Sorrow-Spiders

*"These little charmers sneak into the bedrooms of sleepers and bite their eyes off. They take them back to their nests and do...what? No-one's actually seen them eating the stolen eyes."*

That old saying that spiders drink your tears while you sleep? **Sorrow-spiders** take out the whole eye. Sweet dreams!

Sorrow-spiders have notoriously infested almost every corner of Fallen London, and a truly enormous number of them can be found in Saviour's Rocks, where they act as the rulers of the human settlement there.

## Burn the Whole City Down

*"Sorrow-spiders. Disgusting or lovable? Objects of worship, entertainment, or mere silk-producing machines? Opinion is divided."*

Sorrow-spiders are terrifying arachnids that grow to about the size of a cat, with there silk surprisingly popular as a fabric. They infest quite a few corners of London, to the point that the Department of Menace Eradication often pays handsomely for sacks filled with their legs. Rooms full of sorrow-spiders are sometimes used for executions, especially for unfortunate players of the Great Game. In the caverns under the Singing Mandrake, the Spider Symposium endlessly debate over the nature of language and it's relationship to their sapience, which should it ever end will lead to thousands of hungry sorrow spiders to descend and feast upon the inhabitants of London. Furthermore, the Observatory near Watchmaker's Hill is home to a blind cult of astronomers, who seem to worship the spiders as some sort of idol.

It turns out that sorrow-spiders can *actually be tamed*; apparently they can be quite intelligent and prone to ambition. Now, what *is* their ambition?

### **Spider-Councils**

*"Sorrow-spiders are already repulsive. Spider-councils are what happens when sorrow-spiders go bad."*

Every now and then a bunch of sorrow-spiders come together and combine to form a hulking **spider-council**. These monsters can grow even larger than a horse, and they often fester in the crypts of abandoned buildings. Sorrow-spiders actually bring these monsters stolen eyes, in which they lay their eggs. In particular, Spider-councils seem to value the eyes of those "blessed" with the Correspondence.

Also, *they can talk*. A smooth, silky contralto, as one would expect. One infamously huge spider-council resides in Saviour's Rocks, and another, even larger one patrols the nearby Eastern waters of Gossamer's Way.

## A Web Hung Between the Stars

Beyond this point lie **major spoilers** for *Fallen London*, *Sunless Sea*, or *Sunless Skies*. This may include **endgame** or **Fate-locked** content. **Proceed at your own risk**.
You can find out more about our spoiler policy **here**.

*"It depicts a star infested with spiders, that cleave to each other like fish caught in a net. On the reverse, an azure regent prepares for war, in his chariot of hateful radiance."*

*"Soon I will shuck this place like a skin."*

There's no particular limit to how big a spider-council can grow; all they need is more and more spiders. Well, okay, there is a limit, namely that there can be only so many spiders in a council before it becomes a threat to the gods themselves. These planet-sized groupings are called **spider-senates**.

Long ago, a spider-senate was formed by laying an egg in a star, but was defeated by the Sapphir'd King. After defeating it, he imprisoned the spider-senate in the frozen White Well.

A spider-cult from the Fourth City called **the Motherlings** are attempting to create another spider-senate. They know the art of knitting two spider-councils into a bigger one, and with this process they tried to create a spider-council large enough to lay an egg on the Sun. When the Khanate, the remnants of the Fourth City, took to the skies, the Motherlings followed them to Eagle's Empyrean. Perhaps they will assist the existing spider-senate in some way...

## References

2. ↑ Spiders and flies, *Fallen London*
3. ↑ Surface-Silk Scrap, *Fallen London*
4. ↑ Resolution: turn in a sack of sorrow-spider legs, *Fallen London*
5. ↑ Eavesdrop at the church, *Fallen London*
6. ↑ Sides in a Debate , ' ***"A sorrow spider the size of a Great Dane sidles up to you. "Are you refreshments?" Its many eyes peer hopefully at you, and then behind you. "We are long overdue a break." As one of the younger members of the Symposium, this spider is rarely permitted the floor. Prohibited from addressing its fellows, it turns to you. "The subject is language, and its relationship to our sapience. We're meant to be agreeing conclusions. And I'm not allowed to scuttle out for an eyeball till we have.""***
7. ↑ Infiltrate the Observatory as the procession is getting ready, *Fallen London*
8. ↑ Fairly Tame Sorrow-Spider, *Fallen London*
9. ↑ Laughing in the fangs of fear, *Fallen London*
10. ↑ Below the Silken Chapel: The Spider-Council, *Fallen London*
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Tomb of the Silken Thread, *Sunless Skies*
12. ↑ A voice in your head, *Sunless Skies*
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 A Web of Intrigue, *Sunless Skies*
14. ↑ The Web of the Motherlings, *Fallen London* *"She recites a prayer, or poem, describing the "Eye of Heaven", which "sees and burns and judges." Spiders scuttle excitedly around her. The prayer suggests that the blessed will lay an egg in the Eye of Heaven, which will hatch into a "Spider-Senate, to hang its webs from the stars.""*
15. ↑ Ambition: Establish a spider-council, *Sunless Skies*