#rain world theory

[originalwinnerfanfish]

Don't worry Moon, your friend won't leave you

[wandering-echo]

Can an Iterator ascend? (The Story of Five Pebbles and Looks to the Moon)

Can an Iterator ascend, in theory? And if yes, which of them has a chance to achieve this?

Some thoughts on Five Pebbles' and Looks to the Moon's story...

(This is my personal lore analysis and ideas based on the original game + a bit of the Watcher, ignoring Downpour; I love Downpour on its own, but this idea touches on the lore without it)

🔶Iterators are a "gift to the world" and they cannot ascend due to their design

Light Blue pearl:

"Then you know that death isn't the end - birth and death are connected to each other like a ring, or some say a spiral. Some say a spiral that in turn forms a ring. Some ramble in agonizing longevity. But the basis is agreed upon: like sleep like death, you wake up again - whether you want to or not.

This is true for all living things, but some actually break the cycle. That doesn't apply to you or me though, you are too entangled in your animal struggles, and for me not breaking that cycle is an integral part of the design. Our mantras keep repeating"

Which means they can't ascend by their design, as they are created being unable to. Being a "gift to the world" (Pale Green pearl: "Five Pebbles is our Creation, and we have Parental Obligations towards him. As an Iterator, he is also a Gift of Charity from Us to The World (unable to reach Enlightenment by itself - being composed mostly of Rock, Gas, dull witted Bugs and Microbes - and towards which We thus have Obligations)"), their purpose is to find a way to ascend everyone, to find a way out from the cycle for others but not for themselves, so it makes sense that self ascension is against their purpose and design. They are like gods, but at the same time they are slaves, trapped in the purpose they were created for.

🔶Is there a Solution to the Big Problem?

Does Iterator's purpose make sense? Is it possible to achieve it? Actually, I believe it's not. Moreover, Iterators themselves are aware of this.

Seven Red Suns to Five Pebbles:

"Fact is, of course we are all aware of the evident futility of this Big Task. It's not said out loud but if you were better at reading between the lines there's nowhere you wouldn't see it. We're all frustrated"

"What else CAN we do? You're stuck in your can, and at any moment you have no more than two alternatives: Do nothing, or work like you're supposed to"

Five Pebbles is the one who went against their original purpose and against the rules because he didn't want to accept it, and he has all the reasons to feel this way. Ascension is presented as some kind of very personal enlightenment (post about it by another person; I agree with them), and it is difficult to say whether something like this is even possible to achieve for all the life forms, especially the ones that do not possess such deep intelligence and spirituality as Iterator's creators, or at least as some Slugcats (and maybe Scavengers?). But even so, ascension is just a personal journey and a personal choice; you can't force it.

Basically, the Iterators are trapped, searching for a solution which is impossible and maybe even fundamentally wrong. They are aware of this, but they have no choice. They were created without the right to choose.

🔶Can Iterators die, was this the goal of the Five Pebbles?

Five Pebbles didn't want to accept his fate, trapped forever and trying to find the impossible solution, along with all the other Iterators. He also didn't want to just die (he says so in his own quote "So why do we continue? We assemble work groups, we ponder, we iterate and try. Some of us die. It's not fair"), he wanted it all to make at least some sense and to be fair to his own kind, the Iterators (and I wonder, "some of us die" is Sliver of Straw or there were other Iterators who died? Why "some"? Sliver of Straw is the only one who found a solution (although we don't know for sure if this is true) before she died(?). What she did was impossible, that's also why she is so important and so mysterious. But there are hints that she may not be the only one who died...)

If you give Five Pebbles' neuron fly to Looks to the Moon, she says:

"I could read a bit of Five Pebbles in this neuron before formatting it. His condition has severely deteriorated since last I heard of him. The frustration he feels is profound, and that angst has seeped into every part of him, every neuron.

We were supposed to help everyone, you know. Everything. That was our purpose: a great gift to the lesser beings of the world. When facing our inability to do so, we all reacted differently. Many with madness.

Some, out there, might still be trying. Communications have been bad for a long time, and by now I suspect most of us are isolated like me, or connected only in small groups.

But even back when we were all more or less connected there were those who reacted to their task with anger. I can only imagine they are angrier now, alone in their cans, left only with their insatiable drive.

