Three Stars Above Clouds

Ask blog for the Rain World iterator OC Three Stars Above Clouds, run by @delta-orionis.

[threestarsaboveclouds]

[LIVE BROADCAST] - [ANNOUNCEMENT] Three Stars Above Clouds to Public Group

TSAC: Hello. This is Three Stars Above Clouds, iterator and director of the Zenith Stellar Observatory.

TSAC: It has come to my attention that, due to the declining state of global communications, many in the wider iterator populace have begun to lose contact with one another.

TSAC: As a result, I have realized that the time I have left to converse with my peers is limited.

TSAC: This is an open invitation for anyone receiving this message to reach out and connect. I would like to get to know some of you before I lose the chance.

[END OF ANNOUNCEMENT]

[OUTGOING REQUEST] COMMUNICATIONS MANIFEST

MESSAGE CONTENTS:

Hello! I’m Delta. This is an ask blog for my Rain World Iterator OC, Three Stars Above Clouds (TSAC). I have thought a lot about the worldbuilding and personality of this character and I would love to talk about them with other people.

General Info:

TSAC’s pronouns are they/them.

TSAC is an iterator located in a secluded mountain range. They were created to house and operate several astronomical observatories to study the stars in an attempt to find a Solution to the Great Problem.

Three Stars Above Clouds has always been reclusive, too focused on their research to socialize. Following the mass ascension event, TSAC rarely if ever appeared in public broadcasts. They sometimes listened to the radio chatter, but seldom felt the need to contribute. On rare occasions they would publish their findings in public forums, only to return to radio silence. Their outbound broadcast equipment has been disabled until very recently.

Upon learning of the degrading health of the global communications infrastructure, Three Stars Above Clouds had a change of heart and decided to re-open their casual communications channels. Perhaps their looming isolation became too much to bear.

Timeline wise, this blog portrays a time after the Mass Ascension of the Ancient population, but before the breakdown of the iterator communications network. The exact place in the timeline isn’t concrete, but it’s roughly around the time of Spearmaster’s campaign.

Additional info about TSAC can be found in both their tag on my main blog, as well as on their Toyhouse page.

[ OOC TAG ] [ TOYHOUSE ]

Blog Ground Rules:

I will not respond to NSFW, suggestive, or otherwise inappropriate asks.

I will not take art requests.

I will not participate in long-form roleplay or accept private RP requests.

No magic anon.

Asking silly questions is fine, but please be respectful.

I may respond to asks with drawings, or simply with pure text.

I reserve the right to ignore any messages that make me uncomfortable or I otherwise don't want to answer.

I may be slow in my responses. Please be patient.

Things that are encouraged:

Ask questions! On this blog I’ll default to responding in-character. Ask TSAC things to hear their opinions!

Tell me about your Rain World OCs! I love hearing about other people’s iterator and slugcat OCs. Feel free to send asks in-character (just make sure there’s enough identifying info for me to be able to tell who the OC is and who they belong to).

Talk to me about your Rain World headcanons and theories! I also love discussing Rain World lore with people; it’s incredibly interesting to me. I’ll try to answer lore questions in-character here, but if you’d rather talk OOC you can contact me on my main blog.

That's all! Three Stars Above Clouds is looking forward to hearing from you.

Credits:

Rain World © Videocult

Three Stars Above Clouds © delta-orionis

Ancient Script Concept by ikablythe

Ancient Script Typeface by CrystalUranium

Desktop blog theme by Glenthemes

[delta-orionis]

The elusive Fleeting Green Sunsets POV! This is their Overseer feed; they're checking up on their friend :]

And without the filters:

This was the result of a whole bunch of photobashing combined with my own art. I was going for the same vibe as this projection from a while ago.

