deltasystem

[deltasystem]

I'M BACK....

TUMBLR DELETED MY ACCOUNT FOR SOME REASON EARLIER THIS MONTH AND ALL I HAD TO DO WAS BE REALLY ANNOYING BUT I FINALLY GOT IT BACK....

[deltasystem]

HOLY HECK, middle of the night/my witching hour morning self didn't have the decency to condense my ramblings into one post, HUH? Just didn't take advantage of the beautiful feature called DRAFT POSTS when running off every five seconds to deal with back pain???

...giving witching hour self credit, you have summoned a lot of cool Rain World people I will be following. grumble grumble

[deltasystem]

Servals are cool

[deltasystem]

Hey out of curiosity, would you maybe appreciate my notes trying to decipher the Ripples from the Watcher campaign? I also have some notes about naming things based on pictograms rather than phonetics, which you might appreciate.

Oh totally!

[deltasystem]

And thus. We're back at my name tag.

If you're curious how that translates, there's more below the cut, but it references me as a person a lot, so you'll have to beat with learning about the random man ranting about rain world.

Now, something you might notice is not a single ring is connected to the contents.

The "roof" of this pictogram is the symbol meaning learning/searching/etc. It's from the Scholar passage.

Now with its meaning, it can honestly be simplified to not include the other part (which basically means "help from others" [...] combined means "learn with help of others") as it's specific to the achievement.

The symbol at the center, is, obviously, the symbol for ascension. The caret at the bottom represents the void.

These two combined indicate a connection to the void and karmic cycle, while still being outside of it (shown by the broken circles).

The large symbol to the right with the two yellow dots beside it means "person" or human, while the two indicate that the "person" is a creature. I'm alterhuman, more specifically a holothere among other things, so I'm trying to communicate person, but at the same time, not there. The ticks to the right indicate aggression toward others (you), which is quite literally supposed to indicate "aggressive animal/being."

Now the symbol on the bottom left. That's a combination of ticks indicating aggression while vaguely representing the symbol for spearmaster (meaning to deliver [something; in their case, a message]). Here, it means to deliver a message of harm. It was a lot more complicated than neatly condensed by taking advantage of the repeating symbols.

The shaded circles in the actual rings indicate hiding oneself with layers.

Ring one indicates my presence in the world and the mask I show others, and using the scholar to complete the ring indicates I do sometimes drop the mask through my interests. The social mask, as I find the outermost ring (karma) connected to how you interact with others.

Ring two indicates the mask I wear in terms of the body. Being a trans/gay man and closeted by my family. Not dressing or decorating my space the way I like out of fear I'll be seen as weird. Masking my health issues, my mental issues, and even being human are indicated by this circle.

The next ring is who I am spiritually, and lacks a mask. I may put up a facade when interacting with spirits as a warlock, but who I am is harder to hide in spirit than in person. I was interacting with a witch, and there was commentary was why I was so tall—because I looked taller than my physical body. Even a friend who was an atheist said that I felt, looked, and interacted with this as someone taller than I actually was, to which they were the physically taller one and felt shorter than me. There have been so many cases where children comment on a tail and try to play jump rope with it. My point is, there's no point in hiding the self that the other rings require, at least in day-to-day life.

This ring also indicates my message of doom/harm is spiritual. I'm a bit of a psychic, and that indicates that. It indicates a connection to the void, or rather, aether due to my interest in alchemy.

The inner two rings first loop into the symbol for a person, then fail to. It indicates being trapped in a cycle of my own, while breaking others, indicating how every time you escape one challenge in life, you're trapped in another, endlessly.

Now we're back at ascension.

This one indicates purity at heart, at the heart of self, with a twist of divinity. For reference, I am a godshard/godvessel.

Taking one part out messes with the meanings of other parts, which is why my simplifications to the pictographs seen in the vanilla games only focus on specific masks, leading to a more fluid name.

With all this in mind, you can see why I view this as a name—it's symbolic to several aspects of me as a person, and I put a lot of thought into it. You might view it as either just a bunch of lines or "relatable enough to use," but it's not.

At least not to me.

The added colours here do have meaning, but that's not relevant to an example of interpreting pictograms like this.

Okay, so, I'm just rambling, but I genuinely dislike using the pictograms from Rain World phonetically. Although I'm trying to learn them, the only way I can actually understand the language is through pictography, not phonetically. I fundamentally feel like the symbols used as hieroglyphs can be used in conjunction with the pictograms, but not interchangeably.

@amostdelectablescribbler has an absolutely wonderful guide to using the pictograms phonetically (as hieroglyphs), but when I try to read it, it just feels... wrong? Not that reading them in this way is wrong per se (I find it truly fascinating!), but it's fundamentally wrong.

Moon's symbol is composed of Karma 3, companionships, broken by a rombus and Karma 4, greed. To me, this reads as many friends-significant-love. The rhombus is also seen in the glyph for No Significant Harassment, leading to scug brain tying the shape to significance, and karma 3 + 4 combo quite literally meaning greedy for friends. She wants to befriend everyone if she can, hence being a big sister figure and friend-shaped to the scugs.

@\magicajaphet on Twitter.

Generally, the parts that make up these glyphs have their own meaning, and combinations create new meaning. It's kind of like Toki Pona crossed with Norse Bind Runes.

@\Koguri3108 on Reddit.

Now I have my vices with some of these translations, but this is quite literally attempting to interpret a language with only a few confirmed translations, vague implications on murals, and scrapped content (like the boombox mural).

So, of course, we slug cat scholars will have our differing opinions.

