The Book Of Fire/Widow
THE WIDOW RAVENOUS FOR UNBOUND PREY
HISTORY: The Widow, also known as The Weaver of the Starless Skein, is one of those Deathlords who remembers little of her existence before her present incarnation. She has little use for the living, save as the occasional snack, and focuses her attentions on combing the Underworld for lost and unique Relics and Artifacts. Her web of agents and informants is cast perhaps further across the Deadlands than any other Deathlords', whom she is adept at distracting. The major obstacles to her plans to date have in fact been the rulers of Stygia, certain powerful Ghost Lords of well-fortified kingdoms, various Nephwracks of ancient standing, and the odd Ghost Hero who stumbles across something he shouldn't have. But the Widow is cunning enough to arrange things so that she always gets something she wants, even in the face of apparent loss, and it is only a matter of time until the entire Underworld is caught within her silken grasp...
APPEARANCE: The Widow appears as a tall, thin woman in an elegantly-sleek black dress. She has six arms and four fingers on each hand. She wears a wide-brimmed hat from which depends a silken widow's veil all about her, all the way to her feet; an unfelt wind constantly stirs the gauzy veil, which she only removes for combat. Her face is covered by a Starmetal mask, featureless except eight abstract eyes worked into it in an astrological pattern. She only removes this to feast on those she bests, and even those sworn to her cannot bear to look upon her countenance when she does.
Her main weapon in combat is the Khartomb Set, 24 rings of Soulsteel that she is attuned to. With a thought, the rings unravel themselves into monofiliment fibers, effectively giving her the Sidereal Charms "Rain of Unseen Threads" and "Nest of Living Strands". Their Soulsteel nature, however, also drains Essence from targets successfully snared and affects ghosts. A consummate Martial Artist, the Widow also knows all Abyssal Charms and ghostly Arcanoi, all sorcery up to the Celestial Circle and all Necromantic spells. Most interestingly, the Widow appears to have discovered, through prayers and sacrifice to her Malfean masters, something not unlike Sidereal Astrology, that only functions in the Underworld. Certainly her ghostly enemies and allies have been subject to grave and good fortune according to their dealings with her, which furthers speculation that the Weaver may in fact have been not a Solar in life, but may have actually been a Sidereal instead...
THE LUSTROUS OBLIETTE is the Widows Citadel. Filling a vast valley in the Northern Underworld, it is a complex webwork composed entirely of Wraiths soulforged into fine Jade strands. The near-seamless joining of each strand creates an optical effect of solidity, until one looks really closely...
THE WIDOW'S SERVANTS: Few among the Widow's servants are allowed to keep their true forms, and most of those must be content with getting a few arachnoid features via Moliation. The vast majority of her army are fully moliated into spider-like monstrosities, esp. her horrific Barghasts. The Widow disdains Abyssals, and spares no effort to physically humiliating any she finds within her territory, although she has thus far restrained herself from destroying her comrades' property.
THE WIDOW'S GOALS: Aside from hoarding rare items and slowly gathering intelligence and influence among the lands of the Dead, nothing is known of the Widow's ultimate goals, although those few who know her are certain that she has some concrete aim in mind. Anyone who learned something for sure would have something nearly priceless to offer the Deathlords and the rulers of Stygia...
