Apex

"The Strong Survive". The Masked One once said this, upon the first death of a Leviathan, and the short sentence is still buried deep in the minds of many sea monsters. Many of them question what strength is and what survival is, and find their own ways to be survivors. But there is an obvious interpretation that some cling to: that weakness is death and that life belongs to those willing to exert their strength over others. Apex is the supreme prophet of this interpretation and the ultimate benefactor. It is the physically strongest of the Leviathans, always pushing itself to be stronger and more deadly. It surrounds itself with thralls and servants who it encourages to seek strength on their own terms, which Apex may, when the time is right, devour into itself. It is Apex's dream to be the strongest entity on the planet, able to dominate the very Gods. It is the nightmarish violence and childish bullying of the heavens, sent as a scourge upon mortalkind.
Kindred spirits, overwhelmed by a desire for power, may find themselves breaking with reality. The meaninglessness and cruelty of the world, and one's hunger within it, has an alienating power. So many people drunk on that mentality find themselves unable to live as a part of the world. They cast themselves outside of it. The world became alien, predatory, hateful. It is then that Apex can manifest as that world, ready to consume and uplift its chosen few as missionaries of domination. Whether it is a sharp traumatic break from reality or a slow drifting realization that the world is a howling den of monsters, those who reach that point often find themselves dreaming in a deep Astral ocean.
The currents of that Astral dream are swift and brutal, full of murk and white-black kelp. Predators weave through the kelp, nightmarish monsters sired from Apex and from a thousand dreaming subconsciousnesses. The world here seeks to bind, to grab, to bend and break; as the victim thrashes, confused and afraid, the kelp twists and rends their malleable dream-bodies. The great leviathan, seemingly infinite in size and shrouded in a vast cloud of blood, pierces the kelp and bears down on the dreaming soul, blasting its demands: it demands total subjugation, and offers great power. Those who grovel and offer their soul to Apex (who cannot actually take souls, but relishes the act) can rise and become warlocks. In future dreams, they may play the role of kelp or predator, tormenting new prospects with wordless violence.
To have a pact with Apex can mean many things. Some are pathetic servants, thralls who never recover their ambition after their humiliating initiation. Others are defiant and ambitious individuals who see their pact as a matter of mutual manipulation. Some even find comfort in their pact, a kind of assurance of strength and security that they keep hidden beneath their day-to-day personality. Others still are the victims of other warlocks picked up by Apex and refashioned into new weapons; this is a favorite of the monster, which seems to particularly relish subverting resistance against it into subservience to it. Apex treats none of its warlocks fondly, but it has room in its hateful heart for so many.
Apex rules the Samvaran seas. It has a particular, personal grudge against the Gods Haru and Aysha, who keep the coasts safe from it's ruinous whims. It can psychically reach mortals who resonate with its values around the world, and has a presence in all continents.

Current Location

Astral Plane

Species

Leviathans