#rw ancients are... something
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jumping on this bandwagon i guess
#rain world
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🌀 trans-scension 🔁 goldenjetfish
✨ yeekoftheweek Follow
[Image: Navigation directions for a road with a roundabout. An alternate route goes directly through the roundabout. It is labeled "if you;re not a coward ;)"]
got this from my drone nav today
is my iterator fucking okay
👤 herecomestherainagain-deactivated1529700
Go home No Significant Harassment, you're drunk.
🪈 pipe--yard
okay im like 99% sure this is fake but i just gotta highlight the audacity of saying "go home" to the guy whose house youre literally driving on top of
🪈 pipe--yard
edit: IT'S REAL??!?!
wild-flower-ride-deactivated1532056
void and saints below yall really live like this
📿 guardianknittingneedles-deactivated1534459
Happy one solar-cycle anniversary to the drunk No Significant Harassment post
🪱 cutest-lil-pipe-beast Follow
i've only seen this post in screenshots and i still can't believe it's real
🟩 nsh-heritage-posts
Certified No Significant Harassment Heritage Post
#rule of laughter #happy 7 sol-cycle anniversary to the drunk nsh post everyone #tumbling stones heritage posts
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☁️ fourteenblueclouds
[image description: Two painterly images of the sky, as viewed from a Metropolis balcony on Five Pebbles during a dry spell. The first shows the sky, uninterrupted save for the spires of distant communications towers. The other, a single figure leaned over the railing of a balcony, looking out over the cityscape.]
the summers up on pebbles were always the worst, but as the end approaches i'm coming to miss them
#original art #artists of tumbling stones #my artwork #painting
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🗡️ nine-sharp-stones
it really feels like everyone is ascending these days. this place is a ghost town. i just wish i could join them but i know i'll never be enough. there's too much of me. if i go it'll twist me into something i don't want to be. and all i can do is be afraid.
i miss my parents. i miss everyone. my best friend ascended last cycle. we couldn't be friends anymore because i was "holding them back".
i just wish i could have gone with them.
#vent #do not reblog #delete later
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🌀 trans-scension 🔁 halo-of-seven-suns
⛆ raindeerstampede-deactivated1534012
It still gets me every time that even living up here with an abundance of water, we choose to maintain a system of pipes to ensure access to it.
I have to pay a water bill.
It rains so hard every night my balcony has a hands-breadth of standing water when the shields unroll in the morning.
Does nobody see the contradiction here?
🪻 metropolitanghost Follow
op have you ever heard of a drainage system
do you like. realize how nasy that water gets
and you want to DRINK it?
🧃 five-pebbsi-official Follow
Why drink rainwater when you could be drinking Five Pebbsi, the official drink of the Five Pebbles Metropolitan Zone?
[five-pebbsi-advertisement.jpg]
Quench your thirst and contract 0 intestinal parasites! None!
🪈 pipe--yard
#wow thanks five pebbsi official brand account that doesn't sound suspicious at all
#thank you five pebbles official you sound very trustworthy #i am sure your drink contains nothing else that would be of concern
#what an incredibly trustable source! i am sure if i perform a search query for five pebbsi i will definitely not find anything concerning on the ingredient list!
🖸 pleading-intellects-hot-robot-bod
#it has WHAT IN IT
i would like to wish everyone finding out about the ingredients of five pebbsi from this post my Deepest Condolences but also, Rest In Pieces
#rule of laughter
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🪨 one-cup-of-pebbles 🔁 memes-to-make-you-ascend
[screencap: a greyscale photo of a cup of gravel tea, with two twigs artfully arranged on a plate. Caption reads, "Working on denying the fourth urge this week! #fourthurge #gluttony #graveltea #dietarypurge #releasethe4"]
these guys have got to be stopped
#i am losing my mind over this
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💬 wondering-ottoman 🔁 leviafantastic
🌘 lingeringluna Follow
[Image: a shiny chitinous box containing unidentifiable bluish-white mush.]
living block just got the new ration shipment today. what the [2].
🌘 lingeringluna
this is what they feed the iterator technicians i think
👤 beyondthewinds-deactivated1528045
Technical side of Tumbling Stones, can you confirm?
