LeviathanTempest:AppendTwo

In a sense, it's an unnatural place. There's no reason that it should exist. It's only there because of an anomaly, a barrier imposed for whimsical reasons on the landscape. San Diego and Tijuana are very much like Leviathans themselves: grown anarchically out of a primordial separation, like a misshapen pearl around an irritating piece of grit.

It doesn't really make sense to talk of two separate cities. There are 300 000 crossings every day through the two checkpoints; although you can live your life within one city, even one neighborhood, the rest of the people out there aren't so limited. They will take advantage of everything life has to offer, on all sides. You'd better catch up.

Theme

The main themes of the Border Cities are separation and duality. The two cities, connected though they are, remain very different. There is resentment and envy, fascination and repulsion on each side of the border. But it is clear that neither city can exist without the other.

In a beachfront bar in Tijuana, a man keeps an eye on his gun as he counts blood money under the glare of a teenage gangbanger, who will then carry it across the border to the suburban home of an irreproachable charity organiser. A Mexican doctor travels three miles each day to golf among the exclusive crowd at a Californian resort, escorted by a caddy who can barely afford to return each month to see his wife and children down south. A band of teenage girls from UC San Diego meets up with the golden youth of Tijuana in a loud, trendy night club, some hours before a drunk driving accident kills two of them, one from each side of the border.

For Leviathans, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Separation fascinates people, and angers them. It touches deep into what Leviathans experience in their daily life. And in the meantime, the ocean knows no real borders, connects all people, and is the only place of true peace for miles around...

Mood

The basic mood of the San Diego-Tijuana chronicle is that of hidden treasure. What you need lies on the other side of the border, behind the closed doors at the back of the club, in the basement of the factory, inside the guarded walls of the military base.

For San Diego, Tijuana is a place of unfettered freedom, hedonism, crime and license. For Tijuana, San Diego is where the money is, where the rich houses and golf courses and boardrooms are situated. Each wants what the other has, and is persuaded that the best of it is hidden away and should really be taken by force.

The main thing is that nothing is free. Effort, willpower, even ruthlessness are all necessary to get what you want. It can be hidden or protected or just forgotten, but in any case, if you want it, you'll have to work for it.

History

Long before human history began, this place was known to Leviathans. Fragments of lore attest to it, calling the area "the Mouth of Gold". Artefacts are sometimes found by excavating archaeologists or construction workers, and if you know just where to dive, you can find a straight path of stone submerged under water just out of sight from the Mexican coast. In truth, the Mouth of Gold is a beacon to Leviathans, who are unconsciously attracted by some kind of gigantic (and therefore, practically unnoticeable) Wake in the area.

The Arcadio Legacy

Recent history of the area (read: since colonial times) has, for Leviathans, been dominated by the actions of Miguel Angel Arcadio. He was a Spanish nobleman in the late 18th century, and an exceptionally powerful Taninim. Having exhausted his options for power in the motherland, he arrived in 1750 in what was then New Spain. In Havana, he met and allied with Fray Agusto Buendias, a half-indian Jesuit scholar with a reputation for oratory skills, and an experienced Dagonite.

Together, they were part of the 1769 expedition that founded the Mission San Diego de Alcalà, the first European settlement in the region. At first, Arcadio and Buendias worked together to carve their little empire in the region. Then, suddenly, the friendship turned sour. Oral history has it that a local Kumeyaay woman came to see them one night, bringing with her "something from the mountains". After that night, Arcadio took to searching the area regularly, while Fray Buendias sent bands of indians he had subjugated to do similar work for him.

It was inevitable that they clashed, and after a while it became open war. Finally, one night, Fray Buendias was found decapitated. There was little justice in the land to be visited upon Arcadio, even though local history always held that he had done the deed himself. Arcadio became secluded in his ranch in the mountains, but soon he had a son, who took over the exploitation and the regular expeditions to search the mountains for something that we never quite explicited.

For centuries, the Arcadio family line dominated the region. Its influence was little to the mundane world, but they hed tight control over any occult manifestations. They did fairly well when Mexico became independent. "El Señor Arcadio", at the time José Maria Arcadio, was one of the innumerable warlords who ruled the little province with an iron fist during the revolution.

The Refuge Church

The mission at San Diego remained a centre of religious fervor and population growth throughout the Spanish and Mexican eras. It attracted many Leviathans, who thought they could carve themselves a niche in the relative isolation of the region, among people who had already been prepared for religious indoctrination.

They were soon enough brought to heel by the Señor Arcadio of the time. They nonetheless had an impact, as San Diego de Alcalà soon developed a reputation as the most fractious and heresy-prone mission in the region. Underground wars between factions sometimes broke out in outright violence, as the frenzy of rival Cults were brought to bear. Within Leviathan community, the region also developed a reputation as a center of learning and discussion for the School of the Sun, which long dominated the region.

Original Sin: the separation

The American conquest spelled the doom of the domination of the Arcadio family. Retreating more and more in the countryside, they were totally blindsided by the urban expansion of San Diego (later Tijuana), which made them and their exploited Indian workforce obsolete.

It was a time of freedom for leviathans, who flocked more than ever to the region, but it was also the beginning of dominance for the Marduk Society. Many say that the first sons of Marduk to arrive in the region came with the Mormon battalion, settling by force of arms the conflicts within the Wicked Tribe. For sure, for a couple of decades there are no records of any Leviathans in town, apart from the few descendents of Miguel Arcadio still roaming the hills from their estate. San Diego was deathly quiet on the Leviathan front.

