Leviathans

Leviathans are an elusive, ginormous, serpentine, race of highly intelligent aquatic beings that dwell across the world's oceans. They are also capable of taking on a more human-like form via a specific ritual, which will last until the counter ritual is undertaken. While most leviathans never leave their oceanic homes or only leave for brief periods, some choose to preform the transformation ritual with the intent of living on land and among land-dwelling races.

Appearance
Adult leviathans tend to be extremely sizable, with most around 1000 feet in length, though the largest known leviathan was over ten times that. Juvenile leviathans tend to range from half to a third of the average adult size, and hatch at around one tenth of it. Leviathans will continue to grow as they age, slowing down substantially when they reach maturity, but never truly stopping.

A leviathan's coloring can vary wildly, though their are certain trends within the differing subspecies. Temperate leviathans tend towards a range of blues, greens, and purples with moderate intensity, arctic leviathans tend towards lighter shades of the aforementioned colors as well as white, tropical leviathans tend towards brighter colors of just about any hue under the sun, or sea as it were, and deep sea leviathans tend towards being of predominantly darker coloration with bioluminescent accents.

Leviathans that have undertaken the ritual to assume a humanoid form will attain an overall human-like physique and skin coloration as well as gaining a head of hair in a color that correlates to their true form in some way. They will retain from their original form some fins in various places (most commonly behind the ears, on the forearms, and on the calves), a set of fangs intermingling with otherwise human passing teeth, and a tail. If the leviathan possesses horns, they might also find themselves retaining those through the transformation as well. In addition, leviathans in humanoid form will find themselves with sharper than normal finger nails.

Subspecies
There are four leviathan subspecies, distinguished by their habitats, temperate leviathans, arctic leviathans, tropical leviathans, and deep sea leviathans. These subspecies vary to various degrees in culture, appearance, and biology, but they are all compatible in a reproductive sense, so it is not uncommon to find leviathans of mixed heritage.

Temperate leviathans are adapted to be best acclimated to their habitat's climate, and they also have decent tolerance for other temperatures to a certain extent, sometimes tending more towards warmer or colder climates depending on their heritage. Similar goes for arctic and tropical leviathans, being best adapted for colder and warmer waters respectively, with temperate waters being mostly fine for them and being ill adapted for the climate opposite to their favored. Deep sea leviathans are better adapted for a comfortable life under the pressure of the deeper waters, though all leviathans can handle those sorts of atmospheric pressures to a degree.

Names
Even amongst themselves, leviathans almost never go by their true names, given at hatching by whatever parent or parents raised them. This is because these names hold incredible magical significance over a leviathan, and without knowing this name it is impossible for someone to magically bind a leviathan against their will. However with a leviathan's true name, almost no defense can prevent such a thing should someone attempt to do so. The vast majority of leviathans would rather die than give their true name to someone they would not trust with their very existence.

Leviathans pseudonyms have no widespread methodology for how they are chosen, and are a mostly personal choice. Some may chose to pick something they just happen to like, and others may choose to follow a family tradition.

History
The leviathans are believed to have been created many millions of years ago by an ancient entity they call the Mother of the Seas, who was said to have carved the first four leviathans, dubbed the First Children of the Seas, out of mother of pearl harvested from the shell of a great beast known as the Primordial Scourge. These four were said to have gone on to be the progenitors of the different subspecies.

Historically, leviathans have been an extremely solitary species. This is in part due to their size and intimidation factor, their underwater environment keeping them from interacting with most other sapients, and personal choice. The one other sapient race they could regularly interact with, merfolk, they often didn't due to a long and complicated history of conflict and bloodshed on both sides. Even when the rare leviathan did attempt to communicate with them, they were often attacked before being heard out, causing tensions to rise even more. Though, as some unscrupulous leviathans did prey on merfolk this was to a degree an understandable reaction.

The major exception to this solitary behavior known to land dwellers and merfolk alike is Stella Sapphirus Argentea, a prominent merchant and socialite in Rathnir for many centuries before her untimely and mysterious disappearance, which her granddaughter and spiritual successor Luna believes to be linked to the once lost magical art of song casting and the long forgotten culture it was connected to.

Luna Maris Argentea
Luna is the founder of the city of Lucida, queen of the Kingdom of Myrtana, and a citizen of the Lunari Empire. She is also a council member of the Mages Guild of Arcanum, an excellent scholar of the magical arts, and the founder and co-owner of the Moon Sea Company. Not much is publicly known about her background beyond relation to Stella Sapphirus Argentea, her grandmother.