* Restricted: Spider Cultists only
Spider Cults are secreted across the Underworld and
Overworld, wherever Spiders are to be found.
They are mostly located in the wilderness, and especially in the Jungle
and Forests, but some Cults have extended their Webs into cities.
Being E/L the Spider Cults work together, in one vast interconnected Web
of operations, but there can still be fierce rivalry between individual Cults
and between Nests of the same Cult.
All Spider Cults are female-dominated, with a matriarchal structure ruled by
exclusively female Elders, but most include some male Cultists (who have their
uses).
UNGOL, E/L Demigoddess of Spiders, is Spider Queen and
Patron of the Spider Cults. She
dwells in the Black Cave of Torech UNGOL at the Dark Heart of The Gossamer
Realm, Dreamworld of Spiders. UNGOL
Clerics have their Spells granted by WAGREN (formerly LOFIR), as UNGOL is part
of His (formerly Her) Host of Evil Law.
XAXIX supports the Cults’ Beastmaster Druids through Her
Spider Spirits. Spider Beastmasters
have a specific Druidic Spell List, with Spider Plant as the unique medium for
their J’Ungol Cycle of Spells. The
Spider Cults are particularly Mystical and are concerned with exploring and
maintaining the Webs of the Sacred Circles.
The Spider Cults have many Binders, Summoning ARACHNNE, E/L
Demon Lady of Spiders and Servant of UNGOL, Who appears as a huge Spider,
provides Spider Familiars, Grows Giant Spiders, turns them into Phase Spiders
and grants them the Power to PhaseWalk into the Gossamer Realm.
The Spider Cults breed Giant and Phase Spiders and some
Cultists ride them into combat.
They milk their Spiders for Venom and deal in Poisons and Antidotes, but most
Cults view Poison dealing as more of an income-producing sideline, rather than
as the Sacred Duty of their Cult (as do the Scorpion Cults).
Some Cults deal in silk for clothing.
Their research into the Sacred Circles, Binding, Poisons
and related subjects and their desire to preserve and pass on this knowledge for
the benefit of their Cult has made some Spider Cultists great Sages and
Librarians. The secret Libraries of
the Spider Cults in underground caves are not generally open to visitors from
outside their own Cult, but they are willing to trade knowledge and books and so
have become respected and influential amongst Sages and Librarians.
Spider Cultists have affinities with Earth and Water, but
an aversion to Fire (though they do not count as Fire Vulnerable).
Their Elementalists favour Earth and Water Spells.
The Spider Cults prefer to work from the shadows, but the
following are eight of the more notorious Spider Cults:
·
The
Liantelië (Quenya for
“Spider People”) are the Spider Cult of the High Elves, with their Temple of
UNGOL located beneath the roots of the Temple Tree of WAGREN in Mírlinnyrn.
They are powerful Binders, have a renowned Secret Library and work with
the Aldalië (“Tree People”) to
maintain the Webs of Sacred Circles for the health of the Forests.
They spin the finest spider-silk for the Elves of Mírlinnyrn.
·
The Ungwaith
(Sindarin for “Spider People”) are the Spider Cults of the Sindar Elves of Taur
Galen and the Lost Country. They
are a more diverse group than the Liantelië
and tend to be more active Fighter/Thievish Scouts and Druids than Binders,
Mystics and Sages, but do have a few Spider Seers (especially amongst the Lost
Country Cults). They breed many
different kinds of Giant Spiders, including Trapdoor and Jumping Spiders and
deal in Poisons, Antidotes and Oils of Etherealness.
They are willing to trade silk to non-Elvish customers, although their
prices can be high.
·
The Black
Widows are an exclusively-female Thievish/Assassin Spider Cult, with a
widely-distributed Web of Cultists, including members embedded in other Spider
Cults. The Forest of Hazki in SW
Valdrea is one of their strongholds.
They are one of the Spider Cults that operates in Cities, especially in
the Underworld but also in Vavistor.
·
The
Deadly Tarantulas are Giant Spider breeders and riders and some of the most
fearsome warriors amongst the Spider Cults.
Their Binders enhance the Powers of their Giant Tarantulas.
They originated in the Jungle, but have spread via the Web of Sacred
Circles and Gossamer Realm and are now also established in caves beneath the
Mountains of the Underworld, from where they supply Giant and Phase Spiders to
the Armies of Hell.
·
The
Atrocious Atracids (a nickname given to them by their competitors, which
they have adopted with pride - their real name in the local Mabula dialect being
a secret, and probably unpronounceable by outsiders) are a Spider Cult of the
Southern fringes of the Jungle who are amongst the most interested in Poison
Dealing. Their fearsome Giant
Funnel-Web Spiders produce the deadliest Venom, which they craft into high-level
Blade Venoms that are exported via Port Kambo or the Gossamer Kingdom to the
Poison Markets of Vavistor and beyond.
They are experts with blowpipes and poison darts and defend their
territory fearsomely against intruders.
·
The
Shifting Spiders are a particularly secretive Phase Spider Cult with their
main Nest believed to be in the Shifting Caves on the edge of the Shifting
Stones of Kargen. They are said to
have been ousted by the Bear Cult from the Lonely Circle and maintain an uneasy
truce with the other Beastmasters of Kargen.
Their Cultists are occasionally encountered in the Gossamer Realm or on
the Ethereal Plane, mounted on Phase Spiders armed with Super-Heavy Crossbows
which presumably shoot envenomed quarrels (few who have found out have survived
to tell of the encounter). They deal exclusively through the Alchemists’ Guilds
in Oils of Etherealness as well as Poisons.
·
The
Hangers in the Hemlocks are a Spider Cult of the North West Forest with a
Dark Circle beneath Rastill Circle.
They are secretive but not unfriendly to other Spider Cultists and occasionally
co-operate with the Seekers of the Lost.
They are a Mystical Cult of Dreamers known amongst Spider Cults for their
Spider Seers.
·
The Dark
Spiders of the North East Forest are believed to be based at Black Spider
Circle in the Far North East Forest.
Little is known about them, or even whether that is their correct name,
but Dark Spider Cultists are presumed to be behind the waves of Giant Spiders
overrunning that area of the Forest and are clearly aggressive.
Ghost Spiders have been encountered, but it is unclear if these are part
of the Spider Cult or the results of their encounters with the Ghosts of the
North East Forest.
Go to Druidic Spell List of the Spider Cults
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