![[GreatMother.png]] **The Great Mother | Progenitor of Beholders and Mistress of the Million Eyes** **Divine Rank**: Greater Deity **Alignment**: Chaotic Evil (Lawful Evil in _Lords of Madness_) **Also Known As**: The Great Beholder Mother **Portfolio**: Beholders, Magic, Fertility, Tyranny **Pantheon**: Beholder Pantheon **Divine Realm**: The Realm of a Million Eyes, Sixth Layer of the [[Abyss]] **Known Divine Offspring**: [[Gzemnid]] **Holy Symbol**: An Egg with an Eye at Its Centre --- ### **Overview** The **Great Mother** is the ancient and incomprehensible progenitor of the beholders, an immensely powerful deity whose monstrous offspring have spread throughout the planes and established themselves among the most feared aberrations in existence. Reigning over magic, fertility, and tyranny, she represents the terrible ideal toward which all true beholders aspire: an existence of absolute superiority in which every other creature is regarded as an imperfect and ultimately disposable imitation. Her origins remain concealed within the distant history of the multiverse, and her intellect is so profoundly alien that even the beholders who worship her cannot reliably interpret her thoughts or anticipate her actions. Unlike the gods of humanoid peoples, whose personalities and ambitions are often reflected through recognisable emotions, the Great Mother possesses a consciousness that defies ordinary understanding. Her behaviour may appear inconsistent, irrational, or entirely devoid of purpose, yet those who study her religion disagree over whether this apparent madness represents genuine instability or a form of awareness so advanced that lesser minds cannot comprehend its reasoning. To the beholders, there is no contradiction between her unpredictable nature and their belief in her perfection, for any failure to understand her must necessarily arise from the inferiority of the observer rather than the limitations of the goddess herself. The Great Mother is most commonly depicted as an enormous, bloated beholder whose grotesque body is covered with debris accumulated throughout her wanderings. Rocks, gems, fragments of armour, broken weapons, monstrous teeth, shells, and even entire skeletons may become embedded within her carapace, giving her the appearance of a drifting mass of flesh and the remains of countless creatures. Her immense central eye and surrounding eyestalks possess destructive magical abilities resembling those of ordinary beholders, although the power and reach of her gaze are considerably greater. This manifestation is only an expression of her existence, for the vast realm she inhabits contains innumerable eyes believed to belong to the goddess herself. The title _Great Mother_ refers to her role as the progenitor of the beholder race rather than to a clearly established biological sex. Beholders themselves possess no particular name for their creator and see little reason to assign one, regarding their awareness of her existence as a fundamental truth requiring no additional explanation. The designation used by other creatures reflects their attempt to describe a being whose reproductive nature differs considerably from that of ordinary beholders. Her relationship with her offspring is founded upon creation rather than affection. Although every beholder ultimately traces its existence to her, the Great Mother displays little consistent concern for individual members of the race. She may allow an entire population of beholders to perish without intervening, only to respond with extraordinary violence when a much smaller group is threatened elsewhere. Such actions are understood by her followers as expressions of a superior will, even though they offer no reliable means of predicting whether the goddess will protect or abandon them. The Great Mother's ultimate purpose is the replacement of other forms of life with creatures spawned in her own image. Through the continued propagation of beholders and related aberrations, she seeks to remake the multiverse according to the monstrous perfection she embodies. This ambition has little resemblance to the conquest pursued by mortal rulers, for her objective is not merely dominion over existing creatures but the transformation of existence itself into a reflection of her own nature. --- ### **Domain and Influence** The Great Mother's principal divine residence is the **Realm of a Million Eyes**, traditionally identified as the sixth layer of the Abyss. This dreadful domain consists of an immense network of twisting passages, caverns, sinkholes, and vertical shafts, whose arrangement is particularly suited to creatures capable of levitation. Unlike the fortified citadels and elaborate palaces maintained by many divine powers, the realm is an enormous subterranean environment whose very structure reflects the anatomy and nature of its ruler. Its most unsettling feature is the multitude of living eyes embedded throughout the cavern walls, floors, and ceilings. These eyes are not merely decorations or independent creatures, but are traditionally understood to belong to the Great Mother herself. Through them she may perceive events occurring throughout her domain, giving the impression that the tunnels are part of a vast living organism rather than an ordinary landscape. The full extent of her physical existence therefore remains uncertain, for the enormous beholder manifestation encountered by visitors may represent only a portion of a being whose awareness extends through the realm itself. The Realm of a Million Eyes is inhabited by numerous varieties of beholders and beholderkin, including powerful creatures