General Description: A distant, much larger cousin of the Fae originating in the Western Isles, Jorou-Gumo are intimidating, but peaceful, creatures, resembling an Centaur with pale skin and a spider's abdomen and legs instead of that of a horse. Their arms are also coated in exoskeleton identical to the type on their legs. Their eyes are solid red with white pupils, and are grouped into groups of four, with two major ones in the "normal" place and then three smaller "sub-eyes", each the size of a fingertip, positioned in a horizontal line where the eyebrows should be. They also have long, extremely sharp teeth and the ability to unhinge their lower jaws, which is indicative of their carnivorous biology.
Language: The Jorou-Gumo language is called Katan and is unusual in being structured in compound words and each individual syllable having a meaning. It is also unusual in being in a topic-comment structure and being non-articular, with a complex system of honorifics with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. It also uses a totally different alphabet from Common, which can make it extremely difficult to learn. However, following their first contact with the Imperial Troll Empire, Common is now an extremely widespread second language.
Culture: The Jorou-Gumo's frightening external appearance belies the peaceful nature that their people tend towards. Kumonosi culture puts an emphasis on pacifism unless totally necessary but also maintaining dignity, and their expertise in the textile arts and embroidery are extremely intertwined with their culture. Females are often much larger than males, but unlike other strongly dimorphic races such as the Harpy there is no matriarchal slant to their culture but neither is it overly patriarchal - the women, while traditionally seen as the housekeepers and in more matronly or "feminine" gender roles to outside viewers, are not forced into these roles by their culture and in fact many of their nation's greatest leaders have been women. They do make weapons, such as the naginata, which are expectedly designed to account for the Jorou-Gumo's long legs and anatomy, but these are largely intended to be defensive in nature.