#reefback leviathans are. leviathans

[kaiselline]

Subnautica doodles

[tokay-blog]

4- Neustonic

It's a bit of a shame that there are no amphibious creatures in the game at all, except as cut content

Nevertheless, when the reefbacks emerge, the organisms living on their backs become vulnerable, something predators would have successfully exploited.

[raindrop-stimmies]

Reefback leviathan stimboard!

🌊 💜 🌊

💜 🪸 💜

🌊 💜 🌊

[randygrim]

Subnautica doodles

[ryley-robinson]

:3

[blametheeditor]

Day 3 | Plush

Gt July Prompt List

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When stranded on an uncharted underwater planet, alone and surrounded by hostile lifeforms, there are only two possible outcomes: adapt and survive, or die trying.

Spoilers: For the game Subnautica

Content Warnings: Spoilers. Mentions of death and violence. Mentions of drowning and suffocation.

_________________________________

It took several close calls of diving too deep, overstaying his welcome, and getting trapped by a hostile lifeform for Fritz to get into a rhythm. And when he finally got one, his confidence of being able to not only survive one day at a time but even thrive at some point blossomed. 

Does he still make mistakes? Yes. Especially when he didn’t know the exact reason why something went after him even after taking every precaution imaginable. There’s also times when he thinks he’s in over his head, that he doesn’t know what he’s doing despite going into a cave he’s gone into several times before, and in those instances everything bad happens all at once.

So he stopped second guessing himself. More often than not going off of instinct. Most importantly, he’s started to write down everything.

Like how he named his lifepod Happy. Even though stalkers will chase after metal salvage, they are not to be treated like dogs. Creepvine is by far the most useful plant. Always scan a fragment if one is found. The seaglide is the only thing that matters. Reefbacks are his best friends. 

The last one took Fritz an embarrassing long time to figure out. Considering the fact reefbacks are so big they can effortlessly block out the sun, the idea of getting close to one made him want to swim as far away as possible in the opposite direction. Slowly but surely, however, he realized their size wasn’t something to be terrified of. Not when it comes to this lifeform at least. 

Don’t get him wrong, a voice in the back of his head still screams at him to stay away from such a massive creature every time he swims toward them. It’s impossible not to be scared of something that could eat him whole if it had the means to. They don’t, though. Confirmed it with a scan from a respectful distance. And no matter how many times he’s circled around them, he has yet to find any sort of mouth, even though it has a few human characteristics. 

That doesn’t mean they can’t say hi. Every time an eye as big as his head manages to spot him, without fail, a low hum will vibrate his very bones. 

Fritz winces from the tangible weight the sound possesses. He manages to keep his seaglide on course to be eyelevel with the leviathan, waving with a smile once his teeth aren’t chattering. “Good afternoon!” 

He’s given a blink in response. With greeting ritual complete, Fritz swims away and up, amazed to see an entire ecosystem that gives the reefback despite having seen it multiple times before. 

“You don’t have any harvestable barnacles, do you?” he asks with a careful sweep. Leaving alone the corals, acid mushrooms, and blood grass. Quickly avoids a biter before yelping and darting away when multiple chase him. 

Fritz makes a wide circle around the reefback, half convinced its laughing at him. Hopefully he’s able to make its slow journey an entertaining one. The least he can do for the generosity of allowing him to harvest materials. 

With the biters gone, he quickly darts over to the only barnacle he’s managed to spot. Gasps when it gives him a copper ore. 

“Finally!” the teenager exclaims, darting away again before anything else wanting a bite of him can take the opportunity. He swims up to the reefback’s eye again. “Thank you!” 

He’s given a blink. And considering the fact he’s saying things in a language it doesn’t understand, as well as being such a miniscule almost insignificant being, he greatly appreciates it tolerating his shenanigans. 

Fritz waves again before darting back to Happy as fast as possible. Because he finally has the last thing needed to build a seamoth. Even though he got the fragments ages ago and already made a radiation suit, materials for batteries eluded him. 

But now he has everything. Now he’ll have protection. 

It’s far from living a plush life, but Fritz won’t complain. He’s just happy to be alive. 

“I’m back, Happy!” he calls he quickly climbs into the lifepod to reach the storage, all but shoving everything needed into the fabricator to make a battery, than a power cell, leaving just enough to finally build a seamoth. 

