The Lords of False Presage
The Lords of False Presage is one of Gi’s oldest and most secretive organizations. The six spider lords that constitute the False Presage date back to the Age of Demons. Once mere giant spiderss, the Spider Lords grew in power and eventually become equals of the fiends and the dragons evolving to that of arachnids. The reason why these arachnids became so powerful and wise is a mystery that not even the arachnids themselves know. The Spider Lords’ strongest force is their vast base of knowledge, wisdom and intelligence, easily matching that of the wisest of the wyrms.
During the war between demons and dragons, the arachnids fought alongside the dragons and couatls.
The dragons had studied the Prophecy now for thousands upon thousands of years, and as the war reached its end a new and unusually clear fragment was revealed. It was foretold that the spiders would not survive the last clash of the war. Along with many couatls, the arachnids' lives would be taken in the greatest of battles.
However, this did not happen. Much confusion and revolt shook the foundation of the draconic population. The Prophecy, the base of all existence, had spoken false. The Arachnids had fled and a great number of couatls died. Though the dragons were victorious, many considered it a dark day, filled with despair and recklessness. This is the dark secret of the dragons of old, kept hidden from the younger dragons and even within powerful groups like the Chamber.
The Arachnids had turned their backs on the alliance, and they and their minions fled and went into hiding all across Naroahan. The Spider Lords had no intention of letting the past grasp them, and were constantly fleeing from the Prophecy and their destiny. Their ultimate goal is to destroy the Prophecy for good. Feeling captured in this world by the Prophecy, they want to truly become liberated and gain the free will that the Prophecy has taken from them. They view the Prophecy as false and wicked, and that they are the only ones who understand this. Spread all across the world, from Naroahan to Espion, they watch the stars, study the runes of old, and spy on the dragons.
Very few people know about the spiders, and even fewer know about their true nature. The most ancient wyrms might remember them, although most just push away any stories of the spiders as blasphemy and fools’ tales. Mothers tell their children stories about the Sharn Spider, coming to snatch them in their sleep if they don’t behave, but no one believes the stories to be true. Those who understand the true nature of the spider keep its secret.
It is important to understand that the spiders are not overtly evil beings plotting to kill all dragons and take over the world. While it is true that some of them use drastic methods and some truly are of evil alignment, they generally believe their cause to be rightful and for the greater good. They are beings that consider the Prophecy to be keeping every creature in the world a prisoner, that it only exists to enslave the creatures of Gi. The Spider Lords work toward the demise of the Prophecy above all else. There is no reason to fear them …unless you stand in the way of their plans.
The arachnids consider themselves above or outside the Prophecy, and indeed, it has not mentioned them in recent history. Of course, only small fragments of the Prophecy are known, so it is hard to say if the arachnids truly have escaped the grasp of the Prophecy, or are still crawling within its net.
Thus, the arachnids need to be at once swift and careful. They cultivate tremendous patience, striving to ensure that their actions will contradict the Prophecy rather than support it. Of course, it is a dangerous and difficult game to work against the maybe oldest force in the world of Gi, but the arachnids are well-equipped.
At the end of the Age of Demons, the great alliance between the dragons and the spider lords was broken, and the Lords of False Presage scattered across the face of Gi. The White Spider, named for the color of his skin, fled to the lonely mountains of Duragorna to the region now known as Naroahan. After laying in wait for hundreds of years, the White Spider crossed paths with the dragons once more. A blue dragon, a servant of the Prophecy, sought to kill the spider lord, but through superior cunning the White Spider prevailed, killing the dragon and taking shelter in its lair.
Atop the great mountain rising above his enemy’s lair, the White Spider found an artifact of tremendous power, the blade of ages. With the weapon of the enemy in his hands, the White Spider studied the Blade of Ages and the planes that surround Gi, and after countless years the arachnid began to unlock the secrets of the Draconic Prophecy. Then came to Naroahan.
The hermits of the mountains and valleys had never discovered the White Spider, but sightings in the Blade of Age told the spider lord he would need allies. Rumors of the powerful blue dragons atop the great peak of Duragorna worried the spider lord, and so he reached out to the spiritual settlers, albeit subtly.
Whispers of a great seer spread across a small, nearby community, and soon they sent out an emissary named Fiend who became the White Spider’s eyes and ears among the Humans. Using the new found knowledge of the Quori gathered from its contacts, the White Spider developed the psychic abilities of its own vast intellect. The White Spider had left his enemy’s tools behind, choosing instead to use the raw power of his mind to glimpse into the future.
