Anansi

Anansi are air-breathing arthropods with ten limbs - six for locomotion and four for articulation. The Anansi are from "Spideyworld" (so the humans call it, the Anansi call it "Homeworld"). Their homeworld is an oversize world of mountain peaks, endless glaciers, and underground tunnels. Anansi evolved as cave scavengers, and developed settlements and technology after pioneering agriculture with farming of fungus. Anansi never developed space travel, and left their home planet by using the Portal Network. Their development of wireless network communication allowed them to use the Portal Network, which connected directly to their home planet.
The Anansi explored the portals for merely a few decades before they ran afoul of an unknown threat. The details of their extinction are not known. What is known is that the entire species underwent an emergency evacuation to a distant hiding place, and that their ploy failed. Every Anansi was killed, their remains left where they fell. The Anansi remains were somewhat scattered, so some were able to at least try to flee their reckoning, although none got far. This extinction occurred approximately 75 years before Scrud's discovery of the portals.
Fortunately, the Anansi were discovered by the Humans after the founding of New Alexandria. Some Anansi ruins were preserved, found on airless Portal-bearing worlds. The humans studied the remains and used their extensive knowledge of neuroscience and genetics to bring the Anansi back.
After an initial successful experiment, the humans embodied thousands of Anansi, including several Queens, and deposited them on their Homeworld. The Anansi began their journey somewhat lost and confused, but with human guidance they were able to re-inhabit many of their old settlements. Today they are independent, with their own government, goals, resources, and technologies.
In the last 200 years, the Anansi have struggled to rebuild their civilization. They lost everything - their culture, their science, and all their people. With such a small starting population, the Anansi have mostly been focused on rediscovering and repopulating their own homeworld. A few hives have been established on other worlds to extend Anansi awareness as well. The Anansi are curious and scientific, and their predecessors were completely peaceful. Aside from the standard things (armor, environment suits, technological tools, etc.) the Anansi are famous for their development of the Web-Shooters. The Anansi do not spin webs naturally, but they developed it as a useful way to restrain threats and protect entrances to their homes.
Playing This Race
You Are Likely To...

• Want to serve the needs of your hive.
• Have an alphanumeric designation, rather than a name.
• Study at least one field of science.
• Express yourself through your writings and discoveries.

Other Races Probably...

• Reflexively avoid you due to your horrific appearance.
• Think of all members of your race as if you were the same.
• Think of you as responsible and intelligent.
• Pity you a little bit.

Basic Information

Genetics and Reproduction

The Anansi reproduce in large clutches. There are a number of Queens, who are larger and both more intelligent and more independent from the Soldiers and Workers. A soldier or a worker is able to impregnate the Queen, who then lays a clutch of ten to twenty eggs. The eggs incubate for approximately two months before hatching into young Anansi. The Queen and any nearby Soldiers and Workers cooperate together to raise any children to adulthood, which takes approximately three years. 
Queens are born fairly rarely (about one in twenty Anansi is a Queen) and they have clutches of children only when the Anansi intend to expand. A "Hive" is defined as a group of Anansi that descend from the same Queen, or multiple Queens that have formed political alliances.

Growth Rate & Stages

The Anansi grow through childhood and adolescence over the course of three years. Soldiers and Workers grow over a longer period of time, and continue to grow until they are five years old. Soldiers and Workers can live until they are 30, but usually wear out their bodies or die in violence sooner than that. Queens can live until they are 50 and lay eggs until they are 40. Queens that control a hive are expected to choose and begin training a successor before they become infertile.

Ecology and Habitats

The Anansi are cave-dwelling insects from a cold, dry planet. They thrive in darkness, as well as in conditions of low humidity. They have developed some environment-suit equipment, as well as a vehicle capable of traversing planets with no atmosphere. However, they only set up permanent habitations on those planets which humans might consider harsh. Cold and rocky and mountainous suit the Anansi just fine.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Anansi organize themselves into hives which follow one or more Queens. For every Queen, there are approximately 25 Workers and one or two Soldiers. Workers perform tasks vital to the survival of the hive, organized into roles by the Queen. The Queens may direct their Workers to grow food, scout nearby areas, perform scientific research, build tools, secure water, or other important tasks. The Soldiers operate on their own, securing the safety of Anansi-controlled areas by searching for and resolving threats to Anansi safety. 
More than one Queen can band together to create larger settlements. In those cases, the Queens elect an Overqueen to assign Queen-level priorities to each Queen. The largest Anansi settlements can have as many as ten Queens and populations of approximately 300 Workers and Soldiers. 
Therefore, Anansi tend to spread out, creating individual settlements anywhere they can fit. Anansi generally cooperate with one another when different hives come into contact. Only when one hive is working on projects that another hive might disapprove of do Anansi hives come into conflict. That conflict is usually resolved by an exchange of scientific expertise and a commitment to collaborate to ensure all fears are taken into account, but occasionally have devolved into a severing of communications and excommunication of the offending hive.

Origin/Ancestry

"Spideyworld"

Lifespan

30-50 years

Average Height

2.5 m (8.2 ft)

Average Weight

400 lbs (181 kg)

Average Length

4 ft (1.2 m)