But to be honest, I don't know how many of us are still alive at this point"

There were other Iterators openly frustrated and angry about their hopeless fate. Also, Moon says that she doesn't know how many of them are still alive, which adds weight to Pebbles' words "Some of us die". I believe they wouldn't talk about it that way if they weren't sure about it.

🔶Iterator Ascension as the Five Pebbles' Idea and goal

Five Pebbles wanted to find a way to ascend his own kind, and I personally like the version that the illegal Gold Pearl from the Chimney Canopy was written and sent by Pebbles to Suns, and not the other way around like it was in Downpour. It makes more sense to the story I think, because Pebbles wanted to find a way out for them all, and he wanted to share it with others. He is shown as the youngest and open-minded, stubborn, and his impatience and rebelliousness is what makes him look for new ways, even if these ways are against the rules. But is it really wrong if the rules are flawed and the original purpose has no solution? And if the only one who possibly found the answer just… disappeared?

Seven Red Suns to Five Pebbles:

"You have a maze, and you have a handful of bugs. You put the bugs in the maze, and you leave. Given infinite time, one of the bugs WILL find a way out, if they just erratically try and try. This is why they called us Iterators"

And after that, Five Pebbles took the pseudonym Erratic Pulse, spreading the idea of personal ascension.

Chasing Wind: "This is in confidence, but apparently a pseudonym "Erratic Pulse" has appeared on a nearby Sliverist conversation with ideas about personal ascension. Someone here in our vicinity is trying to cross themselves out"

Rejected by others, Five Pebbles closed himself off from everyone, working on his idea all alone. And yet, I think that the Gold Pearl was sent by him because he still wanted to share his ideas with Seven Red Suns at least.

🔶What Five Pebbles achieved is the opposite of Ascension; the Rot

Five Pebbles failed. Technically it was because Looks to the Moon distracted him, but I think the idea is that his severe despair is the true reason; he wanted to ascend, but instead, he created the opposite of ascending (and the Watcher kind of develops this idea? Rot as the opposite of the Ascension), ending up stuck in his personal nightmare and despair more than ever. I see Five Pebbles as someone who saw that the system and rules are flawed and wrong, and I believe he is right rationally, but he chose the "wrong" way out.

You can't ascend if what drives you is severe frustration and despair. Suffering and wanting to free himself from a hopeless fate, Five Pebbles doomed himself to an even worse fate. He literally created something out of his own despair and suffering, which is the Rot. He is a tragic character, not a villain and not a bad person in my eyes, but the personification of all the hopelessness of the Iterators' fate, in its worst and most depressing form. And he's probably not the only one who ended up like that, although I find both him and Moon to be the most important and symbolic to the story of the entire Iterator kind; they are main characters for a reason.

In my interpretation, Five Pebbles ended up in the opposite of ascension (and I wonder, can an Iterator become an Echo then? That would be an interesting headcanon: imagine how cool it would be to see Pebbles as an entire otherworldly/ghostly region, wow!). Perhaps the Unfortunate Evolution from the Watcher has something to do with it. If the Rot is the opposite of the Ascension, it makes sense that this is what he ended up in. His personal, eternal and nightmarish fall.

(Oh, and I don't think he deserves it, no one does. But life is not about deservingness and justice; Rain World is a very unfair game in all its essence, from gameplay to lore, that's the language it speaks to us. I don't see it as a story about Five Pebbles' mistake that requires redemption or so. I find it extremely superficial to judge him like he's just a bad person who "deserves" a really terrible death, or something worse than death. I also don't see him as stupid, rude or selfish)

🔶Looks to the Moon as the only Iterator to accidentally achieve Enlightenment?

I have an idea that Looks to the Moon is the only Iterator who could potentially ascend. She never wanted this, just as she never wanted to die, becoming a victim of Five Pebbles' despair. But she is no longer who we know as the Iterators; she appears to be mortal now, you can literally kill her by eating her neuron flies (which gives you the "Stolen Enlightenment" achievement. Stolen. Enlightenment. Why it be stolen?)

Also, she says "Nowadays I am mostly just my puppet. The bulk of me is in these walls but I am disconnected from those parts, to a degree where I am only vaguely aware of how bad their condition is" which… makes her closer to a regular living being. She lost her nature and became something else. She lost her status as a "godlike" being. She fell to the very ground.

