LeviathanTempest:ArchivedSocialLife

The Leviathans are, for the most part, solitary beings. They nature of their transformation makes most everyday social interaction awkward and irritating for them, and even coming into contact with others members of the Tribe is often uncomfortable on a number of levels.

Much of these models were proposed by Casper Lions and discussed by Llenlleawch and myself; the full discussion's near the end of the thread.

Day-to-Day Life

Most Leviathans live in as isolated a fashion as possible. Contact with human beings, due to the Wake, is uncomfortable, and many of the anxieties and tribulations of day-to-day social interaction can cause an unwary Leviathan to lose control - of his temper or even his shape. This is balanced against by an equally strong drive towards socialization - both for contact with others and simply as relief from being alone. These competing drives form much of the woes that a member of the Tribe faces - they have a (human?) desire for companionship, but they are deeply unsuited for the social world.

The Wake

"Power: Wake (Beloved and the Lahmasu) - Leviathans cast a big shadow and whether they want it or not, this shadow is always filled with human cultists (the Beloved) and the successfully assimilated semi-Hybrid lines known as the Lahmasu, who seek out the Wicked Tribe with great fervor. "

The Wake is the term used by Leviathans for what is, in effect, the sensation that their subdued nature produces on normal humans. It is a psychic pressure front that humans feel on an instinctual level - it is the dread majesty of a Leviathan's birthright. Tribe scholars claim that it is the "shadow" cast by the Leviathan's true form, and it affects a region around him, which grows as the Leviathan's (POWER STAT) increases.

Mortals affected by a Leviathan's Wake are infused with a mixture of awe, terror, and deference. For all that this seems attractive, it is a deeply isolating effect. A Leviathan can't enter a room without people lowering their voices, or go to the grocery store without people self-consciously apologizing for getting in your way (even if they weren't) - the Wake functions as a psychological battering ram, preventing the Tribe from blending in with a crowd. A Leviathan is always, willingly or not, intimidating every mortal in his presence. The Wake is a beacon, a message from the days of the Primordial that impresses itself on human minds - "You're less important than me; everything here is mine if I want it."

The allure of the Wake, especially for Tribe members who might have been socially awkward or bullied before they awoke to their true natures, is obvious. However, the Wake is also extremely dangerous - taking advantage of it means taking advantage of humans, further alienating the Leviathan from the world he has to live in. Many Leviathans have fallen down the path to degeneration by permitting themselves to revel in the wake, allowing themselves to say "Yes, I am better than these people. It's fine for me to do what I want with them."

Beloved

Some mortals are more deeply affected than others by the Wake, and become obsessed with the Leviathan whose Wake they were touched by. The more powerful the Leviathan, the greater the pressure of the Wake, the likelier that this result becomes. These individuals attempt to stay near the Leviathan, equally terrified and deeply attracted.

Unaware of the truth of what they are experiencing, they find ways of explaining it - some outlets more constructive than others. The only unifying element of this obsession is that the mortal is certain that there is something different - something special and unique and equal parts horrible and wondrous - about the Leviathan. Some become stalkers, or hangers-on, or even kidnappers, trying to understand the creature who haunts them, awake or dreaming.

These cases end in one of two ways - either the complete self-destruction of the obsessed mortal, or the entry of the mortal into the Leviathan's Cult as a Beloved. Established Cults usually begin with a Leviathan's first Beloved, and then grow - the more Beloved there are, the likelier that an ensnared mortal will join their ranks.

Beloved form the backbone of a Leviathan's Cult. While it might have numbers well beyond them, they are the only ones whose loyalty and dedication is certain. They serve as extensions of the Leviathan, his agents in the human world, permitting him to avoid the strain of everyday life. Periodic exposure to new revelations of the Primordial world are necessary to keep the Beloved's mind stable, but this is a small price to pay for their aid. A Beloved Cult can infuse the Leviathan with Ichor through reverence and the enactment of mystical rites - their subservience reaffirming his divine nature. Beloved are also prime hosts for the generation of Hybrids, as they are willing, perhaps even eager, to be touched by the bloodline of the Tribe.

