Araneiden
The Weaver
Artists rendition of the Icon of the Weaver
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Dec 15, 2023 15:51
We first encountered the Icon of the Weaver carved into the back of a stringed instrument covered in spiders at The Broken Wheel. This is the Watcher that I personally have seemingly spent the most time studying, without realizing it at the time, due to my investigation into the history of the origins of Dragonkind. Honestly, I don't even know where to start with this, but I will do my best to condense and simplify this information to the best of my ability. It is important to understand that Dragons and Wyrmkin have a (previously) inexplicable connection to the Worldsong, which we have discovered was once a "who," a kaleidoscopic dragon-like being who knew and sung, perhaps even wrote, all of the verses of the Worldsong. When a Dragon or Wyrmkin dies, their soul travels through the Leylines and reincarnates. Another key piece of background information is the "Voidkin," who attack and destroy things under the control of an ancient entity known as Phrygias, are actually Wyrmkin who have been stolen from their reincarnation cycles at times, or taken over via some form of mind control. It has not yet been determined how Phrygias is actually able to do this, although there are theories about the vile songs his captives are heard singing having a role to play. It would appear that the Worldsinger and the Weaver were once in alliance. Septima and I received a vision after a Voidkin attack, of Phrygias as a Star-Dragon attacking The Weaver (depicted as a gargantuan spider plucking a harp) and the Worldsinger (the kaleidoscopic dragon) leaping into Phrygias's path, and perishing. The Weaver has also been described in documents as "as likely to help me as it is to kill me, such is its power." It would appear that, despite the other Watchers consistently being depicted as malicious beings overflowing with evil and madness, the Weaver is most often depicted as a morally neutral entity- except by Phrygias. It appears that Phrygias blames The Weaver for the death of the Worldsinger, and hates him for it. Out of all of the documents uncovered at the First Temple, The Weaver seems to have the least amount of clues regarding his fate after the War of Ascension. Since Phrygais and his shards, who have vowed not to rest until the Weaver has had adequate vengeance enacted upon him, are still causing discord among the Wyrmkin, I am theorizing that the Weaver was not defeated in the same way as the other Watchers, and it is possible he is still plucking his harp. The Weaver's ties to the Worldsong are undeniable, as is the overflowing power of the Worldsong among all living creatures- so this entity is best approached with the greatest of cautions. Not even the Dragons know anything about The Weaver, or any of the Watchers for that matter- potential consequences for missteps here are unprecedented in scale.
From what myself, Doctor Albinn, and Occius could sense, the Weaver is the most powerful of the Watchers. This is corroborated by the Scribe's notes, which mentioned that he must be careful invoking the name of the Weaver, as it was so powerful that it was equally likely to kill him as aid him. When we fought the scribe, the second time he invoked the true namw of the Weaver, it killed him as well as several of our number in close quarters to him, bypassing any protections we had cast upon ourselves, and paralyzed everyone else for a brief moment. The compass - which identified the direction and rough distance of the closest source of a given Watcher's power - gave a reading of "omnipresent" for the Weaver. On the Jade Isle, Zimmi, September, and myself heard a discordant countermelody to the Worldsong resonating from a pool of Ichor. This same countermelody was playing the instrument marked with the Weaver's symbol by the scribe. I believe this indicates that the Weaver may have created the Ichor. The vision we experienced related to the Weaver was of a massive, shadowy entity with several long, thin limbs stretching into the distance (this lines up with the Weaver's penchant for spiders). In this vision, a dragon made of a starry void that we are certain is Phygias attempted to slay the Weaver, only for the blow to be intercepted by another dragon made of a riotous surge of colors. This event is something the Worldsingers have been aware of for some time; it is the moment that Phrygias attempted to kill the Worldsinger's beloved out of jealousy, only for the Singer to take the fatal blow herself. I believe this means that the Weaver was not previously Vile, but that this event caused it to become so, and that it then corrupted the other Watchers. Please understand: this is speculation, bit it fits with everything we've learned. Finally, I would like to note that, unlike all other Watchers, we did not see a vision of the Weaver's downfall, or even of the God's in battle with it.
An update on this: Mehen, the Serpent of Glass, was able to provide a great deal of information related to this subject. The Weaver is confirmed to be the first Watcher to be corrupted. The other Watchers were not corrupted because of the Weaver's actions, but because it was inherently connected to all the others. This corruption, in Mehen's words "was instantaneous, but also took decades to enact," indicating that some sort of time alteration was at play. At some point during the War of Ascension, the Weaver's body was discorporated/destroyed. This did not kill the Weaver, merely deprived it of a physical form. The Ichor is, according to Mehen, "a byproduct of the Weaver's malice." It was only unleashed upon our world because of the destruction of the Weaver's physical form.