Levithanus, colloquially referred to as Leviathans, are extremely aggressive, ferocious aquatic dragons. They utilise their extremely strong and sharp set of teeth and incredible weight to crush their prey. Unlike its dragon kindred, the leviathan seems to lack wings, legs, and feet. Due to this, leviathans can only survive in the water. Despite this, they can be a nuisance for merchant ships because of their destructive nature when they do appear, but this is rare due to their insignificant numbers. It’s more common, however, to find this species in the oceans off the coast of West Arkasios Trading Company, Vontur, and Ravena, hence the name “Sea of Leviathans”.
Leviathans are most prominently found in the Sea of Leviathans, however there have been sightings of them in the east and south of Gaeia. They usually inhabit cold and deep waters in the north.
They can be seen swimming in peculiar patterns, creating arches with its body in order to swim. They find themselves picking on ships and fish alike, terrorising anything in its path, but this is justified due to their large bellies they need to fill. Leviathans usually travel alone, and don’t really stick around in one area. Eggs are usually abandoned after a while of the mother sticking around, so when babies hatch they find themselves alone for the most part. When hunting, leviathans will use hydromancy to boost themselves towards their prey momentarily to catch them before they swim away.
Their bone structure is comparable to those of a serpent, only much bigger. A leviathan's teeth are very sharp, being able to crush bones with ease, and cut through flesh like butter.
Length: 6 - 7 miles
Weight: 40 - 60 tons
Bite Power: 33,000 - 35,000 psi
Swim Speed: 25 - 30 knots (30 - 40 when momentarily accelerated using hydromancy)
Average Hydromancy Acceleration Time: 10 seconds
The leviathan is an incredibly intelligent species when it comes to fighting their prey, however fighting seems to be the only thing they are good at. Leviathans will usually crush large objects on the sea's surface with their weight if they can't get their teeth around it, which is one example of their great problem solving skills. If they receive heavy damage to the skull, they will go completely haywire and flail about in rage, practically losing all intelligence previously shown.
Their main abilities revolve around finding food to fill their gobs with, as leviathans are strong enough to eliminate prey without much thought put into it, but they do have a few extra abilities at their disposal. Their spine and horns can be used in basic medicines.
They have two nostril-like openings purely to detect scents, making them able to smell blood in the water much like a shark
Leviathans are capable of using electroreception, mainly to use electrolocation as a bonus to their ability to detect scents. This is used to find prey.
They are able to momentarily boost themselves using hydromancy in the water to attack their prey.
They utilize their hydromancy to spew water hard enough to cut through steel at ranges of around 65 feet. Anything further than that will be dented or punctured. Leviathans mainly use this on ships, airships, ect.
Leviathans have scales comparable to the durability and toughness of steel.
A leviathan's body alone is enough to sink fleets at a moments notice, whether it’s using its tail as a whip to wreck ships or circle in on their prey and crush them with their weight.
Leviathans live for around 120 - 200 years old, and are most likely to die in their earlier years when they are less developed. Many of the larger sea creatures will pick on young leviathans at birth, but they grow to be much larger than these animals later in their lives and no longer become an issue. They lay around 4-5 eggs in one place before leaving them, usually this happens in caves near the surface. It will take a leviathan around 6 months to hatch due to their sheer size, being born at a whopping 1 metre. Hatchlings may also be predated on by their siblings when born, the strongest being the one to come out victorious.
Their numbers are slightly insignificant, but they are by no means endangered. Their low population is merely due to the fact that once a baby hatches, it has to survive long enough on its own until it is large enough to take on big fish. They’re usually eaten by larger fish on birth, but those that survive are harder to kill the older they get.
The leviathan is at the top of the ocean animal food chain, almost nothing can defeat it due to having one of the largest bite forces in Gaeia, reaching forces of 35,000 psi. The only animals somewhat safe from the wrath of the leviathan are smaller fish, as they usually don’t bother trying to eat them. Staying close to the surface of the ocean allows them to get a good look at the fish below, since usually the larger ones are found much lower down. Once they spot their prey below water, they will dive down to attack. Anything that sits on the ocean surface the leviathan will usually take its time to attack, as they are usually merchant ships that aren’t really going to be able to get away quick enough. They will also utilise their natural connection to hydromancy for an extra boost when attacking prey. Due to this, prey have an incredibly tough time escaping the jaws of the Leviathan.
Due to being incredibly large and strong creatures, the leviathan is short on weaknesses, but they do exist. Despite this, I would not recommend ANYONE attempting to fight a leviathan, but if you find yourself in a pickle, these are sure to help you out just a little bit.
Long or ranged weapons such as spears and bows have proven to be most effective against these beings, as the closer you are, the easier it is for them to hit you.
Smaller targets such as little boats are obviously going to make it harder for the leviathan to hit you, as their movement is very limited due to their size.
Picking fights on beached leviathans is practically a 100% success rate fight. Though they usually avoid picking fights on land, a blow to the noggin is sure to change their mind, studies show. This does mean you will have to start the fight in the water though, or find another way to hit their skull.
They seem to lose all intelligence after taking serious brain damage, making them harder to fight in some ways, easier to fight in others. Use this to your advantage
River Leviathans, In short, the River Leviathan is a more gator-centred Leviathan, their skin ranging from a deep green to a muddy brown depending on the place they find themselves in. RL’s are specialised ambush predators where their jaws are larger than a normal Leviathan to fit more muscle for a stronger bite. Their weakness could be like normal gators, most of their muscles are bringing the jaw down, not lifting it up, which means you could easily hold their mouth shut. Note that the river leviathan is incapable of using hydromancy in any way.
The Deep-sea Leviathan tends to be a lot more aggressive than a regular leviathan, and will pick a lot more fights especially with larger species, sometimes other leviathans, but both leviathans usually come out with severe injuries and not much else. They are huge and hunt with bursts of speed, going on a drawn out hunt will cause them to lose interest in the target and go dormant. They have a heavier use of their Electroreception and sense of smell since there is no light that deep down where they reside.
Dwarf Leviathans, like pygmy elephants, have grown tiny and small due to being isolated in isolated water systems, where they hunt the smaller prey that live in these ecosystems, and have gone downwards in size due to the smaller amount of available prey. They can grow up to 20 - 30 metres in length, around half the size of a normal leviathan. They are quite fearful of larger species, and are a lot more vulnerable to them, usually fleeing when encountering one. However, they are subject to a lot less of these creatures due to their smaller living environments.