I think the most interesting of these are the Urophion, Tzakandi, Mindwitness, Uchuulon and Brainstealer Dragon since they seem to show that there is a very wide range of useable forms. The Kezreth mutated war-machine mentioned in "The Illithid Empire and the New Illithid Arsenal" implies that further changes can be made post-transformation.
Some initial rough thoughts were:
- The only limit that seems to be there is size - we see no ogres, giants, etc.
- If lizardfolk, grimlocks, gnolls and the wide range of goblinoids can be ceromorphised, why not aquatics - merfolk and tritons seem obviously suitable hosts, perhaps even loacathah, sahaugin and kuo-toa
- One would imagine that suitably adapted mindflayer colonies would be perfectly happy in the depths of the oceans, with extra miles of sun-blocking water overhead
- If a roper or dragon can be ceromorphised into Urophions and Brainstealer Dragons, why not a dragon turtle or giant crab?
- What about other large mammals with big brains - whales, dolphins? Are they tasty as is? What about an awakened one?
But testing this a bit more; mindflayers can move in 3D through psionic or magical power anyway so as a start point would prefer to dwell out of water to avoid being slowed down. The ideal state would be mountains and the surface in a place where the sun has been blocked or snuffed out. Where this has not happened and the baleful glare of the hateful day-star still dominate the sky, mindflayers may well choose the vast open ranges of the aquatic deeps. The sun is kept at bay by hundreds of feet of water, and they have greater freedom than the cave systems of the underdark.
Assuming our seas are populated with aquatics then there will be an abundance of tasty brains too. Our first difference is that it will be much more easy to tell who a mind-flayers base species was compared to the surface; merfolk, tritons and sahuagin look very different from the waist down.
So with that in mind, d20 things one might encounter at a deep sea mindflayer colony
1. Tzakandi-like sahuagin ceromorphs - potentially favoured for greater depth tolerance, fiercer illithids. More inclined towards solving problems by carving them up with their claws with a duelling culture to match
2. Triton and Locathah ceromorphs that are the closest to classic illithids we find; more or less identical but with webbed extremities and water-breathing gills
3. Merfolk and Merrow ceromorphs - classic mindflayers but with tails - architecture will be significantly different to reflect this, with greater verticality, fewer floors, stronger 3D-use of space and all of it more spaced out to match their swimming strengths.
4. Kuo-Toa ceromorphs - can have some very strange effects when mindflayers dominate and subjugate kuo-toa communities; the self-fulfilling minor godlike entities of the kuo-toa melded with the deep-time and -space influences of mindflayers to lead to some bizarre colonies, ranging from grotesque intrusions of the far realm to Galaxy-Quest or 40k Ork style hyper-tech communities that works only because they believe it does.
5. Dolphin/Whale ceromorphs - varying in size only, the end result of both of these is as intelligent as a typically illithid but in many colonies will find itself lower in the pecking order due to lack of hands - even given strong telekinesis. Often resentful and eager to take out slights on others.
6. Brainstealer dragon-turtle - likely to be the leader of the colony, a dread creature and scourge of the oceans. Everything you hated about a brainstealer dragon but with a shell.
7. Sea Serpent - sometimes ceromorphised to make war-thralls; their huge appetites make them expensive to keep
8. Giant crabs - aquatic equivalent of intellect devourers but also with claws - often used by a colonies elder brain as servitors to enact its will.
9. Pet octopi - kept for spooky aesthetic purposes in the same way necromancers decorate their homes with skulls
10. Undead - always a neat answer to repetitive, long-duration tasks. Can become barnacled, coral encrusted and otherwise armoured and also hard to see
11. Roper-clams, giant sea snails - together with other giant molluscs act as Urophions in the underdark, serving as utterly loyal watch-beasts
12. Nautilus - the precursor organism for the famed Nautiloid flying vessel - very large, can serve as an aquatic transport
13. Giant squid - watch-creatures for extremely deep colonies, sometimes awakened and taught qualith to act as message couriers.
14. Dominated sea-giants - most often as fighting-thralls, occassionally as 'fronts' with a giants dwelling acting as the visible outer part of a mindflayer colony while it amasses strength
15. Chuuls - Uchuulon adapted for the deeps, serve as battle thralls
16. Trilobites - truly ancient colonies may have trilobite ceromorphs, similar to cranium-rats underwater, with strange counts of tentacles
17. Hunting thralls - Sharks, rays and swordfish ceromorphs - large fish become wonderful hunters and escorts
18. Stalking thralls - Angler fish, Rays, Eels - rarely ceromorphised, used as watch-creatures.
19. Reef-shamblers - aquatic shambling mounds, often cultivated to render defensive reef-works more dangerous and as early warning watch-beasts
20. Oceanic constructs - can be either purpose built for swimming, from materials found in the deeps, or stone and other heavy materials to lurk on the bottom where a more durable solution is needed than simple undead.
Pliosaur, Plesiosaur, turtles, crocodiles and other reptiles are not typically found serving these deep aquatic communities due to their air breathing nature but might be found as watch creatures gruarding shallower approaches
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