do you have any rainworld rot headcanons
I imagine the Rot, when infecting a creature, acts like a stomach parasite in a way. When the creature eats, the Rot absorbs most of the nutrients to get stronger before it can take over the creature, like Hunter.
As per the previous bullet point, I imagine that's why Hunter eats so much.
The Rot, if it manages to infect an Iterator's puppet, can, well, puppet it. The Iterator would be lost to the disease, and much like Hunter Long Legs, would be mobile. They'd be torn from their mechanical arm and umbilical.
Depending on the sentience of the Rot, it may be able to speak to its host like The Prince in the Watcher.
The Rot can infect a creature through open wounds and through bodily fluids, like blood.
The Rot has 3 stages of infection.
Stage 1 which are minor symptoms: lethargy, loss of appetite, chronic pain, and throwing up black ichor/bile.
Stage 2: physical symptoms start to show. It starts as one cyst before it begins to slowly multiply into more, and the creature's body becomes paler. Their eyes become cloudier. Their fur (if the creature has fur) becomes more rough and ragged since the creature can't maintain it well enough. Similarly, the creature's claws begin to become overgrown due to not having enough energy to file them down. Small tentacles begin to form with the cysts.
(Going off of the last point, I imagine Hunter Long Legs has overgrown nails that can't even sheathe fully anymore. Idea was by @twilightscug / @twilightartist)
Stage 3: The worst stage. The creature is becoming overridden with cysts. Longer tentacles begin to form and the Rot becomes more aggressive, as does the creature. The creature is more irritable, their eyes practically entirely cloudy, and the creature begins to bleed more. Any wounds they get take longer to heal, and as more cysts and tentacles sprout, their skin begins to tear to make room for the "bountiful harvest." When the cysts reach the host's head and there's enough of them, their brain is then overcome and they start to transform into a Long Legs.
If there is a cure for the Rot, I imagine it'd have to have Karma Flowers. The reason for this is because, when Hunter becomes HLL, you can find a Karma Flower in a perma-death room in other campaigns. In my AUs with my partner and my friend, my OC The Void's Echo manages to make a cure for the Rot, made from Void Fluid and Karma Flowers.
I also imagine the Rot isn't malicious. It's alive, in a sense, so it's just doing what it has to in order to survive. It just wants to live.
