Nicelander’s Mind Flayer Civic

Do you feel like Stellaris is missing a good Dungeons & Dragons style Mind Flayer? Do you feel like the Necropahges were almost there, but just not quite doing it? Then this mod is for you

Inspired by the Mind Flayers in Dungeons and Dragons, this mod aims to re-create the famous antagonists in Baldurs Gate 3. Drawing inspiration from various online sources and books about Mind Flayers, this mod gives you a unique civic, relevant throughout the game, without being overpowered.

These Illithids seek to expand their dominion over all other life forms. They consume their victims’ very personality by devouring their brains while still alive. Mind Flayers typically live over 125 years, but cannot grow through normal means. Instead they infect other organic species with a Mind Flayer Tadpole, which slowly turns them into a Mind Flayer through a process called Ceremorphosis

At the heart of the Mind Flayer community lies the Elder Brain. It forms the physical and spiritual centre of the hive and serves as a living library of its history, technology, and knowledge.

Mind Flayers sacrifice themselves to merge their brain with the Elder Brain, strengthening its powers and intellect

The civic is available at the start but never removed (why would you?).

Your main species gains a trait that prevents pop growth but adds leader lifespan. Mind Flayers typically live long, but can only grow by infecting other species with a Tadpole, slowly turning them into the main species.

Start with 5 Mind Thralls, enslaved organic pops infected with a Tadpole trait, which produce research & organic pop assembly.

Start with an Elder Brain on your planet, a powerful but resource-hungry deposit, upgradable via planetary decision. It adds stability, society research and unity to your planet.

As Mind Flayers cannot function without an Elder Brain, they have large negative stability and crime modifiers.

Mind Thralls are slaves that serve the Elder Brain!

Mind Thralls infected with a Tadpole aid your research & add organic pop assembly, through a process called Ceremorphosis [forgottenrealms.fandom.com]

Mind Thralls without a Tadpole will have one implanted in them over time, through Assimilation

The Elder Brain [forgottenrealms.fandom.com] forms the core of any Mind Flayer society.

This deposit adds much-needed stability to your planets, as well as Unity and Society research 🔬

It can be upgraded multiple times. Each upgrade takes increasingly longer and costs a lot of food 🍏

As the Elder Brain is formed of the brains of dead Mind Flayers, each upgrade sacrifices a number of your main species pops for the glory of the Elder Brain!

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✅ No vanilla files overwritten, so it is compatible with all mods
✅ Put this mod anywhere in your load order

🔨 Something broken?
💪 Something overpowered?
💩 Underpowered?
💡 New ideas?

Please use the Discussion Thread to report it!

All code in Github [github.com]

Tags

Dungeons and Dragons (dnd), Baldurs Gate, BG3, Necromancer, Mind Flayer, Drizzt, Underdark, Larian, Sven, d20

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