Fritz beams as he throws the hatch open to dive back into the water, swimming up to the mobile vehicle bay that has been waiting patiently to be used, something he is more than happy to oblige. 

The button flashes once after he dispenses all of the necessary materials. Excitedly presses it to watch in awe as a ship is constructed right above him. Jumps and yells for absolute joy as it falls into the water with a splash. 

“Let’s go!” Fritz crows as he follows after it. Swims around the seamoth to admire its small size that will let him bring it into caves, a panel where upgrades and modifications can be added. 

And then he climbs into the little vehicle. Stares at the display promising to inform him when the hull gets damaged as well as ensuring he’ll have oxygen as long as it’s powered. Slowly grabs the wheel before carefully steering it forward. 

It’s fast. And intuitive. Lets Fritz zip around in a small circle as he laughs without worrying he’ll crash it. 

He won’t lie, despite its quickness, his heart skips a beat not being able to see what’s behind him. Swimming alone lets him easily look over his shoulder or tuck himself into a corner so nothing can sneak up behind him...most of the time. But it’s impossible to have a ship completely made out of glass. Having a camera would overload the circuit board and weigh it down. 

He’ll be fine. This is ten times better than being completely vulnerable in the vast open water. He just needs to adapt. 

...maybe it’s time to visit the Aurora. 

[katarinanavane]

Had to wait to post since this was a gift, but here's my drawing of a reefback leviathan from Subnautica!

[trollbreak]

Teefs my biggest guy btw she’s ten foot three on account of. Subnautica reefback leviathan. And he’s singing :3

[consumeroflemoans]

Hiiiii analyzing every part of the Subnautica 2 trailer that I can because I am unwell.

Starting off we have a diver in a deep empty abyssal-like area. Typically in the depths there is a source of bioluminescence or at least rock formations for light to reflect off of. The only place inside the game there’s this much empty darkness is the dead zone.

This could mean we have the chance to explore the dead zone! Or that there’s a new area that has similar features to the dark depths of the void.

This would be a banger feature to have considering how horrifying the dead zone is to traverse already. It would provide a new difficulty to the game if we had to confront or avoid packs of adult leviathans to progress.

The trailer then shifts to what could be the safe shallows or twisty bridges equivalent in this game. It seems we’re getting what looks like a proper reef! It’s super neat to see the game being more colorful with its environment design.

We also have a clear look at a new species of fish in this game. Considering its shape and large eye it could be a tropical/reef version of the peeper (or maybe the feather fish?). Or it could just be a new edible fish entirely!

All in all cool design. I do like how vibrant they look

Ok now for one of the most hype things in the trailer. Some sort of hermit crab based leviathan? It would be fascinating to have a leviathan that shows up in the shallows instead of only in deeper water. It could provide an additional challenge but I think this would be something similar to the reefback. Perhaps one of the elements of gameplay would be making it lift itself to access things hidden beneath it?

Next up we have what looks like an underwater city or at least a big building in the background. It’s pretty much a given there’s mysterious underwater structures in this franchise but I personally think it would be fascinating to have a proper Atlantis style city in Subnautica. This could also maybe incorporate the Architects into it? Like maybe after Al-An went to his home planet he brought back more Architects to cure the Kharaa and they set up a base.

Then again this also doesn’t exactly look like Architect architecture which is more of a cube structure. It looks closer like a temple’s architecture from what we can see. Maybe it could be a new alien species? That seems less likely

Next we have a specific feature that I am so hyped to see. It looks like Subnautica may be adding rip currants or something similar. Something that would actively make it more difficult for a player to swim to the surface. This would be so interesting because other than caves/islands/ice flows we generally never have something preventing us from going to the surface in Subnautica. Nothing actively pushing the player back at least. This would be a fresh new difficulty to get used to (if done correctly, at least. It could also be very annoying)

From there we get into something extra curious. It seems like we may have a second human in this game. Before Subnautica’s concepts have been based in the fact your character is alone on this planet with the odds against them. The way I see it, this addition can largely go three ways:

- a possible addition of a co-op system to Subnautica: unlikely, but it has been semi-popular in modding communities. People would have fun playing with their friends but I think it would take away from the horror aspect of Subnautica, one of its major draws

- a human companion that joins you in your journey: slightly more likely than multiplayer, but still not the direction I think they’d go. This could open the game to having puzzles that need two people and a companion could function similar to the sea monkey (bringing you needed items basically). This would also require a lot of AI and would probably be more annoying than anything else, however

- someone like Marguerite or Al-An that shows up in cutscenes and phone calls but mostly stays in one place: the most likely scenario. It could be we have a home base of sorts where this person is stays and gives the player hints and coordinates

Also as a note the vehicle she’s driving looks like a sea truck. Please oh please tell me it is not Sea Truck 2.0

Aaaand now we’re onto the most hype part of the trailer. We have a new leviathan!

