What is the Lost River skeleton?

JamezorgJamezorg United Kingdom Join Date: 2016-05-15 Member: 216788Members
I think it's time we really put our heads together and speculate about what that giant-ass dead creature in the Lost River actually is, and if we've ever actually heard about it in PDA entries or data downloads, so on. I'm going to split this post up into a few sections; one discussing some points that we should all bare in mind when thinking about this and and another where I talk about some of my personal theories or speculation (with balanced arguments, for and against my ideas). Let's all start theorising about this! I get excited about theories and stuff, so this should be cool :)

Points:

This creature didn't die recently; it is overgrown and buried half in the ground.
It's not really a creature that we've seen before, or maybe it is but I'll get to that in a bit.
It's bones aren't particularly damaged, so I guess it wasn't killed (at least not physically, and at least not from the side we see).

That's all the points I really know, but maybe there are some more. I'll leave it up to you guys' common sense, if you're all okay with that :)

Personal Speculation:

In my mind there are two creatures that this could really be (at least that we know about), and they're both Sea Dragons, which I think this could possibly be, considering its position on the map and the fact that that is the closest creature that looks like it. Anyway, the first of these two creatures I have in mind (and this could only really be right at a stretch. A really, really big stretch but it's worth bringing up) is the Sea Dragon that Marguerit fought just before the Degasi survivors perished. The story goes that when the Degasi survivors were living in their Deep Grand Reef base, and they had found out they were sick, they attempted the exact same thing the Precursors attempted (rounding up lifeforms to try and find one immune to the bacterium). It sounds as though (due to descriptions given in data downloads) this creature was a young Sea Dragon (a large creature that uses tentacles to attack, which is something that we don't see happen in-game, but something that we're certain happens in the lore). The Dragon has been injured by Marguerit and Bart and Paul want nothing to do with her after this. Other Sea Dragons follow the trail of the young one, and eventually they attack the Degasi base. Marguerit grabs a chunk of metal, stabs one of the beasts in the neck and they trail into the murk. We don't know how large the creature was, but due to Marguerit's brash nature and her drive to follow her order (the protection of Bart and Paul) no matter what, she probably would have fought off the largest, most dangerous Dragon. Maybe this is the skeleton in the Lost River? Probably not, I don't exactly believe it, but I thought it was worth bringing up.

The next possibility is that this creature was the Sea Dragon that broke out from the nearby Precursor Facility and infected 4546B. The creature escaped and swam as far as it could before dying in the Lost River Bone's Field.
I love this theory, and I have a few head canons about it that no one else will really believe, but I'm going to bring them up anyway because they might hold some water (eyyy???). For me this explains why the creature looked so big and so different to Sea Dragons today: evolution. Over the course of about a thousand or two years they adapted, and changed. It also explains to me why the Lost River is so 'Lost'. Maybe this is where the Carar is most potent, since this is where the main source of the infection died. Maybe this is why the water here is so green and toxic, and why there are so many different types of creature skeletons here; because a lot of creatures died here. Maybe this is why this area has so many unique creatures; because the ones we already know cannot survive the Lost River, and only adapted creatures can survive. Maybe River Prowlers and other fish that live here are immune to Carar, but they just weren't developed at the time of the Precursors.

Out of these two theories I think the second one is the most likely (if either of them are correct). Have you guys got any theories, or anything to add? Thanks for reading so much :)

Comments

  • AvimimusAvimimus Join Date: 2016-03-28 Member: 214968Members
    I assumed that it had migrated to lost-river in order to lay a clutch of 10,000 eggs and die (like some octopuses and other animals do). The whole lost river is basically a former nest (albeit in a naturally forming acidic biome).
  • eggs_and_sameggs_and_sam Join Date: 2016-12-04 Member: 224545Members
    It says in the wiki that "The Disease Research Facility was set up partially to study the skeleton in the Bones Field - the remains of a creature stated to be either a Sea Dragon Leviathan of sorts or a close genetic cousin of it." So that skeleton has probably been there for a very, very long time. Though I'm not certain where the wiki information comes from; can anyone confirm that this info is given either in-game or from one of the developers?
  • JamezorgJamezorg United Kingdom Join Date: 2016-05-15 Member: 216788Members
    It says in the wiki that "The Disease Research Facility was set up partially to study the skeleton in the Bones Field - the remains of a creature stated to be either a Sea Dragon Leviathan of sorts or a close genetic cousin of it." So that skeleton has probably been there for a very, very long time. Though I'm not certain where the wiki information comes from; can anyone confirm that this info is given either in-game or from one of the developers?

