Void Spider

A void spider stands upright on eight stiltlike legs, its slim torso held some 2 feet off the deck rather than slung low like an ordinary arachnid's, a posture the race credits to a superior design from its gods. Most are black or deep blue. A rare sky-blue strain arises by natural mutation and is revered as god-touched.

The short front pair of legs ends in fine claws that serve as hands. The head bristles with eyes, two far larger than the rest, above heavy biting jaws. Having evolved without gravity, these creatures do not think in flat planes; their homes and hulls may be built with three, four or five sides as needed.

Their many eyes and sharp minds grant +4 on saving throws against illusion/phantasm spells. They prefer reach and thrust: spears, pole arms and other piercing weapons. Slashing weapons such as swords are awkward for their limbs (-1 to hit), and short bludgeons hold little appeal. They never use bows, though specially adapted, mounted crossbows and wheel-lock pistols work for them at the cost of an extra round to reload. An armed void spider usually fires once, then fights with its pole arm; one without a weapon bites for 1d4 damage.

One in ten is exceptional. Half of these are veteran fighters with an extra 1-6 Hit Dice. The rest are specialty priests of levels 3-12 whose spells come only from the Sun, Protection, Guardian and All spheres; they mostly serve as helmsmen on scout and colony ships.

The race claims the universe by birthright. Every other starfaring people climbed out of some world below and belongs in the void no more than a fish belongs ashore, while void spiders were born there. Their sacred task is to organize until they can seize everything their gods provided.

They spread through unity fleets, strings of identical modular ships launched one after another. On arrival the ships lock together into bigger, deadlier vessels that keep their tactical speed even past the usual 100-ton limit, a feat born of the race's odd mindset and specialized starhelms that no other people has copied, even using captured void spider helms.

The strongest fighter rules, backed by priests; both are thought of as empty vessels for their goddess, the Ebon Mother, a jet-black spider with a faintly human face who supposedly outranks all other gods. Her resemblance to the chaotic evil spider goddess of the drow is troubling, and whether that deity guides this mostly lawful, neutral race is unknown.

Void spiders are carnivores that will eat any creature, their own dead included, to survive. They digest so efficiently that a single meal sustains one for two months or more. Their ships carry dried meat of uncertain origin.