Karma 0 (the O) to me is generally interpreted as "self." It can mean "peace" or "karma" depending on context. Like the pilgrimage, to me, means discovery of self. And related synonyms, like "enlightenment of self" or "knowledge of self," as the primary symbol generally comes off as scholar and related academic terms—learning.

I'm also convinced all you rainworlders are terrified of watcher. No one ever talks about RIPPLES. THE ROT PRINCE. THE HOLY LORE.

I've seen more complaints about the campaign than appreciation just because they can't read porls (*pearls) with big sister. TwT

The symbols for ripples are the honest to god context needed to figure out the words in Pebble's array, but it requires analysis of the pictograms, not their phonetics. I'm so close to unlocking this... so close... *incoherent scug noises*

I would ramble more, but I have 18 physical pages of notes from rambling to friends today, and some godforsaken part of me said, post on tumblr! Get the rainworld linguists to comment! So I already offered my Ripple translations to the renowned rainworld linguist and will be flopping until my social battery comes back from nonexistence. I think Ruffles stole it. Or the void sea ate it.

[deltasystem]

TL;DR Of My Two Cents

The Rot is an inversion to the Void. It's not necessarily a mirror opposite, causing it to seem distorted or random, with some overlaps like similar creatures (rot worms, rot lizards, etc). It doesn't want to hurt anyone; it just wants to help/befriend them, and doing so is through assimilation. Despite having a will opposing the Void, it doesn't necessarily want to go against it, rather, it aims for the same goal of freeing individuals from the cycle, because it too is trapped in a cycle. This is why Karma flowers, a psychedelic representing max karma and ascension, sprout from the rot and why the Prince becomes paralysed, no longer hurting those around it. As much as he wants everyone to join his kingdom, he acknowledges he, too, is adding to the harm and that the ending achieved was not his original desire for the organisms of the world.

If allowed the opportunity to converse, I have no doubt the Void and Prince would get along well.

Back to Linguistics

[Symbol representing ripple level 6] Ripple 6 ties into Ripple 5. Instead of hiding oneself, the two egos are connected in the same body. Their fates had already separated but now their very being as well. The duality of siding with the void or rot. Ripple 6 indicates two individuals connected. [Symbol with two circles connected with a vertical line], but the larger circle being more dominant—they are not equal. Two selves sharing a body—multiplicity.

[Symbol representing Ripple level 7] Ripple 7 is when we finally get out of the redundant symbols and meaning! This is the second an [sic] last occurrance [sic] of the "shaded self". The visual depiction of dividing cells—this other self escaping the carmic [sic] cycle and leaving the other ego to stay with the physical body trapped outside the body [note: I meant "trapped outside the cycle"]. The next few ripples play on this theme, the self becoming broken. Ripple 7 means the separation of egos. The processes conducted by the void worms.

Now... about cell division...

Yep. There's a theory about that too.

@doodlepede discusses how Rain World often plays themes on organic and inorganic.

This theory elaborates on how the higher karma symbols gained through Five Pebbles resemble cell division.

Back to my notes

[Symbol for Ripple level 8] Ripple 8, the other ego breaks free as well. Broken Karma ([a drawing of the upside-down U used in the defying fate symbol that represents Artificer's campaign]) is repeated heavily in the symbol for this ripple. I believe the larger circle here represents the body as the ripple seem to depict a journey. In the last ripple we see [symbol composed of vertical line with a circle at the middle], discovery of self. Here, the ego broke free from the other ego, the cycle, and this body. Of course, they were always fated to be outside the karmic cycle. Ripple 8 might indicate breaking free from chains.

Now you might think: hold on, didn't you say Ripple 7 represented breaking free from each other? There are two unbroken circles here?

There were technically three in Ripple 7. I know, I know, "that can't be a circle that has ANGLES." Look, it's symbolism. Watcher's allowed to draw the circle representing his body in any way he wants. It's his identity. For all I know, I'm misgendering them right now and owe them a thousand apologies.

Heck, he might be a Time Lord, and I just overthank Gallifreyan.

Can't be a transtumblruser without shit posting every few posts, huh.

Anywho.

[Symbol for Ripple level 9] Ripple 9 shows having broken free from... everything and finding the discovery of self outside the karmic cycle. Becoming one with it, even. All your connections have been shattered, and this brokenness is what makes you who you are. This shedding of the world is your ascension—you do not need the void and the comfort you [sic] other ego found. Ripple 9, to me, indicates a different kind of ascension. Having witnessed the acension [sic] of others, you now learned who you are.

Well. That's all of it.

Your discovery of self is connected to being outside this karmic cycle—that's why it's drawn with a stem connected to the outer ring. This interpretation for Ripple 9 ties into...both endings. Watching others die, Spinning Top ascend, the coronation of the Prince...

Who are you now that you've made this journey?

Okay, so, I'm just rambling, but I genuinely dislike using the pictograms from Rain World phonetically. Although I'm trying to learn them, the only way I can actually understand the language is through pictography, not phonetically. I fundamentally feel like the symbols used as hieroglyphs can be used in conjunction with the pictograms, but not interchangeably.

@amostdelectablescribbler has an absolutely wonderful guide to using the pictograms phonetically (as hieroglyphs), but when I try to read it, it just feels... wrong? Not that reading them in this way is wrong per se (I find it truly fascinating!), but it's fundamentally wrong.

Moon's symbol is composed of Karma 3, companionships, broken by a rombus and Karma 4, greed. To me, this reads as many friends-significant-love. The rhombus is also seen in the glyph for No Significant Harassment, leading to scug brain tying the shape to significance, and karma 3 + 4 combo quite literally meaning greedy for friends. She wants to befriend everyone if she can, hence being a big sister figure and friend-shaped to the scugs.