    I don't know if that's wholly true. It could have been made to study the skeleton, but it is heavily implied in Precursor data downloads that it was created specifically to fight Carar. I dunno, I might be wrong, but oh well :)
  • gunmetal563gunmetal563 Join Date: 2015-09-30 Member: 208239Members
    it's name is steve
  • Darwin-EvolutionDarwin-Evolution France Join Date: 2015-06-07 Member: 205310Members
    Wouldn't it be an freaky easter egg if you could extract some DNA from the bones using the transfuser?
  • phantomfinchphantomfinch West Philadelphia , born and raised on the playground is where I spent most of my days. Join Date: 2016-09-06 Member: 222128Members
    What I find freaky about the creature is that it has no predefined body section.
    To me the entire things seems like a neck or tail, and if it was a counsin of the sea dragon would it not also have arms and fingers?
  • BioluminescentBobBioluminescentBob Join Date: 2016-08-30 Member: 221908Members
    We could call it the immanis leviathan. (Immanis is the Latin word for monstrous.)
  • 999Antonio3849999Antonio3849 Emperor Aquarium Join Date: 2016-10-23 Member: 223324Members
  • gunmetal563gunmetal563 Join Date: 2015-09-30 Member: 208239Members
    the Immanis Leviathan sounds good
  • subnauticambriansubnauticambrian U.S. Join Date: 2016-01-19 Member: 211679Members
    edited December 2016
    Wouldn't it be an freaky easter egg if you could extract some DNA from the bones using the transfuser?

    Welcome... To Subnautica Park!

    Jokes aside, have we considered the possibility that the skeleton is a fossil? Even given the "intensified evolution" that occurs on 4546B (can't remember where I heard this :/), for a creature like that to emerge and then to go extinct would take at least thousands of years. Since we haven't seen any examples of those species in the wild, I think this could be likely IF (<-- big if) this is the case, that skeleton could be an organism that was fossilized a while and then uncovered in the lost river. Given proper sedimentation, and bone composition, acid/erosion could have eaten away the floor to expose the skeleton that was buried. The frigid state of the lost river seems to support this hypothesis as well, I'm no expert but I think that having a cold environment would be better for preservation.

    Overall, it would be a similar idea to how mammoth tusks are preserved in a real-life Siberia.
    A nice natGeo article on it:

    picture of mammoth tusk exposed in rock face, sort of like how skeleton is exposed in the lost river:
    681bl88ukt2j.jpg

    Lastly, here's a youtube video discussing the fine points of fossilization conditions.

    What do you think?
  • JamezorgJamezorg United Kingdom Join Date: 2016-05-15 Member: 216788Members
    We could call it the immanis leviathan. (Immanis is the Latin word for monstrous.)

    Immanis Leviathan it is!
    Wouldn't it be an freaky easter egg if you could extract some DNA from the bones using the transfuser?

    Welcome... To Subnautica Park!

    Jokes aside, have we considered the possibility that the skeleton is a fossil? Even given the "intensified evolution" that occurs on 4546B (can't remember where I heard this :/), for a creature like that to emerge and then to go extinct would take at least thousands of years. Since we haven't seen any examples of those species in the wild, I think this could be likely IF (<-- big if) this is the case, that skeleton could be an organism that was fossilized a while and then uncovered in the lost river. Given proper sedimentation, and bone composition, acid/erosion could have eaten away the floor to expose the skeleton that was buried. The frigid state of the lost river seems to support this hypothesis as well, I'm no expert but I think that having a cold environment would be better for preservation.

    Overall, it would be a similar idea to how mammoth tusks are preserved in a real-life Siberia.
    A nice natGeo article on it:

    picture of mammoth tusk exposed in rock face, sort of like how skeleton is exposed in the lost river:
    681bl88ukt2j.jpg

    Lastly, here's a youtube video discussing the fine points of fossilization conditions.

