Dridders
A huge dridder gorging herself from unfortunate captured elves in her underground cave.
Dridders are half human, half spider people, who come in a large variety of sizes, some measuring 3 feet tall while others easily reach 100 feet in height. Little is known about them, but dridders in general carry a grim and dark reputation. Many of them display a cruel and ruthless behavior in the frenzy of combat which has gotten their whole race wrongfully labeled as evil. Dridders are fierce fighters and have a war-like society that holds their warriors in very high regard.
Their natural weapons are their claws and their venom which is often lethal, even at small doses. They actually possess a wide variety of poisons, some of them which will only make the bitten creature sleepy. Dridders also often use weapons and armor, and it's not uncommon to see their legs reinforced by spiked plates. Their blacksmiths are very skilled, and among the best in Felarya.
Dridders love to ambush travelers and, when in a group, they don't hesitate to assault human settlements. They have two methods of feeding. Like most Felaryan predators, they swallow bite-sized prey whole, but if the prey is their size, they immobilize their victims and slowly liquefy their internal organs, sucking them out much like a normal spider. Needless to say this last fact contributes a lot to their sinister reputation.
Many dridders hate nagas, having been taught to see them as inferior. A long standing and bloody feud exists between the two species and shows no signs of abating. Legend foretells that one day Sineria, Queen of the dridders, will return and destroy the nagas once and for all. In return many nagas are taught to never trust a dridder, and some of them are actively searching for clues to the location of Sineria’s tomb. So far little has been found.
There is proof that dridders once formed an organized, powerful and rich civilization with some old Victorian-styled structures and clothes. Nowadays most dridders in Felarya have a much more primitive look to them, but if you encounter a spider lady dressed in smart, fancy attire, you may be facing a survivor from the era of Sineria's reign.
Contents
Known Dridders
Eshka
Gerridis
Gerridis don't actually have the lower half of an arachnid, but in spite of this everyone classifies them as dridders anyway, which annoys them to no end. Gerridis do not get along well with their half arachnid cousins, as they are far more interested in music, dancing, and arts, rather than honing their fighting skills. They always avoid fighting whenever possible, as their body is not well suited to it. Gerridis possess a slender and fragile frame, with delicate features that are closer to fairy's than a dridder's. They are generally about twelve feet high.
They have six very long and thin legs, each of which is covered in a liquid that allows them to walk on the surface of water, much like a water strider. They are extremely fast and agile when on the water, able to silently travel over large expanses of still water faster than a jet ski. These thin legs are obviously weak points as well, but a gerridi is able grow back severed legs in a few hours, though this is very taxing on them.
Gerridis live in swamp zones and use blow darts as weapons, often coating their darts with various types of venoms. Their preferred venom is a shrinking one, effective against small animal and sometimes humans. Some gerridis are known for their excellent mastery of water magic as well, and the leader of a gerridi pack will often be a shaman.
Picture by Lyiba-MoonEyes and used with artist's permission. For larger version visit lyiba-mooneyes' gallery
Trapdoor Dridders
Sometimes referred to as leaper dridders, they are a secretive species who hide in the dark corners of Bulvon wood and the dridder forest. They have a particular way of hunting that consists of digging themselves burrows, and standing inside them, concealed behind a thin wall of some sort, usually silk with dirt, leaves, and plants glued to it. When prey is close enough to the mouth of the burrow, they leap at lightning speeds to snatch it. They also possess excellent hearing to help them locate their prey from underground and the ability to recognize each prey item by their distinctive sound and vibrations.
Trapdoors dridders have extremely strong legs to help them dig and leap. It must be noted that this allows them to jump to impressive heights or lengths as well, with no momentum needed, similar to sandfall lurkers, although to a lesser extent. This means that if you avoided being caught when the creature leapt from its burrow, you are not off the hook yet.
Trapdoors dridders are often reclusive, solitary, and rather grumpy too. They don't share the hatred for nagas that the rest of their kind has though.
Bolas Dridders
This particular species of dridders can mostly be found in Bulvon wood. They are a giant species, about 80 feet high, but unlike the rest of their kind, their venom is rather weak and rarely lethal. Thus Bolas dridders are more cautious in general, less boastful and less prone to seek confrontation than their cousins. They are not fierce warriors and prefer stealth and guile over might. They have an easygoing reputation and befriending them is not too hard, as long as you are not prey.
