LeviathanTempest:ArchivedAntagonists - Revision history

FiveEyes at 06:34, 8 May 2009

2009-05-08T06:34:55Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:34, 8 May 2009
Line 81:		Line 81:


	=== Other Tribes ===		=== Other Tribes and Distat Relatives ===
			"To go into the mythology metaphor (which is useful in design even if we don't point it out in the final product), I see the Scorpion Armigers and Sisters of Many and Worm Gods and so on as the various breeds of monsters Tiamat created in the primordial war. That doesn't mean you can't keep the bit about the one Leviathan that became a Sister and so on; after all the great and horrible thing about LEVIATHAN is that pretty much all the good, bad, and mind-blasting guys are all at least distant family in a, as far as the supernatural geneline goes, literal sense."

			"Chthonians (Typhonians, the Echidna, and the Hekati): Three diverse groups of cousins to the Leviathan, the spawn of Behemoth the only Progenitor who went onto the land (and was slain outright by Marduk in the war). They have fallen into barbarism, these descendants of the creatures who fled Marduk and his followers by taking to the caves and mountaintops. They have no human form and cannot increase in primordial power like the Leviathan can. They have been cut off from the Primeval Ocean so completely that they cannot progress or degenerate. They live and die as beasts, some more clever or strong than others, but beasts all the same."

	~~=== Distant Relatives - the Cryptids ===~~		[[LeviathanTempest:OmegaScorpArm\| The Scorpion Armigers]]

			=== The Cryptids ===
			"Naturally of course, every WoD game has other stuff in it that is theme associated. And in the case of Leviathan it is the other cryptid people. They are explained away as the children of Echidna, the mother of monsters (of the land). She betrayed Tiamat because she loved Marduk and there is a big thing about that because eventually the Marduk Society turned on her and her children as well and the Leviathan all resent the land cryptids because of their ancient betrayal.

			So they have Mothman, Big Foot, Bat Boy, Chupacabra, Satyr, and Goblins. Those are humans who are descendants of Echidna, and they are rarer because they can't hide under water when the Marduk Society comes with their Tesla Guns."

			"Tribe of Echidna, the Kimerans: The land cryptids, much thinner blood so they don't really transform all big huge and powerful like Leviathans."

			"The cryptids: Tiamat begat one primordial that liked the land, Behemoth. However Marduk slew Behemoth outright when he Tempestified the Deeps and trapped the other progenitor primordials out there on the deep end of the pool (the primeval sea). Behemoth had in turn begat Typhon, Echidna, and Hekate who flew and crawled away to the caves and cliffsides and other hidden places. Their various lacking-in-flexibility-and-growth-potential offspring are collectively known as the Chthonians. Even though they are weak second-gen sub-progenitors, there's still something important in the fact that Typhon, Echidna, and Hekate were the only oldblood primordials left on Earth. They've ostensibly died, but seeking their bones in the hidden places of the world could offer a Leviathan keen insight into the past."

	== Oddities and Abominations ==		== Oddities and Abominations ==
			"The Riptide and Deepthings: Inhabitants of the Deep. The Riptide are a multistaged lifeform that will crawl out of the Shallows and onto the Shore, while the Deepthings wait in the waters for you to find them. "

	=== Denizens of the Deep ===		=== Denizens of the Deep ===
			[[LeviathanTempest:OmegaMagGods\| The Maggot Gods]]
			[[LeviathanTempest:OmegaSistMany\| The Sisters of Many]]


	Back to the [[LeviathanTempest:Main_Page\| Main Page]]		Back to the [[LeviathanTempest:Main_Page\| Main Page]]

FiveEyes at 06:26, 8 May 2009

2009-05-08T06:26:37Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:26, 8 May 2009
Line 79:		Line 79:
	Typhons see other Leviathans as challengers to their territory, and assault them ruthlessly. The Tribe itself considers it a sacred duty to purge the insane Typhons, both for the sake of security and as an act of mercy. This is not an easy task - most Typhons, unfettered by the worries of the world, have grown huge and powerful in their madness.		Typhons see other Leviathans as challengers to their territory, and assault them ruthlessly. The Tribe itself considers it a sacred duty to purge the insane Typhons, both for the sake of security and as an act of mercy. This is not an easy task - most Typhons, unfettered by the worries of the world, have grown huge and powerful in their madness.


