Physiognomy of Dridders and explanations

Ohohoho, but remember that "disgusting" is relative. That's all a bit ethnocentric, is it not?

Of course. But then again, this is assuming a "dridders are disgusting/scary" viewpoint. They wouldn't have to struggle for equality if people didn't think they were disgusting, now would they?

You know what we need? Funnel-web dridders.

MetaSkipper wrote:

They wouldn't have to struggle for equality if people didn't think they were disgusting, now would they?

All hybrids are equal but some hybrids are more equal than others.

also
http://www.wimp.com/strangelyadorable/

buddha66667 wrote:

MetaSkipper wrote:

They wouldn't have to struggle for equality if people didn't think they were disgusting, now would they?

All hybrids are equal but some hybrids are more equal than others.

Four legs good, two legs bad, eight legs really bad, and fuck snake-tails!

This is the best thread I've ever seen on this forum. ^^

Partly because I'm not sure what the point of it is. xD Are we literally just trying to explain why dridders have their bad reputation, or are we trying to stop them having it in a canon-sense? Cos' I thought that was a good bit of canon, the prejudice against them by other species. If I'm just being dense and that wasn't the point, then ignore that.

But as far as actual reasons are concerned, I think one other thing which should be taken into account is a sort of cultural clash. Whilst dridders may appear sadistic to other species, they won't themselves consider their actions in any way sadistic. Karbo's lair spider probably isn't getting a kick out of thinking how cruel she's being - she most likely just thinks that the sight of their little upside-down faces is cute and funny. Take the inside-sucking stuff. Said dridder doing the inside-sucking will see it as normal, whilst others looking will think they're getting some sort of twisted pleasure out of it because they don't do it, and see it as morally incorrect.

So, some "nice," dridders might well choose not to do this (in the same way, it seems, most nagas choose not to use their jaw dislocation ability on other predators - I do actually remember one point where the naga Ajab noted how edible a giant neko might have been if she was smaller, and I thought "Well, why doesn't he just eat her anyway?" but he didn't. (The fact that the neko in question was Kris' character might have had something to do with that, but I digress.xD)

If we go by the fact that we just about never see canon giant nagas eating other giant predators despite having the ability to do so, and frequently having relations with other giant non-naga species, it follows that they have, in general, dropped the habit in order to be more socially acceptable.

Dridders, being presumably a more solitary race by nature, and most likely a more proud one if you go back to Sirenia's rule, wouldn't have changed their ways just in order to suit other species - or at least, the majority won't. And hence, they get stuck with this "all dridders are evil," stereotype, when even the "evil" ones are only doing what comes naturally to them. I think that might actually be the best way of portraying an accurate "nice," dridder who hasn't dropped the habit for one reason or another - they do things which others would see as cruel, whilst seeing nothing wrong with it themselves. Sort of the same way most Felaryan races work with eating people in the first place really.

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artly because I'm not sure what the point of it is. xD Are we literally just trying to explain why dridders have their bad reputation, or are we trying to stop them having it in a canon-sense?

Actually, I think most of it has just been to bug Krisexy, since she made the mistake of letting a bunch of people know exactly what freaks her out =P

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But as far as actual reasons are concerned, I think one other thing which should be taken into account is a sort of cultural clash

I think that is partly correct. They certainly have some habits that would rub people the wrong way, or cause people to think badly of them. Then again, most preds do.

That isn't the only problem though. It isn't quite as common these days, but for quite a while, dridders were often the de facto villains of most Felarya stories. They were often depicted almost cartoonishly evil, or evil for no reason besides being evil. Their habits and culture never even really got brought up. Thankfully, that gradually faded away (I think partially as a backlash against the Crisis and Scarecrow novel...which *gasp* featured cartoonishly evil dridders as some of the main antagonists).

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If we go by the fact that we just about never see canon giant nagas eating other giant predators despite having the ability to do so, and frequently having relations with other giant non-naga species, it follows that they have, in general, dropped the habit in order to be more socially acceptable

With nagas, one of the main reasons so few eat large prey is because it is often inconveinant and at times, downright dangerous. It would make the naga sluggish and clumsy, make climbing much more difficult and tiring, and just generally make the naga many times more vulnerable than if she would have taken the time to find something smaller to eat. The only times I could see a naga doing that is if she knew she were 100% safe for the next few days... or if she were extremely desperate and needed to eat anything to survive.

