Oral Histories of Faerûn: Gith and Mind Flayers
[This book comprises several chapters, one for each cited source. It claims to contain first-hand transcriptions of the oral histories of several storytellers throughout the realm.] Chapter 4 Pallidor the Swift 700 years of age Wood Elf storyteller hailing from the  Wood of Sharp Teeth It took me several tendays of quiet habitation in the wood before the venerable Pallidor felt comfortable revealing his presence to me. The longer I stayed, demonstrating I was no threat to his health and peace, the more open he was to gentle inquiry. This tale, relayed to me on a chilly morning as we stoked a small fire between us, was like none I had heard before or since. I asked if it were fiction and he insisted emphatically it was as true as his own right eye. Long ago Before my eyes and ears, Before your lonesome quill, dear scribe, There was an empire of people - Or perhaps only Belief. An empire of brain-eaters, soul-wasters - They called themselves illithids; the flayers of minds. The children of Gith were bowed, bent in service to the flayers. A passionate people Made to serve a cold Belief. The flayers were untouchable, Their minds a great oppressor. No proud will or passion Could break Gith's children free. Until, at last, a reckoning - Its source unknown; its power, unproven. But its events, history-making: The cowed would not be cracked. Gith's children fought back, valiantly, Their freedom theirs - the flayers bent, And broken, till today.