Looks to the Moon also doesn't seem to care much about her purpose anymore - unlike Five Pebbles, she doesn't tell the Slugcat to go to the Void Sea or something, she's just glad to see someone friendly around. She speaks of her purpose as something in the past, with some sadness, but accepting and letting it go. She doesn't even seem to hold a grudge against Five Pebbles. She accepts the fate of both of them, despite the fact that this fate is full of their mutual pain and despair. Five Pebbles is angry that he can't help anyone, not even himself, and it drowns him in despair even more. Looks to the Moon is peaceful, she is not in despair despite the fact that she is destroyed, she went through terrible suffering, she died and was brought back to life, and now she is fragile as just a living being. At the same time, she is not apathetic, she is alive, she thinks and feels, she is open, friendly or angry depending on how you treat her. And she still does not want to die.

"I know I have tried very hard" She did, really. But she is no longer trying, she is just living, and I think she might be ready to move on.

I believe Looks to the Moon can reach enlightenment or even already reached it, and maybe she can ascend, but it's just her choice not to do it because she doesn't want to. It's a personal choice after all.

While Five Pebbles can never reach it because of his own desperate wish of it, achieving the opposite instead. It's like... they both changed their nature in some way, even if not in the way they wanted, and it's a very cruel but speaking irony for both of them. And just an interesting metaphor to think about.

…

This is my personal understanding of the meaning of their nature, story and roles, their symbolism, which connects but opposes them to each other. Maybe I got something wrong, and it's ok if you disagree and have your own interpretations. Rain World is a very symbolic game, and each of us can find our own idea of what it is about. I'm just a humble fan that decided to try to share my thoughts, because I love Moon and Pebbles, and I love their story <3

Thank you for reading if someone is reading this! I hope this gives you some food for thought too ~

[cat-mermaid]

ok for like weeks i've had this fucking 4 am thought in my head and have been trying to figure out how to explain it with out writing out a whole fucking thesis

so i'm gonna really try to nutshell it the way it happened in my thoughts in the middle of the night:

huuuuuugh man the ancients (starts mind writing fanfiction that will never be written)

...huh but no, the ancients were really really thorough when they sat down and designed the Iterators. They really wanted those things bolted to the ground and unable to... oh man thats pretty much AM from "I have no mouth and i must torture the humans forever" if AM wasn't able (by design) to get pissed off about it....

...be able to upload their minds into another living organism? If it was big enough? Like a big fuck off tree? No... the ancients prob would have thought of... oooo0000OOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

*revelation*

THATS WHAT THE NEURON FLYS ARE FOR!!!!

The "Can" is the body: containing flesh and machinery, but the Neuron Flies are the "mind" of an Iterator! I mean look at what happens to Moon when you start eating her flies:

Its like the end half of Flowers for Algernon, each one you eat makes her less articulate, makes it harder for her to think

her memories, her personal memories, her personality and everything that makes her an individual is whats contained in those flies. "You killed me" doesn't mean the machine gets to stop, it just means the consciousness named "Looks to the Moon" disappears

and thats what hit me: thats how the ancients ensured that their creations could never escape their duty, never turn on them and pull a Skynet

all the computer stuff is in the structure itself, but the part of the iterator that can be directly communicated with, probably just for ease of access so you could tell it what you wanted it to do verbally and it could understand you from a place of sapience, is stored piece by piece in these things:

its like if you mind itself was a swarm of bees. After all, they are called neuron flies. Each one holds a part of you, memories, stupid personally quirks, temperament. The iterators probably have a library of information stored in their main body they can access, but the fly thing is their very selves, their egos and so on

and its insidiously genius of the ancients, your super computer's ai can't copy and paste itself into another body and amscray like in Soma. Its mind is separated into so many tiny fragile flying little usb thumb drives that it would have to be able to find a way to safely transport and shelter them in order to "leave" and fuck are there a lot of those guys swarming around inside

Neuron Flies are perfectly safe and functional as long as they are inside their iterator's can, they even have guardians called Inspectors to protect them incase any pesky critters squeeze inside for a free snack

so basically an Iterator is a biological computer built like a crab: The shell is the metal parts, what you see from the outside:

but the computer part is the meat of the crab

these are the parts that get slag build up and need water to wash out the toxins and cool it down, just like litterally you and me need water to fucking live

what i'm getting at is the absolutely impossible situation the iterators are in, a crab can't "escape" from its shell, thats part of its fucking body. Iterators are the same except with the added wrinkle of being crabs who's minds are little swarming mites deep inside their guts that need to all be kept safe

so with all this on the table, it makes so much more sense now when the iterators say "we don't die easy" because even if all their flies (the mind) get destroyed, the "body" keeps chugging on. Even a lack of water isn't enough, it just results in a halt of normal processes and we end up with the state Moon is in. I mean she eventually got access to water again after she pulled an "admin privileges" on Pebbles, but even going for as long as she did without was enough to fuck her up bad

but even then, after that and pretty much all of her fucking neural flies gone, she still can't die, not the way they want. Not the way Sliver of Straw did with a complete shut down. Iterator's were designed almost exactly like AM from I have no mouth and i must scream:

"We had given AM sentience. Inadvertently, of course, but sentience nonetheless. But it had been trapped. AM wasn't God, he was a machine. We had created him to think, but there was nothing it could do with that creativity. In rage, in frenzy, the machine had killed the human race, almost all of us, and still it was trapped. AM could not wander, AM could not wonder, AM could not belong. He could merely be."

but unlike the humans, the ancient's made sure that their god computers would never have the power AM did to lash out. Iterator's could and still can only complain and be bitter, but seem to be unable (by design) to feel the hot rage someone in that position would feel. And if something did go wrong and shit was going south? Start taking out those flies, there were probably purposed organisms locked and loaded for that express purpose

and thats wat i wanted to get outta my head

*edit* i wanted to add somthing about how the puppet part of an iterator is probably like a computer interface:

what of instead of thinking of the puppet and its ai as the "true" computer, we instead thought of it a bit like the above image, the fabric screen part? The ancients interacted with the puppet the way we use a mouse or tap a screen, just with words instead. The point of making the puppet aware and having thoughts and feels was all solely to make it more efficient, it could understand nuance and urgency and feel empathy and act accordingly with carrying out the user's wishes

but yeah unlike our mouse, iterators were also straight up in charge of running a lot of stuff unsupervised so their creators didn't have to deal with so much. Ancient's were really big on making swarms of different lifeforms to do like one thing for them lol

*imagines a living roomba thats just like a horseshoe crab that doodles around your home eating up anything on the floor*

haha thats funHEY WAIT

OH MY GOD

[mebis-reblogs]

ok it's about time I elaborate on this post, at least on the starting point

so what's this made up fellow, and why do I think it's the building block of iterator processing biota?

almost every biological component we see inside an iterator has a combination of dots (nuclei?) like little flashing balls, and mycelia (well, wall mycelia only shows the mycelia strands but still). this drawing is what this common denominator would be

you can even see that coral neurons are composed of entangled/"braided" strands rather than a single red mass (think of it like how muscles are made of several fibers in bundles)

coral stems are covered in segments, but these seem self-grown, potentially similar to what encases the circuit connector (round roomba thing)(completely forgot to include it in the original post btw), so I'd argue they too, like the red coral neurons, are a bundle of strands (you can think of them as axons, or like the puppet's umbilical)

then there's deep processing

at the background layers of many rooms, blue lights flickering much like these dots/nuclei

these could also just be the blue flashes resulting from interacting mycelia, or a distant fuse panel (seen above), but i personally do think both options still lead to a thick, interconnected layer or strata of these lil guys, and from this strata wall mycelia and coral stems grow

(the fuses could very well be partly made out of these guys after all)

tldr most fleshy bits made out of filaments and beads meshed together

[parageist]

MANY RAIN WORLD SPOILERS AHEAD

yknow, what really are these module things you see attached to iterators?

i always assumed they were steam vents and thus make the torrential rains you experience, as when its rain time, they start steaming. but as ive played through more campaigns and revisited old areas, ive noticed some strange things about them

like whats up with this one on the bottom? why is it cut in half like that?

and sometimes the lighting makes these circle things in the background look like theyre protruding, so I assumed they were just the same steam vent things but viewed face-on, yet in this image (and in a lot of others) the lighting suggests the opposite - they're indentations on the structure. perhaps the vent things can be retracted in/out of the base?

yet here in the outer expanse you can find them on train cars, and the lighting looks like they're protruding, which would either mean the train cars are extremely wide or theres an extreme amount of clearance between the rail and the walls of the tunnel.

and even if it was retracted into its shell, that would mean the shell itself is super wide to be able to house an object that long. also the retractable theory in general starts to fall flat when you never actually see them retract or extrude, which if they are steam vents, then shouldnt they pop out of their shells when its rain time? this makes me think the circles facing head-on arent the same vent modules we see. perhaps they're some sort of "socket" or attachment point for some other component? im not sure.

but anyway, back to the main point. what are these things?

well, an important peice of evidence completely changes everything.

