I've been fixated on this Rain World AU idea: an overview of a future long after the great ice age present in the Saint's lifetime.
The surface of the world has warmed up, leading to an explosion of greenery from underground refugia. All animals have either become extinct or transformed to occupy new ecological niches.
The Slugcats survived the eon of cold through symbiosis with their old frenemy: the Scavengers. In the present epoch of the jungle-mounts, their nomadic tribes have evolved into more static communities, which have begun to integrate machinery powered by crude Void Fluid technology. Along the fringes of their rugged settlements thrive the families and colonies of the scugs.
The player scugs' adventures persist in an altered form within Scavenger culture countless cycles after their souls' passing as enduring motifs in stories:
Artificer, singlehandedly responsible for the partial collapse of scav society and possibly their relations with scugs in the game's regions, has long since morphed into a red, antagonistic, Satan-like creature—the Adversary, wrath incarnate.
Saint ultimately became the Savior whom, through their echo's mediation with Scavenger tribes, taught scavs how to think beyond mere survival. There is, however, something willful and terrifying in his depictions.
Gourmand's expedition into the game's regions to feed their colony had lingering consequences as the scavs came to represent them as a large, charitable, powerful force that inadvertently taught scavs the art of storytelling. Thus they are the Artist.
