What is officially said about Araneas (from my copy of X1: Isle of Dread)
The Araneas are an intelligent giant spider race. They are as large as small ponies and are greenish-brown in color. An aranea is distinguishable from other giant spiders by the massive oddly shaped lump on its back that houses its large brain. Araneas are web spinners and their bite is poisonous.
The front limbs of an aranea are divided into flexible digits. The aranea use these to grasp prey and manipulate simple tools. In addition the aranea can cast spells as 3rd level magic user (two 1st level spells and one 2nd level spell). They spend most of their time in magical research.
Araneas live in dense forests or jungles, spinning their web homes high in the trees. Part of each web is roofed with bark, leaves and vines held together with webbing. In the covered part of their lairs the aranea keep their crude tools, magic research and crude "furniture" of web, bones, bark and wood.
Araneas are the traditional enemies of the phanaton and attack them on sight. They are friendly with bugbears and often hire them to guard the forest beneath their lairs.
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Aranea Spiderlings: 1 HD, no spellcasting, bite causes giant centipede like sickness (victim is incapacitated for 1d6+4 days of bed rest). They can climb up walls and along ceilings faultlessly at normal speed. These are the youngest araneas (less than 10 years old) and are usually about the size of a domestic cat (1' tall and wide, 2' long)
Normal Aranea: These include all males and the younger females (between 10 and 60 years old). They can cast spells as 3rd level magic users.
Aranea Mother: Can cast web spell 1/day and use spells as 6th L MU, humanoid form for 1 hour 1/day
Aranea Grandmother: Cast web spell 3/day and use spells as 9th L MU, humanoid form for 3 hours. 1/day
Aranea Matriarch: cast web spell 3/day and use spells as 12th L MU, humanoid form at will for as long as required.
All except spiderlings have a lethal venom - anyone bitten by a normal aranea, mother, grandmother or matriarch must save vs poison or die.
All araneas can spin webs with which to create lairs, block passages and bind helpless victims. Mothers, Grandmothers and Matriarchs can do this fast enough and in sufficient quantity that it is a non-magical equivalent of a Web spell. By pointing their spinnerets (at the rear of their abdomens but they may be stretched and pointed forward under the belly) they can spew forth a mass of sticky strands to entangle foes instantly.
Araneas learn and memorise spells in the same way as magic users, and have their own spell books. Their choice of spells is as varied as any human mage though there does seem to be a tendency to illusion and trickery. They may well use similar spells to those used by Gnome Tricksters. Because of the flammable nature of their lairs they rarely use fire-based spells Araneas are fascinated by magic and see it as being their main path to power, dominating vertebrate races, protecting themselves and acquiring wealth, food and, of course, more magical resources such as magic items and spell books. Although they normally hate humanoids, they will respect and perhaps parlay with someone who shows great magical ability (5th level spells or higher).
Aranea mothers, grandmothers and matriarchs have all learned the magical ability to transform into a humanoid for a period of time. This is in size and shape only, it does not confer any special racial abilities or knowledge. They do this mainly to infiltrate humanoid settlements and also to trick wandering humanoids into ambushes and traps. The Thyatians have learned to their bitter cost not to rush to the aid of a damsel in distress being attacked by giant spiders - the damsel may well be the leader of the Araneas. Some people have jumped to the incorrect conclusion that araneas are a sort of were-spider, a species of lycanthrope. This is simply not true and nobody bitten by an aranea has been infected by lycanthropy, even if they survive the venom.
Araneas will sometimes use other spider-like creatures as guards, pets and allies. Rhagodessas are popular guards, as are giant Black Widow spiders. The bugbears mentioned above in the official description are also found in Northern Davania.
On the Isle of Dread there is a small population with only one known Aranea grandmother. However, in the larger jungles of Davania Aranea society has become more evolved and prolific, with araneas forming colonies similar in ways to wasp or ant swarms. There is only one highest-ranking, largest female as the queen of the colony - a matriarch for the larger ones with more than a hundred normal Aranea, a dozen mothers and maybe 2 or 3 grandmothers as lieutenants. The smaller colonies will be led by a grandmother and have maybe twenty or so normal araneas and two or three mothers. Loyalty to their female leader is strong but not fanatical - unlike ants or bees most araneas can survive without their leader and can even set up their own colonies. These colonies form towns in the trees made from wood and bones of victims woven together with webbing to form dozens of dwellings. Although spiderlings live and sleep together, once an aranea can study magic they will require their own dwelling so they can study in quiet. As mentioned previously there are male araneas but they never grow in size and power beyond normal araneas.
According to the araneas themselves they were first born as hybrids when a large number of planar spiders (see the Rules Cyclopedia) were stranded on Mystara in the jungles of northern Davania and the Thanegoth islands. Due to different dietary requirements the male planar spiders starved to death while the females managed to survive. The female planar spiders mated with native giant spiders, using magic and alchemy to ensure that not only were their offspring able to survive (making use of their sires primitive and more rugged digestive system) but were also fertile, unlike other cross-species hybrids such as mules. These new offspring, the first araneas, lost their mothers’ ability to travel the planes but retained the high intelligence and ability to cast spells. Indeed, through selective breeding where the less intelligent, non-spellcasting areneas were destroyed, soon all of the araneas were capable of using magic.
An alternative story told by Thyatian scholars is that there were no planar spiders, and that when the Alphatians arrived in northern Davania the ancestors of the Araneas were just giant spiders. But the biomancers among the Alphatian mages were the ones who gave the giant spiders intelligence and extra arm-like limbs, apparently in a misguided attempt to create a servitor race to help the arrogant Alphatian mages. The Aranea had become too smart for that. They stole the Alphatians’ spellbooks and in one terrible night killed all their supposed masters, mostly by adding their own venom to meals prepared for the naive mages. Those humans who resisted the poison were slain by other means. The Alphatian colony was wiped out in one night and the Aranea gained their greatest source of power.
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