Physiognomy of Dridders and explanations

Rcs619 wrote:

It isn't an excessively common thing, but it does happen. Its more of a mild annoyance than anything, kind of like the "evil dridder" trope.

I got inspired by what Cliffy (HAHA!) said here and wanted to bring in some good old pseudo science (because physiognomy is based on appearances, which is completely irrevelant when you want to know someone!)

First of all, you guys must be like: "Gnuh Krisexy, dude, man, what the hell is physiognomy o.O?" Little definition here (it's not hard to find where I got that quote ^^) :

"Physiognomy (from the Gk. physis meaning 'nature' and gnomon meaning 'judge' or 'interpreter') is the assessment of a person's character or personality from their outer appearance, especially the face. The term physiognomy can also refer to the general appearance of a person, object or terrain, without reference to its implied characteristics."

Alright. Let's see what a dridder is now : it's a goddamn humanoid spider. If you want more descriptions (if you a newbie) just click this link

Now. Why spiders, like said Cliff up in my post, are depicted as heartless creatures, creatures of fear, creatures of darkness and violent beings. Well, simply because spiders are in the top 3 of fears in our world! And hell, they are damn right to fear them (that was a bit more personal).

Seriously now, when you see a being that has a completely dark body (body meaning the spider half) with eight long, hairy legs, add to it a huge, huge sting that may just kill a human if a dridder decided to pike a human, well, you just have the perfect portrait of a villain! Plus the fact that Karbo drew a dridder with a cruel bit of sadism here :

Spoiler:

So yeah, it's completely normal to see dridders as emotionless evil beings. It's not their fault though, it's OUR fault. Us, humans from earth, tend to judge people a lil too fast just by looking at their appearance. It's like a dude in a movie that is wearing black . Fondamentaly, inconsciously, we'll think: "oh yeah, he's a badass! He'll do something nasty soon, thats for sure!"

Of course, it's a little bad habit. We shouldnt do that to poor dridders. They've done nothing except looking freaking too scary. I will praise the artist who will, in a complete mastery way, make us look at a dridder in a gentle way (warning: a pink dridder is still scary )


on a complete side note, thanks to all the community members who wished me a happy birthday ^^ I had a wonderful night

Honestly, when you're talking about a world where almost everything that is giant wants to eat you alive, how it looks should be the least of your worries

Lemme just say that I, along with a couple others in the community, find spiders cute :P

Slimetoad wrote:

Honestly, when you're talking about a world where almost everything that is giant wants to eat you alive, how it looks should be the least of your worries

This.

But sure, some people in the past had expanded the "dridders are evil" stereotype to the point that it even affected myself... until, of course, I was given some light on the diversity dridders can sho. Still, there's some work to do to make sure dridders shouldn't be looked at "evil guys", specially in a world where survival is essential, no matter how that pred chasing you looks like.

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Now. Why spiders, like said Cliff up in my post, are depicted as heartless creatures, creatures of fear, creatures of darkness and violent beings. Well, simply because spiders are in the top 3 of fears in our world! And hell, they are damn right to fear them (that was a bit more personal).

Unfortunately, you are correct about how most people see spiders. I find it kind of a waste really. I'll be the first to admit that spiders creep me out (especially brown recluses >.< ), but there really are some amazing aspects to them. Their patience, their industriousness, their ability to build some truly amazing structures ranging from webs, to grappling hooks, to even underwater air-filled dens ( Diving Bell Spider ) They are certainly fearsome predators, and the way in which they eat their prey IS fairly gruesome, but I think most people really don't truly appreciate some of the amazing things spiders can do.

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Seriously now, when you see a being that has a completely dark body (body meaning the spider half) with eight long, hairy legs

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.

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Plus the fact that Karbo drew a dridder with a cruel bit of sadism here

Yeah, that didn't help any I guess. How long has it been since he's drawn a dridder anyway? It would be really nice to see a positive picture of a dridder, of her being cute, or friendly, or just normal. Show people they aren't all evil, dark, brooding monsters waiting in the darkness.

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on a complete side note, thanks to all the community members who wished me a happy birthday ^^ I had a wonderful night

Yaaaaay

But yeah, I definately agree that, while most other types of hybrid have been depicted in a huge variety of ways...dridders, for the most part, haven't. They get depicted as dark, brooding or scary. This is an old problem though, that's been around for years. A great many people seem to have a hard time seeing a spider-person as normal, friendly, or even cheerful.

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Lemme just say that I, along with a couple others in the community, find spiders cute

Yep

Spoiler:

D'awww, I mean, look at it. It looks like a puppy!

I'd also like to say that fear of spiders comes off as mostly irrational to me. There's only like a tiny fraction that pose any threat to us, and from those, none are explicitly going to waste energy and risk their lives on biting a screaming flailing giant.

It's not even a "survival instinct". I don't think prehistoric people ran in circles at the sight of a spider

Actually, I remember one of Karbo's doodles included a cute dridder with a bow in her hair (who sadly wasn't Misty) and the judges for the butt contest picture where three dridders. Sure, they were drawn chibi-style, but I still think it counts. I think their entry could have some precision, such as their empire, especially Sineria's rule, led to the creation their misconception, and that they now form a crafty species with all sorts of personalities, from jolly trappers to asocial hunters.

Slimetoad wrote:

I'd also like to say that fear of spiders comes off as mostly irrational to me. There's only like a tiny fraction that pose any threat to us, and from those, none are explicitly going to waste energy and risk their lives on biting a screaming flailing giant.

