4-sterien - Tumblr blog

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Concept for my oc Rarity’s campaign

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I've created one of those ye olde Pinterest Name Generators but for Rain World Ancients, as their structure is pretty straightforward. If this gets enough likes, I'll do one for iterators too!

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Found Fish a new sister.

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Playing with some ideas mostly regarding gender/reproduction in RW, and slugcat colonies.

Full transcript under the cut!

Creatures in Rain World are typically simultaneous hermaphrodites but require partners to reproduce, with either individual capable of being a genetic donor or carrier. Alongside what we are familiar with, this has lead to interesting reproductive strategies such as rotating donor/carrier roles, or dual/simultaneous genetic swaps.

Rotating donor/carrier roles - A K-selection reproductive strategy. One partner carries the first child, the other partner carries the next child, and so forth. Allows each partner to recover from the demands of childbearing.

Rain Deer aren't quite monogamous, but they tend to choose the same breeding partner whenever mating season rolls around. They serve as a donor one season, then bear and raise a child the next. Calves are raised away from the rain and worm grass, in places that have less food but more safety. Calf wool is softer, not yet gunked up by the dirty rainfall. Their legs are sturdier as children, allowing them to run for cover while the parent wards off threats.

Dual/simultaneous genetic swap - An r-selection reproductive strategy. Parents fulfill the donor and carrier role for each other. The more children you make, the more likely some are to survive!

Multiple batflies lay thousands of eggs in a single "blue fruit." Several eggs congeal and become nutrient paste for the surviving eggs (and for hungry slugcats). Like some plant seeds, batfly eggs that are consumed before pupating can survive passing through the digestive system. Ew.

Ancients also fell under this umbrella. Their genders (and the genders of iterators by extension, who have no sex anyways) could have been determined by a variety of other factors, such as societal role, donor/carrier preference, or simply different categorizations of personal expression.

It's difficult to say how well their common pronouns would translate to ours, but it seems they can translate to an extent, given what Moon and Pebbles use canonically.

Slugcats, like real slugs, can have children with a partner or self-fertilize. Unlike real slugs, they are often known to adopt.

In the case of self-fertilization: children who are born from one parent may display a large amount of genetic diversity despite the circumstances. Maybe slugcats have some sort of... genetic reservoir independent of their own genetic code?

Slugcats live 20-30 years on average... if they manage to reach adulthood. Their mortality rate is sadly rather high, especially in pups. If they were to develop as a civilization, it's likely their lifespan would increase dramatically.

Slugcats in a colony are more likely to have more children, and to successfully rear those children to adulthood, than those who wander alone or in small groups. The safety and stability of a colony cannot be understated.

Colonies either have a set, cycling migration path, or wander continuously. Survivor and Monk's tree home was a nesting site that their colony frequents about once a year. So it's likely that they'll see their family again!

...also, the strength of large colonies are why scavengers are likely to become the dominant species. In the time of Saint's era, continuous migration has become more of a risk, and it has become more difficult to support large populations. Slugcat populations have shrunk back to the more forgiving equatorial zones.

Saint's tongue is pretty unusual and probably unique to them, or to a small population that they hail from. Fur (of varying thickness) is much more common.

Meanwhile, scavengers are bulkier and covered in thicker insulating fur. They:

have seemingly massive populations

have a burgeoning society (the existence of merchants, tolls, bartering, elites and leaders)

are adept at communicating (non-verbally)

manipulate their environment

can build structures (scavenger-made structures were a scrapped idea from Saint's campaign)

can create complex weapons and tools

may have agriculture behind the scenes (unsure if scout parties prioritize exploration or hunting)

I would wager on scavengers developing more quickly than slugcats, but it would be nice if there was a future where both could co-exist.

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New scug redesigns!

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thought about their biomes again... i like this more than a forest

tfb with the patapon weather mechanics

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live by the cross.

die by the cross.

alts and nerd shit under the cut! ⬇️

I was experimenting with iterator designs. Again. And settled on going full bug! Stylized anthro bugs and robots tend to look similar, so why not blend the two? Here, you can see Sliver of Straw's endoskeleton underneath her thin layer of synthetic flesh. This whole thing was just gonna be some more iterator specbio diagrams but I had Fun too.

The "endoskeleton" (though it's just an exoskeleton with skin thrown over it) is what holds the puppet's guts and all, the darker bits being more flexible parts like cartilage as opposed to full chitin.

In my rw headcanon iterator puppets and scavs come from the same group of purposed organisms ("arthrohomuncularia") that are heavily arthropod-based. Here I tried comprehending insect mouthparts and incorporating them into iterators. In iterator puppets the mouth is completely fused, forming the main faceplate. The puppets are born with large eyes on the side of the face that get surgically removed and replaced with the "headsets" and antennae they normally have. Meanwhile the three tiny ocelli have been repurposed into the main eyes (though the third is often removed—however LttM's puppet retains the third eye as decoration!) with the eyes being supported by orbital rings. Long story short, iterators are bug pugs and their production is just as unethical!

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Looking for Rainworld Modders and artists !

I’ve gotten into contact with someone who wishes to make a rainworld mod based off TOI and Collector and we’d love some more devs or artists on the team :D

If ur interested please contact me and let me know what you’ve worked on rainworld or modding wise !

reblogs would be appreciated btw

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one year anniversary of downpour yay!!! thank you for further expanding the world of my favorite game ever

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To Reap

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made more distinctive and simple designs for the riv pups bcs now im attached...

i swear some day ill draw a scug that isn't rivulet

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Gear tower

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'Not your rain'

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Funky this was supposed to be a doodle how did it end up like this anyway I got a lot of the funny scavs here on tumblr because everyone either kills them or loves them.

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I've gotten some questions about why i draw scavs so big and weird.. Especially my big boy trail.

Main reason is because i've kind of developed the rainworld universe a bit different in my head from the canon. And in there scavs are actually ancients who were left behind and evolved to be more animalistic to adapt to the harsh environment. ( a lot of time has passed btw it wasn't quick, it was so long that they've forgotten their origin )

I still do draw scavs how they look in game sometimes, but when it comes to my oc's i draw them however i like.

And this guy well he's just built diff lmao. He's a freak.

Again don't take any of my rainworld art as canon material, i'm simply having fun with the worldbuilding.

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Omg omg omg !!! Resque!!!!!! Does any scug there have any special qualities? Or are you interested in some other slugcat aspect?

i think this is the kind of slugs she'd create :D

@jadzio mentioned a flora slugcat, and i really like that idea. and it works, given TFB's interest in nature! the mole also seemed fun.

i like to view the slugcats as ..just little creatures, which the majority of hers are : ) she's probably not creating any crazy ones at this point