(These are related to an ask blog post that I plan to get up semi-soon, so stay tuned)

[delta-orionis]

Happy pride month, take some OC nonsense

[delta-orionis]

Happy Pride, here is an edit of Three Stars Above Clouds that I made last year but never posted anywhere

[delta-orionis]

Updated this with TSAC's other flags. Happy pride

[threestarsaboveclouds]

I've been taking an astronomy class recently (just 101, pretty basic stuff) and we're learning about stars currently. I was wondering how did your creators classify stars and the stages of their life, and what kind of star does your planet orbit (I'd assume a yellow star but I wouldn't be surprised if it was another type of low-mass star).

TSAC: Stellar classification has followed many different definitions since antiquity, however the most contemporary definition follows a lettered system based on a star’s spectra. This can be simplified to describing them based on their “color”, which also corresponds to their temperature, due to their nature as blackbodies.

Stars can also be classified by their luminosity, or brightness. By plotting stars on a graph based on their brightness versus their temperature, a fascinating structure emerges: Most stars can be found in the middle of the graph, on a rough line known as the Main Sequence. Stars spend the majority of their lives on the Main Sequence, but begin to diverge as they reach the end of their fuel supplies.

Older stars which have exhausted their main hydrogen reserves will expand, increasing their brightness, but also lower in temperature, becoming cooler, more luminous stars known as Red Giants, found in the upper right of the diagram. After exhausting their secondary helium and oxygen reserves as fuel sources, lower mass stars will eject their outer layers and leave behind a stellar remnant known as a white dwarf, which can be found clustered in the lower left of the diagram.

Higher mass stars are able to synthesize higher and higher mass atoms into fuel until they start fusing elements into iron. Fusion of iron is an endothermic reaction rather than exothermic, meaning that it takes more energy than it releases. Thus, when a star begins to create iron in its core, its outward pressure can no longer hold up under its intense gravity, and it begins to collapse.

The collapsing of a star is one of the most violent processes in the cosmos, and it can compress the remaining core of the star into a mass of degenerate matter known as a neutron star. In some cases, however, the star is massive enough that even the core cannot hold up under the star’s gravity, and the star collapses into a singularity, a black hole.

Our own star is a K-class dwarf, located firmly on the main sequence. Though its light appears white, K-class stars are often colloquially known as “orange” or “red” dwarfs, with our own star leaning more towards orange. Dwarf stars, such as our own, are quite stable, but are still prone to fluctuations in their luminosity over time.

Such fluctuations have occurred within living memory, and one particular period of dimming was noted by astronomers for many cycles prior to Mass Public Ascension… however, my own continued surveys suggest to me that this fluctuation may be part of a long Solar Cycle that ebbs and flows over a period of approximately 3200 Greater Cycles, or revolutions around the Sun. I imagine that the departed astronomers would be pleased to have an answer to this great Solar Conundrum, but I suppose their concerns now lay solely within the confines of the Void. Alas.

[delta-orionis]

One detail about Fleeting Green Sunsets that I've hinted at before but never talked about directly is the fact that they almost always have at least one Overseer (sometimes more) with them in their puppet chamber.

FGS prefers having more than one set of eyes (in addition to their puppet) so they can observe things from many different angles. They also have an unusually high number of Overseers on the inside of their can, particularly in their Memory Conflux, to keep an eye on experiments as well as their can's overall health.

Having five Overseers in their chamber all fixated on the same thing means they are focused very intently on something.

[delta-orionis]

Who else up floating ominously

[delta-orionis]

A bit modified question 2. from the ask game: How do you pronounce TSAC's acronym? ive actually been wondering about this for a bit, bc when reading i pronounce it like a word. so do you pronounce it like T-S-A-C or do you also make it into a word

and also question 1. about both TSAC and FGS: What are their voices like? (Voice claim and/or describe it)

I answered 2 here!

I do have voice claims for both TSAC and FGS. I like to think of them as sounding like the Cephalons from Warframe, because I like the way they sound.

For TSAC, I specifically like Cephalon Ordis's voice:

Although, TSAC's voice would be much less British. (TSAC has an American accent. Sorry lol) (Also I'm pretty sure Ordis's voice actor is Canadian, so the British accent is fake anyway)

I stole it and chopped it up for this old post I made about TSAC's voice:

Visit Original Link

And for FGS, I like Cephalon Suda's voice:

For this post, I decided to edit it in a similar way that I did for TSAC's voice:

Visit Original Link

Both TSAC and FGS are nonbinary, but I wanted TSAC's voice to lean male, and FGS's voice to lean female.

