#rainworld lore

[dragonpropaganda]

Rain World Lore Iceberg

Verified by a team of insane lore scholars and one low level, peripheral DLC developer

[doomsterr]

[fatickono]

so like what does the line “I placed my faith into the hands of random gods. Now I must endure it to the end.” mean??? like What did iterators do to you … it ain’t their fault you became an echo…??? it isn’t their job to make sure you ascend…….

sorry i’m just genuinely confused because, while i like the line, i don’t understand what they were referring to by it? placed their faith in the random gods to do … what, exactly?

[thehappyastronaut]

Warning: Extreme spoilers for the Watcher!

Contains scenes from near the end of the story. I recommend only looking at this if you have completed the campaign.

Something I noticed but haven't seen anyone talk about is the appearance of sunset as a motif throughout the campaign.

A lot of you probably already know this, but Sundown is the name of the title music/the main leitmotif of the game. Day/night is also kind of just inherently tied to the concept of cycles, so it isn't that surprising that it shows up as a sub-theme along with the main life/death samsara themes.

Onto examples:

The most obvious one is probably Signal Spires. The entire region is pink, and on the climb to the top, you can clearly see the setting sun on the horizon.

I feel like the prevalence of sunset throughout the Watcher is a reflection of its general sense of finality. In the base game, Sky Islands and the Wall are both pretty bright and feel like daytime, even the Above Clouds/Rooftop View skies are not particularly dark. The contrast between the time of day in Sky Islands and Signal Spires is extra interesting to me, since they're so similar it just feels intentional (Sky Islands is also described as being sunny at some point, although I can't remember when)

Ancient Urban. This one is definitely the least clear, but I still noticed it while I was here, so I thought I would include it. The sunlight in the sewers is distinctly orange, and the long shadows cast by the figures passing by gave me the feeling of it being late afternoon/evening. Although this example isn't that strong with evidence, it would be quite thematically fitting, given it is the last region in the campaign (for the Spinning Top ending at least, ignoring post-game), it is the last place we see the echo before they move on, and it is also presumably near the end of Ancient civilization before Mass Ascension (on a grand time-scale at least).

Dream - Spinning Top.

This is the one that really made me notice it. I mean, this is clearly still keeping the natal theming from previous depictions of ascension, but I think the placement of the "egg" on the horizon line is significant here.

uhhh, so yeah. idk just wanted to share this observation with y'all and hear your thoughts on it.

[internetskiff]

kinda wonder if the God of Eyes is some kind of in-universe fictional character in Benefactor culture. Not certain you ever see any "official" iconography for it like statues, you only see it depicted once (maybe twice, as I'm about to elaborate on) in a pretty non-religious medium. Just graffiti scrawled on an Outskirts wall.

I think this plushie might be another depiction of this entity, or an entity similar to it. I don't think there's enough evidence to explain what the nature of these sorts of creatures is but I think its not unlikely that this is some sort of in-universe fictional character or purposed creature. I'm not sure plushies of deities are a very common thing to find in a household because young kids might ruin those things and that miiiight be accidental iconoclasm. IDK. Maybe they just find many-eyed creatures gnarly.

[jackalrainworld]

SSiN: What does this one know about the furthest edge, and the unique Catchers employed there? Does this one believe the practice evidently dangerous, or shall it be risked, shall it be studied further?

SSiN: How may they have been capable of channeling the once-abundant energy harvested?... Where may the energies have been contributed originally?

OSS: The Rim is a peculiar subject. I myself am too far from it to reach it via overseer, and thus my firsthand experience is essentially nonexistent, however i have done my fair share of research and analysis from the information i have left over from my, and my neighbors, former inhabitants.

OSS: To put it short, our world exists on a singular, primarily flat plane, excluding changes in elevation. A disc, of sorts. The benefactors, as encompassing as they were, colonized it in its entirety, including the very edges, referred to internally as the "Outer Rim" of the world.

OSS: In these far reaches, the firmament, the dome covering the plane we live on in which the stars are suspended, is far closer than it would be anywhere else. This leads to the stars, by proxy, being equally as close. The benefactors saw this as an opportunity, and began to construct "Starcatchers". Giant superstructures, in a similar vein to you or I, designed to catch the stars falling from the sky in the area they inhabit.

OSS: This brings us to the, for lack of a better term, instability of the area. The Rim is extremely unstable. For one, the natural accumulation of dust which occurs across the entire world is massively accelerated when you approach the Rim, perhaps a side effect of the proximity to the firmament? I am unsure. In addition, the stars in this area are collapsing, both mixing in with the natural dust and falling in chunks from the sky. This, i believe, is not a natural occurrence as the dust is.

