Talyxian Weavers

"“WiIl make fine silk!!! Will make fine silk!!!”"

T-Weavers: What are they?
One of the more bizarre creatures to inhabit the Talyxian biomes these creatures seem to only have a single mission in mind; to make “Fine silk!” It seems it uses the silk it creates to make nests for their spawn along with other things, though in recent times a lucrative yet sometimes highly illegal also dangerous business arises from it. In this document we’ll be doing a dive into this bizarre yet intriguing creature.

T-Weavers: Biology
Their natural habitat seems to be generally the western sections of Tal, specifically Vetla home of the extinct Western sergals and along with that they are rumored to be inhabiting Ohathe and a small few in western Shigu. They are a white type Talyxian, being friendly and could be considered “Helpful” to the Eltus depending if one wishes to harvest their silk for production. Their form is reminiscent of a “Mantis” on earth, though definitely an alien aspect being added to it along with being primarily white shades in terms of color on the outside, while retaining grey colors internally, thus it could be said they are in a in between of White and Grey type Talyxians. Female T-Weavers are more similar to the “Praying mantis”, while male T-Weavers are more similar to the “Orchid Mantis” of earth. These creatures can grow up to the size of an Average southern sergal, and at most up to the size of the brutal general herself, though this is rare, though seen more common in males if it occurs.

Sentience within these creatures is a bit of a shot in the dark, as T-Weavers males seem to show picky behavior suggesting possibly higher thought; though at the same time some T-Weavers will simply consume everything in site in order to produce silk. At the current time, it is unknown whether Sentence is possible within T-weavers. Though it seems they share a common goal; “Make fine silk.” in order to construct their nests. They exhibit similar behavior to some pests on Tal, consuming Eltus fur to process into nesting materials; though with T-Weavers this is taken to the extreme, and have a more wider diet in terms of processing materials than their mite counterparts. In general there are a few differences between male and female T-weavers which will be outlined soon.

A female T-weaver’s lifespan is around 100-150 years, whilst a male T-weaver can live for much longer, their lifespan being around 200-250 (Tal years to be specific). They start out life as an egg, often in clutches of 4-5 eggs. Once they hatch they will begin to learn how to weave on their own, though will get help from their parents in gathering materials, weaving small tufts of fur, to bunches of mulch into mini nests. As they grow into adolescence they will leave their nests and “Families”, still improving their weaving skills as they survive on their own in the wilds of Vetla. As they become adults they will soon seek a mate, a unique “Tradition” that could possibly hint towards higher intelligence, as there are less males than females; females will compete for a male, though not through violence instead, weaving objects or strips of silk to present to the male. If the male finds the silk impressive enough or satisfactory, they will become the female’s mate and the cycle repeats.

There are a few key differences between male and female T-Weavers besides purely visual differences. Females are able to produce more Silk than their male counterparts though are often of average or lower quality, whilst males can create much higher quality silk though smallest amounts of it; however with the right diet and good treatment of the male in general it’ll be producing plenty of silk with a high enough quality that can turn a man or woman into a noble overnight, provided you’re willing to get your hands dirty and you find the right buyer.

Their main trait which brings them their attention is their ability to “Weave” silk together to make strips of it, they mostly do this in order to impress a mate, though their silk making capability is more sought after than their actual weaving skills. The quality and quantity of the silk itself is based on what it eats; feeding a T-weaver Eltus plants and ingredients, they produce stronger/higher quality silk along with a good quantity of it. The strongest of the silk can withstand

T-Weavers: Behavior
T-Weavers often keep to themselves, never bothering other Talyxians or Eltus unless in self defense, in that case they will use their “Blades” to great use, delivering devastating lacerating/stabbing attacks to those who try to harm them or their young; however in general T-Weavers are docile, passive creatures. There are a few differences in male and female T-weaver behavior, which will be outlined soon. T-weavers seem to form “Families” of some kind, though these families will often split once the children have grown to adolescence. Though in the meantime each of the parents have specific roles; The patriarch of the family, duties often include teaching young how to weave, whether out of small items or other things more or less spending time with them. The matriarch of the family will often be gathering food or materials for the rest of the “Family”, while also serving a protective role.

