The original homeworld of the Spider Guild is unknown, but about 50,000 years ago they developed space travel and began spreading throughout the universe. Their methods, which have remained essentially unchanged, are as follows: on a Control Nest world years are spent utilizing natural resources to create motherships and colonizer spider robots. When the armada is complete, it heads for a target solar system, each ship being staffed by only a few Spider Guild—a Strand Captain and several Robot Manipulators. The ships then infest any life-supporting worlds found. The robot spiders conquor the worlds and the Spider Guild lay their eggs on the planet. Each conquored planet will eventually become a new Control Nest, and the process starts again.The Spider Guild employ advanced technology to cr