Arachne

The result of an accidental mutation in the distant past gone horribly wrong, a young woman cursed to bear the burden of growing the body of a spider from her lower half. Arachne may have been the subject of Ancient Greek Myth for millennia, but she is very much a living and sapient being. When she was discovered by the general public in around 2009, her name became one spoken in whispers, and occasionally in reverence, lest you want your home turned into a breeding ground for her arachnid spawn.

History

Born in the 1st Century CE in the Lydian Empire, within what is now Turkey. Having long since forgotten her original name, Arachne used to be a normal human girl. Her talent for weaving brought her family out of poverty, and secured her a husband of high social status and a home in the opulent city of Sardis. Eventually she and her husband were married, and set to have children. While pregnant and travelling from one settlement to another, Arachne became lost in the mountains. Wandering through the wilderness alone, she eventually found a cave to seek shelter within. As the sun set and visibility began to quickly drop, she accidentally stabbed her arm on the sharpened edge of a stalactite before settling down to rest for the night. Unbeknownst to her, the stalactites and stalagmites within this cave were infused with Primordial Ooze deposited into the stone via a nearby underground reservoir.

In the wake of Arachne's disappearance, word of a monster roaming the countryside reached Sardis. A hunting party led by Arachne's husband set out to destroy the beast, under the assumption that this monster killed his wife. When they eventually found the monster spoken about in whispers by travelers and merchants, they were horrified. It was if a human torso was grafted on to a spider's body, multiple eyes bulging from its face and large fangs emerging from either side of its mouth. A trail of thousands of spiderlings followed her, freshly hatched from their eggs. This was, of course, Arachne, transformed into an amalgamation of human and an unknown giant prehistoric spider by the ooze. The exact outcome of the ensuing battle is lost to time, but from what little Arachne is willing to divulge, she was driven into the mountains by the hunting party after being gravely injured.

In the millennia since, Arachne has grown tremendously in size, dutifully raising her spiderlings and making her home in natural caverns deep within the Nur Mountains. Although smaller than the average Kaiju, Arachne fits every criteria of one, and stands at over 4 stories tall.

Like many other Kaiju, M.Y.T.H.O.S. keeps tabs on Arachne. However, unlike more destructive Jötnar, Arachne tends to keep to herself. This has led the organization to determine that invasive containment measures are not necessary, and that simply leaving her to her isolation in the mountains of Turkey is sufficient enough to keep her contained.

Description

Arachne's body is comprised of her human half and her spider half. The human half has pale, almost paper white skin, complimented by a cluster of blood red eyes around her human eye sockets. Her hair is blonde and is often intricately woven into various braids, occasionally held up via her own silk. Paper thin lips are accompanied by large, almost mandible-like fangs on either side of her mouth which jut out whenever she opens it. Her spider half greatly resembles that of Mongolorachne jurassica, although the exact species is unknown. Her front spider limbs are far longer than her back limbs, and exhibit golden banding reminiscent of certain species of orb weavers. Like all spiders, her arachnid body is covered in setae, giving her lower half a slightly fuzzy look.

Powers and Abilities

Arachne, as the myths and modern retellings may have you assume, has dominion over spiders. She is able to telepathically communicate with them, and regards many of them as her own children. Its estimated that she has birthed around 12% of the total spider population in the world. Alongside her affinity with spiders and other arachnids, she is also able to telepathically communicate with any arthropod, with mixed results depending on the species. Her command over species that lie outside of arachnids is also minimal at best. Alongside her telepathic abilities, Arachne is also fully capable of human speech. She can converse with visitors to her cave in a multitude of languages, including Ancient Greek, Turkish, Indo-European Lydian, Italian, and Ancient Egyptian.

Arachne also has abilities pertaining to her spider half, such as spinning silk with a similar durability and tensile strength as titanium alloy, and the ability to seamlessly climb vertical surfaces and even overhangs despite her great size. Her fangs also inject a venom that can cause dizziness, muscle spasms, nausea, and occasionally temporary paralysis in other Jötnar. Her potent venom makes her a valuable asset in local Kaiju-quelling efforts, that is assuming she agrees to help. Her venom and webbing are extremely valuable assets to Arachne, especially considering the sheer scale of the larger Kaiju that exist in the world. Its likely a combination of her seclusive nature and her spider-like abilities that has allowed her to survive for as long as she has.