LeviathanTempest:ArchivedAntagonists

Mortal Adversaries

Marduk Society - "They know."

Ideas from the Thread

"Marduk was a sky wizard who drew power from the desperate hope of humanity and killed Tiamat in a climactic battle. He taught a series of disciples and eventually died. Now those who came after him had no intention of dying, so they started eating Leviathan flesh as this granted them immortality. Also, they have found that Marduk's techniques allow them to draw power from humanity's desperate hope, so they secretly run society into the ground so that more people will be driven to desperation. Thus they are granted long lives and sorcerous power by ruining the lives of small children and eating the flesh of Tiamat's descendants.

They are kind of a cross between the Technocracy, Pentex, and the Sabbat. They want to eat you, and they are trying to keep all the magic secret with their evil world-spanning conpiracy so that people in general are more sad and desperate."

"Now one idea I was dying to get out for this thread is the notion that The Marduk Society - who, if I recall correctly, were jut-jawed two fisted men of science dedicated to wiping out every last Leviathan that eat baby Leviathans to hold onto their youth - are actually, for all intents and purposes, right.

There was the idea that the various Creatures destroy humanity with their presence and that Deep-one like change may represent puberty. The idea that, ultimately, the ‘parent’ figure and antagonist is right about the problems that Leviathan release onto the world adds a certain sense of horror to an already frightening concept."

"Firstly, the Marduk Society believes that they are safeguarding mankind against the icky, creepy, forces of chaos.

Secondly, they wear cool suits and have labs, and use sociology to kill you, along with more overt, if slightly retro or cheesy, super science.

They're divided into only three groups, because they're villains:

• The Standing Committee - Responsible for hunting down cryptids and other supernatural phenomena, and for protecting the human race from them.
• Human Instrumentality Project - On an obvious level, the HIP is responsible for interfering with human society in order to maintain the Marduk Society's power. The Marduk Society has some kind of (never clearly explained, but clearly apocalyptic) plan for humanity; different members have different ideas about it, and it involves all kinds of X-Files-esque secret experimentation. The HIP is most likely to interact with the players because they don't want cryptids messing with their experimental subjects.
• Cross Disciplinary Convergence Association - This is the wing of the Marduk Society that actually does stuff themselves; the HIP secretly meddles in the economy, the CDCA runs factories itself. They have lots of engineers on staff building ray guns, as well as all kinds of economists and banking magnates. (I stole the name from Shadowfist)."

"Tribe of Enilish, the Marduk: Leviathan flesh eating sky worshipping human order manipulating liches, the kind of folks who tie up angels in the basement and torture them"

"And to recap, The Marduk Society are 1. jut-jawed pulp superscientists/adventurers...who happen to be degenerates that eat monster flesh and chain angels up in their basements 2. the descendant esoteric society of a priest-cult of sky-worshipers whose Tempest hot-air foul magic has been refined into the SCIENCE! of the Marduk 3. a group of dessicated foul liches (the inner circle, the Marduk retirement plan if you will) 4. a magnificent bastard conspiracy of conspiracies that has Hunters (and probably Lemures) fooled, among many others ...simultaneously."

"The Marduk Society: A conspiracy with tendrils in Hunter, Mage, and Genii (specifically Lemurian) circles. The Marduk draw on the power of the Tempest and seek to devour the flesh of monsters to gain immortality. Their main paradigm is with Leviathans, dating back to the Progenitors and their cyclopean spawn being trapped in the Primeval Ocean at the moment of it's corruption at the hands of the man or being known as Marduk. "Jut-jawed men of science and adventure carving off bits of mermaids and torturing angels in the basement" describes them pretty well. "

Reconciliation and Summary

The Marduk Society is a conspiracy of (mostly) humans who have, either through independent research or through initiation by other members of the Society, come to know about the Tribe. The Society presents the outward front of a concerned body of researchers, philanthropists, and archaeologists - they fund expeditions to dig sites in the Middle East, donate finds to museums, and otherwise maintain their appearance as a body of individuals deeply invested in history. However, their origins lie in fragmented histories that claim that Marduk, the same Marduk that slew Tiamat and formed the world from her dismembered body, was in fact a mortal man, a sorcerer, who cast down the empires of the progenitors and sundered this world from the Deep. Enthroned as a glorious god-king in the wake of these feats, he trained disciplines, taught them the nature of the fractured Tribe, and died. Among the things his disciples knew, however, was that the consumption of Leviathan flesh could slow the aging process to a standstill, and they had little intention of dying like their mentor had.

Now legends say that the mystic rites that Marduk had practiced drew their strength from the distress and outrage of those persecuted by the more egregious horrors of Primordial birth. His followers, feeling their power waning as they solidified the victory of mankind over the Tribe, came to realize that, even if they were to create a utopia, they would not rule it. The Society therefore stepped back, secure in positions of power, and let themselves fade into the background. When necessary to preserve their stores of mystic power, they would covertly intervene, attempting to ensure that man's inhumanity to man persisted.