whose existence is associated with the goddess's ancient reproductive powers. These inhabitants do not form a peaceful divine society. They frequently attack and devour one another, continuing the bitter rivalries that characterise beholder civilisation even within the presence of their creator. Outsiders entering the realm fare little better, and even demons travelling through the Abyss may be endangered by its numerous hostile inhabitants. Within the deepest portions of the realm lies the Great Mother's spawning chamber, a cavern associated with the continual production of new beholders. Here the goddess remains absorbed in the monstrous fertility through which her influence spreads across the planes. The chamber is extraordinarily dangerous, for creatures approaching too closely may become prey regardless of whether they are enemies, visitors, or members of her own offspring. Her reproductive purpose is not accompanied by maternal tenderness, and those who come before her cannot expect protection merely because they belong to the race she created. The oldest beholder petitioners of the realm may assume responsibility for controlling access to its deeper passages. These powerful spirits of deceased worshippers serve as guardians of the environment surrounding their goddess, although their presence does not establish an orderly court or a conventional divine administration. The wider realm remains dominated by the same suspicion, rivalry, and violence that characterise beholder societies elsewhere. In the Great Wheel cosmology, the Realm of a Million Eyes belongs to the Abyss. Later Forgotten Realms cosmological traditions place it within the **Deep Caverns**, also described as the Dismal Caverns, a vast subterranean divine region filled with darkness and winding tunnels. These differing placements reflect changes in the published cosmology rather than evidence that the Great Mother abandoned one realm to establish another. Beyond her own domain, the Great Mother's influence is expressed through the spread of her offspring across the Material Plane and other regions of the multiverse. Beholders establish lairs beneath cities, within remote caverns, and throughout the Underdark, while powerful hive mothers may unite numerous individuals into organised communities. Although these creatures rarely cooperate without coercion, each regards itself as an expression of the Great Mother's original perfection, and their conflicts are frequently justified through competing interpretations of her will. Her influence therefore extends wherever beholder civilisation takes root, even in the absence of a formal temple or priesthood. The spread of her offspring is itself regarded as the fulfilment of her divine purpose, for every new population brings the multiverse closer to the condition she seeks to establish. --- ### **Symbols and Icons**  The Great Mother's established holy symbol is **an egg containing a single eye**, representing her role as the progenitor of beholders and the monstrous fertility through which her offspring have spread throughout existence. The image combines the act of creation with the unblinking awareness associated with beholders, reflecting both the origin of the race and its conviction that true perfection is embodied through the form of its goddess. The egg holds particular significance in the ancient legends of beholder origins, many of which describe the Great Mother laying extraordinary clutches from which immensely powerful ancestors of the race emerged. Although ordinary beholders possess reproductive characteristics that differ from those of their divine progenitor, the symbol preserves their belief that the first generations of their kind arose directly from her substance. The eye represents more than ordinary sight. To beholders, their creator possesses knowledge exceeding that of every other being, and the great eye within the egg reflects the conviction that creation and awareness are inseparable aspects of her existence. Each beholder considers its own arrangement of eyes and eyestalks the closest possible approximation of this divine pattern, while differences displayed by others are treated as signs of corruption or inferiority. Images of enormous beholders, clusters of eyes, and egglike forms are therefore closely associated with the Great Mother's nature. Nevertheless, these broader motifs should not be mistaken for separate officially established holy symbols. Her recognised emblem remains the eye within the egg, an image that captures the origin and monstrous aspirations of the race that worships her. --- ### **Worship and Tributes** The worship of the Great Mother differs profoundly from the organised religious practices of most mortal peoples. Beholders possess an innate conviction that their existence ultimately derives from her, yet their overwhelming pride makes conventional obedience to a higher power exceptionally difficult. Each beholder considers itself the most perfect living expression of the goddess, regarding all other creatures—including other beholders—as inferior beings whose continued existence challenges its rightful superiority. This contradiction is central to the religion of the eye tyrants. Although beholders acknowledge the Great Mother as the source of their existence, they do not ordinarily gather for communal worship or submit themselves to an organised priesthood. Their devotion is expressed through the pursuit of personal perfection, the destruction of rivals, and the belief that their own form represents the purest continuation of the goddess's original creation. Every beholder believes that it possesses a special