History TabletopGame / LeviathanTheTempest

* AsTheGoodBookSays: Each Strain opens with a quote from the old testament showing the ancient Israelites acting like that Strain's cultists. These quotes are neutral at best and at worst they show some outright evil behaviour. Empyrean Theurgists also get a biblical quote, where {{God}} himself is at his very best.

** Leviathans vs. Marduk or Empyreal Theurgists can easily shift into GrayAndWhiteMorality or even BlackAndWhiteMorality, if you're not careful. The former is closer to the official intent than the latter, though.

* DuelingGames: With ''TabletopGame/SirenTheDrowning''.

* EldritchAbomination: You ''are'' one.

* TheHunter: Ahabs and the Marduk Society. Ahabs are much more obsessed than the Society.
** There are two smaller hunter groups as well. The Irrational Economic Actors Task Force, focused on the economic damage that monsters in the dark do to Europe's economy, and the Season Letters, who are motivated by a curiosity born of academia.

** This remains true even true even when a Leviathan reaches Godzilla sizes. While a Vampire or Mage with the right spells is exceptionally tough for something human sized and made of flesh, a Godzilla like Leviathan has about the expected toughness of a skyscraper sized aquatic lizard. This means that while they can do more damage than a vampire could dream of just by stepping on someone and are immune to small arms gunfire, they still go down to an entirely mundane airstrike.

* MindRape: Spending enough time near a Leviathan can cause MindRape, even if the Leviatahn genuinely doesn't want to. When they are actually trying a Leviathan can inflict sever derangements in seconds. Just looking at a Leviathan in Apotheosis will exasperate existing derangements. Leviathans are not good for sanity.

They are primarily opposed by the '''Marduk Society''', an organization of [[TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil hunters]] formed by the {{Immortal}} Sky Wizards, the disciples of Tiamat's slayer.

* HeroAntagonist: Most of the Marduk Society, who run the gambit from {{Wide Eyed Idealist}}s to [[KnightInSourArmor Knights In Sour Armor]] to HeWhoFightsMonsters. Empyrean Adepts can be this, or can subvert this by being psychotic fundamentalist monsters little different to the Leviathans' own cultists.

* BreakTheCutie: ''Existing'' is a long exercise in a Leviathan's mental fortitude, seeing if he dies before he [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds snaps]].

* BodyHorror: There's a lot of this. Mostly in when you first gain your powers and if your [[KarmaMeter Tranquillity]] drops your human form might not be quite so human again.

* BizarreAlienReproduction: Leviathans can reproduce by parthenogenesis and implant the egg in just about anything alive if it's large enough.
* BreedingCult: It's Lovecraft

* {{Cult}}: You can have your own, there's rules for it.
** PathOfInspiration: Most Leviathan Cults end up somewhat like this.
** ReligionOfEvil: Most of the other Cults end up like this.
** CorruptChurch: Most of the ''other'' other Cults end up like this.

* HalfHumanHybrid: Leviathans. There is a related group actually called Hybrids but they're mostly human. Even when they look mostly alligator, Hybrids are more human than any Leviathan.
* HeroAntagonist: Most of the Marduk Society. Who run from [[WideEyedIdealist Wide Eyed Idealists]] to [[KnightInSourArmor Knights In Sour Armor]] to HeWhoFightsMonsters.

* KryptoniteFactor: Leviathans have two: Electricity does Aggravated Damage to Leviathans and wards can be created out of Virtue (because they both symbolize how humanity has grown since the era of Tiamat-electricity symbolizes the fact that we've harnessed the most [[ShockAndAwe awesome]] of primal forces for our technology, and Virtue wards symbolize dominion over the id and our bestial ancestors).

* PersonOfMassDestruction: A starting character can create a short lived hurricane or earthquake. You'd need some pretty good rolls or an existing natural disaster to work with, though.
** And that's just if you want to be flashy. [[MindRape Call of the Depths]] alone offers the possibility to cause massive orgies of death and destruction, as it can drive entire ''cities'' into mindless obedience to the Leviathan.

* PowerAtAPrice: Leviathans have great power but must contend with a tempestuous mind, wicked drives, and an aura that causes madness in all around them. Hybrids have less power, but the genetics that might give them strength and gills might also give them Down's Syndrome. Primordial Theurgists need to intentionally expose themselves to a Leviathan's maddening aura to gain power and risk the hostile attention of the Leviathan they are trying to steal power from. Ahabs have PowerBornOfMadness. All power from the Tribe comes at a price.

* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: [[TabletopGame/MummyTheCurse The Arisen]] rarely encounter the Marduk Society, fortunately for both sides, but express a weary contempt for the Society's idealism, evidencing the opinion that humanity at its core hasn't changed significantly since the day they were living beings. This attitude [[SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers utterly infuriates]] the Society.

* TheOldGods: Tiamat and the Progenitors, if they ever actually existed they've been gone for a long time. [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing Smote by Marduk]].

* TragicMonster: The first edition frequently mentioned Leviathans' inability to live a moral life and their quest to find self-acceptance and some way of minimising the harm they cause. The second edition places more emphasis on this aspect: The game's theme was changed from "monstrous puberty" to "biblical tragedy", the Strains were rewritten to put more focus on their dysfunctional relationships with mankind.

* VillainsActHeroesReact: Invoked with the Marduk Society in 2e; standard operating procedure s to patiently watch and wait, studying for the social waves caused by a Leviathan's presence before going in to try and take it down.

* WhenThePlanetsAlign: Leviathan rituals work best during certain confluxes of tidal and astrological events. You benefit from the stars being right.

* MisterSeahorse: Leviathans of either gender are capable of asexual reproduction, and likewise capable of impregnating people of either gender.

* AdaptationalHeroism: The Marduk Society got this in between 1st and 2nd edition, going from a bunch of optimistic, idealistic {{Science Hero}}es being secretly manipulated by {{Evil Sorcerer}}s who were eating Leviathan flesh for immortality and possibly feeding on the misery of humanity for power to having gotten rid of those self-same sorcerers and now being a pure and unambiguous force for good.

* ArcNumber: seven.

* BadPowersGoodPeople / BadPowersBadPeople: In legend Marduk's magic used despair as a power source. This was supposed to let him [[CombinedEnergyAttack draw on humanity's strength when he was needed most]]. Unfortunately his [[ShroudedInMyth Disciples]] are rumoured to making perfectly sure there's plenty of despair going around.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: On the one hand, you have Leviathans who fully embrace their evil nature, becoming foul aquatic demon-gods of the worst sort. On the other hand you have Leviathans who try not to be too evil, but who're hindered by their very nature, such as the fact that their very presence ''{{Mind Rape}}s'' people into drooling near-mindless cultists. And on the third hand you have ALighterShadeOfGrey in the Marduk Society of 1e, hunters who genuinely believe in and champion Progress and Reason... and who're being run behind the scenes by sorcerers who harvest Leviathan flesh for immortality and who may actively be conspiring to keep the world awful to keep their own magic & superscience potent.
** GreyAndWhiteMorality: In the second edition the ConspiracyRedemption heavily implied to be the Marduk Society's future is now in their recent past. Meanwhile, a new antagonist class called Primordial Theurgists were introduced to take over the concept of sorcerers trying to steal Leviathans' power now that Marduk cannot carry the concept -- of course, these Theurgists aren't necessarily evil in and of themselves, they may be {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s or trying to invoke BadPowersGoodPeople. And whilst the Society vs. Leviathan is easy to write off as purely BlackAndWhiteMorality (something that the fans have complained about extensively), it still manages to fall under this, as Leviathans are a Gray faction by nature.

* ConspiracyRedemption: The Marduk Society is in the late stages of one.
** In the second edition they've recently finished their redemption and are busy rebuilding from the civil war.

* GodzillaThreshold: Marduk's "[[KillSat Plan B]]."

* PowerAtAPrice: Leviathans have great power but must contend with a tempestuous mind, wicked drives, and an aura that causes madness in all around them. Hybrids have less power, but the genetics that might give them strength and gills might also give them Down syndrome. Primordial Thurgists need to intentionally expose themselves to a Leviathan's maddening aura to gain power. Ahabs have PowerBornOfMadness. All power from the Tribe comes at a price.
* PowerBornOfMadness: Ahabs, and the madness was [[MindRape caused by]] Leviathans.

* TheOldGods: Tiamat and the Progenitors, if they ever actually existed they've been gone for a long time. [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing Smited by Marduk]].

* MythologyUpgrade: The Progenitors have been upgraded from a rather diverse bunch[[note]]To give a '''very''' rough summery: None have strong associations with evolution. Nu personified primordial chaos and water, Oceanus and Thalassa personified water, Lahamu was primordial and personified the sea bed. Tannan, Bahamut and Dagon are not primordial, personified water or chaos being a Demon, mythological beast and fertility god but all three were associated with water.[[/note]] into personifications of primordial chaos, water and evolution. Averted with Tiamat who was always like that.

