Katarious

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The Katarious (spider-based race): Prior to the Empire were divided along family lines and ruled by and local Kings. The noble and royal family Katarious were both physically large and very intelligent, in addition to being blood-thirsty and brutal killers. More cunning than devious, they usually won more battles over their foe due to sheer savagery on the battle field rather than tactics or skilled battle plans. The training of the Illiadians changed that by teaching tactics and combat command skills.

The Katarious warrior is a fearsome creature capable of utter savagery in battle using both torso hand-held weaponry and natural weapons on legs or lower appendages. Not very capable of independent thought, the Katarious warrior will carry out whatever orders they were given and then either return for new orders or stand fast to await new orders. However once in a blood frenzy, trying to give any type of orders while there are enemy within striking range is extremely hard to do.

The Katarious are innured to death - neither fearing it nor over-activley seeking it. When death comes, it comes. Thus the easiest method of dealing with problems is to simply kill it and move on. This also includes the punishment for most crimes and failure as well. This means that learning from one's mistakes is not a Katarious trait, as mistakes are often rewarded by execution. This is one Katarious tradition the Illiadians were unable to break.

The Katarious worker is smaller in scale than the Katarious warrior and not trained for combat as are his larger cousins. However they still possess the Katarious brutal nature and are armed with natural weapons. Even the most common of Katarious workers are a match for several unarmed humanoids, with the possible exception of the Brute Orcs. The Katarious workers were near the bottom of the social ladder until the introduction of humanoid slaves. Once Orc and Elf slaves began to appear with the rise of the Empire, the Katarious worker began to elevate his station in life. Still part of the networked family, they owned slaves that did the work they once did. Instead the Katarious worker began to indulge in pleasurable pursuits that had been limited to only Nobles - meanwhile the Nobles also grew richer and began to indulge in even more debased and degenerate pleasures. Only the Katarious Warriors remained relatively unchanged from previous generations, however due to the rise of slave armies, the need to feed and train expensive warriors was seen as wasteful and fewer and fewer Katarious warriors were bred.

The Katarious spellslingers are few and far between. They are skilled sorcerers, learning their spells through inspiration and breeding rather than study or divine guidance.

The Katarious breeders are female Katarious that are kept secured and safe for breeding Family stock. They are also the primary targets for inter-family warfare. Unlike insect level spiders, female Katarious are not queens of each colony or family. In fact, female Katarious are taken at birth and 'pithed' - that is a large needle is inserted into the back of their skulls to damage most of the brain. Female Katarious are kept for breeding and not for thinking. However they do possess the ability to largely control the types of eggs that they lay per clutching cycle. The determination for which types of eggs is set by the ruling male of each family who is also the father of that clutch. Giving birth to a Katarious sorceror or another female breeder however is strictly by accident despite various breeding attempts to control that process.

In the latter years of the Empire, few Warriors were bred since slave armies were far cheaper to maintain. But workers and nobles were needed in order to manage and oversee the large number of slaves that were the mainstay of each family's wealth and power.

When the rebellion reached its height and the slave armies were wiped out, the relatively few female Katarious were pushed to breed almost exclusively warrior Katarious. But the centuries of richness and lack of need had allowed for a longer period between each breeding cycle and the female Katarious were unable to support the demand. So fewer Katarious warriors were called upon to reconstitute the once invincible Katarious legions and put down the rebellion. In the beginning the renewed legions were able to successfully combat the rebels, but losses to the ever increasing rebel numbers were greater than the remaining female Katarious could produce and the Katarious Empire was doomed.

In those remote and desolate areas where Katarious forces still exist, no doubt their most guarded possession is the few remaining female Katarious who are able to give birth to hopes of a return to Empire.

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