Aracni-viper

Created as an experiment by the ancient species of the Ki-rah, the Aracni-vipers were made by taking a colossal arachnid sacred species of spiders of the goddess Ali'nar and splicing its genetics with a deadly viper of one of Rougane's sacred species of spiders. The result of this splicing were the first Aracni-vipers. Possessing the terrifyingly potent venom of both sacred spider and viper, the Aracni-vipers were used the Ki'rah as beasts of war. With the immense mobility, agility, and defensive capabilities, the Aracni-vipers were terrors against the Ki'rah's enemies, being born and raised in immensely violent Ki'rah breeding pits, Aracni-vipers were so dangerous that the Ki'rah dared not place their own soldiers alongside them. The result of this was often hoards of Aracni-vipers being unleashed on both military and civilian targets, with a bloodbath always ensuing.

As the Ki'rah expanded they met their greatest challenge, that being the Kr'rua. The Kr'rua, being empathetic and gentle, naturally clashed with the brutal Ki'rah philosophy and swore to stand against the Ki'rah who they dubbed as servants of The Darkness. The Kr'rua were master smiths, lived for centuries, and held power or magic which the Ki'rah could only dream of, however they lacked the same technology which the Ki'rah possessed. The result of this was the Kr'rua having to actually fight a proper war against the Ki'rah and be forced kill and be killed. In these conflict the Kr'rua would come into contact with the Aracni-vipers and although many of the serpent snakes would be smashed, split open, and fried by the Kr'ruoan lighting hammers and axes, the Kr'rua weeped for the creatures they were being forced to kill. 

After a time, when the Kr'rua accepted that they would need to kill Ki'rah in their war against The Darkness, a particular Kr'rua still struggled with the killing of Aracni-vipers. This Kr'rua had seen the horrible breeding pits where Aracni-vipers were forced to kill their siblings and children to survive, were electrocuted by the Ki'rah captors to keep them in line, and the weak among them were euthanized. This Kr'rua came to believe that with care and a bit of empathy Aracni-vipers could form social bonds. This Kr'rua had studied spiders and serpents alike and recognized that the primary limitations with those creatures regarding their ability to build social bonds they in their size, that size limiting their nervous systems from building complex bonds. The Aracni-vipers were huge, the size of young dragons, and the Kr'rua believed that given that the Aracni-viper's head being that of a serpent, the more naturally evolved creature neurally, there was hope for Aracni-vipers.

Sneaking into a Kr'rah breeding center, the Kr'rua was forced to kill several guards to get to the Aracni-viper pits. Bypassing brooding mothers and competitive young, the Kr'rua captured a handful of eggs from several different families and escaped before the Aracni-vipers knew any better. Raising the resulting young with care and benevolence, the Kr'rua found their hypothesis correct. Aracni-vipers had the capacity to form social bonds not only with each other, but with other life forms they came to trust. With this new found knowledge the Kr'rua felt they could in good conscience begin targeting Aracni-viper breeding centers for liberation. Taking the populations of spider serpents and releasing them into remote regions where within a few generations the immense aggressiveness beat into them by the Ki'rah who made them would fade away. 

With their supply of Aracni-vipers rapidly shrinking the Ki'rah faced defeat at the hands of the Kr'rua. While they feared terrible retribution by the Kr'rua for their crimes, the Ki'rah were perplexed to find the Kr'rua's empathy extended even to their enemies as instead of facing the annihilation they had been willing to unleash upon all non Ki'rah, the Ki'rah were greeted with a simple peace treaty, dictating a ban on Ki'rah expansionism, Aracni-viper breeding pits, and a demand that the Ki'rah dedicate recourses to rebuilding the lands they had savaged for so long.

This act of mercy on part of the Kr'rua would perplex the Ki'rah and although their society would never reach that of mass empathy, a not insignificant portion of their population would come to at least attempt to understand Kr'roan philosophy. The greatest effect of this would be seen with the Aracni-vipers in Ki'ran society. Although the Ki'rah remained quite non empathetic, the treatment of Aracni-vipers as emotional creatures capable of forming bonds with became normalized. By the time of the genocide of the Kr'rua and the fall of the Ki'ran empire which came soon after, Aracni-vipers in both societies were regarded as beloved companions, akin to how humans treat their canine companions.

With the genocide of the Kr'rua and the fall of Ki'ran empire the Aracni-vipers lost the two species who provided them with care. The result of this was an unfortunate decline in the Aracni-viper population and their return to more brutal conditions as their monstrous forms and the unique properties of their bodies saw them being hunted down by the fearful and greedy. In the modern day Aracni-vipers remain a rare sight, making their lairs in distant regions preferring jungles, swamps, and deserts.

In terms of their physiology Aracni-vipers are a strictly carnivorous species, and given their size they often attack larger beings which can support their caloric needs. Deer, horses, giant lizards, dire wolves, death dogs, and even young dragons are the perfect food for Aracni-vipers. Aracni-vipers make their homes in burrows they dig themselves which they line, along with the surrounding environment, with their durable webbing. Lying a wait an Aracni-viper when it is hunting remains hidden in its burrow waiting for anything to disturb its webs. Upon detecting any vibrations Aracni-vipers strike quick, shooting out of their burrows at terrifying speeds, launching webbing to restrain their targets before ripping into them with their fangs.

