Welcome to Gaia! ::

While some exhibits appear to have been carefully and meticulously reconstructed, this one is far more archaeological. The room opens into an enormous circular hall, where skeletons of all shapes and sizes have been meticulously constructed. The most impressive of all of them takes up nearly the whole room; suspended overhead by invisible supports was the fossilized skeleton of a creature so immense it nearly disappeared into the darkness above. At first glance it resembled an octopus, but its proportions quickly betrayed something stranger. The creature had been enormous, and each arm stretched dozens of feet, and ended in a diabolically sharp spear. It was posed as if it were half moving, half attacking--no easy feat, given the enormity of its remains. Though the bones were interesting on their own, parts of it were covered in strange crystals, locking up joints. Some of the bones were cracked where the crystals had grown into it. The rest of the room is filled with smaller, but equally unique skeletons and fossils. Each specimen has a uniquely aquatic appearance--from eight legged turtles, and fully crystalized jellyfish that hung from displays like artwork. Some of the specimens had a sketch of the creature as it was in life, but many did not. A neighboring display features only a single bone--a whale tooth, very ground down and still nearly four feet tall. One common feature amongst all of the specimens stood out: each of them bore curious crystalline growths. Pastel crystals had spread through portions of the bone like veins of quartz, glittering softly beneath the gallery lights. Whatever phenomenon had caused this anomaly seemed to have been localized to wherever the specimens were sourced, and Almadel had clearly chosen preservation over restoration.