Theme:FFAC-1 Leviathan

LEVIATHAN, THE TENEBRROUS DEEP

OVERVIEW

Levitani culture revolves, obviously, around the vast and seemingly endless ocean upon which they make their home. While most think of them first and foremost as sailors, the truth is that they are equally skilled merchants, if not more so. No one island or atoll on Leviathan is large enough to produce all of the goods or services it's population requires (or in more recent times, desires), meaning that small Levitani settlements spring up on small islands where some form of raw good can be obtained, be it a silver mine, wide fields for flax, or caves for growing mushrooms in order to harvest this resource and add it to an ever-growing trade network of ships and docks. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the largest population centers are on the largest islands, where in more primitive times there was space for more farming and grazing land for cattle. In modern times, most agriculture is done on small farms on small islands, with merchants plying the waves in pre-established routes established by the Levitani Chamber of Commerce in order to prevent over-saturation of the limited routes. The LCC is in theory a fair and unbiased government office, but the unfortunate truth of the matter is that the contracts for such trade routes are awarded via bid... and no one can afford to bid higher than Ramuha's giant corporations. Many local Levitani companies are harder pressed each year to maintain the increasingly unprofitable business models in the face of increasing Ramuha efficacy and globalization. The people of Leviathan have had a long working relationship with the people of Ramuh, given to the twin Levitani traditions of trade and exploration. When the plates were first connected, the Levitani were more trusting and accepting of their fellow humes than most of the other cultures. The Levitani are often more tolerant of different ways of life and as a result the capital city of Crystal Mirror has become a major center of commerce, culture, and learning among not just Leviathan, but all the worlds. Levitani cities are modern, by Ramuha standards, though are much smaller, but generally safer and a whole lot cleaner, though not without their own unique problems.

APPEARANCE AND DRESS

Levitani skin tones vary from fair to olive brown, though they very rarely are as pale as Ramuha are and seldom as dark as the Ifreeti. To use an Earth comparison, think southern Italy, Tunisia, or Greece. Whatever their base skin tone, many Levitani sport tans, either from working on ships or lounging on beaches. The lower classes consider a tan to be the mark of a 'true' Levitani, while the rich, whom tend to emulate Ramuha styles, consider a tan to be a mark of low culture. Levitani builds trend towards tall, with lean musculature. Fat Levitani are rare (but increasingly common in modern times due to fast food and other unhealthy overall dietary trends) due to ages old social stigma, the traditional Levitani diet of fish and fruit, and the fact that no one wants to see a three hundred pound person in a bathing suit which is an issue because the nearest beach is never far away on Leviathan. Levitani eye colors are frequently shades of blue, green, and purple. Common hair colors are typically the lighter, sun-bleached shades of blonde, though it is common for Levitani to have grey or white hair from birth. The Levitani, it should be noted, have been fond of hair dyes since they first figured out how to make them from berry paste, and can thus be found with almost any shade (or combination thereof!) under the sun. Braiding is an extremely common hairstyling for males and females alike, and those that do not typically tie their hair back or get it close-cropped rather than dangle freely, dating back to naval traditions and the dangers of loose hair in a ship’s rigging. Hair adornments are popular, hats are seen as utilitarian items rather than fashion statements. Folk in cities and larger settlements wear fashions imported from the other realms, though will often put a Levitani spin upon them because of the local climate being considerably warmer than most other regions, save Ifreet. Loose fitting garments are favorable because of the climate, often made of lighter materials that can ‘breathe’ better. While the heat is not oppressive the way it is upon Ifreet, Leviathan is close to tropical most of the year and can get quite hot in it’s own right during the summer seasons. It is traditional for men to go completely without shirts, and even Levitani women often wear what would be ‘scandalously’ short clothes on the other plates. Bathing suits are socially acceptable in a much wider range of situations than on other plates, with the Levitani even producing ‘semi-formal’ fashions that have never really caught on in other plates. Sandals can be considered either casual or formal depending on make and style. Until fairly recently it was considered socially acceptable to walk with bare feet in the major cities; this practice is on the decline because of off-platers thinking it to be ‘backwards’. On ships and in the west, however, barefoot is still the general rule, as shoes do not offer the same traction that bare feet do on a rocking, wooden deck, or on slippery rocks, or in the water, or upon the sand. Boots, additionally, are always considered formal wear or combat gear and will typically only be seen on a vessel by officers or persons of distinguishment. Levitani styles are more ‘laid back’ compared to the other cultures, partly owing to their warm tropical climate and partly due to a stubborn desire to maintain something of their own culture in an increasingly integrated multi-ethnic society. At the highest levels of Levitani society, however, Ramuha fashions are all the rage and are emulated frequently. Levitani sailors traditionally wear bells in their hair; a copper bell represents a full season, a silver bell is a full year spent upon the water. Captains and officers typically wear a number of gold bells commensurate with their station and / or social standing. There is no hard and set codified rules for the wearing of bells, save that it is generally considered a faux-paus for non-sailors to wear any at all. Sailors on well off ships will wear bells of actual silver or gold, whereas poorer sailors will wear bells made of cheaper white or yellow metals, or else make do with appropriately lacquered copper. Parents typically present children with a set of four copper bells when they turn ten as a coming of age ceremony, though it isn't uncommon for children younger than ten to already wear several... and it isn't unknown (especially in poor or outlying areas) for some children already have their first silver bell by the age of five!

