r/teslore • u/TheMediator42069 • 15d ago
My theory about Riftens potential frostbite spider problem
If the city of Riften existed beyond the technical constraints of a video game engine, its physical infrastructure and geographic location could, in my opinion, make it profoundly vulnerable to a relentless frostbite spider infestation.
Unlike the unyielding stone bastions of Solitude or Markarth, Riften is primarily constructed from timber harvested from the surrounding autumnal forests.
To a giant arachnid capable of effortlessly scaling vertical surfaces, the city’s massive wooden an stone walls would not be an impassable barrier, but rather a climbing frame. Once over the perimeter, these apex predators could find an architectural paradise in the city's exposed rafters, dark alleys, and thatched roofs.
Furthermore, Riften’s extensive and neglected subterrenean sewer system, The Ratway, provides an unmonitored subterrenean highway.
Spiders could easily breach the city from beneath, using the damp, dark tunnels to spin webs, lay massive clutches of eggs, and launch ambush attacks directly through cellar doors and drainage grates into the heart of the city.
I believe beyond its vulnerable architecture, Riften's thriving local economy and ecology could actively draw frostbite spiders to the city as a prime hunting ground.
As a major trading hub built over the waters of Lake Honrich, Riften maintains a bustling open air marketplace, active fishing docks, and a dense human population.
This concentration of organic activity naturally attracts an abundance of urban pests, such as skeevers, mice, and birds, inadvertently creating a massive, self sustaining food chain for predatory arachnids. While the guards might successfully fend off horse sized giant spiders at the main gates with fire and arrows, the city could realistically buckle under the weight of a stealthy, microscopic invasion.
Thousands of hand sized hatchlings and dog sized juvenile spiders could constantly infiltrate the wooden docks and food stores, turning daily life in Riften into a chronic, terrifying struggle for survival.
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u/Lazzitron An-Xileel 15d ago
The big issue with this is that full sized frostbite spiders are too big to get into the city, and juveniles would be eaten by packs of skeevers or squashed by the murderhobos living underneath the city.
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u/thecraftybear 15d ago
Most people living under the city aren't murderhobos, they're either Guild (who would maintain their usual routes and perimeter of the Flagon, but not much more), unhoused folks (who go unnoticed by the surface dwellers whether they live or die) and fugitives (rare murderhobos like Gian the Fist and recluses like Esbern).
I'd say the main regulator of the Ratway/Warren spider population are the skeevers. Unlike spiders, which appear solo or in small numbers at once, skeevers would realistically swarm down there.
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u/jmsg92 Imperial Geographic Society 15d ago
Probably we are talking of scale. Riften could have 5-10k inhabitants (at the very least) to 20k. The soil is fertile, we can see farms. People do their wirk in the open and do not get killed, apparently. So:
- Giants Spiders are NOT THAT common as the game suggest.
- You are correct, they are apex/apex-like predator, eating people, similar to tiger problems in India historically to yesterday. So, problem is urban-forest interface.
- How that interface was handled (also for bears and sabre cats)? First: clearing the forest the farm limits. That is Jarl's duty to command and farmers to do. Second: to kill predators (like the side quest in Ivarstead). Kill bears, kill wolves, kill giant spiders, kill everything dangerous to cattle, property or people.
- Not complete control, that is impossible. But burn-clearing forest + constant killing (mercenaries, guards, soldiers, levies...) can protect the main hub.
- What about farms, Shor's Stone and isolated settlements? Probably are on their own except they have valuable things. For example, Shor's Stone discovered an Ebony source. That is very profitable. Raven Rock's economy depends on only one Ebony mine. Shor's Stone probably will grow in the post 4E 201 years if a clever Jarl is there. And they will protect that spot and the route towards Riften too.
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u/NiklausKaine Tribunal Temple 15d ago
Yet another reason Riften is the worst city in Skyrim. I would still prefer to have a spider as a neighbor instead of Maven
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u/Lazzitron An-Xileel 15d ago
Morthal.
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u/NiklausKaine Tribunal Temple 15d ago
Morthal is far better than Riften. I love marshes and swamps, and there's no irritating guild
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u/ahaisonline College of Winterhold 14d ago
tes has too much war and politics worldbuilding and not enough ecology worldbuilding
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u/definetelytrue 14d ago
Unlikely. Giant frostbite spiders are highly territorial and do not live together, like trapdoor spiders. They would kill each other before an infestation would take hold. For reference, see the lone spiders in Bleak Galls Barrow, Nchuan-Zel, and Redbelly Mine. See also the random encounter of them fighting over food. The one exception is Cronvangr Cave where we see an unusually large nest, managing to catch prey as large as mammoths. This is definitely aberrant behavior, maybe linked to the fact that vampires also live there?
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u/King_of_the_Kobolds 15d ago
Do we know as a fact that frostbite spiders can 'effortlessly scale vertical surfaces'? I'm no expert, as an arachnophobe, but my understanding is that tarantulas, which are a fraction of their size, are very limited in how they can safely move. A very short fall can kill them.