@\magicajaphet on Twitter.

Generally, the parts that make up these glyphs have their own meaning, and combinations create new meaning. It's kind of like Toki Pona crossed with Norse Bind Runes.

@\Koguri3108 on Reddit.

Now I have my vices with some of these translations, but this is quite literally attempting to interpret a language with only a few confirmed translations, vague implications on murals, and scrapped content (like the boombox mural).

So, of course, we slug cat scholars will have our differing opinions.

Karma 0 (the O) to me is generally interpreted as "self." It can mean "peace" or "karma" depending on context. Like the pilgrimage, to me, means discovery of self. And related synonyms, like "enlightenment of self" or "knowledge of self," as the primary symbol generally comes off as scholar and related academic terms—learning.

I'm also convinced all you rainworlders are terrified of watcher. No one ever talks about RIPPLES. THE ROT PRINCE. THE HOLY LORE.

I've seen more complaints about the campaign than appreciation just because they can't read porls (*pearls) with big sister. TwT

The symbols for ripples are the honest to god context needed to figure out the words in Pebble's array, but it requires analysis of the pictograms, not their phonetics. I'm so close to unlocking this... so close... *incoherent scug noises*

I would ramble more, but I have 18 physical pages of notes from rambling to friends today, and some godforsaken part of me said, post on tumblr! Get the rainworld linguists to comment! So I already offered my Ripple translations to the renowned rainworld linguist and will be flopping until my social battery comes back from nonexistence. I think Ruffles stole it. Or the void sea ate it.

[deltasystem]

I'm internally dreading what'll happen if/when other Rain World people find this post and start commenting on my linguistic rambles with stuff like "oh no, the pictograms are supposed to function like kanji, they're supposed to be spoken while having meanings of their own."

I am aware. However, as you can see (or read), the written language is more creative than that, and they're most likely different cases (spoken, written formal, written casual, etc) which are used. The case commonly seen around the game is a written case—we don't even get any clue of what the spoken case might look or sound like. (At least as far as I'm aware.)

So I approach phonetic cases with a dose of scepticism, and adoration for the time and dedication that goes into it.

This leads to seeing phonetic cases normally feeling fundamentally wrong for me, even if I find them interesting and make use of them (i.e. the font face)!

Anyhow, back to rain world rambles.

[Symbol for Ripple level 3] Ripple three has. A hesitation. An almost closed circle then a dash. [a drawn circle] (self) seems to refer to seperation [sic] of body from Fate. ([symbol for fate without karma circle]). The Watcher has always seemed to be a metaphor for the part of onself [sic] left behind—unable to ascend. Ripple 3 might refer to shedding one's body to move on with the cycle. the ego that's abandoned in Buddhistic [sic] Tulpamancy. The one left behind, unanable to ascend.

[Symbol for Ripple 4] Ripple Four also makes use of the fate symbol. It's a recurring theme in the past few ripples. all the ripple symbols have a broken exterior. The ties are place further apart then usual—and the lower circle resembes Karma 9 ([Karma 9 symbol]) without the vice. [note: circles in the higher karma symbols represent vices, as theorised by another individual mentioned in these reblogs.] The middle circle resembles Karma 8 without the vices ([Karma 8 symbol]) or the wheel ([wheel symbol]). [note: I meant "or resembling the wheel symbol," not or without the components.] If Watcher is the ego seperated from self, or the ego left behind, the lack of vices might be the distinction here. [drawing of Karma 8 without the vices compared to Karma 8 without the diagonal line] [drawing of Karma 9 without the vices compared to Karma 8 without the diameter and radius lines] Two parts make 1. Ripple 4 might mean separating fates.

[Symbol for Ripple level 5] Ripple 5 (badly drawn here), is... interesting. It starts to make use of shaded circles. [symbol composed of vertical line with a circle at the middle] means discovery of self, but what would [same symbol but with the circle shaded in] mean? The opposite? Self is enclosed in a secondary self, ego is hidden within. Ripple 5 might simply mean denial of oneself. Being incomplete because of that.

I'm going to take a minute and gesture at this explanation of why the ancients were wrong about ascension by @sluglore.

The karma symbols we see when having our karma cap increased through Five Pebbles are reflective of the artificial nature. We haven't struggled, haven't lived to learn from our vices to reach ascension. Instead, they symbolise the "removal" of the vices the Ancients believed were needed to ascend. The Ancients found this process tedious, and thus we got void fluid mining and concurrently, the great problem iterators try to solve.

Now, before we move any further, this analysis of ascension originally stemmed from the fact I was discussing how Rot is just inversions of the world.

@mewguca goes on a wonderful ramble expressing their perspectives on the rot, which is much appreciated.

The rot in Pebble's can is a result of an inversion of his attempt to ascend. For everything in the void sea there is something in the rot, there is a balance to maintain the natural order of the world because perhaps—ascension itself is unnatural. Or at least, the extent it's become prevalent is unnatural. It wasn't supposed to get to the point it left the world barren; there was a delicate order.

Even the rot itself exists in a cycle, although it might be interpreted as a more stagnant one.

The world has its cycles, and things eventually leave it, but something happened when the Ancients tried to ascend all living beings, and now all that's left are various artificial life forms that roam the world.

Now I disagree with meguca's interpretation, but I'll offer my two cents on that later.

Okay, so, I'm just rambling, but I genuinely dislike using the pictograms from Rain World phonetically. Although I'm trying to learn them, the only way I can actually understand the language is through pictography, not phonetically. I fundamentally feel like the symbols used as hieroglyphs can be used in conjunction with the pictograms, but not interchangeably.