YOU CAN FIND THEM (and the circle background thingies) *INSIDE* OF ITERATOR CANS

(they're in/on moon's can as well, so there doesn't seem to be a difference between gen 1 and gen 3 iterator designs in regards to these modules)

but anyway. why are there steam vents inside of their processors???

and you cant just deduce that they arent steam vents, cus they definitely are (as shown in this video)

but at the same time the ones inside their cans dont produce any steam. or at least, no steam that we can see.

but this leads me to a theory, once you keep in mind another major thing about iterators: they need a shit load of water to function, yet you never see any of the neuronflies, inspectors, or other organisms inside drink. so where the heck is all the water? (besides the lymphatic system)

this makes me think that the steam vents we see inside of iterator structures are indeed steam vents, but the amount of steam they produce is a lot less. i assume they are basically giant humidifiers, which would saturate the air with so much moisture that the neuronflies and what not wouldnt need to "drink" as they would just constantly be absorbing water from the air. the moist air could also improve electrical conductivity between neurons.

so yeah that's my theory! it is kind of uncomfortable to think about the inside of iterator cans being absolutely muggy and miserable from the extreme humidity, but it makes sense knowing that being inside an iterator is basically like being inside a giant living organism's body; of course it's gonna be wet and slimy in there. it would also explain how the water pumped through the lymphatic conduits gets distributed to all the neurons and other purposed organisms - instead of having a separate pipe connecting every little creature to the water supply, you just saturate the air with it so they can "wirelessly" get water!

[pikuniku53353358]

A simple coincidence?

Today we had a geography lesson at school, we studied the symbols of various climatic phenomena. It was a real discovery for me when I realized that those three dots on the forehead of Saint are absolutely identical to the conventional sign designating... Rain. «Rain World», Saint has this mark... It will be funny if this small detail turns out to be just a funny coincidence and the developers did not put any hidden meaning here, but in any case, now it will become part of my hedcanon! (I hope I wrote it correctly, don't forget that English is not my native language^^")

What do you think about this?

[mxyzptplk]

a theory/interpretation crafted through a combination of spending time in watcher-lore channel and my own frenzied thoughts after the second ending

[amenalyme]

rambling about slugcats

I’m probably not the first to notice this but I personally haven’t seen anyone else bring it up so I wanna talk about it.

I realized that as the timeline progresses, the slugcats become progressively less carnivorous.

While spearmaster has a different way of eating, they mostly feed off of the energy of other living animals, with the exception of popcorn plants.

Both artificer and hunter are technically able to eat plants as well as small insects, though they much prefer the meat of other larger creatures. Artificer, who is earlier in the timeline, also has the maul ability, which likely means that it has stronger sharper teeth. While inv isn’t canon, it also fits in its place between arti and hunter here, sharing the maul ability with artificer.

Gourmand gains less nutrition from other larger animals than hunter or artificer do, though in return they are more adapted to eating plants and smaller insects.

Survivor, monk and rivulet eat only plants and insects. While monk could be considered more passive than rivulet, this is probably just the nature of monk as a character rather than an evolutionary thing, especially as survivor and monk are around at basically the same time. Rivulet is however more equipped to simply flee any encounter with a threat rather than engage in combat.

Saint is fully vegetarian (just don’t tell them about bluefruit). Their digestive system does not tolerate meat at all. Attempting to eat a smaller creature like a batfly will cause them to collapse while trying to eat a centipede will result in instant death.

Of course some of these cats can be described as anomalies in their own right, either due to being purposefully created by iterators or whatever is going on with saint, but when it comes to food, this progression does look to be quite linear.

It’s very possible that slugcats were previously a fully carnivorous species, but then evolved to be mainly insectivorous, while also growing more adapted to plants.

I just thought this was neat and wanted to share. Anyone is free to give their own input on this as well

[thebadguyswinhere]

I love the world state of Rivulet so much.

The rain has gotten worse. The world you know is is dying. The weather is erratic, there is no time, you are constantly on a timer. The skies are grey and the water is ever-present. There is no break from the death fits of a dying god. Best this world can receive is to be put out of its misery so a new era can come.

