Leviathan (Farscape)
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- This page is about the fictional race from the Farscape television series; for other uses, see Leviathan (disambiguation).
Leviathans are a fictional alien race of sentient spaceships in the Farscape universe. They are an engineered race, made sentient by the Builders.
Leviathans are made of both biological and mechanical systems, and are therefore biomechanoid. They have a thick outer skin capable of keeping a pressurized atmosphere inside, and also generate a bioelectric field that can keep small openings in the hull from venting atmosphere. Holes in the hull are repaired by symbiotic organisms called Hodian trill bats, whose excrement is a sealant. Other maintenance details are handled by mechanical DRDs, terrier-sized droids that the Leviathan manufactures.
Inside, the Leviathan consists of countless corridors and compartments. Each Leviathan grows differently depending on the needs of its crew. At the very core of a Leviathan is an area known as the "Pilot's Den". This is where a member of the Pilot species symbiotically bonds to the Leviathan. While Leviathans can operate unbonded, most functional Leviathans have a Pilot bonded to them. Lacking a Pilot, Leviathans can be manually steered by the crew from the control deck.
Because of their nature, Leviathans are not able to communicate well with their passengers. Pilots play the role of translator and liaison between the ship and the crew. They are also responsible for maintaining life support functions, minor internal repairs and other detail jobs that are not related to the Leviathan's well-being but important for the passengers. When a Pilot dies or is incapacitated, most Leviathans lose some degree of control over these internal systems (especially life support).
Leviathans have a vast knowledge of space, and their senses are specifically adapted to be used as sensors for space travel. Leviathans have the unique ability to perform starbursts, a faster-than-light form of travel that they use for defense and for long-range travel. Little is known of the physics behind starburst, but it is known that the ship is taken into another dimension, and it is possible to become lost if the ship is underpowered or if control fails.
Leviathans possess no natural weaponry, as they were designed as transport ships (the exception being Talyn, who is a hybrid). They rely on their ability to Starburst to escape danger. Leviathans also have a docking web they use to "pick up" objects and small ships and bring them into their docking bay. The docking web is apparently powerful enough to immobilise and "reel in" small ships (like a prowler or transport pod), although only at very short range. Because of their large size and usefulness, Leviathans are often enslaved by Peacekeepers by means of control collars.
Very little is known about Leviathan reproduction or mating rituals. Leviathans females can get pregnant, gestate the fetus inside them, and give birth. The pregnancy is usually a long and complicated process. The child is conceived via a biological process and the embryo nests in one of the innermost chambers (usually on utility tiers which are inaccessible to the passengers). The embryo is tended to and defended by DRDs. This is an instinctive behavior that can override the usual DRD control channels. The DRDs may attack crew members who get too close to the developing child if they are perceived as a threat.
Side effects of pregnancy include involuntary starbursts, malfunctioning of life support and various other internal systems, as well as erratic DRD behavior. Crews of pregnant leviathans should be prepared for many discomforts and are usually well-advised to abandon the ship for the remainder of her pregnancy.
Peacekeepers have a Leviathan breeding research program attempting to produce a hybrid Leviathan warship that can take orders directly from a Sebacean captain (rather than interact with the crew via a bonded pilot). They successfully artificially impregnated a Leviathan called Moya, who gave birth to the first (and only) hybrid Leviathan ship Talyn. All other breeding attempts resulted in the death of the mother and the child, attributed to the fact that all other attempts were with enslaved leviathans wearing control collars.
Talyn had a very powerful external retractable gun turret and wall-mounted security guns on the inside, and didn't need a Pilot to control him; however Talyn's architecture still offered a vestigial pilot's den. He could bond with a Sebacean pilot via a special neural implant at the top of the spine. Talyn chose to bond with rogue Peacekeeper captain Bialar Crais; however — using the Pilot's den — Talyn was able to temporarily, yet successfully, bond with Stark while Crais was incapacitated.
Leviathans normally live over 300 cycles. When old age approaches, they try to travel to their sacred burial grounds to rest among the remains of other members of their species. Bonded pilots die along with their host, though their natural lifespan is over 3 times longer than that of a Leviathan. Although it is theoretically possible to "transplant" a pilot to another ship, most Pilots do not even consider it as an option. In fact, the Pilot society forbids young individuals to bond with Leviathans until they reach a certain age (Moya's Pilot was an exception).
The sacred Leviathan burial ground is in a remote area of the uncharted territories, and the exact location is a secret.
Leviathans have many predators, from Peacekeepers who try to enslave them, to the Grudeks, who harvest their toubray (neural) tissue. The Patriqu-ro - a race of ship builders that compete with the Builders - also rank among the enemies of Leviathans. In the episode Meltdown, they had employed the services of an alien, Mu-Quillis, who created a Siren Star to bait and, ultimately, destroy Leviathans.
