Known by some as the carriers of the word, the various Spider clans tends to be centered around protecting, building, and maintaining mobile libraries. The Spider clan as a whole is well known for creating the alphabet that all of the clans use as a base for their written word, and are generally respected as knowledgeable, whether or not that is actually the case.
Individual Spider clan members are generally interested in pursuing knowledge in any or all its forms, though that is not to say that they respect differing opinions. A common stereotype of a Spider clan member is someone who stubbornly insists that a map that is hundreds of years out of date that depicts a desert in their location is accurate... while standing hip deep in a river.
- Skill Proficiencies: Spider clan members get a +2 to any intelligence based skill, and one bonus language
- Tool Proficiencies: Spider clan members are proficient with calligrapher's tools
- Languages: Spider clan members are fluent in Spider, as well as one bonus language (Raven, Rat, Moth, Horse, Dove, and Trade, as well as possible dialects or any of the above). Spider itself lacks any words to describe color, so the player of a speaker would have to keep this in mind.
- Equipment: Spider clan member attire: Spider clan members tend to be most at home in arid, desert environments, and as such prefer light colored fabrics that conceal much of the body.
Spider clan members have a state adventuring backpack, as well as one extra smaller pack that contains at least one book of the player's choice (up to two). It is not unusual for a Spider clan member to chain a book to their person, if the book is deemed particularly valuable or dangerous.Most clan members travel with simple weaponry (e.g. a staff or shortbow, but it is certainly not uncommon to come across a Spider clan member carrying a kukri.
Spider clan members tend to start with less money than members of other clans, but can sometimes start with a gem valued between ten and fifty gold. (Roll a d20, if you roll over fifteen you start with a gem. If so, roll a d50 to determine the type and value of your gem off of the gem table.)
The scout: your clan member was tasked with journeying beyond the traditional Spider clan's lands in order to discover and bring back new knowledge. Whether that means collecting stories from offlanders or members of other clans, adventuring in order to bring back tales of new experiences, or anywhere in between. You are chiefly motivated by curiosity.
Acquisitions: your area of interest lies in collecting and categorizing the unknown. That can mean learning (or attempting to learn) every new language you come across, or charting the edges of the map. A Spider clan member tasked with acquisitions takes comfort in putting words the things they do not understand.
Guardian: sometimes, Spider clan members are motivated by a righteous fury to protect artifacts and knowledge, whether from their own clan or not. Some guardians are bent on returning stolen artifacts to where they belong, others jealously guard those books and maps and scrolls their clan have collected.
There are also, of course, those roles that are common to all the clans. In order of power, they are:
Shamans (magically gifted members of the clan who are "kissed by the gods" which means either a clear physical disability, or a mental illness/disability of some kind).
This is followed by the chiefs- chieftainship can be divided among co-chiefs, as well as a secondary chief who leads an independently governed raiding group within clans prone to or expecting warfare.
Skin painters come next. They are the tattoo artists of them clan, and are thus entrusted with transferring important moments and emotions into the physical world. They are trusted with an enormous responsibility, and a gift.
Following them are the skalds, who are tasked with remembering and sharing not only the tales of the gods and the various clans, but also the "songs" of each individual clan member, which details their unique history and victories and losses, from birth to death.
Dancers come next, sacred devotees to the gods who are all magic users, and use their magic through dance to celebrate the gods- they are all chaste, until they age out of being a dancer around age twenty.
The handlers of the shamans come next, those who bear a sacred duty to assist the shamans, as many have disabilities that make moving or breathing difficult, among other things.
Scouts and raiders share similar importance and respect within the clan. Scouts tend to range ahead of the clans by several days to a week or so, exploring for new hunting grounds or risks to the clan, while raiders are fighters that are technically their own individual sub-clan, which includes a chief and often a shaman. They have their own large tent, which is shared between them.
Following them are various other clan members, which includes farmers or fishermen or cooks.
Lastly is a role unique to the Dove clan, that of the fledglings. Fledglings are captives from battle or otherwise, who thereafter have their heads shaved and are made a slave for a year and a day. They are attached to a clan member, who is entrusted with training them in at least one skill, as well as caring for them. If, at the end of the year and a day, they are judged to have learned a skill that will be of assistance to the clan, they are given a new name and rank, and are allowed to marry and have children.
Spider clan members are often regarded with a certain awe, allowing them to get away with a certain amount of social awkwardness that would be disapproved of from others. This, allowed with the assumption most people have that all Spider clan members are hermits from isolated desert regions, gives them quite a bit of leeway that others do not have.
Suggested Characteristics
As someone who was used to the soaring landscapes of your desert homeland, the cold, cramped confines of the cities are new and intimidating but never fail to make your heart beat that much faster in your chest.
Some think you are severe or cold due to your clan's traditions that say that being openly expressive is something to be shared only with loved ones, but in truth you are almost brimming over with excitement about your new surroundings, and can barely restrain yourself from asking random passerby about the history of where you now find yourself.
One day, you will return home bearing new stories and new gifts for your shaman, but not today. Tomorrow doesn't look so good, either.
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | stone faced, greeting most things your character faces with limited or entirely absent facial expressions |
| 2 | inquisitive, often to the point of annoyance |
| 3 | defensive about sharing information, even something as simple as how old your character is. information is sacred, and must be earned |
| 4 | a tendency to be morally myopic when it comes to "obtaining" things you think would be of interest to your clan |
| 5 | you have a marked impatience when it comes learning new things. you feel like you should know this already, and tend to be either snappish or prone to self-doubt when faced with this lack |
| 6 | you are horrified by how other cultures treat information, and have a tendency to hoard discarded books or scrolls you come across during your various adventures |
| 7 | you are fascinated by plant and animal life from less arid parts of the island, and have been known to collect samples, either in form of pressed flowers or literally kidnapping pet fish |
| 8 | you have a distaste for being wet, and make your displeasure known if this discomfort happens too often or too long. the definition of this is up to you |
Some few Spider clans are instead focused on destroying knowledge, rather than preserving it. Whether this is because you think it dangerous, or because it serves some other hidden agenda. Such Spider clan members are regarded with distrust, it not outright scorn, once they are discovered.
Your clan member has created a web of contacts through their journeys that may aid them, or hinder them. Any persuasion attempts are changed to reflect this minor notoriety, either giving your character a +1 or -1.
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