A game about playing lovecraftian Eldritch Abominations in the New World of Darkness? Of course there will be some nightmarish things involved:
- Much like Beasts, a Leviathan is as much of a nightmare for people around him as he is for himself:
- To regular mortals, they are people with insanely destructive abilities, who can cause cataclysms around them, spawn other monsters directly from their flesh, and turn into a gigantic monstrous form that look like a cross between a Kaiju, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and something out of Lovecraft. Worse, they can Mind Rape people into submission in an entire area around them, turning some of them into their personal Religion of Evil which they can then use as their personal minions, committing ritualistic sacrifices to reinforce them and accomplishing any task in their name.
- But for Leviathans themselves? The Mind Rape thing, called the Wake, isn't controlled. They basically inflict it on people around them whether they want it or not, meaning it's practically impossible for them to have a normal life. No matter what they do, people around them will instinctively fear them, and see their Integrity gradually decay; a Leviathan who sticks in a town for too long can cause the entire population to go insane or abandon their homes without doing anything. Some of them get so desperate they willingly isolate themselves in order to protect those they love, only to Go Mad from the Isolation.
- Oh, and here is another funny thing: all the other Supernatural creatures in the New World of Darkness? While they cannot be turned into cultists, the Wake still affects them if their supernatural trait is not high enough to protect them. Vampires unlucky enough to live in a town inhabited by a Leviathan with high Sheol will see their Humanity decay even faster than usual, Princesses will be even more likely to dethrone, Mages will tend to become power mad. A Leviathan can quickly cause things to go to hell if he sticks for too long in an area populated by a lot of Supernaturals.
- Then there are the aforementioned cultists, or Beloved as Leviathans call them: people who the Wake causes to become obsessed with the Leviathan, worshipping him, practicing occult rituals to summon him or stalking and kidnapping him. If left unchecked, they eventually destroy themselves through their obsession. The main reason Leviathans form cults with their Beloved is so they can keep some form of control over them and limit the damages they will cause (or the attention they will bring) as much as possible. Not that it prevents unscrupulous Leviathans from using them as an Ancient Conspiracy to manipulate society from behind and track its enemies down...
- And perhaps even more terrifying are the Atolls, otherwise ordinary humans with tremendous power over Leviathans. Atolls are completely immune to a Leviathan's Wake and any psychic abilities they may possess, and can safely touch a Leviathan regardless of the spines, stingers, and poisons it may possess. Their presence calms a Leviathan's divine and bestial natures, and the respite this brings is so relaxing that it's literally addictive. Beyond that, words of praise from an Atoll can permanently increase a Leviathan's Tranquility… and words of criticism can permanently decrease Tranquility. This isn't something an Atoll consciously triggers either, if an Atoll starts screaming about how the Leviathan kidnapped her and killed her family, then the Leviathan loses Tranquility. On top of that, if a Leviathan or its Beloved harms an Atoll, the Leviathan loses Tranquility... and if the Atoll is killed, the Leviathan could potentially lose multiple Tranquility boxes in one fell swoop.
- And on the flip side, being an Atoll isn't much better. At best, you're The Kid with the Leash to a horribly traumatized Eldritch Abomination, having to try and provide some measure of guidance to their charge while walking on eggshells lest you grow a shade too harsh in your criticism and tear your charge's mind to shreds. At worst, you've acquired an inhuman stalker who is literally addicted to you, will do anything to keep you near it, and whose resources to that end include an entire cult of devoted followers and all manner of horrifying supernatural powers.
- Then there are the Leviathans' hybrid children, who always end up either as human-looking creatures with a serious case of Body Horror or flat-out monsters. The "lucky" ones keep their sentience and sanity, and might become servants and allies to their parents, or just live their life. The other end up mindless monsters who run in the nature as dangerous predators. And sometimes, the Leviathans just eat them.
- The Marduk Society, while looking like the most idealistic, reasonable organization in the setting at first, have one hell of a Dark Secret. Despite their name, they weren't founded by Marduk: they were founded by his Disciples, the Sky Wizards, who murdered him because he wanted to act as a Hope Bringer, which, since their powers came from Humanity's despair, would have weakened them, and unlike him they weren't willing to give up their powers. Since then, they have been using the Society to spread despair around the world just so they could maintain their powers. Oh, and the reason they were still hunting Leviathans? Because they kept themselves immortal by feeding on their flesh. No wonder this led to a civil war when the idealistic members of the society found out about all of this.
- Let’s not forget about the Ahabs. These folks are people who could have easily become just another Beloved, but were twisted by their respective Leviathan’s self-hatred/loathing and guilt into obsessively ‘’hating’’ them instead. They’re absolutely bonkers, completely dedicated to killing the Leviathan who created them, able to subconsciously wield supernatural abilities drawn from said Leviathan, are able to unerringly track their target(s) down from across the globe, and are one of the only people capable of reliably inflicting damage to a Leviathan, outside of those wielding lightning.
