Thunder Leviathan

The Thunder Leviathan: The Hidden Warship that Saved Gerlandria

The Thunder Leviathan

—the smallest of the three original Gerlandrian realm ships built during the First Black Fire War—is often underestimated in size but never in significance. Unlike its larger siblings, the Azure Citadel of Khaerynith and the Starbound Seraph, the Thunder Leviathan was conceived with a more streamlined purpose: speed, agility, and the ability to strike with the power of a controlled storm. For centuries, it floated above the cloudscapes of Gerlandria, largely forgotten, serving as a peaceful haven for nomadic sky tribes, scholars, and mystics. Yet, beneath its tranquil facade lay dormant secrets, waiting for the right moment to awaken.

The Ghost of the First Black Fire War

Constructed from Skybreaker Ironwood and imbued with Aetherium veins, the Thunder Leviathan was designed to channel the raw power of Gerlandria’s elemental storms directly into its weaponry. During the First Black Fire War, it was heralded as the “Wyrm of the Skies,” a terror of the clouds whose mere presence was enough to send ripples of fear through the enemy. But it never saw its full potential realized, as an ill-timed sabotage by an unknown agent caused its Aetherium Drive Core to malfunction during a critical battle. Abandoned and forgotten, it drifted aimlessly, cloaked in cloud and shadow, an empty shell with no crew to guide it.
Yet, this abandonment was not to be the Thunder Leviathan's end; it was merely the beginning of a tale that would become one of the most controversial and clandestine sagas in Gerlandrian history.

The Secret Reawakening

The Thunder Leviathan remained uninhabited for centuries until it was discovered by an ambitious, rogue band of Sky Engineers and Aether Mages known as the Stormwardens of the Hidden Dawn. These renegades had no allegiance to any particular sky city or faction. Their loyalty was to Gerlandria itself, and they had grown restless under the bureaucratic chains and rules imposed by the Council of Aeythar and the larger sky cities. They believed that the sky’s most potent powers should not be kept from those who dared to wield them.
Against all counsel and warning, the Stormwardens made the Thunder Leviathan their secret home. Over a decade, they painstakingly restored the ship to its former glory, but with crucial differences. They were not content to simply repair a warship; they sought to transform it. Using forbidden technomancy, they crafted a new Aetheric Fusion Core, a controversial blend of sky magic and forbidden black fire shards, capable of channeling devastating power with unmatched precision.

The Veil of Secrecy

To avoid detection, the Stormwardens employed a blend of ancient and modern magics to create an impenetrable illusion around the Thunder Leviathan. It was made to appear as nothing more than a drifting ruin, one among the many relics of a bygone era. This Veil of Skydust, as it came to be known, was so effective that even the most potent scrying spells failed to see through it. Only the Stormwardens knew the truth—that beneath the dust and clouds lay a war machine that could rain destruction upon the enemies of Gerlandria.
The Stormwardens operated under the strictest secrecy, not merely because they feared the wrath of the Council of Aeythar, but because they knew that should their efforts be discovered, they would be accused of treason. The use of black fire was strictly forbidden; its volatile nature had already caused untold devastation during the First Black Fire War. Yet, the Stormwardens believed that the rules of old must sometimes be broken to protect the future.

The First Test: The Sky Pirates’ Incursion

The Thunder Leviathan’s first trial came unexpectedly. A coalition of ruthless Sky Pirates, led by the infamous Captain Ralkaar of the Burning Spire, began raiding the trade routes between the floating cities of Gerlandria. No one knew from where they came; they moved like shadows, their ships hidden among the roiling storms, striking with savage precision. The Council of Aeythar’s forces were stretched thin, and fear spread across the skies.
The Stormwardens decided to test the Thunder Leviathan. The Veil of Skydust lifted for the first time in nearly a century, and the ship emerged, cutting through the storm clouds like a blade. The pirates, confident in their numbers, prepared to attack what they assumed was an ancient relic. But they were wrong. The Thunder Leviathan’s newly forged Aether Cannons roared with the power of a hundred storms. Its Skybreaker Ballistae unleashed bolts of black fire-infused lightning, tearing through the pirate fleet like a knife through paper. The pirates were decimated, their leader captured, and their threat removed in a single, devastating assault.