relationship with the Great Mother, even when it has never received a revelation or witnessed a divine manifestation. Their religious certainty does not require direct communication, for they regard their own nature as sufficient evidence of her truth. Indeed, their inability to understand the goddess's thoughts is often interpreted as proof that her intellect surpasses all lesser beings. The Great Mother does not routinely provide omens, prophecies, or instructions to her offspring. Her interventions are unpredictable, and she may remain indifferent even when a large population of beholders faces destruction. On rare occasions, however, she has been known to empower particular members of the race or dispatch a manifestation when the destruction of her offspring provokes her attention. Beholder communities may nevertheless develop religious practices shaped by their own beliefs concerning perfection and descent. Hive mothers, whose supernatural powers allow them to dominate other beholders, sometimes interpret their authority as evidence that they have been chosen to fulfil the Great Mother's purpose. Their communities may pursue the destruction or assimilation of rival beholder populations, believing that only the most perfect strain should survive. Mortal cults provide a more recognisable form of worship. Certain humanoids become fascinated by the supernatural power of beholders and willingly submit themselves to these creatures, regarding them as divine beings or representatives of a higher power. Such followers may offer service, obedience, and sacrifices, frequently becoming instruments through which a beholder extends its influence into nearby settlements. The Great Mother may answer the prayers of these cultists even when they mistakenly attribute their supernatural blessings to the beholder they serve. This unusual arrangement allows mortal cults to receive genuine divine magic without necessarily understanding the true source of their power. No universal calendar of holy days, compulsory sacrifices, or formally established rites governs the worship of the Great Mother. Her cults are shaped primarily by the ambitions of their beholder masters and the ancient conviction that the destruction of inferior life brings the multiverse closer to the perfection embodied by its progenitor. --- ### **Clergy and Temples** The Great Mother possesses no permanent, universally recognised priesthood among beholders. Their innate magical abilities and overwhelming sense of personal superiority make formal service to another power unusual, while the antimagic effects of their central eyes complicate the exercise of conventional divine spellcasting. As a result, most beholders express devotion through their own understanding of perfection rather than through the duties of an organised religious office. On rare occasions, the Great Mother may empower a powerful hive mother with clerical abilities during a period of conflict. Such interventions are generally temporary, granting the chosen creature supernatural assistance when its community faces a serious threat or becomes involved in a struggle against rival beholders. These exceptional priestesses do not constitute a stable religious hierarchy, and their authority is frequently indistinguishable from the domination they already exercise over their followers. Mortal servants provide another expression of the Great Mother's religion. Among the most notorious are the **ocular adepts**, humanoids who willingly surrender themselves to the service of beholders and undergo a terrible initiation to acquire powers resembling those of their masters. These individuals commonly arise from societies whose members have become fascinated by aberrant magic, although former clerics who have abandoned their previous gods are particularly prominent among them. The initiation of an ocular adept involves the surgical implantation of a beholderkin eye into the supplicant's forehead. A beholder performs the procedure, preparing a cavity in the recipient's skull and installing the eye through a combination of physical mutilation and supernatural ritual. The resulting transformation establishes a connection to the magic of the Great Mother, granting the individual extraordinary sight and abilities associated with beholder eye rays. The ritual carries dangers beyond its immediate physical consequences. The implanted eye retains traces of the original creature's consciousness, influencing the thoughts and personality of its new host. Ocular adepts frequently become increasingly detached from ordinary humanoid concerns, adopting the alien attitudes and cruel ambitions of the beholders they serve. These servants commonly lead small groups of mortal cultists, acting as intermediaries between their beholder masters and the surrounding communities. Their responsibilities may include gathering intelligence, acquiring slaves, defending entrances to underground lairs, and negotiating transactions on behalf of the creatures they worship. Although ocular adepts frequently regard themselves as important religious figures, the beholders they serve generally consider them useful but expendable servants. The Great Mother's worship is therefore associated more strongly with underground lairs and beholder hives than with conventional temples. Such settlements may contain extensive networks of passages carved through solid stone by disintegration rays, their chambers arranged according to the peculiar preferences of the creatures inhabiting them. Some hives remain little more than isolated caverns, while those governed by powerful hive mothers may develop into immense