Perdikai

Perdikai: a humanoid arachnid race. Most are highly magically inclined, especially toward destructive magics. Because they have high magic affinity, they can be trained to use medallions with ease. (Let it be known just because you can use destructive magic easily, doesn’t mean you’re inclined spiritually which is the line needed for summoning.) It should also be noted that because it is so easy, that these people became over-greedy with power and hunted more and more powerful beasts to take control of. (Definitely didn’t help them in the long run, because using such powerful magics has negative effects on their bodies). This race is one of the main reasons the blood contracts ceased between humanoids and beasts. They used a lot of beasts to fight for them as slaves during the continental wars, and thus a lot of blood was shed and many beings died tragic, unnecessary deaths.. Horrible horrible deeds. The Perdikai were defeated in the last war between themselves and Idola, but there are still a decent population of them in control of Akha, lying in wait experimenting and hunting out the most powerful beasts they can get their hands on to fight once more. It is probably good to note that even if the Perdikai are considered an evil race, that not everyone is evil among them.
The Perdikai are above average height of humans. With the females standing at an average of 6’6” they are some of the largest creatures on the planet. The men are a touch shorter. They have long, thin limbs, even longer, knobby fingers, and atypical feet (see illustration). They have a small skull, with dark hair most usually, four eyes on women and five on men, nasal slits, a pair of mandibles/fangs on their lower jaw containing venom, and a mouth underneath the jaw. Can move very quickly as well.
These people are frail, and don’t typically live longer than 50 years. (High magic usage cuts this even further.) Their reproduction cycle is odd too, females are only fertile in the summer/fall, and their gestation period is shorter than humans, at 5 months. Perdikai typically have 4-6 children at once. However, because their short pregnancies thus put birth times into early winter/spring, many of the babies do not survive, especially in the northern parts of the country. They also partially blame this on the curse that made them the way they are. Hard births and many deaths. Children mature quickly, reaching adulthood between 8-10 years old.
Courting rituals- it is common for one female Perdikai to have an entire collection of men, and they will compete for her favor over a month or two, after which the female will pick one for that mating cycle.
She will make a web and will typically dominate the male, tying him up, etc, though it isn’t unheard of for them to put up a fake fight for excitement purposes. Some ‘positions’ are impossible with these peoples’ anatomy, but their intercourse generally works the same as humans.
They do not lay eggs, instead the females’ lower abdomen is not solid-plated to allow for growth of the offspring. Increase in breast size at the end of pregnancy is common, for milk production, but they do not stay that size forever. After the Perdikai’s next molt, they will return to their normal, mostly-flat state. They have six small breasts along the front of their torso in two rows of three.
Birth is a family affair, and all of a woman’s men are present (by threat of death if they aren’t tbh). A provincial doctor will be called (or the family’s private doctor if they have one), and the woman is usually pampered during this process, as it is quite painful and much like a female human’s birth. Cracking of chitin is somewhat common when birthing and extremely painful. Their birth canal/ovipositor doesn’t stretch the way a human female’s does, and thus the offspring are much smaller to allow for this birthing process. They are usually 3-4 lbs and taken to be cleaned immediately.
Female babies with have a small sort of growth at their back, and it is very important to be gentle with it, as you can hurt her very easily there until the skin has hardened. Male babies are just the same, minus the extra growth.
Do they have placenta?
Sure. Typically eaten for its nutrients. Some families like to share it to bring themselves closer to the offspring and mother.
Side note: It is important to note that just because she picked a certain male for mating, doesn’t mean the others are free to go attempt with other women. If you are in a woman’s harem, you are part of her family, and it is common for women to kill men they find cheating. Accepted even. If a woman didn’t kill after finding such a thing out, she might be considered weak, though depending on the male, they would want to keep him for future use and he might just be punished instead. Sometimes publicly, if the knowledge of their infidelity has left their house and become common. There is no marriage among these people, but these ‘family’ situations are considered permanent once entered. A woman could allow one of her men to leave for another family, but this does not happen often, and he will be ostracized by the rest of the family he left usually.
When Perdikai die, their eyes are eaten as a sort of ritual among the family, this is especially true for the men. Eyes are seen as the window to the soul, and eating them may allow you to stay connected to that fallen member. When a man dies, the center eye is always saved for their female, and for women, the men compete over all of them. Afterwards the body is burnt and their soul returned to the flowing falls of Ukalie.
Career opportunities are quite limited for Perdikai. They are usually good at magic and thus go into that educational path, and if they aren’t... well, you can see how they would be ostracized from major society. Those that aren’t good at magic usually become servants or caregivers, latching onto a family for protection more than mating.
Because of Perdikai’s weak physical strength, a lot of their structures are either built by other beings or out of web entirely.
(Seamstress-Bubble's OC would be this race if she were in this world!)
Perdikai are not good at heavy lifting, or long hard hours of outside work (which is why they live underground). Because of this, they use the Gruntora for their workforce.
Perdikai Careers: Seamstress, Servants, Caregivers, Government work, Tailor, Teacher, Magician, Spinner (construction of underground cities), I guess most anything that doesn’t require lifting anything more than 30 lbs, or deals with heat or too much light. They probably run a lot of shops.