Leviathan

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Leviathans were regarded as amazing and wonderful creatures, in that they were bio-mechanoid ships that could move freely among the stars. They shared much of the same attributes as artificially constructed starships, including internal atmospheres, command centers, living quarters, workshops, and hangar decks. However, no two Leviathans were completely the same.

A Leviathan was essentially a spaceship with a personality. They had their own thoughts, feelings, emotions and so on, which were often relayed through the Pilot, if one was present. Leviathans did most of their communications through non-verbal means, and the ability to do this extended to their Pilots as well though the Builder Kahaynu once gave Moya the ability to speak verbally to her passengers.

Leviathans were mainly seen as ships, though it is clear they had their own personality, their culture, and even their own gods, known as the Builders.

The Builder Kahaynu did not state that it was the Builders who created Leviathans, since anyone could create a machine, and even imbue it with intelligence. He did mention, however, that it was the Builders who gave Leviathans their soul. Leviathans were made to be ambassadors of peace and the Builders frowned upon their exploitation by the Peacekeepers and their gunship plans – Moya was nearly decommissioned until Zhaan proved herself responsible enough not to exploit *Moya*'s ability to reproduce gunships.

The bio-mechanical part of Leviathans seemed to constitute of DRDs, which were small service robots. These could be controlled remotely by either the Pilot or the Leviathan itself. Another was the various life-support mechanisms the Leviathan could produce for creatures inside it, such as air and light, and also compatibility with defense screens and being able to interface with other systems, such as food freezing systems. Some systems could be fitted without the Leviathan's jurisdiction, such as prison cell doors which had controls in the command chamber, but out of reach of the Leviathan's control.

Leviathans were incredibly large creatures. A fully matured Leviathan could grow many times the size of an infant. The average Leviathan lived for three hundred cycles.

The interior of a Leviathan was not all blood and vital organs. Chambers and corridors which DRDs used to traverse the ship and which can be made habitable for other organisms filled the inside. There were also various shafts for DRD travel, air flow, and flow of the Leviathan's bodily fluids, as well as chambers made purely for filtering air.

Leviathans did seem to have a chamber built into them which even Pilots could not sense or eavesdrop on, the Starburst chamber.

They could develop a form of hayfever. Pollen inside the Leviathan could weaken the hull and impede navigation.

Leviathans permanently stayed in space where they move with ease. They did not often visit the surface of planets, where the gravity and their own weight made it very hard to escape. A game concocted by young Leviathans, though, involved Leviathans diving towards a planet and seeing how far they could go before they have to pull out. Though not really designed to do so, a Leviathan could dive underwater, but the differences in pressures meant they would take on water.

Peacekeepers had various ways for enslaving Leviathans, but the most common was the control collar. A huge device was fitted on the Leviathan itself which controlled its propulsion, guidance and so on, and resulting in death to the Leviathan if it should attempt Starburst. In such cases Pilots were usually used as well to keep the Leviathan's internal systems working and operate the DRDs, basically acting as a janitor while the Peacekeepers control the ship through the control collar. A device placed inside the Leviathan, known as the paddac beacon, emitted an alert signal if a regular confirmation signal is not heard from the control collar, implying it has been removed. This signal informed any Peacekeepers nearby that there is an uncontrolled Leviathan in the area.

With Leviathans being used primarily as cargo ships, there were six items that they could not carry, more commonly referred to as "The Six Forbidden Cargoes". One such one was Novatrin gas, which was able to dissolve flesh from living creatures. Another is referred to as chlorium, that "is an atmospherically induced isotope of trillium."

**SPECIAL FEATURES**

• • **Starburst:** Unfortunately, the more time that is spent in Starburst, the more energy that is used. A Leviathan cannot generate energy fast enough to maintain Starburst, so energy is stored as low-energy (visible light) photons in the amnexus system for use during Starburst. Also, the direction in which a Leviathan travels depends on its entry vector into one dimensional space-time, continuing to travel in that direction. Starburst acts and works in much the same way a hyperdrive does. In Starburst a Leviathan travels for a maximum of 3d4+2 hours, at twice the speed of a Class 0.5 hyperdrive. A Leviathan can exit hyperspace at anytime.

• • **Leviathan Communications System:** This acts in the same way a Radio, ans Subspace communications array do though at twice the range.

• • **Breeding Age:** at this age the leviathan becomes of age to be capable of impregnating or becoming pregnant.