Editing LeviathanTempest:ChapterTwo (section)

=== Step Eight: Footprints, Leaving the Sea ===
By now, much of the work of creating a character has been done – areas of competence highlighted and social contacts codified. This step is primarily for reflection and refining – what do these traits, taken together, suggest? What sort of person is the character, and how does he react to obstacles? Consider the Leviathan's physical appearance, especially as he transforms, and how he comports himself in public. What does the Wake do for the character? Is it a hindrance or a boon? 

On top of important thematic concerns, little elements of characterization can be a blessing, or an unexpected source of memorability for a character. Does the Leviathan have any unusual habits or tendencies? Quirks of character? Leviathans aren't particularly stable individuals – they tend to gravitate towards routines or nervous responses to the world around them, which may be codified into an unconscious routine. These small elements can serve as low-key suggestions of the anxieties that a character is subject to, or as ways of making a character more “alive” in the shared narrative. Above all, think about how you're going to have fun “being” the character during play – it's all well and good to make a character that's interesting, but if that interest is purely academic then at least some of the fun of getting together at a table with friends to pretend to be the Gill-Man is lost.

==== Sidebar: Looks can Kill====

So what exactly do Leviathans look like? Do they have facial tentacles like Cthulhu or are they more of a classic sea serpent? Every leviathan is unique, but they build their apperance from the same four blocks: Strain, School, Tranquillity and Channels. 

For a freshly spawned Leviathan the Strain defines the appearance. Each Strain possesses an infinite verity in it's appearances but broad themes are present. A Bahamutan will have an appearance of size and durability while an Oceanid is defined by grace and beauty. A Leviathan's Strain is in part genetic and it's contribution to his appearance can be inherited though the usual ways. It must be said that in a species where giant turtles can interbreed with jellyfish swarm-bodies the rules of inheritance are unpredictable. 

As a Leviathan age's her self image, shaped by her School, comes to dominate her appearance. In some sense this is reassuring, a Leviathan can visibly see her transition from the monster fate made her into the monster she hopes to be. From another point of view, this is a horrific curse. Not because a Leviathan can visibly see her flaws, no it's far worse than that. The Tribe has no "true" or "correct" form. The tribe have so little to guide them, to say what a Leviathan should be. They can't even know if their own bodies are a hint at their true nature, or if they've taken themselves down some wrong path. Should a Leviathan acquire an Evolution it replaces the School's effects on the Leviathan's appearance, and it is even stronger. 

Tranquillity does not promote a single appearance. Tranquil Leviathans don't have one head, and unTranquil have three that keep fighting each other. Rather a Tranquil leviathan looks like something, anything really. A Leviathan who's falling into the Tempest looks more like a Frankenstein of different parts. 

Finally Channels are quite simply visible. It's not universal, plenty are internal changes, but on the whole you can get some idea of a Leviathan's capabilities by looking at it. A Channel like Mortal-Devouring Armory is not a mystical effect that makes the Leviathan's punches more dangerous. Those claws are physical and quite distinctive. Other Leviathans may manifest the Channel as spines or teeth, they may secrete venom or grow jellyfish like stingers but there will be something. The same is true for Adaptations. If it seems like it would change a Leviathan's physical body then it probably will.