The Year of the Leviathan

Cultural event

This marks the first cycle of the 14-year cycle of whereas every 14th year from this year is dubbed "The Year of the Leviathan".

It is said that the Serpent King was strolling his private beach just north of the Rainbow Citadel one evening when he encountered a beautiful young woman standing nude at the shoreline. Her back was turned towards him and she seemed that she was unaware of his presence. The king stood and watched her, transfixed by her beauty. A few moments later, she turned her head to the side and looked at the king. She smiled then turned and walked into the sea, disappearing beneath its waves. The king ran to the shoreline to see where she might have gone. The water was ice cold and he did not understand how she could possibly survive. Suddenly, about 100 meters away, her head emerged from the water and she looked to the king and said "I will return to you my love and when I do we shall be married! Count the days! They shall be 40!". At that, she once again slipped beneath the surface and was gone.   The Serpent King could not stop thinking about her. He commanded the Royal Navy to search the Inner Sea for her and to discover her true nature, her identity and her origins. Some of his advisors felt he had gone mad; he was nearly 1700 years old at this point and senility was definitely a possibility. Other advisors felt that she was an apparition, and others yet felt that she might be from the Sea King's Domain, a fabled underwater kingdom south of the southern coast of the Hruspian Empire.   Forty Days finally had passed. The Serpent King waited anxiously all day on the beach awaiting for the woman's return. At sunset, a very large black galley ship cruised slowly into sight, about 1/2 km from the shore. It anchored itself and stood silent, as if waiting for something. A few moments later, the woman emerged from its lower decks, went to the ship's portside and waved to the king. The king ordered his guards to row him to the galley. Fifteen minutes later, the Serpent King stood by the woman on the ship. She smiled and said "you've come to me my love. Let us now be together forever!" Suddenly, from underneath the galley, impossibly huge black tentacles wrapped around the galley, squeezed and capsized it, and pulled its wreckage down into the sea. The guards who were rowing back from delivering the king to the galley reported that the woman was calm and maintained her smile as the galley was crushed. An admiral from the Royal Navy, who was watching the king and woman interact through a telescope from the shore claims that the woman transformed into a fiendish looking mermaid as the galley was pulled under the ocean, swimming away from its destruction.   Three days later, to everyone's surprise, the King was spotted walking from the same shore he left from, this time hand in hand with the young woman. They were wed later that day in a very small but elegent ceremony in the King's Throne Room. The King died later that evening immediately after the wedding was consummated.   Seven days later, the young woman became Queen of Lankhmar. It was at this time she finally identified herself: E. Kraytin Embriss. As is tradition of the common Lankhmarian, she was henceforth referred to as "The Leviathan".   Nehwon's Calendar