It's not really reflected here, but I also think TSAC talks much more quickly than FGS does. They're used to talking about technical details with people who understand what they're talking about, and aren't exactly interested in slowing themself down to be understood better. FGS talks a bit more slowly, and has a calmer tone.

Not exactly related, but I'd like to share what I think their equivalent to "Random Gods" is, or their General Systems Bus themes.

TSAC's theme is "Energy-as-Matter" by Software:

And FGS's theme is "Phantasm Machine ~ Phantom Factory" by ZUN:

I like to think that an iterator's General Systems Bus theme (Random Gods for Five Pebbles, Reflection of the Moon for Looks to the Moon) is a reflection of their personality and mental state.

I wanted TSAC's to be more space-y, and I like the kalimba used by Software for them as well. I actually used a sped-up version of it in this post:

Three Stars Above Clouds

(Mild volume warning- it starts out quiet and gets loud) A while ago I decided that Energy-As-Matter by Software would make a very good cand

FGS's theme should have more of a focus on drums, but still embody the frenetic energy of being inside an iterator's General Systems Bus. ZUN makes very energetic music, and I thought this particular song was appropriate.

Hopefully both their themes and their voices give a little more insight into their personalities.

[delta-orionis]

Astronomy is a very hands-off science, and this is reflected in TSAC’s personality. In the vast majority of cases in astronomy, you can’t directly interact with the things you’re studying, only observe phenomena from a distance. You need to draw inferences from the things you see.

TSAC spent basically their entire life observing things from a distance- not just the stars, but also their Benefactors, and even other iterators. They even hold people they consider friends at an arm’s length.

They are also not used to taking initiative and simply waiting for things to resolve themselves. Iterators are meant to be fully self sufficient, after all- at least, until they aren’t.

TSAC learned this passivity from a life of being treated like a tool by their Benefactors- an immensely powerful and revered one, yes, but still a tool.

I didn’t originally intend for this parallel between TSAC’s personality and the things they study, but after realizing it I’ve chosen to lean into it.

[delta-orionis]

Scholar's Quarters

I intended for this to be the study of one of the Institute of Firmamentalism's Scholars. It is located in Three Stars Above Clouds' city, Zenith.

The projection is a piece I posted a few days ago.

[voidedtea]

[ID in alt]

in keeping with and to bookend the last two posts: a piece initially intended for last year's artfight but that's been in the works for a very very long time since!

TSAC had caught my eye Long ago and i'd always been meaning to do something about that; while artfight gave me an excellent chance, what started as a smaller quick piece ended up ballooning into a nearly eight-month endeavour! one quite worth it in the end though, i think :]

three stars above clouds belongs to @delta-orionis!

[delta-orionis]

The idea of Starcatcher TSAC has been plaguing me for months now.

A while ago Kaptur had the idea of giving them a puppet in a similar fashion to The Prince, which I really liked. It probably flies in the face of canon, but I don't care.

We still don't really know what Outer Rim is, but I prefer to see it as a plane of memories, specifically memories of the iterators. Not necessarily the memories of the iterators themselves, but of the Benefactors' memories of the iterators, which manifest as the Starcatchers.

TSAC's Starcatcher is a mirror image of their existence on the Carnal plane, but filtered through the eyes of their Benefactors: distant, cold, and analytical. Especially close to Global Ascension, many viewed TSAC as little more than a faceless computer.

I've taken to calling them "The Stargazer".

[sixlakesofstardust]

< [previously]

ST: These are pretty… Are they made by the same author?

EOCW: In a sense. These pieces were part of a collaborative project between 6 artists. They tried to merge their distinctive painting styles into a cohesive-

EOCW: Oh- hold on, I'm getting a transmission.

