How to modernize a problematic race from a previous edition?

[pale bone]

I'm a huge fan of Werewolf: The Apocalypse 5th Edition, and how it's basically modernized what was one of the most problematic splats in World of Darkness. It's become a super progressive game, taking a lot of things that did have some weird shade to them, and turning them believable and a lot less offensive. However! Having started with 5th edition, something I hear about a lot is shifters other than werewolves, and how they used to be playable, and how problematic they were. This includes things like kitsune, ananasi (spider shifters), corax or crow shifters, etc. These ran into a LOT of issues, such as kitsune being mystical all asian fox shifters, or ananasi all being goth girls.

I did a rewrite of fox shifters (no longer kitsune, no longer all asian) that made them a lot better, even making it not an insane idea to play a male one (since usually the fox people we see in media are all women). I'm trying to do the same with spider shifters, but hitting a snag.

One of the big parts of W5 is the removal of what I call self consuming writing. WoD has a history of insisting that it's different and seperate from pop culture, and creating settings and IPs that are only pallateable if you're already a WoD fan. And Ananasi were a huge culprit of this because their whole concept was based in werewolf:the apocalypse exclusive mythology.

When I modernized Kitsune, I made them less asian centric, focused more on the feral/animalistic aspects, and removed a lot of the eastern mysticism and self-consuming writing. Werewolves in W5 have a spiritual connection to the earth and are basically rage monsters fighting to protect it, with Rage being a central mechanic. When I rewrote kitsune, I made their central theme transgression, but made it explicitly clear this wasn't only sex, and that the focus was almost always something else.

Now I'm rewriting spider shifters, and the snag I'm hitting is... what's their central theme? How are they at all relevant in this game?

[young olive]

Instead of going this route why don't you tie them to cultures? While WoD (Werewolf in particular) is/was problematic, this feels a lot like white washing.

Kitsune/fox shifters were tied to Asian Culture and therefore those who were fox shifters were Asian. It made sense - that's where they mythology originated, that's where it should be centered. No different then the Assamites being almost exclusively middle eastern - that's where the Clan originated, that's what the clan is mostly made up of

I'd argue that Ananasi could be Greek - Greek mythos has a story of Aphrodite turning a weaver into a spider after she brags too much. To native americans, spiders are a sign of patience.

If you don't want to go that route, Ananasi weren't goth girls - they were part of the Weave. They're Queen became imprisioned by the Wyrm

Ananasi strive for balance and manipulate society from the shadows to ensure certain outcomes. They're puppet masters, shadow kings/queens, and rely on politics vs brute strength. They often passed for Kindred due to this nature