Nautiloids

Illithid employ bizarre flying ships called nautiloids, capable of travelling through the ether between the realms.
A nautiloid looks like an enormous conch shell fitted with an exterior deck and a large mass of rubbery tentacles.
A few nautiloids are large enough to hold an entire colony, serving as a mobile lair. These immense vessels invariably have protections that enable them to survive in extreme environments. As such, the illithids typically locate their lair on a mountaintop, beneath the surface of the ocean, or at the upper levels of the atmosphere- places where raids by their enemies are almost impossible.
These are standard ship for the Illithid nations of space. The mind flayers power these vessels with either Series Helms which provide an SR of 1 for every Helm in the series or a Pool Helm which grants an SR of 5. Nautiloid ships are used for military purposes, piracy and trading.
A standard mind flayer crew numbers 10 illithids, plus 2-5 additional mind flayers, depending on the number of series helms in use. The number of helms determines the SR of the ship. A mind flayer ship has a single captain and first officer, with the remainder of the illithids on board being crew. A Nautiloid will also typically carry between 12 and 20 slaves, which will usually be a mix of Gith, Quaggoth, Grimlocks and Oortlings. The illithids prefer to use expendable slaves to man the weapons, while the mind flayers remain safely within the ship's armoured shell. The slaves are also used as boarders in combat (backed up by illithid mind blasts), and as rations on long voyages, so the rate of attrition amongst them is high. The captain oversees the ship from the command station, while the first officer is usually stationed near the catapult on the battle deck. Since the battle deck is the most likely place for any enemy boarders to attack the ship, it is a dangerous location, so the first officer's position is not envied. As a result, the first officer is usually conspiring to take the place of the captain. No position is completely safe on a mind flayer ship, however, since assassination is a relatively common form of illithid advancement.

Manufacturer

Illithid Empire