#mind flayers

["The illithids had to dominate not only to achieve their goals, but to fulfill certain basic needs of their own. Without a mind to control, a mind flayer would feel incomplete. They actually had an intimate relationship with their own thralls, suffering when they died (whether by sickness, age, or physical harm) and sometimes going mad from loneliness without their constant companionship. Illithids were known to postpone their other goals just to renew an emptied retinue of thralls..."]

Arch-Wizard of Transmutation in her original life, a Mind Flayer post-ceremorphosis, and Grand Artificer of the flesh-craft once she had gone rogue from the colony, Alexandra Humboldt reclaimed her name and pursue her true goal!

By doing what she was already doing as a wizard.

Alexandra Humboldt wanders the planes, acting upon a line of thoughts that came on a whim. Not even a mind flayer's intellectual physiology are able to let her retain focus for long. Either she hyperfixated on a project to answer a random question, or she just wanders around.

Because of this, she left behind various experiments that ended up backfiring on her and tries to kill her, or be a problem for everyone else around.

The Brain Death's Head Tree, an experiment to see if she can alter the tree to produce emotionally rich brain to feed upon.

The result? Psionic Death's Head tree, with more cunning and intelligent Death's Head, that tries to kill her and everyone around it.

The Cerebrum Treant, another attempt to make a tree that yields a brain fruit, this time awakening a tree and fusing it with brain matter.

The result? A psionic treant that hungers for brain, and seek to bite her head off.

Sable Six, the Hound of Silence, an experiment to create a psionic bloodhound out of a chimeric combination of a Blink Dog and a Displacer Beast.

The result? A mind-altering aberration that can shuts off your sensory if you look into it, and erase itself from your memory as it teleports around. Surprisingly, the rare experiment that DIDN'T try to kill her.

Sable Six is an intelligent creature, enough to be their own person and individual with choices. This result intrigues Alexandra, and she wanted to see if it can be done better.

So she duped a random drow noble and turned her into her next subject.

Pierrette De'Veraux, the infiltrator, was the result of the experiment, and one that seems to work wonderfully, a mind flayer variant that are able to blend in with society and has the resourcefulness to survive on her own.

Alexandra even serves as her warlock Patron by acting as a conduit to the eldritch power she siphoned from elsewhere, resulting in Sign, an admittedly somewhat neutered Intellect Devourer that serves as her familiar.

Their relationship is an amicable one, albeit highly dysfunctional, as being the channeler of Alexandra's power means Pierrette serves as a beacon to anyone tracking her, thus leading to her having to clean up her past experiments and messes.