@amostdelectablescribbler has an absolutely wonderful guide to using the pictograms phonetically (as hieroglyphs), but when I try to read it, it just feels... wrong? Not that reading them in this way is wrong per se (I find it truly fascinating!), but it's fundamentally wrong.

Moon's symbol is composed of Karma 3, companionships, broken by a rombus and Karma 4, greed. To me, this reads as many friends-significant-love. The rhombus is also seen in the glyph for No Significant Harassment, leading to scug brain tying the shape to significance, and karma 3 + 4 combo quite literally meaning greedy for friends. She wants to befriend everyone if she can, hence being a big sister figure and friend-shaped to the scugs.

@\magicajaphet on Twitter.

Generally, the parts that make up these glyphs have their own meaning, and combinations create new meaning. It's kind of like Toki Pona crossed with Norse Bind Runes.

@\Koguri3108 on Reddit.

Now I have my vices with some of these translations, but this is quite literally attempting to interpret a language with only a few confirmed translations, vague implications on murals, and scrapped content (like the boombox mural).

So, of course, we slug cat scholars will have our differing opinions.

Karma 0 (the O) to me is generally interpreted as "self." It can mean "peace" or "karma" depending on context. Like the pilgrimage, to me, means discovery of self. And related synonyms, like "enlightenment of self" or "knowledge of self," as the primary symbol generally comes off as scholar and related academic terms—learning.

I'm also convinced all you rainworlders are terrified of watcher. No one ever talks about RIPPLES. THE ROT PRINCE. THE HOLY LORE.

I've seen more complaints about the campaign than appreciation just because they can't read porls (*pearls) with big sister. TwT

The symbols for ripples are the honest to god context needed to figure out the words in Pebble's array, but it requires analysis of the pictograms, not their phonetics. I'm so close to unlocking this... so close... *incoherent scug noises*

I would ramble more, but I have 18 physical pages of notes from rambling to friends today, and some godforsaken part of me said, post on tumblr! Get the rainworld linguists to comment! So I already offered my Ripple translations to the renowned rainworld linguist and will be flopping until my social battery comes back from nonexistence. I think Ruffles stole it. Or the void sea ate it.

[deltasystem]

Apologies in advance for not providing alt text for the references. Only really mustered the spoons for my handwriting because it's the most important thing for understanding this post.

[Symbol for Ripple Level 1] Karma 1 [sic; meant Ripple] is most semblant to karma 0 [yes, that exists! and is not what scug starts at!]. Although Watcher supposedly starts at Karma 1 (Violence [symbol for violence repeated twice for emphasis]), this is replaced with Ripple 1. [drawing of outer circle, left open at the top] -> intentionally broken circle. Breaking free from karma cycle/defying it. [drawing of circle] -> unbroken circle. Can refer to oneself, peace, and karma as necessary. [a drawing of tick mark; horizontal] -> centered tick refers to soul. Ripple 1 might mean "innocent soul outside the cycle"! Watcher is a pup.

Karma 0, you say?

@/MasksUnderMoreMasks on Reddit.

Peace, violence, bodily pleasure, companionship, green, shelter. And then you can diverge into different directions.

Now, what was about the tick marks indicating Soul?

@bitsbug, when they tossed their hat into the linguistics ring.

These observations of the tick patterns are generally agreed on. Most rain world archaeologists normally come to similar theorisations, so I'm going to treat it like the BIg Bang Theory here—something agreed upon but in the works when it comes to proof.

The larger circle is just barely broken. This one is interesting because it makes use of the tic [sic] patterns Five Pebbles uses in projections. Namely: [three examples composed of mostly lines and dots, with no known meanings] Basically. Uses a lot of lines to express meaning!!! The [T with a dash mid section] tick pattern is used in the symbol of fate. However, instead of being [fate symbol with closed karmic circle], as one might expect from a fate inside a karma cycle, we get [symbol enclosed in the Ripple symbol for Ripple level 2]. Ripple 2 might refer to being fated to a cycle outside of typical karma. Something external, but different.

The Ripple symbols are all a bit redundant like this. When you attempt to translate them based on pictograms, it's just the same message(s) repeated in different ways, providing small tidbits of context.

[I'll come back to this I'm in pain and distracted]

Okay, so, I'm just rambling, but I genuinely dislike using the pictograms from Rain World phonetically. Although I'm trying to learn them, the only way I can actually understand the language is through pictography, not phonetically. I fundamentally feel like the symbols used as hieroglyphs can be used in conjunction with the pictograms, but not interchangeably.

@amostdelectablescribbler has an absolutely wonderful guide to using the pictograms phonetically (as hieroglyphs), but when I try to read it, it just feels... wrong? Not that reading them in this way is wrong per se (I find it truly fascinating!), but it's fundamentally wrong.

Moon's symbol is composed of Karma 3, companionships, broken by a rombus and Karma 4, greed. To me, this reads as many friends-significant-love. The rhombus is also seen in the glyph for No Significant Harassment, leading to scug brain tying the shape to significance, and karma 3 + 4 combo quite literally meaning greedy for friends. She wants to befriend everyone if she can, hence being a big sister figure and friend-shaped to the scugs.

@\magicajaphet on Twitter.

Generally, the parts that make up these glyphs have their own meaning, and combinations create new meaning. It's kind of like Toki Pona crossed with Norse Bind Runes.

@\Koguri3108 on Reddit.

Now I have my vices with some of these translations, but this is quite literally attempting to interpret a language with only a few confirmed translations, vague implications on murals, and scrapped content (like the boombox mural).

