W20 - Changing Breeds.pdf

lowing instructions from Queen Ananasa Herself, thesemore experienced werespiders bring the fledgling to theUmbra where she receives a thorough grounding in her newlife, learns her role in the Great Web, and for the first time,shares communication with the Mother-Queen Herself.OrganizationMost Ananasi lead solitary lives, each doing her partto carry out the will of Queen Ananasa, with whom shemaintains a personal bond. While they are uncannilyaware of the connections between all the disparate partsof reality (which they refer to as the Great Web) they,themselves, most often remain aloofly above what theyTHE LAWS OF ANANASAQueen Ananasa’s directives to Her childrenmay be subtle and complex, but their overarchinggoal is a simple one: restore Symmetry to theGreat Web. In order to complete this singularmission, however, Her children have innumerablelikewise-herculean tasks to accomplish, not theleast of which is restoring each member of the Triatto sanity (and to their original, balanced duties).To keep Her children’s own balance andfocus, Ananasa has set forth a series of nineLaws that rule their every action. While humansmay defy their legal system, and even Garoumay debate the meaning of the tenets of theirLitany, every Ananasi holds these Laws at thecore of their being, knowing that without them,success is not only unlikely — it is impossible.Obey the Mother-Queen in All ThingsDefend Your Brethren from All Who Would DoThem HarmFollow the Aspect and Faction that AnanasaChooses for YouUnderstand the Ways of the Triat, Both as TheyWere and as They Are. Know the DifferenceKnow Your EnemiesKnow the Great Web for What It IsKnow Your PlaceKeep Your Mouth ShutWorship None but AnanasaEVERYWHEREAnansi has taught his children well. Walkingon two legs — or eight — they live, hunt,breathe, and breed amongst humanity every dayand every night. No home, warehouse, shop,park, school, or office is entirely devoid of theirpresence. They are everywhere.Unlike most of the Changing Breeds, whoseanimal Kin cause quite a stir when appearing inhuman-dominated areas, spiders are ubiquitous.Some studies estimate that there are 130 spidersfor every square yard of land on the earth — andthat human beings are rarely more than threefeet away from one at any given time. Includingwhile they sleep.How many of those are “mundane” spiders,and how many are actually spider-Kin, orCrawlerling-formed spider-shifters?No one can be certain.And to those who have stopped to thinkabout it, that — more than their blood-drinking,venom, or emotionless dedication to their alienQueen — is the most terrifying thing about theAnanasi.see as the “lesser” parts of that same interwoven Tapestry.They are, at heart, the manipulators of those threads, ratherthan threads themselves. And as such, while they maygive the appearance of bonding with those around them(as an effective manipulation technique), in truth theycategorically avoid becoming too intimately connectedwith humanity, the Ovid, or even others of their own kind.When they do organize in groups, either to accomplisha goal too large for single effort or for mutual protection,these temporary “clusters” quickly disband after the threatis dealt with or the task completed. Some among the Ovidclaim this is the only way that the werespiders avoid fallingto the cannibalism that often happens in nature whenone spider intrudes on another’s territory. The Ananasihave not deigned to answer these allegations.TraitsAs the only remaining insect shape-shifters (and theonly shapeshifting children of the Grandmother Spider),Ananasi differ from the rest of the Changing Breeds inANANASI59