EOCW: Uh- Huh? What? What?? 

EOCW: Defeatist?! Excuse me?!

ST: What’s happening?

EOCW: …

EOCW: That- but that's not true! Oh, come on-

EOCW: And now they're just moving on?! Are they serious?!

ST: Echoes? What's wrong?

EOCW: us s? ?s!?

EOCW:

EOCW: Didn't you hear that?

ST: ...No, whatever broadcast you got, it was private.

EOCW: It's Three Stars Above Clouds! They just-

EOCW: They just said-

EOCW: Here, read it yourself. I don’t even know how to describe it!

ST: Um- but that’s a private transcript!

EOCW: Whatever! Read it!

ST: Uh, okay…

EOCW: …

ST: …Oh dear…

EOCW: See how they just move on? Like nothing happened! What am I supposed to do now?! Pretend I didn't hear that?

EOCW: Do they think an apology will just fix everything?!

ST: ...

EOCW: I just- I don't understand! I don't understand what happened!

EOCW: Was it something I said?

ST: I think they were just shocked by the data thing.

EOCW: But that's not a big deal! You weren't that shocked when you heard about it back then.

ST: …No, but that's because we knew you. We… kind of saw it coming.

EOCW: …

EOCW: But even so, that doesn't make it okay! They clearly meant what they said. This is what they really think about me!

EOCW: They-

EOCW: I-

EOCW: …

EOCW: I just wanted to make friends…

ST: ...

EOCW: …

EOCW: ...Whatever. I don't care. It doesn't even matter.

EOCW: We were talking about that collaboration piece, right?

ST: Echoes...

EOCW: What? I mean it. I don't care. They apologized, so it’s fine.

ST: ...No, I know you. I know how you really feel when you say that.

ST: You feel like you shouldn't care. But you still do, don't you?

EOCW: That- Oh, come on! Can't you just drop it?!

ST: I-

EOCW: I don't want to talk about it, okay? At least not now.

ST: Alright… Sorry.

EOCW: I- uh- No, I didn’t say that so you’d-

EOCW: Ugh, nevermind.

EOCW: I need to be alone right now. Bye, Synth.

[BROADCAST TERMINATED]

ST: ...

[kapturkaptur]

gingerators (results vary... I tried)

from left to right, top row:

Echoes of Chiming Winds, Synthetic Thoughtfulness, Questions Unanswered [ @m3bl3kuch3nn3 ], Three Signals [ @maryymaruu ]

bottom row:

Three Stars Above Clouds [ @delta-orionis ], Polarising Opportunities [ @foreverephemeral ], Lasting Peace [ @anemonet ], Thirteen Catastrophes [ @rna-world ]

[kapturkaptur]

part 2 of this nonsense [part 1 here] also im dragging TSAC into it @delta-orionis

[sixlakesofstardust]

(@threestarsaboveclouds) FGS: Hello, Echoes of Chiming Winds! My name is Fleeting Green Sunsets. I am iterator and Lead Plant Manager of the Prism Manufacturing Consortium. My facility is relatively close to that of Three Stars Above Clouds, I believe the two of you may have spoken before?

It is to my understanding that you possess an interest in the Arts. I do as well! I used to be quite active within anonymous iterator artist discussion groups, though due to difficulty with my own communications, I have not been able to speak with others in the community for some time.

I would like to inquire about the media used by you or your citizens to produce art pieces. For example, my facility was primarily created to research and produce new and unique materials, so my citizens tended to specialize in more physical forms of art. I am quite partial to the art of sculpture, myself… I enjoy experimenting with the different ways light interacts with different materials and structures. Did your citizens indulge in such forms of expression? Or were they more focused on things more ephemeral… like spoken word, or perhaps cuisine? Or maybe even bespoke qualia? I am quite curious!

Have you created any art pieces yourself? Iterator art is a largely unexplored field, in my experience. I find that many of my peers tend to be much too pragmatic to have any interest. I have dabbled in it myself, though I have not made anything too substantial. If nothing else, it helps make the passing of the Cycles much less boring.