So, of course, we slug cat scholars will have our differing opinions.

Karma 0 (the O) to me is generally interpreted as "self." It can mean "peace" or "karma" depending on context. Like the pilgrimage, to me, means discovery of self. And related synonyms, like "enlightenment of self" or "knowledge of self," as the primary symbol generally comes off as scholar and related academic terms—learning.

I'm also convinced all you rainworlders are terrified of watcher. No one ever talks about RIPPLES. THE ROT PRINCE. THE HOLY LORE.

I've seen more complaints about the campaign than appreciation just because they can't read porls (*pearls) with big sister. TwT

The symbols for ripples are the honest to god context needed to figure out the words in Pebble's array, but it requires analysis of the pictograms, not their phonetics. I'm so close to unlocking this... so close... *incoherent scug noises*

I would ramble more, but I have 18 physical pages of notes from rambling to friends today, and some godforsaken part of me said, post on tumblr! Get the rainworld linguists to comment! So I already offered my Ripple translations to the renowned rainworld linguist and will be flopping until my social battery comes back from nonexistence. I think Ruffles stole it. Or the void sea ate it.

[deltasystem]

On stars, guardians, and Rain World’s cosmology.

One aspect of Rain World lore that’s asked about quite a lot but normally never gets satisfying answers is the topic or Rain World’s space/universe/cosmology. Despite first impressions though, there’s a lot more it than meets the eye, so I thought I would compile most everything we know about it.

For one, to get it out of the way, Rain World isn’t on a planet, and its universe is fundamentally different from our own. This is something Joar has talked about on occasion.

He also said on an earlier dev log how Rain World functions more like a fantasy world where it doesn’t hold much relevance than a real sci-fi like planet.

“Oh, another thing - Rain World isn't a planet lol Cheesy Or I guess it might probably be on a planet, just as Lord of The Rings, Sex And The City, Zelda and Frankenstein's Monster are probably technically on a planet, but just as in those examples the planet aspect isn't really relevant at all. Rain World is more of a fantasy world or a dream world, not somewhere you can go in a space ship ~”

But even if it’s not incredibly relevant, it’s clear a lot of thought was put into Rain Worlds fictional cosmology, this was even mentioned by James.

So, that being said here's what we know about Rain World's cosmology in game.

The biggest indicator of Rain World's unique cosmology is that the Farm Arrays deep pink pearl just mentions celestial spheres, which are aspects of older cosmological models.

"This one is just plain text. I will read it to you. "On regards of the (by spiritual splendor eternally graced) people of the Congregation of Never Dwindling Righteousness, we Wish to congratulate (o so thankfully) this Facility on its Loyal and Relished services, and to Offer our Hopes and Aspirations that the Fruitful and Mutually Satisfactory Cooperation may continue, for as long as the Stars stay fixed on their Celestial Spheres and/or the Cooperation continues to be Fruitful and Mutually Satisfactory." ...May Not as long as the Stars stay fixed on their Celestial Spheres Grey Hand, Impure Blood, Inheritable Corruption, Parasites, or malfunction settle in Your establishment."

More subtly, there's also a mention of the ground colliding with the sky.

"If you leave a stone on the ground, and come back some time later, it's covered in dust. This happens everywhere, and over several lifetimes of creatures such as you, the ground slowly builds upwards. So why doesn't the ground collide with the sky? Because far down, under the very very old layers of the earth, the rock is being dissolved or removed. The entity which does this is known as the Void Sea."

You could chalk this line up to flowery language, but considering the presentation of the rest of the dialogue, it sounds more like an actual aspect of this world.

We know from the Chimney Canopy echo that the sun rises.

"From within my vessel of flesh, I would perch upon this spot to observe the rising of the sun."

And from the top of The Wall we can see the moon and stars (confirmed to be stars by Joar in the previous screenshot, instead of satellites or something else) , which are green!

So, what does this all mean? I think we can entail a few things with what they've given us.

For one, the mention of the ground colliding with the sky implies some sort of firmament, which isn't an unusual concept in the general realm of celestial spheres.

But on the topic of celestial spheres, the pearl actually isn't the only place we see the concept. Guardian halos are very similar to depictions of celestial spheres, and also astrological clocks.

You can make of this as you will, perhaps the astrological references being tied to guardians could hint at the nature of karma, but there isn't much to really delve into that idea.

For what it's worth, celestial spheres are also core concepts in Gnosticism, which Rain World is heavily inspired by. I explain it more in this post about Void Worms, but for a quick synopsis in Gnosticism there are seven planetary spheres, and an eighth above them; the planets and stars are fixed to their spheres. These things just further cement the fact that celestial spheres seem to be a key aspect of Rain World's cosmology, and it would also likely imply it's universe follows a geocentric model.

For a bit of a more out-there theory, people have pointed out how the view atop the wall stretches really far, going far beyond what we could see on a spherical planet like Earth, which has led some to theorize that the world is also flat.

But what is probably the most important aspect of Rain World's cosmology is the nature of dust. Dust builds up, and the bedrock of the world is eaten away at by the Void Sea. Civilizations rise and fall into the sea as new ones are built above it. Many, including myself, believe that the world exists in a sort of state of equilibrium. The world is dissolved from the bottom, then that falls back on the world as dust; even in the final moments of the game we see dust suspended in the void sea depths.

And hey, even void worms are described as being star-like.

"Oh, interesting. This is a diary entry of a pre-Iterator era laborer during the construction of the subterranean transit system south of here. In it they describe restless nights filled with disturbing dreams, where millions glowing stars move menacingly in the distance."

