In-Depth Information;

Appearance Both types of leviathan are large, serpentine animals without limbs, usually sheathed in scales, plates, or hide. Their faces are generally decorated with a variety of horns or frills, and they are split into two distinct types: desert and oceanic. Both have eyes that change color with emotion, and a chart of these colors and their meanings may be found on the sidebar.

Desert: Desert leviathans are large, heavily plated snakelike beasts trending towards dull colors and jagged features. They often have a variety of large spikes, teeth, horns, and other features, and may be born with a variety of mutations. While they cannot have legs, any individual leviathan may be seen with extra tails, eyes, tendrils, spines, and many other things. Bold colors are rare but not impossible, and markings can be as minimalistic or extravagant as one might imagine. Leviathans are hatched around the size of a large python and never stop growing, and ancient ones may grow to be utterly gargantuan in size.

These creatures may also, very rarely, be found with smooth scales or scaleless hide. This is seen as an ill omen among desert leviathan, and such individuals may be found with scars and broken horns: the signs of being driven away by other, stronger leviathans lest they bring bad luck among those they pass.

Ocean: Leviathans that dwell in the ocean are larger than desert leviathans, with bright and bold colors, and can often be found with large fins and frills. Smooth scales and hide are most common, and may have a rubbery consistency - others may feel slimy or sticky to the touch. Oceanic leviathans always have gills, but also functional lungs; however, they cannot stay above the water for very long comfortably, as their bodies function far better beneath the waves. Possible mutations that have been noted are long winglike fins, tendrils, ribbons, extra tails, and similar features. Heavy plates and lots of spikes are rare, but possible, though they are looked at with some revulsion by older leviathans.

Culture Desert: Most live solitary unless mated; then the pair will live together anywhere from a few years to life, depending on how deep their bond is. Most leviathan pairs will care for any offspring until they are able to care for themselves, and are known to be highly protective parents. Rarely, desert leviathans may congregate into communities - often for protection in times of need, or for festivals honoring Zacyn - former god of sun and moon - and Lyfe, his replacement.

As a race, desert leviathans are very bound by honor; any given territory is ruled by a single, old leviathan and younger, smaller leviathans must answer to his or her law. Usually, these leviathans do not give their allegiance freely, though may bow under draconic rule or the rule of those that are stronger than they. The majority of sand-leviathans outright refuse to be ruled by humans or humanoids, and may hunt these down if they cross into their territories.

Most desert leviathans will often decorate their sand-den homes with bones of fallen prey and enemies, and the insides of these tunnels will be slick and hard as glass. These dens are very difficult to find for non-leviathan species, as the opening to one is generally hidden away deep within the sand.

Ocean: Seafaring leviathans are more numerous than their desert cousins; they are also bolder and more open to communication with other species. Young oceanic leviathans also may form pods to better protect themselves from the kraken, though older, larger ones will usually live solitary lives. They are proud, but will allow themselves to fall under the rule of oceanic kingdoms without much trouble, so long as they are not forced to do anything.

Most choose to craft homes out of coral reefs, ancient volcanic trenches, and vast underwater caves. Courtship involves decorating themselves and their homes with shells to impress a potential mate, and these bondings may last for several centuries but are not often lifelong. Pairs that do form life-bonded mates may wear a trinket that shows their dedication to one another, often in the form of a tail ring, fin ring, or horn ring that matches that which the other wears.

All oceanic leviathans worship Sago over all, even in Realms where there are other gods of the ocean. Other sea-gods are still respected, but will forever be considered lesser than the Lord of the Seas. As such, their religion is very simple: those that honor and worship Sago properly believe they will live full lives blessed with good fortune, while those that do not are seen to be doomed to the upper lands and beaten until death by the burning rays of the sun.

Abilities Desert: The vast majority of desert leviathans are born with an elemental affinity for earth. They are immensely strong physically, and have great endurance, though they're known to be slow-moving and cannot move quickly either above or below the sand. Moving rock with their earth magic and tunneling into the ground where there is no sand to slide through also slows them, although they are able to slither across the surface with relative ease. They cannot move easily through mountainous terrain (above or below) without great effort, and often leave swaths of destruction in their wake if they have to.

Desert leviathans have an uncanny ability to sense other species' emotions, and can taste fear on the air and follow it like a scent. They are more attuned to negative emotions, and are more apt to act upon them than sensing and learning positive ones.

Ocean: Most are born with an elemental affinity for water. They are very strong physically, though not as strong as their desert cousins; however, many have a much better grasp of magic, and may be found with an assortment of arcane abilities. All oceanic leviathans are incredible swimmers from hatching, and know how to swim from instinct.

