The ongoing cleanup against the Mammoth Spiders of the Ashari Tundra has taken the lives of over 70,000 peldaks, and the Sararit of the United Tomchaka Covens couldn’t be more delighted with the outcome. They extensively propagandized our casualties, took full responsibility for the creation of the tames mammoth spiders, and saw their membership swell as a result.

With the recent redistribution of the UTC’s High Coven, the Sararit went from 1 representative druid to 27. Still a minor voice in UTC politics, but a metioric rise and they have every incentive to keep going.

They’re calling for subtle hostility against the Peldak Protectorate, not openly declaring war but gifting proxies with new spider models through which they can attack the Protectorate rather than risking a direct confrontation. We would either have to give up the peninsula on Southern Erdashu, or invade them, which the UTC thinks they could win.

Domestically, the Sararit Coven is exporting newly refined Titan Spiders, built for the heat and humidity of the equitorial UTC, and druidically castrated to prevent the exponential population growth. The main buyers have been non-druids populations in the UTC and their vassal states as, reportedly, druids are wary of giant beasts only kept docile with magics they don’t yet understand.

The Sararit are also buying property and my contacts report they’re preparing to use small, hand-sized spiders to produce vast quantities of silk for the UTC’s weavers. They aren’t just a political and military force, they’re integrating themselves well into UTC society. That’s how all the largest covens retain their influence. It’s one thing to create a novelty, it’s another to create a large network of permanently allied druids.

They have 8 years of tricks to pull and threats to conjure before the UTCs next round of redistributing votes.