subterranean cities containing large populations of beholders and their enslaved servants. These environments can become centres of devotion, but their primary function remains the preservation and expansion of the beholder community. No standard temple design, priestly vestment, or ceremonial organisation has been established for the Great Mother's religion across all beholder societies. --- ### **Powers and Abilities** The Great Mother possesses extraordinary divine abilities associated with beholder reproduction, destructive eye magic, supernatural knowledge, and the preservation of her monstrous race. Her power considerably exceeds that of ordinary beholders, while her divine manifestation is capable of inflicting destruction on a scale beyond the abilities of even the strongest eye tyrants. Nevertheless, the full extent of her existence remains unknown, particularly because the living eyes embedded throughout her divine realm suggest a form far greater than the bloated beholder manifestation ordinarily described. **The Progenitor of Beholders** The Great Mother's most important power is her ability to produce beholders and related aberrations. Her existence is understood as the original source of the beholder race, and ancient accounts describe her spreading offspring throughout the multiverse from the earliest period of her existence. The continued emergence of powerful beholder variants is closely associated with this capacity for monstrous reproduction, although not every individual beholder is understood to have been directly created by her. According to certain traditions, the Great Mother produces immense eggs from which particularly powerful beholders emerge. Hive mothers and other ancient progenitors of the race are associated with these eggs, while the goddess's continued reproductive activity is believed to sustain the spread of her influence across countless worlds. Her powers of creation are therefore inseparable from her ultimate purpose of replacing other life with beings formed in her own image. **The Eyes of the Great Mother** Her avatar possesses eye rays resembling those of ordinary beholders, although their power and range are considerably greater. Through these supernatural attacks, she can inflict destructive magical effects upon creatures that attract her attention. Her abilities encompass the forms of magical domination, transformation, injury, and destruction traditionally associated with the eye tyrants, making her an exceptionally formidable opponent even among divine manifestations. The eyes embedded throughout the Realm of a Million Eyes are also believed to belong to the goddess. Through them she can observe the activities of creatures travelling through her domain, leaving visitors with few opportunities to escape her awareness. Whether these innumerable eyes are extensions of her physical body or manifestations of a greater supernatural consciousness remains uncertain. **The Aura of Despair** The Great Mother's divine manifestation can surround itself with an overwhelming supernatural presence capable of provoking powerful emotions in those nearby. Her established abilities include the projection of fear, hopelessness, chilling dread, and repulsion, effects that can overwhelm the minds of creatures attempting to approach her. These manifestations reflect the terrible psychological influence of a deity whose existence is alien even to the beings she has created. **The Devouring Maw** The Great Mother possesses an enormous mouth capable of consuming creatures whole. Those swallowed by her are exposed to powerful digestive substances that can rapidly destroy their bodies, while the goddess's immense bulk makes escape extraordinarily difficult. This appetite extends beyond enemies and intruders, for even her own offspring may be devoured if they approach her at an inopportune moment. Her willingness to consume members of the race she created reflects the absence of ordinary maternal affection from her nature. Creation and destruction are not opposing responsibilities within her existence, but aspects of the same uncontrolled power through which she shapes and consumes the life surrounding her. **Divine Resilience** The Great Mother's avatar is extraordinarily resistant to physical harm. Ordinary weapons possess little ability to injure her, and even enchanted armaments may struggle to penetrate the immense body through which she manifests. Her vast size also diminishes the effectiveness of certain forms of physical attack, making conventional combat against her a profoundly dangerous undertaking. These protections do not establish that her manifestation is incapable of being harmed, but they demonstrate the enormous difference between the physical endurance of an ordinary beholder and that of its divine progenitor. **The Knowledge of the Multiverse** Beholders believe that the Great Mother possesses knowledge of everything within the multiverse. This conviction forms an important part of their religious understanding, for they regard the pursuit of knowledge as a means of approaching the perfection embodied by their creator. Later accounts attribute extraordinary secrets and lore to the goddess, including knowledge unavailable to other beings. Yet the Great Mother does not ordinarily impart this knowledge to her offspring. Whether she is unwilling to communicate or simply incapable of translating her thoughts into concepts understandable by lesser minds remains unresolved. Her silence has therefore reinforced the belief that only a being approaching her own perfection could truly understand the scope of her awareness. **The Empowerment