[Picture: The obligatory japanese schoolgirl kneels next to some rocks to collect shellfish in a

child’s beach bucket. She is standing on what looks like an enormous crocodile head just
slightly breaking the water’s surface. The crocodile’s eyes are dilated and unfocused, as
though it were drugged]

The ties between the Tribe and mankind, forged by millennia of tyranny, rebellion, warfare,
slavery and inbreeding, is a lot more complex than the dominance of gods over mortals or
the triumph of reason and order over chaos and fanaticism. Nobody embodies this
complexity more than Atolls, ordinary humans whose relationship to the Tribe is that of a
Leviathan's relationship to it's own beloved.

Even though Leviathans are typically aware of what an Atoll is, many still seek them out.
Just as a mortal might seek out a Leviathan’s cult to touch the divine and find meaning in a
vast and incomprehensible world the Tribe sometimes seek Atolls for shelter in a world that’s
oppressively small and restrictive for a Leviathan. A bad relationship between a Leviathan
and an Atoll can shatter the Leviathan’s mind; but those rare ones where everything fit
together are passed down by the Tribe with messiahic reverence.

Barriers against the Tempest

Atolls are so named because their presence disrupts and reshapes the Wake, creating a
barrier for the Tempest and a pool of Tranquillity within. This is an Atoll's primary ability,
every other power an Atoll has builds upon this effect or is simply a consequence of it.

An Atoll's innate ability to build barriers against the Tribe's psychic nature makes them
completely immune to the Wake and every psychic ability granted by Channels or Mutations.
Even a Leviathan's telekinesis fails within a few inches of an Atoll's body.

Bestowal of Tranquillity

Atolls have a notable ability to bolster the minds of Leviathans. Even a short conversation
between an Atoll and Leviathan increases both Phronesis and Eunoia by the Atoll's
Composure for a scene.

Conditions caused by Erosion are also suppressed, but not removed or Resolved, by an
Atoll’s words.

Imprinting

Leviathans imprint on an Atoll extremely easily. So long as the Atoll is currently inside the
Leviathan's Wake the Leviathan feels drawn to their presence. If they can put a face or a
name to the sensation they're imprinted.

Once Leviathans are imprinted on an Atoll the deadly dance begins. The Leviathan
immediately takes the Addicted condition for social interaction with the Atoll, which given that
they're probably a complete stranger makes the Leviathan into a stalker at best. At worst
they're the sea monster that rips the boat apart and abducts you, leaving countless lives to
the cold waters.

Touch of the Gentle Maiden

Many Leviathans, in their Transformed forms, cannot even touch others safely. Their bodies
are covered in razor spines or venomous tendrils.

Atolls are protected from this. As their hand approaches spines just melt away into the
Leviathan's flesh. Mechanically any Channel or Adaptation that does not require the
Leviathan to take an action to use and does not require the expenditure of Ichor to activate
will not harm an Atoll.

Words that Break Bones

For all the Tribe's divine might, the power imbalance between the a Leviathan and an Atoll is
vastly in the Atoll's favour. Atolls hold a Leviathan's Tranquillity in the palm of their hand.
Once per scene an Atoll can bestow a point of Phronesis or Eunoia with a Manipulation +
Empathy roll or take one away with a Presence + Intimidation vs Composure roll. Atolls may
even do so accidentally, if an Atoll starts screaming that the Leviathan killed his family when
he abducted her, roll the dice with appropriate modifiers.

If the Leviathan or it's Beloved physically harms an Atoll roll a Chance Die for Erosion. If the
Atoll is killed, roll either Phronesis or Eunoia, whichever best fits the circumstances of death,
and decrease that Trait down to the number of Successes (an exceptionally lucky roll cannot
increase Phronesis or Eunoia). As a special exemption PCs with four or more dots cannot
loose their final dot in this manner, though NPC Leviathans can.

Relationships between Leviathan and Atolls are usually as bad as relationships between a
Leviathan and just about anyone. An Atoll may bestow Tranquillity upon a Leviathan, but
calming the Leviathan’s two monstrous natures isn't the same as removing them or removing
any scars the human mind might have from life in the Tribe. A tamed monster is still a
monster, and since even polite criticism from an Atoll can cause serious mental damage the
Atoll is stripped of any tools they might use to compensate. Like the Tribe themselves, an
Atoll must walk on eggshells to preserve the fragile minds of their “beloved”, but a broken
Leviathan can do far more damage than a mere mortal.

