Editing LeviathanTempest:ChapterOne (section)

== ''Noach'' - The Fall ==
"''And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.''"
* Genesis 11:1-4.

With mankind dominant in the world, the Tribe fades out of the stage of history, but not entirely. The blood of the Progenitors is immeasurably strong - it can't be bred out or extinguished. The Tribe has, as far as they can tell, always existed somewhere - at some point at the fringes of society, where cousin meets cousin one too many times and the ratio of human to Other in their blood reaches a tipping point. Where the lines blur between man and beast. Where the world gets a little bit weirder. Here, there be dragons. The Tribe's got a place in humanity's past, but it's at the fringes. Reliable records are scarce. Part of the day-to-day life of modern members of the Tribe deals with this sort of cryptohistory: tracking down the footprints left by monsters in days past and unraveling references and images in religious texts and icons. 

What is known or suspected is that, during the period of mankind's expansion, as the earliest civilizations were taking root, the Tribe was present and the enmity between them and humanity enduring. The Tribe's mythologists record tale after tale of horrors - sea monsters and miscegenated freaks straddling the line between mankind and beast - and sees in them the deleted history of the Tribe. Leviathans became the Other to mankind's growing sovereignty over the world. In this period, the last vestiges of the Tribe's pure blood were wiped out, and they came to thrive only at the edges and with a much-lessened connection to the Progenitors and their divine nature. The Strains of the Tribe become stratified at this point, as only the strongest ties of blood, descent from the foremost of the Progenitors, could be expressed at such a far reach. Family lines began to solidify in isolated regions, either by accident or design, and the Tribe faded into a memory, recalled only through fragmented myths or through their Hybrid cousins. 

Severed from the Primordial Seas, the Tribe's control of itself and connection to its divine nature was greatly lessened. In place of Tiamat, the core of their world became what they call the Tempest - both a literal disruption at the core of the mystic waters that the Tribe has access to and a term for the emotional and social havoc that a Leviathan is subject to. The ascent of mankind has, in essence, robbed the Leviathans of their birthright and their self-control. In the "fallen" world, the Tribe has little control of the changes that take place in their bodies and even less control of the contents of their own mind. Little wonder, then, that mankind records them as horrors and predators.

=== Speciation ===
As the Tribe's "story" begins to overlap with the historical records of humanity, the various lineages and ancestries settle into a more distinct grouping. Those human bloodlines that were touched lightly, or host to the blood of lesser Progenitors, eventually began to produce fewer and fewer offspring who manifested that blood, until it was functionally absent. While the blood of the Tribe cannot ever be said to truly disappear, the vast majority of Leviathans born in the span of known history have descended from a handful of Progenitors. The greater part of these, in turn, can trace their ancestry to a group of seven Progenitors, with their bloodlines expressing themselves in distinct and identifiable patterns. Occasionally a freak birth occurs, a member of the Tribe that is not linked to a known Progenitor or from a line that was believed to no longer exist. Far more common are families of Hybrids that cannot be easily traced to a known Strain - the leftover fragments of a lost bloodline. On the other hand, the most commonly-seen Strains have collated information about their Progenitors and a mythology of the lost world has evolved over time. 

==== Primordial Icons ====
"''Mother Hubur, she who fashions all things,''

''Added matchless weapons, bore monster-serpents,''

''Sharp of tooth, unsparing of fang.''

''With venom for blood she has filled their bodies.''

''Roaring dragons she has clothed with terror,''

''Has crowned them with haloes, making them like gods,''

''Whoever beheld them, terror overcame him,''

''And that, with their bodies reared up, none might turn them back.''"
* The Enuma Elish


All told, there are seven Progenitors whose blood survives in the modern world in appreciable quantities. The seven Strains descended from them represent a little under nine-tenths of the Tribe's numbers and has done so for thousands of years - while one group might grow or shrink, the proportions remain roughly the same. These Progenitors have received the lion's share of the scrutiny directed by the inquisitive minds of the Tribe, and therefore more information about them has survived to the present. 