LOCATIONS, GEOGRAPHY, AND CLIMATE

Crystal Mirror is Leviathan's capital, in addition to being it's largest and oldest city. Originally named for a large lake in the middle of the island it was founded upon, Crystal Mirror has come to occupy all six islands of the 'Serpent's Spine' chain and is known to be a particularly beautiful city by outsiders as it is a city of commerce rather than one of industry. This economic focus has preserved much of the chain's natural beauty. The island chain was originally believed to be scales from Leviathan himself, ripped from his serpentine body in battle with the Lord of the Cold and the Dark. Modern scholars consider this 'theory' to be untrue, citing the believed size of Leviathan and the size of the islands themselves as evidence, though the Church calls this line of thinking 'blasphemous' and thus the origin of the Serpent's Spine island chain is the largest theological debate on the whole of Leviathan. Crystal Mirror is a modernized city, with towers of metal and glass shining in the sun, foot bridges connecting the various islands, a public park and transit system, and all of the luxuries that modern Galendian cities possess. The most well charted islands, chains, and atolls of Leviathan form an elongated, rough horseshoe shape on the world's surface when viewed from a map; the Serpent's Spine chain is on the far eastern end and is the 'apogee' of the curve. The chain is so named because playing connect the dots and a little imagination makes the bulk of the cluster look like the fallen Leviathan itself in much the same way that constellations are made. Theologians and cartographers have been in hot debate over whether or not the islands are made up of parts of Leviathan himself. The church's position is a 'guarded yes' because that has always been the church's position forever and it is loathe to change it's mind; cartographers occasionally point out that Leviathan has a very oddly shaped body if this is the case. There is also the contradiction of Leviathan being the entire plate if his body is an island chain upon it. Leviathan's major cities are found in the 'eastern' half of the world (a totally arbitrary distinction set by the Levitani themselves for the purposes of navigation), with Hume expansion spreading westward over time from there. The further west one goes, the less well charted that Leviathan becomes... and the more dangerous. The weather is no worse, but the power of hume civilization doesn't keep the monsters at bay, and islands upon which to land become increasingly infrequent. Additionally, the bridge that connects Leviathan to the rest of Galianda is in the extreme east, with the artificial floating city of Bridgeport springing up around the enterence, constructed upon massive rafts constructed via a combination of Levitani civic engineering and Ramuha magitechnology. The Levitani have formally adopted the Ramuha calendar (as has the rest of Galendia), but still figures local time in five seasons in accordance with local weather trends instead of climate shifts, which causes no end of confusion with outsiders whom expect the plate to have spring, summer, fall, and winter, only to find that it instead has zephyr, forecalm, hurricane, aftcalm, and gale. Spring is from zephyr into forecalm, summer from forcalm into hurricane, fall from hurricane into aftcalm, and winter from aftcalm into gale. It is worth noting that despite the name, ‘hurricane’ is not one continuous such, merely the most likely time that one can form. Similarly, fierce storms can and do happen in both forecalm and aftcalm. Temperature wise, Leviathan is pleasant most of the year, with winters being short and bringing only mild snows to most islands, if any. Blizzards are exceptionally rare. Lately, significant numbers of immigrants have been coming into Leviathan, not to settle en masse as in Shiva, but to get away from large settlements. Leviathan’s surface is dotted with hundreds if not thousands of islands too small for a settlement of any appreciable size and with no resources of any particular value. Wealthy individuals have begun buying many of these islands within sight of the Dragon’s Spine in order to retire upon. This practice confuses the social and community minded Levitani, whom are none-the-less happy to accept the exorbitant amount of money that off-worlders are willing to pay for these worthless little piles of sand in the middle of nowhere.

