Type: Near Human/Tauric Inhumanoid Metamorphic Animorph (arachnid, Nephila clavata)
Element: Bug/Electric
Frequency: Rare (most frequent in Edo)
Diet: Carnivorous, electrical energy supplement optional
Role: Electricity distribution, textile production
Libido: Average
Strong Vs: Dark, Fighting, Psychic, Steel, Water
Weak Vs: Dragon, Fire, Rock
Attacks: Volt Absorb, Charge, Trip Line, Spark, Luminary, Web, Thunder Wave, String Shot, Lightning Body, Web Shot, Strobe Beam, Lightning Whip
Enhancements: Alternate Form (spider tauric), Enhanced Agility x4, Night Vision, Spinnerets (breasts or scalp by ancestry); Tauric Form: Multi-Limbed (legs), Enhanced Durability x4
Evolves: None
Evolves From: Spinnertit (Thunder Stone), Tarantella (Thunder Stone)
The exposure of a base form spider pokegirl to a Thunder Stone transforms her into the colorful Joulogumo, who can feed on and discharge electrical energy or produce electricity conducting or insulating silks in addition to normal silk. In the Revenge War, they were used to transport electricity quickly through their conducive webbing. But upon seeing captured former allies happy with human masters, many changed sides out of gratitude for their companions' good treatment and the desire to experience such kindness for themselves.
A Joulogumo is a distinctive pokegirl with dark blue-black skin or chiton, bright yellow markings, and a splash of red on the stomach or abdomen. In either form, she has two large, pale blue eyes and up to three pairs of secondary eyes or occili, and a slender build with long limbs, usually dark and banded with yellow. The location of her spinnerets depends on her previous form (or her ancestry in the case of Thresholders); a former Spinnertit will have them in her breasts, while a former Tarantella will have them in her scalp and frequently use gold-white strands of silk to decorate her hair. A Joulogumo's striking and colorful appearance makes her an interesting showpiece for Contests.
Because of her unusual elemental combination, a Joulogumo is a peculiar choice for combat, having the advantages and disadvantages of both. She is frequently deployed in a support role, to tangle enemies in her conducive webbing and then use it to zap them into paralysis with her Electric attacks, usually in her tauric form for her protective chiton. Beware Rock-types, which can and will easily tear off the webbing and knock a hole in her exoskeleton, or even accidentally kill her.
Outside of combat, Joulogumo are most prized for their silks, which can conduct electricity, insulate against electricity, or simply act as normal silk. Its strength and lightness make conductive silk excellent for power cables, while insulation silk can be used to protect those power cables or make protective gear for those who have to handle or Tame more uncontrollable Electric pokegirls. To produce silk with these properties, the Joulogumo must feed on electricity from another source, and if a color other than gold-tinged white is desired, the silk must be dyed.
In contrast to the wicked or dangerous connotations of spider pokegirls, Joulogumo tend to be very demure and mild-mannered, sometimes even lazy. They have a strong sense of gratitude and an attraction to kindness, and will frequently go out of their way to do favors for someone who has done favors for them or been kind to them or others. Ferals and feralborn Joulogumo tend to be enthusiastically grateful on principle, and will act this way in response to kindnesses towards any others, even mundane spiders, but the more socialized Joulogumo tend to show conscious awareness of the stigma associated with spider pokegirls, and will specifically be most grateful for kindnesses toward spider pokegirls. Thresholders sometimes behave abrasively or awkwardly about their gratitude.
Joulogumo sexual preferences tend towards bondage and electricity play, unsurprisingly, but they will happily adapt to more vanilla tastes and are often quite affectionate and submissive to a Tamer or harem-sister who treats them kindly. They definitely prefer sex in their more human form, and even Ferals will shift to a more human shape for sex.
Threshold Joulogumo are quite rare, usually resulting from Joulogumo ancestry, and again, extremely distinctive. Their skin darkens, bright markings appear, they begin getting webs all over everything, and finally start leeching electicity from power outlets. Rarely, they Threshold directly into their tauric spider form, which is dramatic and quite frightening to both the family and the girl, and will often result in requests for a Level 5 conditioning cycle. Threshold Joulogumo command an impressive price from electrical engineers, textile manufacturers, and the odd Coordinator, but often defy breed norms in terms of personality.
Feral Joulogumo in and around cities are a pest, as they like leeching electricity from power lines and plants, and will attack and prey on pet pokegirls and random humans. Most cities with an infestation will offer a bounty per head killed, and a much larger buy offer per 'girl captured. In wilder areas, they tend to be found near waterfalls and bodies of water, stunning and capturing fish, Water-element pokegirls, and the odd gullible Tamer for their meals. They like sex and will frequently have sex with pokegirl prey before chowing down, something a few Tamers have exploited by letting their pokegirls get captured and then Taming the Joulogumo while she is human-shaped and distracted by her would-be victim.
Feral Joulogumo are known to sometimes become enamored of and offer themselves to a human or pokegirl who does them a favor, or whom they see being kind to other pokegirls or even mundane spiders, displaying the breed's infamous sense of gratitude and attraction to kindness. A humorous urban legend has such an admirer attempting to woo a pureline man in his own home, in front of his wife.