Tzelicrae

Becoming a more common sight across the Wildsea by the year, the tzelicrae are spider colonies raised to sentience through an unknown and mysterious process. Though technically thousands of individual minds and bodies working together, most tzelicrae think of themselves as a singular being. Though no more or less likely to be dangerous as any other denizens of the Wildsea, fear and distrust of them runs deep in many communities due to their unsettling attempts at mimicry.

Self-Made Swarms

In their earliest form the tzelicrae are a coherent swarm, arachnid masses with little in the way of a defined shape. As their minds develop with age they naturally incorporate parts of their surroundings into the swarm, most often rags, canvas and pieces of salvage. These, combined with spidersilk, serve as the foundation of the adult tzelicrae’s body - a shell to protect the swarm within.

From this point a tzelicrae is considered mature, but self-improvement is a constant process. Some test the limits of their control by adding additional limbs or unusual materials, others by adopting additional spiders into their colony to increase their mass and weight. Many adopt the shapes and mannerisms of other Wildsea creatures, particularly of the other common bloodlines - a very lucky few of these win the Lottery of Skin, obtaining and inhabiting a cast-off body to puppeteer.

Hive-Mind Perspective

The level of individuality a colony settles at varies from tzelicrae to tzelicrae. Some refer to themselves as a collective ‘we’, organizing and compartmentalizing their minds to allow different areas to consider alternate viewpoints at the same time. Others revel in the singular ‘I’, with every component spider working and thinking in perfect harmony.

Questions to Consider

When you incorporate elements of the tzelicrae into your character, consider the following questions…

• What are you made of, in terms of outer layer? Bone and silk, canvas and brass, stolen skin or something else entirely?
• Have you ever had a true disagreement with yourself, a topic or opinion on which your colony is split?
• Have you incorporated spiders from other tzelicrae throughout your life, or adopted foundlings? What memories have such additions gifted you?

Alternate Presentations

Though tzelicrae are arachnid by default, there’s no reason yours has to be. A hive-mind colony of termites or bees would work just as well, or perhaps even of something even more bizarre - squirrels, maybe, or miniature machines?