Cyclical, recursive, something else entirely? We can never really pin down the true nature of Rain World's cosmology, but the things we do get hint at something strange and unique. It's such an interesting aspect of the lore, and it seems like Videocult will continue to make mysterious cosmologies in their future projects...

[deltasystem]

I think something that gets misinterpreted a lot in the Rain World community is what purposed organisms actually are. Theres a common interpretation that they were like “beasts of burden” and looked like or were the creatures we still see today. But this isn’t what Moon tells us, here’s what she says.

“Most purposed organisms were considerably smaller than me, and most barely looked like organisms at all. More like tubes in metal boxes, where something went in one end and something else came out the other…When I came into this world there was very little primal fauna left. So it's highly likely that you are the descendant of a purposed organism yourself!”

This dialogue paints the picture that most purposed organisms were closer to machines, or machine cogs, with biological parts than actual animals.

Of course most people are aware that creatures like leviathans and miros birds have mechanical aspects, but I think that most if not all creatures have some sort of blending of the biological and mechanical; it’s more of a spectrum than a dichotomy with cyborgs in between.

This idea is also based on some of the old Rain World concept art by Joar.

Here, it looks like melting globs of flesh, (or fleshy rubber and plastic) mutate over a metal “skeleton”. I think this can show the possible intention for purposed organisms and evolution in this world. Organic and mechanical transition seamlessly, and organic parts grow rapidly. I believe most purposed organisms started off on the more mechanical side of things, but evolved their organic “cover” in this way. Maybe everything we see, including us, have some mechanical components that are hidden by the flesh exterior.

This sort of, life overabundance and rapid growth is shown through Five Pebbles’s rot in game. His rot globs are able to grow legs and become mobile in an incredibly short amount of time, and even proto rot grows from innocuous metal walls.

My friend over at Darthzz-Ploo-World really coined this interpretation (and many others) in my opinion and did a wonderful art piece showcasing it.

My friend Re also did some great art showcasing a theory on orange lizards evolving from those computer boxes in Sky Islands and the exterior.

I also did some doodles on my own theories in the same vein. This time on the origin or Shoreline leviathans from Moon’s collapsed iterator components.

But yeah, I think Downpour leaned more into the “beast of burden” interpretation, but I also don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. Not everything needs to be a tube-box descendant I suppose.

[deltasystem]

The Architecture of Rain World: Layers of History

A major theme in Rain World's world design that often goes overlooked is the theme of, as James Primate, the level designer, composer and writer calls it, "Layers of History." This is about how the places in the game feel lived-in, and as though they have been built over each other. Here's what he said on the matter as far back as 2014!

The best example of this is Subterranean, the final area of the base game and a climax of the theme. Subterranean is pretty cleanly slpit vertically, there's the modern subway built over the ancient ruins, which are themselves built over the primordial ruins of the depths. Piercing through these layers is Filtration System, a high tech intrusion that cuts through the ground and visibly drills through the ceiling of the depths.

Two Sprouts, Twelve Brackets, the friendly local ghost, tells the player of the "bones of forgotten civilisations, heaped like so many sticks," highlighting this theme of layering as one of the first impressions the player gets of Subterranean. Barely minutes later, the player enters the room SB_H02, where the modern train lines crumble away into a cavern filled with older ruins, which themselves are invaded by the head machines seen prior in outskirts and farm arrays, some of which appear to have been installed destructively into the ruins, some breaking through floors.

These layers flow into each other, highlighting each other's decrepit state.

The filtration system, most likely the latest "layer," is always set apart from the spaces around it. At its top, the train tunnels give way to a vast chasm, where filtration system stands as a tower over the trains, while at the bottom in depths, it penetrates the ceiling of the temple, a destructive presence. (it's also a parallel to the way the leg does something similar in memory crypts, subterranean is full of callbacks like that!)

Filtration system is an interesting kind of transition, in that it is much later and more advanced than both of the areas it cuts between. This is a really interesting choice from James! It would be more "natural" to transition smoothly from the caves of upper subterranean to the depths, but by putting filtration system in between, the two are clearly demarcated as separate. The difference in era becomes palpable, the player has truly found something different and strange.

Depths itself is, obviously, the oldest layer not only of subterranean but of the game itself. The architecture of Depths has little to do with the rest of the game around it, it's a clear sign of the forgotten civilisations that our friend Two Sprouts, Twelve Brackets showed us, there's not actually that much to say about it itself, it's mostly about how it interacts with the other layers of subterranean.

That said, Subterranean is far from the only case of the theme of layers of history. It's present as soon as the player starts the game!

The very first room of the game, SU_C04, is seemingly a cave. It is below the surface, the shapes of it are distinctly amorphous rather than geometric. (well. kind of, it doesn't do a very good job of hiding the tile grid with its 45 degree angles.)

But let's take a closer look, shall we?

See that ground? it's made of bricks. The entire cave area of outskirts is characterised by this, the "chaotic stone" masonry asset is mixed with brickwork, unlike the surface ruins which are mostly stone. This, seemingly, is an inversion of common sense! The caves are bricks and the buildings are stone. This is not, however, a strange and unique aspect but a recurring motif.

This occurs enough in the game for it to be clearly intentional, but why would materials such as bricks be used in otherwise natural looking terrain?

The answer lies in the "Layers of History" theme. This is in fact, something that happens in real life, and it's called a tell

To be specific, a tell is a kind of mound formed by settlements building over the ruins of previous iterations of themselves. Centuries of rubble and detritus form until a hill grows from the city. Cities such as Troy and Jericho are famous examples. The connections to the layers of history theme are pretty clear here, I think. Cities growing, then dying, then becoming the bedrock of the next city. The ground, then, is made of bricks, because the ground is the rubble of past buildings. The bones of forgotten civilisations, heaped like so many sticks!

