(Archive) Taitanna Clan

***I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare***

***The lone and level sands stretch far away.” - Ozymandias, P.B. Shelly***.

   In the mountains far to the north of Fiend's Reach lies the abandoned underground city of Arachne's Landing. From the outset, it's clear that the city wasn't abandoned by choice. The uneven, split, cobbled streets are littered with the rubble from buildings that have been destroyed utterly, leaving naught but an empty lot in its place. the buildings that are partially intact have many beautiful murals, all marred. Statues have been mutalated, landmarks have been annihilated, leaving, at best, empty shells, and at worst, craters. In the center of the ruin is the Arachne Square, or so proclaims the archway that you must pass through to enter- the only structure intact in the entire city.

In the center of the square is a huge adamantine statue of a drow woman, almost as tall as the cavern itself, from the tip of her outstretched fingers to the carefully detailed heel of her boot, which itself is on the back of a carved monument to Death. The message is clear. 'We persist', it says, 'We conquer death.' It says 'Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair.'

The head of this statue, the statue of Arachne Taitanna, is on the ground next to it, embedded in the stone. The carved chains that she held aloft, triumphant, are only testified to by the broken and decaying links that were attatched to her hand when it was carved. Look upon her works, ye mighty, and despair.

## Early Days

The Taitanna Clan wasn't started by Arachne Taitanna, but she ushered in their golden age.

An oracle, she lived nearly two thousand years ago. She received a vision, of a glorious city of prosperity and safety for her family. She was dismissed as insane by all but her husband and daughters, as well as her few followers in that city whose name was lost to time.

She traveled north, or maybe east, or west, travelling during the night and sleeping during the day. Day and night mattered, aboveground. she found that out the hard way.

After Fourty nights of searching, she found her prize- or rather, it found her. On the strike of midnight on the first of Rova, Arachne fell into a hole in the mountain pass she was travelling through. Miraculously, she survived this fall, and it was a good thing, too. the land she discovered was vast and hidden. And thus Arachne's Landing was founded in that spot, and the Taitanna's Golden Age was formed.

## Founding Festival

on the first of Rova, 15 BSB (Before the Saltborn), the city was to participate in the Founding Festival. A number of slaves was to be taken to the surface. They were to be chained. They were to be pushed in. To survive the fall was to win their freedom, but to die was to die with honor.

One of the slaves taking part was the human man Fredrick Garnetglow. A gladiator for the amusement of the Taitanna nobility, Fredrick was the finest fighter that the arena had seen in a long time. It was only because of this that he was kept alive, as he had tried many times to stir revolt in the slaves, and many times he had failed. But this time he was determined to succeed.

"We will be free," he said to a roaring crowd of slaves, collecting under the pretense of picking whom to send to the ceremony. "We will not bow, we will prevail in the name of Cayden Cailean!"

They selected him and three others. A cleric of Cayden Cailean, a sorcererss who kept her powers hidden from her tormentors, a brawler able to help take the establishment down.

Now, don't be confused. The drow were watching. Scrying. They knew that there was a plan to escape. They never thought that they'd pull it off.

But they were wrong. Under the guidence of Fredrick, they escaped captivity.

They all survived the plunge.

This was unheard of. One slave surviving was exceptional, all four was impossible.

But survive they did.

No one is sure how, and they won't tell, but they all survived.

And this meant war.

"They must be executed!" came the cry from the drow. "They must have cheated!"

"They will become gods, like Cailean before them!" came the cry from the slaves.

"Order!" came the cry from Moxie Taitanna, daughter of the Matriarch. "I will investigate!"

And investigate she did. She spent months in disguise, trying to get close to Fredrick.

She said she hated slavery.

She said she loved Cayden.

She said she hated her mother, Wherewithal.

One day, she found that this was all true.

The next, she found that she was in love.

She never returned to her position as the next in line for the throne.

Instead, she helped Fredrick lead a revolution. 14 BSB, the eve of the first of Rova, Moxie Taitanna and Fredrick Garnetglow stood together, along with their friends. They freed slaves from the top down- first, the staff of Caliþorn itself, then the many staffs of many lesser nobles, with one simple request repeated over and over again.

"The Queen requests your staff for the choosing of Arachne," for this was the ritual gathering of slaves was called. And it was true, it was time. Midnight was fast approaching. But this wasn't a gathering to send lambs to the slaughter, it was a gathering of wolves in lamb's clothing.

## Downfall

Midnight, Rova 1, 14 BSB. The city watches the top of the cavern.

12:01. The first drow falls.

Nobody knows who landed the first blow on the line to destruction, but many agree that Cayden Cailean should take credit. The crowd surged from their meeting place, having never have left their modified Mage's Private Sanctum. A small feedback loop of arguing was fed to the drow watchers, and the mob caught them completely unawares. They were armed and outfitted, trained in spells and bloodthirsty. They were ready to break free.

They razed the city that night. The only drow left standing was Moxie Taitanna, the new matriarch.

Look upon their works, ye Mighty, and despair.

## Into the Future

As Gumption Taitanna has searched for, and found, her anscesteral home, she plans to refound it under a new name- Scholar's Redemption. In the mean time, though, she's set up a camp near the ruined statue and awaits a team to explore and build in the ruins, so the once evil city can be made beautiful.