The Motherlings

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"But their enemies – the Rosers, the Copper, the Motherlings – do those survive in any form?"[1]

The Motherlings are a religious sect devoted to the Sorrow-Spiders. They rose to prominence during the days of the Fourth Cityand, by the era of the Fifth City, lingered in the hidden corners of the Khanate.[2]

Eyes and Spiders[edit | edit source]

"The spiders deserve worship, but the Motherlings knew they could be more than they are. They knew arts of knotting and combining. If we could resurrect their rituals, I'm sure I could discover something."[3]

A Sorrow-Spider.

An ancient tribe with a particular reverence for sorrow-spiders, the Motherlings inspired certain inhabitants of the Fourth City to adopt their creed in secret.[4] These covert adherents plotted against the city's Khans,[5][6] and the ruling Leopard Clan in particular.[7][8] They even managed to convert the wife of the last Khan to their cause.[9][10]

The Motherlings kept meticulous silken-tapestry records of their enemies and rivals: the machinations of the Leopard, the dreamings of the Rosers, the hungers of the Copper.[7] They also maintained exhaustive censuses of the Fourth City's eyeballs, "as a farmer might keep track of livestock."[11] They fashioned great heaps of glass eyes,[12] perhaps to replace those they had lost, or for purposes known only to their rites.[13]

Masters of weaving spider-councils,[14] and of binding councils into greater ones,[15] they were also prone to errors in their craft. These mistakes sometimes produced spider-schisms,[16] councils that turned upon themselves in ceaseless internal war.[17] Ultimately, the Motherlings dreamed of having an egg laid in the Sun itself, a seed that would hatch into a spider-senate.[18]

Where are they now?[edit | edit source]

"A group of desperate survivors throng once-grand docks. A handful of boats linger in the dark zee, where the False-Stars twinkle in the depths. There is violence: space is limited. [...] Webs hang over the docks. There is a toll of eyes for others wishing to flee. The lacre tide rises and soon all is washed away. The last boats zail on."[19]

When the time came for the dissolution of the Fourth City, the Motherlings took over the city's docks and insituted a toll of eyes for survivors fleeing to the Unterzee to escape the lacre tide.[20] Afterwards, the Motherlings and their cohorts zailed to the Khanate, settling there and resuming their operations in secret.[2]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Losing , Fallen London "But their enemies – the Rosers, the Copper, the Motherlings – do those survive in any form?"
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ambition: Establish a spider-council, Sunless Skies "You watch your spider scurry into the hard neon shadows with some trepidation. You feel a connection with it. You did, after all, carry it in in the now-useless husk of your left eye when it was young. You needn't have worried. It returns a week later, having located a secret spider-cult in the recesses of the city. They call themselves the Motherlings, are expert in the knitting of spider-councils, and are fully supportive of your endeavour."
  3. ↑ The Web of the Motherlings, Fallen London
  4. ↑ The Web of the Motherlings, Fallen London "The relics might be related to a matter of some importance to me. From what I've heard, they belonged to the Motherlings. An ancient tribe, fond of spiders. Certain inhabitants of the Fourth City took up the Motherlings' creed, in secret."
  5. ↑ The Web of the Motherlings, Fallen London "You ask about the recent theft. He tells you that while fights over finds are common, for an artefact to be stolen after its recovery suggests it was a rare find. Many have been arguing – and the Seamstress has been asking – about the Motherlings. A cult from the Fourth City. Subversive, working against the Great Khan, even. Something do with spiders, he tells you, clutching one amulet."
  6. ↑ Dubious attribution, Fallen London "The Khan of Dreams, who is merry. The Khan of Swords, who does not speak, but who wields a blade in either hand. The Khan of Fires, who rules incense, and now candles. The butcher Khan of Hearts, the farmer Khan of Roots. The Khan of Drums, whose dance cannot be denied... They have other names now. But their enemies – the Rosers, the Copper, the Motherlings – do those survive in any form?"
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Speak with a member of the audience, Fallen London "The tapestry-annals of the Motherlings, she says, are more concerned with larger factions. The machinations of the Leopard; the dreamings of the Rosers; the hungers of the Copper. But the old spiders of the Fourth kept thorough census records, 'as a farmer might keep track of livestock'."
  8. ↑ The Web of the Motherlings, Fallen London "[...] His Amused Lordship shows you around the display, pointing out the beauty of certain pieces. The attached display card, written by His Lordship, speculates that the maker was a leopard-queen, judging by the ornamental techniques. The spidery images are said to depict a conspiracy amongst the Motherlings. Presumably a failed one, if the leopard-queen knew about it. [...]"
  9. ↑ The Tomb of the Silken Thread, Fallen London "The wife of the last Khan is lost to history. A brilliant weaver, she fled her husband, taking her two eldest children with her. Rumour speaks of a final resting place in the Forgotten Quarter."
  10. ↑ The Tomb of the Silken Thread, Fallen London "Stairs lead to a small room. At the centre is a battered altar – perhaps this is where the Khan's wife worshipped, in her exile? Nestling in a hollow on the altar is an arachnid-shaped tabernacle. Inside it is a folded tapestry, somehow preserved from both moths and time. It resembles drawings you've seen of the queen's work."
  11. ↑ Speak with a member of the audience, Fallen London "But they detail four-and-twenty eyes – that's twelve people – entering a newly opened cave, at the behest of a foreign dignitary. And that's it – no more information. No details of when, or if, they returned."
  12. ↑ A Fourth City Eyeball, made by the Motherlings, Fallen London "The unsettling effect of a pile of eyeballs is in no way diminished by the jammy fingerprints of the urchins who gathered them. When asked where they found the things, a bleary eyed urchin says. "The Forgotten Quarter. A dig site. No one minded them goin' missing. Promise.""
  13. ↑ Fourth City Eyeball, Fallen London "Apparently made by the Motherlings. Once you've given it a good polish, this eye is an excellent decoy to protect your own from spiders."
  14. ↑ The Web of the Motherlings, Fallen London "The spiders deserve worship, but the Motherlings knew they could be more than they are. They knew arts of knotting and combining. If we could resurrect their rituals, I'm sure I could discover something."
  15. ↑ The Web of the Motherlings, Fallen London "See? Recombined, the patterns are a guide. A process! By which two Spider-Councils might be knitted together. A lost art; one that will take years to master. Still, there is much to learn, here."
  16. ↑ Untangle an ancient web, Fallen London "Spider-schisms are the botched folly of the Motherlings, fractured minds locked in violent internal conflict. Your eyeless clients wish this one to be 'cured'."
  17. ↑ Untangle an ancient web, Fallen London "The mind of the spider-schism is an inward-spiralling silken knot, warring always against itself. [...] There – a convergence of pain, the ragged scar where a zealous seamster wove together beings of incompatible desires. [...]"
  18. ↑ The Web of the Motherlings, Fallen London "See? Recombined, the patterns are a guide. A process! By which two Spider-Councils might be knitted together. A lost art; one that will take years to master. Still, there is much to learn, here."
  19. ↑ Look out across the zee, Fallen London
  20. ↑ Look out across the zee, Fallen London "A group of desperate survivors throng once-grand docks. A handful of boats linger in the dark zee, where the False-Stars twinkle in the depths. There is violence: space is limited. [...] Webs hang over the docks. There is a toll of eyes for others wishing to flee. The lacre tide rises and soon all is washed away. The last boats zail on."
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