[deltasystem]

SCREW IT, I'M GIVING YOU MY DERANGED SCUG NOTES IN OBNOXIOUS SHADES OF PINKS AND PURPLES. I KILLED TWO PINK MARKERS WRITING ALL THIS. GOOD.

Five Pebbles was studying the rot. The Watcher lives in a rot filled world. Symbols from these two individuals is key. The Watcher has a secondary karma known as "ripples." You need to increase this by visiting echoes, [symbol for echoes; re: Spinning Top]. Once unlocking it [note: literally at the start of the campaign], it overwrites the original karma system. So it makes the most sense to use the Ripples! [note: to represent a concept similar to rot in rain world pictographs] But... What do they mean?

I'll provide the alt text for that one in a minute. My back hurts. But those who can see, you can see the vision, right? Right?

Okay, so, I'm just rambling, but I genuinely dislike using the pictograms from Rain World phonetically. Although I'm trying to learn them, the only way I can actually understand the language is through pictography, not phonetically. I fundamentally feel like the symbols used as hieroglyphs can be used in conjunction with the pictograms, but not interchangeably.

@amostdelectablescribbler has an absolutely wonderful guide to using the pictograms phonetically (as hieroglyphs), but when I try to read it, it just feels... wrong? Not that reading them in this way is wrong per se (I find it truly fascinating!), but it's fundamentally wrong.

Moon's symbol is composed of Karma 3, companionships, broken by a rombus and Karma 4, greed. To me, this reads as many friends-significant-love. The rhombus is also seen in the glyph for No Significant Harassment, leading to scug brain tying the shape to significance, and karma 3 + 4 combo quite literally meaning greedy for friends. She wants to befriend everyone if she can, hence being a big sister figure and friend-shaped to the scugs.

@\magicajaphet on Twitter.

Generally, the parts that make up these glyphs have their own meaning, and combinations create new meaning. It's kind of like Toki Pona crossed with Norse Bind Runes.

@\Koguri3108 on Reddit.

Now I have my vices with some of these translations, but this is quite literally attempting to interpret a language with only a few confirmed translations, vague implications on murals, and scrapped content (like the boombox mural).

So, of course, we slug cat scholars will have our differing opinions.

Karma 0 (the O) to me is generally interpreted as "self." It can mean "peace" or "karma" depending on context. Like the pilgrimage, to me, means discovery of self. And related synonyms, like "enlightenment of self" or "knowledge of self," as the primary symbol generally comes off as scholar and related academic terms—learning.

I'm also convinced all you rainworlders are terrified of watcher. No one ever talks about RIPPLES. THE ROT PRINCE. THE HOLY LORE.

I've seen more complaints about the campaign than appreciation just because they can't read porls (*pearls) with big sister. TwT

The symbols for ripples are the honest to god context needed to figure out the words in Pebble's array, but it requires analysis of the pictograms, not their phonetics. I'm so close to unlocking this... so close... *incoherent scug noises*

I would ramble more, but I have 18 physical pages of notes from rambling to friends today, and some godforsaken part of me said, post on tumblr! Get the rainworld linguists to comment! So I already offered my Ripple translations to the renowned rainworld linguist and will be flopping until my social battery comes back from nonexistence. I think Ruffles stole it. Or the void sea ate it.

[deltasystem]

mumble mumble something something scug noises grumble grumble... *puts on nametag*

That represents me as a person. If you use this bind rune-pictogram-thingy for your aesthetic or claim it as yours, rather than educational use of explaining how Rain World's pictograms function as a language, I will hunt you down and delete your save files—THAT'S MY NAME, BACK OFF FAE I'LL SPRINKLE IRON IN YOUR EYES.

I'll spare you my rant about Watcher pictograms, but basically:

humanoid-scholar-deliver message-hazard-intertwined with void-outside the cycle-hidden selves

The scholar who defies fate, but finds themselves caught in it regardless. [eldritch hazard sign and all that jazz]

TL;DR of my nine-page Watcher pictogram rant (at least the part about the outer circle):

The circles outside the ripple symbols represent the karma cycle. The outermost circle is always broken, like how Artificer's campaign is represented with Fate written with a broken karma circle. However, unlike Arti, Watcher is outside of the Karma cycle.

@spotsupstuff regarding the Watcher lore and its ties to Buddhism.

TL;DR about the Watcher Pictograms; the progression of the symbols:

As we go from Ripple 1 to Ripple 9, we watch as 1 self (represented by an unbroken circle) is divided by fate (the void worms; represented by the fate symbol repeating in the pictograms) into 2 selves. One that breaks free from the body and one that discovers itself.

A tulpa. A better self.

These selves dance around fate until the better self breaks free from the body and ascends, leaving the other behind.

To me, the Watcher strikes me as a metaphor for the other self left behind when Survivor/Monk ascended. This version of them is in another Strand of the world, an inverted variation of the world filled with rot and unfortunate developments, outside the karmic cycle, but trapped in a cycle of their own.

The void worm quite literally tears you apart, so the better ego can swim to the heavens while the other is spat into the void before being tossed into the cycle of reincarnation.

Hundreds of others of you, from other strands and cycles, swim alongside you, but this other ego—what happens to them?

They can't ascend.

Thus, these pictograms depict the journey of these two egos, one ascending while the other is left behind, eventually embracing their life outside the cycle and enjoying the world, either entertained with toys with childlike wonder, or finally allowing the Prince to spread enough to become at peace with the Void.