This one looks a lot like a Kraken type with a bunch of limbs. It could maybe be related to the crab squids? Like a dead zone version of them? It could explain why it’s attracted to the vehicle

Or as a completely out there theory this could maybe be architect technology like the warpers? It may just be me but the way it moves its hands and its claws are very much reminiscent of heavier machinery. It would be so banger if the architects built themselves a leviathan.

Either way it would be fascinating to encounter a leviathan with the ability to seek out a grab a player with ‘hands’. Before creatures typically grab with their mouths or pinchers like the Reaper. This would be an interesting twist to learn to avoid

In conclusion I am unwell about this game and the theories are buzzing. I am so hyped

[cynautica]

no peeper leviathans or gargantuans

[crowskulls-art-and-fandoms]

Big reveal,

I am both a Subnautica fan and a massive nerd.

And these two things have mashed together for this project.

To reconstruct this animal, I've dubbed the Juggernaut Leviathan (I don't know if there's a canon name and I don't care)

My outlook on it has changed, as is the custom with what is basically paleontology, but I've finished what is my first reconstruction.

In the first reconstruction I based its biology on Leviathans like Sea Dragons and Sea Emperors, particularly Sea Dragons with the similar shape. With what appear to be limb sockets and how close together they are, and the lack of extremity bones at first glance, I had the idea of it having weaponized tentacles. And since its very skeleton is its armor then it would most likely be under a layer of flesh or skin, and its skin in general is very thick and good for defense against the Leviathans that could hunt it, of which Sea Dragons seem the most likely. There is also a lack of bones within the armor, so my first thought was some kind of armored carnivorous mollusk-type creature, the only bones in its body being its natural armor to protect its vital organs. With its blunt, rounded, thick armored head it may have been a ram feeder, which would make more sense for it to have lived in the open ocean, or the entrances to cave systems where it could ambush passing prey, because a creature of that size ram feeding in deep caverns seems rather unlikely. Capable of using its tentacles, with their lower half lined in sharp spines, to hold its prey in place while it fed. Basing off of other carnivores like Reapers, Stalkers, and Sea Dragons, it possibly didn't have lips, just the teeth lining its mouth. And with the blunt head shape, large teeth and possibly very strong bite force, there's a chance it could break open the shell of a Reefback and feed on them as well. There isn't much to say about its eyesight as it is said that most Leviathans rely on hearing more than sight, but at the same time it seems to have an eye structure unique from other Leviathans.

These were my initial thoughts of the Juggernaut Leviathan, but since then I have thought of other potential natures it could have had, even a completely different appearance. I'll probably post the development as I have more ideas and more knowledge on what its fossil's features could mean.

Hope you enjoy, peace and chicken grease.

[paperpiperpeeperpopper]

Reefback,,

: ]

Me: :(

Reefback leviathan from Subnautica: *exists*

Me: :)

[ryley-robinson]

Whales 🤝 Reefback Leviathans

Hey, what if we were really, really big.

[blametheeditor]

Day 8 | Shipwreck

Gt July Prompt List

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When stranded on an uncharted underwater planet, alone and surrounded by hostile lifeforms, there are only two possible outcomes: adapt and survive, or die trying.

Spoilers: For the game Subnautica

Content Warnings: Mentions of death and violence. Mentions of drowning and suffocation. Referring to someone as 'it'.

________________________

Fritz stares at the sight in front of him. Pinches himself to make sure he’s awake. He doesn’t open his eyes to see the inside of the lifepod, neither does his seamoth floating a few feet away disappear. 

I left that at the trench, hadn’t I?

After a moment of remembering everything that happened yesterday, including being followed by the leviathan that has attacked him before, he distinctly remembers leaving his sub behind at the trench. That’s the same thing he remembered before he dove into the water, fully prepared for the journey to retrieve it, expecting there to be nothing but parts waiting. 