Atoll Merits

Fated Survivor (OO)

A Leviathan is a divine being and operates on many levels, one of them is the manipulation
of fate itself. It's a subtle effect, to an outside observer there is little difference between a
faster and more precise muscle system that strikes true and claws fated to strike true. But
sometimes a Leviathan’s fated nature makes all the difference.

Your character instinctively attunes to Leviathans’ fate warping effects and twists them to
ensure his own survival. This doesn't work if the Leviathan is actually trying to harm you, but
if a Leviathan inflicts indiscriminate carnage – be it sending a hurricane, unleashing a horde
of armed cultists, or inciting slaughter through its hypnotic song – you're likely to survive. The
winds part around you. The cultists or madmen's eyes slide over you.

In mechanical terms any dice roll to stay safe when the Leviathan might accidentally harm
you is a Rote Action. If the Leviathan wants you to be harmed you gain no protection.
Psychic Proficiency (O)

Prerequisite: A psychic merit.

One curious, but perhaps unsurprising, fact about Atolls is that many of them are psychic.
While only a minority of Atolls have psychic abilities beyond the Atoll Template or Atoll
specific merits; the proportion of Atolls with mental abilities is orders of magnitude greater
than the proportion of the general population with psychic abilities.

In addition to increasing the odds of psychic powers, whatever rare genetic marker or other
trait that creates an Atoll often bestows uncanny proficiency with psychic abilities. Many
Atolls find themselves exempt from the problems faced by most psychics. With this Merit an
Atoll can ignore the Drawback from psychic Merits.

Drawback: Without a Drawback inflicting Conditions you forgo an opportunity for Beats.

Sidebar: Atoll no Longer

While Atolls often have supernatural merits, an Atoll cannot be a supernatural being. If an
Atoll acquires any major template they lose their unique abilities.

Minor templates are more complex. Acquiring a minor template that imposes a change to the
Atoll's fundamental nature will end their time as an Atoll. Turning an Atoll into the Vampire, a
Ghoul, or a Wolf-Blooded is as sure to enrage a Leviathan as simply killing that Atoll.

However minor templates that merely represent the acquisition of knowledge or resources
are compatible with being an Atoll. There is nothing stopping an Atoll from becoming a
Thaumaturge (see WoD Second Sight) for example. Supernatural merits that don’t require a
minor template are typically available to Atolls, many Atolls have psychic abilities.

Minor templates that result from an infusion of the Tribe’s power are closed doors to Atolls. It
is impossible for an Atoll to become a: Beloved, Ahab, Hybrid or a Primordial Theurgist.

Of course there are rumours. Leviathans talk about a hidden sects of Vampire scholars who
found a way to reactivate an undead Atoll's powers. Of mad scientists who studied Atolls and
replicated their powers through towers of steel and lighting. Of alien fae beings even mightier
than a Leviathan who took people apart and rebuilt them as Atolls because of some
inscrutable whim.

But there are always rumours, and in the Tribe most rumours are just empty talk.

Virtue Imprinting (O)

When a Leviathan imprints upon you, it gains your Virtue for as long as it remains imprinted.
If you have the Virtuous Merit the Leviathan gains both Virtues.

Wake Muter (OOOOO)

Some Atolls are have a much stronger effect than others. With this Merit an Atoll doesn't just
block the currents of the Tempest, they block the Wake too. Leviathans in contact with this
Atoll essentially have no Wake at all, though they may still use Channels that only affect
Wake vulnerable individuals.

A full drain on a Wake wears off faster than imprinting. It lasts Integrity – Sheol days from the
last time the Atoll and the Leviathan had face to face contact. A Leviathan may spend three
points of Willpower to extend it for an extra day.

Wake Reflection (OOO)

An Atoll is a barrier against the Tempest, but some don't just block the Tribe's psychic
nature, they reshape it. They suck it in and funnel it out the other end. So long as a
Leviathan is imprinted on the Atoll and the Atoll is within its Wake they may spend a point of
Willpower to gain all the mechanical benefits and drawbacks of the Wake for a scene.

If the Atoll creates Beloved, those Beloved belong to the Leviathan. Of course, the Atoll can
use a Leviathan’s Wake on its Beloved.