It's not even a "survival instinct". I don't think prehistoric people ran in circles at the sight of a spider

Yeah, honestly, I admit that spiders creep me out a little, but the only ones that actually scare me any are brown recluses. Their venom is necrotic, and while it won't kill you, it will be really, really, really, really gross.

rcs619 wrote:

Yeah, honestly, I admit that spiders creep me out a little, but the only ones that actually scare me any are brown recluses. Their venom is necrotic, and while it won't kill you, it will be really, really, really, really gross.

Even so, the same level of fear on a domestic spider that can't be much bigger than your fingernail doesn't make sense

It can be either fear or just thinking that "it's gross". Yes, I've seem people trying to hunt a little home spider because they just don't like it, not because they're afraid of them. And I just let them live, though I'm not friends with cobwebs.

Anyway, I see that there's something irrational about how humans feel about spiders, but I think that this shouldn't be the reason for explaining why dridders in Felarya have some bad reputation, or at least why some think they have so reputation. Need to go further in this, I guess Sean's idea for the empire's and Sineria's influence on the stereotype.

NEW RULE FOR THIS THREAD: IF YOU WANNA POST A PIC OF A SPIDER, SPOIL IT OR JUST DONT PUT ANY!!!!


im scared of spiders :'(

But but...



Look at how cute it is :<

Or even better

I find ogre-faced spiders endearing

Ok I'm kind of an arachnophobe myself but that last one was just adorable XD

When did this thread go from "let's try to explain why many dridders got this bad reputation" to "let's post some spider photos and see what happens"? xD This is a bit of a nightmare for those with aracnophia, isn't it? ;P

Krisexy26 wrote:

I will praise the artist who will, in a complete mastery way, make us look at a dridder in a gentle way (warning: a pink dridder is still scary )

I guess I need to work harder then T__T

okay, I'm officially abandonning this thread! o:

I can't stand spiders...when I saw slimetoad's image i just screamed the hell outta me and ran away in my bed for several minutes to get that nasty image off my head and i see there are other images of spiders!? D: didnt looked at them, just scrolled down really really slowly to see if there were any other pictures and YES THERE IS!

Argh! damn you all! DX

How exactly is it that people have already forgotten this picture? Karbo just drew it.... and you can't tell me you're scared of Claire in this instance.

I would also point out that Reya and Noxcia both are probably not dridders that most would be afraid of. Maybe the latter if you see her from above due to her abdominal patterns, but from a human standpoint she's just another predator (which doesn't actually eat humans, at least not most of the time to my understanding).



Also, I think a great many people are confused on how spiders feed to begin with. Spiders (indeed, all arachnids, including scorpions) must consume liquids as food, either by grinding food to a pulp in the mastication cavity or by vomiting up digestive juices onto the prey and then drinking up the bits. They do not use their fangs to consume - fangs are solely for envenoming. With smaller spiders a lot of people also confuse the pedipalps for rather large fangs. Sure, the way they eat sounds gross, but not particularly frightening and certainly not anything scary - I mean, birds provide food for the young by eating and then vomiting it back up, so a spider prevomiting isn't really all that different. The notion that spiders drink from their prey like a straw is a horribly flawed gross generalization of what actually happens.

Much like with the mantis, a flawed outlook and misunderstanding driven by lack of knowledge in the subject and lack of caring to fix said lack of knowledge has led to a perpetuating dark creation/manifestation, which isn't helped at all by the natural innate fear most people have. I am no different - I have arachnophobia, but after conducting all the research that was necessary to create Reya, I'm much more enlightened on how real spiders work and have dropped the silly labels.

I didn't want Reya to be associated with any of the gross/nastiness that people typically associate spiders/dridders with so I came up with a unique way for her to eat that didn't involve vomiting or straw-sucking live prey. One of the issues I'm having now is in the future I intend to introduce a scorpisai main character and several sub-characters, and I haven't yet figured out how they should go about eating if I want to maintain the aspect that they also require liquid food.

AUGH! YOU GUYS SCARED ME THERE! DON'T DO THAT!

In other news, dridders are a representation of unfair discrimination and hate. Clearly, we need to start a movement encouraging tolerance and love toward dridders.

aethernavale wrote:

I didn't want Reya to be associated with any of the gross/nastiness that people typically associate spiders/dridders with so I came up with a unique way for her to eat that didn't involve vomiting or straw-sucking live prey.

Reya is both very spiderish, and smart and ingenious. Her species-derived behaviour, combined with her own wits and adaptability, are part of what makes her appealing.

And I would like to add my voice to those who have said that spiders are cute.

I'm not exactly afraid of spiders, but I can't say I wouldn't feel some aversion towards handling a particularly large specimen (and just forget anything from Australia). I prefer the "live and let live" approach with arthropods, though I do find them fascinating. Absolute masterpieces of engineering and evolution, and I'd like to think I can see a beauty there that many people miss in their revulsion.

I always viewed dridders as having a bad reputation because their intelligence was a little more geared towards cunning and plotting than other preds. A little more "human", if you will, in that their worldview was less simplistic than those of the average naga or dryad. I mean, there is always room for variance in a sapient race, but most naga characters didn't strike me as philosophers or tacticians. Some hunting techniques and animal cunning, maybe some magical knowledge... they're not stupid. It just seemed that dridders were more likely to plot, manipulate, etc. They're... less naive, if you will.

I have a fear of giant spiders and dangerous spiders. Okay, I have a fear of spiders in general. But I think it's time we looked past their less-than-appealing looks and more-than-disgusting means of eating. I think it's time we saw spiders for what they truly are: magnificent hunters and architects.
The same goes with dridders. Isn't it time we looked past their slightly more disgusting way of feeding? Isn't it time we saw past their more devious ways?
I have a dream, that one day, spiders and dridders will not be judged by how they look or hunt, but the content of their character.

Okay, I'm done giving my Civil Rights For Spiders/Dridders speech.