Bahamut is a being of immense size, called "Unchained." It was said to be tranquil at most times, with cities and temples erected across its broad back, but to rumble with rage when displeased, responding to rebellion or heresy with apocalyptic wrath. These rampages were said to rock the foundations of the world and shake the skies. Some Leviathan scholars - or "scholars" as the case may be - identify Bahamut's periodic purges with the shifting of ages in Mesoamerican myth, or the fabled Deluge of the cradle of civilization. From Bahamut descend the '''Bahamutans''', a Strain who have a talent for emulating both their Progenitor's nurturing fecundity and incredible power and size. 

Dagon, "the Hierarch" also called Dagon the "Arch-heretic," is a hotbed of life and sustenance - but not of ease or security. It is called "the Hierarch," and is said to give birth to countless creatures and serve as a source of "creation" in general. Religious edicts, practices, and rituals were its purview, and it rewarded compliance with full harvests and nourishment. It was the patron of faiths and fertility cults, and could call down rain when pleased or devastating storms when wrathful. It survives in the half-fish icons of Mesopotamia and in the cruel and bloody rites that mankind relied upon to call forth fertility or a healthy crop. From Dagon descend the '''Dagonites''', a Strain who maintains the deified stance of their Progenitor, creating life and directing mortal cults.

Lahamu, called "Watchful" or "The Celestial Eye," is the guide of the sun, described as one of its many ever-watchful eyes (along with the moon and the innumerable stars), yet itself never came to light. From reclusive secrecy it monitored all things and declared edicts and directed the Tribe and their mortal followers, gifted with prophecy and insight into the minds of others. Nothing escaped its gaze and those that attempted to deceive it would be dragged screaming towards its gaping maw. From Lahamu descend the '''  Lahamin''', a Strain gifted with their Progenitor's vision whose cults are ever monitored and whose eyes - and influence - can be found everywhere.

Nu, the "Elder," also called Naunet or Nun, is said to be the first of Tiamat's offspring, and to have the most profound connection to the Primordial Waters. It was the stirrer of the seas and the sky, having inherited their mastery from its creator, and its fluid form could go anywhere and take any shape. Nu was the most distant from humanity and yet was subject to great fear and reverence, for its control shaped the known world. Knowledge of Nu remains in fragmented tales of primordial ooze and original waters from which life emerges - as well as in the terror presented by storms and floods. '''Nu's''' descendants keep its name, and the Strain is known to retain the strong bloodline and elemental mastery of their Progenitor.

Oceanus, the "Father-of-Seas," is said to have been granted dominion over a greater portion of the human masses due to its incredible beauty and allure. As a deity of men, it was said to have created the rivers and lakes that sustained them, all in exchange for irrational fealty and servitude. If denied reverence, it would break the minds of the rebellious, or turn their families upon them in furious storms of zealous violence. Even among the Progenitors, it was a source of horror, for the wrath of Oceanus had faces and names; it would come as a loved one with a culling blade. From Oceanus descend the '''Oceanids''', a Strain that claims itself a noble linage, as displayed by that their unearthly beauty and might.

Tannin, called "the Unbending" and the "Sinner-Devouring," is hailed as the foremost predator. It was said to stalk the Primordial Waters, unseen but all-seeing, wreathed in gaping jaws and poisonous spines. Those that crossed its path, if found wanting, would be devoured without hesitation or remorse - Tannin's mouth was the gate of Hell. Whole nations of rebels were said to have disappeared between its razored teeth. It is immortalized in the stories of devouring beasts and the images of Hellmouths, as well as mankind's terror of the predators of the deep blue sea. From Tannin descend the '''Tanninim''', a Strain who continue the work of their Progenitor, wielding the natural weapons of the Tribe and passing judgment on the Tribe's enemies. 

"Island-Breaking" Thalassa or "Mighty-Armed" Thalassa, is a being of the deep, suited to the pressure of the seas. Its power and grace were legendary, both raising up landmasses with its strong arms and gracefully sculpting mountain ranges or delicate palaces and temples of coral - or destroying them with singular, devastating blows. It was a being of fluid form but impossible strength, as much appeased as revered. It survives as in legends of treasure guarded by mighty beasts and the mythology of crafted terrain - mountains said to be the bodies of immense beasts felled in bygone days, or collapsed piles marking a captured titan. From Thalassa descend the '''Thalassans''', a Strain who use their power and influence to dominate humans and thrive in centers of wealth and power.

