The Leviathan in Eberron

Most scholars consider the Leviathan to be little more than an entertaining myth.

Timeline

Unfortunately for your characters and for the world, enemies of civilization are conspiring to use the Leviathan for their own fell purposes. Following is a suggested outline of a campaign involving the Leviathan and those who seek to awaken it. EL 5: A coastal region that includes a major port city is experiencing earth tremors and wild weather conditions. Movement into and out of the city is seriously impeded, and many believe the freak weather conditions to be the work of evil magic or angry deities. A few madmen or old sailors insist that “the Leviathan is stirring,” but they are ignored. The characters distinguish themselves by helping the city survive a great tsunami or similar extreme weather event. They attract the notice of the city’s leaders, who ask them for help in seeking the source of the strange weather conditions. EL 10 (Faint Sign): As tales of natural disasters in other parts of the world begin to spread, rumors abound that a “Cult of the Leviathan” is behind the disruptions. The PCs are asked to investigate. The characters follow a suspected cult member to a ritual that is taking place on a windswept rocky isle a mile or so off the coast, where they see High Priest Enshaddon (actually Axihuatl the ixitxachitl priest in human guise) leading the worship of the Leviathan by summoning aberrations and sea monsters to ravage the city. The party must stop the cultists and any creatures they have summoned, but Enshaddon escapes in the confusion, diving back into the sea to keep his real identity secret. Knowing that the PCs now represent a threat to his plans, Axihuatl directs Marcus Hape to stop them. Hape and his thugs harry the party for the next several adventures. EL 15 (Moderate Sign): The sage Mytus contacts the PCs with alarming news. Although most scholars believe the Leviathan to be nothing more than a myth, Mytus tells the PCs that he has translated ancient documents and tablets that prove that the Leviathan is a real creature, and that the cultists seek to awaken it. He appeals to the characters to help prove his theories. Mytus has access to water-breathing spells and an amazing dwarf-crafted diving machine that allows him to plumb the sea chasm nearby, where he will try to view at least a portion of the Leviathan. The PCs accompany Mytus on his expedition and encounter various undersea perils, including aspects of the great beast that now glide through the depths of the ocean. Eventually, the party encounters a massive underwater mountain and discovers that it is a portion of the head of the sleeping Leviathan. When the beast stirs, the adventurers’ ship is destroyed. The sage’s magic allows Mytus and the PCs to escape and make for the surface, pursued by Axihuatl’s minions and by aspects of the Leviathan. EL 17 (Strong Sign): Captured cultists tell of a fi nal ritual in which High Priest Enshaddon intends to awaken the Leviathan. The ritual is to take place in a temple located inside one of the great hollow spines that rise from the Leviathan’s back. The adventurers must make their way into the sea once more and confront the cultists. Once at the place of the ritual, the characters attempt to stop Enshaddon, but their intervention causes the ritual to go terribly wrong—the Leviathan stirs, and the temple begins to fl ood. As the cultists drown, the party sees Enshaddon change to his true form, an enormous ixitxachitl. The PCs are swept away from the raging Axihuatl when a wall of the temple collapses and a massive tidal wave created by the Leviathan’s awakening separates them (encounter 5–1, page 74). EL 20 (Overwhelming Sign): The climax of the campaign begins with the PCs back on land, washed up amid the ruin of civilization. Entire cities have been sunk, islands destroyed, mountains collapsed—and the Leviathan is only now stirring to full wakefulness. As the PCs debate what to do, Axihuatl appears in human form. The Leviathan now threatens to destroy the entire world, and even the evil ixitxachitl doesn’t wish to see that happen. He offers to teach the PCs how to put the Leviathan back to sleep. Since he is the one who awakened the Leviathan, he says, another must put it back to sleep, and the party is the only group that can be trusted. Axihuatl says that once it is returned to slumber, the Leviathan cannot be awakened again for a thousand years. Axihuatl might even be willing to accompany the party, though given his nature this might not be the best alternative. The PCs must find the Leviathan, enter the temple, and make their way to the lowest level, where they can dispose of the Abyssal Shard (encounters 5–2 and 5–3, pages 76 and 78). If the party succeeds, the Leviathan goes back to sleep. Though seriously damaged by the Leviathan’s movement, the world survives. Your can end the campaign here, restart in a new, remade world as civilization struggles to rebuild, or move time forward a century or two and set a new campaign in the rebuilt world.

The Leviathan has exerted its infl uence on the world of Eberron since the Age of Dragons. Some very old draconic legends suggest that the progenitor wyrms used the power of the Leviathan against each other and in so doing shattered the world, leaving the broken remains to the hags and rakshasas of the Age of Demons. Dragon lore further implies that other disasters might be attributed to Leviathan’s restless slumber. Myths about the Leviathan are told throughout the Lhazaar Provinces, but no one truly believes that it exists. The Shadow Network has begun to hear rumors about a cult that worships the “true” Leviathan and is eager to learn more about this potential foe. The Spine Temple rises from the sea after a ferocious storm, about 20 miles northeast of Regalport. Mariners report the strange object, but most are reluctant to sail close to it. The Lhazaarite authorities would like to investigate, but they have their hands full with the severe weather conditions.