The blackwebs are sentient species who developed on planet Lacium, which they expanded into an intergalactic trade empire.
History[]
Pre - sentience[]
Preciously little is known about the evolution of the species, just like, indeed, all the other life forms on the planet, due to the "Great Prospecting", during which the majority of fossils were destroyed while searching for spice deposits. The most popular theory today states that they were formerly small creatures which grew due to the similar evolutionary tendencies of it's prey. Wings were developed possibly due to one of the periods of the great extinctions, during which flying was crucial to spotting prey. Early Blackwebs, as their name suggests, used webs to catch small insects. With time, they began to rely on it as a form of shelter, especially to their vulnerable young.
Early civilisation[]
The "webs", which started to play an increasingly important role in the life of those creatures became the centres of early tribes. Primitive "buildings", mostly from bones and other organic material, glued together with the webs were erected, and the blackwebs became increasingly protective of them. Territories were set aside by laying scented webs on the ground, and grew due to the increase of the number of population. When two of such territories shared a border, 3 things might have happened - either the smaller tribe willingly abandoned their "web" to become a part of the larger tribe, the tribes waged war until defeat (resulting in the consumption of the eggs and young of the defeated tribe, and the incorporation of their elders)or, a particularly interesting innovation known only in the later phases, one tribe gave some of their eggs, in exchange for the other tribes departure from it's nest. The eggs were supposed to re compensate any members lost in the migration and the hardship and risk of setting up a new nest. In time the "Nests" became extremely large, populous and well organised - into what most sociologists call "Wide Webs"
Age of war and economy[]
The "Age of Wide Webs" is marked by a point in which the "territories" were getting so large that migration was no longer an option, as they were were bordering other territories from all directions on almost the whole planet. The "Wide Webs" no longer had primitive organic architecture, but instead buildings from wood and stone became erected. Conquered "Webs" were no longer left deserted, but changed into villages from where raw materials were foraged and distributed to the "capital". Once two "Wide Webs" came into contact, it was no longer a case of "assimilate, conquer or bribe out", but some sort of uneasy truce took place, with sporadic attempts to do one of these.
Traditionally it is believed that Trantul XXIX founded the first walls around his "Web", stating that "As we have hard exoskeleton, our Web must have hard exoskeleton. Like I was named Trantul when my exoskeleton grew, I name our "Web" - Webster!" With this innovation, Webster got an advantage over it's neighbours, and after a failed attack, it was able to propose an extremely one sided trade agreement, working more like tribute, which drained much of the potential from the enemy and allowed assimilation.
A few turbulent centuries followed, during which 3 "Wide Webs" - Webster, Arachnopolis and Exoermatiae were able to economically subjugate and assimilate all webs around them. During this era the economy was what decided on the Web's survival and victory - and so started the spread of the cult of Ca'ash. Temples were built in which priests - bankers enlarged the amount of gold one offered to them, which in turn allowed for more duopolisation of trade, as both the Temples and the King pursued a different idea which areas to expand. Yet the competition worked wonders and it is the cult of Ca'ash that allowed the aforementioned "Wide Webs" to increase in size.
When there was no more smaller independent "Webs", started a what is known as "War of the Webs". With the increasing mercantile practices, armies were sent to weaken the opponents cities, which would force them to accept the goods from abroad. This process went on for proximately half a century, until Trantul IL decided to apply a new tactic - spread heresies which were only recently (and at great cost) eradicated in his "Webs" - to the "Webs" of his opponents. The tactic worked wonders with Exodermatiae, but Hyperexarch Charax IV of Arachnopolis understood the tactic, and utilised it himself against the Exodermatiae as well. As a consequence, the riots were hard to suppress and the "Wide Web" of Exodermatiae was divided between the economic might of Webster and Arachnopolis. The war entered it's final stage.
For about 200 years a cold war ensured, which was only occasionally interrupted by combat or aggressive economic practices. During that time much technology was discovered, mostly in order to outdo the rival, and changes in power took place as well - yet differently for both empires. In Webster, the complex matters of state became too much for the king to control himself, so he called the Consortium, an advisory board made up from the wisest elders of the whole "Wide Web". They proved to be only too successful, as soon they were the ones who made all decisions, while the King was degraded to a ceremonial role. In Arachnopolis, the priests of Ca'ash grew in power and soon began to openly control the economy, while neglecting ceremonies. This proved to be unpopular with the populace, and a charismatic prophet declared himself the "nephew of the God That Will Come", which sparked a rebellion, (secretly helped by the Consortium of Webster), which managed to overthrow the priests and exile the king. The country fell into chaos, and soon a new schismatic fraction of the "Monocashites" arose, whose doctrine was to "unite all the money in one pile, as only then The God That Will Come will be tempted enough to do so". This is all what Consortium waited for - it proposed a large sum of money for the Monocashites, for the treason in the form of opening the gates of the cities. After the deed was done, the army of Webster invaded the "Webs" of Arachnopolis, including the capital itself. All the priests, heretical or not, were disposed of and replaced with the loyal priests from Webster, and the descendant of the former exiled King of Arachnopolis was re - installed as a puppet. With this the Consortium and Webster reigned supreme.