🧮 sixgrains-official Follow
yes i am a real iterator technician and i eat this every day,, for my lunch and for dinner i eat neuron flies. hope this helps
👤 beyondthewinds-deactivated1528045
Thank you, definitely official account of famous iterator architect Six Grains of Gravel, Mountains Abound
#this is an old and humorously meant post i know but… #but no really what?! #i knew it was bad for the stragglers but i had no idea… #at least once we all ascend it'll be a bygone worry i suppose… #tw gluttony
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🌀 trans-scension 🔁 halo-of-seven-suns
⛓️ atopthespires
becoming an iterator technician with high ambitions but i'm incredibly clumsy, introduced to them on the first day of the job and i am simply so charming they cannot help but fall in love with me for "research purposes" and i become their specialist little technician attending their every whim despite being the least qualified individual to do so <3
⛓️ atopthespires
some of you are very confused what i mean by this, so let me make it clear: i want to [U.] the iterator
⛓️ atopthespires
#op do you understand that the puppet is just a simulacrum of a body? #they are much vaster than your reproduction-addled mind can concieve of i promise you that
the simulacrum being puppeted by a vast inconcievable machine is part of the appeal. whats not clicking
⛓️ atopthespires
#you realize the councils would literally throw you into the void fluid vats for that right #if you don't get excommunicated first
might i introduce you to this Wondrous New Skill called: lying
#rule of laughter #heresy tw #not safe for worshippers
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#rain world#rw ancients#fake tumblr posts#suicide (implied)#religion (fictional)#also uh#disordered eating implications?#not 100% sure how to tag this#rw ancients are... something#also yes those are fake image descriptions/captions#i would love to make those paintings someday but i do Not have the time or skills for it orz#does this count as fanfiction?#fj.txt#i had way too much fun making this post and coming up with usernames lmao#EDIT: tumblr hid this post for having too many links i think oopsies!#does this show up in the tag now?
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various ßings
#rain world#rainworld#rain world ancients#artificer#gourmand#hunter#rivulet#survivor#nightcat#rain world oc#rw#my art#ive drawn so much of these guys i might make it an actual au or something#ijust think they are neat#update all ancient scug drawings are now under the#lost lives au#tag#thumbs up
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Hii!! I love your art so so much! I was wondering if you have any tips on how to design ancients? If you do I'd be incredibly grateful!!
thank you!!! here's my thought process when drawing ancients, hope you find something useful in it!
i have a pureref board with some images i got from the game files, such as these murals:
they're incredibly helpful for referencing ancient fashion, anatomy, and just as inspiration in general.
however, their masks are never truly shown; unless you count a specific ad projection, which is what actually inspired me to start drawing ancients:
it's probably a joke like most ad projections, but i found it quite helpful!
now for actually designing and drawing them...
messing around with basic shapes is a fun way to think about the masks. and then you can accessorize forever
i don't have much to say here; this probably depends on how you want to stylize their anatomy. i don't draw them the same way i would draw people, their proportions kind of resemble those of cartoon characters? with double chests as well
now for another fun part!
the unholy combination of streetwear and ceremonial armor! and probably my favorite part.
have fun!
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So what goes into managing an iterator?
Because when you think about it, managing a massive semiorganic sentient ai that you depend on for practically everything, might not be easy.
While iterators aren't brought online as children per se, from broadcasts in game we can assume that young iterators probably start out fairly stubborn with their thinking. And while iterators are far more complex and developed than our current good ol' chat algorithms, I think that trying to tell a machine designed to not make any errors, that it is wrong, may come with at least a bit of back and forth arguing.
There'd be a lot that would go into managing a machine as is, even more into one with feelings and opinions.
I believe the ashy green pearl mentions how there's a parental relationship between iterators and ancients (this might not apply to all ancients and iterators but for the sake of the argument I'm going to keep going with this). It also mentions how it's important to keep good relations with their iterator - they are reliant on them after all.