of Her Servants** Although ordinary beholders rarely serve as conventional clerics, the Great Mother may grant divine power to particular individuals when circumstances demand it. Hive mothers can receive temporary religious abilities during periods of crisis, while mortal cultists and ocular adepts may acquire magic through their devotion to her. Such gifts are not universal blessings bestowed upon every beholder. They are exceptional manifestations of divine influence, frequently associated with conflict, servitude, or the expansion of beholder power. --- ### **Treatment of the Faithful** The Great Mother's relationship with her followers is defined by extraordinary indifference interrupted by unpredictable acts of intervention. Every beholder regards her as the source of its existence, yet few expect direct communication or consistent protection. Her apparent disregard for the fate of individual creatures is reconciled with the belief in her perfection through the conviction that her thoughts operate upon a scale beyond their understanding. To question her actions would be to acknowledge the possibility that the beholder itself possesses sufficient wisdom to judge its creator, an assumption that even the most arrogant members of the race generally avoid. Beholders often interpret their own superiority as evidence of the Great Mother's favour. Each believes itself to be the most faithful continuation of her original form, while the existence of rival beholders is regarded as an offence against that perfection. This conviction encourages the suspicion and genocidal rivalries that characterise much of beholder civilisation, turning the pursuit of religious purity into a struggle between competing individuals and lineages. Hive mothers sometimes claim an especially intimate relationship with the goddess, regarding their ability to dominate other beholders as evidence that they have been chosen to unite the race. Such claims may inspire enormous campaigns of conquest against rival hives, although the Great Mother rarely provides direct confirmation of the authority asserted in her name. Mortal servants receive no greater assurance of safety. Ocular adepts may acquire powerful magic through their devotion, but the beholders they serve commonly regard them as expendable tools whose usefulness depends upon continued obedience. Their supernatural gifts do not prevent them from becoming victims of the same cruelty and suspicion that govern the society they have chosen to join. The Great Mother may occasionally intervene on behalf of threatened beholders, but these actions are too inconsistent to establish a reliable pattern. She has allowed entire populations of her offspring to perish without response, while at other times displaying violent anger over the destruction of comparatively insignificant groups. Her behaviour therefore offers little comfort even to those who believe themselves to be her most favoured creations. No established system of universal blessings or punishments governs her worshippers. The Great Mother does not routinely transform the faithful into new aberrations, grant prophetic madness, or impose specific supernatural curses upon those who fail her. Her most clearly documented gifts concern divine spellcasting and the exceptional powers granted to chosen beholders or mortal cultists. --- ### **Myths and Legends** **The First Beholder** Among the oldest creation traditions of the beholder race is the story of **Kzamnal**, the first beholder to emerge directly from the Great Mother. According to the legend, Kzamnal possessed a form that perfectly reflected the nature of the divine progenitor and became the ancestor of the mortal beholders who subsequently spread across the multiverse. The appearance of Kzamnal is a matter of bitter dispute. Each beholder lineage maintains that the first of their kind possessed exactly the same arrangement of eyes, skin, and bodily features as its own members. Differences among other strains are therefore regarded as evidence of corruption, mutation, or deliberate betrayal of the original divine pattern. Kzamnal is said to have instructed the earliest beholders to gather knowledge, aspiring toward the extraordinary awareness possessed by their divine ancestor. The pursuit of knowledge thus became an important justification for the accumulation of magical power and the study of unfamiliar creatures, although the race's deep-seated arrogance frequently transforms this pursuit into another means of asserting superiority over rivals. **The Betrayal of the True Beholders** The creation legends of the beholders describe an ancient betrayal that divided the race into hostile lineages. According to these accounts, certain descendants of Kzamnal produced offspring whose physical characteristics differed from the supposed original form. These descendants became known as the traitors, and their existence was regarded as a violation of the perfection bestowed upon the race by the Great Mother. The resulting conflict developed into a war of extermination between rival beholder strains. Each lineage believed itself to be the true continuation of the divine original and regarded the survival of competing forms as intolerable. The war continued through successive generations, becoming a fundamental feature of beholder society. The legend does not establish which lineage, if any, genuinely resembles the first beholder. Its significance lies in the manner through which competing groups employ the same story to justify their hatred of one another, each claiming exclusive possession of the perfection attributed to the Great Mother. **The