The Wavebreakers are a storied dynasty. Magic is in their blood, and the common people of the Leviathan Coast allow their rule with begrudging respect.

  Or so it is said in the halls of power - the curving palaces whose domes are crowned in perpetual flames to guide ships to the only safe harbours in a thousand miles. It is a carefully cultivated image, but one with profound power.

  The leviathans, after which this stretch of coastland is named, are very real. They are waiting, they are hungry, and the Wavebreakers are the only ones that can hold them off.

  The first great deception is not that the ocean is dangerous beyond compare, or that the leviathans hunger for the bounty of Tsanderos’ heartlands. No, it is the removal of context from the leviathans. They have been transformed in the minds of the people of Tsanderos from powerful sea monsters, into something much more.

  Leviathans. The name conjures tableaus of death, of destruction raining from the sky and apocalyptic sights galore. And it is true, in some senses. The leviathans are malevolent creatures and would descend upon the harbour-cities of the Leviathan Coast in a frenzy of blood and death were it not for the storm-wards maintained by the WaveBreakers. Gibbering masses of monsters from beyond the imagining of the common man would sweep through clean streets and make a mockery of humanity’s attempts to make habitable the Leviathan Coast.

  But that is where it would end. The true nature of these depthless entities is not well understood, but it cannot be denied that they are sea monsters. They dwell within the oceans and will not leave their comforting abodes for long. But despite this obvious truth, The Wavebreakers have managed to convince even powerful empires in the heartlands of Tsanderos that they are a necessary bastion between humanity and the monsters that stalk the seas.

  It’s not a hard argument to make, when you have the support of the oceans themselves. Many a visiting dignitary has witnessed first-hand the terror and power of the leviathans as one or another tries to make a meal of a harbour city. Wards a dozen miles wide light up in stormy skies with the power of an entire city’s magical might, repelling monsters whose size is measured in miles and whose offspring can reach the 3rd tier with ease.

  They leave in awe of the courage of the city’s defenders, impressed by the wisdom and ward-craft of the city’s leaders, and firm in their resolve to support the burgeoning power that protects the coast from savagery. After all, the Wavebreakers say, if we should fall, then you will face the leviathans yourself one day, without the aid of our great storm-wards.

  It is a sensible worldview if the underlying assumptions are correct. Luckily for Tsanderos though, they are not. Sea monsters are bound to the sea, and should the storm-wards fall, then the Leviathan Coast will be depopulated swiftly. But it is not a state of affairs that has never before been seen. It’s an inhospitable stretch of coastland, and it can remain a wild place without settlement for another thousand years without issue.

  That is the first great deception of the Leviathan Coast; that it stands between the sea and the land and is all that prevents the former from consuming the latter.

  The second great deception is in many ways more insidious. The harbour cities exist due to the immense storm-wards that ring each city, protecting them from siege. Just as the wards protect the cities, so too do the Wavebreakers protect the wards. An ancient dynasty of mage-aristocrats whose privileges are matched only by the demands of their duties. They shoulder the burden of protecting the coast, and an entire continent owes them a debt of gratitude, for they are the only ones that can keep the magical constructs functioning.

  Or so they say in the halls of power.

  The storm-wards draw power not just from the city’s defenders, but also from the storms themselves. It is their secret, the reason they can repel even beasts that stand firmly in the 4th tier, their scale unmatched in all of Tsanderos, excepting the ancient dragons of old. It has long been said that horrors beyond man lurk in storm-wracked seas, and it seems to be a truism for a reason.

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  Leviathans bring with them storms – It is simply the way of things. This great natural phenomenon that masks their approach also gives the harbour cities the means to defend themselves, as the power of the storms are beyond even that of the leviathans. Nature itself is unmatched in both power and fury, after all.

  But bending the fury of nature to one’s purpose is a difficult thing to do; a mage’s might and a wizard’s wisdom are simply not enough to fulfil such a task alone. Something higher than the storms, greater even that nature, must be involved to allow such a feat.

  Many claim the system has its roots in the divine, and perhaps they are correct. What matters though, is that it is similarly supreme in its power as are the gods themselves. The Wavebreakers were undoubtably a magically blessed lineage, its scions showing both power and affinity for the magical pursuits. What raised them from a prominent noble family with a penchant for magic into the dominating political force they are today though, was the influence of the system.

  The Wavebreakers are blessed with classes that suit their location. They are magical engineers, maintaining the storm-wards, troubleshooting and tinkering until they possess an understanding great enough to mimic the feat of their creation.

  The Leviathan Coast has expanded under their watchful stewardship from a single city and smattering of towns into a powerful regional state, with half a dozen major cities along the coast and dozens of small townships, villages speckling the storm-wracked cliffs like barnacles on a ship’s hull.

  Expansive growth is not unheard of, but it does often lead to political instability. The Wavebreakers have been in power in the Leviathan Coast since its modern conception. For over four centuries, they have steered and guided, cajoled and enforced, and the key in their success has been their necessity.

  If the Wavebreakers do not inhabit the Leviathan Coast, then the coast will die along with them. There is nobody that can maintain and fix the storm-wards, except the scions of House Wavebreaker. There is nobody that can create new storm-wards, and therefore new cities, except House Wavebreaker. They are integral to the continued existence of the Leviathan Coast.

  And so, we come to the second great deception.

  This is no ruse based on honeyed words and twisted truths as is the first. This deception is more grounded, stained with blood and rooted in the dark work of supressing a population growing with discontent. While the expansion across the Leviathan Coast has brought further power to the Wavebreaker dynasty and spread humanity’s influence further north, it has also brought with it an increase in attacks.

  The denizens of the deep hunger, and food seems to accumulate in ever greater quantities on their borders. It is not unusual therefore, for more to take notice every year. The storm wards strain to hold off ever more attacks, and despite the Wavebreaker’s penchant for ward-craft, it is now rare for one to be born each generation with the skills and drive to achieve the venerable classes needed to ensure their continued functioning.

  This has led to an ever-more insular political community, where power is concentrated in the hands of only a few exceptional individuals in each generation. The dynasty has become ossified, like saltwater swirling against an iron bit until only a calcified blob remains.

  The System is fair in all things though. As the attacks grow more frequent, the citizens of the harbour cities bear the burnt of the ocean’s ire, and the Ruler Of All Heaven, as it is sometimes known, takes note. Classes begin to appear within the populous. The downtrodden and hungry, the abused and oppressed, those who over generations have been pushed out of the city centres and onto the peripheries – those who bear the brunt of the attacks and are closest to the terror; they are the ones in whom the much-needed classes appear.

  Blood is potent, and the Wavebreakers do their jobs well, despite what other accusations can be levied at them. It is no surprise that they still receive ward-classes in abundance. But as time passes and the status quo continues to worsen, the commoners are increasingly in danger of gaining classes that can help.

  In danger, because the Wavebreakers cannot tolerate anybody but them having the tools to save the coast. Should it become known that the Wavebreakers are not the only ones, by dint of birthright, who possess classes capable of maintaining and creating the storm-wards, then their position at the top would be in jeopardy. The begrudging respect has already given way to reluctant acceptance over the last century as political contradictions sharpen.

  That reluctant acceptance could very easily give way to outraged revolt were it to become known that their rulers were not the only force capable of protecting them. Were it to become known that those same rulers had spent most of two centuries assassinating any commoners that showed particular talent for ward-craft, and that the current struggles were in large part due to a dearth of capable classers that the Wavebreakers themselves had killed off…

  …Well, the oldest dynasty in Western Tsanderos would rule the Leviathan Coast no longer.

  There is another interlude about Nathlan's backstory. When should I upload it?