What's the deal with the space spiders?
“I used to fear the stars.”
“We all did.”
“Demons spin webs out there in the black. True demons, I mean, not the creatures Craftsmen summon—monsters who trap worlds in their nets. They visit us to eat, and the gods and Serpents stand against them.”
This post contains spoilers for Last First Snow, Four Roads Cross, and Ruin of Angels. There is major speculation about Dead Country / Craft Wars, but no spoilers. For post-Dead Country articles, check out the next article here!
The Craft Sequence is full of small worldbuilding details that weave together into a realistic-feeling whole. From regional quirks, like Alt Coulumb not having newspapers, to relatable details that parallel our world, like Starbucks adjacent coffee chain Muerte Coffee; from amusing references to green-skinned people and tentacled horrors as business colleagues and clients, to details about historical migrations patterns - it adds up to a cohesive, fully realised world that suits the story set within it.
Some of these details, however, hint at what we might expect from the forthcoming Craft Wars trilogy (launching with Dead Country in March 2023), and the eventual endgame of the series.
One of these details is, in my opinion, crucial to what comes next. With only six references across three books (four of which are in Last First Snow alone), it’s easily skipped past. Introduced as a small facet of Quechal mythology in a discussion between the last two Eagle Knights, Temoc and Alaxic, it could be nothing more than it seems on the surface. But I think not.
Last year I had the opportunity to speak to Max Gladstone in a Kaffeeklatsch, so I put the question directly to him: what’s the deal with the space spiders?
The only response I got was the embodiment of evil-laugh.gif. He demurred to say more.
Which, in my mind, is a pretty decent clue that space spiders are going to play some kind of role in Craft Wars. So, what can we glean from those six aforementioned references?
What does the Quechal religion say about space spiders?
We get the most information about the space spiders and beliefs about them in Last First Snow, which is book four in publication order and book one in chronological order. The first passing reference is in an exchange between Temoc and the Major, two leaders of the Skittersill Uprising.
“The King in Red has spent so long in boardrooms he has forgotten how to speak to people. I dislike him. He destroys homes and lives and civilisations in the name of progress toward some bloodless future in which we are no different from the skazzerai that spin webs between the stars.”
This reference is easily ignored, and doesn’t tell us much about the skazzerai - not even that they are demonic space spiders. But it lays crucial groundwork for later references. It is our first time hearing the name ‘skazzerai’, and the description of spinning webs connects the skazzerai with spiders without explicitly naming them as such. Most importantly, it tells us that the skazzerai are a longstanding part of Quechal religion and belief. Temoc is able to use the reference to skazzerai as a comparison point without further explanation, even when speaking to someone born after the fall of the Quechal pantheon, who therefore did not grow up immersed in their myths and stories.
The next time we hear about the space spiders, we get a lot more information.
“I used to fear the stars.”
“We all did.”
“Demons spin webs out there in the black. True demons, I mean, not the creatures Craftsmen summon—monsters who trap worlds in their nets. They visit us to eat, and the gods and Serpents stand against them. To us the Craftsmen, feeding on starlight, seem servants of those hungry mouths at the end of time. Yet Craftsmen see stars as sources of energy, nothing more.”
Ohhh this one is juicy. In this conversation between Temoc and Alaxic, the last two Eagle Knights - the latter of whom also studied the Craft - we find out a huge amount about the space spiders / skazzerai:
They are ‘true demons’ that spin webs in deepest space ‘trapping worlds’
They have apparently visited the Craftworld / Domain before ‘to eat’, and the world was defended by the (now dead) gods of the Quechal pantheon, and the (now sleeping) twin Serpents
They are deeply, intrinsically feared by the Quechal people
They are connected to starlight, which makes them connected to the source of Craftsfolks’ power
The two further references in Last First Snow add little to our understanding of the space spiders, but reinforce their centrality to Quechal religion and the fact that the skazzerai are indeed spiders in deep space.
“Dead Ixchitli first, the Sun who fixed the sky, fiercest warrior in the battles against the skazzerai between the stars.”
“Interesting choice, if it had been a choice, for the gods to clear the clouds away: Quechal religion did not trust the stars. The night sky, for them, was an iron web enormous spiders wove to steal the sun’s light.”
Importantly, the latter quote is from Elayne Kevarian’s point of view. Whilst she has lived in Dresediel Lex and would have a working understanding of Quechal religion from the battle she fought in the city, if the skazzerai were some kind of minor theological point it’s unlikely she would make such easy reference to them. Previous mentions of the space spiders were from priests of the religion; Elayne’s reference to them shows there is wider knowledge of this story.
Why does it matter that the Quechal believe in the skazzerai?
So, one of the many religions in the world of the Craft Sequence believes in some kind of demonic space spider. Why does that matter?