I think them becoming more socially acceptable is more of a nice side-effect, than the main reason why they choose not to do it.

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Dridders, being presumably a more solitary race by nature, and most likely a more proud one if you go back to Sirenia's rule

Keep in mind, Sineria only ruled a set area and the only known descendants of her empire are the tribes living in the dridder forest. I imagine most wild dridders have never even heard of Sineria, or her empire. They just get stuck with the same stigma because they happen to be dridders as well.

"That depiction is also partly due to ignorance. Spiders come in a stunning variety of shapes and colors. Some are smooth and thin, some are thick, some are hairy. Some are dull, some have very bright colorations and intricate patterns. They aren't just creatures of darkness, a great many spiders live in lush tropical environments."

Cause, I'm too lazy to use the quote button here. Anyways that's largely why I chose my colors and patterns as I did for mine heh...even if there are no Earth ones that I think have it I felt like going a bit creative for her, it's a fantasy world after all and it helps her blend in with her environment. Funnily enough I like my particular dridder scary in some senses...perhaps not 'dridder' scary, but more just 'it is a giant predator' scary if that makes sense.

Anyways I've been watching this thread for some time now (and adoring those spiders, well most of em, some do creep me out a bit still heh) and it's also one I've been enjoying seeing unfold. Comes with being the dridder fanatic I am. I'll definitely agree with it mostly being a culture clash thing being the key to their perception as well, though given the time since Sineria's reign I'd imagine dridders to have dispersed significantly since then. As such I could see some bits of that culture having spread, and possibly even some during it's time considering how large the empire was and I don't really think dridders had to stay in it entirely, some could very well leave and bring their culture outwards as well. Not full scale Sineria/Dridder Kingdom stuff, but some bits and pieces of their culture could be present every so often dispersed through the jungle. The die hard Sineria style dridders are [i]mostly[/i ]in the ruins though to my knowledge heh.

I've actually seen quite a few pieces of art with dridders being depicted in rather elegant and beautiful manners (such as Claire there earlier, as well as Reya and a few others in Lyiba's works to name a few quickly). There is a decent variety of art on them, it just isn't noticed all that much it seems unfortunately...not that I'd complain with more dridder pictures to get rid of that heh.

Also we don't speak of that novel here Cliff. In fact what am I talking about here? Just ignore this. Carry on ;P.

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That isn't the only problem though. It isn't quite as common these days, but for quite a while, dridders were often the de facto villains of most Felarya stories. They were often depicted almost cartoonishly evil, or evil for no reason besides being evil. Their habits and culture never even really got brought up. Thankfully, that gradually faded away (I think partially as a backlash against the Crisis and Scarecrow novel...which *gasp* featured cartoonishly evil dridders as some of the main antagonists).

Ah, I didn't know that. I've never seen such a depiction of a dridder. I suppose it's an upside of being a relatively recent joiner. ^^ (And as for... that, I suppose I'm lucky to have missed it, although I will confess to being desperately curious. I've heard so many not-quite-references to it and general ARGH whenever anyone mentions it that I really want to see how bad it actually was. xD)

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With nagas, one of the main reasons so few eat large prey is because it is often inconveinant and at times, downright dangerous.

This is definitely true for the human-sized ones, but there isn't a great deal that can threaten a giant naga - apart, of course, from the angry friends of the eaten who will no doubt come trying to split the naga open and rescue them from their innards, come to think of it... xD I think the socially acceptable/avoiding danger reasons would in fact be very closely linked.

It fits the dridder thing, as well. Sucking people's insides out doesn't make them any less mobile or able to run/defend against angry friends and relatives. They're more likely to continue doing it, (and earn a bad name from it) whilst nagas are more likely to just take the easier and wiser option of smaller prey.

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Keep in mind, Sineria only ruled a set area and the only known descendants of her empire are the tribes living in the dridder forest. I imagine most wild dridders have never even heard of Sineria, or her empire. They just get stuck with the same stigma because they happen to be dridders as well.

Yep, true.

So after all it would be a cultural clash, in some way affected by Sineria's empire and its influence, right? Sounds good, specially as how you guys have explained it.

Anyway, I like my dear dridder curious, exploring the world and out of the "old days of the dridders" influence. Really. Gives me some freedom to explore the dridder nature far from the stereotype they're associated with.