But these are not all. The legends of the Tribe record the names of dozens more, and from time to time a descendant of one of these lesser-known Progenitors emerges - or is discovered. Among the dire names listed on the tablets of the Tribe are ''Sanna the Glacierhide'', ''Cipactli the First Diviner'', ''Nagaraja, king of snakes'', ''Tangaroa of the Burning Blood'', ''Isonade, Herald of Storms'' and ''World-Coiling Jormungandr.'' Some others exist, but it can never be certain if a name refers to an unknown Progenitor or merely indicates a familiar figure. Much of the history of the Progenitor's world has been subsumed into the myths and pantheons of mankind.

=== Legends of the Tribe === 
The Tribe has little in the way of formal history. In certain ways, the history of the human world is somewhat irrelevant. It is the world that the Leviathans inhabit, but it is not theirs. Still, the Tribe has existed for the whole of human history, and there are certain moments which are of some import to all Leviathans, if only for the lessons they contain. In the earliest recorded moments of human history, the Tribe operated more openly, attempting to reclaim some fragment of the dominance they once held. Legions carted off whole villages for sacrifice and cults grew to unprecedented size. It was these excesses that ensured them a lingering presence in the catalogue of mankind's fears, but the ascent to mythical status was accompanied with a bloody response. From temples in Kish and Uruk emerge the first records of what would be called the Marduk Society. The inheritors of the slayer of Tiamat, the Society were tireless enemies of the Tribe. They broke the backs of the Legions and put the cults of the Tribe to the sword. Yet whispers abound of bloody rites performed in secret temples, the flesh of Leviathans devoured to raise the mortal men of the Society to the height of the gods that they had cast down. Others speak of monstrous assistants and grim alliances, the Society rotten inside with the machinations of one or more of Tiamat's children. Whatever of these rumors were true, the Society exists in the modern day, harnessing the will and energy of man to cow and slaughter the Tribe. Some dispute their antique origin and claim that they have only usurped the legacy of a far purer and more upstanding organization, but few of the Tribe would argue the case of their ancient enemy. 

Yet the stinging defeat that was handed down was not enough to suppress the Tribe forever. On the Indian subcontinent, nearly two thousand years before the common era, the progeny of Nagaraja began to mass, with powerful leaders deliberately cultivating dozens of children, seeking to produce heirs and allies that were full members of the Tribe. A great and sprawling empire was built on the backs of the swarming Hybrids and maddened cultists that the Vasuki commanded, and the human civilizations quaked in the shadow of a kingdom of demigods. Yet it was not to be. Other members of the Tribe began to resent the excesses - and successes - of the united Strain. More insidiously, factions began to grow, as cohorts began to scheme against one another and Legions concocted religious justifications to topple their rivals. The hunger of the ancient Vasuki grew only greater, and eventually the Tribe came to police its own. Wondrous Bhogavati, the great and horrible capital of the empire, was swamped in ferocious storms. Warbands of Hybrids stalked the streets and devoured the inhabitants. The dynasty of Nagaraja ended in flames. Spite and outrage ensured that its citadels were torn asunder and its treasured scattered across the face of the globe. It was not alone. The scholars of the Tribe record several such civilizations, some pure speculation, all eventually scourged from outside or rotting from the inside out. Records exist of a lost island in the Mediterranean, and a great kingdom of Thule, and of Lemuria's crystalline spires. If all existed, or none, is irrelevant - what is important is that those cities and kingdoms forged by the Tribe seemed inevitably fated to end in horror and blood. It seemed that the world itself conspired to extinguish the legacy of the Progenitors, scrubbing its inheritors and their works from its surface.

Here the record breaks for centuries. While stories exist of the blood of the Tribe flowing in the veins of the heroes of ancient Greece, and bloody rituals for their benefit in the shadows of Rome, these are mere speculation. The same impulse that drives mankind to fear the Tribe seems equally driven to categorize the Leviathans with the other demons and bogeymen of their mythology. Modern Leviathans experience mankind's history like interpreters and cryptographers, divining from hints and suggestions those points at which the footprint of the Tribe left an impression on mankind. Such clues are scattered across the globe in countless sources, and at the very least a Leviathan can be sure that his ancestors were present across the face of the world. Writhing horrors lurked in the waters off of China and Japan. Cults worshipped serpentine abominations in the fragmented ruins of ancient Bhogavati. The Tribe persisted, even if it did not flourish. Humanity spread to every corner of the world and, with it, the blood of the Progenitors. New traditions arose, but the instinctual fear remained. As consciousness of the Tribe waned, the lives of Leviathans became simultaneously more easy and more difficult. Easier, for they were no longer so readily hunted. Harder, for a newly-Emerged Leviathan would be bereft of guidance and information. 