	~~=== Lahmasu and Hybrids ===~~

	~~==== Ideas from the Thread ====~~
	~~"Lahmasu: kinfolk template, descendants of human worshippers, carry on heirlooms from ancient sea-cities such as weird relics and strange cult rituals, not very well-adjusted, in fact pretty crazy"~~

	"Hybrids: The nasty reminders of what happens when the Leviathan mate in their True Form. These are a shame and a responsibility, misguided creatures that will often seek to create more hybrids like themselves and otherwise take out their frustration on humankind. "

	~~"the successfully assimilated semi-Hybrid lines known as the Lahmasu, who seek out the Wicked Tribe with great fervor. "~~

	~~==== Reconciliation and Summary (With some added ideas) ====~~
	When the blood of the Tribe, or of its cousins, interacts with mortal blood, there are a couple possible outcomes. The most likely is a mere mortal - one who carries the blood but who does not express any of the Primordial bloodline. The other is the rarest, a full-fledged Leviathan, manifesting the full range of the progenitor's traits. Yet there are those that are neither human nor Leviathan; their blood marks and twists their bodies but does little to change their basic nature. These hybrids are defined by mutation, expressing some of the traits of the Leviathan form but having no ability to change shape. For most hybrids, the trauma of this half-life severs them from a normal human life and drives them mad. Experiencing many of the ancient instincts and simmering discomforts of the Tribe, hybrids seek to find fulfillment in their monstrous roles. Some hunt and devour humans, others seek to propagate their twisted species, raising vast broods of hybrids and leading them in isolated cults, attempting to replicate half-instinctual shapes of the Tribe's ancient roles.

	Hybrids with limited or concealable deformities might participate in human society. Their children, however, will continue to manifest greater and greater mutations, eventually becoming incapable of passing for human. Some remain close to the families that produce them, sheltered but also secluded, as dark "family secrets" or isolated "strange cousins." Unsurprisingly, a line that produces Hybrids is very likely to also produce a member of the Tribe, and occasionally a Leviathan comes to discover that her seemingly-normal family is host to a number of hybrids, a long-concealed secret, already prepared to venerate their new "messiah" - or to devour her, seeking to claim from her flesh the secret of physical normalcy.

	A Leviathan with the time and the right knowledge can deliberately ensure the birth of a hybrid. The child does not have to be the Leviathan's own, but the process is much easier if it is. These "planned hybrids" are called Lahmasu. Each Strain of the Tribe produces a distinct sub-line of Lahmasu, and these cultivated bloodlines of Hybrids are naturally inclined to serve Leviathans, and will, if abandoned (Lahmasu breed true with one another and might outlive their Leviathan progenitor) often eagerly seek out a member of the Tribe to venerate.

FiveEyes at 22:43, 6 May 2009

2009-05-06T22:43:31Z

Show changes

FiveEyes at 21:24, 6 May 2009

2009-05-06T21:24:16Z

New page

== Mortal Adversaries ==

=== Marduk Society - "They know." ===
The Marduk Society is a conspiracy of (mostly) humans who have, either through independent research or through initiation by other members of the Society, come to know about the Tribe. The Society presents the outward front of a concerned body of researchers, philanthropists, and archaeologists - they fund expeditions to dig sites in the Middle East, donate finds to museums, and otherwise maintain their appearance as a body of individuals deeply invested in history. However, their origins lie in fragmented histories that claim that Marduk, the same Marduk that slew Tiamat and formed the world from her dismembered body, was in fact a mortal man, a sorcerer, who cast down the empires of the progenitors and sundered this world from the Deep. Enthroned as a glorious god-king in the wake of these feats, he trained disciplines, taught them the nature of the fractured Tribe, and died. Among the things his disciples knew, however, was that the consumption of Leviathan flesh could slow the aging process to a standstill, and they had little intention of dying like their mentor had.

