Misthair Spider
Misthair Spider is a variation of the Giant Spider, selectively bred by the Drow for the purpose of producing Spider Silk. Misthairs are one of the most priced of the silk weaving spiders, due the quality of their silk, but also known the most pickiest.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Typical Misthair spider is covered by thin, soft grey hair. Their legs are long compared to their body, and their fangs are long and thin, with necrotic venom. Typical Misthair spider is between 20 to 25 cm tall and weighs 3 to 4 kg.
Ecology and Habitats
Misthair Spiders are found in the caves of Underdark, mostly living in captivity. Species was specially bred for silk-weaving purposes. Misthairs found beyond drow settlements are either strays or offspring of stray spiders, or curiosities either bought or stolen from the drow who bred them.
Best habitats for the Misthair are slightly damp but not too moist dark caves, with plenty of small nooks for the spiders to crawl on and dig their nests. They like to bury themselves in dirt and sand near their webs, making caves with solid stone floors less ideal for them.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Rodents and amphibians are the favourite types of meals for any Misthair spider, and they prefer living food to the dead one. While hungry Misthair may nibble on other types of meat to keep itself alive, some individuals rather starve than let themselves eat something "inferior" for their tastes. For a spider, they also consume quite a bit of water, usually on the surface of moist rocks or inground plantlife.
Misthair Spider hunts by making webs near pools of water or little holes on the ground, burying themselves on the ground and waiting for something to tug their web, before bouncing at the prey and killing it with their deadly fangs.
Additional Information
Domestication
Misthair spiders are a product of generations of selective breeding, making them less aggressive towards humanoids than more wild species, yet that doesn't mean these spiders would be tame. Some specimens are particularly relaxed and even help as pets, however, most are better served as priced farm animals, like the most expensive and pampered form of cattle.
Uses, Products & Exploitation
Most valuable resource gotten from Misthairs is their gossamer, which is usually picked up from a ball of the web that spider makes around its eggs to protect them after the small spiders have already hatched. Gossamer is then turned to a thread, that is used for making the finest, most intricate, seethrough and reflective pieces of fabric, only worn by the wealthiest of the drow society. Environment and handling of the spiders has great effect on the quality of silk produced, different patches more fitting to certain uses.
Eggs of the spider, as well as old spiders that aren't used as weavers anymore, are sometimes used as food source, yet Misthair spiders do not make a particularly good delicacy. The venom of the spider, however, makes decent rat poison, that can be harvested and used to protect food from rodents.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Typical to Giant Spiders, Misthairs have excellent darvision and short ranged blindsight.
Male: 20 to 23 cm
She was beautiful: her hair flowed down her graceful shoulders like streams of liquid moonlight, her make up spot on, that sharp, bold eyeliner made the crystal blue colour of her eyes truly pop up. The dress was Izil’daerryn’s favourite, the one he always saw her wearing; the long, close-cut hem of thinnest spider silk licked her curves. It was the best kind of spider silk, the one that showed the whole spectrum of colours in the way it didn’t need anything else to aid its natural beauty.
He remembered it being the most lavishly expensive fabric the Spiderbanes -and the whole city, to that matter- had to offer. The most perfect of the flawless patch which only happened -they say- when a female spider is in its prime and fully content on the environment it is kept in. But those spiders tend to be very picky creatures and rarely if even once in a hundred years, produce a skein or two of this ultimate quality. Just enough for one dress. And what a dress it was.
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