6-inch teeth, hooked and sharp, line the gaping maw that greets you; wide enough to swallow a line of carriages side by side. Behind it, a skeletal spine coils round and around in a wide column, spiralling down from the grand glass ceiling almost 85 feet above. Were it not for the 4 pairs of flippers and the large tail fluke, the skeleton could’ve been assumed to belong to a giant snake. Instead, this colossal beast, 130 feet in length, is not like any creature you’ve seen before.

The beast is the unmissable centrepiece, but the room itself is a sight to behold; long and wide with carved arches, columns, and balustrades, all painted in swirling shades of blue. They overlook the great hall over several storeys, and surround the skeleton in a large semi-circle. Coloured banners are draped around, highlighting the direction of different exhibition halls, and for this exhibition, a wide banner arches over the beast and reads, “The Mountainous Deep” in huge gold letters on deep blue cloth. Scattered around are groups and other individuals; men and women in smart and occasional foreign attire, perusing the information boards, and quietly discussing the various displays.

You glance about the ground floor as you approach the centrepiece; some of the arches contain exhibitions, while others lead to different areas. For now, you look up at the creature, shuddering to think what it must’ve been like when it was alive.

The “yagreya” is what it was called, and this is the only one that has ever been recovered. Almost nothing is known about the creature, and there are no reliable records of one having been seen alive. One thing that is known though, is its size. What you see here is not a real skeleton; it’s a replica. However, due to its true nature, this replica is only one third of the original’s size; The real remains were recorded as being 403 feet long.

Beside the text, there is a diagram depicting the yagreya at its true size; the silhouette of the man alongside it may as well have been a grain of rice.

Discovered centuries ago, washed up on a beach in Leyrin in 1873, its ruined form sparked a flurry of interest, both in its own former life, and the other undiscovered mysteries that remain hidden beneath the waves. The beast’s flesh was decayed beyond recognition when it was discovered, so its true appearance is unknown, but this did not stop people from speculating what it looked like, and many famous works have depicted the creature in various styles and colours since then. The text invites you to view a few samples of the works, and you step over to one of the alcoves beneath an archway nearby. Here, there is a small gallery showcasing paintings and photographs.

The paintings depict the yagreya as a terror of a wild, violent sea, threatening the largest whales and ships alike; more than one is captured about to meet their fate as they’re swallowed whole by the full-sized beast. The paintings are dramatic, with massive, white-tipped breaking waves like mountains, swirling dark clouds billowing out in angry colours, sheets of windblown rain and hail falling at sharp angles, and forks of lightning ripping across the skies and illuminating the horror below. Were it not for the fact that the creature is real, you would’ve dismissed the images as pure fantasy. Instead, you wonder if any of these represent a real scene that has taken place somewhere.

Alongside the paintings are black and white photographs of parts of the real skeleton. A man holding a single tooth more than a foot long. A flipper longer than 5 men lying head to foot. A single rib, held upright by a scaffold, reaching to the sky with the height of a large oak tree. There are no photographs of the creature as it was found, but there is a painting depicting the beach scene, with a crowd of onlookers surrounding the decaying corpse. Despite the gristly sight, and what you imagine must’ve been a terrible stench, it seems many came out to few the spectacle; men, women and children out on a day trip to see it from the sand afar and cliffs above, while men work to chop up the rotting flesh and move the bones.

Back at the replica, a few fragments of its scales are displayed under the glass; slabs at least an inch thick, slightly flaky and brown, looking a bit like tree bark, though the text says the colour has changed over time; it used to be an iridescent blue-black.

While there is much left to learn about the land and its creatures, they pale in comparison to the sea and its mysteries. Only those commonly found within the sheltered waters along the coast are known to any degree, and here, in Derna especially, the connection to the ocean and its creatures is strong. An array of sea life, from the fish, mammals, and birds that can still be found today, to the fossilised remains of ancient creatures, is on display; the food chain is well understood here, but what part of the chain does the yagreya fall into? What manner of prey would a creature so large eat? And, what if they yagreya itself is not at the top of the chain?

There is a section talking about the seafaring history of the region, starting from the simple wooden canoes that allowed early people to travel to coasts all around Erondel, right up to the most advanced ships available today. However, even those have trouble venturing out beyond the shallow continental shelf; accounts of sailors who survived mishaps the edges of the deep waters report breaking waves more than 80 feet high. However, this remains more of a sailors’ legend, as most who go out to verify perish due to much smaller waves than those they sought.

With the yagreya being discovered, stories brought back by sailors were taken with less grains of salt, with many being recorded and not simply dismissed as they had been before. A few stories from different times and regions seem to corroborate a few other creatures, but so far, none have been verified. Many of these tales went on to become legends, and many a sailor now tells stories of having encountered the mythical creatures, despite having never travelled more than a few miles from shore.

An artist’s impression of one of the plausible creatures depicts a huge, featureless, bulbous orb floating on the surface of the water, the top of it reaching as high as the deck of the galleon that encountered it. Below the water, the artist supposes it is some kind of enormous jellyfish, with tendrils stretching down 160 feet. It is named as the “pantas”, or “island” jelly.

A second depicted creature is another giant, with rigid spines that tower above the water’s surface. While it has the body of a fish, it is depicted with strange, half-leg, half-flipper appendages, each tipped with large claws. A sketch besides the basic interpretation shows the fish ramming into a ship; spines slice through it with ease, so it is named the “sawback”.

An honourable mention is given to “The Phantom Belgorim”, a beast so enigmatic and terrifying that the sailor who supposedly encountered it was driven to madness at the sight of it and never recovered. Most claim it was simply a result of his horrifying ordeal of being shipwrecked in the deep sea for so long, but the biologists looking for answers have not fully dismissed it, and eagerly await valid corroborating stories of the ‘snarling face in the deep’.

You stare up at the yagreya again and contemplate what it would be like to have such an encounter yourself. Your earlier conversation with the washerwomen comes to mind; suddenly, bears and bandits don’t seem half so bad.

You watch the live fish swimming in the aquarium, and admire the arranged display of coral and sea grass in another. You look at the display featuring the differences in the creatures found in the river and the sea, and explore an alcove dedicated to the ecology of some of the major rivers across the land; the Avaseran, Hassumeri, Belenor, and Os’Ghum, to name a few.

In Derna, the tingrine, a small mammal that lives along the riverbanks and in the sea, and the crested acra, a fish-hunting raptor, are both keystone species that are considered sacred to followers of the Mestophome faith; a display dedicated to them shows essential effects they have on the environment, and the measures in place to protect them, from both religions and secular angles. The display features taxidermy versions of both creatures, placed in a natural scene diorama. The family of tingrine, with their flat heads, large eyes, and long, ear-like ‘antennae’, are especially well preserved and lifelike, with sleek grey fur that is well-kept, and black glass eyes. The crested acra, with mottled feathers in black and white, and a crest of long, curled red and yellow-tipped feathers, is suspended overhead, soaring above the water, a fish grasped in its talons. You think back to the hunting bird perched atop the fountain outside, and wonder if this is what that was meant to be.

As the display brings more creatures of land and sky into focus, you are invited to leave the deep blue of the ocean realm exhibit and follow the green hallway to the continental exhibit. With a final glance back at the yagreya and the balconies above it, you step out of the sea, and head towards the land.