Hey there, hi there, ho there! I’m Beth and with me I’m bringing in Arachne, in her pre-spider days. Just like the original myth, this Arachne is an expert weaver with a big ol’ ego. In fact, she’s a bit beyond that even. Arachne is a self-taught stitch witch and crafts she weaves and sews can be imbued with power or intentions-- so some of that ego might be a little warranted, though, of course, hubris will still be her undoing some day. The backstory on her is that she was born into a poor farming family and after a scandal involving the son of her family’s landlord, Arachne was forced to leave home and take her skills on the road. She’s hoping to build up a reputation for herself as the greatest weaver/seamstress in all of Fae Woods and her current M.O. includes traveling through all of the lands to pickup on the styles and clothing/tapestry needs of all peoples-- and she has no qualms about ingratiating herself in communities for a while so that she can sell her crafts, no matter how strange it seems to folks that a young Summerwood maiden is traveling as a merchant all on her own.
And, oh yeah, she’s a spy for Queen Morgana but shhhhhh, don’t tell your characters that because it’s not something anyone but Morgana and Arachne, herself, are supposed to know yet. Arachne and her fellow spies don’t even know each other-- which could actually be buckets of fun for the whole family to anyone interested in spy vs. spy shenanigans.
I’m all about plotting with anybody and everybody-- and I’m particularly jazzed about the possibilities for myth/fairytale cross-pollination. Like, does Little Red Riding Hood need a magical new cloak? There’s an Arachne for that! Briar Rose need a spindle to be stabbed with? There’s an Arachne for that! Is Rumpelstiltskin looking for someone to buy the gold he’s spun from straw (or someone to taunt about the fact that he can spin straw into gold while she can’t)? There’s an Arachne for that! And those are just the weaving/sewing-based ideas I’ve had. I’m totally open for further ideas if anyone has them!