Editing LeviathanTempest:AppendThree (section)

===The Fifth Depth ===

The Fifth Depth is often called the Great Barrier Reef. Partly it's a winking allusion to the other Great Barrier Reef and partly it's a perfectly appropriate name. It's certainly great, it looks like a reef and most Leviathan's going this deep are heading all the way to the bottom, to these Leviathans the Fifth Depth is pretty much nothing more than a barrier. They're ignoring what might be the most useful layer of the Rift. 

The Fifth Depth contains the Tribe's views on itself. Not individual Leviathan's views, but the entire Tribe's views on the entire Tribe. In this it once again earns it's name as a barrier, the fifth depth is the dividing line between the individual and the collective. 

Even the most cursory exploration reveals a great truth about the Tribe, it has defined itself almost entirely by it's relationship to man. The Reef is comprised of untold trillions of living beings, most no bigger than a human finger nail. There's macroscopic amoebas, polyps, tiny fish, coral, crustaceans, aquatic insects, jellyfish, flatworms and infinitely more than can be listed here. To call the Reef static would be a joke, it's teeming with life and energy. The creatures that comprise it give birth, grow, fight, love, die. As representatives of humanity they run the full range of reaction to the Leviathan's presence: they are Beloved eagerly fawning and offering tiny gifts, they are Ahabs and Marduk swarming the larger Leviathan in their millions but mostly they are ordinary humans, seemingly unaware of the Tribe yet shuddering at the Wake's presence. Despite this few Leviathans feel superior to the almost microscopic creatures, not here. They're everywhere, they press against his skin, crawl over his lips, his nose, his eyes. There's no succour, no rest, it's enough to drive a Leviathan to madness, or at least to swim somewhere quieter. 

A Leviathan who wishes to pass through the barrier reef must navigate the many tunnels and caverns that exist within the Barrier Reef. The tunnels are incredibly claustrophobic and poorly lit – the light in the higher parts of the Rift has entirely faded by this point leaving only the Barrier's bioluminescent inhabitants to light the way. – One never knows when the walls might turn against you while hot jets of water and other hazards of the Tempest charge through. Despite this navigation is rather easy, providing a Leviathan sticks to routes that go down there she'll have little trouble finding her way with a minimum of backtracking. 

The real treasures are hidden in odd corners, where the oppressing mass of life fades away. Sometimes they're Doldrums sometimes not but their contents are always valuable. These caverns show how the Tribe sees itself on a different topic to humanity. Here a Leviathan can find where the Tribe considers itself deficient, to correct or exploit, or where the Tribe views itself with satisfaction. The insights gained might be enough to justify buying Sheol, it depends if they're too specific or not, and certainly justify buying Specialties in Social Skills and situational bonuses when the Leviathan brings them into a conversation, knowing exactly what the Tribe considers it's strength or it's weakness when other Leviathans agree but can't quite put their finger on it is a good way to become a respected leader in the Tribe.