But it’s right in front of him. And even though he’s still learning about this planet and how to survive, he’s confident that shouldn’t be possible. 

Fritz turns in a full circle to see if there’s anything out of place. Maybe a new mountain from an earthquake that landed the seamoth here, or signs of a powerful wave that brought it to the safe shallows, or maybe even a stalker expecting fish as a reward for surrendering what would’ve been a goldmine of metal salvage. There’s nothing, though, the seabed completely undisturbed and no shadows or large figures lurking in the distance. 

He takes one last look around before swimming toward the sub. Worried it might vanish when he gets too close, or maybe get pulled away, but he’s able to grab onto the hatch. Climb inside to be welcomed aboard with 80% power and minimal damage. 

Wait, minimal? 

Climbing back out, Fritz circles around the seamoth to see what he managed to do this time. Maybe his frantic escape had it slam into the ridge? He thought he was careful with keeping a good distance from the Aurora so a current wouldn’t send his sub crashing into but it might not’ve been far enough. And the leviathan had been close, yet there wasn’t a shipwreck waiting for him. 

He doesn’t find any scratches. No sizeable dent from running into something. But there are four small dents on different corners. Ones that are thin but deep, almost looking like punctures. And there’s only one creature that’s capable of making such a unique dent. 

Fritz looks around him again to try and spot the leviathan. It’s mostly done to see if it’s near rather than from fear it’ll attack because...this is a truce, isn’t it? He’s been giving it fish, he stopped radiation from infecting the water, and then the sub he abandoned just appears. Even if it decided to inspect the sub when he was on the Aurora, that doesn’t discount the fact it hadn’t destroyed it and returned it back to him undamaged. 

Which means not only is it intelligent to figure out where Fritz stays, it also feels gratitude, and that means they might be able to come to an understanding! 

The excitement of learning the leviathan does has sentience like the reefbacks doesn’t overshadow the fact that species in particular is still an incredibly dangerous one. His seamoth is in one piece now, but he can never forget the first time he was attacked. And if he didn’t bring enough peepers with him on his trip then there might’ve been another one. 

So he will be careful and cautious as he tries to figure out a way to communicate. And that means getting upgrades and finding blueprints to build a cyclops. 

Jumping into the seamoth, Fritz makes his way toward a wreck he spotted among the underwater islands but couldn’t wear his rebreather to explore. And now that the reactor’s cores have been repaired, he and everything else on this planet will never have to worry about radiation again. 

Due to it being a fairly straight shot to the wreck, he makes sure to frequently check behind him in case the leviathan or any others appear. Reefbacks have only managed to sneak up on him once and he’ll never be able to live it down. Thankful he manages to make it without any incidents other than realizing the wreck is teeming with bonesharks, and he only brought a few boomerangs. 

“...I can grab a few more boomerangs,” Fritz murmurs as he pilots the seamoth further back to keep out of the shark’s range. He doesn’t like the thought of facing the carnivores along, and needing to be extra careful with checking his oxygen, but he’d rather not have Lefty get destroyed here. Not when he’s 200 meters deep and 900 meters away from home. 

Climbing out into the water he manages to immediately a boomerang. One that’s tossed with a gasp at the sight of a boneshark coming straight toward him. 

It chases after the fish and ignores him to hunt down another one, not even sending a glance at the seamoth. Which is good because his sub won’t get headbutted. The bad part is making the teenager’s heart pound barely a minute into this adventure. 

I’m loosing air.

Fritz takes a deep breath, checks nothing else will take a bite out of him, and then dives down with his seaglide toward the ground. Softly whoops when he finds a plethora of cyclops fragments. He scans every single one before turning his attention back toward the wreak itself. 

It’s a lot bigger than he thought it would be. The ones in the safe shallows tend to be on the smaller size, not to mention completely on solid ground. This particular one, while it looks stable is still suspended above open water. 

He’ll admit, he doesn’t know why he chose this one out of all of them. As soon as underwater islands are involved, his heart jumps into his throat every time he passes over one knowing anything can be underneath. 

But he can do this. 

Jumping into the seamoth and then right back out to replenish his air, Fritz swims directly into the open doorway, stumbling upon a...fragment. One that doesn’t look like anything he’s scanned before. At least his PDA confirms it is something new, calling it a ‘prawn suit’. Isn’t that what everyone in the cargo bay used to move heavy items around? 

...doesn’t that mean it sinks? 

