Leng spider

The Leng Spider (Lycosidae gigantus) is a native inhabitant of the eponymous island, found only in the icy wastes of the upper plateau, where they hide amongst the dark crags and await some poor creature to fall victim to their monstrous webs. These spiders are not your average small house arachnid the size of a quarter. Leng Spiders stand a full five to six feet in height, with a breadth from leg-to-leg of about double that (providing geometric support). A spider is easily identifiable, not only due to their immense size, but because they are also covered with purplish hairs. They are carnivorous and will eat just about whatever falls into their webs, whose white-coloured webbing blends nicely with the predominant ice and snow of the plateau. Some spiders have been known to even catch polar bears in their giant webs, entrapping and then paralysing them before they have much of a chance to react. Leng Spiders are also known for their intelligence, and it is rumoured that some human cults even worship these creatures, believing they once held a vast underground civilisation aeons ago. A Leng Spider's brain is located not in the head, but in the bulbous abdomen of the insect, along with most other vital organs. The head itself is simply a mass of muscles and sensory nerves, giving the creature exceptional detection and speed. Their brains are abnormally large, suggesting a latent intelligence not presently evident. If indeed these creatures had possessed intelligence or, as rumour suggests, a form of society, it long ago degenerated into the sheer ferocity they now display. It is partly because of these spiders that men fear to travel the plateau, yet nonetheless, those who live in Leng swear to protect them, and any person caught killing a spider is set upon by horrors worse than being caught by a spider and slowly drained of life.[1]