Antara, also known as the Breakers, are one of the few splinter-groups of the Ananasi. They are those who truly fell to the Wyrm and no longer serve the Queen Ananasa.
Overview[]
Queen Ananasa rules the werespiders. The Tenere, Kumoti and Hatar each obeys one of the Triat, as decided by the Queen. Even the Kumo have their place in the Ananasa’s web, corrupting and killing to her ultimate design. Not the Antara.
The Antara walked Queen Ananasa’s web, obediently following the strands until they saw her trap for what it is. Refusing ensnarement, they entreated the Wyrm for power and broke free of the webs. While the Hatar follow the Wyrm’s original purpose, the Antara follow the Wyrm into freedom. The Antara believe Queen Ananasa uses the Ananasi for her own goals, not Gaia’s.
Why should they serve when they can choose their own path? Breaking free of the Queen’s web opens their eyes — they understand corruption is inevitable, and everything must fall. Entropy is unceasing — even the most debased and degraded can erode further. The Antara see freedom in what others call the Wyrm’s madness. It is insanity on a cosmic scale, and only the uncontrolled can begin to understand it. The Antara know that everything will eventually be of the Wyrm. They didn’t choose the Wyrm because they want to increase its power and speed its inevitable victory — although their existence does both. The Breakers choose the Wyrm’s power to gain freedom from the Queen’s machinations and to experience everything life has to offer before the Wyrm takes it all.
Antara are the hedonists of the Ananasi. Much like the Kumo, they revel in emotional release, often acting in spontaneous, seemingly irrational ways. The Antara see no kinship with the Kumo, and even their apparent irrational behavior is driven by perceptions and goals that are alien to other Ananasi. The Kumo are given to the Wyrm’s service by Queen Ananasi and still serve her plans — duped into believing they serve only the Wyrm. The difference between the Antara and Kumo is invisible to other werespiders, evoking deep anger within the Breakers. To the Antara, the difference is immense. Where the Kumo still indirectly serve the Queen, the Antara are free of her webs. Their independence and lifestyle aligns them with the Wyrm, but they do not serve it.
Their act of breaking from Queen Ananasa is a victory for the Wyrm, and every free action they take damages the threads of her plans. Their existence empowers the Wyrm but the Antara serve only their own whims. The Antara are free of manipulations and control. They command their own destinies, and they will fight to the death before they submit to any other master, including each other. They reject others binding them, but love to ensnare victims in their webs. In freeing them, the Wyrm may have doomed itself to a prison of its own making. The inescapable core of their being as Ananasi is to weave and build and control. The Antara will inevitably even seek to bind the Wyrm.
More than other werespiders, Breakers are solitary. They will sometimes work with other Antara, or other Ananasi, but they chafe under anyone giving them instruction or controlling their actions. For a Breaker to follow another requires tremendous strength of will to not murder the transgressor. Antara only follow if they independently believe it will further their own goals.
References[]
- WTA/cMET: Mind's Eye Theatre: Book of the Wyrm, p. 150-151 (As the "Breakers")
- WTA: W20 Book of the Wyrm, p. 156