Cosmic Eggs** Another tradition describes the Great Mother laying a clutch of extraordinary eggs across the planes, from which the ancient progenitors of the beholder race emerged. These beings, sometimes remembered as the **Beholder Ancients** or Elders, possessed immense power and became associated with the origins of the mighty hive mothers. The eggs represent a different account of the race's beginnings from the tradition of Kzamnal, although both preserve the conviction that beholders ultimately descend from the same divine creator. Some legends describe the oldest offspring distributing the Great Mother's eggs to distant worlds, allowing new populations to establish themselves throughout the multiverse. The existence of different creation traditions has not produced reconciliation among beholder lineages. Instead, each community interprets the ancient accounts in ways that support its own claims of divine superiority, treating rival interpretations as further evidence of corruption or deceit. **Gzemnid, the Divine Offspring** Among the Great Mother's offspring, **[[Gzemnid]]** occupies an exceptional position as a beholder deity who achieved independent divine status. Known as the Gas Giant, Gzemnid is associated with deception, obscurement, fog, gases, and secret knowledge, exercising powers that differ considerably from the reproductive and tyrannical authority of the Great Mother. His relationship with his progenitor is unusual because he appears to possess greater freedom from her unpredictable violence than most of her offspring. Some traditions claim that his exceptional powers of illusion allowed him to survive dangers that would have destroyed other members of the race, while others associate his continued existence with his extraordinary knowledge and cunning. Gzemnid's followers have developed interpretations of the Great Mother's nature that differ from those held by many ordinary beholders. Rather than assume that the divine progenitor possesses a single fixed form, they suggest that her appearance may change continually, reflecting a complexity beyond the ability of lesser creatures to comprehend. This belief challenges the religious certainty of beholders who insist that one particular bodily arrangement represents the original divine perfection. Such disagreement contributes to the wider divisions separating the religious traditions of the race. **Vikhrispa and the Discovery of the Planes** The legends of beholderkind also preserve the story of **Vikhrispa**, an ancient beholder whose experiences profoundly changed the understanding of magic and planar travel. According to the tradition, Vikhrispa was blinded during battle and subsequently discovered the means of becoming a beholder mage, acquiring magical abilities that compensated for the loss of its former powers. Through its studies, Vikhrispa uncovered methods of travelling between the planes and eventually began exploring the multiverse with other beholders believed to possess the true ancestral form. These journeys allowed knowledge of distant worlds and supernatural regions to spread among the beholder peoples. The legend ends in betrayal when Vikhrispa was captured by members of rival beholder strains, who stole its discoveries and employed them to travel to other planes. Their descendants subsequently spread across distant worlds, establishing new populations whose existence further complicated the claims of those who regarded themselves as the sole legitimate heirs of the Great Mother. The tale reflects the importance beholders place upon knowledge while also revealing the suspicion and violence that repeatedly undermine their ability to cooperate. **The Journey of Illionth** One of the few recorded investigations of the Realm of a Million Eyes was undertaken by the mind flayer **Illionth**, whose extraordinary mental powers allowed it to discover the hidden Abyssal domain. The revelation exposed Illionth to a place of appalling corruption, where living eyes covered the cavern walls and beholders of innumerable forms struggled against one another. Believing the realm to be a source of profound evil, Illionth resolved to destroy it. The illithid subsequently departed upon an expedition intended to confront the darkness it had discovered, but no reliable account records its successful return. The story survives as a warning concerning the dangers of attempting to challenge the Great Mother within the realm most closely associated with her divine power. Even a creature possessing extraordinary mental abilities may be overwhelmed by the monstrous inhabitants of the Million Eyes, while the goddess herself remains beyond ordinary comprehension. **The Fragmented God** Certain planar philosophers have proposed an extraordinary theory concerning the Great Mother's relationship with the wider divine order. According to this speculation, the multiverse may once have possessed a vast, unified divine being whose existence was divided into separate powers, each representing a particular aspect of its original nature. Within this interpretation, the Great Mother represents the Evil Eye of the fragmented deity, while other gods correspond to different eyes, limbs, or organs. Some versions imagine a conflict between benevolent and malevolent portions of the original being, while others describe opposing principles of law and chaos. The theory remains speculative and has never been established as an account of the Great Mother's actual origins. Its significance lies in the attempt to explain why such an alien and destructive being possesses divine authority comparable with powers whose responsibilities appear