Editing LeviathanTempest:ChapterTwo (section)

== The Prelude == 
Not unlike the final step of character creation, a detailed prelude serves to push a player to consider their character in unusual circumstances or in scenarios that the player had not previously thought of – it involves roleplaying a series of moments or answering a series of questions in-character. The idea is to highlight points of interest in a character's distant and recent past that illustrate elements of their personality and interests, as well as suggest issues that might prove useful for integrating the character into the chronicle, or which might be plot hooks down the line. The Prelude is meant to shift the abstract question of “what sort of person is my character” into a series of scenes that provide similar information. It can also serve as a “warm-up” for getting into a character, or as a way of presenting a situation that the player might not have thought of – especially a point at which two aspects of a character's personality and tendencies become opposed to one another – which do they value more?

At the Storyteller's discretion, the Prelude can also serve as an opportunity to shuffle points on the character sheet. It's before the beginning of play, after all, and the whole idea is to offer new avenues of thinking about the character – if the character-as-envisioned and the character-as-mechanics aren't in synch, there's no better time to make adjustments as the rules and the ST permit. It can also help prioritize avenues for advancement and plots that interest the character – if you and your Storyteller get very involved in one portion of the prelude, that's a big hint that there's material there that should make its way into play.

Preludes can also serve as a method for a Storyteller to work some background detail about the sort of chronicle he has in mind into the player's minds without having to resort to an expository barrage in the first session (or, my particular weakness, a lengthy handout of information). It can also serve to make things more “personal” to a character – Marduk's hunt is a very different issue for a character that has only experienced it in the abstract, rather than having an episode in their Prelude that brings them up against the organization. 

=== Storytelling the Prelude ===

''The door was worth pretty much what you paid for it, bursting inwards in a small storm of splinters as a hastily-moved minifridge and bookcase tumble out of the way. Still, it bought a couple of seconds before your company arrived – and from the shouts in the hallway and the sound of footsteps coming up the hall, it sounds like quite a bit of company. Not to mention the sirens. You figure you've got, what, ten seconds before they're in the room with you.''

''Which is why you're perched half-in your shattered window, glass shards on the ground below, trying to figure out whether you can make the pool if you jump from here. Or whether it might be easier to just aim for the concrete, given the way your day's been going.''

''How did you end up here?''

The Prelude should serve primarily as a method of getting players and their characters on the same page. While it's not such high art that people have to treat it like a chore, a big part of a game of Leviathan involves dealing with the mixture of the wondrous and the unfortunate, and that balance is most easily struck if everyone has a feel for the cast. Determine whether you want to run Preludes individually or as a group. Individual Preludes are sort of the expected norm for Leviathans, as their relative rarity means that members of a Cohort likely didn't meet until later in life, but this shouldn't be binding – after all, people in the same situation often end up in the same place. A group Prelude has the advantage of being a bit like a game session, and gets everyone used to working around a table together – it can be played either as shared scenes or alternating stages, with each character being presented with similar scenarios. The latter method in particular offers a way for other players to get a feel for someone's character – it places their reactions to various events in relationship with the rest of the cast. 

A strong Prelude ought to balance elements of the fantastic and the relatively mundane. Members of the Tribe are often rootless and jobless, but they still have to eat, and it's the everyday that trips them up the most – if all problems could be solved by turning into an eldritch abomination, they'd have an easier time of it. It doesn't hurt for scenes to appear somewhat disjointed – a Leviathan's life is unstable by definition, and the comfort of a familiar situation is something that they have to actively cultivate. 

=== Developing – Early Life ===
''It had been buried deep in a corner of the attic, but you'd eventually improvised a makeshift series of  support columns with other boxes, some of which you expected contained valued family heirlooms, which made their periodic creaks a source of some worry – but you had it. The dark metal chest at the back of the attic, which you cousins had assured you was “totally grandpa's porn stash,” or “full of old guns,” or whatever. You didn't lend their theories much credence. You were just curious about the rusty old thing, and your other relatives claimed not to know – and that you shouldn't play in the attic, which would be, if their state of worry was to scale with the actual danger, wall-to-wall exposed rusty nails.''

''There was an oversized padlock on the chest once, you realized, but it had rusted off somewhere down the line, and parts of it rubbed off on your hands as you moved away the remains. It smells a bit like the sea.''

''What's in it?''

It's not exactly accurate to say that a Leviathan was ever an ordinary person-  the bloodline is present in them since birth, after all, and has presumably had some influence on their family. It's rare, but not unheard-of, for one to arise “out of the blue,” but most members of the Tribe are born with families that have, to some degree, been touched by the blood of the Progenitors. Some more than others – Lahmasu have to come from somewhere – but in general, those odd little secrets that every normal family has take on much greater significance in the life of a Leviathan. One of the central themes of the line is a loss of foundation, and the revelation that one's family contains something other can come well before the Leviathan discovers that the alien presence is contained within his own body. Even for a Leviathan with an apparently-normal family, the time before can serve as a jumping-off point – it's the place of security and apparent normalcy that is lost when the blood of the Tribe begins to manifest.

If rolls become necessary, recall that the character hasn't come into their power yet – they have no access to transformation or the Wake, and have to solve their problems as “mere mortals.” 

=== Facial Hair, Deeper Voice, Gills, the Usual – Changing === 
''If anyone had asked you to prepare a list of difficult-to-eat foods, “sandwich” would not have been on it, but there it is – right there in the bread, one of your teeth, all white and clearly yours because you would have recalled making a tooth sandwich. Your friends haven't noticed, they're still talking and laughing and stealing fries and so on, but you're looking into your sandwich. Tentatively, you reach into your mouth and check – nothing missing. A quick tug on a tooth, just to be sure -''

''And now you're looking at another tooth, in your palm. No pain, not really, but the grind as another slips into its place in your head – you felt it, this time. And now your friends are looking at your confused expression, asking what's wrong.''

