#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

[cas-spirit]

@ancha-aus has been making a Subnautica/UTMV au, and it got me thinking

(This is unrelated to ancha’s au, but she inspired this thinking exercise. Go check out her project!!! It's very interesting.) (Sorry if you don't like getting tagged Ancha)

What species I would give each Sans (I haven’t played below zero yet, so there are only animals from the original)

Classic: Gasopod

~~~They strike me as chill fish

Swap: Rabbit Ray

~~~Vibes

Fell: Biter

~~~It was between Biter and Crashfish, but I don't see Fell as that self destructive

Outer: Ampeel

~~~The white spots at the end of it's spikes makes me think of stars, especially if they were glowing in the dark ocean

Geno: Ghost Ray

~~~It was between Ghost Ray and Jellyray, but Ghost Rays appear in the Lost River, a hard to reach place like the Save Screen is

Ccino: Cuddlefish

~~~A friendly face for a friendly face

Farm: Skyray

~~~These guys are above water animals, so Farm can still do his namesake, probably watching over the farms previous crash survivors left behind

Epic: Warper

~~~These guys scared the shit out of me in my game. But, they're strong and purple

Color: Sea trader Leviathan

~~~He's absorbed six human souls, he can be a leviathan, but Color gives me the vibes of a wanderer, someone who can't stay in one place

Delta: River Prowler

~~~Vibes

Dust: Stalker

~~~Their whole sneaky factor reminds me of how Dust is normally quite, probably sneaking up on people without meaning to

Horror: Sand shark

~~~Exploding out of the ground makes me think of Horror and I can't explain why

Killer: Bone shark

~~~These guys are very persistent, almost followed me back to my base in my game

Cross: Crabsquid

~~~Apparently you can hatch these guys to guard your base? Literal guard behavior

Nightmare: Sea Dragon leviathan

Dream: Sea Emperor leviathan

~~~The difference between Dream being more of a peacekeeper/passive while Nightmare won't take shit/is more aggressive

Ink: Reefback OR Sea Dragon leviathan

~~~He plants multicolored coral on his back to look colorful OR being the one Leviathan with arm/hand adjacent limbs would be helpful for creating things

Error: Reaper leviathan

~~~Had to make him the most aggressive Leviathan

Reaper: Ghost leviathan

~~~While it was tempting to make him a reaper leviathan, he's not that aggressive. The Ghost leviathan's glow gives it an otherworldly feel, which I think matches the god of death.

(Bonus) Passive: Mesmer

~~~Vibes

[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

[paperpiperpeeperpopper]

Reefback,,

: ]

Me: :(

Reefback leviathan from Subnautica: *exists*

Me: :)

[gomzdrawfr]

Brain going BRRRRRRRRRR rn at all the tags you left on my posts /rbs ❤️❤️❤️

Also YES I'm a huge Subnautica fan. I've always been into both speculative biology and horror and Subnautica is literally the perfect game for me. It's terrifying even after a dozen playthroughs and I'm also super excited for the 2nd !!!!

hAIIiii just wait till you get the ask (i have to pause halfway to cook dinner and yes that's how long it is KAJSHDK) <333 the tags you leave on my post too they!!! keep!!!!! me!!!!! GOING!!! <3

I am forever traumatized by the Reaper's roar like, there's no recovery for that HAHA have you tried subnautica below zero??? goddd I love the game even if there were many negative reviews about it, I kinda hope the ui features (like pinned recipes - holy shit that is SO useful because I cannot recount the amount of time I have to go back into the sea to find freaking Quartz for the base upgrade LMAO) gets implemented to the next game if not the first xD

Very cool to find folks who shares the not one but two interest!!! Im so excited because Subnautica was one of the first few game I've ever bought hehe

here's some random screenshot I manage to find from my old files!

just bringing my lil guy to see Reefback Leviathan(they're my fav)

wonky base HAHA

[ryley-robinson]

Whales 🤝 Reefback Leviathans

Hey, what if we were really, really big.

[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.