CULTURE AND TRADITIONS

Bells have long held a special place in Levitani culture due to their utility and importance on ships. Levitani don't refer to time in 'hours', but rather in 'bells', using a 24 hour system as opposed to the Ramuha 12 hour clock. The ringing of bells is featured in Levitani religious ceremonies and the Levitani believe that a pure chime is capable of warding off evil. Many superstitious Levitani carry a small hand-held chime expressly for this purpose, ringing it if they feel they have committed some sin unintentionally, or thought an impure or unholy thought, accompanying the motion with a small prayer. Before the Ramuha brought the practice of signing documents to Leviathan, Levitani agreements were made binding by both parties gently striking a pair of chimes against each other together, which is still widely practiced in addition to signing. The Levitani are not without their own scientific pursuits and it is believed that had the Ramuha not had access to the raw power of electricity and magicite of their homeworld, the Levitani would have been the first to unify the broken worlds. The sciences that the Levitani hold in particular regard are mathematics, engineering, astronomy, economics, and meteorology... conveniently all things that go hand in hand with nautical endeavours. While other cultures will joke that a Levitani was 'born on a boat' as a way of calling him a backwards rube, a Levitani, though, will generally take this as a compliment as of one's sailing skill... and quite a few Levitani that don't live in the cities actually are born onboard ships! Many Levitani possess some degree of nautical knowledge, even if they themselves rarely (or never have been) on board a ship, and a Levitani that doesn't know how to swim is considered downright strange and is the target of ridicule. One of the worst slurs that a Levitani can offer another is to call them a Titanic (or for the more racially sensitive, a 'rock', but the context is the same). This is because of all the peoples of Galianda, it is the Titans that are the most bizarre to the Levitani. The Levitani even feel a strange kinship with the Ifreeti because of their ‘great ocean of sand’, but there is nothing remotely like Leviathan’s ocean upon Titan’s almost sheer face and the Titanic are simply alien to the wave riders.

DIET

The typical Levitani diet tends to consist of a lot of fish and shellfish, supplemented by grains and various fruits. Fish are cheap and plentiful and are thus considered to be poor people food unless skillfully prepared. Few Levitani eat much red meat, with what little cattle that is ranched is usually reserved for the production of milk and cheese. Poultry is more common as the Levitani have little need for chocobos as labor animals or beasts of war. Of course, eating red meat is far, far more common in the cities, where imported beef keeps local fast food chains well stocked to keep up with demands. Eating red meat regularly is regarded as a sign of wealth, most outside the cities only consume it on holidays. Levitani dishes are often prepared with generous helpings of spices... not hot or spicy ones as often as the Ifreeti do, but more mellow or sweeter things, such as cinnamon, cumin, or jasmine. The spice trade is a big business on Leviathan... but even bigger is sugar. The conditions on Leviathan are optimal for the growing of sugar cane and thus Levithan is the largest producer of the crop, making it one of their largest exports. While Levitani diets are often low in fat, they're often high in sugar, added directly or via fruit. Levitani confectioners specialize in hard candy, caramels, and molasses, but rarely make chocolate due to a lack of cocoa beans. The Levitani idea of 'coffee' is often considered to be a syrupy, unpalatable goo by other cultures. Grain is another staple in Levitani pantries, either in the form of breads or as pasta. Space on the islands is limited and grain produces more product per square inch than vegetables. Breads are typically compliments to meals, served with butter, spreads (typically fruit), or oil. Pasta, on the other hand, is used as a delivery vehicle for seafoods, or for sauces. Stuffed pasta is uncommon, with Levitani opinion being that pasta should be a way to get sauce to one’s taste buds.

