Arachne, Spider-Morphs, and Driders (Codex)

Race: Arachne, Spider-Morphs, and Driders

Genders: Female, Male, and Hermaphrodite

Hair: Typically red, black, orange, or green. Rarely, brown.

Skin: All varieties of spider-kin typically have very pale ‘skin’ in the places their chitin does not cover. Some rare individuals will be born dark, nearly black-skinned, but in general their human portions are very white.

Carapace: Spider-kin have varying amounts of carapace depending on their type. Arachne are covered in it everywhere except for their faces. Drider bodies are similar to a spider’s from the waist down, and as such have a large amount of carapace. Some Driders have portions of their upper body covered as well (typically hands and forearms), but it is somewhat uncommon. Spider-morphs generally only have carapace covering their legs up to the thigh, and sometimes their forearms. However, spider-morphs tend to have the greatest variety in carapace placement of all spider-kin, and some have been known to have carapace plating on their back as well as shoulder-spinnerets. All spider-kin either have black, white, yellow, or red colored carapace. The bright colors will usually appear as accents or patterns instead of a full-body coloration.

Eyes: Solid yellow, red, black, or purple with small, black pupil in the middle. All spider-kin have a chance of having either four or six such eyes. Typically the extras are located on the forehead, above the primary pair, and are much smaller.

Facial Features: Largely human. Spider-kin ALL have long, needle-like retractable canines that can be used for injecting venom or drinking blood. Unlike normal spiders, spider-kin are capable of surviving on an omnivorous diet, but love to dine the ‘spider-way’ when possible.

Body Structure: Arachne and spider-morphs have the most in common with other bipeds. Their hand structure is exactly the same as a human’s, save for the chance of being encased in an exoskeleton. Some spider-kin are born with four arms, though only ‘pure-born’ ones seem to show this trait. All arachne and spider-morphs have an arachnid-like abdomen that grows from their back, just above their butt-cheeks, though it has a tendency to hang low when being ignored. On Driders, the anus and corresponding “cheeks” are located just above the beginning of their spider half. Though there is no known reason for this disparity in anal positioning, it does allow Driders to fold their spider segments flat between their many legs and allow themselves to be taken anally in the traditional way.

Legs: All spider-kin save for Driders have humanoid legs and feet. However, unlike humans, spider-kin feet only have a few toes that can be hooked together to grip and climb on webs. Drider lower bodies are entirely spider-like. They have eight spider legs, used for scaling webs or walls, as well as a much larger abdomen than less spider-races.

Venoms: All spider-kin have aphrodisiac venom. Driders and Arachne both have a paralyzing toxin they can call upon as well.

Webbing: Spider-kin can spray webbing from their abdomens with a great degree of control, enabling any spider-kin to create either sticky webs or silk-like web-threads. Thankfully for them, the webbing does not adhere to their exoskeletons, enabling any variety of spider-kin to traverse another’s web with ease. Spider-morphs are very careful to avoid touching the webbing with their bare skin, and many Drider and arachne find it quite fun to prank the lesser spider-kin by trapping them in webs.

Reproduction: Spider-kin reproduction is a fairly standard affair. A male mates with a female, impregnating her eggs. One to two weeks later the mother will give birth to roughly one dozen eggs, which she will bind up in an egg sack and hang from a tree or cave ceiling. A week after that, immature spider-kin will emerge, ready to hunt. It takes roughly one month for them to reach their adult size and intelligence. Spider-kin are very intelligent and learn languages almost supernaturally quickly. When mixed varieties of spider-kin mate, the offspring are a mix of their mother and father’s type. If, for example, a Drider and arachne were to mate, the resulting brood would be composed of roughly 5-6 arachne and 5-6 Driders, though there can be some variation in the exact amounts.

Corrupted Reproduction: Unfortunately, the rising tide of corruption in the land has affected the ways that spider-kin copulate in more nefarious ways. Those females who have been exposed to high levels of corruption quickly grow large ovipositors from the bottoms of their abdomens, and are capable of laying their corrupted offspring inside the vaginal canals or anuses of their victims. These corrupt spider-kin often drip venom when agitated or aroused, and can poison or arouse with just a kiss. Eggs laid from their tainted ovipositors do absorb personally traits and some modest physical changes from the host-mother, but still hatch entirely as spiders, regardless of the mother’s race. Thankfully, the eggs will induce labor and force themselves from the host mother’s body moments before they are due to hatch. Once laid, the spider-kin young-lings will emerge and skitter off in search of their first meal. Though corrupted, these spider-kin aren’t necessarily in league with demons or monstrous in their desires. Simply being exposed to corrupt fluids a few times in short order can have this affect, leaving a mostly pure-hearted spider-girl with a distended, egg-filled ovipositor and the desire to use it. Succubi drafts have also been known to cause this effect in spider-kin, even males.

History: Spider-kin are a relatively new addition to Mareth. They were originally humans who came through a newly opened portal in the swamp. Unfortunately for those humans, they came into contact with a fairly rare variety of spider that infests that portion of the swamp known as “red widows” for their red coloration and poisonous venom. Like all creatures in Mareth, the red widows were changed as the demons claimed power, and their venom became somewhat less deadly, if more transformative. The newly arrived immigrants were bitten, one by one, each time changing more to resemble the spiders of their new homeland. After a few weeks of this, they had become spider-kin. They could not leave through the portal they had entered, and they had already developed strange new cravings. In spite of this, the new spider-kin established a small village around their portal and resolved not to eat other sentient creatures. They even began to trade with other villages, exchanging silk for foodstuffs and metals they could not procure in their swampy home. Before long, a few rogue arachne and Driders tired of this, and split off from their more peaceful brethren. They believed themselves a superior predator, and had no such qualms about eating other thinking beings. Once the demons began their conquest of the swamps, these renegades quickly joined them, wallowing in corruption to become even greater predators. Their more peaceful kin tried to fight, but were utterly defeated. Those who survived scattered throughout the swamp, eking out a far more feral life. Most of these survivors struggle with loneliness as much as their physical and sexual desires. It is recommended that the swamp be avoided by all but the stoutest adventurers for this reason – you never know if the spider you meet is merely lonely, lusty, or hungry. Thankfully prey is plentiful, and it is rare to find one of these spiders so hungry they’d rather eat you than converse or fuck.

Other Notes: Spider-kin venom is believed to be a crucial ingredient in the lust drafts and poisons used by the goblins of Mareth, but those weak toxins lose most of their potency after a short time. When injected fresh, it is a great deal more powerful and dangerous than those weak drugs.