This is simply because many of the Tribe had fled south, along with the Mexicans who refused American rule. They laid low, and mingled with the refugee population who would soon found Tijuana on the other side of the border. It was also the beginning of the end for the domination of the School of the Sun. For a while, it looked like those of the Clay would succeed the priests in their utter dominance. With the help of some Leviathans who wanted to break the Arcadio stranglehold, the system of ranches started to break down, soon replaced by farming and livestock grazing by small independent owners. An alliance of local pioneers and bourgeoisie, themselves suspiciously reminiscent of Arcadio and Fray Buendias, entered into a compact to formall found the town of Tijuana. The heart's blood of the region was now flowing in two separate streams.

Leviathans across the Border

Tia Ramona

Dagonite, School of the Sun Tia Ramona ("Aunt Ramona") is one of the strongest and most ruthless Leviathans south of the Border. In fact, she's served as Hetman for Tijuana for a long time, although she's been known to let younger members of the Tribe take the role for affairs she has no interest in. Her human appearance is that of an old woman of mixed Indian and White heritage, and she has a well-deserved reputation as a witch in the poor barrio she calls home. Tia Ramona claims to have been the inspiration for the main character in the 1884 book Ramona, which brought the first influx of tourists into Tijuana, but in reality she arrived in the 1960s in the city. Her cult is a fanatical splinter of gangbangers who pretty much run the area. She is known to have "pet projects", a number of women and their matrilineal families which are under her discreet protection, for rasons she won't divulge. Hurting them is a death sentence, especially if drugs are involved.

Alonso Lopez

Oceanite, School of Clay Alonso Lopez is a professional middleman. He crosses the border several times a day, carrying messages or offers from various negotiating parties in mostly legit cases. He doesn't run a dedicated Cult, but is very adept at using the Wake to ply people into entering agreements, and profiting from a cut in the deal. He is very careful never to get too greedy, but is nonetheless rapidly becoming a rising star in the border cities. He is always impeccably, though conservatively dressed, and has a friendly smile for everyone, especially other Leviathans. Alonso receives tutelage from his own grandfather, a recluse Leviathan by the name of Felipe Lopez. Felipe served essentially the same role as Alonso during the golden heights of Mafia involvement in Tijuana. Those Leviathans old enough to remember Felipe could notice that Alonso is increasingly displaying Felipe's mannerisms or even memories, to an almost eeerie point.

Maria Tarres Serrana

Taninim, no School Maria is a young Leviathan, freshly emerged from her first transformations. She hasn't had the time to join a School yet and is largely ignorant of Tribe culture or protocols. Maria was a party girl at University San Diego, and the revelation of her heritage has done two things for her: instantly cured her of her cocaine addiction, and induce terrible dreams. Maria suffers from prophetic dreams that foreshadow the destruction of the two cities by a dark, sentient tsunami wave, and she is terrified. She has started to gather a small Cult largely made up of ex-boyfriends, but they can't provide much comfort.

Maxwell Stirling

Nu, School of the Reef Maxwell is a US Navy Chief Petty Officer based in the offices of the Navy in downtown San Diego. He is quiet and responsive, and has always received positive evaluations, largely on his own merit rather than the effect of the Wake. He is enamored of the sea and would like an opportunity to sail again, but is starting to be bogged down in administrative duties. Since his childhood, Maxwell has followed a rigid moral code which served him well in service. Unassuming though he is, Maxwell is a formidable combatant and has taken leaves of absence in the past to go hunting for Typhoons. He is a compulsive follower of sightings forums and cryptozoology. He trains and drills his Cult of sailors and marines to change them into monster-hunters, and is slowly warming to the idea of using them against the criminal or dangerous Leviathans in the city.

Myriam Bales

Oceanite, School of Fog Myriam has decided to become the Hetman for San Diego and, if she can, Tijuana as well. Born in a wealthy family, she attended college just long enough to snag a rich husband and retire to suburbia. She has organised parties, supported charities, and raised three children. But that was always a front for her real objective: organising the Leviathans of the city into a unified force, to establish entire control over the human population. From a human point of view, Myriam is completely deranged. But she's not human, and she has shed most of her affiliation with humanity in exchange for the very real possibility of absolute power. She is unfailingly honest in her dealings with other Leviathans, however, and does her utmost to see that those who work with her (under her, most likely) are richly rewarded.

The Wave Gurus

Various Strains, School of the Abyss The so-called Wave Gurus are a Cohort of four Leviathans living on or around the beaches of San Diego. They are led by Old Man Trouble, a powerfully built old man who barely talks above a mumble, and sometimes stops moving entirely for days at a time. In truth, the Wave Gurus are bums. They have nothing but an old Volkswagen bus and their surfboards, and spend all day either on the waves or on the beach spouting wisdom to the small following of surfers and New Age aficionados they have attracted. The Wave Gurus never show up to Leviathan Taxon meetings, except when it relates to the ocean in some way. That said, they are remarkably open to discussion and partying when cousins show up on the beach.

Davvi Jones

Bahamutan, School of Clay Dafydd (or Davvi, as he's called most of the time) is a forty-something Welshman expatriated in Tijuana for the past twenty years. He runs a maritime supply shop, selling everything from canned food to fishing tackle to motor oil. He also runs the Border Cove - an informal port of harbor for Leviathan-crewed ships- pretty much single-handedly. The Leviathan ships coming in usually receive a visit from either Davvi or one of his sons as soon as they arrive, and can get assistance and guidance in exchange for some money and the latest rumours.

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