House of Spider

"The Kells are dead or mad. The era of Houses is over. So I came to the Shore."

— Arrha^[1]

The House of Spider^[2] (also known as Spider's Crime Syndicate) is a Fallen criminal enterprise led by The Spider that resides within the Tangled Shore. It is a syndicate working in tandem with the Guardians to fight back against the Scorn within the Reef.

History

Origins

"You took my warm hospitality and stomped all over it like an ungrateful child. Is that any way to treat one of your dear 'brethren'?"

— The Spider to Siviks

The Spider began his so called "House" in the Tangled Shore shortly after leaving behind his Wolf-born House.^[3] ^[4] Over time, he and his crew established an underground network of affiliates and associates that trade in all manner of valuble and somewhat illegal goods, including information at a price. The Drifter would even work with the Spider and his crew on occasion, to whom the latter is happy to supply equipment and fresh fodder in the aid of his scams.^[5]

At some point, the mob had a major dispute whereby the Spider and his maniacal brother, Siviks disagreed over the former's affable relationship with Humans. This led to Siviks spitting at the face of the Spider as he was taken away to the Prison of Elders by the Spider's men.^[6]

The Spider had also gain a trusted business associate in Ada-1 and the Black Armory, whom sold her wares to him and his syndicate until their only forge was lost in the Red War.

The Spider's growing influence helped him control the Tangled Shore up until the Scorn began its civil war with the noble houses. Later the Spider made a deal with Queen Mara Sov to protect the Dreaming City in return for her overlooking his activities in the Shore.

Rise of the Scorn

The Spider, Leader of the Syndicate

"You go scratch your itch. Then we can just say... you owe me. Do we have a deal?"
"Deal."

— The Spider to The Guardian.

Forced into hiding by the Scorn after their escape from the Prison of Elders and left with little options, The Spider and his mob were forced to work alongside the Guardians to clear out the Scorn and their Barons from the Reef. At first, the Spider was reluctant in getting involved in a man-hunt for Uldren, but agree's to help in desire of reclaiming his former territory. Thus, the Spider offers the Guardian and Petra a deal: the Spider would give the Guardian all the intel they need to hunt the Barons and in return, the Guardians would hunt them down and accept any favor the Spider asks within the future. Despite the terms, the Guardian agrees. With the intel, the Guardians accept bounties from the Spider and begin to dismantle the Scorn's operations.

Hunting the Scorn

Spider's Associates

"Divide. Conquer. Isolate Uldren. He'll wind up at your feet. And all you have to do... is pull the trigger."

— The Spider.

Slowly but surely, the Guardian takes out the Scorn's forces bit-by-bit and soon discover each Baron had plans for when they would be done with the Reef. The Guardians succeed in killing Araskes, the Trickster, Yaviks, the Rider and Kaniks, the Mad Bomber.

The Spider then provides the Guardians intel of Pirrha, the Rifleman, the one who killed Cayde's Ghost. As they enter his snipers nest, the Guardian realize the nest was a trap as Pirrha's forces attack them. Surviving the trap, Pirrha contacts them, threatening to destroy their Ghost just as he did with Cayde's. Fighting past Pirrha's forces and keeping their Ghost safe from Pirrha's sniping, the Guardians manage to corner the Rifleman. Despite his Crossbow weapon and bothersome decoys, the Guardian kills Pirrha, avenging Cayde's Ghost.

Within the fields of the Tangled Shore, the Guardian finds remains of Servitors, completely drained of their ether. The Spider takes this as evidence that Reksis Vahn, the Hangman, a Scorn Baron with a hatred for Servitors, is nearby. Following a trail of ether to Quitter's Well, the Guardians encounter the Hangman within his lair and slay the sadistic Baron.

With another tip from the Spider, the Guardian searched for Hiraks, the Mindbender, a Scorn Baron with a morbid fascination for the Hive. The search for Hiraks takes them to a downed Hive Warship from the Taken War, which became a breeding ground for the Hive stranded in the Shore. Fighting past Hive soldiers under the control of Hiraks, the Guardian soon finds a portal rupture that leads to Hiraks' own throne world. Within the Ascendant Plane, the Guardian face off against Hiraks, who is stronger and more powerful within his throne world, but despite his Hive servants and Ascendant powers, they kill the Mindbender which causes his Ascendant Plane to destabilize. The Guardian manages to escape just in time before the Ascendant Plane collapses.

Spider's Servitor

With most of the Barons dead, the Guardian manage to track down the Baron's second-in-command, Elykris, the Machinist to Salvage Zone QX. There, the Machinist challenges the Guardian and forces them to question their motives in the deaths of her comrades. Nonetheless, the Guardian battles with Elykris where she unleashes the full force of her stolen and salvaged weaponry. Even with the force of her weaponry and tactics, the Guardian manages to kill Elykris and destroy her stockpile.

The Scorn's strength and leadership then crumbles to Fikrul, the Fanatic, the Scorn's Archon, and Uldren, the Guardian receives new intel from the Spider who confirms that Uldren and Frikul have been sighted at the Awoken Watchtower, a place which is said to house the Awoken's deepest secrets. Within the structure, Uldren orders Frikul to hold off the enemy while he finishes his work. Gathering their strength, the Spider's main forces engage with the Scorn's defenses in a massive Fallen battle while the Guardian breaches past them and enters the Awoken Watchtower. At the entrance, they face off with Frikul who desires revenge for his fellow Barons. Despite his Dark Ether powers, the Guardian manages to kill Frikul and later execute Uldren for his crimes.

