I have such conflicting feelings about the gargantuan leviathan (Subnautica)
One the one hand, that thing is ridiculous. A prime example of coolness trumping realism (especially the mod that adds living ones to the game).
On the other hand, god it is so fucking cool though. Also the model in that mod is gorgeous and the sound design is sick as hell, personal preferences aside.
On a third, secret hand, I really really really wanna figure out what kind of environment would make that thing evolutionarily advantageous, it would be fascinating.
It would have to be before Crater even existed to make any sense.
Most of 4546b is deep. *deep* void. In the present period of the game, this void is empty save for the Ghosts of the Crater, and the Void Chalcs of the Arctic
But, the bacterium caused a mass extinction event, rapidly changing the life on the planet into something very different then what we see when we play.
So, here's some Speculation:
Before the Great Eruption. There was only black.
A deep, vast ocean of black, only the surface held light, but soon the waters were oppressed by the darkness.
On the surface, Ancient Floaters brought chucks of rock up from the depths, exposing them to sunlight, and allowing them to florish with life like miniature shallows, small fish, plants, and larger herbivores called these temporary islands home, before they sunk back into the briny black.
Hiding below, are the medium predators, hunting under the shade of the great rocks on anything that strays too far down from the safety of the shallow islands.
The next tier, the pressure begins to build, microscopic life is ubundant in the low life conditions. Larger Filter Feeders, ancestors of the reefbacks, are here.
Like the islands above, life grows around these large, moving reefs. Unlike their smaller modern counterparts however, the plant and animal life that takes root on and around them are more akin to the Blood Kelp zone, trailing pale luminescence behind them.
Heards of smaller herbivores follow them throughout the ocean; always moving. Why would they ever stop? There was no ground for miles and miles, and where they lived only moved forward. So they do too.
Larger Carnivores are on this layer, Ancestors of the Reapers and The Dragons. Hunting the living reefs and swallowing up the entire ecosystems surrounding them, fighting each other, corpses sunk deeper, never to be seen again.
The last layer. Is black
No light reaches here, only the remains if every other layer drifting down to the sea floor.
*This* is where the Garg is. The Gatekeeper of the sea floor. Smaller creatures, oddballs born of the immense pressure. Are ignored in favor of the Reaper and Dragon ancestors, it rises, lithe body twirling from the depth and mouth agape as it latches onto the already large leviathan and then sinks deep and deeper, letting its meal be crushed by the pressure before it even has to use it's teeth.
There aren't many of them, the deep can only hold so many at a time. They are immensely territorial, culling thier own numbers, thier corpses becoming whalefalls on the sea floor, another temporary ecosystem on layers of temporary ecosystems. A constant cycle of rising and sinking, death, and rebirth.
Nothing stays the same on 4546b. This is why the Emporers, the most intelligent lifeform on the planet, have the outlook on death as they do. They will die, feed the water; and in turn, they will return as something else, as the water feeds them once again.
