Leviathan, Prince of Storms
The world is a storm of destruction and pain … despite the current wishful thinking by my enemies. Watch as I prove it.
Leviathan is a Calabim (and former Servitor of Belial) who has never seen Hell, and (hopefully) will never want to. Its celestial appearance doesn’t even make a concession towards humanoid form: however, it has spent most of his time since becoming a Prince on Earth trying to hold back the forces of Heaven (usually at the center of a swath of destruction). It has been assigned Sheol as a Principality, and has been remolding it to fit the new Word (a task delayed by current problems in the War). Leviathan was indifferent to gender in the past, but this seems to be changing: its earthly vessels are still just as likely to be male or female.
Normally, the Descending Hierarchy would make mincemeat out of a Prince who spends little time in Hell while neglecting to set up more than an elementary Infernal infrastructure. These are not normal times. Belial is dead. Kobal has been neutralized. Haagenti, Malphas and Saminga have joined the enemy. The ethereal gods have broken with Beleth and negotiated truces with Heaven. Grim Malakite and Ofanite raiders regularly venture into such formerly safe places such as Los Angeles and Milan. Baal and Asmodeus have made it clear that Leviathan is not to be touched until the situation stabilizes, and most of the other Princes respect that … as much as they can.
This is still Hell, after all.
Dissonance
Right now, Leviathan wants results, and it doesn’t care how it gets them. It has only one simple dissonance requirement: a Servitor of Storms must be constantly working to oppose the enemy (this translates as at least once per day). Anything that works is fine. However, demons that consistently pick small or non-dangerous oppositions, while not subject to dissonance, are subject to visits from agents of either the War or the Game. This usually ends up in a dead demon: slackers are not tolerated.
Organization
There are a lot of violent demons that are at loose ends, thanks to recent events, and Leviathan has effective first pick of them all. Most of his servants are refugees of one kind or another: Servitors who have lost their Prince, undead and Sorcerers desperate for protection from the forces of Fulfillment, and even Renegades from before the current Troubles. Leviathan isn’t choosy: it has a job for all of them. Admittedly, the job is often suicidal, but this is still a War. How this will change, if the situation ever resolves itself, is subject to much speculation.
One of the few perks about serving the Storm is that Leviathan never takes away old Attunements when you join up. Successful Servitors and servants can also expect generous rewards (generous for a Prince, at any rate). Unsuccessful Servitors are usually dead, anyway, so punishment is often moot. Leviathan’s forces are either cannon fodder or very dangerous opponents: the middle ground is painfully thin, and the learning curve is drenched in blood.
Leviathan is also, through judicious use of training and Force strip-mining, seriously depleting the amount of imps and gremlins available in its Principality to create a large number of shock troops. These demons, while technically full 7-Force Demons, are not given Word Attunements or Distinctions unless they show particular promise. The surrounding Princes are starting to wonder what exactly it plans to do with all this cannon fodder…
Balseraphs
These demons always know how what successful lie will cause maximum destruction and pain to a person (but not how likely it is that the person will believe it).
Djinn (Restricted)
Djinn get a +2 to all rolls to end an attunement.
Calabim
These demons may, with a Perception roll, determine the weakest spot in a physical defense. If they make their roll at -2, they may also determine how much damage would be necessary to breach that defense.
Habbalah (Restricted)
These demons, when they attempt to inflict Fury on a target, do not suffer from a negative backlash if the target resists. Instead, they may choose another target that is within line of sight to the demon. If that target resists, then the Habbalite must display those feelings or suffer dissonance.
Lilim (Restricted)
The Tempters may attempt to push up the level of Geas owed to them by two with a Will Roll, provided that the Geas is used in connection with an attack on the forces of Heaven.
Shedim (Restricted)
These demons may possess an existing storm system (for their Corporeal Forces in minutes), instead of a regular host. However, they are still required to corrupt it, in an odd way: the storm system must be used to cause floods, electrocute people, destroy trailer parks, etc. Simply using it to hide is subject to dissonance.
Impudites (Restricted)
Leviathan has no use for Takers who cannot ever safely kill humans. Those who do (mostly former Servitors of Death) have a +2 to Charm their victims, if the target is actively engaged in a dangerous activity.
Servitor Attunements
Thunder
These demons can access a tiny portion of Storm. They have access to the Song of Thunder (level equal to their highest Force type) at no Essence cost once per day, and may reduce the final Essence cost by 2 (minimum is still one) at any other time. They may still learn the Song of Thunder normally.
Lightning
Users of this attunement can draw upon an existing storm to call down lightning on their foes with a successful Precision Roll (damage equal to the check digit)! This Attunement works only 2d6-2 times (minimum 2) per individual storm. The target has normal defenses, but please note that metal armor is worse than useless against a lightning strike, and few electronic devices are shielded against power surges of that magnitude…
Distinctions
Knight of Gales
These demons will never take damage from a natural storm. This protection extends to anything that they can carry.
