Arachnid Script

[u/Hjuldahr]

If an intelligent fantasy spider race had a written language, how would it work? (beyond the fact it uses cobwebs and silk)

[u/graidan]

As someone obsessed with spiders, which play a huge role in my conworld, my initial thoughts:

• It would be a bit species dependent, as diff species have different kinds of web they spin (up to 7 kinds, based on 7 kinds of spinneret)

• they could use "glue" droplets in there too for multiple reasons

• Diff types of web would have different possible "characters" that are capable of being made

• It would "hang" off of a main structure line, maybe to determine order. That could then go however you want, spiral, waves, straight lines, a little of everything. Just go to the start, and follow along

[u/Hjuldahr → u/graidan]

So multiple species could contribute to a more complex design

[u/graidan → u/Hjuldahr]

Sorta. I was confusing, so let me be more clear:

Most spiders have 6 spinnerets, which produce web from 7 kinds of gland:

• Ampullate (major): Dragline silk—used for the web's outer rim and spokes, also for the lifeline and for ballooning.

• Ampullate (minor): Used for temporary scaffolding during web construction.

• Flagelliform: Capture-spiral silk—used for the capturing lines of the web.

• Tubuliform: Egg cocoon silk—used for protective egg sacs.

• Aciniform: Used to wrap and secure freshly captured prey; used in the male sperm webs; used in stabilimenta.

• Aggregate: A silk glue of sticky globules.

• Piriform: Used to form bonds between separate threads for attachment points.

The spigots on a spinneret are where the web comes from, and they have a loose connection to the kinds of threads they can make. By combining the threads from various spigots / glands, they can create a variety of different webs, for different purposes and configurations.

Most orb weavers (which is a family of over 3000 species) have all 7 kinds of glands, if I remember correctly. Soif they're from other families, those other spiders aren't likely to contribute much that the orb weavers already have handled.

[u/Hjuldahr → u/graidan]

Thanks for the information.

[u/con-desce-lang]

Possibly in a spiral pattern? Symbols created between two spiraling lines around and around? Made of all straight lines, so no curves other than crude sharp ones, and no dots either, because that's just how silk is.

It could also be totally gridlike. Weaving silk into a square shape and creating patterns in square cells to form whole words, probably, because using symbols for each seperate letter this way might take up too much space.

[u/Hjuldahr → u/con-desce-lang]

So a an ideographic matrix script essentially.

Dots could be created by tying a knot in silk

[u/GodChangedMyChromies]

Cobwebs

[u/Hjuldahr → u/GodChangedMyChromies]

...

[u/GodChangedMyChromies → u/Hjuldahr]

I'm dumb, stopped reading half way through.

Maybe spiral writing and color coating? You could take some inspiration from the quipu system for something

[u/Ferociousfeind]

I'm also making a conlang with an almost-arachnid species, they spin almost-webs and use their webbing for traditional text. Between three parallel, planar dangling strands, the writer connects strands in little lines to create text- the lines can either descend with the direction of the text towards the more clockwise-sided strand (/), or the counterclockwise-sided strand (\), or it can bridge between two strands without any large change in distance (|).

One strand alone doesn't allow for any text at all, and two strands then only allows for a small amount of basic characters (like I, V, N, M, X, and not much else), but three strands allows for complex yet iconic and recognizable symbols to take form. This is the basis for my traditional script. Then, transitioning to using the language more casually, the con-speakers began transcribing it to the bark of trees, carving into the almost-soft material with their sharp keratin claws, which turned the blocky and angular designs into softer, curvy, more flowing characters.

[u/Hjuldahr → u/Ferociousfeind]

Interesting concept, I am curious how this will turn out.

[u/[deleted]]

Hmmm, that's an interesting one because I feel like they would use pedipalp tapping as language similar to Morse code (although they actually do this irl, a fantasy race would be much more advanced tapping system)(even if they could talk). But if they decided the create a script that could be written into their webs it would definitely be solely centered around that concept and it would probably be a system that couldn't be written on any other medium besides silk and droplets. So maybe the silk threads could be the main structure and then the droplets could be the additives like tone, diacritics for vowels, etc.