Chitine

D&D 2024 monster: Chitine. Source: Volo's Guide to Monsters. challenge rating 1/2, creature type Monstrosity, Small size, speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft. Chitines are multi-armed humanoids with arachnid qualities that serve Lolth. They operate in well-organized colonies that prove to be effective fighters in the war against the enemies of the Demon Queen of Spiders. On occasion, Lolth pits chitines against dark elves-even though both groups worship her-as a way of punishing the drow, who created the chitines but displeased their goddess by doing so. Unnatural Origin Long ago, the drow first subjected elf prisoners to horrible rituals that transformed the captives into creatures with both humanoid and spider traits, which their creators dubbed chitines. The dark elves' intention was to create slaves dedicated first of all to the drow and, by association with them, to Lolth. As the drow ultimately discovered, the goddess found this arrangement unacceptable. The creation process required cooperation between magical disciplines. Drow wizards and warlocks used arcane magic and demonic powers, and drow priestesses invoked Lolth's aid for the divine spark needed to ensure the subject's survival. Lolth watched, expecting at some part of the process to see these new abominations dedicated to her, but no such ritual was performed. In retribution for this lack of respect, the Spider Queen twisted the drow's creation rituals to serve her own purposes. Lolth's Revenge As the drow continued to perform the rituals, the process usually transformed the subject into the spindly, stunted creature they expected. Occasionally, though, the elf changed into a monstrosity that was more spider than elf, resembling Lolth in her spider form, and more cunning than a chitine, that the drow dubbed a choldrith. At first, the drow were unaware that the new creatures were signs of Lolth's displeasure with them. Instead, they were pleased, because choldriths could lay eggs that birthed more chitines (...