7 Important Facts About Nautiloids In Baldur’s Gate 3
In the beginning of Baldur’s Gate 3, there is a big scene with a Nautiloid, but these ships have been around for a long time in the D&D world.
Dungeons & Dragons stories feature a wide range of creatures and worlds, from small towns in the green countryside to huge cities that sparkle with dark magic. A Nautiloid is one way to get around these worlds, including the strange fields.
It looks like a seafaring ship at first, something like a long speedboat or a yacht, but the presence of tentacles and a massive conch shell shows a vessel of the Nautiloid class. One of these ships was the focus of the first cut scenes in Baldur’s Gate 3. It was a technological marvel, but most explorers probably wouldn’t want to visit it. But the Illithids, who are also called Mind Flayers, did not use every Nautiloid. In the D&D world, this cool technology is used by a number of different races.
The Spelljammer Class
People often think of D&D as an ancient fantasy game, but it has a lot of room for science fiction and space opera as well. Spelljammer: Adventures in Space is a famous module that has adventures with these kinds of themes. The name comes from the most common way to travel through space.
Spelljammer is the name of a group of ships that can move between worlds, and the Nautiloid is one of these ships. In the first scene of Baldur’s Gate 3, a Nautiloid goes to several different places, including one of the Nine Hells. However, not all ships in this class can do this.
Trade With The Mercane
In older D&D books and movies, they were called the “Arcane,” and they were an ancient race of traders, travelers, and mages who were very good at both. Over time, their name changed to show that trade was a big part of their culture. The Mercane were the first beings to come up with and build the technology that made Nautiloids possible. They also sold helms that could be used to power and guide Nautiloid ships.
The Mercane were the only ones who knew how to make these special helms. They make different helms for each species to make them as useful as possible. This is one reason why Spelljammer class ships, like Nautiloids, became so rare over time.
They Appear In A Variety Of D&D Media
Baldur’s Gate 3 puts the Nautiloid in the spotlight, but it’s not the first time the creature has been in a D&D video game or other media. Even though it looks scary, it’s not a way for bad guys or cruel people to get around.There have also been a lot of good explorers who have been on one of these powerful ships.
The March/April 1991 issue of Dungeon magazine had a Nautiloid on the cover. The ships show up often in the Spelljammer tales, which include a comic book series, a video game called Spelljammer: Pirates of Realmspace, and a gaming module.
An Illithid Nautiloid
Even though Illithids don’t always drive Nautiloids, it’s easy to think that they do because the two have a lot in common. The Mercane helped the Illithids build their ships and learn how to travel between worlds.
This was different from other races, whose helms were made just for them, and the technology that made that possible was kept secret. It’s not clear why the Mercane paid extra attention to the Illithids, but Mind Flayers are known for being persuasive, so they probably made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.
A Mixed Crew
In Baldur’s Gate 3, not every prisoner on the Illithid Nautilod was meant to turn into one of the creatures in the end. The crew of this type of ship was usually made up of Illithids and humanoid slaves. The humanoid slaves did the more dangerous or hard work.
Part of the plot of BG3 is that people with the “eye worm” don’t seem to be slaves or Illithids, so what were they supposed to do? The idea is that the Illithoids had found a new technology, maybe something related to the Nautiloids’ ability to move between different worlds, and were testing it on humanoid subjects.
The Dreadnoughts
Dreadnoughts were a type of Nautiloid that only Mind Flayers could use. They were a lot bigger than the ones that were mostly made for traveling. These were made to fight, chase, and sometimes carry cargo. The Illithids used these ships to find, catch, and infect their food as it moved from world to world.
The Mercane helped the Illithids come up with some unique tools, like the pool helm, which was used to steer and control the Dreadnought. The Nautiloid in Spacebar Clicker is pretty big, but it doesn’t seem to have any of its signature features, like a conch shell lying on its side instead of standing up or a separate head used as a battle station.
The Flight Of The Id Ascendant
The ship at the start of BG3 wasn’t the first one to crash on some unfortunate Faerun residents. The Id Ascendant, a strange ship, crashed in bad weather when its engines stopped working because it was flying too low. Finding the ship is part of the journey in Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden.
The ship was mostly used for research, but it gathered samples in the same way that slaver ships do. Because of this, it often ran into ships that sold slaves, or “flesh peddlers.” It might be best to let each side kill the other, but a leader needs to step in again.
