Conspiracy of the Deeps

A friend asked me what I would use to play a pirate game and while brainstorming different ideas the concept of using a pirate crew that has turned its back on society in order to fight a Lovecraftian conspiracy just lit my fire. So here we are.

I haven't read the book yet but will do so this week. I skipped to Chapter Six, page 101 and just started makin' up my own conspiracy. Here's what I came up with:

The core of the conspiracy is the Hungry Leviathan, Devourer of Atlantis. Beneath him are his spawn and two secret societies, one that has witness oddities on the seas and jealously guards mystical secrets and the other a group of nobles who wish to be spared when the world is once again flooded. Both of these groups are made up of cells in kingdoms and nations all over the old world and their conflicts have flared up in the island colonies of the New World.

Their ultimate goal is to flood the world, allowing the Leviathan to feed on the weak while the strong are kept alive in their Holy Arks.

Secret Society of the Holy Ark

Each one believes they are the sect that will truly be allowed to float above the Leviathan's feasting. They become members by being of noble birth and rising into the higher ranks of officer in a royal navy.

Brotherhood of the Flying Fish

The brotherhood claims its members from the rank and file sailors around the world. When a ship encounters one of the Leviathan's monstrous spawn or the body of one of the more humanoid breeds, most on the ship will keep mum. But one fool always has to stir up trouble and when they do, the brotherhood is there.

They offer membership and if they are willing to swear powerful oaths and pass several rough moral tests, they will be accepted to this bloodthirsty group.

The brotherhood has no idea of its ties to a beast of the deep that wishes to bring about the end of human existence. They only know that they are tied together by their experience with the mysteries of the seas and that their benefactors have ties to these mysteries. The head of each cell knows that their contact is in fact a sea monster that can walk like a human, a Deep Spawn.

The brotherhood and the royal society have in fact crossed swords but the Deep Spawn make sure the conflicts are never too destructive. The Deep Spawn administrate both groups and dole out artifacts from the fall of Atlantis, saved at the bottom of the sea or the Leviathan's bowels.

These items are mostly attuned to controling the weather, making storms, summoning sea monsters and such.

The players might know that there are sailors with tattoos of flying fish who often sleep in chapterhouses in most ports. And their stories should link them to naval officers who are rivals, having acted as amoral villains (but they won't know that they are doing so in an efforts to appease their undersea masters).

Questions:

What is in the island colonies of the pseudo-Carribean that the Leviathan gives a fuck about? Shouldn't he be hell-bent on getting folks to the poles to get those puppies a meltin'?

What do the resources of the islands mean to these people? What's there that is worth having?

Hm, stuff to think about. More later.