Silkborn
Offshoots of the grotesque Weavers, the Silkborn are a rarer, more refined evolution of the spider-bound caste—less monstrous in form, but no less unnerving. Where Weavers are bred for terror and utility, Silkborn are sculpted for grace, subtlety, and influence within the chittering web of Drow society.
Created not as warriors or hunters but as advisors, manipulators, and emissaries, Silkborn are the result of selective rituals and controlled pairing of Weavers who showed unusual mental clarity and magical aptitude. Their transformation involves prolonged exposure to enchanted silks spun by high priestesses and the venom of dreamspinners—mythic spiders said to feed on emotions. The result is a being of elegant horror, a perfect mask of civility wrapped around a predatory core.
Silkborn retain much of their humanoid form—slender, graceful, and ethereal. Their skin is pallid or iridescent, often marked with symmetrical lines or faint web-like patterns that shimmer in certain light. Their eyes are typically multifaceted or veined with silken threads, reflecting a pale, opalescent glow. While they lack the grotesque limbs or monstrous appendages of most Weavers, their arachnid nature is never fully concealed. Hair made of fine silk, fingertip spinnerets, or faintly chitinous ridges along the spine are Common.
Where Weavers are visceral and instinct-driven, Silkborn are calculated and cerebral. They are born manipulators, gifted in conversation and deception. Many possess psionic or arcane talents, particularly in illusions, enchantments, and binding magics. Their silk, spun not only from physical thread but from subtle essence, can bind emotions, anchor dreams, or lace spoken words with compulsion.
Silkborn often serve as cult leaders, negotiators, spies, or magical artisans within drow cities. Some are dispatched to the surface as "envoys"—a polite word for saboteurs—while others remain within the shadow courts of the underworld, spinning intrigue and prophecy alike. They are often tasked with overseeing Weavers, especially feral or unstable broods, or leading cults devoted to the spider deities of The Underdark.
Though still considered fey-touched aberrations, Silkborn are viewed with greater reverence than their Weaver kin, sometimes even occupying positions close to drow nobility. Their beauty is unsettling, their charm venomous. Few trust them fully, and even fewer survive trying to outwit them.
Beneath their composed exteriors lies the same hunger that defines all spiderkin—a desire to bind, to manipulate, to ensnare. But unlike their more savage cousins, Silkborn prefer to do so with a whispered word, a glimmering thread, or a touch that lingers far too long.
To some, they are revered as living avatars of fate, able to tug at the strands of destiny itself. To others, they are silken nightmares, wearing civility like a costume, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
