Padrone (WTA)

The Padrone are one of the few splinter-groups of the Ananasi. They are a mysterious lot that hunts down the common Ananasi.

Overview
There is much debate over the origin and transmission of what the Elder Crawlers have come to call the Padrone. The things that are agreed upon are the facts that it is spread like a disease — though through unknown means — and that it changes our relationship with the Wyrm.

The Padrone enter our tales shortly after the War of Rage. Our kind and the rest of the Changing Breeds were at our weakest, brought down by the raging Garou. We had sulked back to our caves and hidden dens, hiding from the wolves that had so viciously turned upon us. Our Sylies had turned into our safest havens, taking us from the world and giving us access to the wisdom of Ananasa; but we cannot force wisdom from Ananasa, and our confusion left us vulnerable to outside influence. That is when they came into our homes.

The legends tell of Ananasi dying in their Sylie without visible sign of trouble or struggle. They entered through unknown means, into our most secret places, and took the life of the Ananasi without explanation or reason. The corpses were left desiccated, empty of the ichor that kept them alive and cast aside as so much rubbish. We only knew of one creature that was capable of such an action. The Padrone are the Ananasi. They are the Children of Ananasa turned against themselves. Not in the simple matter of warring through ideology, but hunting us down in our own personal havens.

The Ananasi have four forms that most attain: Homid, Pithus, Lilian, and Crawlerling. Perhaps the Padrone is the fifth form of an Ananasi, and one that has but one goal, destroying others of their kind. The Padrone form most closely resembles the Pithus — that of a large spider on the prowl — but horribly mutated to a terrible new shape. The Padrone has the eight legs of a spider, along with two vestigial legs that it uses to disorient its prey and keep it at a distance. The Padrone are not limited to that one form, but they assume this form once they have lured their prey to their doom. The speed of this form is astonishing, much quicker than any normal Ananasi.

It is believed that the Padrone need the essence of the Ananasi to keep themselves alive, much in the same way that we need the essence of others. The Padrone have a strange sense that draws them to a Sylie, letting them discover the most carefully hidden refuge no matter where it might be located. Once they have found the Sylie, they gain access using any number of means. It is almost as though they understand their foe and are able to use their weakest point to gain access; whether through force or deceit, they are able to feed upon their prey in their own home. Once in the lair, they assume the Padrone form and attack, rendering the Ananasi powerless.

There are many of the wise crawlers who insist that this is nothing more than spiritual corruption taken to the highest level — that these creatures have fallen to the Destroyer and have become an agent of annihilation. Others insist that this cannot be the truth, as our kind already has links to the Wyrm, and the balance of the Weaver and the Wyld prevent this decay. Others still argue that the corruption would not explain the creation of a new form. There are many that think that this might be the result of a mad mage whose fear of spiders might prove to be disaster for us all.

We do not know the answer, we know only questions. The biggest question is the role that Ananasa will choose for us in this challenge, as she has yet to tell us her opinion of her Children turned killer. We wait, but we are wary of all that come near.