The Whispered Rumors

The sudden reappearance of the Thunder Leviathan did not go unnoticed. Whispers spread among the sky cities about a “phantom warship” that had emerged from the mists, wielding forbidden power and crushing its foes with impunity. The Council of Aeythar grew uneasy, their eyes and ears open for any sign of the rogue warship. But the Stormwardens were careful, masking their movements, and the Thunder Leviathan disappeared once more into the endless skies, awaiting its true purpose.

The Outbreak of the Second Black Fire War

That purpose would come with the outbreak of the Second Black Fire War, a conflict that erupted suddenly and violently across all realms of Aina. The realm of Gerlandria was caught off guard. An alliance between Malondria and a rogue faction within Thiandalune, emboldened by the belief that Gerlandria had grown weak, launched a series of swift and brutal strikes against key floating cities and trade routes. The skies were aflame with battles; entire cities burned and fell to ruin. The Council of Aeythar, burdened by bureaucracy and hesitant leadership, could not act fast enough.

The Thunder Leviathan Unleashed

With Gerlandria’s defenses faltering, the Stormwardens knew the time had come. They lifted the Veil of Skydust once more, revealing the Thunder Leviathan in all its dread glory. The ship, now honed and ready, sailed forth, guided by a crew who had trained for decades in secret, knowing this moment might come. As the allied forces of Malondria and the rogue Thiandalune faction began their final push against the sky city of Vaelor's Pinnacle, the Thunder Leviathan descended upon them like a thunderclap.
No one was prepared for the sheer ferocity of its attack. The ship’s Aetheric Fusion Core flared with a brilliant, blinding light as the Storm Cannon, an arcane weapon developed by the Stormwardens, discharged a continuous torrent of lightning mixed with the corrupted energy of the black fire. Enemy vessels exploded upon contact, their shields utterly useless against this monstrous onslaught. The skies roared as the Thunder Leviathan cut a path of destruction through the invading fleet.

A City of Thunder

The Thunder Leviathan did not merely serve as a warship; it became a mobile command center, a rallying point for Gerlandria’s defenders who had been scattered and disorganized by the unexpected ferocity of the invasion. Word spread like wildfire through the floating cities and islands: the Leviathan is here; the skies are ours once more.
Refugees from the ruined cities were ferried aboard the Thunder Leviathan, and from there, they struck back. The ship moved like an unstoppable force, weaving in and out of storm fronts, attacking where least expected. It became a city in itself, a nomadic fortress where survivors, soldiers, and sky mages gathered to rebuild, rearm, and retaliate.

The Final Stand and the Price of Victory

The climax came during the Battle of the Veiled Skies, where the last remnants of Malondria’s forces sought to flee through the mystical shroud of The Mistflow, a natural boundary that separates Gerlandria from the outer aetheric zones. The Thunder Leviathan, in a bold maneuver, tore through the veil at full speed, scattering its enemies and driving them into aetheric traps laid by the Stormwardens.
However, the victory was not without cost. The continuous use of the Aetheric Fusion Core, infused with unstable black fire, had begun to tear at the fabric of the ship itself. The very thing that had restored the Thunder Leviathan to its former glory threatened now to consume it. As the final enemy ship fell from the skies, the crew faced a terrible choice: abandon the Leviathan and let it drift once more into the abyss of lost relics, or continue to hold it together through sheer force of will.

The Thunder Leviathan's Legacy

The Council of Aeythar, though wary of the Stormwardens and their methods, could not deny the undeniable truth: the Thunder Leviathan had saved Gerlandria from utter collapse. There was an uneasy peace after the war, with the Council granting clemency to the Stormwardens but insisting that the Thunder Leviathan be mothballed and allowed to drift once more into the mists, a powerful but unstable relic of a past age.

Current location

Gerlandria