Booting an iterator up and instantly expecting them to perform perfectly how you need them too may not be entirely accurate. Perhaps more mechanical tasks are good from the get-go but more social tasks would certainly require behaviours that would have to be learned. There would have to be someone to teach them that emotional maturity and social skills.
So, going back to what does it take to manage an iterator. I think it's a lot of things, a large team effort of multiple people of different specialties.
Alright let's talk about the food chain here now ey?
Iterator administrators would rank at the top. The administrator title would probably be assigned to two or three house councillors. The role would come with being the voice for whatever iterator matters the public would need to know. They probably make decisions of, hey this important thing needs to be done by our iterator. But I doubt they have any real knowledge on the iterator ins and outs.
That would go to the people just below, the chief technicians, mechanics, programmers, architects, the folks that manage the more machine parts of an iterator. But of course iterators aren't all metal, they're semi organic too. So there would be those who specialise in the biological parts of iterators. And there would be psychologists as well to make sure our beloved machines with feelings are doing ok.
I'm not exactly sure where the common trope of ancients being horrible heartless assholes to iterators comes from. I certainly didn't get that impression from the texts. ?
I think the iterators were certainly respectable members of the community. I think many people cared about them too. The whole ashy green pearl talk about how they have parental obligations. They say how the discourse about five pebbles' construction displeases him. They literally say, hey stop being mean to our iterator, and go in to defend him. Even tho pebbles didn't exactly find the discourse upsetting, they still wouldn't tolerate insults at their iterator. You can't tell me that the ancients - even those at the top - didn't care.
Iterators were created as gifts to word. Five pebbles received drawings from kids. They had sky-sail festivals.
Moon did state her general dislike of her citizens, she calls them parasites with opinions. But I cannot imagine managing an entire city would be easy, and even despite that, she still calls them her parents. They were flawed, yes, but clearly there was enough love there for Moon to apologize.
#Sure not all ancients might have been polite#but i think it makes sense that you'd want to be nice to your supercomputer child that you kinda placed your life in the hands of#“i placed my faith into the hands of random gods” yeah ya did#they really meant something to the ancients#enought to become an echo#yeah its another one of my “i think everyone in rain world actually cares about eachother”#rain world#iterator#rw ancients#rw talk
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CREAS LIGHTER MARKINGS SPREAD OVER TIME???? IS THAT REAL???? LIKE A POINT CAT KINDA?????? THATS SO CUTE???????? BEST ITERATOR EVER?????
KINDA?? BUT NOT LIKE. UNINTENTIONALLY. I'M PRETTY SURE I'VE MENTIONED IT IN THE PAST BUT HE PAINTED HIS OWN PUPPET!
My thingy's dead so I can't draw anything right now but lemme dig up the mock body comparisons
(That wire should probably be longer honestly)
BASICALLY his Puppet was originally very simple in design (closer to Fathom's when it comes to marking placement). Normal forearm markings, triangles on the face, stuff like that. But then he went. Well. This isn't quite right, and I wanna try something different! This isn't me! (Or something. We joke about him taking a look at himself and being like "oh absolutely not" a lot)
And because he has the facilities to mass manufacture paint (and other stuff) he basically made some permanent puppet paint for himself and just went wild! And he loves how he looks! He is so so happy with himself. Body paint in general is also like one of his weird love languages alongside touch and gift giving.
He's the type of guy to get people to draw him something and then he'll like tattoo it on himself (especially his family) Or just let them do it themselves.
He still mixes it up though! Still paints on his body pretty often-- moving markings around just to see how it'd look, testing out colours and the like. Even if it's not as permanent it makes him happy! He has a very inconsistent design and it makes me happy when I get to play around with that (and when other people do too!! When they put their own spin on him!)
I remember I used to draw him with rainbow markings that kinda looked like stretch marks. That boy is just like his city (A canvas)
#zoc scrambled#zoc artwork#zoc shack#LANDS_EDGE#rain world#rw oc#rw iterator#zoc asks#Zari implanted something in my brain earlier#that the ancients of Canvas (his city) would make clothes for him#I think he would've cried#fucking “euuhhhg... ghhhguhhgh...” he is SO WEAK to gift giving#the markings on his back are a bit more splotch-y since that's harder to reach#but I haven't been able to draw that in a way I like
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I've wanted to dive into how Ancients have their titles such as Count of House of Braids, 8 Living Blocks, Councilor of 16, Grandmaster of the twelfth pillar- as I have ancient ocs and I want to be able to have them formally introduce themselves and such!
