host" Gith's soul in his own "care" for the duration of the pact. Curiously, he did not speak up against Gith making one of the terms of the contract that the githyanki would be free to pursue their own destinies and never be required to be subservient to Tiamat - a part of the bargain that Ephelomon agreed to and which probably put him in Tiamat's bad books for centuries.

In the 4e adventure path, Scales of War, because Tiamat breaks the pact between herself and the githyanki, Gith's soul is ultimately freed from Baator. Returning to Tu'narath, she possesses a githyanki woman and claims to be Vlaakith reborn, ultimately aiding the party in defeating Emperor Zetch'r'r before taking rulership over the githyanki once again. Her ultimate plans are left to the DM from there.

None of this is to be confused with the Giff, who might sound almost the same, but who are entirely unrelated.

Gallery

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  The very first depiction of a githyanki.
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  Now slightly harder to confuse for an undead creature.
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  The definitive model, or so it seems.
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  The Githyanki as they appear in 4e. Notably more muscular than in their earlier depictions.
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  Arrogant, haughty raiders of the Astral.
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  Can you believe this is how they used to look?
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  Nope, color doesn't make it any less stupid.
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  Now we're talking.
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  And they're the good guys, who could guess?
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  Mysterious monks from otherworldly realms.
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  The degenerate gith of Dark Sun
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  4e's depiction of Athasian Gith
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  The Gith Pirates of Spelljammer.
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