# Spider Isles - Maps & Charts - Angrean Atlas :::section ## Spider Isles :::subheading{level="2"} **Status:** Venomous Danger | **Climate:** Tropical Rainforest and Temperate Forest | **Type:** Two-Island Archipelago ::: :::intro *Two medium-sized islands off the sunward coast of Koranthia, inhabited mostly by their namesake: gigantic spiders that can grow as large as an airship. The few humanoids that live here have been adopted by the spiders and act mostly as their servants. Whether this represents symbiosis, domestication, or something else entirely depends on your perspective and how much you value your perspective remaining uneaten.* ::: :::intro "Outsiders want to know who is in charge. The correct answer is always 'not me,' which is not reassuring, but it is accurate." — Vesper Calloway, Imperial Trade Liaison to Kethmar ::: ::: :::section ## Overview The Spider Isles present one of the Empire’s more unusual territorial situations: two islands where the dominant species is definitively not humanoid and has no interest in Imperial governance. The giant spiders rule their domain with eight-legged efficiency, and the humanoid population exists at their sufferance. Dense silk networks thread the canopies of both islands, connecting treetop to forest floor in structures the islanders have learned to navigate but not to replicate. The climate runs tropical on the larger, rimward island and temperate on the smaller, heartward one; most of the architecture is woven rather than built; and the relationship between the spiders and humanoids has been described, by those qualified to describe it, as complicated. **Population:** Spider population estimated in the thousands. The settled population numbers in the low thousands, drawn from across most of the Empire’s common ancestries, concentrated almost entirely in Kethmar with smaller enclaves on Lesser Spinner. ::: :::section ## The Spiders Spider Isles spiders range from merely large (dog-sized) to genuinely enormous, with the largest recorded specimen measuring larger than a cargo airship. Size appears to correlate with age and status within spider society, though no outsider has been invited to observe that society at the granularity required to confirm the correlation. The giant spiders demonstrate clear intelligence, problem-solving ability, and social organization. Whether this constitutes sapience by Imperial legal definitions remains a matter of ongoing debate the spiders decline to participate in. The settlers on the islands appear to handle tasks requiring fine manipulation, interface with the outside world, and perform other duties that seem to satisfy both parties. They appear well-treated, have consistently refused rescue, and remain the only part of the arrangement anthropologists can interview; which has not, on balance, helped the anthropologists. ::: :::section ## Silk and Trade The islands’ economic value is almost entirely woven, secreted, or distilled. The silk is the primary export: Spider Isles silk tests stronger than any textile the Empire can produce, and finds its way into aeronaut rigging, surgical suture, military cordage, and, at the highest grades, formal garments for those who can afford them. Supply is constrained by what the spiders choose to release rather than by labor. House Ilmath mills the raw skeins into finished cordage and rigging at its works in Solanth; House Carthas owns the shipping line that carries both raw silk and finished goods off-island, and has done since the Accord. A smaller but valuable trade runs in pharmaceutical-grade venoms, each grade drawn from a different spider species. House Argentus is the Imperial Apothecary Guild’s largest customer and holds the licensed distillery contract; most of the output is restricted to licensed practitioners, and most of those are supervised. All commerce passes through the Kethmar liaison office, prices are set by the spiders and conveyed to outside merchants by the settlers who speak for them. Haggling is possible in theory; no recorded case of successful haggling exists. ::: :::section ## Islands :::subheading{level="2"} *Two islands, with the spiders’ domain covering most of both.* ::: :::card-list :::card{title="Greater Spinner"} :::subheading{level="4"} **Type: Primary Island | Climate: Tropical Rainforest** ::: The larger of the two islands, dominated by ancient trees connected by silk highways. The great spiders make their primary nests here, and the island’s canopy serves as a second elevated landscape that visitors are rarely permitted to see. ::: :::card{title="Lesser Spinner"} :::subheading{level="4"} **Type: Secondary Island | Climate: Temperate Forest** ::: The smaller and more heartward island, cooler and home to different spider species. Transport between the islands occurs primarily through spider-mediated ropeways. The smaller settler enclave here keeps a lower profile than Kethmar and prefers it that way. ::: ::: ::: :::section ## Notable Locations :::subheading{level="2"} *The places outsiders can reach on the Spider Isles are few and deliberately so.* ::: :::card-list :::card{title="Kethmar"} :::subheading{level="4"} **Type: Settled Town | Population: A Few Thousand** ::: The only permanent settled town on the Spider Isles, built on the sunward coast of Greater Spinner where the silk-highways thin out. Kethmar handles all formal trade with the Empire and hosts the Trade Liaison’s office. Residents are multigenerational and span the Empire’s usual mix of ancestries; most have never visited another island. ::: :::card{title="The Silkmarket"} :::subheading{level="4"} **Type: Trade Venue | Status: Seasonal, By Appointment** ::: A cleared platform above Kethmar’s harbor where outsider merchants inspect lots before loading. The Silkmarket opens on a schedule set by the spiders, announced with at least a week’s notice or more. Attendance without an appointment is not permitted and not advised. ::: ::: ::: :::section ## Travel Information ### Getting There - **By Airship:** Possible, but landing clearance requires spider approval - **By Sea:** Approaching vessels are inspected by spider scouts - **By Invitation:** The safest method by far ### Travel Advisory :::travel-advisory{level="caution"} ##### APPROACH WITH EXTREME CAUTION The Spider Isles are not actively hostile to visitors but have very specific expectations about guest behavior. Violations are handled swiftly and terminally. ::: **Local Cautions:** - Do not harm any spider, disturb any web structure, or bring insecticide - Accept offered food (refusal is insulting) and do not attempt to “rescue” the residents - Movement through the islands requires spider escort Visitors who follow the rules report surprisingly hospitable treatment. The spiders are curious about outsiders; the Kethmar residents are eager for news from the Empire; and the silk goods available in trade are of exceptional quality. ::: :::section ## Historical Notes The Spider Isles have been spider-dominated for as long as records exist. The humanoid population appears to have arrived several centuries ago; whether as castaways, refugees, or deliberate settlers is unclear. Early Imperial attempts to claim the islands ended poorly. The Accord of Eight Threads (753 CR) now recognizes spider sovereignty, making the Spider Isles one of the few non-humanoid-governed territories with official Imperial recognition. The Accord was signed by Imperial envoys and by a Kethmar delegation; whether either party was authorized to sign on the spiders’ behalf was not made clear at the ceremony, and the question has been left alone since. The Venom Scare (2681 CR), in which a shipment of mis-labelled mid-grade distillate killed twelve practitioners in three cities, prompted the Kethmar liaison office’s current grading protocols and a standing House Argentus inspector on site; the spiders are understood to have preferred this outcome to the alternative and may have arranged it. The treaty’s terms suggest the spiders have a sophisticated understanding of international law. Or, at minimum, a sophisticated understanding of those who understand international law. :::