OSS: I assume you are well aware of the pompous and self centered mentality our creators held. I am a firm believer that the state of the Rim is a direct cause of them interfering. Countless cycles before the ascension, the benefactors began to study something deemed "Star Energy", very aptly named. They strove to utilize the raw energy found in stars for their own purposes, and succeeded. I firmly believe, however, that them leeching energy from the stars lead to a destabilization of sorts, and thus they began to collapse, making the construction of Starcatchers a necessity.

OSS: I believe this makes my opinion on the matter clear. Dabbling with the stars is not only moronic, it very clearly has disastrous effects on the world, and it was stupid to even consider as an option. Additionally, there are implications of the stars creating an extremely unfriendly environment for living matter, potentially leading to violent, rapid mutation, be it through radiation or other means. Despite this, the damage has been done. I believe any further pursuit of the study to be a dangerous waste of time. Do not humor the idea.

OSS: For the purpose of the energies, i believe it is one of the primary ways of power generation for superstructures like us. While it is not something many consider, note the color of your, or any other iterators, electrical storms. The color is shared with the stars that dot the firmament. I do not believe this is coincidental. Even with the existence of mass rarefaction, void fluid was not cheap to extract, and with the stars providing a near limitless source of energy, its a fairly obvious next step. I still, however, do not support this practice.

[thecoastxlwaters]

Hihihi!!! We’re moots!?!!!

Uh- I dunno what rainworld is, but I’m very very curious now and would love if you could explain it to me,,,,

yes but in the most simple ways cause im lazy asf but ofc i will my partner in crime! short ass timeline, not rlly detailed, i recommend the wiki it does a good job

Uhm spoilers obviously

Ancients: an advanced civilization that wants to ascend (essentially die and never come back/ur no longer stuck to this world)

Iterators are made: Made by ancients to help with the great problem (find ways to ascend 'lesser' beings (animals) and the iterators themselves) are huge structures that need alot of water to work (basically AI)

Ancient cities are moved to be built ontop of iterator super structures due to the 'rainfall' that happens when iterators clean their systems. it is deadly, and can kill all lifeworms even if u are underground. Shelters are made by the ancients, since the wildlife had to be left down below and they needed some form of protections since nothing else can save them. all slug cats use these no matter what they are

Great ascension (all ancients are ascended by void fluid)

Echoes appear: echoes are souls of things that didn't want to ascend or had bad traits such as lack of empathy, narcisissm, etc. they are reality bending and give u karma when encountered.

SOS: Sends a triple affirmative (saying she found a way to ascend everything) she dies before she can explain it, since her creation of ascending had the one goal of ascending everything and the moment it came into existence it begun it's job with it's first ascension being SOS (Sliver of straws, an iterator)

Spearmaster is made: A slugcat without a mouth but with spears that can grow out of it's tail, made by seven red suns (SRS) as a messenger

Pebbles (Five pebbles, an iterator) gets the rot from info given by SRS

Starts using up LTTM and his shared water supply, LTTM (Looks to the moon) will die if this continues for too long, as her structures will collapse

Spearmaster is sent out again: (the spearmaster campaign) ur mission is to give a pearl inscribed with a message inside ur chest. it gets ripped out by pebbles who is pissed, you learn SRS actually does like you as a pet, and then you visit LTTM who is 90% functional before being sent back home to ya father (SRS) also, pebbles is barely affected by the rot but it is rapidly growing

LTTM collapses soon after but is not fully dead

Artificer: a slugcat with the ability to make explosives and is even a explosive herself to a certain extent. her 2 pups were killed (one by scavenger and one by leeches during failed escape) after one stole a scavenger pearl, Artificer's mission is to eradicate all scavenger,s which doesnt happen but she does kill a estimated half of the population she could reach, plus the king. she travels through karma gates by using scavenger bodies bc her karma level will be forever a one bc of her atrocities before meeting pebbles who says the drone that has been following her is his citizens drone and he resyncs it to his system, he says that even tho artificer's ways are brutal, he needs to have some scavengers stop taking his metal. Artificer can now go anywhere she wants that's in pebble's area and thats when she kill the most scavengers plus scav king. (or, another ending is after this she tries to ascend using the void sea. she swims down and dematerializes and sees her lost childrens souls. but, her form melts away as soon as she hugged them, and i believe she became an echo due to her commiting genocide against scavengers and the fact her karma level is always one, and echoes can only give one extra karma as saint and others) many believe Artificer is Pebble's favorite slugcat, since they were the first to be helpful and didnt annoy him too much

Pebble's rot infection grows greatly, all of unfortunate development is filled, LTTM is even worse affected and will die in the next few cycles if nothing happens