Captain of Tornadoes
Once per day, these demons may artificially boost (never suppress) the power of a storm system with a Will Roll. Check the table below for levels:
No Storm
Light Wind
Rain
Heavy Rain
Gale
Tornado
Hurricane
Each level of increase costs 4 Essence, which must be spent all at once. Only one demon may work on a given storm at a time. A storm increased in this manner will last for a number of hours equal to the Captain’s Celestial Forces. It is also very, very noisy: double the amount of Symphonic disturbance.
Baron of Hurricanes
Leviathan’s Barons may move from the center of any one storm on the corporeal plane to the center of any other, once per day.
Relations
Leviathan is not a player of Infernal politics. In many ways, it is a tool and nothing more. Baal and Asmodeus are using its followers as a stopgap measure while they attempt to get Hell under control, and there is precious little real respect by them or their respective organizations for the newest Prince. On the other hand, Leviathan is a starkly necessary tool, so they have made it clear that, for the moment, it is untouchable. The other Princes have been careful to not publicly defy this ban. Some of them (notably Beleth and Vapula) aren’t even plotting secretly against the new Prince…
Leviathan, of course, knows about this lack of regard, and is about as well disposed towards his new peers as they are to it: that is to say, not at all. The new Prince is, however, more interested in proving itself to the only judge that matters: Lucifer himself. If it can, single-handedly, retrieve the situation on Earth (or at least fight Heaven to a standstill), then Leviathan will be in an excellent position to become one of the great ones. It is thus uninterested in public controversy.
Thus, the situation is best summed up as a group of people, smiling at each other and united in fighting the bad fight. But the smiles never reach the eyes, and the knives being sharpened will eventually end up in each other’s backs.
Welcome to Hell.
Allied: No one
Associated: Asmodeus, Baal, Vapula, (These Princes are Associated with Leviathan)
Neutral: Beleth, Furfur, Kronos, Lilith (Beleth and Kronos are Neutral to Leviathan)
Hostile: Andreaphlus, Nybbas, Valefor (All Princes not listed above are Hostile to Leviathan)
Andreaphlus: ”Smash, break, destroy: yet Another Prince that thinks with its weapon. Ugly, too. If we didn’t need it right now…” ”Arrogant weakling. Some of his Servitors understand the Storm, but he just looks for an appropriate orifice. He had best keep out of the way, lest his pretty hair gets all mussed up…”
Asmodeus: ”A tool, but a useful one. Its lack of subtlety is even an asset for me, at times. There will be time later to properly assess Leviathan’s future place: if it continues to do well, it probably has nothing to worry about. Probably.” ”I feel his contempt, and I laugh at it as much as I laugh at his rules. He is not the one whose opinion matters.”
Baal: ”Personally, it’s distasteful to have to use such a indiscriminate Prince. But Leviathan’s organizational skills are good, and its gotten more use out of the odds and sods we’ve accumulated lately than I would have guessed. Good enough for now.” ”I care not for his opinion of me, either. Without my servants, this vaunted warrior would have been forced back all the way back to Hell. Lucifer sees what I do: oh, yes, he does.”
Beleth: ”Unlike my peers, I can tolerate it permanently. Someone has to fight on those fronts where I do not go, and it hates humanity almost as much as I do. And it stays out of my way, which is good for it. I know what it fears.” ”My work is in the waking world, not in some dreamscape. But she does know how to make the humans properly … appreciate my Word. I doubt that she’ll raise too much fuss about things later.”
Furfur: ”Kiss-ass. It’s got such a (censored) good Word, and it runs around slinging some truly fine, (censored) dangerous (censored), so you’d think that it and me would do well, right? Noooo, it’s too busy (censored) (censored) (censored) of Baal and Asmodeus to hang with the really bad boys. What a candy-ass (censored) (censored) (censored)-for-brains (censored) (censored) (censored)…” ”Foul-mouthed, crude and destructive: I respect that. He’s even effective at times. Best of all, he’s nowhere near as bad as he thinks he is. He’ll make a wonderful Servitor.”
Kronos: ”Useful … possibly useful enough to keep around, once we’ve stabilized things. We will see.” ”A bloated spider, spinning its web and ensnaring humanity. That is not an insult: I approve. It makes it easier for me to unleash the Storm on them.”
Lilith: ”Necessary, I suppose, and certainly the Word is no conflict. But it shows no respect, and Leviathan hasn’t quite gotten into its head yet that my Daughters are resources, not cannon fodder. It will learn that lesson very well and very soon, no matter what Asmodeus says.” ”I regret … slightly … annoying this one. Her Daughters can be so useful, and I dislike expending such works of art. But any weapon at hand when your back’s to the wall.”
