What's the lore or explanation behind the spiders in System Shock 2?

[664a212dd920fInsect124]

I personally felt the spiders heavily conflicted with the cyberpunk aesthetics of the game. Were arachnids used in scientific experiments similarly to the chimps? I tried to do some research but found nothing definite on their origins.

[664a212dd9480voodoo47]

no, they are a creation of the Many. they want to utilize their resources as efficiently as possible, hence, a creature that is easy and cheap to produce, fast, deadly, tough, expendable, and with no mind of its own to potentially rebel. a spider-like abomination would fit the bill nicely (spider dna probably available to use as base, pretty sure a few crawlers made it onboard the ships before they departed Earth).

see "why do things keep evolving into crabs"

[664a212dd97f3Insect124]

voodoo47
Very interesting. Thanks. I adore the concepts and lore of the System Shock games.

[664a212dd99b8Kolya]

Also Irrational Games, the developers of SS2, could just re-use spiders from the Thief game, to utilize their resources as efficiently as possible, hence a creature that is easy and cheap to produce.

[664a212dd9cc9ZylonBane]

I personally felt the spiders heavily conflicted with the cyberpunk aesthetics of the game.

Deus Ex would like a word.

[664a212dd9f83voodoo47]

Irrational Games, the developers of SS2, could just re-use spiders from the Thief game, to utilize their resources as efficiently as possible, hence a creature that is easy and cheap to produce.

yeah, but almost sure he wanted an in-game explanation.

[664a212dda09cKolya]

@voodoo47 The funny thing is that it's both.

[664a212dda16fvoodoo47]

yes. yes it is.

[664a212dda280notaavatar]

because spiders are the natural choice of creature for going through a tight ship with lots of duct work , breed very fast and are simple creatures.