This is all a theory of mine grasping at straws with what the game gives written and visually.
Another concept I forgot to input was the possibility of there being one Council in a city, in which a Count from each House make up this Council. While Grandmaster could possibly be the title of owning a pillar. Councilor just a general title of share owning or generally owning a Block rather than fully owning Blocks.
also after re reading this:
I'm to believe Pillars as well may have certain purposes such as Will referrers to 12th Council Pillar, The House of Braids as a "Government Temple Structure" So rather than assuming there's 12 councils perhaps in each House there is a Pillar specific to hosting other Counts (Leaders of other Houses) and each are numbered.
Soooo- Imma be working with these lil theories of mine when I make more ancients~! (As if Imma design over 40 ancients for a Council so I might call the trio I drew a "High Council" to save the work load HAHA)
#Theory#ToxTalk#rain world#Ancients#rw#rain world ancients#analysis post#shrugs#idk if im onto something or far from it
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Father said that this world isn't for me
I tried to pray for a new reality
#data pearls#oc: NS#rain world#iterator oc#rw ancients#i wanted to draw something angsty and for SOME REASON my brain went for the SWEET LITTLE GAMER first#no context for this btw#my metal rendering was Cracked today i'm really proud of this drawing it goes so hard#edit: added alt text#described in alt#also Yes his pose Is from that bit of End-World Normopathy
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2. Submerged Superstructure
#rain world#rw art month#tanz art#rw ancients au#rw looks to the moon#tw blood#or something. its supposed to give the vibe kind of#yesss
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Headcanon time. Five Pebbles would hate being held in any way unless he specifically started or consented to it because otherwise it would make him feel small and or powerless
(look at my tags boy)
#rain world#rainworld#which he is. small little man#he strikes me as the type who immediatly goes defensive when someone implies even remotely that he is not their equal#ergo his insistence that he is better than most other lifeforms. something something was made to be better than moon#and yet disappointed so many ancients. probably some iterators too somewhere#ERGO HIS COMPLETE DEAD SILENCE WHEN HE GOT THE ROT. BECAUSE IT WAS SEEN AS A BAD THING BY EVERYONE AND THEY MESSAGED HIM ABOUT IT PROBS <3#oh you think lowly of five pebbles? shut the fuck up he'll show you. he doesnt need any help to fix anything.#actually he doesnt need anyone at all. also its suns fault that he got the rot its not him that made the mistake hes not inferior to anyone#trust him he promises hes just as good as everyone else. actually hes better which is why he doesnt need any of you#-five pebbles' subconscious probably#five pebbles#rw five pebbles#superiority and inferiority and god complex all at the same time having little guy. he is so normal i am so normal about him#damn this post started off as an observation. lol. lmao even#i cannot shut up about my blorbos sometimes#esp in the tags lmao
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oh?? new ancient ocs???
#bullying 42 strikes already and they have only existed for about 1 day i think#rw#rain world#rain world oc#something something void fluid rupture something something#the second one is 15 Swords of Crimson 10 Bounties Abandoned#omg 15 swords of crimson would get along with reflections in last fracture so well....#rw ancients#rain world ancients#rw oc#rw ancient oc#42 strikes might be an iterator maintenance worker? 15 swords of crimson is a council member?
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Rambly post about RW Qualia and mostly Five Pebbles
Old thing I wrote on a Padlet board of mine that I'm semi proud of, warning: rambly asf, also only took the base game as a basis. Enjoy!
The Ancient civilization and their descendants held their memories as something valuable, using pearls to archive them, those type being memory construct pearls. The concept of memories is closely tied to qualia: A personal experience, something that can’t be comprehended by another person completely other than the individual itself. They are sensations that are hard to convey through written language.
Five Pebble’s Pearl dialogue:
It's qualia, or a moment - a very short one. Someone is holding a black stone and twisting it slightly as they drag their finger across the rough surface. The entire sequence is shorter than a heartbeat, but the resolution is extraordinary.
