Illustration

Thalacysm

Sydney Weibel

Exhibition

See it On Campus: Level 1

Visitor Info

Thalacysm is a video game concept art project focused on the deep sea and the creatures that reside within it.

“Awakening in the furthest depths of the ocean, the embark on a journey to reunite with humanity. However, along your travels you come across numerous incredible, but strange creatures. You find once familiar species worshipping gods, living in cities, and are even capable of communication. With their help, you begin the 36,000ft ascent to the surface.

But how did these creatures adapt and evolve so rapidly? How are you going to survive long enough to reach the surface? And why do the creatures you encounter only get more deformed the higher up you are? 

Use the information you gather to craft supplies, upgrade equipment, and ultimately piece together the truth that binds humanity to the depths.”

Instagram: @noomru

Email: noomruArt@gmail.com

This project is comprised of four illustrations depicting core scenes in the game and eleven field journal pages that describe some of the creatures you would encounter while playing the game.

The Depths

The first area of the game takes place in the deepest trenches of the ocean. The player wakes up in front of a brine pool with little memory of how they got there. They quickly realize that things aren’t quite right when they meet a nudibranch. Instead of being only a few inches long, this one is more than 10-feet-tall and able to communicate with them.

I don’t understand how this is possible. Even the largest known species couldn’t surpass 20 inches, yet here, standing in front of me, is a 10-foot-tall nudibranch. Even more astounding is that it… spoke to me? Maybe the ocean's pressure is getting to me, but I swear I could not only hear it, but understand it too. It told me it found me by the “resting grounds” (the brine pool?) and watched over me until I woke up. It led me to its colony which had set up residence in a whale fall. It seems like these nudibranchs operate almost like a church. They worship the fallen whales and claim they are blessings from the “blue above”. The longer I rest here, the more I’m convinced I’ve lost it. It must be some kind of narcosis that developed while I was unconscious, because otherwise I have been talking with sentient nudibranchs that have developed an organized religion. If this is all somehow real and I really have discovered a new form of intelligent life, then I should be cautious about what they have told me. While discussing the whale falls, they mentioned something called “The Harvest”. They didn’t describe much, and I was in too much shock to ask any questions, but they did say it was a sudden and massive influx of food in the deep. Thousands, if not millions, of fish and aquatic mammals sunk down around the same time. The nudibranchs regarded this as a reward from the great beyond for their faith, but I fear its true cause.
I’m going to try not to dwell on that for now though, my mind is still shaken from my fall and I feel like I’m constantly fighting off migraines. Once I’m more settled, (whatever that means now) I’ll come back to this.

They guide the player back to their settlement so they can safely recuperate. While speaking with them, the nudibranchs mention something called “The Harvest,” however they don’t elaborate furthers and the player is unable to ask any questions before being ushered forward

It shows you a path forward, towards another civilization. Upon making the treacherous climb up the trench walls, you reach:

The City

Down a path adorned by whale ribs stands a massive field of hydrothermal vents. Even from a distance, the player can see a variety of different creatures swimming around the smoke stacks. Although they get the chance to meet many of those creatures when they arrive, the most notable of them all is the yeti crab.

It seems the nudibranchs aren’t the only sentient life down here. These yeti crabs have turned a hydrothermal vent field into a massive city. While a variety of sea creatures live here, what I find most fascinating is that the yeti crabs have evolved into different, distinct morphologies to work certain jobs. The one I’ve drawn here is by far the most common that I’ve seen. I’ve been internally referring to them as the “citizen crabs” as their form allows for the most versatile work. However, I’ve also seen crabs with incredibly long and slender arms (worker crabs), crabs with significantly more hairy (farmer crabs), and crabs that are very broad with large pincers (guard crabs). I’m tempted to denote them as separate species given the wide array of forms, but to properly do so would require me to know more specific information about them and seeing how I currently their guest, however absurd that may be, I feel like it would be rude of me to probe them about their biology at the current moment.

These crabs act as guardians of the vent city. Wielding a tube worm like a staff, they oversee all the residents and ensure everyone is safe. The crab takes the player on a tour of the city, showing them around and introducing them to some of the residents.