more familiar to mortal scholars. For most beholders, such theories would be irrelevant or offensive, since they imply that their goddess represents only a fragment of a greater perfection rather than the supreme original toward which all existence should aspire. --- ### **Encounters with the Great Mother's Influence** Encounters with the Great Mother's influence most frequently occur through beholders and the religious convictions that govern their behaviour. A solitary eye tyrant may regard itself as the perfect continuation of its divine progenitor, interpreting the physical differences displayed by other beholders as evidence of monstrous corruption. Such beliefs can drive campaigns of extermination against rival hives, leading to prolonged conflicts beneath the surface of the Material Plane. Travellers entering the Underdark may discover settlements controlled by powerful hive mothers, whose supernatural abilities allow them to dominate large populations of beholders and related creatures. These communities may regard the destruction of rival populations as a religious obligation, preparing for the eventual transformation of the world into a realm inhabited exclusively by descendants of the Great Mother. Mortal cults provide another means through which her influence becomes apparent. Humanoids who worship a powerful beholder may believe that their master possesses divine authority, never realising that the spells granted to their leaders originate from the Great Mother herself. Such cults can establish secret networks within settlements, gathering information, acquiring slaves, and protecting the interests of beholders whose underground lairs remain concealed. The presence of an ocular adept is a particularly distinctive indication of these religious traditions. The implanted beholderkin eye within the adept's forehead demonstrates both devotion to the Great Mother and submission to the creatures regarded as her most perfect offspring. These individuals may possess eye-ray abilities and other supernatural powers, making them formidable opponents even before the beholder they serve reveals itself. More extraordinary encounters may involve the Realm of a Million Eyes itself. Those who enter its twisting passages confront a landscape whose walls appear to watch their every movement, while beholders and beholderkin wage continual war throughout the caverns. The deeper tunnels lead toward the spawning chamber of the Great Mother, where the goddess is believed to produce new generations of her monstrous offspring. A direct encounter with the Great Mother is exceptionally dangerous. Her immense physical manifestation possesses destructive eye magic, extraordinary resilience, and an appetite capable of consuming even powerful creatures. More importantly, her behaviour cannot be reliably predicted through ordinary expectations of divine mercy, anger, loyalty, or obligation. Even a beholder that regards itself as her favoured offspring may discover that the distinction means nothing when confronted by the being from which its race originated. The Great Mother may ignore a visitor, destroy it, or consume it without any explanation, and no established method of worship or negotiation provides a reliable means of securing her favour. Her influence is therefore recognised most clearly through the spread of beholderkind, the destructive rivalries of its competing lineages, and the continued belief that the multiverse should eventually be remade in the image of its monstrous progenitor. --- ### **Conclusion** The Great Mother is the ancient progenitor of the beholders, a greater deity whose authority encompasses magic, fertility, and tyranny. From the Realm of a Million Eyes, she continues the monstrous reproductive purpose through which her offspring have spread across the planes, carrying with them a belief in absolute superiority and an enduring hatred of rival forms. Her existence is fundamentally alien to the religious traditions of most mortal peoples. Although all beholders acknowledge her as the source of their race, their devotion rarely produces conventional priesthoods, temples, or organised ceremonies. Instead, they express their faith through the pursuit of individual perfection and the destruction of creatures they regard as inferior or corrupted. The ancient legends of Kzamnal, the cosmic eggs, Gzemnid, and the wars between beholder lineages preserve different accounts of her creation and influence. These stories reveal a race whose religious convictions are inseparable from its arrogance, suspicion, and determination to eliminate competing claims of superiority. The Great Mother herself remains largely indifferent to the struggles of her descendants, intervening only unpredictably and offering little guidance even to those who revere her most intensely. Her mind is said to contain knowledge beyond the comprehension of lesser beings, while her immense power allows her to create, transform, and destroy creatures through abilities that ordinary beholders can only imperfectly imitate. Whether her apparent madness conceals a greater purpose or merely reflects the uncontrolled instincts of an unimaginably powerful being remains unresolved. What is certain is that her offspring continue to spread throughout the multiverse, carrying with them the terrible conviction that all other life is an imperfection awaiting replacement. The Great Mother therefore endures as one of the most alien and destructive divine powers in the known planes, an ancient creator whose ultimate vision is not the preservation of existence as it stands, but its remaking in her own monstrous image.