A shiver travels up Fritz’s spine at the thought. He’ll scan for the fragments! He has a feeling he will never touch it, though. Wrinkles his nose when he finds another part of the blueprints instead of an upgrade or an addition to the cyclops. 

Forcing a door open and he finds yet another addition for the prawn suit, but also a power cell charger. Darts back out for more air and barely avoid getting whacked by a boneshark tail. Admittedly struggle to open another door, only to find nothing except a sealed entry. 

Fritz digs through his pack in search of a laser cutter, distinctly remembering collecting enough fragments for it. He could’ve sworn he used the fabricator to make one. Because one of the other wrecks needed it to open the door. 

He doesn’t find it. He did make it though, hadn’t he? There shouldn’t have been anything holding him back. If he checks his PDA, it’ll say...diamond. 

Oh. Right.

For every biome he’s visited, he hasn’t seen any diamonds. Which might be due to him never swimming down far enough it certain places. And he knows he can’t be selective about that kind of thing, but he’s doing the best he can! 

“Okay, change of plan,” Fritz begins as he looks through the rest of the blueprints he’s gathered. “Put a pause on this, get a diamond, and-" 

Hold on, the cyclops is available now. He can build a bigger ship! So, final plan, put this on pause and search for materials including diamonds. Optimistically he’ll be able to make both the ship and tool quickly and within a short timeframe. No matter what happens or which comes first, at least he’s still a lot closer to almost never having to worry about his safety again. 

As he swims out of wreck, he takes a moment to watch a tornado of boomerangs gently swimming in front of him. Well aware there’s bonesharks near, but he’s still by the doorway. It’s nice to just watch the wildlife sometimes. There’s rarely been time to, and sometimes he can’t help but feel like he might be missing out always getting into the lifepod before dark. He can only imagine how spectacular everything looks when all the light is from the planet’s inhabitants. 

That’s when he finally looks toward where Lefty waits and stares directly into pitch black eyes bigger than his head. 

Fritz can’t breathe for a moment at the realization the leviathan is currently watching him as it slowly swims closer. Almost looking like it’s hovering in place. 

There’s peepers in his pack. There’s enough time to get into the wreck if it attacks. But his air is slowly running out and the safest way to restore is sitting only a few feet away from a predator. Just because he was thanked this morning doesn’t mean the leviathan traveling almost an entire mile from their usual spot has pure intentions. They could just be curious. They could be waiting for him to act like prey to eat. 

They stare at each other for several minutes. The leviathan’s mandibles then shift, prompting Fritz to carefully swim back a foot. They both go still except for a glance down at the seamoth. 

The massive creature suddenly whips around, a tail flick sending a powerful current that sends Fritz tumbling into the wreck with a soft shriek, frantically covering his head and neck as he hits a wall. After checking his HUD and not feeling any broken bones, the teenager frantically scrambles back to the doorway to see what it did. 

Watches as the leviathan grabs his sub with two of its four powerful mandibles and then begins to swim away. 

Hold on!

“Hey!” Fritz calls after them, unable to help it. Tenses when he realizes exactly what he did in trying to gain the attention of something that can swallow him whole. Expecting the sub will be dropped so he can get snatched up instead. But it just continues to swim away. 

The leviathan stole his seamoth. 

His HUD flashes red to say he only has 30 seconds remaining. Grabbing his seaglide, with a fearful and bewildered look after the fleeing form Fritz swims up to the surface as fast as possible, keeping an eye out for the leviathan but never stopping. 

He reaches open air just in time. Takes a moment to breathe as he stares down a nauseating depth, hoping nothing comes out of the darkness to grab him. Part of him is glad he doesn’t see any sign of the leviathan, meaning they’re most likely going back to where the lifepod floats in the safe shallows. The also means Fritz is completely stranded. 

He might never know why his seamoth got snatched away. Maybe they thought it would be helpful. Maybe it was assumed if he leaves it alone in the open that he’ll just come back for it on a different day. 

Whatever the reason is, Fritz will be staying within a small radius for a while. First, he needs to swallow his terror and start on the long journey home. As long as he stays on the surface and checks behind him, he’ll be fine. 

At least he’s got plenty of time to think about how he can explain when his seamoth can be stolen. As well as imagine all the possibilities as to why a leviathan would want it. 

[sagasolejma]

Favorite leviathan class lifeform???

The reefback leviathan obviously