Kraxx, a Great Spider

[Lxndr]

My first complete Burning Wheel character. A Great Spider with 13 lifepaths. What can I say, the character idea really jumped out at me?

Life has been long for Kraxx, but worthwhile. Of course, his real name is not Kraxx - it is an unpronounceable set of clacks and hisses and other sounds that a Great Spider can make, but a human can barely hope to repeat. Instead, Men call him Kraxx, because it's about what he sounds like.

Almost a century past, Kraxx was hatched on the sea, and two years later killed his mother once he was grown enough to survive on his own. Since then, he's had to make own paths through spider society, without anyone to help him. Through luck and skill, he's managed to live very long without fathering a single hatchling - even if he had to kill his opponent to stop the mating. And he has risen in the ranks.

With quiet determination and a tenacious pride, Kraxx quickly stalked up the ranks of the Sea Lords, moving from skimmer to Fisher to Great Fisher by the time he was sixteen years old. By then, he knew the Sea Lords had little more to offer him, and he departed, joining the Masters of the Hunt on the bottom rung.

Again he worked his way up, with the same quiet determination and tacit skill. From Stalker, he became Wolf, and then abandoned the duties of the Wolf to learn Strand-Hunting. One day, he simply wandered away, content that the hunters had taught him all he could learn.

Alone he wandered, for a time, watching and learning. He learned much from living on his own, and from exploring the forests and caves where he made his nests. Quite a few times he came too close to the Undernest, and fled those Hunter-Seekers who recognized he was a mother-killer, and wanted to kill him.

He nearly died the last time, but managed to slay the Hunter-Seekers before they killed him. For nearly a year, he healed and molted, until he was found by a Master of Eight. This Master brought him back to full health, and Kraxx became a Fate-Spinner. He was a quick study, learning of the Wyrding Way and eventually becoming a Master of Eight himself.

And again he left, this time for the trees, becoming an Orb-Weaver, and then an Arch-Weaver, living amongst the Masters of the Orb. Three decades he spent with them, almost as much time as he spent learning the wyrding ways. And now, once again, it is time for Kraxx to move on.

Almost a year ago, Kraxx discovered a human in the woods, nearly dead, fighting for his life against a Devourer. Kraxx slew the Devourer, but still the man nearly died. The man was taken aback by a spider that had shown compassion, and while he convalesced, he taught Kraxx his language. The man is healed now, and Kraxx has become convinced that his future is no longer with the spiders - they have given him all they can.

Instead, it is amongst Man.

So today, Kraxx and his human escort have arrived at the nearby walled city, what humans call the edge of civilization. Kraxx has lived almost a century, but again he is at the bottom rung, with a whole new world to learn. And he is excited.

-------------------

Lifepaths: Hatched to the Sea -> Skimmer -> Fisher -> Great Fisher (lead to hunter) -> Stalker -> Wolf -> Strand-Hunter (lead to Outcast) -> Wandering Star (lead to Web Wyrd) -> Fate Spinner -> Wyrd-Weaver -> Master of Eight (lead to Orb) -> Orb Weaver -> Arch-Weaver. 96 years total.

Stats:
Perception B8, Will B6, Agility B8, Speed B6, Power B5, Forte B5

Attributes:
Health B5, Steel B6, Reflexes B7, Mortal Wound B11

Skills:
Arachnid Philosophy B4
Astrology B6
Brawling B5
Burrowing B4
Camoflage B5
Cave-wise B4
Climbing B4
Forest-wise B4
Herbalism B5
Hunting B4
Intimidation B4
Lariat B5
Luring B5
Navigation B4
Observation (Training)
Orb-Wise B4
Orienteering B5
Persuasion B4
Predator-Wise B5
Prey-wise B4
Silk Sailing B3
Silken Construct B5
Snares B4
Soothing Platitudes B3
Spider-wise B4
Stealthy B4
Swimming (Training)
Tracking B5
Tree-Wise B5
Water-walking (Training)
Water-wise B4
Weather-wise B4
Weaver G6
Wyrding Way B5
Web-Wyrding (Training)

Beliefs:
There is always more
There is always another way
My future is with Mankind

Instincts:
When discovered, strike out
Investigate unfamiliar things
Keep going forward