These little guys seem to be messengers down here. I can’t say I’m too surprised given their numbers, but it’s so interesting that this vent ecosystem has evolved to the point where a fish could have a job like this, or even have a job at all! With how much food there is in the deep now, I’m sure they’ve finally surpassed ants in being the most populated animals on earth!
This beautiful squid seems largely unchanged compared to the other creatures I’ve met so far. The most I’ve noticed is a change in skin texture on its head. As I was looking at it, though, I realized that I could really benefit from the marine snow collection method it uses. Before I left the vents, I asked a nearby crab if they had any spare cloth-like material and, lucky for me, they did. With it, I was able to fabricate something akin to an umbrella that I can use to collect snow while on my journey to the methane seep. No more digging around in the ground for me!
To say that these little (big) guys are cute would be an understatement - look at them! On the surface they do seem to be more intimidating than before, but the moment you come up to greet them they begin acting more like a dog than anything else. The yeti crabs seem to keep them as pets because of this, and I don’t blame them. What I find fascinating is that I noticed they use their antennas to emote, much like how humans do with our eyebrows. It’s incredibly endearing, but I’m also incredibly curious as to why this adaptation occurred. Was it to seem more loveable to the yeti crabs so they didn’t have to worry about being fed? Unfortunately, I think this will have to be a question for another day. I’m not complaining though, this just means I have an excuse to come back and hang out with these little guys again.

During the tour, the player is able to ask what The Harvest was and why it was so important to the nudibranchs.

They explain that for as long as they remember the deep was a cruel, barren place. Food was rare and friends were rarer, is was a place were only the most ruthless could survive. Occasionally, when a large enough surface creature died, the body would sink down below and create an oasis for the grizzled depth dwellers. Simply having the access to food allowed the creatures to co-exists, even if just for a short while. The nudibranchs worshipped these bodies, claiming they were gifts from a god above.

One fateful day, a new body fell to the depths. Then another. Then thousands. Then millions. The nudibranchs said it was a divine gift, a reward for their faith and named the event “The Harvest“. The creatures of the depths suddenly had surplus of food. There wasn’t a need to isolate out of fear anymore, so they came together to build a new system of survival: a system that rewarded community, not predation. As a byproduct as this, the creatures of deep were also able to rapidly evolve. Since their offspring no longer had to fight to survive, new adaptations were able to flourish and bloom.

By the time the story is over, the pair had fully traversed the city. Knowing that for The Harvest to have occurred, some sort of tragedy must have happened on the surface, the player is now determined to return to home. They ask the crab for directions and supplies, and, knowing what they had to do, the crab obliged.

Now, with a motive and a way forward, the player presses on towards:

The Seep

The arrive at a methane seep, an area where gas under the ocean floor collects and bubbles up. This particular seep is located in a mid-ocean ridge, providing shelter for the creatures living there. In particular, it provide shelter for a lone yeti crab, the player’s new guide.

The crab in the city told you about them: they couldn’t abandon the fear that remained from the old days, so left the city to ensure their safety. However, they still care for their species and will help out those sent to them, including the player. The other residents of the seep haven’t adopted the communal lifestyle found in city, so crossing the ocean ridge will be a matter of stealth – one that wouldn’t be possible without a local’s knowledge of the area.

During the crossing, the pair encounter a haunting sight: a lone, disfigured oarfish.

I’ve never been a superstitious person - I maintain that all of that is for people who just want a scapegoat - but I might have to rethink one superstition. I get what everyone says now: oarfish are doomsday fish. I hate to apply such an ominous title to such a beautiful fish, but seeing it glide through the valleys of the methane seep left such a visceral, unsettled feeling in my bones that I don’t know if I can deny it. It certainly didn’t help that the poor creature’s eyes have seemingly been gauged out or otherwise decayed. I couldn’t get a close look though, my guide, a yeti crab, pulled me out of sight every time it drew near. I asked why we had to be so careful around it, but she would only say that it wasn’t safe to be around it.

When they finally exit the seep, they encounter another striking creatures. Thankfully, this one’s a welcome sight.

Despite how long I’ve researched the deep, I’ve never had the honor to see a giant siphonophore in person. And to say they have exceeded my expectations would be an extreme understatement. Their body seemingly goes on for miles, built out of millions or billions of individual zooids. They all stem from an eerily skull-shaped head. Within that head glows a small, pulsing light that gets echoed down their body. From what the yeti crab told me, they use these lights to send messages across the ocean. It’s an incredible adaptation that also secures their safety since so many creatures rely on their signals. I’ve never seen a creature so universally loved and protected by the other inhabitants of the deep. I didn’t ask them much, I don’t even know what I could ask. Despite my time in the Vents, it’s still hard for me to comprehend the level of intelligence these creatures hold. I was able to ask about my path forward, though. They guided me towards a sunken ship, but warned me of its inhabitants. Unfortunately, I think I’ll have to wait until I get there to figure out what they mean.