JOBS, CLASSES, AND HOW THEY KILL THINGS

Levitani naval traditions very strongly affect their class dispositions. The Levitani favor classes that use lighter armor (as swimming in plate mail is... problematic) and more traditional arcane magic. Leviathan has one of the strongest magical traditions of any of the worlds, with several established colleges and academies. Leviathan produces a large number of Black Mages, Red Mages, Time Mages, Summoners, Rangers, and Fencers, as well as significant numbers of agility based Fighters, Thieves, Gamblers, Oracles, White Mages, and such as that. Because of Whyt's whimsical patronage of the plate, Dancers and Bards are more common than normal among the Levitani, while the people of the First Flood do not have any particular disposition for or against the more technologically minded classes, such as Gunner or Gadgeteer. Few Levitani are Knights, Paladins, Samurai, Blue Mages, or any other class with a defensive focus. While it isn't unknown for Levitani to become Monks, there are few Monastic Orders operating in Leviathan itself, and ninjas are similarly rare. Overall, the Levitani trend towards offensive and team buffing classes, while trending away from defensive and debuffing classes.

THREATS

While stories of Levitani pirates are famous throughout the worlds, the reality of the matter is that their viciousness and numbers are often greatly exaggerated in spheredramas. They pose no threat to major cities and the Levitani navy is active enough that all but the westernmost settlements are generally safe. The days of coastal raids are a thing of the past. These days, a pirate raid on a vessel is almost a business transaction, with the pirates assaulting a ship and ransoming it (and it's living crew) back to the owning company. The ransom proceedings are typically handled by the company's insurance brokers (whom are generally Ramuha). Insurance companies have been complaining to Leviathan's government to crack down on piracy due to the losses it brings them, though the government has been slow to act because, despite the rise in the number of pirates operating in Leviathan as more and more of it's mariners become poorer and poorer, piracy rarely hurts the economy of Leviathan itself, having a bigger impact on its trading partners instead. Most pirates don't target Levitani owned vessels, instead favoring Ramuha owned ships. Of more serious threat than pirates are the sahaugin. The sahaugin are vicious, carnivorous demi-humans that hate humes and skulk at the fringes of Levitani expansion. Levitani naval power prevents them from being a true threat to the plate's society as a whole, but sahaugin raids on the ocean are a constant threat, and outlying villages and settlements are occasionally raided. Intelligent, though of lesser intellect then humes and vastly inferior on a technological level. Sahaugin live in tribal societies not directly linked to one another and are as likely to attack other tribes as they are humes. When hume pirates attack a ship, they will spare the crew because a living sailor can be ransomed, but a corpse can not. Sahaugin will kill just for the dark joy that the suffering of other creatures brings them. A battle with the sahaugin is a battle to the death! Monsters swim in Leviathan's ocean and because they go deeper than any hume can ever hope to swim, they remain a persistent threat to sailors on the surface because their nests can not be truly eradicated for good. There are sharks, giant turtles, aboleth, sea serpents, naga, killer squid, piscodaemon, all manner of carnivorous fish, and the Divines alone only know what else, because the Levitani surely don't. Of all the worlds, Leviathan is the least well explored because it's population can not survive it's depths because of the lack of oxygen, the freezing temperatures, and the crushing pressure. Additionally, the plate is home to an extreme variety of birds that fly above it as well. Most are content to feast on fish. Some get large enough that they prey on sharks. Others attack humes. The largest of Leviathan's aerial predators is the Zu, which spends its entire life in the air and does not nest. Infant Zu are born on the wing; they have until they hit the ocean's surface to break out of their egg and learn to fly, otherwise they drown, if the impact doesn't kill them first. From there on, they do not stop flying or gliding on wind currents until the day they die or are killed. Out in the deep water, away from the islands, strange things lurk. And they grow very, very large.