Lava spiders - are they in the lore?

[ihKu47]

Does Warhammer lore mention those firey lava spiders the Greenskins get in their WAAAGH! rework? The feel a bit out of place imo. From what I've read about the Spider Riders, it seems like the giant spiders as a race aren't inherently magical or chaos intuned like the Trolls are, so them having such an extreme adaptation to their environment seems strange.

From the videos it also seems like the Lava Arachnorok does constant heat damage around it and weakens enemy armor as the heat melts it - but the Arachnorok still has a wooden platform on top of it that does not catch fire

EDIT: Reading people's comments I realized that last part has an in-world explanation: The Goblins' sweat keeps the platform damp and sufficiently cool. I'll allow it.

[Dezpo]

Also they said it depends of the environement, so their a possibility to have Icey arack with ice attacks in the snow region

[ihKu47]

Originally posted by Dezpo:

Also they said it depends of the environement, so their a possibility to have Icey arack with ice attacks in the snow region

That's true. Not sure if I'm a fan of elemental variations of a unit, but I guess the spiders may have just been hanging around a large quantity of warpstone that mutated them with characteristics of the elements in their environment. What I am looking forward to is Spider Riders raining down fire arrows.

[The Guiding Light]

Yes they are , there are sooo many crazy creatures you have probably never heard of mate I can tell...read some books you ll amazed at what you find out...like Storm Wyrms are a thing and flightless magma dragons like Glaurung from Lord of the rings...some cool ♥♥♥♥........and Dragon ogres the size of mountains

[Fosil]

I don't think they are out of place in the same game with fire and ice birds.

[Ashley]

You know what don't exist? Ratmen. Just too absurd.

[Inquisitor Thomas]

Yeah, if I'm correct the Winds of Magic can mutate creatures, so an Arachnarok spider that was over exposed to the Winds of Fire could create a Lava Spider.

[TheSwampyBogard]

The fact that you can recruit different units based on terrain is one of my favorite things about the rework. If there were all kinds of wierd elemental spiders, meh, but if its only lava I think its cool.

The regional recruitment thing could be applied really well to Lizardmen or Beastmen too since some of their monsters hang out on the map. Or for the Empire or Bretonnia, different units based on the state/dukedom your recruiting from.

[Jack Greedy]

Skaven does not exist too, just plain rumors.

[ihKu47]

Thanks for your replies, everyone!

Originally posted by Daemons Bane:

Yes they are , there are sooo many crazy creatures you have probably never heard of mate I can tell...read some books you ll amazed at what you find out...like Storm Wyrms are a thing and flightless magma dragons like Glaurung from Lord of the rings...some cool ♥♥♥♥........and Dragon ogres the size of mountains

I've thought I've read quite a bit on Warhammer lore but I admit I have completely missed most parts about the fauna that exists outside the rosters and the history bits in the army books. Glad to know the lava spiders aren't such an anomaly!

Originally posted by Inquisitor Thomas:

Yeah, if I'm correct the Winds of Magic can mutate creatures, so an Arachnarok spider that was over exposed to the Winds of Fire could create a Lava Spider.

Good point! I think I had read about this some years ago but it had completely slipped my mind. It would make sense for volcanoes to produce creatures touched by the Winds of Fire, like you said. I'm extra glad that they're not only not out of place, but that there's a ready in-world explanation that doesn't require convenient warpstone deposits!

Originally posted by TheSwampyBogard:

The fact that you can recruit different units based on terrain is one of my favorite things about the rework. If there were all kinds of wierd elemental spiders, meh, but if its only lava I think its cool.

The regional recruitment thing could be applied really well to Lizardmen or Beastmen too since some of their monsters hang out on the map. Or for the Empire or Bretonnia, different units based on the state/dukedom your recruiting from.

I'm overall pretty hyped for the regional recruitment as well, even more so now that there's lore binding the lava spiders to the world. Always nice to have that extra context dependant variety! I hadn't considered that it might open further doors for further updates or mods though - cool!

Originally posted by Ugandad Commando:

You know what don't exist? Ratmen. Just too absurd.

Originally posted by Wulfryk:

Skaven does not exist too, just plain rumors.

The what? The who now? I thought lava spiders sounded a bit daft but a subspecies of Beastmen creating a civilization is indeed patently absurd.

[Greldinart]

its the same here, you are on a forum and you can recruit some troll of the forum, even the forum is in this environemental lore.

[Michael Daemon]

Seems like some new stupid spider from Australia that evolved to emit flames due to the forest fires.