Aranean colonies

This is the list of aranean colonies, called **webs** by araneas themselves. The chief aranea is called a *matriarch* (they are always female).

## Cyorian web

Matriarch: Spear of Resolve Striking Straight at the Heart of the Matter

Notables: Enthusiastic Seeker of Novelty (Zorian's teacher in some restarts)

Scout: Watchful Eyes that Miss Nothing of Importance

The first web that Zorian encounters, it is the sole web located directly below Cyoria, a highly coveted location among the aranea. It is the fifth such web to live there; each of those except the first web drove out the previous one.

## Illustrious Gem Collectors

Matriarch: She who Eats Fire and Sees Gold

Their matriarch introduces Zorian to many of the other webs, since they can't negotiate a training trade with him because of a exclusive contract with a local human community. They are miners, specializing in harvesting rare stones and minerals.

## Sword Divers

Members: Seeker of the Eight Universal Paths

Located under Korsa, have a habit of attacking weak mages who wander in their territory. They attacked Zorian, who had located them on his own seeking psychic teachers after the Cyorian web, breaking through his mental defences and nearly crippling his mind, leaving him in a brief coma into the next restart. They have a tendency to attack humans and anyone who they think they can get away with, and if they happen to have made the wrong person 'disappear', they will simply retreat further into the dungeon until the situation calms down.

## Rose Labyrinth Dwellers

This web is one of few that exist entirely within the dungeon and never venture to the surface for any reason. Their domain is very maze-like, befitting their name. They would only agree to teach Zorian if he would commit fully to becoming a member of the web by living, eating and sleeping with them and not leaving. Zorian could not agree to this.

## Yellow Cavern Guardians

The Yellow Cavern that gives them their name is a much envied underground fertile location, which allows them to grow their own food (or so it is implied). At the time of the story, the Yellow Cavern Guardians are being threatened by a giant monster frog which likes to snack on aranea and which has taken up residence in their home. Less than halfway into the restart, their matriarch is killed by the monster frog, sending them into a frenzy and causing them to be desperate for help. If Zorian agrees to help them out at this time, they will agree to teach him anything he wants.

## Filigree Sages

Members: Circle of Fortune and Golden Dust, Voice of Peace, Hammerer, Memory of Sublime Glories

Known among the aranea for their specialization in the aranean version of spell formula, webcraft. Zorian's offer of assistance as a mage of the Ikosian tradition with experience in human spell formula seemed to excite them, but Zorian found himself hard-pressed to comprehend their spell formula, even though their spell formula seemed to have been derived from Ikosian spell formula. They are able to produce telepathic relays, although they did not sell them to other aranean webs.

Their instruction methods differ little from that of the River Navigators, although once Zorian promised to help them loot the dead Cyorian aranean settlement they agreed to teach him skills related to memory packets and memory reading, which not many webs agreed to.

## River Navigators

Members: Mind Like Fire

Matriarch: Bridge of Moonlight Connecting Ten Thousand Shores

Their home is situated on the banks of an underground river, and they trade frequently with humans, as well as travel through maritime means. Due to distances their settlements span, they desire to acquire telepathic relays, and when Zorian offers the relays as payment they agree to teach him immediately. Although they are not great teachers, the River Navigators, who learned how to create their own boats and navigate the subterranean webs, are well connected to many of the other webs. Zorian's second mind magic teacher was Mind Like Fire, the teacher for the young aranea of the River Navigators web.

## Luminous Advocates

Because their web is located in a rather barren and uninteresting location, the Luminous Advocates developed their mind magic skills heavily, in order to trade their knowledge with other webs for necessities. They are now famous for the high level to which they have developed their mind magic abilities. They are very interested in human psychics, although if approached incorrectly, they would stretch negotations for as long as three weeks before agreeing. Their lessons are of very high quality, however, and they taught Zorian how to repair memory packets, basic telepathic skills, and how to process aranean senses.

## Ghost Serpent Acolytes

Noted as shady by the matriarch of Illustrious Gem Collectors. They abandoned the traditional aranean faith in the Great Web for worshipping the Ghost Serpent that gives the name of their web. The Ghost Serpent is a native spirit that seems to think very poorly of Zorian and Zach, due to recognizing time loop controller's marker on them and being attacked by one of the Controllers in distant past.

## Silent Doorway Adepts

Members: Refuge In Void, Marveleous Geode, Frozen Thoughts Spanning Across Bottomless Chasms, Ghost, Veil.

Vice-elder: Glittering River of Stars

Noted as shady by the matriarch of the Illustrious Gem Collectors. They are known among the aranea for their ability to get into and out of heavily guarded/warded areas. They seem to specialize in theft/smuggling, rather than assassination. Their settlement is built around one of the Bakora Gates, which they claim mystifies them as much as it does humans. Highly interested in crystallized mana, but not so desperate that they would be willing to cut ties with other aranea for a few pieces. They offered Zorian illegal items and tomes, and information on other aranean webs in exchange for crystallized mana, although they warned him that if he used the information wrongly they would cut ties with him.

They were able to figure out how to activate a Bakora Gate after their founder kept tinkering with the one in their settlement. They believed, through a series of logical reasonings, that the gate possessed a spirit, and so their tinkering was far more effective than that of human mages. Their activation ritual is lengthy and suboptimal, however Zorian helped them improve it over the restarts. They are eager to cooperate with him once he obtains the keys to other Bakora Gates and improves their ritual, only needing a few days before agreeing to work with him and often giving him tutors and humoring him in his requests.

## Talisman Bearers

Noted as shady by the matriarch of the Illustrious Gem Collectors. The Talisman bearers are famous for carrying Talismans on them that act the same as spell rods for humans. They are magic-focused, and greedy for magic, especially magic items.

## Perfect Phantasm Crafters

A web famed for their abilities with mental illusions. The Perfect Phantasm Crafters specialize in two areas - the ability to mind control beings in the dungeon and the so-called self-illusions. The self-illusions involve personal mental modification allowing illusions such as reminders and alerts to appear in a users field of vision and also allow users to block out or selectively control unwanted sensory inputs. Self-illusions are considered the safest of the mental enhancement disciplines, however the field itself is only for mind magic experts. They are adept at understanding the difference between human and aranean minds.

## Challengers of the Unspeakable (a.k.a. The Demon Skin Web or the Howling Ones)

The last (known) remaining "old" webs or non-structured magic using webs, the Challengers of the Unspeakable watched their neighbors be wiped out or consumed from within by the "new" webs. The new webs used magic developed from the original Cyorian web which eventually spread out and spawned new webs that took over all other webs on the continent.

## The Burning Apex

One of the webs near Cyoria. They want to massacre the Riddles of Opening web and aren't quiet about it.

## Deep Blue

One of the webs near Cyoria. They struck Zorian as the most peaceful of the ones surrounding Cyoria, and they specialize in dominating and manipulating dungeon monsters.

## Crystal Torches

One of the webs near Cyoria. They refuse to teach Zorian unless they're the only ones teaching him.

## The Mind Temple

They specialize in memory honing and organizing their memory.

## Adherents of Contemplation

They are too fond of riddles for Zorian's taste.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 chapter 36
2. ↑ chapter 37
3. ↑ chapter 85