Aranea

Basic Information

Anatomy

Aranea are essentially giant, sapient spiders.

Biological Traits

Male aranea are typically significantly smaller and weaker than females, and there are many more of them.

Genetics and Reproduction

Aranea reproduce sexually and are oviparous. Their incubation period is eight months, and they typically lay anywhere from four to seven eggs at a time.

Ecology and Habitats

Aranea often live in forests or underground, but many have moved into more typical cities. Those who still live in the wilderness are tribals.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Aranea are carnivorous, and are not adaptable. Their hunting tactics include both ambushing prey and killing them with their chelicerae, sometimes using venom and sometimes using only bites, and using their silk to create traps. The design of these traps ranges from almost identical to those employed by other races to being almost identical to the web of a typical spider.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

The silk produced by aranea is often prized as a material for clothing and armor, as well as the artificial muscles of Geholods.

Civilization and Culture

Gender Ideals

Aranea culture is quite matriarchal. This isn't legally enforced in Aranatia at large, but it is in some Aranatian tribes.

Common Dress Code

Aranea clothing is purely decorative, serving no practical purpose. Because of this, it is acceptable for aranea to wear nothing day to day, although many do wear some clothing. Larger and more elaborate articles of clothing are more common at formal events.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

During the time of the New Abrizan Empire, aranea were typically tasked with creating textiles as well as using them to create clothing, blankets, tapestries, and other similar items. Aranea today still have a reputation as skilled weavers and tailors.

History

Aranea were native to Zelunica when the Zelunii arrived. Most were tribal, but a considerable amount were somewhat or completely solitary. The first contact between the Zelunii and aranea was when a group of Zelunii scouts encountered an aranea hunting party. The Zelunii scouts mistook the aranea for monsters and attacked them. Two-thirds of the scouting party were killed and only one of the aranea hunting party escaped. This hunter fled to his tribe and told the tribe's chief what had happened. This resulted in a war between this tribe and the Zelunii, which culminated in the tribe being almost totally destroyed.
Afterwards, news of this spread throughout the growing Zelunii Empire as well as the aranea tribes scattered across the continent. Most aranea tribes became wary of or outright hostile towards the Zelunii, and as a result many other wars broke out. Eventually, the Zelunii managed to subdue most of the tribes, and the few that weren't destroyed or absorbed fled underground. This was the end of the major conflicts involving aranea, but there were occasional skirmishes between Zelunii and aranea hunting parties.
This situation lasted until the arrival of the New Abrizan Empire, who not only subjugated the Zelunii Empire, which covered the entire continent at that point, but also subjugated the remaining aranea tribes and brought them aboveground.
After the fall of the New Abrizan Empire, most aranea gathered in a city founded by a former member of the Circle of Mages. Over time, this city grew from a city-state into a country, which was populated almost entirely by aranea. During this time, the government hired many skilled mages to create a type of Chimera, called Arachnes, using aranea and humanoid prisoners. Arachnes are very common today, and are a class of slaves. Most of these slaves are content with their place in society, to the point that even if their master moves to a country where slavery is illegal, they will often continue to be subservient willingly. This sentiment is quite perplexing to most other people in Zelunica. Some people speculate that this attitude towards servitude is the result of some kind of tampering with their brains, either during or immediately after their creation, but most people believe it to simply be a strange cultural trait.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Some people of other races believe that it is common for female aranea to kill and eat males immediately after, or even during, reproduction. Long ago, this was true, but the practice was made illegal during the reign of Kalamzaresh, and the Aranatian government has not seen fit to change this. Thus, the practice has been largely abandoned, although there are always isolated incidents, such as in the case of the Black Widows, an all-female group of aranea serial killers that was active from 1461 to 1473. There are rumors of the practice being continued on a larger scale in secret, but there is currently no evidence to support these rumors.

Genetic Descendants

• Arachne

Lifespan

80-100 years

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Their appearance varies significantly, with some being covered in hair and some not. In addition to this, coloring also varies significantly, but they tend towards darker, more neutral colors overall such as black or brown. Some have markings that are brighter colors such as red or orange. Aranea with brighter colors across their entire bodies are uncommon.

Related Ethnicities

• Aranatian