Yesterday we challenged ourselves to make headcanon designs for EVERY SINGLE canon slugcat in rain world. It was painful but very very fun!! And good design/shape language practice!
Design notes/headcanons under the cut! We're super proud of these!! Might change/simplify them a bit here and there based on what's easier/more fun to draw, but these are our interpretations!
General Slugcat Headcanons
Long tail, three fingers on each paw, sluglike invertebrate in the vague shape of a feline? Tails usually aren't prehensile.
Equally suited for two-legged and four-legged locomotion, very dexterous and agile.
VERY diverse in adaptations as time goes on; most slugcats have purposed organism ancestors.
Some slugcat populations evolve pseudo-fur (different from the Saint's fur, which is actually symbiotic moss)
As rain becomes harsher and the climate eventually becomes colder, slugcats first evolve towards more aquatic adaptations, then towards adaptations which conserve warmth.
Many of the semi-aquatic adaptations, such as slicker bodies which exchange heat with the environment quickly, prove detrimental to the overall success of the species once the world freezes over.
Survivor
The most basic slugcat and a baseline from which all the other headcanon designs branch off of.
Generally round/slightly square silhouette.
Yeah that's a slugcat alright.
Monk
Just a little guy-
Design has similar shape language as Survivor but with an added heart motif!!
Shorter tail to make the design rounder/more compact overall.
Used several shades of yellow from official art!! They look like mustard! Or pudding!
Their abnormally bright coloration probably made Survivor more protective over them.
Hunter
Bigger, stronger, more scruffy than the other base-game slugs, but less aggressive than Artificer.
The Rot is beginning to show through some of their scars but IT'S FINE HE'S FINE it's not going to spread further.
The regions of darker fur are either from the Rot or just old scars.
Neutral side effect of the Rot is that he eventually gains the ability to spit slightly corrosive acid.
Nightcat/"Wanderer"
Eldritch being that defies the laws of the world /j
Has iridescent fur with sparkly flecks in it!! They ARE the night!
Sort of an echo but not?? They're physical but impervious to harm.
The lack of gold accents marks them as not being of the void.
Rainworld devs please put Nightcat back in the game please-
Sofanthiel/Inv/Enot/???
One time we read an article about countershading camouflage. Sofanthiel is BRIGHTLY COLORED on their back and bioluminescent, they have anti-camouflage.
The constant blushing is actually just more warning coloration. They're just a little bit poisonous <3 (which is why they're the only slugcat besides Artificer that can Maul)
Overall, based on a sea slug! Happy mermay!
Probably also some sort of pseudo-echo. Stuck with Nightcat in the noncanon jail, so sad-
Gourmand
Lots of round shapes and swirls, meant to look approachable and friendly!
Overall, less adaptations, and more neutral colors, similar to Survivor and Monk.
INCREDIBLY STRONG, INCREDIBLY CLEVER, FULL OF WONDER AT THE WORLD-
One of the only slugcats consistently drawn with a visible mouth because he just doesn't look right without that big ol smile.
Spearmaster
A cryptid among slugcats (affectionate). No mouth, but an abnormally long snout, they can smell Everything.
The tallest of the slugs, with?? Some semblance of a bone structure somehow?? Suns what did you do to them??
Fast, strong, but so so light-
The only slugcat with four fingers on each paw, to be more dexterous with spears and signing.
When not needing to communicate, they usually travel on all fours; it's easier on their pseudo-bones.
Their patterns were not intentionally meant to look like a Liepard but it's kind of funny.
Artificer
Has the same reverse-countershading that Sofanthiel has, but for a different reason.
They are CONSTANTLY burning with rage and every creature that looks at them can see it. Who cares if they don't blend in, they can fight whatever threatens them.
Bristly, fur-like coat is slick with flammable, faintly iridescent chemicals.
Has a shorter tail than most slugcats, with coarse hairs on the end which can be used to quickly ignite the chemical they produce, like a match.
Meant to vaguely resemble a Scavenger for the ironyyyyy
Rivulet
Slick, aerodynamic, with webbed paws and fin-like structures on their forelimbs/tail.
Actually kind of short but when on land they're usually standing on their hind legs at full height, ready to pounce.
They have such huge ears to prevent from overheating on land (which is becoming less of a concern as the climate shifts) and to direct falling water to drip onto their external gills.
BIG OL EYES
Saint
The most far-removed from other slugcats in terms of adaptations.
Their "fur" is actually a heat-retaining symbiotic moss that all slugcats are born with now.
This moss originated from the increasingly watery environments that slugcats began living in by Rivulet's time.
More compact, vaguely rabbit-like proportions. The tufts on the sides of their head are derived from the external gills of their ancestors.
Huge pupils for taking in the small amount of light that remains between blizzards.
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Points of reference for my story. I had a comment asking me about how I envision the instincts for Kinn and Porsche so proceed with spoilery caution.
I didn't have specific points of reference I used when I was plotting but I grew up on mythology stories so I know a lot about the different types of dragons etc. there are, so I knew right away that I wanted Kinn's dragon to be an Asian/Chinese style dragon without wings for reasons that become clearer later.
This photo is the closest one I could find to what I imagine when I mentally designed it in my head.
Without the wings obviously, and with its golden eyes and almost shimmery monochromatic fish scales because they also exist on Kinn's back as an almost like for like match. They fit more seamlessly (no black at all) on Kinn's human skin because he's so pale.
I wanted Kinn's dragon to look powerful but also majestic. And yeah, it looks like that but it has a bit of the goofy nightwing in it. It's a salty boy.
Porsche was a bit harder because people have wide ranging ideas about phoenixes, so again, I sketched out in my mind based on the many books I've read the bits I wanted my design to have.
This is a tattoo and this is the closest I could find because Porsche's phoenix has blue coloring as well and I wanted it to have a similar feel to his tattoo because of...reasons.
So in my headcanon, down from its throat, breast and belly is royal blue and so is the top edge of its wing span, filtering into its wings and the strands of its tail are a mix of red and blue.
It isn't wholly traditional but it's to match that Porsche's fire is a stronger fire than a traditional orange flame (his fire as we know is blue and therefore hotter).
I hope that helps explain a bit of my design/plot process.
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Zonai headcanon design lineup! (Tonitru belongs to my friend, Socks)
Wanted to have the format be similar to that of EarthnAshes’, cause I really love how they formatted the layout and their designs are absolute eye candy! (Just search up “EarthnAshes LoZ headcanon” and you’ll find a goldmine)
Anyway I believe that the Zonai can be various colors, but the main thing is that their fur has to be relatively dark and that their hair has to be pale
My headcanon is that they eventually had to ascend back into the far Heavens, but those who refused to go ended up getting turned into statues
Rauru and Mineru probs had some kind of plot device that prevented them from turning into statues
I also like to believe that they can have various types of horns, regardless of sex
Hair very much varies, and so do markings and eyelashes
Heck, a Zonai could be striped like a tiger
I’d like to imagine a lot were apart of the group of interlopers, along with Sheikah and Gerudo people, and the three races eventually evolved into the Twili within the Twilight Realm
I’ll develop them more at some point and mayhaps reblog this with more info, so keep your eyes peeled for it!
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