TW: Arachnophobia. This post contains mentions of spider breeds. Viewer discretion advised.
Thought the Beldam x Mommy Long Legs ship in my previous post was so cute I had to continue it.
So I was cogitating about what sort of spiders these two would be. First, the Beldam. I thought of her design and saw the colors black white and red so I thought, “Redback.” But then my mind drifted to ‘Funnel Web’ because of the funnel-like web she made to try and trap Coraline in the final battle. Ultimately, I think 'Trapdoor Spider’ suits her most since she lures her victims to the little door to the Other World.
As for Mommy Long Legs… well, I Googled the words “pink spider” and found the Mexican pink tarantula, the Brazilian pink bloom tarantula, the pink crab spider and the jumping spider, neither of which suited her. Then I remembered her name which was a parody of 'Daddy long legs’, so I’ll just go with what it says on the tin, underwhelming as it is. For what it’s worth, daddy long legs spiders are pretty fast, hence making Mommy Long Legs any arachnophobe’s worst nightmare.
There is a thing that sits at the center of the world. It sits replete upon the wheel of destiny, and the laws of the world it weaves.
A strand of that web has brushed on your life. A bit of the terror of dominance, power, of being controlled and used- of manipulation and lies and paranoia- it has touched you.
How intermeshed will it become?
You may pick up the Web issue by…
Loitering in abandoned places filled with cobwebs and hidden spiders.
Being affected by, or pursued by, one of the acolytes or monsters of the web.
Being so afraid of someone controlling or manipulating you that you become isolated and hostile.
Being in the wrong place at the wrong time, because the world is terribly unfair.
Web 1
Omens of encroaching strings
Something skitters just outside of your line of sight. You feel like something far away is.. calling you. You feel an intention that is not your own. Your dreams are becoming strange.
It’s probably nothing, though.
Web 2
Signs and portents only you believe
You see them now. You see.. Something. Maybe fleeting dreams fill you with an unsettling sense of déjà vu. Or, just for a second, you see thin grey strings wrapped around your friend’s arms, vanishing up into the sky. Or you wake up every morning with webs woven between your hands.
Something is happening, you just can’t understand the pattern yet.
…but no one else sees it. No one else understands it. They can’t face the encroaching web.
At this point, traditionally, you begin to experience supernatural changes to your being. This manifests as a level 1 Superior skill. Often this is Superior Affinity to Spiders, but it can be any Superior skill that conveys extrasensory awareness, mental control of others, precognitive powers, skittering movement, lying prowess or affinity for webs and silence.
If this is the first time you are experiencing the Web issue, you may not manifest any power at all.
This superior skill remains until the issue is resolved.
Web 3
Establishing what’s controlling your life.
You see it all the time now, inescapably. You find yourself doing things sometimes, things you don’t really want to do, or you didn’t plan to do. You make decisions and find they somehow get passed over.
You see the lights in the sky that tell you what you are going to do in excruciating detail. You see the puppet strings that connect everyone and everything, winding into buildings and down streets. You see the men in black suits watching everyone and you see the people they take away.
The web is all around you.
At this point, you should establish what, specifically, is controlling your life.
What has your fear writ wide across your world?
Is it something like…
Premonitions that unfold in your waking dreams and extinguish any illusion you may have of your own free will?
A vast conspiracy that weaves through everyone and everything you know, revealing them all to be part of some organization or power that wishes you ill?
An unseen puppeteer that moves people by invisible strings, crouching like a vast spider in some unseen celestial web?
A vampiric cult that calls innocent people into the dark streets, only to suck them dry?
Something else?
This level of the issue intensifies your supernatural affinity with dark forces. You may raise the Superior skill granted by this issue to 2 and choose one of the following:
An affliction that revolves around destiny, your loss of control or the physical changes to your body and mind that are happening. It scales with the Web issue.
A bond representing your fear, fascination or desire for power and control. It scales with the Web issue.
