Portia (the envoy)

This page is about the larger Portia who travels from the Great Nest. The name Portia is reused for other spiders, including the tiny first Portia and later individuals. See Portia (the first Portia).

Portia is a female spider from the Great Nest by the Western Ocean. She is a descendant of the tiny first Portia, but a different individual. At half a metre from fangs to spinnerets, she is far larger than her ancestor. Her body is mottled and irregular like that of her ancestors, and her principal eyes are great dark orbs. She retains the keen eyesight that lets her judge distances and build mental maps.

Background

Portia belongs to a species changed over generations by the nanovirus. Her people communicate through precise movements of their white palps, with vibrations from stamping and shivering adding meaning. They can preserve learned information in their descendants as inherited Understanding. Portia is curious, socially perceptive, and able to plan for goals beyond immediate survival.

She travels with Bianca, another female, and a male companion. The three have been outside their territory for fifty days. Portia leads the party. Bianca is larger and prefers direct confrontation, while the male can jump farther and use more slender branches. Portia relies on both of them, though she often finds the male irritating and timid.

Portia’s journey is not a search for a new nest. The Great Nest has several hundred residents and can support its population through aphid husbandry. Portia has been sent to follow reports about the northern lands and bring back information. She sees knowledge as something to trade between communities.

Story

The party travels through the forest canopy, where branches serve as high roads. Portia studies her route and avoids the forest floor when she can. When the three encounter a large ground hunter, she imitates the movements of prey by plucking at its sensory threads. The trick draws it into range, and Bianca kills it. Portia’s group later encounters a band of Scytodes spiders. The eight Spitters outnumber them, so Portia orders a retreat rather than risk a fight that would jeopardize the mission.

In claimed territory, Portia approaches a local spider nest openly and asks about the lands to the north. The residents fear what lies there and resist sharing information. Portia offers aphids and honeydew in exchange for their knowledge. She also proposes exchanging inherited Understanding, using reproduction to pass information into future generations. The local leader takes this as a threat that the Great Nest intends to expand into their territory. The meeting turns violent. Bianca wears curved wooden shields on her palps and challenges the larger local female. Portia uses a silk slingshot to fire a stone, knocking the leader from the web. The locals submit, and the parties exchange knowledge and reproductive material. Their account of the north alarms Portia but strengthens her resolve to investigate.

A local male named Fabian guides the travellers north. They find cleared forest, plantations, and a huge ant colony. Portia understands that ants expand relentlessly unless their choices are limited or redirected. She studies the colony’s methods, including specialized cutting tools, chemical communication, cultivation, underground passages, and fires. Her party disguises its scent with severed ant heads and travels over the plantations, avoiding detection.

Portia eventually reaches the colony’s central mound alone. There, she sees ants assemble around a pale crystal and respond to a signal from the sky. Curious about the object, she waits until the ants disperse, climbs the spire, and takes the crystal. When an ant discovers her, she kills it and escapes using silk that catches the wind. Her descendants tell the story of her entry into the ants’ temple and theft of the crystal. In chapter 3.4, another Portia visits the crystal at the Great Nest temple, where the theft has become legend. Chapter 3.2 also introduces another Portia from Great Nest, described as a warrior.

Unanswered questions

The story does not say whether this Portia returns to the Great Nest after escaping the ants. Her descendants preserve the story of the theft, and the crystal later reaches the Great Nest temple.