Squigling Steerer

Ocean

Tentacle

Ink Spray

Some squiglings have psionic capabilities developed enough to allow them to assume control of another creature’s brain. To do so, a squigling must maintain direct contact with the victim's brain with at least two of their tentacles at once, which is often facilitated by boring holes into the skull. While controlling another creature in this way, the squigling gains access to all of that creature’s memories and is able to pilot their body as the creature would themselves, all while mounted atop the creature’s skull. Such squiglings are known as squigling steerers. In cases where a squigling tribe has decided to wage a significant overland assault, squigling steerers are used both to gather information from the enemy by accessing their memories as well as to pilot creatures that might be better suited to overland travel.

Squiglings are amphibious squid-like aberrations roughly three-and-a-half-feet tall that possess inherent psionic ability. They organize themselves into tribal groups ranging from several dozen to several hundreds of members and make their lairs in a variety of aquatic environments, from sunken shipwrecks to coastal caves. Squiglings feed exclusively on the brains of fish and mammals, and hunt large prey such as whales or sharks using their superior numbers and expert coordination facilitated by their telepathic ability. 

Some scholars believe that mind flayers and squiglings share a similar creation story and extraplanar origin, and suggest a physiological relation between the two species. Others believe that squiglings are native to the Elemental Plane of Water, where they have flourished as primordial beings since the beginning of the world itself. 

Squiglings have innate bioluminescent and camouflage abilities and are perfectly adapted to coastal and aquatic environments. Their superior intelligence, both individually and collectively, result in a wide range of societal outcomes. Some squigling tribes may be strictly hierarchical, while others operate as fiercely egalitarian collectives. Because squiglings consume brain matter exclusively, they often leave large portions of any carcasses behind, after they have harvested the few bodily components they might need for other purposes. A squigling hunting party is likely to leave a trail of whale corpses in its wake that then become their own localised ecosystems as other creatures converge to feed on the scraps.

Squigling Steerer

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