World Wide Web and space exploration[]
As the whole Lacium was under the control of Webster, the King (in adherence with the wishes of the Consortium) declared the planet a "World Wide Web", and the "Historic mission of Balchwebs" - an eternal success. If he knew how wrong was he...
The UFO technology was a late offshoot from a concept which was meant to weaken the enemy "Webs" from above. They soon became powerful enough to venture into the cosmos, which it did, as the priests demanded trading partners, as none could be found in Lacium, while certain ceremonies of Ca'ash required international trade. It came as a shock that other planets are inhibited by different and sometimes more advanced races. The World Wide Web of the Blackwebs spun itself further and further into the cosmic chaos, and it's admirals were behaving in the same way as their earliest ancestors did - killing, bribing and assimilating...
Constitution and Society[]
Physical mechanisms[]
The Blackwebs were truly blessed by the God of Evolution. The purple dots under their skin contain glands which secrete a strong poison, rendering them inedible to anyone without poison tolerance. The poison flows through canals in their body to the tail, where it can be shot with a great pressure on enemies. They can also run quite fast and use their wings to fall on the non expecting prey and quickly annihilate it with razor sharp teeth, armed with poison glands as well.
Their body is upheld by the exoskeleton, which grows and hardens with age. Upon birth, they have no support whatsoever and the only way of locomotion is flying on tiny fly-like wings. After about 1 year of existence the exoskeleton of these blackwebs that manage to survive is strong enough to allow minimal walking. The time of the most effective use of exoskeleton is around 5 - 30 years, as afterwards if gets too thick for effective movement. At around 70 - 120 years (depends on the lifestyle and diet) no more movement is possible, and the only way an elder blackweb can contribute to his "Web" is by giving advise. Around 150 year old blackwebs start the process of dementia, which reaches it's end at about in around 160 - 170 year - when the brain ceases to "think", and only maintains some metabolic reactions, in a state similar to hibernation. This can go on indefinitely, as the simple radiation of the sun is enough to upkeep these processes. The oldest blackwebs are in a state of living statues ans are known as archemetixti
The achilles' heel of blackwebs is the immunity system. They are born without it, and can only acquire immunity to certain diseases after they are infected - which is at many times fatal. For this reason only about 10% of the spawn reach their first year of age. Later on the chance of survival increases dramatically, but still only about 1% survive until maturity (10th year of age). This is the reason the Elders, and archemetixti in particular are nearly immortal, yet less then 1 in a thousand blackwebs has a chance to survive until this day.
Reproduction[]
The female is fertile from about her 10th year until the 20th, while males produce gametes from their 20th year, but continue to do so for about as long as they can move. The female lays unfertilized eggs once per year, about 100 at a time. They are later covered by the webs of male blackwebs, which contains the gametes that will fertilise the eggs.
The blackwebs have a tradition of eugenics, as the most "fit" i.e. smartest or strongest blackweb males will civer the eggs with their webs first, to get the highest chance of having offspring. Usually the whole "web" (if it is a small community) or a sub distinct of a larger "Web" participates in this to maximise the number of hatched offspring.
The only exception from this case is the King. The consortium decide on the best looking female blackweb (in the old days, the king used to chose for himself, typically choosing the the most intelligent female, but it was in the times that the monarchy's function was decisional rather then ceremonial), who lays eggs and the king gets the exclusive privilege to cover them with his web. This ensures the royal bloodline to be maintained.
Aside from the King, the Hyperexach (the descendant of the old kings of Arachnopolis, who now serves as the Stuart) and a number of nobles practice this form of reproduction. As the World Wide Web expands into new planets, this practice gets much more common in the colonies. At one point, the so called "Red Consortium" attempted to ban this type of practice in all non - royal bloodlines, yet they reigned far too short for this to have any effect.
Culture[]
After hatching from the eggs, young blackwebs are not taken care of. Nobody knows their parents, as the father is impossible to determine, while the spawns of different females intermix. They generally fly freely around the "Web", and eat small insects and fruits. As mentioned above, their mortality rate during the first year is about 90%. Then an adult finds a child that started growing his exoskeleton (and walking), he gives it a name and takes it to the "Web", where it is taught different skills necessary for functioning in the society.
Obviously the king's children do not wander around, but are trapped in a room of the palace, where all food is provided. They are however not sheltered against bacteria, so their immunity system can develop.
Ironically, the older one gets, the more freedom and privileges he has - as there is less chance he will die. Thus it is the older blackwebs who engage in past times the most often, until that is, they are capable of moving. Once they cannot do that any more, they are known as "elders" and attain a large amount of respect. Generally the oldest blackweb in a "Web" becomes it's exarch, yet if there is more then one elder, at times they form a "micronsortium". If an elder displays superior talents and wisdom, he is transported to Webster to become a part of the Consortium.