When not in a familial role Male T-Weavers will often congregate into groups, acting like a group of bachelors. It seems that the group of males will often cooperate, weaving things together seemingly for no reason, though perhaps this could be for entertainment or an activity to break up the day. They also perform other activities with each other, mostly recreational activities that don’t exactly contribute much to anything. Though purely speculation some researchers from the royal laboratories suggest that perhaps this is learned behavior considering they’re possible connection to the now extinct Western sergals and their interactions with the Nevreans of Nevrea.

Female T-Weavers seem to act alone, wandering on their own in search of a mate while also occasionally stalking the congregations of Male T-Weavers trying to offer gifts and such in order to court or at the bare minimum charm one of the Male T-Weavers. They seem to do all of the heavy lifting while letting the males simply do other things that aren’t exactly productive. Perhaps this is another learned behavior from the Nevreans of Nevrea, and helps reinforce both the theories that T-Weavers were used in Velta culture, and that perhaps T-Weavers are more intelligent than they let off.

T-Weavers: Interactions with the Eltus peoples
Though mostly speculation, according to the Royal Shigu Historian Society, they believe the first interactions between Eltus and these T-Weavers took place in the Vetla forests with the Western Sergals, believing that they used the T-weavers as a source of fabrics, this also plays along with their learned behavior theory. Though after the destruction of the Western Sergals, T-Weavers mostly were left alone for a while, simply wandering around not exactly doing anything. Though as the world rebuilt from the devastating world war these creatures would be rediscovered, mostly by Shigu historians trying to salvage what they could from the genocide in Vetla.

Soon enough a lucrative business opportunity would arise from these creatures seeing their silk making capabilities. Attempting to tame these creatures turned out relatively easy as most of the T-Weavers from pre-war times were still around, perhaps thinking these were the same Eltus that had tamed them oh so long ago. Maintaining and keeping these creatures around turned out slightly difficult as the lack of infrastructure in Vetla in general made exporting the silks these creatures made tricky as caravans were attacked by Talyxian creatures and bandits often on the lawless paths to Shigu territory. The few “Farmers” which managed to successfully export these silks, to the Shigu territory and Reono regions had helped the economy recovery of the two nations a tad bit, though the real prize for these farmers was the insatiable city of Gold ring, ripe with willing buyers; there was a risk however, as the months long gamble could see one’s entire operation fall apart if it went wrong, though the reward could see someone turn into someone akin to a noble overnight.

Eventually those who had risen to amass great wealth from these operations set their eyes onto a new goal, as they had the money to sustain their operations; they had time to experiment and fool around. One of these goals was to “Obtain the perfect Textile.” They had already known that feeding a T-Weaver male Eltus products would result in higher silk output and a higher quality product; though what would happen if you fed it an Eltus being? Of course they couldn't be live Eltus as it would outright refuse to eat them, though with corpses they would gladly consume them and convert them to Silk. This silk/fabric was almost impossibly strong, being able to take many slashes and stabs from swords and spears before giving out and ripping while providing the wearer with the utmost comfort; easily being able to fetch a high price at a market or an armor shop. This specific kind of silk is nicknamed “Eltus Silk”, though most buyers are unaware of how literal the name is.

This discovery of “Eltus Silk” and the high price it fetched made many opportunistic “Farmers” willing toss away their morals for even a grasp of wealth turn to graverobbing and murder along with other highly illegal practices. Some of the more wealthy “Farmers” tasked hired blades to take expeditions into neighboring Nevrea and kidnap villagers and bring them back for “Processing”. Though initially the rediscovery of T-Weavers served as a much needed economic boost to the shattered Shigu and Reono, this economic boon, has turned into a bane and a thorn into the Shigu peacekeeper’s side.

T-Weavers: Misc
(Unrelated info to T-Weavers will be placed here)

1: I heavily based T-Weavers off “The Carnival” from library of ruina, as they served as a major inspiration for this Talyxian beast; and also mostly because I’ve been playing LOR recently :P

2: T-Weaver eggs are about the same size of Ostrich egg, if not bigger! Don’t try to eat them though, they often taste horrible, and 9/10 it’s gonna be the last thing you eat before a Weaver blade goes into your throat. The terrible taste was most likely developed as an early defense mechanism to deter predators from eating their eggs due to the horrible taste.