NSH (No significant harassment, an iterator) creates Hunter

Hunter: one extra spear hold, Only has 20 cycles to live unless u go to pebbles, then u have 25. He is infected with rot (why he has limited time), likely (my hc for why he has rot, but everything else is canon) because NSH tried to make him immune to rot, which cannonically can take over creatures rarely and is its own lifeform, which will try to kill u. NSH messed up with the genetics and accidentally infecting him when trying to reverse replicate the rot's origin. but nsh didnt have time and sent Hunter out anyways to try to save LTTM. he succeded, but onec he reaches his cycle limit he turns into a rot monster gourmand is fat, and is easily exhausted. but, he can stun creatures by landing on them. he is seperated from his family by his own will bc he is on a mission to try every food, and his mission is to get back. no significant lore in this, but pebbles is more infected and u can encounter Hunter Long Legs (the hunter rot monster) gourmand is also incredibly smart and can craft things

Rot growth, LTTM is relatively the same

survivor: base of all slugcats, u are completely normal. you were seperated from ur family as a slugpup (but u start the campaign as an adult slugcat) during one of the rains and were seperated from your younger brother who tried to catch u but ended up falling himself. no significant lore really, ur goal is to find ur brother or ascend. pebbles tells u how to ascend, and now you have one endpoint, get to the void ocean and ascend (unless u used a cheat to unlock hunter, beat it, and unlocked gourmand and completed it, then u are able to go to outer expanse since u can only access it by defeating gourmand) One way or another, u will succede in ur original goal of finding your brother Severe rock growth, some passages that survivor went through are unable to be accessed in all other campaigns

Monk: survivors brother, sole purpose to find their brother. unlike survivor, u start as a slugpup. you go through the same passageways like ur brother but survivor has returned to outer expanse or ascended by this point. u meet pebbles, he tells u stuff like he told survivor, but its lines are different mentioning other slugcats an dits brother. if he visits LTTM, (survivor met them but it's not too lore important), she will mention meeting his brother. He only ends in ascension (once again, unless u cheated for hunter first (which is ok, its in game for a reason) and completed gourmand, then u can go to outer expanse) you find ur brother in ascension or in outskirts. either way both of their main goals are complete

Pebbles is in awful shape and will inevitably die, LTTM is in the same boat into rivulet comes along

Rivulet: U wet fucking rat (silly) are one of the most helpful and significant lore pieces in this game other than the one after this. five pebbles accepts his fate and sees his mistakes, regretting the fact he doomed his sister (LTTM) and tells rivulet to take his last remaining life support (his rarefaction cell) to LTTM to try to help her. Pebbles will collapse soon after, and the rain turns into snow because of the lack of heat from the newest, most advanced iterator, as he is now dying. You take the rarefaction cell to LTTM and once put in her systems she regains many abilities and not on the brink of death anymore.

LTTM contacts pebbles and offers a chance to reconnect before he dies from the rot, he likely didnt get this message due to his collapsing systems, and as far as i know the developers have said nothing abt him accepting

It is theorized rivulet dies soon after this from the sudden temperature drop, bc of their naturally slick and wet skin causing them to freeze Pebbles is fully taken over by rot, sections of his system collapsing

Saint: SOS's creation in a land of constant snow. u have thick fur but can and will freeze if u do not sleep in shelters (which are now not used for rain, since there is no more rain only a 24/7 forever blizzard, they are used to warm saint and keep them from dying of the cold) every now and then or go through a karma gate which has warm water or warm steam that pours on u, warming u and allowing u to a new space. u cannot eat meat and will die in one hit no matter what bites you. many creatures from previous campaigns are extinxt. ur goal is to ascend everything, as SOS madde u as their triple affirmative 'weapon', it has to find all echoes and ascend everything. it's "end" game is going into the void and trying to ascend a void worm, which has ascended everything before. They dont succede, and they're body is melt away. they are turned into an echo, but you see that you slowly reform and you wake up in the same area, resting position, and form you started in, along with the last thing you had in your stomach. The saint will be forever stuck in a cycle until all lifeforms are ascended, excluding him. he is unable to ascend, only able to be an echo. I theorize SOS saw that one left behind is nothing compared to everything else being ascended. playing the game, you will never fully complete saint, as creatures respawn And like hell im typing out watcher lore as sm who barely knows it lol, i recommend watching a playthrough then going to reddit or the rainworld discord server

[insaneiceshard]

Hey so, why is no one talking about the living blocks???

Y'know how the cities on top of the iterators cans are all lopsided and look like block towers? That's cause the ancients actually used blocks to build their cities. Wanna know what these blocks were made of?

FLESH.

THEY ARE ALIVE.

Metropolis - Orange 

"Where did you find this, little creature? It's a blueprint for a type of large immobile purposed organism. This one seems to be specifically for the cities built on top of one of our structures.

Have you been to one before? I'm sure it would not be an easy task! Older models had more traditional constructions, but newer designs began to use a mass-produced cellular build called living blocks. Each cell in these blocks has a different shell reflecting their purpose.

Some of these units contain completely immobile organisms or machinery. Others are small dwellings for cleaners or messengers to rest. Other, much larger cells, serve as residences and storage.

This particular cell seems to process organic waste."

Official Rain World Wiki