(Artwork and description by player Regina Carey)
 

Silk Spider

The Silk Spider is a very rare species of spider found only in one area in the Khalakope mountain range. Found outside the Badrin village, the spiders live within the mountain itself. Inside the interconnecting caverns. Hunting spiders, they live in groups of 50 to 60 adult spiders. Eight to ten of the spiders are female. One is the male, and directs the movements of the rest of the spiders, all who are sexless workers.

All the spiders are a brown in color, making it difficult to recognize them from the rocky terrain where they make their homes. The females are the second largest of the silk spiders, and the most aggressive. Reaching a size of 2 inches, and they are the only ones who have spinnerets. While their bite is poisonous, it only effects smaller animals, and has very little effect on larger animals, other than perhaps makes them a little ill.

The male silk spider, or general, is the largest, and reaches a total size of 3 inches. In control of the sexless spiders, they direct the movements of the others. The males refuse to allow any other males within their particular cave, and will fight to the death any other male, which tries to enter their territory. And the male constantly patrols his cavern. In watch for any other males looking to steal away the female silk spiders or a cocoon filled with potential workers and mates. The male's poison sting is stronger than females, and their fangs are also bigger. Although their bite is still very little danger to large animals.

The worker spiders, reaching only an inch, are the most common of the silk spiders. Sexless, they spend their lives tending the females and males. They do the majority of the hunting, keep the cavern free of litter, and help their general to fight off intruding males. And when the females build the 'nests' for their eggs, the worker spiders care for the nests and larva also. As they do the majority of the hunting, the worker spider's bite is more serious, and can make a larger animal very sick. Or, if they are bitten enough times, kill them.

The worker silk spiders hunt in small groups, tracking down and overwhelming their prey, which is brought back to their cavern. The silk spiders only eat small game such as rats, mice and bats, invading silk spiders, and lichen found growing on the rocks.    In fall, the male spider mates with the females in his cavern. The next week, the female builds a cocoon about the size of a melon and begins laying millions of eggs inside. Then she covers the exit with a bit of lichen before building two or three other cocoons which are left empty as decoys from intruder males, or predators looking for a meal of spider eggs. All the cocoons are kept near the exit to the cavern where the females protect them, allowing only the worker spiders near the cocoons to tend to them.

After the eggs hatch, four weeks later, the baby spiders are tiny, and nearly helpless. The young are less than half an inch big, and the first hatched free themselves by eating away the lichen plug. After this, still in danger of predators, and other males, the young are still protected by the females and tended to by the worker spiders. Worker spiders also remove the silken cocoons from the cavern, dumping them in the 'communal' dump of bones, waste and debris blown into the caverns. This 'dump' is always found outdoors and the worker spiders are the only ones which will leave the cavern systems. And only at night.

Once the baby spiders reach an inch in height, the females abandon their young, and the workers try to drive off the young males. Although, some of the females and worker babies, are driven off also during this time. After that, the young males fight each other for those female and worker young which escaped with them before they part, going off in search of their own little cavern. Though until they reach at least three inches, they only eat lichen and are still in danger of being killed by predators. And the young males are in danger of being killed by older adult generals looking to add new workers and females to their own community.