    What do you think?

    If we bend this a bit, it could help the Precursor Sea Dragon theory a little bit when you take into account accelerated evolution and fossilisation taking thousands of years. That's at a stretch, though, and a big stretch (it's probably not true at all). I am, however, sticking to this theory for now because it explains (for me, at least) why the Lost River is the way it is :)
  • BioluminescentBobBioluminescentBob Join Date: 2016-08-30 Member: 221908Members
    edited December 2016
    I think it would explain why there are so much skeletons in the lost river and how the immanis leviathan got in the cave. If it's true, the skeletons could be VERY old (millions of years).
  • phantomfinchphantomfinch West Philadelphia , born and raised on the playground is where I spent most of my days. Join Date: 2016-09-06 Member: 222128Members
    edited December 2016
    I have a theory that the skeleton isn't even from the same planet

    Now before you go "WHAT" I do have one peice of evidence and a lot of speculation.

    One of the warpers abilities is to warp predators to attack the player. Since the warpers ability are created by precursors, what as a last fail safe to sacure the loose dragon lavithan the precursors activated a "warper hub" that could warp any creature found within their empire, some evidence for this is the lack of any external limbs or a weird spine that is located at the bottom of the body instead of the top.
    The creature is also oddly short for such a large head and the physiology of the beast is much different from any other predators on the planet. If this was true it might explain how such a large creature appeared down there without any sustainable food source.

    *edit

    jbfjbm710g3j.jpg

    Even during the first drafts of the biome the skeleton had a spine and rib cage and it was also much longer
  • 999Antonio3849999Antonio3849 Emperor Aquarium Join Date: 2016-10-23 Member: 223324Members
    I believe the whole lost river orgin belongs to this creature so in a little bit I will post a MASSIVE and I mean MASSIVE Theory OK?
  • 999Antonio3849999Antonio3849 Emperor Aquarium Join Date: 2016-10-23 Member: 223324Members
  • 999Antonio3849999Antonio3849 Emperor Aquarium Join Date: 2016-10-23 Member: 223324Members
    So I belive that the creature once lived in the sparse reef which in this theory is currently the grandreef it soon was attack by an army of seadragons and all the chaos caused the grandreef to be destroyed and turned into sparse reef soon the creature was overwelmed and swam down tearing through the rock creating the valleys and such toward the blood kelp and it entered a lush cave then a sea dragon came tore a gash in its stomach causing the junk in there to go flying and the stomach acid combined with the large salt deposits created the brine and it lost all control and crashed into the rock slowly dying all life in the cave was obliterated but soon life from the grandreef and bloodkelp came in with seed stuck to them causing all life in the cave to return now becoming the lost river. All the other skeletons in the lost river. its prey and attackers
  • 999Antonio3849999Antonio3849 Emperor Aquarium Join Date: 2016-10-23 Member: 223324Members
    wow that took A LOOOOONG time to type
  • phantomfinchphantomfinch West Philadelphia , born and raised on the playground is where I spent most of my days. Join Date: 2016-09-06 Member: 222128Members
    So I belive that the creature once lived in the sparse reef which in this theory is currently the grandreef it soon was attack by an army of seadragons and all the chaos caused the grandreef to be destroyed and turned into sparse reef soon the creature was overwelmed and swam down tearing through the rock creating the valleys and such toward the blood kelp and it entered a lush cave then a sea dragon came tore a gash in its stomach causing the junk in there to go flying and the stomach acid combined with the large salt deposits created the brine and it lost all control and crashed into the rock slowly dying all life in the cave was obliterated but soon life from the grandreef and bloodkelp came in with seed stuck to them causing all life in the cave to return now becoming the lost river. All the other skeletons in the lost river. its prey and attackers



    *inhales deeply*
  • Bolo_NikeBolo_Nike On Top of Da Sea Join Date: 2015-08-06 Member: 206842Members
  • 04Leonhardt04Leonhardt I came here to laugh at you Join Date: 2015-08-01 Member: 206618Members
    Well I'm almost certain that it's dead.
  • Casual_PlayerCasual_Player That...is a really good question Join Date: 2016-08-30 Member: 221875Members
    It's the skeleton of a dead and really big fish. :)
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