Livyat
A primeval spirit from the Dustsong, Northsong, and Southsong Cycles
Livyat, known colloquially in many cultures and epochs as the Mother of Serpents or Leviathan, was a malevolent spirit-being who came into existence, or so many folk said, in the murky dawn-days of the Vaporous Realms. Before the Wright brought order to the Realms or breathed life into the First-folk, Livyat spawned from the watery chaos of the darkling world. The Wright and his children, the Scions, trapped the monstrous serpent Livyat and her chaos-minions under the mountains that later bore her name: the Fangs of Livyat. Or so the Children of Dust and their neighbors believed.
The Waveborne folk were more reverential toward the Mother of Serpents. To many Nordlings, she was the embodiment of the sacred, perilous sea, kept in check by their harsh enforcement of justice at icy blade-point. To Southrons, she was the deity of battle-chaos—and the means to an afterlife for warriors who slaked her blood-thirst.
Lost-folk, for the most part, gave little thought to the Mother of Serpents, other than a few expressions and curses and an abiding leeriness of critters that slither.
In the Redeemed kingdoms, cultural memory of Livyat likewise faded as the generations wore on. Common folk, high-born and low, associated Leviathan with Waveborne marauders, disreputable cults, and obscure prophecies.