Nowadays, the Society seeks out and hires promising minds and, after a period of grooming them in the front operations of the group, brings them on board with their stated project - the protection of humanity from the Tribe and its ilk. Combining a legacy of sky-splitting sorcery with a deep interest in the progress of human technology, their tools are baroque but functional, trappings of a 19th century science-fantasy novel - lightning guns and weather manipulators. To achieve its ends, the Society maintains both its archaeological arm, attempting to discern the nature of their enemy and recall facts from the lost era of its founders, while also keeping on-staff teams of hunters and investigators to root out members of the Tribe. The upper echelons of thse two groups, and the inner circle of the Society, are in on the secret - they do not seek merely to kill members of the Tribe but also to devour them.

Those "in the know" in the group, then, have achieved functional immortality - the flesh of Leviathans keeping time's press at bay - while also absorbing increasing levels of the power of the Tribe. Giddy with newfound power, they now desire flesh well in excess of what is necessary to live. All the while, they keep the extent of their magic - and their scientific progress, uplifted by exposure to lost relics of fallen and wondrous civilizations - secret, witholding miracles from the world in order to ensure that despair remains prevalent and they remain strong.

The Tribe is aware of the Society, but only inasmuch as they know about the hunting and archaeological branches - they have no idea about the concealed and ancient inner circle. Marduk agents seek out stories of sightings and events that might suggest the presnce of Leviathans, and then hunt them relentlessly, using all of the tools at their disposal. And these tools are many - both sorcerous trinkets and "super-science." Members at the top of these branches might also have partaken of Leviathan flesh, rendering them immune to the Wake, and could manifest some of the Tribe's abilities, usurping their birthrights. The Society has yet to master how to project the Wake or enter the Deep, however - but many Leviathans fear what will occur when they do.

Hunters - "Ahabs"

Ideas from the Thread

"Ahabs: Treat it like an odd antisocial form of Hunter Compact, but those whose lives get smashed out of shape by the ripples the Leviathan make sometimes develop a form of creative monomania for hunting down the thing what did it that pushes them outside the limits of peak human ability in one area (a lot like Slashers, actually...). Serial Ahabs usually do come into contact with the Hunter community."

Summary (With some added ideas)

On occasion, when a mortal that is likely to become a Beloved is exposed to a Leviathan's true nature, some cord in them snaps. Perhaps instinctual terror and revulsion overcomes their awe, or perhaps madness turns love into hate, but regardless of the reason, the destruction of the Leviathan - and the whole Tribe - becomes the only thing that matters to them. Monomaniacs in their focus, these hunters - called "Ahabs" by the new generation of the Tribe - first seek to destroy the Leviathan whose Wake first called to them, and then scour the earth, looking for sigs of others.

The singular drive that guides an Ahab resembles nothing so much as the religious fanaticism of the Beloved - they are two sides of the same coin. Their minds already warped by the Wake, the Ahabs are not easily cowed by other members of the Tribe, and instead latch onto the sensation, tracking it back to its source. While the average Ahab is an unwashed and obsessed psychopath, others pose an even greater threat - they retain their ingenuity and patience, and come at the Tribe from unexpected angles or with overwhelming force. Ahabs are defined by their drive and willpower, however - an Ahab abandons his old life when he takes up the cause. They'll never stop hunting until the Tribe is dead or they are.

Narcissists - "The Ridden"

Ideas from the Thread

"Narcissists: When man looks into the Shallows (usually without knowing it) sometimes his reflection takes him over, the souls of the drowned and damned humans consumed by the Deeps possessing them. They are driven by repressed urges - tremendous appetites and an unquenchable desire for revenge. "

Summary (With some added ideas)

Occasionally a mortal, by accident or design, ends up being exposed to the uppermost reaches of the Deep. This exposure generally leaves them simply shaken or confused, but the sensation passes in time. However, this is not always the case. Occasionally a mortal looks into the Deep and is infused with something else, some force that inhabits their bodies. Traditionally, the Tribe considers this force to be the spirits of the drowned and others damned by their connection to the sea, but this is uncertain. What is known is that the infused mortals - called Narcissists - change, becoming solely focused on the fulfillment of some instinctual urge. Some Narcissists are driven by lust, others by rage, and so on. At first, these urges are relatively unfocused and brutish - they simply seize what they want, or lash out in fury. However, in time the Narcissist's intellect re-establishes itself, and they begin to relentlessly pursue their desire with more focus and subtlety.

