Since Cetus was a child, he had a fascination with the lives of those who dwelled, not within the tides like his people, but on the earthen ground. As his pod went out on hunts led by the matriarch, his own mother, he would often venture out from the Grotto, navigating the maze of underwater caverns and passageways adeptly to make it out into the wide oceanic expanse. It was there he would watch the land dwellers, atop their constructions of wood that grazed upon the waves. He would observe them, the way they breathed the air yet couldn't survive a moment when submerged into the depths by the other Kivren. He saw how they walked, how they spoke to one another in their strange tongue, and how many seemed to fight amongst one another atop their masses of driftwood. He picked up many words from them, adapting them to his own use. He even attempted to walk on his own, experiencing his first taste of the pain that accompanied the Kivren's gift of being changelings.

As he grew older, his mother as Matriarch of the pod needed a successor. Killed during a hunt, a profound honor as it showed her service and dedication, a new leader had to be found. Without a suitable daughter, the title of passed on to Cetus, the first Patriarch and male leader of his pod. It was then that he learned of the Gift of Kiva, training to use it to great efficiency at defending his people. However, he wasn't satisfied with just his pod. No, nor was he content with the land dwellers crossing into Kivren hunting grounds with no regard for their living there. He decided he needed an empire, one to hold dominion over the seas and unify the pods of Kivren.