It matters because in this world, belief shapes and redefines reality itself. We go into this in more detail our articles ‘Words, Belief, and the Fabric of Reality’ and ‘Basics of the Craft and Applied Theology’ but all you need to know for this is that belief literally changes the world, and belief in the gods over millennia is what gave gods the very real power they currently have. Or at least, had before the God Wars.
“Gods are stories people tell. The Hidden Schools claim gods evolved with us. We order the world in our minds, and our stories gather strength and power. Through them we become more than meat, and through us they become more than wind. Faiths are eyes through which we know the world. ”
The mere fact that so many people over so many years have believed in the skazzerai means they are probably real. And that initial belief likely comes from somewhere deep in the nearly forgotten pre-histories of the Craft world. As in our world, many myths and folklore tales have seeds in reality.
For example, there appears to be evidence that the great flood story that appears in many different cultures’ traditions did indeed happen, and the stories we know today are mythologised memories of this ancient event. The Smithsonian Magazine compiled more examples of cutural tales that could have scientific explanations here - it’s an interesting read, so check it out.
BUT, we’re talking about the Craft Sequence, not the real world. What does this have to do with the space spiders??
The skazzerai in Domain / Craft World history
We saw in Last First Snow that the Quechal believe that the skazzerai visit the Craft world / Domain to ‘eat’ and that the ‘gods and Serpents stand against them’. In Four Roads Cross we get further evidence that this is a historical truth.
You may remember Tara’s quest to get Seril’s rights to the sky over Alt Coulumb from Caleb and the Twin Serpents Group. As part of this mission, she goes into a mountain which turns out to house a goddess so ancient there is no recollection of her. In Tara’s cross-examination of the goddess, who gives her name as Firekeeper, we get this telling statement:
“I’d say it came through during a war between gods, a few thousand years ago. About right?”
Gods/serpents/thosebeyond/outspiders/skazzerai”
Those beyond. Outspiders. Skazzerai. Given what we know so far, it seems likely these three terms refer to the same space beings.
And it’s as good as confirmation that the Quechal myth is rooted in real history: the skazzerai came to Domain / the Craft world to ‘eat’, and were fought off by gods and the Serpents. We’ve seen how destructive battles with gods can be, and we read in Two Serpents Rise that “the last time someone used the Serpents as a weapon, they broke this continent in half.” This quote does not reference the almost forgotten war with the skazzerai, but we can imagine how devastating a war with both gods and Serpents would have been. It likely shaped the physical world of at least the continents of Northern and Southern Kath, if not the entire world.
Last time, the gods and Serpents appear to have won - or at least convinced the skazzerai to back off for a few millennia. But in a post-God Wars world, with old gods long dead and old knowledge all but forgotten… would they be able to win again?
The Skazzerai in Dead Country and the Craft Wars trilogy
The skazzerai are coming back in the Craft Wars trilogy, that’s for certain. The references to these demonic space spiders may be few and far between but they tell a powerful story of ancient beings at the end of time, fought off countless years ago. The introduction of the Firekeeper, the goddess trapped under the Failfire mountain who battled against the skazzerai many years ago all but confirms that. The whole Four Roads Cross side quest builds up to Tara agreeing to build a body for Firekeeper, a promise which is fulfilled at the end of the book. So we now have a goddess who can speak to true history and tell us how to fight the skazzerai.
The final piece of evidence, however, comes in Ruin of Angels. Kai orbits the planet, and part of her role - requested by Tara, the character who previously interacted with Firekeeper and learned about the skazzerai - is to ‘listen’. We get this ominous explanation of what she heard in a later conversation with Tara:
“What did you hear?”
“Stars. They . . . sing.”
“And.”
“I heard—legs. Skittering closer. Whispers older than time. They speak in the pulses of distant suns. They’re so, so hungry. And they smell us.”
Did it suddenly get cold in here, or is it just me?
The skazzerai, space spiders, those beyond, are coming closer. They’ve been here before, and were fought off by gods now dead. Craftspeople have been using - stealing - the power of distant stars. Will they be able to fight back against beings ‘older than time’? What exactly do the skazzerai eat? Flesh and blood? Power? Craft and divine grace?
The world of the Craft Sequence runs on magical and divine power. What happens if our heroes face an enemy that eats that very power? Not only will they struggle to stand against such a foe, but the entire world will break down. Imagine creatures from deep space coming to our world, able to eat electricity. Anything that runs on electricity is suddenly useless.
So, I ask again. If - when - the skazzerai come back to the Craft world, will the world be able to stand against them?
Nov 2023 update - want more skazzerai? Read our spoilerific articles here.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments, on Twitter or on r/CraftSequence. And don’t forget you can subscribe to be the first to hear about new articles and fun projects in the pipeline.