Now legends say that the mystic rites that Marduk had practiced drew their strength from the distress and outrage of those persecuted by the more egregious horrors of Primordial birth. His followers, feeling their power waning as they solidified the victory of mankind over the Tribe, came to realize that, even if they were to create a utopia, they would not rule it. The Society therefore stepped back, secure in positions of power, and let themselves fade into the background. When necessary to preserve their stores of mystic power, they would covertly intervene, attempting to ensure that man's inhumanity to man persisted.

Nowadays, the Society seeks out and hires promising minds and, after a period of grooming them in the front operations of the group, brings them on board with their stated project - the protection of humanity from the Tribe and its ilk. Combining a legacy of sky-splitting sorcery with a deep interest in the progress of human technology, their tools are baroque but functional, trappings of a 19th century science-fantasy novel - lightning guns and weather manipulators. To achieve its ends, the Society maintains both its archaeological arm, attempting to discern the nature of their enemy and recall facts from the lost era of its founders, while also keeping on-staff teams of hunters and investigators to root out members of the Tribe. The upper echelons of thse two groups, and the inner circle of the Society, are in on the secret - they do not seek merely to kill members of the Tribe but also to devour them.

Those "in the know" in the group, then, have achieved functional immortality - the flesh of Leviathans keeping time's press at bay - while also absorbing increasing levels of the power of the Tribe. Giddy with newfound power, they now desire flesh well in excess of what is necessary to live. All the while, they keep the extent of their magic - and their scientific progress, uplifted by exposure to lost relics of fallen and wondrous civilizations - secret, witholding miracles from the world in order to ensure that despair remains prevalent and they remain strong.

The Tribe is aware of the Society, but only inasmuch as they know about the hunting and archaeological branches - they have no idea about the concealed and ancient inner circle. Marduk agents seek out stories of sightings and events that might suggest the presnce of Leviathans, and then hunt them relentlessly, using all of the tools at their disposal. And these tools are many - both sorcerous trinkets and "super-science." Members at the top of these branches might also have partaken of Leviathan flesh, rendering them immune to the Wake, and could manifest some of the Tribe's abilities, usurping their birthrights. The Society has yet to master how to project the Wake or enter the Deep, however - but many Leviathans fear what will occur when they do.

=== Hunters - "Ahabs" ===
On occasion, when a mortal that is likely to become a Beloved is exposed to a Leviathan's true nature, some cord in them snaps. Perhaps instinctual terror and revulsion overcomes their awe, or perhaps madness turns love into hate, but regardless of the reason, the destruction of the Leviathan - and the whole Tribe - becomes the only thing that matters to them. Monomaniacs in their focus, these hunters - called "Ahabs" by the new generation of the Tribe - first seek to destroy the Leviathan whose Wake first called to them, and then scour the earth, looking for sigs of others.

The singular drive that guides an Ahab resembles nothing so much as the religious fanaticism of the Beloved - they are two sides of the same coin. Their minds already warped by the Wake, the Ahabs are not easily cowed by other members of the Tribe, and instead latch onto the sensation, tracking it back to its source. While the average Ahab is an unwashed and obsessed psychopath, others pose an even greater threat - they retain their ingenuity and patience, and come at the Tribe from unexpected angles or with overwhelming force. Ahabs are defined by their drive and willpower, however - an Ahab abandons his old life when he takes up the cause. They'll never stop hunting until the Tribe is dead or they are.

=== Narcissists - "The Ridden" ===

== Our Cousins ==

=== Typhons ===

=== Lahmasu and Hybrids ===

=== Other Tribes ===

=== Distant Relatives - the Cryptids ===

== Oddities and Abominations ==

=== Denizens of the Deep ===