Does it seem likely to anyone that the Fetch are from the spider world? Look at the pictures in the TFL comic. Doesn't the spider-world, with its clouds of haze and indistinct dancing forms, look like a nice place for an energy-being to live? In fact, maybe those dancing forms *are* Fetch in their natural state.
We know that it was Balor who brought them to our world in the first place, and that the Tain fell back into the hands of the Fallen Lords (Soulblighter, at least) prior to the Great War, centuries after it was lost by Connacht. What if Balor, early in his career went into the Tain to see if any of the Myrkridia had survived (in order to kill the survivors if his old hatred was too strong, or recruit them if the Leveller's spirit was more pragmatic), and there discovered the connection with the spider world? And peeked inside, noticed a useful species (the Fetch) and kidnapped a few?
What would this explain?
*Where the Fetch came from (see above paragraph, dummy!)
*Why Balor found them and earlier Levellers apparently didn't (Only Balor/Connacht possessed the Tain)
*Why the Fetch are called "priestesses" in their flavor text (they serve the spider gods)
*Why there are no large spiders above ground--until Chimera, anyway--even though they obviously aren't afraid of the surface races (like the Fetch, they must hide from the gaze of Wyrd)
*Why the Fetch thought Soulblighter could get them home, even though they knew he wasn't very good with magic (they were aware that he possessed a Tain shard)
Only problem I can see is that the Fetch and the spiders happily went at it (in the sense of combat, not romance) whenever they met each other in the Tain. But maybe the reverence the Fetch bear for the spider gods doesn't extend to the little guys; or maybe the Fetch don't feel quite as pious since they got to spend a few centuries without worshipping daily.
Refute me!
--SiliconDream