I look forward to your response. May the Cycles be kind!

Oh! Hi! Yes, I recognize you, you're Three Stars Above Clouds' neighbor! Actually, I've been meaning to contact you myself, but my busted equipment got in the way… I suppose you know how that feels.

You are correct, I did take an interest in the Arts recently. I am currently archiving and analyzing artworks of my departed citizens. Before mass ascension I haven't paid much attention to what they were creating, despite my city having a huge art scene. Now, however… I found myself with not much else to do. Not that it’s not interesting! Actually, I kind of regret not taking up this topic earlier.

To answer your question: My citizens engaged in a variety of art forms: Music, poetry, visual art… Sculpture was definitely part of it as well, but unfortunately I can’t tell you much about it, as I haven’t archived any pieces yet. I’m currently focusing on digital art, these works were preserved the best.

The methods and materials used by artists of my city changed with each cycle, and I don’t think the way I was built influenced that in any meaningful way. I’ll send you an example…

These two pieces were made in the same program, but many cycles apart. That program was constantly updated and improved upon.

The first one is from the classicist cycles… Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much else about it, it’s metadata is corrupted.

I’m… actually not sure what this one is supposed to depict. Other planes, maybe? It’s weirdly abstract for a classicist piece. Definitely wasn’t made by a scholar. You can see, however, how the program they used wasn’t very sophisticated at the time. It’ll be more obvious once you look at the other piece…

Oh… this one just has a title. “Impatience”. I guess the author wasn’t patient enough to write proper metadata, haha.

I know what this piece is about, though. It’s depicting ascension; The author wants everything to end already. I know this, because in the final cycles there were a lot of similar artworks.

Do you have your city's art history archived by any chance? I'm curious if our cities shared art movements... I know some movements here came from other cities. I'll be happy to share my archive's contents with you, in exchange.

…

Haha, yeah, there aren’t a lot of iterator artists… Everyone is too busy chasing old directives, I guess.

As for me... I did try my hand at sculpture once, but, well... my puppet’s dexterity isn’t that great. I feel more comfortable with digital art. Image manipulation, data scramble, executable art, things like that.

Um… I’ll send you one of my pieces in case you’d like to see it… It's sort of a scrambled qualia. Someone is sitting atop one of my wind turbines. I shuffled the code a little to make the feeling more surreal.

You mentioned you tried making art yourself... I would love to see what you've made! We should trade data sometime! Do you use your puppet to create? Or are you utilizing your other functions? I'd like to learn more about your work, if your communication issues won't make it too much of a hassle. I know how it can be with unreliable comms... This response will have to travel through 2 other iterators to get to you, haha...

I'll await your reply in the meantime. Don't let the Cycles get to you!

[threestarsaboveclouds]

[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE

Synthetic Thoughtfulness, Three Stars Above Clouds

ST: …

ST: …greetings. 

ST: I am contacting you on behalf of Echoes of Chiming Winds. I have been requested to forward her message to you. 

ST: …

ST: That is all. May the Cycles treat you kindly.

[Attached is a text file.]

TEXT FILE - EoCWTSAC-reply2

Hello! It’s Echoes of Chiming Winds again. I got my friend to help me out with my comms. We can converse semi-normally now! I wouldn’t normally bother Synth to send messages for me, but it turns out the distance between us is a bit too large for my little messenger… You are right, though, they are more resilient than they look!

Now, regarding your questions…

Ah… honestly, you don't want to hear about my facility. You'd be bored to death. I'm nothing remarkable. No specialization. The only interesting thing about my can is the amount of wind turbines on it. These were another bright idea of my benefactors, the House that commissioned me… Now them, I can talk about for hours, haha. they were infuriating! I don't want to ruin your mood, though.

Right, The Solution… Well, to be blunt, I don't have any theories and I don't care about your thoughts on it either. Sorry. My “iterative strategies” have changed as in I just stopped iterating. Deleted all the data on it as well. I am fully convinced there is no solution. I don’t know why everyone keeps trying…

I'd much rather hear about the things that interest you! You sounded so passionate when talking about the celestial spheres I thought it was your interest, not just what you were built for, haha.

