| The Spider King |
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Palor Irethrall, known to most as The Spider King, was the leader of many of the Gwar and ruled from the mountain-fortress of Vesper Crag. He harbored an ancient grudge against the Elves, taking this to the extreme of seeking to annihilate their entire race.
Description[]
- Elf/Gwar Form
The Spider King was a hybrid Elf/Gwar, his father being an Elf and his mother a Gwar. Like many Gwar, his skin was grey and his head was mostly bald. But his skin was darker, similar to the colour of grey thunderclouds. Dark eyebrows arched above his eyes and flared back over his scalp, over his head, and down to his neck at the back. A sharp arrowhead of hair began above his nose and swept back like his eyebrows. The Spider King had black eyes, like many Gwar, but they were oddly slanted and had vertical sickle-shaped pupils coloured blood red. The canines in his lower jaw jutted and were stark white. While the Spider King was tall, muscular and broad, like many of the Gwar, he was less bulky due to his Elven blood. Also, his ears were less like the Gwar oak-leaf-shaped ears, more compact and slanted. He had high cheekbones that tapered back to his ears.
- Spider Form
In his form changed by Navira's venom, the Spider King was shaped similar to a Warspider, but with different features. He had six legs instead of eight, with spikes of bone projecting from every joint and segment. He also had a more slender abdomen than Warspiders, and a humanoid torso, but the arms were longer, much more muscular, and instead of hands, he had huge clawed fists. His shoulders were humped, with black sockets on either side. His head appeared extremely misshapen, with massive fangs at the corners of his mouth. Four of his six eyes were spread out on his scalp, and the other two were large, deep set, and slanted, and all of them were a fiery red. Three whip-like strands curved over his head, one from each corner of his brow and the third bisecting his forehead from just above his flat nose.
Background[]
In the year 3811, Palor Irethrall rebelled against the Elves and broke away from the Gwar nation with two-thirds of the Gwar. The Gwar settled in Vesper Crag, and Palor married a Berylinian Elf named Navira Hiddenblade. In the Age of Peace, what began as bitterness against the Elves became something far worse, and Palor grew to hate even his wife. When he discovered the Drefid clans and the Dark Arts, he became consumed and began to experiment with ancient relics, strange elements and poisons. He began to test new potions on Navira, and when she became sick as a result, he inoculated her with venom from creatures in the deep places of Vesper Crag, transforming her into a spider-like being. From Navira, Palor bred the Warspiders. But Navira's offspring shared only her size, not her power, and he became furious at that, chaining her with shackles and tightening them whenever it pleased him to see her in pain. He also began to take slaves from Earth to tend his Warspiders. Then, in the year of 2222, his armies, led by Gwar and Drefid commanders, assaulted Berinfell and partially destroyed it, slaying the Seven Elven Lords and taking their children captive. He commanded that his Drefids slay the children, and believed them when they told him they had done so. Then he began the search for the remnant of the Elves in hiding. After eight hundred years with no success in his mission, the Lords of Berinfell returned, and he was able to figure out where they hid due to information brought him by a Gwar named Ferral. A portion of his armies assaulted Nightwish Caverns, where the Elves were in hiding, but were utterly destroyed. Later, the Elves attacked Vesper Crag and scattered the remnant of his warriors. In that battle, he was bitten by Navira and was changed by her venom into a more powerful version of her spider-like form. He fought the six remaining Elven Lords in the Battle of Generations, and was immune to their skills, but was killed after a flying rock broke three of his six legs, the rain summoned by the Rainsong washing him over a ledge and into a pool of water to his doom. A while later, the corpse of the Spider King reflexively bit a Drefid in the leg, passing on the venom inside him to who would become the new Spider King, Asp Bloodthorne.
Powers[]
As the Spider King, Palor Irethrall could hear the thoughts of his spider minions and use the Dark Arts. He also had long life. In his spider-like form, the Spider King could read thoughts, was immune to clinging fire, had incredible strength, and was speedy enough to catch arrows out of the air. He could also fire liquid webbing from the sockets on his shoulders, and was very fast and agile.
Appearances[]
- Curse of the Spider King (mentioned)
- Venom and Song
- The Tide of Unmaking (mentioned)