One last cautionary tale circulates among the Tribe. While little evidence exists that strictly supports it, it has gained some traction either due to some degree of veracity or due to the virtue of being an ancient and well-loved fabrication. The Tribe's historians claim that, during the early half of the previous millennium, reports of rampaging dragons and ship-devouring serpents can be traced to the action of an influential and well-manned Legion. Called the World-Coiling Legion, the group was purportedly motivated by a prophecy specific to the Strain descended from the Progenitor called Jormungandr. This Legion's destructive ritual beliefs, paired with the relatively limited ability of mankind to counter the depredations of the Tribe during this period, led to widespread destruction. It seemed as though man would again be subject to the dominion of the Progenitors, or annihilated in the flames of the World-Coiling Legion's grand prophecy. Emboldened by the Legion's success, other groups of Leviathans came forth, staking claims on territory and lashing out at humanity. And then the reversal came. This time, the judgment came not from the Tribe's internal strife, but from mankind itself. This time, however, it was not - or at least was apparently not - the Marduk Society, or any such group, that struck back. Merely the backlash of many individual men (and women) standing forth against their tormentors. This era of "dragon-slaying" saw the World-Coiling Legion devastated and its membership slaughtered almost entirely, while also proclaiming quite simply that resistance to the "demigodhood" of the Tribe was not solely the province of the Tribe's sworn enemies. 

Most modern Leviathans, as a result of these and other similar tales, keep themselves relatively well policed. Beyond the threat of the Tribe's most driven enemies, there is the simple fact that even the power of Progenitor blood has its limits, and the world of mankind is not as hospitable to the grand ambitions of would-be conquerors.

=== The Rift ===
In the absence of the Primordial Seas, the Rift is what remains. In place of permanently basking in the undiluted glory of Tiamat, the Tribe now wallows in a hollow echo, a stunted replica of what might once have been a very real physical entity which covered and contained the entirety of the world. The Rift is little comfort to the fevered mind of a Leviathan - it is dark and wracked with spasms, impossibly and terrifyingly vast while retaining an oppressive and claustrophobic atmosphere. Ultimately, the Rift represents the subconscious of the Tribe, the twisted minds of both Leviathans and their Lahmasu relatives, as well as scattered remnants of the Progenitors. In a sense, it is a museum - a place where neuroses, afflictions, and fears survive, long after their owners have died. The Rift teems with horrors both native and imported, and above all it resonates with a feeling of loss and impending violence - there is no comfort or security to be found in its depths. And yet it is the closest thing the Tribe has to an ancestral homeland. 

A Leviathan may enter the Rift through the medium of water, although alternate methods exist. The more the water resembles the sea, the better - and a sea that is wracked with the fury of a storm is better still. In any form, water is a powerful conduit for the blood of the Progenitors, and any body of water sufficient to cover most of a Leviathan's body - and that of any potential passengers - will serve as a gateway. The trip is often one-way, and the passage of the Leviathan opens the conduit to the unrelenting fury of the Tempest, tossing water into the sky or causing it to breathe forth great clouds of fog or mist. 

The Rift has layers, each one farther from the Shore (the physical world). Its increasingly inhospitable depths are host to numerous beasts both ancient and newly-forged, and in some dark corners lie lost structures, sunken in the parting of the waters, which a Leviathan might explore or take shelter in. Ultimately, though, a Leviathan reaches the core of the Rift - the gaping wound left in it by the death of Tiamat - and gazes upon the physical Tempest, a churning mass of such ferocity that no being has entered it and escaped. Rumors abound that the Tempest, should one pass through, might serve as a gateway to a deeper, purer reality - but none have returned and few would chance annihilation in that terrifying maw simply to test out a rumor. For the time being, the Tribe is cut off from the world that they lost, and might always be so.