If you choose to bear more of the power of the web, you may also complete the Acolyte’s quest to solidify your connection. The powers granted by this Issue typically vanish soon after it is resolved, but they may linger in much the same way you might keep a wound (Chuubo Core book, 129).
Web 4
A final moment of freedom
Despite the strangling cords of destiny. Despite the feelings of helplessness that wash into your soul- you have a moment, a chance to escape.
Perhaps you fought and marshaled your will. Perhaps a friend came through when you least expected. Perhaps the web just loosened, unexpectedly.
When your Issue reaches this level, you may make a choice to escape or to remain.
If you choose to escape, you may close out this issue by…
Choosing a fiery baptism, immolation, and reconstruction from the ashes.
Choosing desperate, sudden violence against them. Turn the tables.
Choosing to run away from this life, abandon order, embrace chaos and live.
Choosing to accept help, to put yourself at another’s mercy, to trust again.
It is possible that your choice may embrace another power to escape this one.
If, in this final moment, you falter and choose to remain, then your fate is sealed. It’s only a matter of time now.
Web 5
Make peace with how your dark fate will manifest.
The world seems so unreal. The world seems so gray. It wasn’t like this. It wasn’t like this. You are surrounded by it. Your body is not your own. Your mind is not your own. You do not control your thoughts, but- Mercilessly your feelings are still your own.
They’re going to take you soon. They’re going to eat you. They’re going to render you down into whatever they wanted from you.
And the worst is, you know that the entire course of your life has been leading up to this. Destiny is the tool of a dark and evil god, and you never had a choice to begin with.
This issue is resolved when you are taken by dark powers. The character disappears for a time, at least a chapter or so.
They may be dead, but they are always gone.
If they return, they are not the same.
Their player may move points from mundane skills into a Superior skill representing these changes, or rewrite Bonds or Afflictions to suit this. These changes always mark their connection to dark and insidious forces, to spiders and to consumption. They typically interfere with the character’s free will.
The Spider Acolyte’s Quest [30 XP] Bindings 1
This is a quest about cleaving to the dark powers. It is about becoming part of the spider, of the mother of puppets, of the web. It’s about giving in before you are eaten.
It is about forging a bond of fearful reverence with something that controls the world.
Major Goals
The HG may reward you with 5 XP when…
You wield vicious lies, rumors, cruel jibes or similar horrible tricks to hurt or coerce someone, or when you bear through and accept the same as an inescapable part of life.
You are subject to some kind of terrible psychic or mental trauma associated with isolation, spiders, authority figures or distant gods.
You begin to act, physically or metaphorically, like a spider.
Your Web issue rises to 4 and you choose to embrace, rather than reject the Web.
You accept, in your heart, that even an evil god is better than none.
You can earn each bonus once, up to a maximum of 15 XP.
Quest Flavor
1/chapter you may earn an XP towards this quest when:
[Green] You feel sick and terrible, and then see that it’s part of your metamorphosis. Describe the horrific changes in as much detail as you can bear.
[Green] You open a window or leave an external door uncracked so that spiders can enter.
[Blue] You experiment with wielding social conventions, power dynamics and lies to make your environment better for you.
[Gold/Green] You feel ecstatic joy at your body and mind doing things without your input or decision.
[Red/Gold] You flee from an alien being of burning hatred or ecstatic violence.
The reward for completing this quest is an Acolyte perk:
Acolyte Perk: You gain a Connection 1-2 for the Web as a concept. In addition, you are so deeply connected to it that you can never really escape- After resolving the Web Issue, you gain a point in it at the end of the current scene.
Arachne was a shepard’s daughter that claimed to be the best weaver among gods and men. Athena, the goddess of weaving, was angered by her claims and challenged Arachne. The girl’s work was better than the goddess’s. In her anger, Athena turned Arachne into a spider for her hubris, cursing her to weave for all eternity.
