The "Aberrant Mind" sorcerer subclass is one of my favorite Unearthed Arcana's to be released.

While the description provides some options for how your character came into their psionic powers (surviving the mind-flaying transformation, yikes!), I was curious what some other people might have come up with to explain their psionic powers.

I've brainstormed (ha) several ideas...one is a duregar dwarf whose psionics are particularly potent...or a half-drow elf who traces their psionic lineage back to House Obladra in Menzoberranzen, known for their psionics.

Other origins are just exposure to the Far Realm at some point...a cursed book filled with strange symbols that seem to warp and float (these symbols appear around the sorcerer when they use the magic).

What are some character concepts you've all created for the Aberrant Mind?

Most of these can be used for any campaign setting, but I've labeled the ones specific to eberron, unless your DM chooses to allow you to be these in a different setting:

You were once the slave of an Aboleth, you managed to break free, but the psychic link you once shared with the aboleth still is a part of you, changing you, you no longer can communicate with the aboleth, but the link has warped to give you psionic powers.

You were a simulacrum created by an extremely powerful mind flayer arcanist or alhoon, they used a thrall to create your body, and then a wish spell to bring you to life. You later managed to escape from the mind flayer's power, but you still have nightmares of the terrible experiments that the illithid did on you.

You are a githyanki or githzerai that managed to become lost in the Astral Plane for a long time, possibly centuries, and the realm of thought became a part of you, now you can use it's planar magic anywhere you go, manipulating things with your mind, it is now a part of you.

You are a kalashtar, and you were adventuring one day in the Mror holds, hired to delve deep into their lost mines and discover what was down there. You met a Daelkyr, who warped you in some way, and changed you into what you are today. Your bonded quori is no longer a part of you, out of reach, and you are now a different race, and the warping that you went through has awoken recently given you strange powers, the ability to speak in other's minds once more, the ability to cast spells with your mind and soul, making this warping a part of you, and you wish to be reunited with your previous quori spirit. (eberron)

You are a psiforged (psionic warforged embedded with crystals), created by House Cannith as a living wand of psionic power. (eberron)

You were born in a Xoriat manifest zone. (eberron)

You are a dragonborn with the draconic origin of a gemstone dragon.

You were once disintegrated/eaten by a beholder, and later resurrected with true resurrection. You learned while dead that all those who are killed by a beholder become a part of them, a dream in their mind, that they warp and change with their thoughts. Your horrific experience ended when you woke up, but you realize that those terrible dreams that you experienced were real, and sometimes the warping you experienced in the dreams truly manifest at any given moment.

One of your parents was a mind flayer thrall.

You were imprisoned by a dream spell in a wild magic zone. Something with the spell went wrong, changing you, giving you magical psionic powers that are now a part of you.

Here are a few ideas, I hope you like them!