They live mostly in the canopy of the giant trees where they jump from one branch to another with amazing agility. They are very skilled with their silk, that they can use as a sticky lasso or as a bungee cord. It's as natural as breathing for them, and most of the time a bolas dridder will use it without even thinking. Moreover Bolas dridders possess a sort of link with their silk. For example, they can immediately feel if something touch it, no matter how far away it is and even if they are not physically connected to it. They can also animate it to a certain extent, making the trajectory of a silk lasso hard to predict, and some of them can even imbue their silk with various magical properties. This makes Bolas dridders tough opponents, unpredictable and full of ruses and surprises.
Bolas dridders have an original way of hunting. They stalk travelers from high above, and "fish" for them with long lines of silk with sticky globules on the end. It's not uncommon for a Bolas to successfully decimate a party of travelers one by one without them ever seeing their companions disappear.
Known Bolas Dridders
Naxyla Dridders
While not native to Felarya, due to their habit of inter-dimensional exploring they frequently find themselves passing through this world or residing here for short periods of time. Naxyla dridders are not a natural species. They were artificially created by an advanced civilization thousands years ago on the world of Naxyla as a means of information extraction and for use in covert ops. However, with the sudden end of that civilization, the Naxyla dridders came into their own and became the planet's dominant life-form. Despite their new role on the planet, their growth is still restricted by the genetic shackles placed on them countless eons ago.
Only one male is born per hundred females, considerably slowing population growth. Furthermore, female Naxyla dridders are actually created from a "Host Mother" and not born naturally. This is a humanoid prey who, rather then being consumed, is instinctively deemed to be worthy of transformation and is converted into a dridder through a semi-lengthy process. This means that while the dridder's lower half is like a spider, the upper half is the same type as the host species. For example, if the host mother was an elf, the resulting dridder will have an upper half that is also elven. If the host mother was a neko, then the upper half of the resulting dridder will be a neko, and likewise for all humanoid species.
Naxyla dridders also have unique feeding needs. While they need sustenance for their bodies, they also need sustenance for their minds.
Naxyla dridders, when consuming their prey whole (this is achieved via a special shrinking venom), also absorb the memories and thoughts of their victim. This allows the dridder, in theory, to know everything the ingested prey knows... however to get all of the information involves a much slower digestion phase and potentially opens up the Naxyla dridder to what is know as "personality imprint"... in other words, a risk that the absorbed thoughts and memories could overwrite or merge with the existing personality. This can be avoided with training, but still this method is generally avoided by most Naxyla dridders.
Naxyla dridders usually display much less cruelty than their Felaryan counterparts and turn themselves more toward arts and studies than war.
Known Naxyla Dridders
Argyrones
Argyrones are a little known sub-species of dridder. Their spider half is usually of a deep blue color with various black patterns, and their human skin is often in the same, paler tone, sometimes more greenish or turquoisish. They are unique in that they spend nearly their entire lives underwater in large, immersed dens, made from their webbing anchored to rocks or underwater vegetation. They still have to periodically come to the surface though, in order to trap air in web bubbles, to bring back to their den to keep it full, since they still require oxygen to live.
Argyrones have no venom, and their silk is different to that of other dridders; it's just very slightly sticky, but much more solid. Argyrones use it more to build things rather than hunting. When they need to go outside of their den, they attach air bubbles to their abdomens, which they are able to breathe through. Needless to say, argyrones posses a very specialized and extremely efficient circulatory system, able to maximize their oxygen usage, allowing their limited amount of air last for often surprising amounts of time.
Most argyrones are giant-sized. They typically prey on fishes and various underwater animals, on small mermaids and sometimes on humans, if they happen to come across them during a visit to the surface. They can create fishing nets with their silk, though they usually prefer the old fashioned way, simply darting out to grab prey that passes by. Argyrones also possess an ability to create air bubbles with magic, using it to trap or incapacitate prey or foes. They only use it in battle or if they are about to drown though, as it's quite taxing on them.
Argyrones are a fairly reclusive race, not very well-known outside of the creatures of lakes and rivers. Some will lead very solitary lives, and others will group their dens together in small groups, to help keep each other company. Some mermaids manage to befriend argyrones, herding fish into their underwater nets, and getting a share of the catch.
- Credits goes to Zoekin for the Trapdoor and Bolas dridders idea, to Shaman for the animated silk idea, to Rcs619 for the Argyrones, to Wnxgreek for the Victorian design idea, and to MukatKiKaarn for the base idea of Gerridis. Naxyla dridders belongs to Veeshan123.
