Quick Facts: A spider that is prized by silk farmers. It produces large amounts of durable silk that is, while not sword-proof, produces fabric that is three times harder to cut than a fabric of the same thickness, and can be spun and mixed with lesser fabrics to grant them a lesser measure of the same quality. A colony of ten can be supported by and acquired by someone with at least tier 6 wealth.
Height: 1 foot
Width: 2 feet
Length: 3 feet
Weight: Around five lbs.
Native to: Ubiquitous around Temperate forest areas all around Idalos.
Skills: Animal Husbandry and Agriculture or Fieldcraft (Comp-Expert) to create a working colony of Silver Loom Spiders. Textile Production (Comp-Expert) in order to process the silk into workable fabrics.
Locations: In woodlands of the western and eastern continent. Some scattered colonies can be found in Scalvoris as well.
Habitat: These spiders produce a thick, and sturdy webbing that can be poached and later spun into other fabrics to create a silk hybrid fabric. They live mainly in forest biomes and tend not to do well in heavily populated centers. Often the agriculturists who raise these arachnids will have reclusive hideouts or else production centers away from villages.
Lifespan and Development: Roughly one cycle to develop into maturity, with a full lifespan of around six to ten arcs. Most Loom Spiders will die out as they vie for a place in the surrounding habitat, or fall prey to various woodland creatures unless captured and domesticated.
Diet: They eat insects mainly, of almost any size barring the giant variety. They often will be found to create a web opportunistically over a dead animal. Agriculturists will use dead flesh and offal to attract flies and other prey, in order to simulate this environment, and thus harvest more silk from the Loom Spider.
Temperament: They ignore their farmers, largely, and act on instincts, which prompts them to weave their webs, set their traps in the ground, and just generally carry on neutral to the world around them. This makes them an ideal candidate for agriculture and harvesting of their webs, as they are not at all territorial toward creatures larger than themselves, and will only bite or attack creatures smaller than themselves. Unlike other spiders, they are not cannibalistic, which means they can be raised in close quarters in colonies.
Abilities: The venom of the loom spider is a mild muscle toxin, that causes extreme pain but otherwise doesn't cause lasting harm except in cases of allergies. Remarkably, their venom can be used to metabolize the silk, and reduce its stickiness and at the same time preserve its strength.
They also, of course, can produce the silk of the Silver Loom Spider. A colony of roughly ten Loom spiders can produce up to 2 bolts of fabric per season, depending on the skill of the weaver and farmer. As long as they are well-fed, they will be able to metabolize the webbing needed to produce silk, and the venom to treat it.
Credit: Woe
