So, in the light of this, why can't the Emperor accept the risk of Orpheus turning on it and killing it once he is freed? Logically speaking, it has either:
- a 100% chance of being controlled by the netherbrain and either being its puppet again or dying to the true souls
- a greater than 0% chance of Orpheus sparing it and then killing the netherbrain together
Considering the Emperor knows that only an illithid can control the netherbrain, it's highly likely that it realizes that it can find a way to negotiate with Orpheus. After all, Orpheus logically speaking has basically 2 options:
- Kill the emperor and have to turn illithid/have someone else who is not full-illithid become full-illithid
- work with the emperor and take down the netherbrain
and for the argument that, "Orpheus doesn't know if he can trust the Emperor; What if he turns on them at the last moment, controlling the netherbrain rather than destroying it?", I have this response:
Orpheus still retains hive-mind disruption, therefore he (and the true souls) would be unaffected by the Emperor's subjugation of the netherbrain. Because of this, if he for a moment thinks the emperor is going to turn on them, he and the true souls can kill it. Therefore, the Emperor, who is so concerned with its own survival, should definitely be trustworthy. After all, a mind flayer with a common goal as you is the only time where it is okay to trust a mind flayer.
The Emperor is pretty much going against their character by joining the Brain.
At the very least, I think that a die check would be the best solution. The player still has the opportunity to side with one or the other, but has a chance to do both for a great ending.