Using it’s web of knowledge, the siphonophore directs the player towards a sunken ship. While it will help replenish their supplies, the ship is home to a host of hostile creatures. It’s a treacherous road, but one they must take if they want to make it back to the surface.

The Ship

The ship, as the siphonophore foretold, contained a major threat: a giant spider crab. Besides it’s massive stature, the most shocking thing about this crab is the fact that it’s very aggressive. Crabs are typically scavengers and only hunt themselves when it’s convenient. This crab, however, is actively seeking out prey, and that includes the player. They must make their way through the remains of the ship, gathering whatever materials they can, before the spider crab can catch them.

Once they escape, they know they must keep moving forward, that the surface isn’t much further, but which way is up? Suddenly, as they’re weighing their options, a feeble fish swims into view.

I was grateful that my helmet obscured my face while I spoke to this fish. I don’t want to pity it, but the state that humans left it in breaks my heart. Coelacanths have always been referred to as living fossils, and that is now more true than any before. Its flesh is peeling off the bone, leaving its skeletons and organs exposed. I couldn’t help asking how old it was, but it couldn’t answer me, it had long since forgotten. Regardless, I am unfortunately quite certain that age is not what’s causing its body to decay. The way its flesh peels and tears is reminiscent of radiation damage. It looks like my fears of the war going too far might be true. Despite the damage to its body, its mind remains. It told me that the sunlit zone has become beyond dangerous, that the predators there are relentless and the prey are few. It gave me safe directions to a city, saying that the siphonophore I met told it to. I could tell, though, if it weren’t for the siphonophore it would have left me for dead. The hatred in its eyes ran deep. But I can’t really blame it. Given what humans have done to its species, to all of the ocean really, I will accept whatever hate it has for me. I hope I can help it after all of this is over.

With its help, the player presses forward, ready to return home or to whatever remains of it…

This is where the story leaves off for now, but the journey continues. I will be continuing this project on my own and aim to turn it into a real game one day. Below, I have three more journal pages with their accompanying text.

I definitely can’t judge the coelacanth’s attitude towards me now, not after I’ve seen what’s become of this basking shark. What used to be a peaceful filter feeder has become an aggressive predator, and that’s not even mentioning the rot eating away at its body. The gill rakers inside its mouth have developed into curved, pointed teeth - acting almost like a basket trap, though much more brutal. It charges towards prey, using the power in its giant body to outspeed pretty much everything. Strangely, this isn’t the morphological change I’m most intrigued by. This basking shark is white, but I don’t believe this is a case of albinism or leucism. Albinism would make the shark significantly lighter and leucism would turn it fully white, but the strange thing is that there is patterning on the shark despite its color. Because albinism and leucism work in extremes regarding pigmentation (depigmentation and hypopigmentation, respectively) they rarely allow for a fish’s patterning to show through. And even though a basking shark’s patterns are very subtle, they still exist. And I can see them here. This sort of coloration is incredibly uncommon for predators, as bright colors mean they can be easily spotted by their prey. It’s obvious to me that the sheer amount of radiation in the water is, at the very least, partially involved, but I also think this new environment is also partially to blame. Because the city blocks provide so much cover while hunting, camouflage becomes much less important.
While this eel looks far more alive than the basking shark, I can’t say I’m too happy about it. I regret every single time I called a moray eel goofy looking, it’s no longer goofy and I’m no longer laughing. This eel has grown massively in size and in appetite. It abandoned its former ambush hunting method, now hunting down whatever it comes across using its new adaptations. A bulbous mass has formed on its trunk, just behind its gills. It seems that this mass contains a sort of toxin that it releases into the water to paralyze prey. It’s hard to tell from a distance, but it appears to be that the veins running down the mass act as the release point for this toxin. It’s hard to say for sure though, and I’m not about to move in closer for a better look. The other main adaptation isn’t new, but it is definitely different. Its pharyngeal jaws have not only grown, but they’ve moved up its throat to rest just behind its primary jaws. I haven’t seen them in action, but I imagine that instead of just securing prey they now have a much more… active role in the hunting process. Despite how painfully curious I am to see how they work, I fear the only chance I’d have to see them would be if I was the target. I think I’ll just play it safe for now - scientific discoveries can wait for now.
It's clear to me now why no other creature dared to tread on this side of the city. Both the basking shark and moray eel pale in comparison to this beast. Bobbit worms already terrifying before they grew large enough to swallow a car. At the very least, this somewhat confirms my theory that the decrease in available prey has forced ambush predators to become active hunters to survive. Its body coils and writhes as it swims through the water, using its newly developed arms to help propel it towards whatever it’s hunting. But, unfortunately for me, it looks like it hasn’t fully abandoned its old hunting strategy. When no prey is available, the worm buries underground until it detects something new. If I were to guess, the sensors on its head are likely tuned into local scents and currents to make up for its extremely rudimentary eyes. If I want any chance at survival, then I’m going to have to find a way to disguise myself. Let’s hope there’s something of use in all this wreckage