Oceanic leviathans cannot be above the water for long periods of time; though they can breathe, the weight of their bodies is detrimental to them, and they may suffer painfully if their scales, hide, and fins dry out completely. Beached leviathans are often those that have become too exhausted to move above the water, and these unfortunate souls may die before they are able to return to the sea. This is a very rare occurrence, however - most often it results from a sea leviathan attempting to cross land that is too wide for them to safely move across, and for few other reasons.

They often have an uncanny ability to sense other species' emotions, and can taste joy on the air and follow it like a scent. Oceanic leviathans are empathic and may be compassionate towards the plight of those lost at sea, though others take sadistic pleasure in devouring those they come across. Most are able to sense positive emotions over negative ones, unlike their desert cousins.

Species Origin;

Creation Year: 360. Realm of Origin: Millirand.

In the early days of Millirand, Zacyn and Sago were idly talking, discussing the hardships their created peoples had faced during the struggle against Death and those creatures he had made to oppose the Ten and their own creations, lamenting how so many of their people had perished. After a time, Zacyn proposed they create a new race, one that would powerful enough that little would be able to threaten it.

Sago agreed, but warned against letting their new creations grow too numerous. Zacyn agreed, and the two gods set to work. From the sands of the desert and water from the sea they crafted an enormous, limbless body with massive, powerful jaws, and sturdy spines and horns upon its head and neck, far larger than anything they had ever created before. They covered its form in large, smooth scales, and gave it eyes that gleamed like jewels.

They then awakened its mind, but made it less cunning and intelligent, and less ambitious, leaving it largely content to travel the desert, eat, enjoy the occasional company of its own kind, and very rarely, that of other species that might catch its interest for a time. They also left it largely bereft of any magic. As their new creation disappeared into the desert, the two gods crafted several more over the next several hundred years, and spread them out across the desert sands.

All save for one. This one Sago adapted to life in the deep ocean after Felnova's creation, giving it fins in place of spines, and great gills so it could breathe in the depths of the sea. He changed its scales to match the colors of the waters, and released it into the depths. More would follow in the following days and weeks, but not so many that the seas would be overwhelmed by the great creatures.

Now, many of the ancient ones that still live have grown to enormous sizes, but few indeed have lived for long enough to reach those great sizes. Subsequent generations largely lacked the same great size, though it is unknown how large the younger generations might reach.

click for fullsize

Name: Znafuldin. Location: sleeps fathoms beneath the Rage Desert in Millirand. Status: Alive.

In ancient Millirand, dating back from the earliest years, there lay a leviathan rumored to be nearly as old as the gods themselves. He's the oldest, and therefore the largest, dwelling seven fathoms underneath the sand, where it begins to turn to mud. His size matches the circumference of the desert, and his name is the ancient name of the desert when it was still forming. It is the popular belief that the original sand were flakes from his egg.

Znafuldin, created from sand and sea as his land-born cousins were, has known only the sands for millenia. He is a gargantuan beast, larger than any leviathan ever recorded - though none know exactly his true size. His scales and plates are shades of browns, tans, and reds. His jagged teeth are set in a long, slender mouth, shaped for closing around much smaller prey. One of his horns has been broken many years in the past, its current whereabouts unknown, and his eyes are a deep orange-red.

Nothing is known of this particular Ancient First's abilities.

click for fullsize

Name: Styvralthis. Location: deep within the Driegard Crevasse in the country of Yorije, Felnova. Status: Alive.

Though not nearly as old as the First that dwells beneath the sand, there is a second Ancient First crafted by Sago alone to swim within the oceans. He is ancient and primordial, seen by the Yorijian Families as a force of nature, a source of deep wisdom, and nearly fathomless power. Though he spends the majority of his time asleep within the Driegard Crevasse, he awakens and rises every now and again to make his wishes known to the denizens of the deep. His advice is often cryptic, his moods sour, and should he awaken he leaves destruction of anything - above or below water - in his wake.

Though his true dimensions are unknown, he is believed to be miles long, having grown over the course of many thousands of years. He is colored in blues, silvers, and purples with thick plate armor and large, spiked frills. His eyes, gills, and the inside of his mouth glow violet, and this is often the only thing seen of him when asleep deep within the Crevasse. He has immense control over the element of water, and does not need to feed anymore on living flesh, having completely adapted to existing off of the energies of the ocean alone.

Unique to the leviathan race, Styvralthis is the only second Ancient First to exist within the same genus.