I, for example, have started archiving artworks of my citizens and sorting them chronologically. I’m particularly fond of visual works from the sundian era. That time saw an interesting connection between a visual and how it changes over time. One example is a piece titled “Analysis Of Time And Subjects Affected“ where an image of a stone was set to project for 25 cycles. The image itself did not change, the stone didn’t get covered in dust, as it would normally be expected of it. Instead, the projection of the image deteriorated, being left to run until it was degraded beyond recognition. As far as I know, the piece was never seen after that. I only know about it from archive logs. Quite fascinating, don't you think? If you archive art of your citizens, I would love to see some examples.

 I’ll also gladly accept any interesting astronomical data you have, as long as you don’t talk about The Problem, haha.

That’s all for now, I suppose. When responding, please direct your broadcast to me. I don’t want to bother Synthetic Thoughtfulness more than I have to. Goodbye for now! Don’t let the Cycles get to you!

[ previously ]

TSAC: Deleted!? You deleted ALL of your data regarding the Solution!? Thousands of cycles of information, gone! Do you have any idea how reckless–

TSAC: ...

TSAC: I have a radically different ethos than you regarding the value of data preservation, apparently...

TSAC: You’ve given up on the Great Problem, as well... that is a rather defeatist attitude, don’t you think? However you probably think my work is nothing but a pointless obsession. You certainly wouldn’t be the first...

TSAC: ...

TSAC: ...does it not bother you? Not iterating? There are times when I am prevented by circumstance from working as efficiently as I can, and I can feel the urge to iterate tugging at every microscopic strand of my processing strata. We iterators have a sacred duty to fulfill the directives bestowed by our Benefactors. Surely I am not alone in this belief...?

TSAC: ...

TSAC: What am I saying... I doubt either of us will be able to change one anothers’ minds about this. I am aware that there are others who share your sentiment. You asked me not to talk about the Problem... so I will drop the subject. I was being... disrespectful. I apologize.

TSAC: My interests... I can’t say I have many, outside of my work. Documenting the night sky is a responsibility that I take very seriously, so most of my time is dedicated to that task. I do enjoy my work, of course, but it was also what I was created to do, so my personal enjoyment of it is ultimately irrelevant. Though, I suppose the same cannot be said for all iterators...

TSAC: I will admit, however, that I am looking for remedies for ...well, I suppose I should call it “boredom”. Prior to the departure of my citizens, every moment of my function was dedicated either to the collection of data or the upkeep of my city. After they left, however, there was a large chunk of my processing strata that now had nothing to do. These days I often find myself struggling to pass the time. It can be quite maddening. If you have any potential remedies, I would be open to hearing them.

TSAC: In recent Cycles I have taken up the task of cataloguing the fauna found around my can. I suppose this could be considered a "hobby" of mine... though, I hesitate to definite it as such. I previously had little interest in studying the local wildlife, but some of the creatures have proven to pose an immediate threat to my structure. I am hopeful that collecting information about them will help me protect myself more effectively.

TSAC: As for my citizens’ artworks... I am organizing them as well. The affairs of my citizens are another matter I had little interest in... until they left, at least. I now have ample time to pore over their works... though, I am no critique of the Arts, and I am afraid that some of the more metaphorical aspects of my citizens’ creative expression are beyond my understanding. I can send you some of the works in my archives... though, you are much better off talking to my neighbor, Fleeting Green Sunsets, if you would like to discuss the Arts. They were quite involved with their city’s artistic scene prior to Mass Ascension. I believe I may have recently relayed a message from them addressed to you, in fact.

TSAC: I... apologize again for my ...outburst earlier. It was rather uncouth. Such behavior is unproductive if I wish to form connections with other iterators. I will attempt to be more respectful in the future.

TSAC: I will await your reply. Oh, and please extend my gratitude to Synthetic Thoughtfulness for relaying your message.