Editing LeviathanTempest:ChapterFive (section)

=== Aboleths ===

In their Apotheosis a Leviathan can travel to the deepest parts of Earth. Sometimes one takes it upon herself to explore the great ocean trenches. There in the deepest waters untouched by the light of the sun they meet the Aboleths.

Aboleths resemble a cross between an eel and a trilobite with a set of four tentacles that emerge from just behind the head. They're a quiet, almost sessile species who spend their adult lives feeding on black smokers only moving to challenge another over a more favourable resting spots. Aboleths are powerful psychics and even have their own Wake with which they lure sea-life to supplement their diet. Essentially immortal Aboleths never stop growing until they exceed their ability to feed themselves and finally starve.

The reproductive cycle of an Aboleth is an unusual one. Their eggs released in great clouds, fertilised outside the body and rise to hatch far above the sea floor. A young Aboleth is a parasite that attaches to larger lifeforms and connects their circulatory system to it's own while forcibly suppressing then duplicating the work of vital organs to force dependency. Eventually the Aboleth moves on leaving its host to a quick death. As the young Aboleth matures it becomes increasingly vulnerable to the psychic calls of its kin. It's survival depends on it's ability to resist until it is strong enough to fight and claim its own black smoker. Only afterwords will it begin to grow its characteristic exoskeleton.

Aboleths are known to the scientific community from fossils but are wrongly considered to be extinct. Naturally the fossil record didn't mention their more supernatural traits but in turn the Tribe, at least those who don't read palaeontology journals, would be surprised to learn what humanity knows about the Aboleths: As recently as around four to five thousand years ago Aboleths were much more active and their habitat stretched across the oceans.