Nybbas: ”Nice numbers on what this guy does, baby. Everyone loves seeing the old story of trailer park meets tornado and then gets carried away. But if it wants to be a player, it had better learn to show some proper respect to the big boys.” (Stops grinning.) ”Or it’ll never work in this town again.” ”I dislike having to save his precious ’people’ from extermination. Why bother entrancing them with pretty pictures, when fear and pain work just as well?”
Valefor: ”It’s better than his predecessor, and somewhat saner. Still, there must be something about Sheol that makes its possessor a lapdog for the established order. Amazing: there’s actually something that I don’t feel like stealing…” ”Another one who loses himself in his Word, at the expense of the War. I’m not surprised that Alaemon has him checkmated. And I’m supposed to care about his opinion?”
Vapula: ”Belial’s death was such a loss. So ready to Test the enemy and humanity with purifying fire. Oh, well, he obviously wasn’t worthy. This new one is an acceptable replacement: not as focused, but much more broadminded.” ”Mad, he is, but a fine madness. His little toys are very useful… and I have no problem with giving them a full trial.”
The Host has its own opinions, of course: mostly, they range from ”kill it” to ”kill it now”. Even Novalis isn’t very forgiving towards this Prince…
Role in the War
It Makes Things Go Boom. That’s about it.
At least, that’s the first impression that one gets. Leviathan is most visibly involved in the ”throw bodies onto the fire until it goes out” type of operations, so it’s easy to assume that that’s all that it cares about. The truth is a little bit more involved than that.
Leviathan has one advantage over every other Demon Prince: eclecticism. As was mentioned above, Storm’s Servitors are a varied lot: former Servitors of Fire, Gluttony, Factions, Death, and Dark Humor, Renegades of every Band and Word, and human Hellsworn, Sorcerers and Undead. They are, collectively, capable of doing just about any job that needs to be done. Leviathan can, in fact, mount espionage or subversion missions, and does so regularly: it’s just that most of its opponents haven’t quite realized that yet. This breadth of effectiveness is a subtle but powerful asset.
Still, Leviathan can’t count on its foes remaining clueless forever. Already, some of the Penitent Archangels have been noticing the increasing numbers of their former servants opposing them, and will realize fairly soon that Leviathan’s flashy attacks are partially cover for more subtle operations. When that happens, the Host will come down like a hammer on its forces.
Leviathan is strenuously preparing for that day by fortifying its Tethers, gathering intelligence, and creating a vast army of cannon fodder demons. It will expend it all to weather the Storm: after all, if its earthly organization can hold them off single-handedly (or nearly so), then it will have the approval of Lucifer (the only entity that matters, to its way of thinking). If it loses most of its Servitors in the process … so what? Plenty more where they came from, and Leviathan will be in a position to gut the others’ organizations for top-rate replacements, rather than the sorry trash it has to work with now.
The plan may not work, but it will definitely be something to see … from a very safe distance.
Basic Rites:
: Kill a Soldier, an ally of Heaven, or send an angel into Trauma.
: Spend an hour outside in a thunderstorm.
Chance of Invocation: 2
Modifiers:
(Special modifier: any demon may summon Leviathan without penalty, once. However, he/she/it had better be doing so to officially petition to join its service, or Leviathan will immediately turn the demon over to the appropriate Prince…)
+1 A thunderstorm
+2 The slain body of a Soldier of God
+3 The smoking wreckage of a building destroyed by the demon
+4 The eye of a hurricane
+5 The vessel of an angel sent into Trauma by the demon
+6 More than 50 people killed in a fire or explosion set by the demon
History
Leviathan was once merely Frixit, a powerful Baron of Belial and Demon of Forest Fires. Unfortunately, at about the time of the events narrated in ”Suffer the Children”, Frixit ran slightly afoul of his Superior in an incident involving the demon working to limit a forest fire early in the dry season. Frixit tried to explain to Belial that it needed those trees around to catch fire later in the season, when the local orphanages had their yearly picnics, but Belial was never one for subtlety…
At any rate, Frixit was semi-disgraced and sent off to serve Baal for a while. This undoubtedly saved its existence, because when Belial and his top Servitors were obliterated in the epic Ambush of Flame, Frixit was nowhere near the place. It probably would have gone to help, anyway (Belial was the standard by which any self-respecting Calabite measured itself), but Baal himself prevented it from going.
