Spider Cult's Side
Mother/ Nameless Spider - The Titanic Spider Who Weaves Schemes Like Thread
Description: What was once a no-name generic Giant Spider mob under Vaile’s control became something truly horrible after Vaile left. Given the difference of time and the many powerful beings that made up the New World, such an average mob would have been a dime a dozen. But this Spider was cunning, devious, and cruel beyond measure, preying upon both the Races and upon other beings. While the Rattan Council had millions upon millions of followers to devour, this Spider had none, which makes its ascent to the power that it currently has all the more impressive, if not terrifying.
As you would expect, this Spider is female, but it does not see Vaile in the way that so many others do. It wants Vaile not as a breeding partner, per se, but as a vessel in which it and its children may lay their eggs. She believes that those born in this way will be far more powerful than any others, which in turn would make them useful as meals to grow in power. She grossly overestimates Vaile’s ability to withstand what she plans to do to him, and likewise, she does not wish to do this merely to cause pain.
Countless thousands of years of survival and growth have taught her that death is always around the corner, and it can only be staved off through power and control. While the large cult of idiot members of the Races that are devoted to her are more than willing to offer up their bodies, they are not nearly enough. Each molt is getting harder for her to pull off, and it may not be much longer until she dies, trapped in a coffin made of her own dead exoskeleton. To avoid that fate at any cost is a necessity for her, and while she does have feelings for Vaile, they are muddied by her frantic desire to keep herself alive and to make sure that she has many powerful children, if only so they and their descendants can be eaten.
Perhaps Vaile will find a way to avoid that fate and to ensure that ‘Mother’ does not need to worry anymore about such things. If that happens, then the nation above her caverns will almost certainly never be able to survive as it is. The rise of the Spider-God and her rule over that land will be all but assured at that point, but whether she can ever escape her own nature is an unknown.
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High Confessor Gareth Killinger - The Most Devoted Slave of The ‘Spider God’
Description: The Cult of The Spider-God has existed for ages, and as one might expect, it has a man/ woman chosen by ‘divine providence’ to stand at its helm. The title of High Confessor is one that the leader of the Cult will carry until they are beckoned by Mother deep into the cavernous depths that stretch under the nation. Each and every member of the Cult knows the fate of the Chosen, but they do not consider it to be a bad one. What higher purpose could there be than to serve Mother?
Gareth is the most recent High Confessor and has led the Cult to a height that was never before achieved in its history. He is a zealous man with unshakeable convictions and is hell-bent on securing his God the place that she deserves. He dresses in simple robes that have obviously seen better days and yet despite his unkempt appearance he speaks with a voice that commands attention and respect. Under his guidance, the Cult has seen a massive surge in membership, but his recruitment may be a bit too much too quickly.
A cult like the one he leads can only grow so quickly before it garners the attention of those who are threatened by it, and while the numbers of cultists grow, so too do the forces against it. While he wishes to show them the ‘true way’, there are many who would rather see their nation burn than see it become a theocracy devoted to a spider of all things. Gareth may have come from the gutter and rise through the ranks quite quickly, but his ambition may yet lead him to make a few ill-advised choices and put the cult in a rather precarious position.
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As a staunch conservative, any change to the status quo, even a good one, can frustrate him. Of course, change is inevitable, and whenever a certain Player enters a situation such as this one, the inevitable tends to happen sooner rather than later.
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Republic of Theien’s Side
President Johan Corateiss - The Man Trying to Repair a Damaged State
Description: Johan Corateiss is not what some would call a ‘career politician’ by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, the only reason that he is the President to begin with is because no one else wanted the job. In the wake of the disastrous events that led to his predecessor nearly being ripped from the Presidency by an angry mob, Johan was left with the dubious honor of trying to keep the Republic from collapsing.
As much as he wishes to implement sweeping (and much-needed) reforms, there are those who stand in his way and exercise heavy control over the apparatus of state. Every attempt to repair the damage dealt to the nation has been either brutalized by their lobbyists or prevented entirely, to say nothing of how some members of government simply refuse to lift a finger for anyone other than themselves.
But despite all of that, he has made some small progress and, as a man of the people, he does have a not so insubstantial base of power stemming from the masses. However, that has only made those who seek his downfall that much more interested in preventing him from doing much of anything. There is one silver lining, though. Both he and the people arrayed against him have a singular group that they despise with a passion; the Cult of the Spider-God.
Their actions were part of what led to the disaster of the previous administration, and their actions before and after that have cost countless millions of dollars of damage to men and material alike. Their desires for better working conditions may be something he empathizes with, but the fact that they drive men and women to strikes and protests causes (in his eyes) more damage than is needed. Likewise, they worship a spider of all things! A spider! Add in their desire for a theocratic state and they become (in his eyes) more than a simple threat.
Thankfully, there are those who seek to stop their spread and, in so doing, help prevent the collapse of this already wounded Republic. It is, therefore, well worth the irritation of his constituents to funnel money into the Bug Stompers. Now, if only he would stop going into trances, talking to no one, and carrying around what is obviously some kind of weird relic.
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Allen Yirple - The Bug Hunter Extraordinaire Who Tries to Destroy The Cult
Description: There exists a cult within the lands of the Republic of Theien. It is dedicated to a malevolent and cruel Dark God, a Spider whose hunger and malice knows no end. It supposedly dwells deep underneath the nation within the labyrinthine tunnels and caves that are just out of sight, and it and its twisted children crave nothing less than to see all of the good, godly people of the nation above them turned into mad devotees, all willing to give up their lives for that monstrous spider.
And Allen Yirple hates that Cult. He hates all regions dedicated to Gods and Beings he does not approve of, but he hates the Spider Cult most of all. Since before he was even a teenager, he has gone out of his way to unmask any cultist he could, leading to many arrests and even a few executions, and over time he has grown a following of like-minded men and women who want to see the bug-lovers (yes, they are actually Arachnid-lovers, but they don’t much care for semantics) burn just as much as he does.
He is occasionally seen talking to himself, but that can be chalked up to the stress of trying to save the innocent ad weed out the guilty. No one is sure why he hates all of these cults with such a single-minded focus, but no one wished to ask him either. The last few people who did ended up in a shallow grave, and nobody wants that.
He has been odd as of late, almost as though he was a puppet of sorts, dancing on strings. Who or what may be pulling him around is something that, hopefully, not even he will find out. After all, there must be some reason for his blind obsession, and at this point, even he can’t recollect exactly where it came from. Well, at least he has his old childhood friend and current President to help him with his growing exhaustion and anger issues.