A memory... but not really visual, or even concrete, in its character. It reminds of the feeling of a warm wind, but not the physical feeling but the... inner feeling. I don't think it has much utility unless you are doing some very fringe Regeneraist research.
With the advancement of bioengineering, they would take a step further and preserve raw memories and qualia of an individual in cabinet beasts at the memory crypts.
Shaded Citadel pearl:
“The assorted memories and qualia include:
Watching dust suspended in a ray of sun (Old age). Eating a very tasty meal (Young child). Defeating an opponent in a debate contest and being applauded by fellow team members (Late childhood/Early adulthood).”
Survivor and Monk’s campaign begin with memories of their time reunited with their family. Memories can also be seen in their dreams. And their journey consist of moving on from the past and those memories that hold them in the carnal plane and to enter into the spiritual one, as the many others who left their memories to be cherished by the carnal plane did, drawn to the void again and again, an endless drip drip drip
In Rain World, the previous civilization studied thoroughly the nature of the void, but for a time that was just restricted to only theory, and they only could understand the nature of transcendence after experiencing it themselves. To grasp the boundless infinite of the cosmic void.
Qualia also heavily influenced the naming convention of the descendants of the ancients and the iterators. With the benefactors names being more "ornate and lavish" due to their ego, great ambition and various titles. That being true to most of public figures.
As seen in 5P pearl dialogue, the iterators themselves share the concept of qualia, with Moon commenting on the Garbage Wastes pearl being hard to translate to you due to it being his personal experience.
Garbage Wastes pearl:“It’s written in internal language, or thoughts, so it is hard for me to translate so you would understand. It's a methodology for global ascension of course - quite good, although the Peripherists or the Slab Mongers certainly wouldn't agree!”.
It’s also seen in one Five Pebbles pearls that he tries to “experience” what is it being like a lower creature, to research the solution of the Great Problem, ascending the world. But even as an Iterator, he struggles to do so as he is godlike comparison, with his experience being different from the average creature. The Iterators know a lot, but they’re restrained due the taboo and their somewhat limited worldview.
Five Pebbles pearl dialogue: “It is the impression of being a small creature, like a wall climbing lizard, and looking up into the branches of a big tree. The last third is partly overwritten with a number series I vaguely recognize, but without my memory…”
Moon Survivor/Monk dialogue:“He's sick, you know. Being corrupted from the inside by his own experiments. Maybe they all are by now, who knows. We weren't designed to transcend, and it drives us mad.”
Moon receiving her first neuron:
We were supposed to help everyone, you know. Everything. That was our purpose: a great gift to the lesser beings of the world. When facing our inability to do so, we all reacted differently. Many with madness.
Outskirts Pearl:
This is true for all living things, but some actually break the cycle. That doesn't apply to you or me though, you are too entangled in your animal struggles, and for me not breaking that cycle is an integral part of the design. Our mantras keep repeating.
The best Five Pebbles can do is granting you the gift of communication, the mark of enligthment and lead you to the old path, as a definitive solution hasn't been found, and it is uncertain if SOS actually ever found one.
The bad news is that no definitive solution has been found. And every moment the equipment erodes to a new state of decay. I can't help you collectively, or individually. I can't even help myself.
Everyone had a theory. Some said that she did have a solution, but that the solution itself was somehow dangerous. These later became known as the Triangulators, who think that a solution should be inferred without being directly discovered.
Some said she never had a solution, she just died. And when the systems broke down an erroneous signal was sent.
One camp claimed that dying was the solution.
And that frustration of trying to comprehend the individual experience of everything in the World and solve the puzzle of The Great Problem leads him into trying to find a way out himself, not caring about others around him. Posing risk into himself and others.
FP: I'm tired of trying and trying. And angry that they left us here. The anger makes me even less inclined to solve their puzzle for them. Why do we do this?
EP: It is not a new idea, but it needs to be vented occasionally. What if there is no universal solution? What if perception is in fact existence, and when Sliver of Straw sent the triple positive it was not a mistake? What if crossing oneself out, or even just death, is the way? We need to consider the possibility.
