Studies of the Elder Brains
A report for Lord Gortash by Scribe Yanthus An illithid elder brain is many things: absolute ruler of its mind flayer colony, fount of procreation through its production of illithid larvae, the so-called 'tadpoles', but most of all an elder brain is a supremely powerful organic calculator, a mental machine able to process a vast number of simultaneous thought processes. It is always a hundred moves ahead, and cannot be surprised except by a sudden confluence of unexpected variables. Mortal genius and innovation are no match for its sheer computational power. [Below this, a note is appended in Gortash's precise handwriting.] No weakness but the unexpected. It seems I shall need unexpected allies.