''What do you do?''

Leviathans don't undergo a single moment of traumatic change – though many might wish that they'd been so lucky. The development into a fully-fledged member of the Tribe occurs over weeks or even months, as the body changes and the Wake is established. During this transitional period, the Leviathan has absolutely no control over his condition and Ichor, and his shape can change at random in mysterious and horrifying fashions. As such, instances such as the above should form the backbone of this section of the Prelude, points at which the character has to confront that things aren't right. Some Leviathans seek help during these changes, but modern medicine is of little comfort. Most characters will be in their late teens and early twenties during this stage, adding another aspect to scenes – they're under an amazing amount of stress during the formation of an adult identity, and have had even more trouble heaped upon them.

The use or abuse of the Wake is an important part of a Leviathan's social life, and it might be worth it to work in a scene in which the character is clearly benefiting from an unnatural presence and stands to have something they want because of it. This is particularly important for considering the character's eventual stance towards his Cult and normal mortals – it's all too easy for a Leviathan to just take what they desire.

At this point, a Leviathan might have access to one or two of their powers or the lesser Mutations available to Hybrids, as the Storyteller permits – but not their full suite, and generally not their full complement of Vestiges. Their ancestry is unreliable and can't be trusted to manifest itself in helpful ways.

=== My Life with Monster  - Moving Forward ===
''Well, you have it. Now it's just a matter of getting away with it. The bag's thrown in the back seat of your car as you try desperately to control your breathing, trying to remember what those meditation tapes instructed you to do – you can't remember if you lost them back when you ditched the other car, or if you left them deliberately. In any case, you think you can spare a second to center yourself before you cut town – things have been going pretty smoothly, and you know what stop's next. There'll be others there, and that sounds pretty noxious, but at least you'll start getting some answers.''

''The bag's in the back – you double-check just to be sure – and you're so thrilled about its contents that you're finding it hard to blame yourself for what you did to get it.''

''What'' did ''you do to get it?''

By the end of the previous section, you should have a grasp of the nature of your character's transformation and what he's decided to do about it. This section solidifies those decisions – it should be composed of a scene that emphasizes just what sort of person your Leviathan has decided to be, what School of thought he occupies and where he sets himself in relationship to others. A good finalizing scene gives a sense of the character as having a goal in sight – but also suggest the ways in which these decisions are made in isolation. There's no “right answer,” and many Leviathans are deluding themselves when they formulate a scheme of reality that suggests some endgame. It's good if tensions between what the Leviathan is and wants to be arise – that's the sort of problem they have during their self-definition. 

This point of the Prelude's also good to start establishing the character's Cohort, the other player characters, as well as any other Leviathans that share a Taxa with him. The difficulty that Leviathans have socializing can serve as a model for inter-party interaction in the future, and can also provide some context for decisions made later in the chronicle – who do you trust? Who do you resent? That sort of thing. 

=== A Few Questions ===

If a character's finished but you still want to flesh them out a bit farther, or are looking to consider them outside the bounds of the questions asked during character creation or which arose during your prelude, the following might be of use:


'''What do you look like?'''

Where are you from? Can people tell? What do the various stages of your transformation look like? What does the person you think of as “you” look like? Are they fully human? A hybrid shape? Do you try to blend in, or are their markers of your delving into the Tribe on your person? Strange markings? Ritual scars? Do you have any obvious Afflictions? What do people remember about you?

'''What were the worst parts of your transition?'''

Did you freak out, or keep to yourself? Did you look for help? From people? From books? Did those you reached out to help, or were they as scared as you were? Did you abuse your Wake? Did you want to? Did you lose parts of your life – friends, a job? Leave school? Run away? 

'''What's on the agenda?'''

What are your short-term plans? Your long-term? Do you have any goals? A rival you wish to conquer? A relic you just have to have? Would you do anything for that goal? Where do you draw the line? Do you try and maintain a normal life alongside your monstrous one? How's that going? Know an Atoll? How's that working out? Who do you want to impress? Who do you want to take down a peg?

'''How's the family?'''

How do you get along with the members of your Cohort? Your Cult? Do you even have a Cult? How do you treat them? Ever feel guilty about it? Ever feel like maybe you should? Do you keep in touch with your mortal family? Are they, you know, a mortal family? Are any of your relatives “in the know”? How's that feel? What do they expect of you? Are you willing to disappoint them?

'''Any bad news?'''

Is there any trouble on the horizon? Have you had run-ins with any of the Tribe's enemies? Do you go looking for 'em? Ever kill anyone? Ever make someone kill anyone? Ever think about it? 

=== Names, Aliases, and Honorifics ===

Leviathans aren't really human anymore, and some don't stick with their old name, assuming something that better fits what they see as their “true nature.” This practice is taken to with a varied degree of seriousness, just like most attempts at “re-branding” oneself. Some Leviathans aim for names that suggest their ancient lineage, something that sounds “Bronze Age.” Others stick with their given names, or with a series of aliases (especially if they're on the run from the police or worse.) Those that are surrounded by a Cult tend to end with grandiose titles, and some believe their own press. Inside a Cohort, however, names are usually kept brief – first names are usually sufficient, given the size of a Leviathan social unit – no one is going to mistake “Greg” for some other guy with that name. There's some understanding that expecting a Leviathan to refer to a peer by some overblown, florid “true name” is asking a lot of what is essentially a blood relative, so only the more self-obsessed members of the Tribe try to inflict their divine stature on the rest.