@TheEdVerse Hi Ed, can you tell me a bit about the ecology of the Aranea? It's listed that they can only produce a very limited amount of webbing per day in their statblocks – not enough to trade in it. Are the numbers provided reflected in the lore, or are they perfunctory?
— cluc2020 (@cluc2018) February 16, 2020
1)
The aranea produce webbing in direct proportion to how much food they ingest. Ere going to bed at night, most exude the webbing they haven’t used during the day (i.e. almost all of it, unless they’ve used some fighting, 2)
…hunting, climbing, or “sticking” tools to their grasps during work that demands such measures), and save it in boxes lined with an ointment that keeps it supple. These collected “sheddings” are woven by skilled elder aranea…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 16, 2020
3)
…into “sheets” of spidersilk (picture a flexible tablecloth of about the size of a large human warrior’s shield) for trade. So, yes, silk production is slow, but the material produced is so valuable that it’s worth the doing 4)
Many aranea families have indolent elder aunts and uncles who staff the family kitchens all day, and are sampling gluttons, so they, individually, produce a LOT of webbing. (The statblock numbers are a racial average.) #Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 16, 2020
Thanks Ed!!! The aranea seem really interesting. I noticed that they also traded in silkworm silk, presumably to supplement (or practice for) their own silk. One assumes they also eat the pupae – do they have any interesting silkworm-based recipes?Silkworm silk interwoven with aranea silk produces a combination with an attractive sheen (highly prized for high-fashion elven, half-elven, and human clothing). The pupae aren't eaten, but left to grow into silkmoths (to produce more larvae/silkworms).#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 16, 2020
Oh, interesting! Do they have some special method of retrieving the cocoon intact without killing the pupae? I’m imagining a mini-mending spell, but I guess that would be somewhat exhausting! Not especially exhausting, as it’s a “collect a basket, take to a table, lay them out, cast a cantrip on them all” task, rotated around among various individuals.#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 16, 2020
Ah, I think my head was in 2e mode a bit much (though I am using Jon Winter’s Cantrip proficiency in my games, which gets around issues like this), i.e. a spell slot per cocoon.
One last thing, are aranea able to produce thinner (and thus longer) webs than a ¼”? Thanks so much! Oh, yes. Aranea who produce webbing often soon achieve exacting control over it.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 17, 2020