The Ripple symbols repeat the words "fate" and "self" so many times that it becomes obnoxious, but they never follow the same pattern, and the tick marks are positioned differently—it reminds me of the symbols in Pebbles' notes, and I'm just not seeing it yet.

Okay, so, I'm just rambling, but I genuinely dislike using the pictograms from Rain World phonetically. Although I'm trying to learn them, the only way I can actually understand the language is through pictography, not phonetically. I fundamentally feel like the symbols used as hieroglyphs can be used in conjunction with the pictograms, but not interchangeably.

@amostdelectablescribbler has an absolutely wonderful guide to using the pictograms phonetically (as hieroglyphs), but when I try to read it, it just feels... wrong? Not that reading them in this way is wrong per se (I find it truly fascinating!), but it's fundamentally wrong.

Moon's symbol is composed of Karma 3, companionships, broken by a rombus and Karma 4, greed. To me, this reads as many friends-significant-love. The rhombus is also seen in the glyph for No Significant Harassment, leading to scug brain tying the shape to significance, and karma 3 + 4 combo quite literally meaning greedy for friends. She wants to befriend everyone if she can, hence being a big sister figure and friend-shaped to the scugs.

@\magicajaphet on Twitter.

Generally, the parts that make up these glyphs have their own meaning, and combinations create new meaning. It's kind of like Toki Pona crossed with Norse Bind Runes.

@\Koguri3108 on Reddit.

Now I have my vices with some of these translations, but this is quite literally attempting to interpret a language with only a few confirmed translations, vague implications on murals, and scrapped content (like the boombox mural).

So, of course, we slug cat scholars will have our differing opinions.

Karma 0 (the O) to me is generally interpreted as "self." It can mean "peace" or "karma" depending on context. Like the pilgrimage, to me, means discovery of self. And related synonyms, like "enlightenment of self" or "knowledge of self," as the primary symbol generally comes off as scholar and related academic terms—learning.

I'm also convinced all you rainworlders are terrified of watcher. No one ever talks about RIPPLES. THE ROT PRINCE. THE HOLY LORE.

I've seen more complaints about the campaign than appreciation just because they can't read porls (*pearls) with big sister. TwT

The symbols for ripples are the honest to god context needed to figure out the words in Pebble's array, but it requires analysis of the pictograms, not their phonetics. I'm so close to unlocking this... so close... *incoherent scug noises*

I would ramble more, but I have 18 physical pages of notes from rambling to friends today, and some godforsaken part of me said, post on tumblr! Get the rainworld linguists to comment! So I already offered my Ripple translations to the renowned rainworld linguist and will be flopping until my social battery comes back from nonexistence. I think Ruffles stole it. Or the void sea ate it.

[deltasystem]

Okay, so, I'm just rambling, but I genuinely dislike using the pictograms from Rain World phonetically. Although I'm trying to learn them, the only way I can actually understand the language is through pictography, not phonetically. I fundamentally feel like the symbols used as hieroglyphs can be used in conjunction with the pictograms, but not interchangeably.

@amostdelectablescribbler has an absolutely wonderful guide to using the pictograms phonetically (as hieroglyphs), but when I try to read it, it just feels... wrong? Not that reading them in this way is wrong per se (I find it truly fascinating!), but it's fundamentally wrong.

Moon's symbol is composed of Karma 3, companionships, broken by a rombus and Karma 4, greed. To me, this reads as many friends-significant-love. The rhombus is also seen in the glyph for No Significant Harassment, leading to scug brain tying the shape to significance, and karma 3 + 4 combo quite literally meaning greedy for friends. She wants to befriend everyone if she can, hence being a big sister figure and friend-shaped to the scugs.

@\magicajaphet on Twitter.

Generally, the parts that make up these glyphs have their own meaning, and combinations create new meaning. It's kind of like Toki Pona crossed with Norse Bind Runes.

@\Koguri3108 on Reddit.

Now I have my vices with some of these translations, but this is quite literally attempting to interpret a language with only a few confirmed translations, vague implications on murals, and scrapped content (like the boombox mural).

So, of course, we slug cat scholars will have our differing opinions.

Karma 0 (the O) to me is generally interpreted as "self." It can mean "peace" or "karma" depending on context. Like the pilgrimage, to me, means discovery of self. And related synonyms, like "enlightenment of self" or "knowledge of self," as the primary symbol generally comes off as scholar and related academic terms—learning.

I'm also convinced all you rainworlders are terrified of watcher. No one ever talks about RIPPLES. THE ROT PRINCE. THE HOLY LORE.

I've seen more complaints about the campaign than appreciation just because they can't read porls (*pearls) with big sister. TwT

The symbols for ripples are the honest to god context needed to figure out the words in Pebble's array, but it requires analysis of the pictograms, not their phonetics. I'm so close to unlocking this... so close... *incoherent scug noises*

I would ramble more, but I have 18 physical pages of notes from rambling to friends today, and some godforsaken part of me said, post on tumblr! Get the rainworld linguists to comment! So I already offered my Ripple translations to the renowned rainworld linguist and will be flopping until my social battery comes back from nonexistence. I think Ruffles stole it. Or the void sea ate it.

[deltasystem]

oh whoooo is sheeeee~ a misty memoryyyyyy~

[deltasystem]

the thing is people often talk about how minecraft steve is the most whitewashed character since jesus christ but never does anyone discuss how they’re perhaps the most misgendered character ever

steve (alongside all the other default skins, for that matter) are referred to with they/them and with gender-neutral language by the developers!

[deltasystem]

maddonna and child - leyendecker study

(also would anyone like this as a print)