Oh by the way to you globfish, thank you for tsaying its the best thread you've ever seen! haha it warms my heart and the point of this thread was to try and explain why dridders were seen as such evil characters and my part of the answer was because of their physiognomy

Now. Okay, clash of culture excellent! But! Contextualization:

"I'm a lil human boy who got sweeped out from Earth to Felarya. I'm wandering blah blah I'm chilling then suddenly PACLAW! A dridder!"

We stop here. Keep the moment where we are in your mind.

What's your reaction towards that dridder? If it's "fear", then you are normal. But, fear for what? Yes, it is an alien, but look at what this alien looks like This example was for meeting a giant dridder.

As for a normal sized dridder, I think it'll be just the same goddamn thing But, I can give this character I've just created some curiosity, too

That's why i did put physiognomy in the account. It's because of the...scary physic of a dridder.

Continu on this topic! Haha, I'M LEADING THE THREAD YO!

Krisexy26 wrote:

Now. Okay, clash of culture excellent! But! Contextualization:

"I'm a lil human boy who got sweeped out from Earth to Felarya. I'm wandering blah blah I'm chilling then suddenly PACLAW! A dridder!"

We stop here. Keep the moment where we are in your mind.

What's your reaction towards that dridder? If it's "fear", then you are normal. But, fear for what? Yes, it is an alien, but look at what this alien looks like This example was for meeting a giant dridder.

As for a normal sized dridder, I think it'll be just the same goddamn thing But, I can give this character I've just created some curiosity, too

That's why i did put physiognomy in the account. It's because of the...scary physic of a dridder.

It's still a bit of cultural clash too, because you've found something that is out of the normal - normal for you, that is. The same reaction could happen with a naga, right? You don't see half-snake people - giant or not - around, like you don't see half-spider or half-fish or half-whatever. You think it's something from folklore, from mythology, from the imagination of some fella, not something you would meet everyday on Earth.

Maybe you can top it with some fear to spiders? True, but the dridder can have a scary phisic like many other tauric beings, just because "it doesn't fit what we see in real life". Fairies wouldn't fit either, but depending on your culture, you could think they're mischievous the worst, and friendly the most, but still with some charm... until you find the real Felaryan thing.

Krisexy26 wrote:

Oh by the way to you globfish, thank you for tsaying its the best thread you've ever seen!!

Well, seeing all these people chuck up random hilarious pictures of spiders and then your even more amusing reaction to them definitely made reading it all much more interesting. XD

Well actually if you wanted to see some supposition about how a sentient spider-like alien species meets up with humans, Scotty's (James Doohan) trilogy series The Flight Engineer sums it up quite nicely. Including the actions of an interpreter who happens to be extremely arachnophobic. In his book series though they were much more bug-like in appearance (instead of Felarya's more anthropomorphic variety), and I thought one of the interesting cultural clashes he brings to light is facial movements. The spider-like species have static faces and hard exoskeletons, so they communicate through body language, pheromones, and gestures. They found human facial expressions to be horrific and revolting, while the human's innate fear of spiders surfaced a lot in a more general sense.

Krisexy26 wrote:

What's your reaction towards that dridder? If it's "fear", then you are normal. But, fear for what? Yes, it is an alien, but look at what this alien looks like This example was for meeting a giant dridder.

I know no fear. Well, I do, actually, but I've actually taken to the habit of punching myself in the gut whenever I feel fear. Here's to hoping I become fearless before I rupture an intestine.

However, I'd imagine that terror would be quite natural, unless she's topless. Show me a straight or bisexual guy whose eyes focus on spider legs before breasts. Chuck doesn't count, with his weird fetishes.

I think a large part of the problem is that being "cruel and sadistic" was included in their orignal wiki entry. As I've pointed out on other threads, a suprising number of people tend to latch onto traits that a person/species is described as being good as...and completely take them overboard.

Crisis' hunting prowess is one example. I have seen a couple stories where they literally say "Crisis is known to be the best hunter in all of Felarya".

People saw "cruel and sadistic" in the bio, and went to town on it. Same with the rumors of the naga/dridder war. A few sentences about how nagas and dridders aren't fond of eachother because of some ancient conflict between them turned into stories about dridders who went around plotting and trying to kill nagas constantly because they hate them so much.