All this would be relatively harmless, or at least limit itself to the admittedly considerable boundaries of human vice, save that the Narcissist's infusion of the Deep has changed them. They can invoke the Blue Cauldron, controlling the weather or opening up the Deep, and they can occasionally manifest surges of superhuman strength. Most dangerous, however, is the trait that lets them enlist others in their single-minded pursuit of their instincts - Narcissists project a Wake of their own. They can form and maintain limited Cults, and they direct these Cults to aid them in their quest to fulfill their obsessions.

Our Cousins

Typhons

Ideas from the Thread

"Typhons: zero firmament Leviathan = no human form no more, plus turning into a degeneration magnet lump of cancerous sludge"

"The Degenerated: The unloved cast-off breeds created by the (much argued over it's nature and even it's existence) Prime Matrix during the ancient Tempest War (this is what I envision for Sisters of Many and the like as they literally sound like a lot of the random monster races created by Tiamat in the legend), along with those Leviathan that become so degenerated they reach the Maelstrom and become irrevocably corrupted by the Tempest, cut off forever from their Primeval ideal. "

Summary (With some added ideas)

When a Leviathan loses the battle with his nature, or quits the field, degeneration eventually strips him of both his human and divine natures, leaving only the beast behind. These unfortunates all called Typhons by the Tribe. Their degeneration leaves them locked in their transformed shapes, unable to interact with the human world, while their sundered minds are overcome with atavistic urges - territoriality, the urge to mate, and the desire to dominate others. Typhons show little restraint beyond what is necessary to survive, and pose a colossal threat to communities near their lairs, devouring sailors or destroying boats. Worse, most Typhons have retained their Cults, fanatically devoted to the will of their mad deity, tasked to fill the ever-unsatisfied maw of their lord with sacrifice after sacrifice.

Typhons see other Leviathans as challengers to their territory, and assault them ruthlessly. The Tribe itself considers it a sacred duty to purge the insane Typhons, both for the sake of security and as an act of mercy. This is not an easy task - most Typhons, unfettered by the worries of the world, have grown huge and powerful in their madness.

Other Tribes and Distat Relatives

"To go into the mythology metaphor (which is useful in design even if we don't point it out in the final product), I see the Scorpion Armigers and Sisters of Many and Worm Gods and so on as the various breeds of monsters Tiamat created in the primordial war. That doesn't mean you can't keep the bit about the one Leviathan that became a Sister and so on; after all the great and horrible thing about LEVIATHAN is that pretty much all the good, bad, and mind-blasting guys are all at least distant family in a, as far as the supernatural geneline goes, literal sense."

"Chthonians (Typhonians, the Echidna, and the Hekati): Three diverse groups of cousins to the Leviathan, the spawn of Behemoth the only Progenitor who went onto the land (and was slain outright by Marduk in the war). They have fallen into barbarism, these descendants of the creatures who fled Marduk and his followers by taking to the caves and mountaintops. They have no human form and cannot increase in primordial power like the Leviathan can. They have been cut off from the Primeval Ocean so completely that they cannot progress or degenerate. They live and die as beasts, some more clever or strong than others, but beasts all the same."

The Scorpion Armigers

The Cryptids

"Naturally of course, every WoD game has other stuff in it that is theme associated. And in the case of Leviathan it is the other cryptid people. They are explained away as the children of Echidna, the mother of monsters (of the land). She betrayed Tiamat because she loved Marduk and there is a big thing about that because eventually the Marduk Society turned on her and her children as well and the Leviathan all resent the land cryptids because of their ancient betrayal.

So they have Mothman, Big Foot, Bat Boy, Chupacabra, Satyr, and Goblins. Those are humans who are descendants of Echidna, and they are rarer because they can't hide under water when the Marduk Society comes with their Tesla Guns."

"Tribe of Echidna, the Kimerans: The land cryptids, much thinner blood so they don't really transform all big huge and powerful like Leviathans."

"The cryptids: Tiamat begat one primordial that liked the land, Behemoth. However Marduk slew Behemoth outright when he Tempestified the Deeps and trapped the other progenitor primordials out there on the deep end of the pool (the primeval sea). Behemoth had in turn begat Typhon, Echidna, and Hekate who flew and crawled away to the caves and cliffsides and other hidden places. Their various lacking-in-flexibility-and-growth-potential offspring are collectively known as the Chthonians. Even though they are weak second-gen sub-progenitors, there's still something important in the fact that Typhon, Echidna, and Hekate were the only oldblood primordials left on Earth. They've ostensibly died, but seeking their bones in the hidden places of the world could offer a Leviathan keen insight into the past."

Oddities and Abominations

"The Riptide and Deepthings: Inhabitants of the Deep. The Riptide are a multistaged lifeform that will crawl out of the Shallows and onto the Shore, while the Deepthings wait in the waters for you to find them. "

Denizens of the Deep

The Maggot Gods The Sisters of Many

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