The White Spider despised the dragons and the vise they clamped around the free creatures of Gi when their ancestors created the Prophecy. However, the spider lord refused to let this hate cloud his judgment as he workd for what he believed is a noble cause. Thousands of years in solitude had taught the White Spider to value the allies he can find, and unlike some of the other spider lords, he treats his followers with respect. Above all, the White Spider enjoys the irony of using the Prophecy to bring its own downfall.
The White Spider’s allies are few and far between, and he has few contacts outside of the Espion and the other spider lords. His followers are centered in a small mountain community approximately one day’s walk from his lair. Only one follower is permitted to meet with the White Spider, a respected psion known as the Alakhal Ralath, or Herald of the Spider Lord. The current herald is Fiend, an old telepath and priest of Salem.
This article was written by Simon "Polt" Weil and edited by Peter “ieattrollsforbreakfast” Gingell, and once again edited by Karu Hitoshi.
Deep within the jungles of Naroahan lays a ruined temple that was not built by the giants. The architecture resembles that of the giants, but upon entering the temple’s semicircular arch, any informed visitor would realize that it was not built for the massive humanoids. Deep in the bleak darkness, underground, beneath the ruin, Araknos awaits. He is a Lord of False Presage, a king of spiders, and a powerful vampire. One of the oldest vampires in Gi, Araknos saw the rise and fall of the giant civilization.
Ages ago, the dragons of Gi rediscovered the Prophecy and started the war that ended the Age of Fiends. During this war, a group of giant spiders (arachnids) became sentient and started to grow in might. Even before achieving their current level of power, the spiders proved potent allies and worthy opponents. Unlike his kin, Araknos did not initially side with the dragons. He saw more in common with many of the fiends, and offered his services as an assassin and spy for the demon armies. Before long, his espionage left him impressed with the ways of the wyrms. Araknos was willing to betray either side in order to preserve his own life, but could not decide which group was most likely to survive the conflict.
A nosferatu, Vincent Thelsamore the Blood Lord, discovered the spider’s bewilderment. The demon recognized the spider as an important ally, a force the demon army could not afford to lose. Confronting Araknos directly, the blood lord offered him the chance to participate in a dark ritual that promised to grant the spider a new kind of power. Instead, the Blood Lord cursed the spider with vampirism, then sent him into the ranks of the dragons to satisfy his blood lust.
Furious at his betrayal, Araknos was determined to fight the primal cravings of vampirism. He sought help from his fellow spiders, and they formulated a blood like solution capable of holding his appetite at bay. The satiated Araknos spent the final centuries of the age fighting against the demons, even working alongside the dragons he had been sent to kill. Eventually, though, the war ended and the dragons recognized the spider lords as enemies. Araknos’ fellow spider lords could not obtain the blood solution, and he was forced to hunt in order to survive.
Araknos traveled to Espion to feed on the giants and explore his growing power. Once again time took its turn, and the centuries strolled by. Araknos survived two planar incursions and observed the rise of the common races with disinterest. His life did not change until one century ago, when a brash young silver dragon named Immirah found the fragments of the Prophecy regarding the spiders’ supposed doom. Curious, Immirah investigated the stories and grew angry when he discovered that the ancient wyrms had hidden this information from the younger dragons. As a member of the Chamber he believed fervently in the importance of the Prophecy, and was sickened by the thought of a force actively trying to disrupt it.
Eventually, Immirah followed the hints of the Prophecy to Araknos’ lair in Espion. The dragon was too arrogant to think that a giant spider could pose any threat to him, and Araknos quickly took advantage of this ignorance. Fascinated to see a dragon after so many years, though, Araknos did not kill Immirah. Instead, he kept him prisoner. Through coercion and torture, Araknos learned much about the dragons’ lives on Naroahan. In the process, he made another discovery. Apparently, the potions brewed by his brethren during the Age of Fiends had always contained dragon blood. A single bite of blood from the silver dragon was enough to satisfy Araknos’ hunger for months.
Immirah is still a captive in the depths of Araknos’ lair, chained to the ancient temple walls in human form. Tormented by his act of recklessness, Immirah curses his stupidity and waits for a chance to exact his vengeance. Araknos still guards his prisoner, sharing any new information with the other Lords of False Presage. As he bides his time and deepens his knowledge of the dragons, Araknos dreams of the day when he will drink the blood of entire dragon armies.
This article was written by Simon "Polt" Weil and edited by Peter “ieattrollsforbreakfast” Gingell, and once again edited by Karu Hitoshi.
