[lost prophet]

I was reading a book (one of the drizzt series by R.A Salvatore I think) and in the it explains that illithids are an extremely competitive race, and the idea of throwing there own personal little champions into battle must satify some deep inner need to win agaisnt each other. They capture other races and enslave them, making them fight or ( for the nimble races) tend to the "master brain" of there colony.