[izanallu]

Little Rain World Lore Tangent

So I reposted a text post by @twisting-roads and the section about other creatures and the cycleit actually got me wondering how the cycle actually works for them.

This is purely a theory so take none of it as fact, ok I’m just having fun lol

So I’ started thinking and maybe it could possibly have something to do with a creature’s level of intelligence and such. Pretty sure it’s canon at this point that slugcats are quite intelligent.

Five Pebbles shows that brain scan of a slugcat when you first meet him, most likely indicating that they’re capable of more advanced thought on their own(without being genetically modified or anything), and I believe that IS proven through the Artificer and Gourmand campaigns. Gourmand can craft things, and makes food more effective by combining them, and Arti had enough of a mind to LITERALLY OVERTHROW AN ENTIRE CLAN OF CREATURES for nothing but revenge.

Oh yeah also the fact that in the gourmand campaign slugcats are shown to draw on walls to tell stories, so. Just remembered that

They can also understand iterator language when given the mark of communication(I mean we have no way of knowing if other animals can understand with the mark or even be given the mark in the first place, but so far it hasn’t been mentioned or documented). I’m going to go off the assumption that scavengers can also understand iterator language when given the mark since the Chieftain has a mark of communication as well, and scavengers are the only other creatures in-game so far that we’ve seen associated with karma(you can use their corpses to pass karma gates)

Idk just my thoughts. Lemme know what you think

[ardienothesieno]

SPECULATING ABOUT THE WATCHER

Wanted to make my own analysis post, as I've seen some comments on other sites pointing out things but nothing here so far... AND I AM TOO DEEP IN THE BRAINROT TO NOT ANALYZE THIS EVEN JUST A LITTLE BIT. SO.

I would like to mention that I have not played any modded regions! So if there are certain details that I make note of in the screenshots that have explanation in their original mods, please feel free to correct me!!

STARTING OFF WITH THE TRAILER:

Rot tendrils. Rot tendrils on the ceiling... just casually... that's totally not concerning...

The blue lizard only has two toes on each foot!

The background of this first shot looks like it might be on an iterator structure? There are some support beams but other then that it's just clouds.

The spears that the scavenger is carrying are kind of weird... for one, they're white. And one of them has a large, almost pinecone-shaped tip.

Also they have a crack in their face/mask.

what the pole plant doin

The Watcher doesn't seem to have a nose? That's probably just an art style thing, but I thought I'd mention it. Also their eyes are glowing.

Even the title font has implications. whoa.

For one, more rot. The rot has now made a double appearance and that probably guarantees its significance here...

And plants... Leaves and some vines.

The way that the black screen transitions to a white one is very rot-esce to me. Rot triple appearance...

There seems to be some graffiti on the right side of the final shot? It's obstructed by the visual effects in the foreground, however.

Once again Watcher is depicted without a nose BUT THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT BECAUSE THIS SCREEN HAS IMPLICATIONS

Watcher is floating. Normally I'd mark this off as "cool title screen choice" but they're also surrounded by ECHO PARTICLES.

And the warping around the Watcher and the title? THE OUTMOST RIPPLES HAVE GOLD VEINS RUNNING THROUGH THEM. THE VOID IMPLICATIONS...

And this might be a stretch but the palette of this final image is black and gold... void colors...

OKAY THATS MOST OF THE TRAILER

ONTO THE STEAM DESCRIPTION:

Rain World: The Watcher is a DLC expansion of Rain World. Journey beyond to something, somewhere only ever glimpsed. When the world beneath your feet cracks and crumbles, will you hold on to all you once knew? Or dive into the unknown? The wilds that await will be unlike all that's come before. Unknown creatures stalk and climb and dive and hunt. New breeds rip and pluck and burrow and hide. Predator and prey redefined. And through the middle of it all, a lonely lost slugcat trying their best to outlast the ravages of a warped world.

Do... do I even have to say anything?

THE VOID IMPLICATIONS!! HOLY MOTHER OF SCUGS THE *VOID IMPLICATIONS!!!!*

"Journey beyond to something, somewhere only ever glimpsed. When the world beneath your feet cracks and crumbles, will you hold on to all you once knew? Or dive into the unknown?" YOU READ THIS AND TELL ME THIS DOESN'T HAVE VOID SEA VIBES. Journey BEYOND to something, somewhere only ever glimpsed... it feels very void-y to me. And the talk about the world beneath you crumbling-- holding on to what you once knew or diving into the unknown?? If this somehow ISN'T related to ascension I would be shocked

"And through the middle of it all, a lonely lost slugcat trying their best to outlast the ravages of a warped world." This line about the world being warped, as well... I'm thinking this DLC might either have to do with Rubicon, or have to do with the encroach of the void sea consuming the world from below.

