#silkspeed anklets

Artificial spine that clasps tight around the shell. Enhances the wearer's innate flexibility, allowing rapid retreat.

A flexible shell-prosthetic. It would enhance a weave-type's flexibility, allowing evasive options.

Those aren't extra legs, those are more like artifical ribs that clasp around Hornet's torso, allowing the brace to reinforce her spine (yes, Weavers have spines)

Her body seemed a Weaver's, but her mask had been forcibly removed, and her own Silk was bound useless by heavy pins lodged through her spine.

Segmented ribs is also something we've seen before, specially in Pharloom

Anyways, that prosthetic sure looks comfy with how padded it is

It is essentially a (soft) back brace (posture correction and reinforcement) or perhaps more accurately a back belt (also known as lumbar support belts or lifting belts, wearable devices designed to support the lower back during physical activities such as lifting, bending, or prolonged standing)

First Sinner and Widow both scuttle to gain distance in a similar manner, but they just lean forwards while taking advantage of their many limbs, of which Hornet only has 4 (two arms, two legs), so she crawls on her back instead (judging by the position of her head relative to the rest of the body), taking advantage of the support the brace grants

While I do think the lack of limbs (relative to an average Weaver) is what prevents her from scuttling normally (so anatomy issues from birth), it could also be a result from the back issues she seems to have since the start of silksong (her strength diminished because of the rune cage, the long journey and the harsh fall, her pain flares after said harsh fall, and both her unbroken spool and silk regeneration being "restored / regained": silk generation and retention which we know (thanks to Widow) is related to a Weaver's spine) (I talked more about it when discussing Injector band)

But how many limbs do Weavers normally have, anyways?

They're pretty much always depicted as having 6, same for Pharlids, except Herrah while sleeping and First Sinner in a few selective frames

It's unclear how much First Sinner's single frame of 8 limbs while screaming can be really trusted, as a 5th extra limb can be seen in a single frame of Nightmare King Grimm and a single frame of Hornet's scuttle animation when climbing a step, both of which are inconsistent with the rest of their animations

However, her charge attack where she scuttles through the ground while slashing wildly clearly has 5 limbs running while 2 limbs slash away throughout the whole attack, for a total of 7; you could maybe argue she got two very long fingers on each "arm", but to me those are clearly whole limbs

Or you could argue these are all animation errors, as there are also frames where all 6 visible limbs are seemingly coming from First Sinner's hip, instead of 4 "legs" and two "arms", before suddenly going back to the usual 4

Still, spiders are well known for having 8 limbs, a fact Grand Mother Silk references, although Hornet ends up having 10 after claiming her power; maybe the 4th pair of limbs is almost always folded into the chest, like Grand Mother Silk's idle pose, and/or 8 limbs only came to be in the very first few Weavers, those that wouldn't have a perfectly round head

...Actually, just realized even the generic Weavers scuttling away in Widow's memory have a few frames of 8 legs

So yeah, you can interpret this as consistently inconsistent, or just as Weavers having a hidden 4th pair of claws (you can also use this to interpret Hornet to have extra limbs that just so happen to be aligned into looking like she only has 4, but imo that's inconsistent with what we're shown of her)

Weavers of course aren't the only ones scuttling around, there's Grand Reed, and Morticians kinda, and also...Stilkin??

(sorry, I didn't have a better gif at hand)

Stilkin Trappers seem to scuttle mid-air before throwing their stakes; their pose while doing so resembles both the Swampstress and Pilgrim Preacher from Songclave for some reason

But how? How is the Stilkin Trapper essentially flying?

We know Weavers can use fine, near invisible silk to basically walk through air, and while no silk is visible while doing so, Widow is presumably doing the same (that or crawling through the walls of the foreground); both First Sinner and Grand Mother Silk are likely also controlling their weapons through such fine, invisible thread, rather than randomly having telekinesis (another example of this super fine thread is Hornet's stingshards, which are suspended on them)

Meanwhile, I think Stilkin Trappers are just using the numerous vines and roots in the ceilings of their caves to move around as if it was their web, a detail that is simply visually omitted for simplicity's sake (that, or they run on cartoon coyote time)

But talking about moving through silk....

Fabled Weaver talent. Dash forward and sprint with unnatural speed, as though gliding upon Silk.

It seems Swift Step is an ellaboration on this skill of walking upon thread, and Silkspeed Anklets builds upon it further...seriously Hornet, why can't you just scuttle up to Mt Fay? oh wait

How are these anklets worn? they don't exactly look like they'd sit confortably on the ankle; the indentations we know are for holding / manipulating silk, as seen in Spider Strings

To me they look kinda like horseshoes or a spider's paw, same for the rune representing Swift Step kinda (although I must admit the ancestral art runes are rather vague) maybe they're like sports anklets?

Mmm ok this little thought exercise is good and all, but upon drawing this and further consideration, the shoe / sport anklet angle doesn't really work, specially when running out of silk, so best not to overcomplicate ourselves and take it as just what the name says

Now, we can't talk about the anklets without talking about Weavenest Cindril

There's the theory that the Swift Step Weaver is actually Cindril, which makes sense, but I want to focus on the escape plan, specifically the rune map

This video claims it to be a map of the kingdoms nearest to Pharloom, but I actually just think it is a map of Pharloom itself, and its routes outwards into the wastes, specially because of its layered nature

(Granted, my interpretation could be a bit awkward if we take the map to be meant to have Cindril at its center, but I think it is centered around the Cradle instead)

But the main reason? Farsight

This device seems to only cover so far as Pharloom, and not farther, unless future expansions prove this wrong by adding a second kingdom or something containing completion percentage (by the point of this post being written we've only seen the first teaser for Sea of Sorrow)

It even seems to have two layers in the cutscene, like the rune map

That said, the design and location of Farsight could perhaps indicate it was inspired by the Pale King, which would strictly mean it was created way after the Cindril operation (while we're at it, Cindril was likely before or at least at the same time as the creation of Weavenest Atla, depending on if all Weavers were collaborating even between nests at this point in the timeline)

No blazing kin. Only one light shall shine against the dark. The Wyrm becomes beacon, minds expanded, to yield, to devote. Eternity in promise and charge in progeny cursed.

Could also just be a thematic callback, since it is essentially "World Sense 2"

Either way, when I saw the cutscene and design of the Farsight rune, I realized not just that it was probably a map, but also one that resembles the Vitruvian Grub: the old theory that it is a map might be true after all, and most likely one created through runes / some magic method or knowledge

Is the Vitruvian Grub representing the individual grubs innate hability to return to their nest? or is it a map radiating from the Grubfather?

Another thing that caught my attention is the echo-like borders of the rune map; they could be representing borders or frontiers or thressholds, but they also remind me of the unique screech of Wraiths

Maybe a representation of Grand Mother Silk's silken sight? or that the method used to make the rune map works on a similar way?

Going back to Cindril, I really like the view it has towards the wastes

To me, the implication is that they'd run out of this window after having completed their training / proven their speed in the floor above

And here's something funny: the frame of this window is actually repurposed from a cut harp mechanism in Mt Fay, which had runes and all; it also kind of resembles the large rune holding frame of Weaver elevators / teleporters

Now, the first case is asset reuse, and the latter is perhaps just consistency in Weaver architecture, but could it be that when this Weavenest was operating, this window would actually give them a headstart by accelerating them greatly in an almost teleport way?