Makari

Solitary, exclusionary, highly advanced arachnids that have throughout history consistently held much higher technical capabilities than the rest of Lyxian society, and used it to subtly manipulate events. Not so much xenophobic, but see surface-dwellers as lesser creatures. They deliberately obscure their presence in the Underground and when seen on the surface, appear only as travelers selling oddities, "harmless strangers," deliberately misleading their true capabilities as artificers and machinists.

Deep below the forest floors and desert dunes of Lyx, an interconnected network of tunnels forms a spiderweb across the entirety of the land. These tunnels form The Underground, a cave network only barely explored by the surface Lyxians. Entry tunnels into The Underground are well-hidden, and many have been all but forgotten, abandoned as places from which no traveler seems to return.
These tunnels, unbeknownst to the Lyxians above, are not empty. These tunnels teem with the Makari, a faction of civilized and intelligent arachnids. The Makari are a secretive group - long ago, they left the surface and traveled into The Underground, sequestering themselves from the rest of Lyx. As a result, the Makari were protected from the worst of the Cataclysms, and maintained a much higher level of technology than most of the surface has ever seen.
The Makari’s mastery of technology has also led them to influence world events in subtle ways. Makari see themselves largely as stewards, cultivating the growth of the surface Lyxians. Many strange stories or legends passed down through oral traditions are, in fact, retold and retold and retold stories of Makari interventions. As a result, the Makari tend to see surface Lyxians as lesser than them, in some intrinsic way.
The other Lyxians don’t have much of an opinion on the Makari outside of whispered rumors at taverns and tents, and the Makari would like to keep it that way. While the spiders typically pride themselves on their subtlety, it is not unheard of for a traveling Makari to take whatever actions are necessary to protect their secrecy and achieve their goals. Any Makari that plans to venture onto the surface for a significant amount of time makes use of a small device that disguises their face and voice. Between that, and a cloak, Makari find it generally easy enough to slip among the other factions mostly undetected, in small enough quantities.
Makari society is rigid and structured, and is composed of 6 castes: • The Web-Weavers are the largest group of Makari society, consisting of children, elders, and all other Makari who choose to stay in The Underground and sustain Makari society.  • The Makari-Makari (Roughly meaning Watcher-Watcher) are the ruling group of the Makari. They are a coalition of Makari who have made the journey to the Surface and returned, and now share their wisdom with all others. Despite the strict overall structure, the structure within the Makari-Makari is very loose. Decisions often happen as a result of long conversations or seeking out a specific spider’s advice.
These castes are the ones that spend their time underground. The other 4 castes, detailed as the subfactions, are the Makari who choose to make the journey to the Surface. Few Makari choose to do so, and even fewer are given permission by the Makari-Makari. 

Life-Takers

The Life-Takers are the pinpoint needle that let the Makari sew together the world. Life-Takers are experts at sabotage, artists with a knife, and impossible to track down. As a Life-Taker, you have been given a solemn goal - that of a pruner. You are told which buildings need to vanish, which technology needs to fail, which people need to die. And you do it.
Most Life-Takers conceal their skills, instead pretending to be peasants, farmspeople, or other seemingly innocuous folks. This serves as a complicated red herring - if a Lyxian figures out that they are a killer, that must be the biggest secret they carry! Few ever suspect the Life-Taker might have far more, secreted away.

Life-Givers

The Life-Givers are not the gentle souls their name might suggest. Instead, they are fierce warriors, traveling to the surface to better learn and appreciate the arts of combat. Once a Life-Giver makes their way back to the Underground, they will serve as one of the patrol spiders who keep the Web of Makari society safe and secret from the world above. In doing so, they give life to the Makari themselves.
Of the aboveground castes, the Life-Givers are the most common, and in doing so, they play another important role in Makari society: they provide more complete cover for other Makari. The spiders are protective creatures, and - very rarely - a Life-Giver will find themselves guarding a non-Makari. This will normally not leave a long-lasting impression… but Life-Givers are also some of the few Makari who have ever petitioned to have a surface dweller join the Web. If any of these petitions has been granted, it was long ago.

Tale-Speakers

The Tale-Speakers are the information brokers and spies of the Makari. They often travel back and forth between the surface and The Underground often, carrying news of the latest happenings on the surface and exciting stories to tell to the Web-Weavers who keep to the tunnels.
Tale-Speakers carry with them small devices that they use to carry deep records of oral traditions and other knowledge with them. Most Tale-Speakers tend to specialize in a specific area and, despite the name, these are not simply stories. Some Tale-Speakers excel in engineering or economics, and monitor the world through those lenses.
Tale-Speakers tend to be withdrawn and distant, even more so than other Makari. Information is a prized currency to the spiders, and the Tale-Speakers stay all but silent around the surface Lyxians.
It is only when a Tale-Speaker returns to The Underground that their name comes into full meaning, as their silence falls away into a torrent of information to any Makari interested enough to listen.

Steel-Singers

The Steel-Singers are the artists, craftsspiders, technologists, and inventors of the Makari. Long ago, the Makari developed a technique of shaping metal using only the complicated vibrations of their mandibles and exoskeleton. This art - Steel-Singing - is the base fabric of modern Makari society. Wires are put in precise order by sweeping arpeggios, and bass notes form the chassis.
Steel-Singing is an art kept quite secret among the Makari. The ability to shape metal so precisely is, quite literally, the foundation of the Web. The Underground’s tunnels are kept intact through steel braces woven in strands throughout the entire, sprawling construct. Despite this, the Steel-Singers still travel aboveground, searching for new notes to add to their melodies and new inspirations for their sculptors of steel.