Gem Spider

Summary

The bane of miners and quarries across Veltrona, the so-called gem spider can be anything from a nuisance to a deadly predator. They're insidious and difficult to purge, and even a well-secured location will come to be plagued by them eventually. How they ever come to achieve this is a mystery, but most people believe mutation is the cause. Something about ordinary spiders coming into contact with mana-rich crysium or manarium triggers the emergence of a gem spider. This logic doesn't always track, as some gem spiders are noted to reproduce normally.   Generally a strongly veltron-aspected creature, some rare variants become metal-aspected instead. The gem spider actively resculpts its carapace, using local geology to blend and mask its presence. This has the effect of not only visual identity, but its ambient mana presence aligns with the environment. While they're sedentary and hate leaving an area, old and veteran gem spiders can often take on whole new looks. Accomplished killers are all the more dangerous as a result, for nothing betrays their frightening capability.   Gem spiders, generally, are omnivorous in the form of living prey and mana. They'll eat crysium or manarium to feed their mana needs, while devouring animals attracted to the crysium. Thanks to their carapace adaptation and light bending power, the gem spider can become almost completely invisible. Even the adult-sized giants become indiscernible, giving them great advantage in their ambush. They're among the spiders that don't actively use webs, but will instead manipulate the terrain itself. In essence, they make pitfalls and other traps that impede prey but not them. How much they change depends on how big they themselves are.   Their terrain sculpting is, alongside their deadly predations, one of their most problematic aspects. They can accidentally compromise quarries, pits, or mining tunnels, causing deadly chain collapses. The gem spider itself isn't bothered by that, as it can use its sculpting to burrow and dig through the veltron. They don't like doing it, but they can in a pinch. Some scholars believe that same terrain manipulation is what allows juveniles or other young to sneak into mines so well.   For as dangerous as they can be, gem spiders can have fairly exotic materials on or in their bodies. They're quite the rich bounty to harvest from, even the ones with easier-to-get metals like copper or tin. Their titular name of gem spider comes in that most of them usually have some form of mana-enriched gemstone upon them. Whether because they like them as a snack or some other occurrence, they're the prize material of the spider itself.   Based on testimonies from the gehurm and some lindwurm, the gem spider happily exists in the realms of the Underworld as well. It's likely that, because of its lack of eyes or other surface-dwelling senses, it's actually a native of the Underworld proper.