The lure of staying secluded and meeting only with one's Cult is strong, especially for older, more world-weary Leviathans. This is a potential trap, as interacting with the Beloved is not a substitute for interacting with normal humans, and it is often the ultimate fate of the hidden Cult leader to fall into degeneration, isolated from his own human side.

Atolls

The mirror image of the Beloved, an Atoll is an otherwise normal human being who, for whatever reason, is unaffected by the Wake. They serve as naturally-occuring sinkholes for the forces surrounding the Tribe and the Deep. This ability - to stand unmoved and untouched by the Deep - also means that contact - social or physical - with an Atoll has an immediate calming effect on members of the Tribe. An Atoll's touch, or smile, clears the fog of rage and discontent that surrounds a Leviathan, leaving them with a deep sense of peace and security. Unsurprisingly, the Tribe are obsessed with Atolls, reacting to them in much the same way as they react to anything else they want - overwhelming desire, tinged with the implied privilege of their divine natures.

But Atolls are untouched by the supposed majesty of the Tribe; if a Leviathan wants to interact with one, they have to do so on the level of mere men. Frustrated Leviathans, desperate for the tranquility of contact with an Atoll, go to huge lengths to attempt to secure them - resorting to kidnapping or stalking. More moderate Leviathans are no less obsessed, merely more subtle - they find themselves drawn to the places the Atoll works or resides, and attempt, with all the awkwardness that the absence of the Wake brings to their social endeavors, to find a place in the Atoll's life.

Even if access to an Atoll can be secured, the threat to a Leviathan is not diminished. The addictive effect of an Atoll's presence is such that an Atoll, wittingly or not, can easily manipulate a member of the Tribe - the terror of losing their source of comfort can drive them to absurd lengths to please the Atoll. Unscrupulous Atolls, or those that become aware of what power they have, can enslave a Leviathan and his Cult with hardly any effort at all. For a Leviathan, subverting or ignoring their divine nature is just as dangerous as denying their humanity, and even the most mild of Atolls will eventually force a Leviathan to choose between two forms of damnation.

Tribe Life

For the most part, the Tribe does not host any overarching social structures. Many Leviathans are fiercely independent, and beyond the struggles of personal preference and inter-group politics, there are instinctual hurdles. Leviathans bristle in eachother's company as much as they do in human society, as submerged desires - territorial and mating urges - come surging out of their blood. The strength and alien tone of these desires, as much as their actual content, is an unpleasant and unwelcome reminder of a Leviathan's nature.

Tribe unifiers are quick to point out that, in an uncomfortable world, the Tribe serves as a source of peers who are going through the same problems, and whose numbers form an extended family. Detractors are quick to note that the nature of the "extended family" only renders their instinctual feelings for one another more grotesque - few family reunions ought to make one feel like tearing out Cousin Harold's throat to impress Cousin Susan.

Taxa

"Taxa: Many Leviathans have two Taxa, a (or group of) member(s) of their phyla and a (or group) member(s) of their Class. Think support group. These are informal grouping. If someone calls together an emergency meeting of all the Leviathan in a certain city, those who show up are a Taxa. If you could get all the Oceanids on the East Coast or all of the Tehom in NYC into a room, that would be a Taxa too. No formal structure, but the big fish (often called a Headman or some variation therefore of, a situational ranking/title if there ever was one) sits at the head of the table, if you know what I mean."

The largest relevant social unit of the Tribe, a taxon is a meeting of Leviathans drawn together for a given reason or for sharing a given trait. If every member of the Tribe meets, that's a taxon. Most taxa are composed of members of a given School from a certain region, generally meeting to discuss a particular find or event that concerns them. As Schools are primarily informal, these meetings aren't built with a guest list in mind - everyone who shows is showing because the thing under discussion is relevant to them. A taxon might involve an exchange of information, especially contact information, in order to build a support group, but many Leviathan are reluctant to be "in touch" with other members of the Tribe - there is an understood degree of emergency that is necessary before contact will be made between individuals who are part of a taxon.

Regional taxa might also have an informal leadership - generally the most dangerous or developed Leviathan that bothered to show. When a Tribe member in a region goes rogue, or an enemy is about, this is the figure that gets turned to for advice - generally right before or right after every Leviathan in the city does what he or she wants about the problem anyway, however. A regional taxon is often a place where Tribe members who will later form a Cohort meet, and it also informs members of various Schools about locals that share their interests - it lets the members of Kingu's Camp know where they might be able to get information or aid on a problem from, for instace.

