SomethingTober #11 - Sound Spider

 

Sounds Spiders are a mystically enhanced species of spider from the Monster World era of the fantasy realm of Larreth. The spiders live in large colonies, where they work together with even greater precision and synchronization than ants and bees, leading some to suspect they are a true hive mind. They are not, however, but instead are "quasi-sapient", having some higher awareness and reasoning compared to most other spiders. No individual spider is particularly intelligent, however, they have developed a method efficient intercommunication within their colonies, allowing the group as a whole to gather and process information quickly and efficiently, and synchronize their efforts beyond their limited intellect.

Sound Spiders can rival the size of the largest Earth spiders, up to a foot wide leg span, with fairly heavy body. They can generate silk, but do not bother to do so accept to generate sheet-like webs for their hive dens. Despite their build, they also have great jumping ability.

Sound Spiders get their name from their ability to generate and perceive a far wider range of sonic frequencies than humans. The hairs all over their bodies are actually very thin, hollow spines that can stridulate with incredible complexity. Most hive communication uses ultra sonics that most animals can't hear. They can otherwise create a wide variety of sound effects and mimicry, from copying full voices to creating disorienting surround-sound stereo effects and false audio signals.

However, their most potent and dangerous ability is the power to poison people with a particular sound that triggers a targets body to produce toxic chemicals, effectively causing a person's own blood and tissues to temporarily poison themselves. The mechanics of this were never explained in universe, but if I were to go back and do some revising, I would say the spiders are actually utilizing some form of Song Magic to cast status ailment type spells, and poison is just the one they favor.

Sound Spiders first appeared in my first big fantasy adventure, the Ghost for a Step-Sister series, which was about two kids being sent to the Monster World to battle various monsters. This was back in the 80s, before the term "isekai" was well known in the west, and before I was ever familiar with anime. The whole idea of kids getting sent to fantasy worlds was a staple of western media for some time as well, and I was inspired by things like kids adventure books and movies like the Never-Ending Story. The Sounds Spiders that appeared in the story were actually under the control and guardianship of a native Monster World kid (who was a human, despite there not being humans around, in hindsight possibly implying he had come to the Monster World from Earth when he was very young). Daniel was something of a wild boy/druid, and the Spiders both protected him and relied on his help. He also carried with him antidotes for the Sonic Venom, which he was immune to.