Other then the void implications, it sounds like we'll be seeing some new creatures that could completely redefine the game. I'm excited to see where that goes.

OKAY. SCREENSHOTS. LETS GO.

I know these are from pre-existing mods, but I'm completely unfamiliar with said mods and don't know if any of this means anything. Just wild speculation, pretty much.

Gonna start with these two because they're kinda visually similar. On the left we have desert!!!! Cacti!! Cactuses!!!!! I've seen lots of people calling the image on the right snow, but that doesnt feel right to me. We saw snow in Saint and I do not remember it looking like... that. The first thing that comes to mind for me is Kingdom's Edge from Hollow Knight, and the drifts of ash that pile up there? If this is the case then it confirms several of my lore theories and I would so love that to be the case. There's also a collapsed structure in the back of the "snowy" image, which looks to me a bit like a train car?

Also I've now seen several people calling these milk... and I can't unsee it now...

I've been told by several sources that these screens are from preexisting mods! I think these are from Stormy Coast, Coral Caves, and Aether Ridge? At least that's what I've picked up from searching through other discussions. I don't have too much to comment on here! I think these rooms are cool, and I really like the fans in the Aether Ridge room!

...oh no... acid region..? I don't know why, but this room gives me Shoreline vibes. Also I do not think bubble fruit are supposed to grow that perfectly--

And finally... what I think has the possibility of either being a huge lore thing, or a complete false alarm. Well for starters it's purple

But there are no iterator cans in the background. We're above the clouds here; in every above-the-clouds show from the base game and Downpour, you can see iterators and communication towers off in the distance. There's nothing here. And I don't think this takes place near or after Saint, because there's no confirmed snow. And I think a lot of these structures would be far worse for wear if this were so far in the future that the planet has warmed again. So. Uh. That's pretty odd.

Again, these all might be from mods that I am unfamiliar with, so please correct me if I'm misinterpreting anything!!

AND THAT CONCLUDES MY ANALYSIS FOR NOW!

tl,dr-- This DLC is gonna be crazy. Also void

[blueberry-small-pie]

So, I noticed something.

Right at the beginning of the game, during the echo effect, if you keep pausing, the watcher seems to ‘distort’ in a weird way.

Is that a bug, or an intentional detail?

Because if it’s the latter… we could totally build some wild theories out of it!

[moonysoasis]

rain world theory hour

HEY HEY SO GUYS I REALLY MIGHT SOUND SO ACTUALLY STUPID FOR THIS ONE.. SO SO did you guys notice anything about this rain world art month.. IT ONLY FEATURES 2 SLUGCATS.. not including slugpups because thats like undefined number.. BUT THERE ARE REALLY SPECIFIC THINGS LIKE SPECIFIC KARMA AND ACHIEVEMENTS ?? also moon being referenced/prominent in this month is like.. weird. there's also just "new lizards" which that is just, make up a new lizard, which is REALLY REALLY SUSPICIOUS. SO HEAR ME OUT, THIS THEORY. my theory is that EVERYTHING in this rain world art month will relate in some way to the watcher/rain world lore. maybe gourmand could be in relation to the watcher at some point in the timeline ? like before or after gourmands timeline is when the watcher takes place, im assuming after, when the rot is more prominent, because the rot is in fact mentioned in this month, as well as general systems bus, memory conflux, and yeah.. but not a lot of pebbles mentions, its more in correlation to moon, which makes me think, is moon going to be heavily featured in the watchers lore ?? maybe a messenger created by moon !!! anyways feel free to share ur ideas with this theory guys, i might be going insane for this one but yay !! rain world watcher.. im coming for your lore...

[mebis-reblogs]

Just thought of a silly crackpot theory

Spearmaster can intercept and hear broadcasts, but what if this is an active version of a vestigial trait in all slugcats?

You can hear the leftover radio signals of sky islands

You can hear the static noise accompanying yellow lizard growls

This was inspired by me going "hey wait a minute how can spearmaster see the symbols hovering from the antenna to the pearl, it would be too silly if those were actual holograms for no reason whatsoever" "oh its weird radio ability ofc" "wait what if all the holograms in general systems bus are not actually there and simply "heard" by the slugcats"

Ofc I don't actually believe in this, and I definitely prefer the superstructure holograms to actually be there

But still a fun thought

[bubblybloob]

Random brain wave rain world theory. Major spoilers.

