Talnoksi

Faction

Here's how Mikell Pavlovich explains the Talnoksi.

We are illithids who reject our ancestry as aberrations. We seek to settle peacefully among the intelligences of this multiverse. We have hidden colonies across the planes. We practice pacifism and sustainability.
We were led to these ways of being by Svogromussk the Beneficent. Svogromussk is an Elder Brain who achieved divinity. Svogromussk teaches the Path of Giving. They teach us to spread goodwill, kindness, and justice, and to oppose the efforts of our cousins, the dark illithids. 
We carry out that opposition through the Psionic Order of Beneficence. The Order is dedicated to spreading the word of Svogromussk to other illithids. We give them a choice: turn away from the darkness of the Path of Taking, or be destroyed.
We feed only on the brains and minds of truly evil intelligences. We only perform ceremorphosis on volunteers from suitable species. In the process, Svogromussk tests a volunteer. If they are worthy, they receive the Gift of Beneficence. They become a merged being, partly of their original species and partly illithid.
Svogromussk's Gift of Beneficence is a blessing. They feed us regular psionic energy and nutrition. It suppresses our instinctual hunger for brains and minds. This allows us to pursue craftsmanship, artistry, and diplomatic relations. In my case, it allows me to study the arcane arts without being ostracized from a colony.
The Psionic Order of Beneficence expands as we rescue victims of dark illithids and destroy our cousins' colonies.