Suspended Ceremorphosis
Ceremorphosis, illithid larval transformations of a host humanoid into a mind flayer, typically occurs in less than a tenday after infection, but the tadpoles 'laid' by our captive elder brain are enhanced due to the powerful Netherese magic of the Crown of Karsus. Our enhanced tadpoles induce in their hosts a sort of 'suspended' ceremorphosis, a state in which the host becomes susceptible to telepathic influence and even coercion from the Absolute, our elder brain. For our purposes, there are two key aspects of this influence. First, the conversion of the host into a mental lackey of the Absolute occurs entirely without the host's awareness - its servility feels comfortable and natural, and is never consciously questioned. Second, the servile state persists even when the host is far beyond the usual range of an elder brain's psionic control. This phenomenon is spectacularly useful, given our ambitions.