Silkweavers

**Silkweavers** — Creatures from the Surface.

## About

**Silkweavers** are large spider-like creatures from the Surface that produce ethersilk .

### Nature

The silkweavers are extremely dangerous creatures. Even their smallest offspring is potentially deadly to a human, especially since they have poisonous bites.

They also seem to be highly aggressive and territorial; for this reason, attempts to tame or domesticate them have failed, typically resulting in the deaths of those who have tried.

### Habitat

It was initially believed that they only lived on the surface, until the ropes of raw ethersilk that had been spun in Spire Albion were revealed in the Ventilation Tunnels of Habble Landing.

### Description

* Hatchlings: half of a warrior cat's size, a dozen legs extending from a lean, hard-scaled body—they looked like "over-enthused silver fish." They had bulbous heads with short muzzles that opened in three serrate parts.
* Adult: double or triple a large man's mass. It was something like a spider but with four sections instead of two, elongated. It had dark grey carapace on its back was in flexible plates. It had more legs than a spider—thick base and covered some kind of spine or sharp-looking, rigid spiky hairs. It's head was partly covered in plates of its armor with clusters of beady eyes on each side. and tripartite jaws.

### Vulnerabilities

* It's belly is soft flesh, bubbler and arteries.
* It's head is another way to kill it.

### Defenses / Offenses

* hard outer plates defects any weapons including Gauntlet fire.

### Blood Scent

When large features from the Surface began to spill blood, it would not stop until all were dead—the taste of blood maddened them to a savagery beyond hunger.

### Communication

They communicate through high-pitched, whistling sounds.

### Scent

Their scent is pungent and unsettling—scents associated with something poisonous.

### Ethersilk

* They seem to spin ethersilk constantly from their hindquarters, not only when they actually need it.
* Freshly spun, it has an adhesive surface.
* There is a great demand for ethersilk and it's very hard and dangerous to get; that makes it worth a fortune. There are many uses for it, particularly by the Fleet for ship technology and for defensive gear—tunics that block gauntlet and Long Gun fire.
* Silkweavers use it offensively to trap their prey in the sticky silk and to block exits.

### Silkweaver Nest

A contains small nodules of ethersilk all over the floor—possibly cradles for little silkweavers. It also contained a huge cradle high above the floor for the Silkweaver matriarch.

### Taming Silkweavers

Humans have been trying to domesticate them for two centuries or longer to be able to harvest the ethersilk—which is worth a lot of money.

### Harvesting Ethersilk

Humans must go down to the dangerous surface to harvest the Ethersilk.

### Allies

* Auroran Marines
* some force was using them as puppets, the small Silkweavers at least.
* Sycorax Cavendish, being used as a puppet by the same force (ref)
* Sark: Sycorax's batman; himself like a spider

### Enemies

* Cats are their natural enemy, and are capable of killing them. Many cats seem to have trained within their clans to hunt and kill surface creatures, including silkweavers.
* Verminocitors: Humans trained to keep the Ventilation Tunnels clear of Surface creatures—particularly the larger creatures that were too large for Cats to hunt.

### Details

* With Folly's Ether-sight, the small Silkweavers chasing Folly, Bridget and Rowl were shining like out-of-control fire.
* Folly discovers that they are *"puppets"*—a malicious presence was manipulating them.
* Ferus explains that it seems intelligent because it's a *puppet* being used—sent to stop him from interfering.

## Connections

* Surface
* Ventilation Tunnels
* House Nine-Claws
* Cats
* Neen
* Clan Chief Naun
* Bridget Tagwynn
* Folly
* Rowl
* Team: Gwen, Benedict, Ferus
* Grimm
* Crew of the Predator
* Auroran Marines
* Sycorax Cavendish
* Sark
* Mirl
* Longthinker
* Renaldo Espira
* Diego Ciriaco
* Verminocitors
* Verminocitors Guild
* Scalelash
* The Voice
* Habble Landing

### 1. *Aeronaut's Windlass*

Captain Grimm and Alexander Bayard are attacked in the dark by mysterious creatures—unseen. They didn't know what attacked them. Grimm got bitten and poisoned. Alex took him to Efferus Effrenus Ferus who healed him from the poison. Mirl reports to Rowl that cats have been going missing in the Ventilation Tunnels. There are "new things" in the air shafts—the Silent Paws scout reports have been confirmed by Longthinker. Reports of cats from tribes of other Habbles have also been heard.  Auroran Marines are somehow able to travel around the Ventilation Tunnels hidden from the Cats—something that Folly is afraid of. The Nine-Claws are all hiding in one tunnel chamber afraid of some treat and knew were being watched.

An escort of warriors of the Nine-Claws showed Bridget, Folly and Rowl to the "ropes" and left them. That was raw Ethersilk. They were attacked by six hatchling silkweavers half the size of a warrior cat. Rowl quickly killed them. Then they were beset upon by hundreds of small Silkweavers. Folly killed them all with the help of her Lumin crystals by turning them into a weapon. At the same time, a massive silkweaver attacked the Black Horse Inn looking for Efferus Effrenus Ferus—had trouble finding him because Ferus kept "changing his mind" all night. It killed many people, before being killed by Gwen Lancaster. Bridget and Folly explore the tunnels seeking more information per their mission for the Spirearch. They discovered a chamber made into a nest filled with nodules of Ethersilk and a hue bower for the matriarch silkweaver. It answers to a lot of questions about how the enemy is staying hidden and why the Nine-Claws are afraid. And, the implications of the threat to Spire Albion were enormous.

## Quotes

* "They don't belong here and they want to destroy us," Folly said to her jar, her eyes sick, but her tone matter-of-fact "All of us. They don't care what Spire we call home." — Folly

## Book References

1. ↑ *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 8 and 33
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 29, p. 278
3. ↑ *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 34, p320
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch.34 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "CS1ch34" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "CS1ch34" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "CS1ch34" defined multiple times with different content
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 36
6. ↑ *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 37, p. 348
7. ↑ *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 36, p. 345
8. ↑ *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 37, p. 347
9. ↑ *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch.34–35
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 34, p. 321 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "CS1ch34p321" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "CS1ch34p321" defined multiple times with different content
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 37, p. Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "CS1ch37" defined multiple times with different content
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 38 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "CS1ch38" defined multiple times with different content
13. ↑ *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 29, p.
14. ↑ *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 35, p. 328
15. ↑ *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 35, p. 326
16. ↑ *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 37, p. 343
17. ↑ *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 8
18. ↑ *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 6
19. ↑ *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 29, p. 276-279
20. ↑ *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 33, p.
21. ↑ *Aeronaut's Windlass*, ch. 35