* Myth/NorseMythology – Jormungandr is mentioned as a lesser known Progenitor. Its descendant’s led an ill fated movement against humanity. One sample character may be from Jormungandr's Strain but he could be lying (Storytellers are given two sets of stats).

* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: [[TabletopGame/MummyTheCurse The Arisen]] rarely encounter the Marduk Society, fortunately for both sides, but express a weary contempt for the Society's idealism, evidencing the opinion that humanity at its core hasn't changed significantly since the day they were living beings. This attitude [[SillyRabbitCynicismIsForKids utterly infuriates]] the Society.

* TragicVillains: The first edition frequently mentioned Leviathans' inability to live a moral life and their quest to find self-acceptance and some way of minimising the harm they cause. The second edition places more emphasis on this aspect: The game's theme was changed from "monstrous puberty" to "biblical tragedy", the Strains were rewritten to put more focus on their dysfunctional relationships with mankind.

* The '''Thalassans,''' Spawn of Thalassa: Stereotyped to be well adapted for both the land and the sea and more metaphorically; life with normal humans, which puts a lot of pressure on them. They master the Vestige of Might and represent the vice of Greed.

* '''The School of the Abyss''' seeks to retreat from the world and find a place they can truely be at peace, even if that place is only a state of mind. They are the foremost experts on the Rift.

* The '''Bahamutans,''' Spawn of Bahamut: Stereotypically [[GentleGiant mellow]] but this is [[UnstoppableRAGE unreliable]]. Noted for having the most healthy offspring and cooperative culture. They master the Vestige of Vitality and represent the vice of Sloth.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: On the one hand, you have Leviathans who fully embrace their evil nature, becoming foul aquatic demon-gods of the worst sort. On the other hand you have Leviathans who try not to be too evil, but who're hindered by their very nature, such as the fact that their very presence ''{{Mind Rape}}s'' people into drooling near-mindless cultists. And on the third hand you have ALighterShadeOfGrey in the Marduk Society, hunters who genuinely believe in and champion Progress and Reason... and who're being run behind the scenes by sorcerers who harvest Leviathan flesh for immortality and who may actively be conspiring to keep the world awful to keep their own magic & superscience potent.
** GreyAndWhiteMorality: In the second edition the ConspiracyRedemption heavily implied to be the Marduk Soceity's future is now in their recent past. Meanwhile, a new antagonists called Primordial Thurgists were introduced to take over the concept of evil sorcerers trying to steal Leviathans' power now that Marduk cannot carry the concept.

* HalfHumanHybrid: Leviathans. There is a related group actually called Hybrids but they're mostly human. Even when they look mostly alligator Hybrids are more human than any Leviathan.

* MisterSeahorse: Leviathans of either gender are capable of asexual reproduction and impregnating people of either gender.
* MoreDakka: It was the development of guns that really cemented humanity's superiority to Leviathans. Up until guns came along, the best hope humans had were either champions with powerful magical blessings out the wazoo, or to try and ZergRush the Leviathan and pray that they had enough people to inflict the DeathOfAThousandCuts before they all wound up squashed, eaten or {{Mind Rape}}d. Nowadays, a National Guard battalion has enough firepower to level the equivalent of Innsmouth without risking their sanity and drive off or kill the Leviathan in charge.

* PsychicPowers: Leviathans are perhaps the most powerful psychics in the World of Darkness, up to summoning hurricanes or casually inflicting sever Derangements in the blink of an eye. It helps that the other Splats who can do those things aren’t using psychic powers to do it.

* TheHunter: Ahabs and the Marduk Society. Ahabs are much more obsessed than the Society.
** There are two smaller hunter groups as well. The Irrational Economic Actors Task Force, focused on the economic damage that monsters in the dark do to Europe's economy, and the Season Letters, who are motivated by a curiosity born of academia.

* TimeTravel: In the second edition, with the right power Leviathans exist at all points on their personal timeline and can simply change their mind about what they did in the past. Being creatures of primordial chaos they are naturally [[ParadoxPeople ParadoxPerson]] and have to cause enormous damage to the timestream before a TemporalParadox becomes dangerous to them.
* TwoFistedTales: Marduk is based on this style.

** BlackAndWhiteMorality: What the game may be moving towards in 2nd edition. Fans are... contesting this idea.