Stabilizing the Shore

"The House of Dusk, such as it is, hangs on by a thread. I see no material harm to my people if you go ahead and cut them loose, my friend."

— The Spider

The Spider would demand order and stability to be brought back to the Prison of Elders following its mass breakout, which was under the Scorned Barons' control with the work of Araskes, the Trickster. Calling in the Drifter as a favor to rally a crew, the Guardians destroyed Variks' malfunctioning Warden Servitor. With the Prison in his hands, the Spider could sell it back to the Awoken after cleaning it of the leftover inmates with the Drifter.^[7]

At a later date, the Guardians maintained vigilance over the Tangled Shore to hunt down any Prison of Elders escapees and provide favors for the Spider to pay off their "debt" to the Fallen Mob. This includes hunting down the Silent Fang, those affiliated with Irxis, Wolf Baroness and Beltrik, the Veiled, Fortifier Yann and Calzar, Scarred Captain, the latter of three the Spider has personal beef with.^[8]^[9]^[10] The Guardians then receive a message from Frikul, apparently back from the grave, issuing a challenge to them to avenge his Scorn Barons. Tracking the Fanatic to the Scorn's original lair, the Guardians battle against Frikul once again and despite his Dark Ether abilities, they slay the Fanatic again but he swears that he will return.

In addition, to Frikul, the Guardians deal with remnants of Hiraks Hive brood after agreeing to take it as a favor for the Spider such as Hiraks's Familiar.^[11] They discover Hive Knights poisoned with Ether, results of Hiraks's experiments and later encounter the progenitor of the Hive within the Tangled Shore was Hiraks consort, In Anânh, Brood Queen. They manage to corner her and kill the Brood Queen, bringing further stability in Tangled Shore.^[12]

Anarchy of the Scourge

Siviks, the Spider's brother

"You… as bad as all Fallen! Worse, even! A friend even to humans… All must die!"

— Siviks to The Spider

With the Guardian now owing favors to him, the Spider enlists them in aiding one of his valued business associates: Ada-1 and the secret Black Armory; to which he gifts them a badge to permit entry into the Armory's private store at the Tower.^[13] The Guardian would provide Ada-1 the assistance she needed by reclaiming the lost Volundr Forge from the Red Legion and forging their first weapon frame.^[14] However, their endeavors with the Black Armory would only get more complicated from there on out.

The House of Spider would find itself challenged in the form of the Spider's immediate family.^[6] While the Spider's forces maintain their alliance with the Last City, the Spider's brother, Siviks, grew too ambitious and decided to seize power over the Eliksni in the wake of the Scorn's loss of leadership. Escaping incarceration at the Prison of Elders, Siviks formed his own syndicate of anti-establishment Fallen called the Kell's Scourge as the Spider's competition.^[15]

At first, the Guardians did not notice Siviks until he and his group stole and repurposed valuable advanced technology from the Black Armory and smuggled it across the Fallen. This granted Siviks the power he needed to assert his rule and allow him to gain the allegiance of deserting Fallen from the House of Dusk.^[16] However, news of their theft and pushing into the Spider's territory reached the Last City. As a result, the Armory's curator, Ada-1, collaborated with the Guardians and the Spider to end the threat of Siviks and the Kell's Scourge before they could steal any more of her armory's weapons and cause irreparable damage.

In time, the Guardians aided the Spider in ridding him of his brother and gang while assisting Ada in reclaiming the Armory's lost secrets in the process.

Season of the Hunt

Structure

The Spider's syndicate appears to be loosely organized to be an official Fallen House. He rejects any notion of being a Kell and is an astonishingly generous employer by Fallen standards. The loyalty of his permanent "employees" is ensured by his daily payments of Ether: one kilogram for one day's work, including days spent recovering from injury. The custom of freelance scavengers and spies is ensured by the high prices he pays for their goods. In his eyes, employees and freelancers both are simply making a deal with him: as long as they uphold their side of it, he'll uphold his. ^[17] The syndicate includes many Servitors. How their loyalty is maintained is not mentioned.

Even non-Fallen can find employment in the syndicate if they have the right skills. The Spider had at least one contact in Dead Orbit, Howe, routing him supplies from City shipping manifests, who he later had killed for asking too many questions.^[18] Koro, an Awoken who maintained a number of telescopes for him, received not only payment but transportation and protection.^[19] The Spider has been known to also trust some Cabal brutes and Commanders, although most, such as the Isolated Phalanx have undermined him in one way or another.

The Spider's Palace in particular was a haven for outlaws and renegades of all sorts, ranging from Fallen (including at least one Devil Splicer), humans, Awoken, Cabal deserters and even the gambling trickster Araskes. ^[20]

Members

Baron

The Spider - Leader

Upper Associates

Enforcer

The Crow

Associates

Former Members

Unique Forces

Trivia

They are the second group of Fallen to be allied with Guardians, the first being the House of Judgment.
The Wretches of the syndicate have four arms instead of two like those in the House of Dusk.
The Spider employed the services of others before the Guardians, such as Howe, a Dead Orbit member, Koro; an Awoken, and Gaelin-4, an Exo.