This whole project is a love letter to the ocean to me. I didn’t realize it before my time at ECU, but the ocean is a constant inspiration to me and I continuously look to it for inspiration. It’s been so common in my works that I’ve started to be referred to as “the fish girl”, a delightful surprise if you ask me.

At the beginning of this school year, I knew I wanted to make my senior project about concept art, probably for a video game, but I didn’t have something to make concept of. No plot, no characters, nothing. As I brainstormed ideas, I kept coming back to the ocean (shocker). I realized that most of the popular underwater games have a similar structure: the shallows are safe and the depths are dangerous. It makes sense, the depths of the ocean is a strange place home to even stranger creatures. But because it makes sense, it gave a great idea: what if there was a game where the depths were safe and the shallows were dangerous? This became the core idea of my project.

The reason I became so excited about this idea wasn’t just because it was different, it was also because it meant that I could show love to the deep sea creatures I hold dear. I love weird looking creatures, and the deep sea is chock-full of them. It’s my hope that portraying these creatures in more positive light that others will learn to love them too.

The final thing I would like to share in regards to this project is some fun facts that I’ve learned over the course of working on this.

Below the fun facts will be some of my other works from ECU, so be sure to check those out too!

  • Brine pools are pools of highly salinated water that cannot mix with the surrounding sea water, forming underwater lakes. These pools are so salty that anything that enters them will die due to shock. The high salinity also gives them an otherworldly teal color.
  • Nudibranchs are used in real world medical research, most notably in cancer research.
  • Hydrothermal vents are a hot spot for life in the deep sea. Many of the creatures that live on them are able to convert radiation that emits from them into food, and the ones that can’t just eat the ones that do.
  • Yeti crabs got their name from their hairy limbs and part of their diet consists of bacteria that live within the hairs. To make sure they have a consistent food supply, they wave their arms around to expose the bacteria to as much as its food as possible, essentially farming the bacteria.
  • Bristlemouths are the most populated vertebrate (not just fish) on earth. Their numbers are estimated to be in the trillions to quadrillions
  • The “snow” that is mentioned a few different time in the notes is referring to marine snow. Marine snow is basically all the organic material, mainly detritus, that falls from the upper layers off the ocean. It’s a bit gross when you think about it, but it looks very pretty in photos!
  • Hydrothermal vents and methane seeps (also known as cold seeps) formed very similar ways, with both being caused by gas coming up from the earth’s core. In fact, methane seeps are only referred to as cold seeps because they’re only cold in comparison to hydrothermal vents.
  • Methane seems can sometime also form brine pools.
  • Siphonophores are colony animals, made up of small, multicellular creatures called zooids. Zooids reproduce asexually, meaning that every one of them are clones of the same, original zooid. However, because mutations can occur in asexual reproduction, the zooids slowly become different from one another. Siphonophores are able to use this to their benefit though. The zooids use the mutations to develop specific functions such as swimming, digestion, and reproduction.
  • Coelacanths are known as living fossils because, for a period of time, we thought they went extinct millions of years ago. It was only in the 1930s, when a researcher in South Africa found one in a fisherman’s daily catch, that we discovered they still live in our waters.
  • The largest migration on earth isn’t of birds flying south in the winter, but of fish in the twilight zone moving up to the surface at night and then back down when day breaks!
  • Moray eels‘ pharyngeal jaws was one of the inspiration for Alien (1979)’s Xenomorph

Digital Illustration

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Sydney Weibel

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