The gnolls definitely were though! The leader of the pack was infected with a tadpole and the others were following its commands, they had painted blood murals of the Absolute's insignia on the rocks around their den.
Goblins and gnolls definitely are accounted for with Absolute meddling, not sure about the wood woads and mephits, they're more linked to Kagha right? I've seen no connection to her and the Absolute but perhaps the Shadow Druids that she was indoctrinated into are? Maybe that's the connection? No idea about the spiders, I didn't even know about the matriarch's backstory until I read this thread, I must have missed a journal or something in the caves.
Between journals in the apothecary and the whispering depths, you het her full story.
