Pallium Aranearum

## History

Pallium Aranearum have fluctuated in numbers and their hunting grounds differ from decade to decade. Various races encountered them for the first time in different points in time, depending on their location in the world. It’s hard to pin down just when these being first came into existence. Despite being a collective race, none of the Pallium Aranearum share any history with one another outside of breeding. Their time in the universe is that of a simple creature and there have been no cases in which a Pallium Aranearum has affected the world outside of eating wildlife and the occasional humanoid. Despite this, there is great intrigue amongst researchers as to how such a race can exist.

The Pallium Aranearum race leaves nothing but questions in its wake. How do the spiders know to carry out certain actions? How are they able to maintain their humanoid form without collapsing? How did they come to be a race? How are they so intelligent?

These disappeared entirely during the Death of Magic, but began popping back up in the year 300 DM, leading many to think their formation is magical in nature.

## Biology

### Physical Appearance

Pallium Aranearum have no real solid shape, as their entire physique is made up of thousands upon thousands of small black spiders. These spiders share a joint sentience akin to that of a hyper intelligent hive mind which commands them to take on various forms, most commonly that of a man or woman. This obviously means that Pallium Aranearum have no gender, bar the gender of the individual spiders or how the hive mind chooses to display itself, but even that is known to change.

### Common Traits

Diet: Believe it or not, the Pallium Aranearum subsists on what a common spider would, but en masse. They survive on bugs, birds, rodents, small animals, rarely a few large animals, and in some rumours, children.

Pallium Aranearum are brought into the world in the disturbing form of a human made of white spiders. It takes roughly a year for the Pallium Aranearum to transfer into an adult, the spiders turning black and growing slightly in size. It is during this time in which it is able to mate. The Pallium Aranearum will maintain this state and live for a further two years before the spiders it is made up of start to die off.

#### Special Abilities

Communal Web: While one spider might be able to make a small web, thousands of spiders are able to make strands of web so thick and large that it resembles a strong rope. Pallium Aranearum use webs of this strength to trap and bind large prey like boar and unwitting humans.

Relink: Once more drawing on the benefits of being made up of thousands of spiders, a Pallium Aranearum is able to quickly regain any parts of its bodies that may have been removed either accidentally or by force. Since it is easy to swing an object through a Pallium Aranearum, it being able to return to its regular form is an incredible advantage.

Corroding Venom: The less intriguing and more terrifying aspect of the Pallium Aranearum is the venom of each spider that forms it. A single bite from one spider causes immediate pain and corrosion of the nearby skin. While the corrosion may not travel far and the pain may subside shortly, the Pallium Aranearum can easily apply hundreds of bites in a concentrated spot on a victim’s body within moments.

Eyes Everywhere: The Pallium Aranearum is able to see through the eyes of every spider that composes it. Pallium Aranearum are known to take advantage of this and send a few spiders from its body to scout ahead.

#### Weaknesses

Fast Fuel: While physical weapons have little to no effect on the body of a Pallium Aranearum, fire will quickly spread and consume it within moments. Fire is the most common and well known method for dealing with Pallium Aranearum.

### Psychology

The Pallium Aranearum mostly adhere to the behaviour typical to that of a spider, spinning webs and hunting for prey. But when faced with a new stimuli, such as another creature attempting to interact, they display levels of intelligence comparable to that of your everyday man. How they possess such intelligence is as much a mystery as how a specific cluster of spiders are working together to act as a single body.

While they are for the most part cooperative, they won’t hesitate to prey upon another creature if it shows signs of weakness that signal an easy feast. One would do best to remember that when interacting with a Pallium Aranearum that regardless of how intelligent it seems, it is literally a swarm of spiders.

### Reproduction

Pallium Aranearum is considered to have one of the most strange and disturbing means of reproduction possible. During mating season (Spring) each Pallium Aranearum will search for a partner, usually the first they see, and perform something that looks less like a sexual act and more like a horrific nightmare. Both Pallium Aranearum will walk into each other, losing their forms and mixing together into a huge, writhing mass of black spiders that each mate with the first spider they meet of the opposite sex.

After some time has passed and all of the spiders have individually mated, the two Pallium Aranearum split apart, keeping the exact same spiders they had when they entered the mess. The two Pallium Aranearum will then go their separate ways, later laying enough eggs to produce three to four more Pallium Aranearum each. Because of this, their populations can spike up dramatically during mating season.
Each Pallium Aranearum can reproduce only once.

## Society

### Social Structure

Each Pallium Aranearum is its own community separate from that of others. While they can acknowledge each other and sometimes even interact, there have never been any sightings of any type of ranking or one Pallium Aranearum displaying dominance over another. They are nomadic in nature and therefore independent of each other.

### Names

Pronunciation: Pal-i-yum A-ra-ney-rum

Common name is "Cloak" for the style in which they attack their prey.

## Character Sheet Details

As their appearance fluctuates heavily, their height and weight are limited by the form they are in and the number of spiders in the form. They tend to only live for up to 10 years.

Racial Bonus: +30 in Hunting, Stealth, or Wilderness Survival.