Personally, I think it could be good to touch up their entry some. Even something like "Due to their patience, solitary nature and the ways in which they capture and eat their prey, dridders have gained a somewhat infamous reputation over the centuries, full of wild, exaggerated accounts of their cruelty" would at least help balance things out. Or include a passage stating that they come in a wide variety of personalities and dispositions.

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(And as for... that, I suppose I'm lucky to have missed it, although I will confess to being desperately curious. I've heard so many not-quite-references to it and general ARGH whenever anyone mentions it that I really want to see how bad it actually was. xD)

lol, if you think you can handle it, hit me up on MSN. I'll clue you into why so many of the other people go "Argh" and facepalm with Crisis and Scarecrow is mentioned =P

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but there isn't a great deal that can threaten a giant naga

Ehh, not quite true. Felarya is full of all kinds of giant wildlife, and while they aren't as big as giant hybrids, many of them are potentially dangerous. Kensha Beasts, for example, are highly dangerous in groups, especially if you can't climb away. Not to mention things like giant vipers and such. The jungle is extremely dangerous out there for the giants too. They have to be extremely careful as well.

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Ehh, not quite true. Felarya is full of all kinds of giant wildlife, and while they aren't as big as giant hybrids, many of them are potentially dangerous.

I know:p I didn't phrase that properly - my point there was less that there isn't anything which could threaten them, and more just that in that scenario, the biggest threat could well occur from other (upset) intelligent predators. (Leading to nagas dropping the habit primarily for that reason, along with it being too dangerous in general, leading to a state of better social acceptability.)

I think the wiki entry probably could do with a little updating... just something to show that this is very much a reputation the species has, not necessarily anything like an accurate portrayal.

To be fair, the rivalry between dridders and nagas puts them in a bad place already. There's no need to make it worse by accentuating the bad attributes. Good dridders all the way! (Not to mention CREATIVE dridders; props to the user who added the Victorian style bit in the Wiki. )

Aethernavale - While we're talking about dridders, that is one beautiful dridder in your sig! Orb-weaver, right? (Yes, I am among those who believe that spiders can be cool and/or cute.)

You can thank Chuck (goes by GreekMuscle on da) and his dridder Claire for that Victorian bit heh. He also does a lot of epic dridder pictures and ideas (Lyiba-Mooneyes has drawn a lot of them as well...to which I think I may be partly to blame for starting that heh, she did the one of Reya in Aether's sig there heh). And yes, dridders are cool .

LamiaSybaris wrote:

( props to the user who added the Victorian style bit in the Wiki. )

Whoa, careful, don't want to make Chuckles get a big head. Although I guess then it'd finally be proportional with his muscles.

I think I have to very much agree with this statement about dridders event though for personal reasons I greatly hate spiders and like them at the same time I think that its true dridders are not evil especially as a whole.

though I think what can make some people dislike dridders isn't the fact their half spider but the fact many have been seen and written enjoying torturing their prey as well as feeding on beings of the same size as well (in the case of human size dridders or giant dridders preying on other predators) one prime example of dridders doing this is in ramdomedude's series "Rin's Adventure" where the main villain is a dridder he feeds on other predators normally mostly naga from what I can tell and enjoys the torturing her prey.

but overall I don't believe in judging a person for their race and not to see the actions and behavior of one member of a race as the behavior of all members of the race as a whole. I mean given all the wicked and evil things humans have done in real life as well as things done in many fictional series one would think as a whole we're evil as a whole but we know that's not true.

all and all I'm glad someone finally posted abut dridders from my point of view on them their not evil at least as a whole their just people like any other race though they can be quick to judge like us in many ways.

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one would think as a whole we're evil as a whole but we know that's not true.

MMmmmhmhmhmhmhmh.......
mhmhmhmMHMHMHMhmmhmHMhmhmhmmhm

Anybody out there write dridder characters that are allied with other adventurers? The character Shauna in my series "The Adventure of Hal and Dav" is a self-styled "Sniper Dridder" I figured that a creature with eight legs that can cling to most surfaces would make a great shooter type support character. She appears in this chapter: h t t p ://unit-zer0.deviantart.com/art/Adventures-of-Hal-and-Dav-02-F-216717183 , has a major role in the following one, and will be a series regular.