Ancient Floater

Ancient Floaters are very old Floaters found attached to the Floating Island and Underwater Islands, creating these unique environments by suspending the huge masses of rock in place. Ancient Floaters are noninteractive and are flatter than their smaller kin.

Data Bank Entry

Biodata suggests these vast floaters have matured in an ingenious symbiosis with the land they have attached to.

• The attached landmass is raised in the water, increasing sunlight and encouraging plant growth.
• As older plants decay, organic residues and nutrients seep into the rock and are consumed by the floater.
• These circumstances must have held for thousands of years for a floater to reach this size.

Lifecycle:

Immature floaters are borne near the surface, from where they sink to the seabed, attaching to any stable surface they find on the way. Those individuals fortunate enough to attach to a digestible nutrient source will grow in size, thus increasing their buoyancy and drawing whatever they are attached to closer to the surface.

In extreme circumstances a number of floaters may attach to a leviathan class lifeform, forcing it to the surface and effectively asphyxiating it. The body will be consumed over a number of months until eventually dissolving, leaving the floaters free to attach to a new host.

Those creatures which successfully raise a landmass to the surface are rewarded with a burgeoning and permanent food supply, allowing them finally to reproduce and begin the cycle again.

Assessment: Incredible

Gallery

Ancient Floaters found underneath the Floating Island

Ancient Floaters found underneath the Underwater Islands

Ancient Floaters found in underneath some islands in the Northern Blood Kelp Zone

Concept art

Concept Art

Ancient Floaters as seen on Trello

Trivia

• If the player uses a Habitat Builder to build a compartment that is partially inside an Ancient Floater, the Ancient Floater will disappear, though the Underwater Islands and/or the Floating Island will still float even if all the Ancient Floaters disappeared.
• Something rather strange about them is that while they can glow, their larvae can not.