The Lyzine are fallen nobility whose pride remains unbroken despite their exile to the depths below. With the graceful torsos of elegant humanoids seamlessly joined to the powerful, chitinous bodies of giant spiders, they embody both beauty and horror. Once rulers of great surface kingdoms, they were banished to the underground realms of Mez after their arrogance and cruelty became too much for even their subjects to bear.
Every year, the Lyzine attempt to reclaim their "rightful" place on the surface, sending expeditions to establish new footholds in the world above. They view themselves as inherently superior beings temporarily displaced by the jealousy and ignorance of lesser races. Their underground cities are marvels of web-architecture and dark elegance, maintained by strict hierarchies that mirror their lost surface kingdoms.
Despite their exile, the Lyzine have retained their sophisticated culture, complete with elaborate courts, intricate political maneuvering, and a refined aesthetic sense. They are skilled in both diplomacy and warfare, though their overwhelming pride often makes peaceful coexistence difficult.
The making
The Lyzine are beastfolk, the spider-people Gaea named among her minor animal-children (see Beastman). The true name set the body, the patience, the web-craft; everything else about them was set by a single catastrophe long after the making, when the surface kingdoms they had ruled cast them down into Mez and sealed the exile behind them. That casting-down did to the Lyzine what staying behind once did to the Kendor: it fixed them. The fallen-noble pride, the web-courts built to mirror lost surface halls, the yearly expedition that always fails to retake the world above, all of it dates from the banishment, a spider's slow patience bent now toward one long campaign of return.
Vitals
- Size: Medium
- Height: 6-7 feet
- Weight: 150-250 pounds
Aspects
- Exiled nobility
- Inherently superior
Game mechanics
Arachnid Heritage
Passive ability. You have a climb speed equal to your walking speed and can move across webs and similar surfaces without penalty.
Web Weaver
Passive ability. As an action, you can creating 50 feet of silken rope, up to 1000 feet per day. The rope is strong enough to support 5000 pounds. You can also choose to create sticky rope, which can ensnare those who get caught in it. If it is touched, it requires a CN 10 might check to break free. If a creature has full or majority body contact with it (if they ran into a web of it, for example), the CN becomes 16. If a creature is fully wrapped in it, it is CN 24.