fatickono’s rw au!

previously @rma-au an au where slugcats are more advanced, among other changes (Arti does not commit genocide, Hunter lives, Saint is blasted back in time and lots more) main is @fatickono

[far-au]

FATICKONO’S RW AU

or for short the FAR AU (or farw but far sounds better). but i still may occasionally call it RMA since that’s what it used to be called

this au both changes canon and adds to it! below is just a general list of some stuff in this au, although i simplify some stuff.

it’s kind of like a “slugcats, except they are more advanced than canon” au + kinda big lore changes

—

i expand more on slugcats society and they are much more advanced than canon. iterators generally are more involved with scugs and know that scugs are sapient and have human intellect, and the timeline is changed and kind of squished to allow the main scugs to interact.

Saint got flung back a millennium back to the Outer Expanse Colony (where Gourmand, Inv/Enot, Survivor, Monk, and Watcher live), Watcher is something of a "retired honorary Weaver", Hunter has meds for the rot, Artificer didn’t commit mass murder, and more to be revealed :)

even though iterators aren’t the main focus i am changing some stuff between them (like FP re-opening communications, the general iterator network is still functioning, and other stuff), and i’m still keeping the original changes in this au (from when it was called the rma au), and more

—

old intro post here, it specifically goes into far au Hunter and far au Artificer’s lore (Hunter got meds for their rot and lives, and Artificer didn’t commit mass genocide on scavengers) and how they got together. this blog used to be focused on my au of how Arti and Hunter would work as a pair but… worldbuilding tempted me... and i am weak of will...

—

asks are open! no donation asks please, but if you do ask one, I will reblog the campaign on my main blog @fatickono. no nsfw asks at all.

you cannot ask the iterators anything, but you can currently ask either me directly or these slugcats questions: Hunter, Artificer, Saint, and Gourmand

MORE UNDER CUT

—

TAGS

#not far - exactly as it says. posts unrelated to the far au

#cw romance, #romance, #shipping, #rw shipping. all those tags will be used on posts i have that have shipping/romantic content in it, so if you’re romance repulsed then feel free to block those tags

#far art - art related to the far au

#far lore - stuff i consider part of the lore/important to it

#far au - generally related to the far au

#far asks - asks i get for the au

#reblog - when i reblog someone else’s post. probably won’t do much of this unless it’s from my main, but you never know

—

ABOUT ME?

not really related to this blog, but me the owner. my main is @fatickono and i kinda just post/reblog whatever on it and sometimes post art. i use they/he pronouns and i’m nonbinary. i like bugs, speculative biology/evolution, worldbuilding (who could have guessed), hollow knight, silksong, and more!

[far-au]

Popcorn plants and their uses :)

(got the idea for flour made of ground seeds from @/snickerdoodlesart on tumblr)

note about the paper i didn’t feel like editing the image for:

paper is a very new invention and not used by the majority of slugcats/scavengers since it is pretty brittle and a lot of work for something you could replace with like.. a stone tablet or something (which is easier to make, longer lasting, and more durable. and also won’t fall apart when it rains).

however, it is gaining some amount of popularity in areas of the world with little rainfall or nonlethal rainfall (places outside of iterator retaining walls such as Outer Expanse)

another note, now about the pseudo stem:

very, very useful because they’re an easy source of something that can be made into textiles

[far-au]

Throw Hunter back in the vat, we need super Hunter

(context for this ask: i think this ask was sent after i mentioned how Hunter has less modifications than Spearmaster since Hunter’s development was rushed)

[far-au]

Saint, do you know who Sliver of Straw is?

Yes. I’ve heard of her through stories and I wish I could’ve met her, even if I couldn’t converse with her; unfortunately I was born several thousand years after her disappearance. She’s a big inspiration to me.

ooc: If Saint and SoS somehow met:

SoS died(?) before knowledge of slugcat sapience was widespread among iterators so if they somehow met she would not realize Saint is actually more intelligent than a mutated pipe slug

[far-au]

i said i would be more active from now on. and i had planned to be. but i’m unfortunately changing that message to be just. whenever i have motivation/feel like it i’ll post here. sorry

my brain tends to randomly fixate/latch onto stuff and i don’t really wanna make myself post here even when i’m not motivated to because then my stuff will just lack passion and it’ll be more of a hassle than anything. so. yeah

[far-au]

To gourm: if you've crafted with neurons before, what do they look like when you cut them open

I have, although I no longer do after being told what they are, since it’s really weird crafting with someone else’s brain.

