Githyanki

Githyanki
Githyanki as shown in the Fiend Folio.
Characteristics
Alignment	Almost Always Any evil
Type	Humanoid (Extraplanar)
Publication history
First appearance	Fiend Folio (1981)

The githyanki (pronounced: gith-YAN-kee) are a fictional humanoid race in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. They are cousins to the githzerai. In the Dark Sun setting, they are simply called gith. Githyanki appeared in, and on the cover of, the 1981 edition of the Fiend Folio.

The githyanki were introduced by Charles Stross in his Advanced Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Stross borrowed the name from a fictional race created by George R. R. Martin in his 1977 science fiction novel Dying of the Light. George R. R. Martin himself was not aware that the name had been borrowed until a fan and D&D player informed him after a public reading in 1983. The githyanki/illithid relationship was inspired by Larry Niven's World of Ptavvs.

The githyanki have appeared in all editions of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game since Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

In Martin's novel, the githyanki were called "soulsucks" because of their dangerous psychic powers. They were slaves of another alien race called the hrangans, and were used by them in their long space wars with humanity. Unlike the D&D race, they were barely sapient. No githyanki actually appear in Dying of the Light, as the book takes place after the war between the humans and the hrangans is long over, and the soulsucks are nearly extinct. There is also passing reference to them in Martin's short-story collection Tuf Voyaging.

The githyanki was first published in White Dwarf #12 (April/May 1979), in the "Fiend Factory" column. In White Dwarf #15 readers were asked to vote for their top ten "Fiend Factory" monsters. The top ten, including the githyanki, were later reprinted in Best of White Dwarf Articles (1980). The githyanki then appears in 1981 in the first edition Fiend Folio, and even appears on the book's cover.