Traits:
Massive Stature
Furred
Salt-Burned
Waiting
Patience
Stillness
Orb-Walker
Web-Sense
Patient
Mother Killer
Bladed Tarsus
Stone-Skinned
Spines
Charismatic
Elongated Forelegs
Spiked Tarsus
High Speech

Resources:
Web Steel (Wyrd)
Wyrd Call (Wyrd)
Wyrd Thrall (Wyrd)
Galvanizing Web (Wyrd)
Wyrd Sail (Wyrd)
Arch-Weaver (Contact)
Wyrd-Weaver (Contact)

NOTE: The last two resource points are set aside for this single human that he knows. Wasn't sure how to cost it, but figured two points would be enough for some reasonably "Insignificant" contact.

NOTE 2: One of this character's big GOALS is to learn abstractions. But that'll happen in-game. :)

[luke]

WOW! What a great history, and a great set of numbers. Woohee, he's a bad ass.

In fact, that's my only criticism: He's too much of a bad-ass. There's nothing left for this character to learn mechanically. I know you stated his character goal is to learn abstractions from men, but this is a rather tight and finite goal. Once he begins this final journey you might be hard-pressed to keep him motivated. Had he a little looser or less experienced history, there would be lessons for him to learn both on that journey and after it was over.

I think you have created a beautiful thing here -- he's mechanically wonderful, he's got a kicker and some good hooks. But I think you have taken it a step dangerously toward Ralph Mazza's "10 page long character histories." By writing in so much good stuff into his background, you've written it out of his future -- which is what we are actually going to play out.

Try to trim him down to 6-8 lps, I'll be interested to see what you come up with.

-L

[Lxndr]

Yeah, he is rather the bad-ass for a century-old spider. I was surprised, because I was expecting to create this really old spider, and he's got so many points that it's damned near impossible to keep up. I got the hint when I ran out of skills I wanted, and still everything seemed to get jacked up. Then I somehow accumulated 20 Trait Points, which I had a devil of a time spending.

I'll see if I can create a younger version of the basic character idea, but if nothing else Kraxx could make a good NPC. (I won't create a younger Kraxx- Kraxx is Kraxx and that's all there is to it). All I wanted was a Spider who felt that he'd learned all he could amongst his own kind, and so ventured out to learn what he could from Mankind. Yeah, I like Abstractions and all, but learning them is only one thing he can (will) learn in his travels.

I can easily shave off four LPs without murdering the concept - Arch-Weaver, Master of Eight, Great Fisher, and Wolf. That'd bring him down to 9LPs. I definitely want to keep him being a Fisher, a Strand-Hunter, an Orb-Weaver and a Wyrd-Weaver. I'd like him to stay a Stalker, too. That's five right there, plus a "hatched" for six, plus Fate-Spinner for 7 (since it's needed for Wyrd-Weaver), Skimmer for 8 (since Fisher needs Skimmer) and Wandering Star for 9 (since it's needed to go from Hunter to Web-Wyrds). Of course, just getting rid of those four also gets rid of HALF HIS LIFE. So I'll try him with 9.

If only there were more leads between the Hunt or the Sea Lords and the Orb (or to the Web Wyrds) - but the only way there is through an Outcast path, which brings me to nine instead of 8. Even so, sometime this weekend look for another spider who followed a similar path to Kraxx's, but left almost fifty years earlier.

[Lxndr]

I've tried to create a Young Kraxx that fits within the "6-8 LP" guideline, but I haven't figured out how to do so without losing some of the things that makes him him, so to speak. My best choice so far is the following:

Broodling/Wall-Crawler/Skimmer/Strand-Hunter/Wandering Star/Fate-Spinner/Wyrd-Weaver/Orb-Weaver. That's eight LPs, and manages to dance across the whole of the spider's society (and leaves us with a 43 year old spider). But it just cries out for nine (either Stalker just before Strand-Hunter, or Fisher just before Strand-Hunter - or both).

So I'll just let Kraxx stay a badass century spider and go on to exploring other parts of the Burning Wheel. :) I'm itching to make a wolf.

[Verrain]

Some advice come too late, but you could shave off lifepaths by throwing some arrogance into Kraxx's nature. Have him believe he has learned all he can from the spiders not because he actually has, but because he looks upon certain aspects of spider society with utter disdain.

So have you actually used Kraxx yet?