They’re filled with an odd gel-like substance with strange-looking small .. organs? in them. They look like organs, but don’t resemble any organ I’ve ever seen.

[far-au]

Random Reminder.

Seven Red Suns is canonically nonbinary. They are exclusively referred to with they/them in game. They are canonically not a guy.

Random Reminder over.

[far-au]

Slugcats and gender + sex

Slugcats do not view gender the same way we do it and they basically do not have gender/gender roles given they’re all pretty much the same sex* (cosexual, can reproduce as both sexes)

They do have pronouns, but they’re more dependent on characteristics (like role in the colony, fur color, age, etc.) than gender. The most gendered something really gets is when referring to parents of a child, with there being words for the parent who gave birth and the parent who did not

Basically even though most of it translates to they/them and neopronouns in English, they’re using different pronouns for everyone (so someone saying “There *they* are!” in reference to Saint will use a different pronoun for them than “There *they* are!” in reference to Hunter. But in English I’d just use they for both. If that makes sense)

Also yes neopronouns. They do use neopronouns! (E.g. xe/xem, ze/zir, ae/aer, etc.) Although they aren’t exactly “neo” since they’ve been in use for a long time and are just some of the usual pronouns they use

Pronouns like he/him and she/her (or the slugcat language equivalent) are pretty new to slugcat culture, but more slugcats are beginning to use those pronouns as interaction with iterators (who introduced those pronouns to slugcats in the first place) increases each year. They do not carry the same gendered connotation as they do in English though, they’re just seen as new and iterator-related

Also. Storage pouches! They are not only used for storing objects, but feeding infant slugcats after pregnancy. The storage pouch grows/expands during pregnancy and secretes a “milk-like” nutritious substance that slugcats feed their babies. The size change to the storage pouch is permanent, and mostly a good thing (more space to hold items if you don’t have an empty hand)

That’s also part of why Gourmand has a big storage pouch (yes he gave birth to his pups). He already had a large one prior to pregnancy, but after having his pups it’s grown more. So he has a big advantage for holding more items and larger items on long missions

*I say “all pretty much the same sex” because intersex slugcats do exist

Also this does make my old gender and sexuality posts about Artificer and Hunter outdated (although they were never really super ‘canon’ to this au anyway) since the labels I gave them probably don’t exist in universe (like sapphic and bi for example).

Artificer uses she/they and is technically transfem now because she does somewhat identify as a woman (although this is still different from our view of “woman” given everything explained above. and is much less ‘important’ for social stuff than irl) after learning from Hunter about Benefactor genders (who learned from NSH who is bigender). She doesn’t have much reason beyond “it feels like it fits me” but tbh you don’t need more reason than that anyway

Also also would maybe technically make Gourmand transmasc? Since he somewhat identifies as a man (again, still different from our view of “man” given everything explained above). Anyway that is all for now

Thanks for reading all this if you did :)

[far-au]

What would saint look like if we made them wet and soggy

something like this. Pathetic*

*however Saint’s fur does dry extremely quickly so they are not a pathetic wet cat for long

[far-au]

Booping a slugcats nose temporarily deactivates them, its a proven fact!

Spearmaster:

…? You are mistaken. Seven Red Suns has done this to me many a time, and it has never deactivated me.

[far-au]

Gourmand with saint levels of fur, so snuggly... and yet would probably kill him due to overheating.

Unfortunately Anon is right. Gourmand has died of heatstroke

also his sick tattoos are no longer visible because of his thicker fur 😞

[far-au]

lore change(?) kind of

a while back i said that the cycle of rebirth in this au works like a timeline where it splits off once someone dies

(like if you are in timeline A, you die you get sent to timeline B. you are not in timeline A anymore for everyone who is in it, but for you in timeline B everything is the same except you didn’t die)

however i am changing it to just be kind of vague. it could work like the “timeline” way, it could also work a different way, idk. because honestly, i’m not fully sure how rebirth works in this au. so it’s somewhat up to interpretation i guess

the only real solid things i can say about how it works in this au are:

1. the cycle of death/rebirth does exist

2. it doesn’t work like how works is ingame or similar to it. you don’t die then respawn the cycle you died or a certain number of time before/after you died.

so if you kill something (like a scavenger, for example), they’re not gonna be revived next cycle and seek you out for killing them yesterday. they are dead. this applies to all living things

[far-au]

yeek!

