Leviathan question (if this is in the book, I’ve only just started reading v8):

Leviathan question (if this is in the book, I’ve only just started reading v8):

Leviathan question (if this is in the book, I’ve only just started reading v8):

Do the leviathan hunters actually kill leviathans (like whaling ships in the Dishonored franchise) or do they just capture them and drain off their blood and then let them go?

If they’re just blooded, are there actual whales to hunt in the sea?

I ask because I’m looking at Duskwall having some form of whaling-style economy besides just collecting leviathan blood (bones & teeth for scrimshaw, blubber reduced to oil for lamps, ambergris, etc.).

20 thoughts on “Leviathan question (if this is in the book, I’ve only just started reading v8):”

  1. My impression was they just bleed them.

    That would still give opportunities for some of those other resources, of course – you just need to get an axe and chop out the right chunks!

  2. I don’t think it ever says specifically, though I suppose it’s implied that leviathans are too large to haul back, and that people who aren’t hunters haven’t usually seen them.

    I think it’s probably the sort of detail you can customize to your setting

  3. p212: “The exceptions are the massive leviathans. No one knows the true shape of these horrors that dwarf the largest iron ships. Only a small portion may be glimpsed when they crest the surface of the ink-dark sea, drawn by electroplasmic lures.”

  7. Michael Barrett I think the important part of that quote though is the word “massive”. That said, I suppose something gigantic like a leviathan might treat an iron ship of humans like we would treat a mosquito – something irritating to be brushed off if we even notice it.

  9. Yeah, at the end of the day: does it make your game better? If so, then there is whaling. If not, then there isn’t. If neither, then not worth your time.

  11. They’re definitely immortal demons of unthinkable proportion, but there’s also specific mention of hacking off bits of bone and flesh and who-knows-what-viscera in addition to draining blood.

    Scrimshaw leviathan bone is a favorable material for spirit masks, so I’ve heard.

  12. I really like the idea that true magic is rare, discounted and frowned upon, especially by the intellectual elite.

    An old practice was to carve leviathan bones and scales into runes, but this practice is now nearly lost, as well as forbidden.

    Those who follow the old ways deal in illicit practices and materials and the Spirit Wardens fight a never ending battle to stamp out the practice of magic. They use spectrological techniques and political pressure to inhibit the old ways.

    Since so much of Blades is like Dishonored, that gives the same feel, at least for me.

  13. Something else to consider is that this is a broken world, and associating with the Leviathans has a transmorphic effect for good or ill. The whales in the night black sea may have changed, maybe even becoming the smaller leviathans.

  14. I like the idea that there are (to our knowledge) a finite number of leviathans, and they are all named and unique. The first thing to do when a Leviathan is sighted is figure out which one it is, because they all react differently, and need to be harvested in specific ways. A cobalt lure on a still night, powered by electroplasm of convicted murderers might attract The Basalt Fiend, but infuriate Old Alabaster. And while it’s easy to confuse StarShitter with Iron Bane at a distance, it’s the last mistake you’ll ever make.

    Perhaps Leviathan hunter captains and crews specialize in individual Leviathans, and develop relationships with them.

  15. Michael Atlin That is awesome. And canon, for me now.

    How terrified would you be, on top of the ordinary levels of terrified, to see a Leviathan whose name no one knows…

  17. The blood of different Leviathans has different properties, based off the personalities and mythos of the leviathan that bled them. The Basalt Friend’s blood gives people a melancholic stupor while Starshitter’s causes people to get angry at the smallest disappointment and crave jellyfish. That’s not even getting to the changes in the body. The refining process gets rid of the gunk of course but it’s still safer to consume electroplasm harvested from humans. It’s like the diffrent from industrial alcohol and vodka distilled from potatoes.

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