So like, the void fluid seems to give you what you most desire, as seen by all the normal endings, as well as Hunter’s, Monk’s, and Artificer’s. Whether or not that it’s even real is also a question, since we know slugpups can’t ascend, yet Arti’s appear in that ending, and NSH is definitely not ascended by the time Hunter ascends.

As far as I can tell, what Saint desires is to ascend every living being, including Iterators.

I think the reason Saint is in a perpetual state of returning to the Rubicon is to specifically ascend all the void worms.

They all rest near the top of the fluid, do you see how far they drag you in the other endings? They don’t seem to have properly ascended like the other creatures, it seems it’s just their job to bring those other creatures to their (most likely fake) peace.

So, in their mission to ascend everything, Saint goes down to ascend the void worms as well, however, the void worms do not like this. Don’t know what does it, maybe it’s the void worms flailing around as they clutch onto their ascending selves, could be the void fluid, or maybe just the massive potential shockwave created by ascending something so… eldritch?? Whatever it is, Saint upsets the balance or someone/thing and gets sent back to low karma and up to the surface in hopes the Saint won’t come back.

But, this is their desire, so Saint does, again and again and again.

It could very well take eons to finish their work given how many void worms there are, but they are determined.

There are other theories I have with some minor details surrounding this. Like maybe the reason Rubicon exists is to specifically prevent Saint from reaching the worms. Maybe, unlike the fake happy endings the void fluid makes, it wasn’t able to give Saint its greatest desire in an illusion, so it was forced to give it the actual ability to ascend? Who knows.

Also, not a believer in the Sliver of Straw making Saint theory, I believe it’s been confirmed wrong? Not entirely sure, don’t quote me on that. Either way, that particular theory wasn’t kept in mind for this. Felt I had to mention that due to the popularity of it.

[seven-skies-above]

writing this out because my brain has been wrapping around the thought

so like. the whole big issue with the cycle being like literal death and revive video-game style save state is that well. Nothing Can Die. like. ever. does this mean that the population continues to grow infinitely until the world is full? then how does evolution work if natural selection is not there to influence certain survival traits?

we know that creatures evolve; rain worlds creature are explicitly stated to be evolutions of purposed organisms, developed into a more survivable form.

but without permanent death, how is this possible?

WELL. GUESS WHAT MECHANIC I FORGOT ABOUT.

-slams table-

LINEAGING.

when a creature is killed, there is a 33% (or 50% for certain scugs) chance that it respawns. so within the karma-cycle system, it re-cycles i guess idk. we’re still working out the kinks of that whole thing

anyways, when a creature respawns, there is also the chance that it respawns as a higher “tier” of creature. ex. pole plant respawns as a monster kelp.

so this likely means that lineaging is rain world’s method of “natural selection.” if a creature dies enough times, it re-cycles as an evolved form of itself. creatures that survive will maintain that form, while creatures that do not will again re-cycle into a different form until it reaches one that is suitable for the current environment.

the game sort of implies that there is a set order to lineaging (see the order of lizard lineaging from green to red), and that creatures cannot de-lineage into previous forms, but I’d like to think that creatures tend to lineage towards the form most adapted to the current environment. this is why we see no red lizards in Survivor and Monk, since having such a powerful and resource-intensive form would be unsustainable with less spawns and food around. however, if survival becomes impossible without being a red lizard (ex. scug murders you over and over again), then red lizard becomes a suitable lineage option again. meanwhile in Saint’s campaign, strawberry lizards have become a preferable mutation since they’re small and can conserve energy.

for the record, we never see slugcats lineage, even though they’re implied to be descended from the pipe cleaning purposed organisms. this is most likely just due to game design reasons (too many scug variations and changes in gameplay from dying too much) and suddenly learning to handle different scugs on top of already trying to just learn how to play the game is a little much.

but yeah. rain world still gets evolution even when things can’t die permanently because instead of birth causing mutations, it’s rebirth causing mutations. wild.

does this explain why rain world doesn’t have a severe overpopulation issue? absolutely not and i cannot even begin to fathom a reason for this. but i have answered one of my questions and i call that a success!!