Sorrow-Spiders: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 18:23, 1 August 2022
"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."[1]

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."[2]
Sorrow-spiders are terrifying arachnids that grow to about the size of a cat. 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.[3] Rooms full of sorrow-spiders are sometimes used for executions, especially for unfortunate players of the Great Game.[4] The landlord of the Blind Helmsman runs a spider-pit, where Londoners place their bets as spiders fight to the death,[5] and sorrow-spider silk is surprisingly popular as a fabric.[6] 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.[7]
It turns out that sorrow-spiders can actually be tamed; apparently they can be quite intelligent and prone to ambition.[8] Now, what is their ambition?
Spider-Councils
"Sorrow-spiders are already repulsive. Spider-councils are what happens when sorrow-spiders go bad."[1]

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.[9] 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.[10] 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
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Beyond this point lie major spoilers for Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies, or Mask of the Rose. This may include endgame or major Fate-locked spoilers. 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."[11]
"Soon I will shuck this place like a skin."[12]

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.[13]
Long ago, a spider-senate was formed by laying an egg in a star, but was defeated by the Sapphir'd King.[11] After defeating it, he imprisoned the spider-senate in the frozen White Well.[13]
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.[14] When the Khanate, the remnants of the Fourth City, took to the skies, the Motherlings followed them to Eagle's Empyrean.[15] Perhaps they will assist the existing spider-senate in some way...
References
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