*their arms are not completely useless, but don’t play a major role in their survival/life or anything

[far-au]

Do slugcat colonies have any beliefs or myths?

yes! what specific belief varies globally but yes they do

lots of stuff about this under cut. You have been warned. seriously there is a *lot*

the most widespread *before* slugcats began interacting with iterators much more frequently and having iterators more involved in their lives was the worship of iterators as gods/godlike beings!

many slugcats living near iterators/in a retaining wall used to believe iterators to be gods of rain (this is why the word for iterator in most scug languages comes from the words for storm, rain, god, etc.) and would worship them because of this. visiting an iterator and getting the Mark was a privilege few slugcats had and those who succeeded in their pilgrimage were considered holy and “touched by a god” and were looked up to for advice and wisdom

slugcats don’t believe this anymore, but having the Mark is still seen as an important gift and earns respect quickly, and iterators are still widely respected as important beings of power and knowledge

also addition: some colonies saw iterators as malevolent beings, and avoided them at all costs. this was a much less common belief, but the effects of this belief still impact regions that used to believe this (they tend to view slugcats who interact with iterators negatively and dislike iterators in general)

other beliefs even further back existed too, such as animism for example

even super far back into slugcat history, knowledge of the cycle was widespread. some details may have changed over time (and more knowledge gained about it), but the core of it, the Great Cycle, has ALWAYS had an influence on slugcat society as a whole.

also, slugcats didn’t only worship iterators in the past. Echoes, Weavers, even the Benefactors were worshipped and venerated. to this day, some slugcats still worship them, it’s just not as widely spread as it once was

modern slugcats beliefs can vary wildly depending on region (aside from the global belief of the Great Cycle and respect of the cycle of life and death), with one region having mostly deist colonies, another monotheistic, another polytheistic, another atheistic, etc.

(globally though deism or theism are the most common beliefs)

death and rebirth is very important in slugcat society and whenever a slugcat dies, they are given a very elaborate burial and a ceremony that is both a time of mourning and celebration for the death and rebirth of the deceased. they’re buried with no coffin and their corpse is seen as returning to the Earth (and thus the cycle to be reborn once again) and it’s seen as a great disrespect to not take proper care of a deceased slugcat’s body

ascended slugcat ancestors are venerated and remembered by their colony (most colonies have at least a few ancestors who have ascended) and often prayed to for guidance and protection, wherever they may be.

most slugcats don’t know for sure what lies beyond ascension, with some believing an afterlife with their god(s), an afterlife with ascended family and friends, blissful nothingness, etc. but no one truly knows.

ancient writings by the Benefactors and karma are also influential on slugcat beliefs to this day. most slugcats place the most importance on the fifth karma, Survival, rather than Crossing Oneself Out. the cycle of life and death is a gift to them.

i want to add more but this post is already very long so… just know there is more stuff they believe that i didn’t add here

maybe i'll make another post soon about the effects of ascension being only available in a few far apart places (the Void Sea is not exactly easy to reach). perhaps.

[far-au]

it is DONE.

now that the rebrand is done i can now start actually answering my whole pile of unanswered questions and stuff :)

i can't promise i will be as active as i was before this (actually, i'm certain i won't be), but i'll try to be more active than i have been for the last 3 months

may reopen asks sometime in the future

[far-au]

alright so I Have News (not really news if you've seen my previous posts about this but still)

this blog is going under a sort of rebranding since it has kind of shifted from what i originally made it to be (literally just artihunter except arti didn’t commit mass murder and hunter didn’t die of rot), to more of a general au type thing where the slugcats are more advanced and also i love worldbuilding so it's focusing more on that as well

there’s been much more changes to canon than i originally was going to change. ALSO ALSO!!!!!! the new pinned post will have minor Watcher spoilers. or maybe not minor bc it sort of mentions something from the 3rd ending

anyway, if you followed for just artihunter content then i’m sorry, i’ll still probably post it occasionally but it’s not gonna be the center of this blog anymore. didn’t mean for this blog’s focus to shift but i should’ve expected it tbh since i love worldbuilding and stuff

new pinned post should be up soon

[far-au]

sigh. Watcher is getting a redesign. i am so sad because the shade of yellow that is used ingame for their eyes and tail clashes horribly with the green i use for the stars on them... and i love their green stars....................................... i will figure something out. green stars may have to go.....................