The Servitor of Belial had impressed the Prince of the War with its twin loves of destruction and planning. Baal had concluded, reluctantly, that new Princes would be needed, what with the sudden depletions in their ranks. It was also clear that allowing the situation to resolve itself had failed in every Principality affected by the loss of a Prince. Sheol could not suffer the same fate as Shal-Mari, Abaddon and Stygia. Simply taking Sheol for himself would be also a fool’s act. Frixit, probably the most powerful Servitor of Fire left in existence, would be the perfect candidate … and tool. Asmodeus, having his own problems, agreed. Frixit was sponsored for Prince.
Lucifer chose not to make it the new Prince of Fire, however. It was clear that Heaven was willing to vaporize anyone foolish enough to take the Word, and Gabriel was unlikely to Fall anytime soon, now. Lucifer thus determined to expand Frixit’s Word to encompass the ancient cause of forest fires. It was now the Prince of Storms. For reasons best known to only the new Prince and Lucifer, Frixit also at this time cast aside its old name. Now it would be known only as Leviathan.
Leviathan has spent most of its time since then on the corporeal plane. Sheol was left in a semi-anarchistic state, and the Principality’s fundamental nature has slowly started to change. As long as the supply of new demons remains constant, it doesn’t care. The Prince of Storms is too busy in its self-appointed job: the stopping of Heaven’s advance on Hell’s territories. It has had some success, but the future is uncertain.
Except for the blood. It is certain that there will be blood.
The Principality of Sheol
Leviathan has taken over Sheol … in a manner of speaking.
At first, the fires continued to burn unchecked. Soon, though, there came the clouds, and the rain. Not a gentle rain, mind: a rain of hail and salt water. The center of this was Belial’s old castle, which soon became rusty and shapeless under the torrential downpour. No longer the Citadel of Gold, it is now known as either the Castle of Rust or the Place of Blood. The winds howl constantly as they spread bitter water throughout the Principalities. And the fires still rage.
By any objective standpoint, Sheol is an ugly mess. The lake of fire has gone out, replaced with vast mires of oil and muck. In some places, the burning continues: in other, vast stinking fogs cover the landscape. Even for Hell, the place is unappealing.
What fully-fledged demons still remain are divided between Guards (those that seal the Principality’s borders against escapees), and the Hunt (those that retrieve and process demonlings for Leviathan’s future army). The damned souls that are left there are mostly left alone, as the Hunt (mostly Impudites) have standing orders to ship all demonlings drained of Essence … something that they’d do, anyway … and frankly, draining a bunch of 2 Force entities is easier than subduing one 5 Force creature. Leviathan’s demons in Sheol are, frankly, scrubs: if they had any real talents, they’d be on Earth attacking things. The captured demonlings are sent to Gehenna, where they seem to spend all their time in mass combat with each other and forced growth with strange, smoking machines. Baal firmly suppresses all inquiries.
The damned souls in the Principality are not idle, however. Currently, they have organized themselves into several thousand ”tribes” that are constantly at war with each other, apparently for no good reason. The tribes are each dominated by one or two individuals that brutally enforce their wills and monopolize what luxuries exist. Alliances are constantly shifting and changing, but the tribes themselves (which seem to have no scarcity of weapons) never seem to be completely destroyed or taken over. Most members seem to spend all of their time either fighting or training to fight: this situation would alarm the other denizens if any information about Sheol were commonly known.
What is actually happening, in both cases, is one of Leviathan’s longer-term projects. The demons are specially trained for the day when the Host decides to declare all-out war against the Prince of Storms’ organization: these demons lack any Servitor Attunements, Vessels, Hearts, non-combat skills or even the average demon’s understanding of the dangers of dissonance and Discord. What they will have are a large number of Celestial Forces, a certain affinity for brawling and a pain-induced compulsion to celestially attack the first angel they see (except for Shedim, who will instead possess human after human as they attack Soldiers of God). Thousands of them will be unceremoniously booted through Storm Tethers under attack and pointed in the general direction of the enemy.
The tribes of the damned are for a different scenario. Leviathan’s plans for the future will undoubtedly be opposed by other Princes, who might need to be … convinced … of the vision of the Prince of Storms. Leviathan has set these damned souls up as shock troops for assaults on other Principalities: with the promise of preferential treatment to the various tribal leaders in exchange for their service. It’s lying, of course, but the alternative is soul-death. In both cases, these ”armies” are going to get slaughtered en masse, of course. But the sheer numbers involved will bog down Leviathan’s enemies long enough for its real forces to get into a position to do some real damage. It could care less about revealing the War, about Symphonic disturbance, or about destroying all but the nucleus of its organization, anyway … as long as the Storm is allowed to rage unchecked.
Of course, it also wants to prove that Leviathan is more suitable than its ”allies” to lead the War against Heaven. The Prince has decided that a big win is the only way to do that, and it knows that you have to gamble big to win big.