Editing LeviathanTempest:ChapterFive (section)

==== Ophions ====
When a Leviathan abuses the power of the Wake and the trust of her Beloved, degeneration causes her divine aspect to grow until it eclipses both her human and bestial natures. Locked into her most glorious and terrible form she becomes an Ophion, following incomprehensible and contradictory goals that change with the Currents of the Tempest.

Without his human and bestial natures to act as an Anchor, an Ophion is overwhelmed by the Tempest. Ophions follow numerous goals called Currents; individual Currents bear no relation to each other or an overarching goal. Quite the opposite: Often two Currents oppose each other. An Ophion draws most strongly from the part of the Tempest which corresponds to his own Strain. This leads to somewhat standard behaviour patterns and proportionately more Currents from their Strain's Vice. Not all Currents are completed; they appear and vanish with the flow of the Rift. Normally this is a slow process – some Currents remain for decades – but on occasion an Ophion draws from the most tumultuous parts of the Tempest, gaining and losing Currents over minutes. In this state the Ophion is effectively paralysed. Some theorise that this is the usual state of an Ophion, and if it were true, then without drawing attention to themselves Ophions could remain unnoticed in deep seas and at the bottom of the Rift for a very, very long time.

As with Typhons many Leviathans see it as a sacred duty to destroy any Ophions they encounter. 

===== Becoming an Ophion: Unity with the Storm =====

* Each Ophion gains six minor Currents, two major Currents or one major and three minor Currents. More if the Storyteller desires. Each Current is a specific objective based on a Vice and an Ophion always has at least one but usually more Currents based on their Strain's associated Vice. Completing a minor current earns a point of Willpower while a major Current refills the entire Willpower pool when completed. Even the crudest Vices such as Wrath or Gluttony rarely create Currents flowing towards cheap instant gratification. Lacking their impulsive bestial nature Ophions tend to achieve their objectives through careful planning at best and tangled webs of intrigue at worst.
* Ophions cannot regain Ichor through Havoc, it is the bestial nature of a Leviathan which seeks satisfaction through instant gratification and pointless violence.
* An Ophion's greater connection to its divine aspect makes them unparalleled in leading their Cults. Upon becoming an Ophion, increase your Cult's Zeal by one.
* Finally when a Leviathan becomes an Ophion, roll Resolve + the lower of its Cult's Numbers or Zeal. Unless the Ophion gets a number of Successes equal to its Sheol, it immediately travels to the nearest suitable source of water and enters the Rift. Few Ophions maintain their footing on the Shore as the Tempest floods through them, but after the initial surge many seek a way to return, requiring powerful Rituals.

===== Strains of Ophions =====
*Bahamutans seek to follow their Currents through their Cult, spending much of their time Dreaming. This occasionally reaches the point where some Ophions never even attempt to leave the Rift and instead rely on Cults as their sole agents on the Shore. Those that do leave the Rift still favor direct plans with little personal effort, aided in part by the fact that many of their Currents spring from Sloth and don't require them to do much at all. Despite this they can show enormous energy and proactivity to protect their future rest and when driven to intervene personally they do so with overwhelming force.
*Dagonites follow Currents that lead them to expansion. More Beloved, more territory, more worship. As Ophions Dagonites tend towards extraordinarily complicated plans, often of a highly political nature coupled with never-ending recruitment. The danger of opposing a Dagonite Ophion is immense, they often possess more disposable troops than other Leviathans' entire cults and should they have left the Rift their tendency towards the Vestige of Fecundity swells their ranks with large numbers of powerful Lahmasu (they rarely breed the normal way, all potential partners are too far beneath them.) Playing a Dagonite at its own game is a dangerous prospect, the best way to deal with them is cutting the metaphoric head off the snake by attacking the Ophion while they rest in the Rift, separated from the support of their cult.
*Lahamin make some of the hardest Ophions to oppose, while no stronger or weaker than their cousins in combat, you have to find them first and finding the Lahamin is never easy. Even if you do know where to look, it's almost certain to notice you first and move. Tracing them by their actions is no easier, though their Currents run as strong as any Strain the Lahamin are masters of achieving the maximum effect for the minimum effort. Their plots are built upon staggering amounts of observation and careful preparation, only after which will they indoctrinate their cat's paws and unleash them in a carefully choreographed sequence of events that ends with the fulfillment of the Ophion's Current, most often ruining a life out of simple spite. It is the gift of the Lahamin to create workable plans which to the outside observer look like a sequence of improbable random events. It is their curse that they are limited to such complicated and unreliable methods to further their aims.
*The Currents that Nu's Children follow lead to the most alien of the Ophions. Though many are dedicated and focused while trying to escape the Rift, upon the Shore most lack the inclination to have any meaningful interaction with mankind. Cults are frequently abandoned or eaten once their purpose is served. The stereotype places the Ophion far from land, invisible in the water and content to devour whatever sea-life they come across. This is true to an extent, but like all Ophions a Nu will follow Currents from all Vices and even Gluttony can lead to delicacies unavailable in the ocean. When the Currents bring a Nu to land, it tends to show little concern for a sustainable power base. Cults are temporary and the full fury of the elements is used safe in the knowledge that the aftermath only affects other people.
*As an Ophion the Oceanids are never still. Their Currents run wide but are as shallow as the rivers their Progenitor claimed dominion over. As Ophions Oceanids tend to be impulsive, unsure of where the Currents will take them, they cast their nets wide. Their Beloved are often little more than a piggy bank and a source of quick gratification. Large in number but disorganised and interchangeable. As Ophions go the Oceanids can seem relatively harmless but theirs is the Vestige of Sanctity. When opposed, an Oceanid's first resort is to force compliance and they possess an instinct for turning friends and allies into weapons. Should the fight turn personal, Oceanids often show surprising martial powers. Though perhaps not as destructive as other Strains, the broken lives left in their wake are all the more painful for the personal touch in their destruction.
*Tanninim are driven by the Currents to amass power, not for its own sake but for practical ends. Frequently driven to punish, the Tanninim take a proactive stance to their goals and take measures to ensure that whoever their gaze falls upon they will already be in a position to pronounce sentence. Their Cults and the organisations that come under the Tanninin's grip tend to be well oiled machines ruthlessly purged of weakness and hyperfocused to the Ophion's goals but this focus ignores vital work required for long term survival, leading to an unending cycle of acquisition and decline.
*The Thalassans pursue wealth for its own sake and do so through the formation of self sustaining Cults that survive with a minimum of supervision. This is not laziness or unwillingness to get their hands dirty but simple practicality. Even an Ophion has a finite size on what they can personally control, only through delegation can they amass the hoards they desire. It would be foolish to assume that a Thalassan's Currents end at acquiring money but it's not entirely untrue to say that they mostly start with it. Their plots are as intricate as any Ophion's, but usually take an economic flavor. Sometimes a Thalassan simply buys whatever their Currents point at, but just as often other Currents prevent them from spending their wealth and elaborate plots must be formed to work around self imposed limitations on their greatest asset.