Once their pray is sufficiently incapacitated an aracniviper with either wrap that prey in webbing to preserve it later or consume it in one of two ways. The first method involves the Aracni-viper using its acidic breath, a trait augmented into the species body by the Ki'rah (the genetic prototype for the acid breath is theorized to be of a black dragon), to melt its pray down into a fine sludge. This is usually done inside the Aracni-viper's burrow within a specially dug chamber with a pit which serves as a holder for the fluid. This is usually done by brooding mothers who need to feed their children who do not yet have the ability to consume solid food, consequently they are able to just slurp up to dissolved pray.

The second method of consumption is far simpler, where the Aracni-viper will unhinge its jaws after wrapping its prey in webbing and eating it whole. 

Thanks to their low metabolism, Aracni-vipers typically only need to consume one large creature every month or so to remain comfortable, though they can go up to half a year without food before starving. All this said Aracni-vipers usually only attack humanoid creatures out of desperation for food or in self defense. It is theorized that Aracni-vipers possess the intellect to recognize that humanoids are dangerous to tangle with, or they simply don't like the taste.

Regarding their social behavior Aracni-vipers are usually seen as solitary creatures, at least on the surface, who only come together for the sake of breeding. This misses a very important aspect of Aracni-vipers that being their capacity for memory and bonding. In many studies it has been found that Aracni-vipers actively seek out the same mate every few years and after the act of reproduction often remain together to look after their young until they are of reasonable age before the male leaves. There is also evidence to show that Aracni-vipers form communities with one another which sprawl many miles with an Aracni-viper usually within at least one mile of another. There is even evidence to suggest that Aracni-vipers will actively protect wounded members of their communities and also rush to one another's aid if one is in danger with seemingly no reason to do so.

These acts of altruism toward fellow members of their species are far more visible when an Aracni-viper forms a bond with a humanoid. Although an Aracni-viper can, according to trainers and ecologists, build an emotional bond with a humanoid at any age, the best way for a humanoid to gain a lifelong companion with an Aracni-viper is to raise that Aracni-viper from the earliest age possible. Aracni-vipers imprint, meaning the first being they see they regard as a parental figure worthy of trust, protection, and even affection. If raised correctly an Aracni-viper's owner will have the best companion they could ask for, one which obeys verbal commands, though smell is a better option for giving commands since it is their strongest sense, and is willing to go out of its way to protects its owner.

Aracni-vipers express their affection in unique ways which may seem disturbing to one not familiar with their behavior. An early sign of trust is the Aracni-viper wrapping its tale around you, or if it's small enough, climbing on you. Another sign would be its opening its mouth and biting you while having its fangs retracted, this is seen by scholars as an expression of care as Aracni-vipers will often massage one another by biting without fangs to relax tense muscles. Aracni-vipers also express affect with their bodies, shifting their weight on their legs from side to side in a form of dance which, while at first may appear predatory, is actually an expression of excitement. An affectionate Aracni-viper will also drag is legs across the object of its affect which, while they limbs are sharp, its another form of affectionate grooming used by Aracni-vipers to help their fellows shed.

By far the most important sign that an Aracni-viper likes someone is quite simple to spot, that being that the beast is calm around that individual. Aracni-vipers are naturally very vigilant creatures, ever aware of possible prey and any dangers so if one relaxes around it is almost always a sign that bonding with the beast is going well. 

All this said Aracni-vipers are still very dangerous beings, should one agrees toward an Aracni-viper it will not hesitate to rend the flesh of that who attacked it. In addition Aracni-vipers are known to hold grudges, particularly vicious toward those who the Aracni-viper trusted and proceeded to break that trust, often attack that who betrayed them on sight. Aracni-vipers are also very protective of their young, even if one has an immensely strong bond with an Aracni-viper, if that Aracni-viper has bred and is guarding its eggs or mate- which often take the form of soft shelled constructs which are protected by layer after layer of tough webbing- its defensive instincts against any which are not its young or parter will often manifest in deadly attacks.

To steal an egg from an Aracni-viper is a task which both demonstrates great bravery but also immense stupidity as Aracni-vipers when they weave protective webbing around their eggs imbue those webs with a particularly pungent hormone which they can smell from hundreds of feet away and leaves a lingering trails as to the that the egg thief took. Often when an egg has been stolen the female will leave the male to continue guarding the eggs while she goes out to hunt down and kill the thief, after which she swallows the egg, returns to the nest, and regurgitates the egg back with its siblings. 

Regarding their reproduction Aracni-vipers reach maturity at around age 4, at which point during the spring of the region they live in they will seek out fellow Aracni-vipers of the same age and court. Both males and females are expected to demonstrate their worthiness in the form of wrestling with one another, bringing the corpses of impressive kills to their prospective mates, and spinning webs to demonstrate their talent and the sturdiness of their silk. Once two Aracni-vipers mate as stated before they come together every few years to mate and raise young. Should one member of the couple die it is generally agreed upon that an Aracni-viper will typically not seek out another mate. 

Aracni-vipers upon impregnation lay their eggs within a month in clutches of 40-50, wrap their young in layer after layer of steel hard silk often forming mountains of of the substance which the location of the eggs can't be divined without digging through it, and guard them for another two. Once that period of two months is up the parents wait a few days for their children to melt their way out of their cocoons with their acidic breath before unleashing their own acid to melt out any stragglers. Usually only 6-12 young actually make it out of their eggs alive. It is theorized that due to how unstable their genes are mutations are common and most eggs are either infertile or carry mutations which don't allow the gestating Aracni-viper to make it out alive.

Once an Aracni-viplet is born it will be protected by both its parents for around a month before its father leaves and its mother protects it for another year. Once an Aracni-viplet is around a year an a half old it will go off to build its own nest, though some claim that Aracni-vipers will seek out and visit their parents every now and then.