Leviathan (Farscape)

Leviathans are a fictional alien race in the Farscape universe. They are essentially a race of sentient spacecrafts. They are an engineered race, created by the Builders as transports, but freed from service when they became self-aware.

Leviathans are made of both biological and mechanical systems. 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 maintence details are handled by bio-mechanical DRDs, breadbox sized robots which 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 Pilot's body physically connects 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 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 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 senses specifically adapted to be used as sensors. A Leviathan's unique ability is to perform a faster-than-light Starburst. As they are harmed by wormholes, they prefer StarBurst for long range traveling. Little is known of the physics behind Starbursts, 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 control is lost.

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 something similar to a tractor beam, but portrayed in Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars as a physical part of the ship (called a docking web) that can be used to "pick up" objects and small ships and bring them into its 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 capacity, they are often enslaved, most notably by the Peacekeepers by means of control collars.

Very little is known about Leviathan reproduction or mating rituals. However it is a known fact that Leviathans females can get pregnant 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 DRD's. This is an instinctive behavior that can override the usual DRD's control channels. It is not uncommon for the DRD's to attack crew members who get too close to the developing child.

Usual side effects of pregnancy might 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 advised to abandon the ship for the remainder of pregnancy.

Peacekeepers had a running Leviathan breeding research program attempting to produce a Leviathan warship which would take orders directly from a Sebacean captain (rather than interact with the crew via bonded pilot). They successfully artificially impregnated a Leviathan called Moya, who gave birth to a first (and only) hybrid Leviathan ship Talyn.

Talyn had a very powerful 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 special neural implant: they would then have a direct mental link with the ship, and would act as a surrogate pilot. 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 for a time while Crais was incapacitated.

Leviathans usually live over 300 cycles, and they die naturally of old age. They usually carefully pick a place where they die and usually travel vast distances to reach sacred burial grounds to rest among the remains of other members of their species. Bonded pilots usually choose to die along with their host even 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 certain age (Moya's Pilot was an exception).

Leviathan burial grounds are usually found in remote, areas of uncharted territories far away from main trade routes and civilized worlds. Their exact location is usually a secret, which is rarely shared with other races. This is partly due to the fact that toubray, Leviathan neural cluster tissue, is highly valued by many cultures as a mind enhancing drug. Dead and dying leviathans are easy pray for toubray hunters such as the Grudeks.