This informal leader is traditionally called a Headman, as he wields influence without any formal authority. Some Headmen remain so for years on end and manage to bring a certain regularity to taxa meetings, but this is rare. More often, a given region will have several Headmen who will call meetings on different areas of interest.

Cohorts

"Cohorts - ( These are your AA sponsors for Leviathanhood, your emergency contacts, those people who if you call will show up and go scoobie doo on a Riptide sighting with you or help you cover up the fact that you accidentally shattered a wall of solid stone) (Parties basically)"

The Cohort is an informal social grouping of Leviathans that share a regional connection or have some social link to one another - familial or otherwise. The Cohort model grew out of the desire to keep an eye on things in one's neighborhood, and its most restricted form is simply a sort of wary and predatory mutual observation. Each Leviathan knows the other's stomping grounds and steers clear of things that the others have marked as their own, unless he can produce the muscle to just do what he wants. Any Leviathan that goes rogue, or attacks another member of the Cohort, might be subject to a united front of the other members.

Not all Cohorts are this standoffish, however, and some groups, especially those composed of fresher Tribe members, remain in touch more solidly. The Cohort offers a space of relaxation from the human world, and a pool of social peers that are not subject to the Wake. It also can serve as a source of resources and information in a pinch, or even material or emotional support - the Cohort is host to the sort of friend that can help you move a body. These more connected Cohorts are more subject to personality clashes - interactions between Leviathans are always tense - but their benefits often outweight their drawbacks.

Lahmasu and Hybrids

Ideas from the Thread

"Lahmasu: kinfolk template, descendants of human worshippers, carry on heirlooms from ancient sea-cities such as weird relics and strange cult rituals, not very well-adjusted, in fact pretty crazy"

"Hybrids: The nasty reminders of what happens when the Leviathan mate in their True Form. These are a shame and a responsibility, misguided creatures that will often seek to create more hybrids like themselves and otherwise take out their frustration on humankind. "

"the successfully assimilated semi-Hybrid lines known as the Lahmasu, who seek out the Wicked Tribe with great fervor. "

Reconciliation and Summary (With some added ideas)

When the blood of the Tribe, or of its cousins, interacts with mortal blood, there are a couple possible outcomes. The most likely is a mere mortal - one who carries the blood but who does not express any of the Primordial bloodline. The other is the rarest, a full-fledged Leviathan, manifesting the full range of the progenitor's traits. Yet there are those that are neither human nor Leviathan; their blood marks and twists their bodies but does little to change their basic nature. These hybrids are defined by mutation, expressing some of the traits of the Leviathan form but having no ability to change shape. For most hybrids, the trauma of this half-life severs them from a normal human life and drives them mad. Experiencing many of the ancient instincts and simmering discomforts of the Tribe, hybrids seek to find fulfillment in their monstrous roles. Some hunt and devour humans, others seek to propagate their twisted species, raising vast broods of hybrids and leading them in isolated cults, attempting to replicate half-instinctual shapes of the Tribe's ancient roles.

Hybrids with limited or concealable deformities might participate in human society. Their children, however, will continue to manifest greater and greater mutations, eventually becoming incapable of passing for human. Some remain close to the families that produce them, sheltered but also secluded, as dark "family secrets" or isolated "strange cousins." Unsurprisingly, a line that produces Hybrids is very likely to also produce a member of the Tribe, and occasionally a Leviathan comes to discover that her seemingly-normal family is host to a number of hybrids, a long-concealed secret, already prepared to venerate their new "messiah" - or to devour her, seeking to claim from her flesh the secret of physical normalcy.

A Leviathan with the time and the right knowledge can deliberately ensure the birth of a hybrid. The child does not have to be the Leviathan's own, but the process is much easier if it is. These "planned hybrids" are called Lahmasu. Each Strain of the Tribe produces a distinct sub-line of Lahmasu, and these cultivated bloodlines of Hybrids are naturally inclined to serve Leviathans, and will, if abandoned (Lahmasu breed true with one another and might outlive their Leviathan progenitor) often eagerly seek out a member of the Tribe to venerate.

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