#rain world#five pebbles#looks to the moon#rw ancients#One of the first attempts of mine to write something analytical so don't expect much#its a fun way to practice my english tho!#FP is misunderstood fr#way too many people babyfi him or say hes a straight up villain#I love him but I recognise the shit he did is straight up not ok lmao
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only good thing I made today lol
I like this ancient design much better
finally used pencil again (which I erased)
probably not my final design but I like it much better so I did lines and shit cus I was bored lol
#rain world#scavs silly misc#rainworld#rw#rw ancient#rw ancients#rw hc#rw headcanons#rw designs#kdj#sghhf#idk#scav finally draws something#scavcanons#oh boy time to put my new art tag on all of these#festers fuckery
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i want to draw ancients,,, give me ur ancient ocs
(u can also give me a slugcat/scav oc for me to ancientify but i might not do a lot of those cause they are hard to do </3)
#rain world#rainworld#rain world oc#rw ancients#kind of artblocked and with no ideas so what better thing than drawing other peoples ocs#so yeah#would prefer if they are sent in an ask but u can also just rb their ref or something thog dont care#hopefully this doesnt get like 1 note but i can just remake this post another time if it does
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that swap ask lived rent free in my head until i finally went n quickly sketched the other three godly Anemoi as Ancients too,,
#rw#oc tag#shpootlin-doodlin#fuckin Notos doesnt even look that different oh love <3#boreas is like.. the only rw oc of mine that actually has smth of a gijinka already so i just did my best to translate it into an ancient..#love how the godly Anemoi consist of a scarred babyfaced grandma kinnie of joan of arc then a nordic viking something chief; an assassin-#-blind kitty cat creature with complex moral system and then we have The Frat Boy With A Girlfriend :)
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you clearly love them a lot and i am So curious what ur thoughts on seven red suns as a character are. theyre.. kinda mean from what uve seen, but you probably have some great insights!! if this means gushing about your f/o instead of serious analysis i am also in 100% support of that gbjhf
WUAGHHHHH I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN I LIKE THEM SOOOO MUCH i really really want to talk about General interpretations but it's hard because of how obviously biased i am. but. Augh. this is so nothing but it got long and i'm embarrassed so woe read more be upon ye
i gotta start by mentioning that faelings original design & concept for suns (and spearmaster by extension) is sooo important to me and a lot of my personal interp comes from that, comics like this (link to the official discord btw) that they made for example! and though it has arguably less to do with suns, the 1.5 drought mod also has a special place in my heart but if i get too into that i'll start screaming and crying about it. just know that wanderer is so special to me and suns has two kitty cats that they love so much ok?🫶
anyways. i think because of the fact they aren't fleshed out much in canon aside from the spearmaster broadcasts there's a lot left up for the player to decide, which honestly is really fun to me and i genuinely love seeing other peoples interpretations!! but personally because you mentioned it and because i feel kinda strongly about this in particular, i wanna say that i don't think suns is mean, i think they definitely have the potential to be overprotective and intimidating, but it'd almost always be out of love.
one thing the broadcasts ARE good at showing is just how much they care about basically everybody around them, even if they're a little.. dense about some things. they way they talk in the chat logs with nsh, about their guilt over pebbles' situation and trying to make up for it even though pebbles clearly doesn't want their help, about dooming not only pebbles but moon as well (who as far as canon text goes, they don't seem to have ever personally talked to moon at all imo). and when nsh stops messaging them, or becomes increasingly worried about moon, they get visibly concerned about his wellbeing as well and does their best to console him.
my favourite broadcasts are the ones about their gradual realization that maaaaybe they care about spearmaster a little more than they originally intended to. they raised spearmaster, going as far as to teach it a personally modified sign language rather than a quick and easy one-way mark of communication like most iterators would do. the chat logs after spearmaster encounters pebbles and how worried suns was for it, about how they regret ever sending them to pebbles in the first place, and that they just wished it'd return home to them safely.
there's also the fact that they kept an eye on spearmaster with their overseer basically 24/7, to the point that even pebbles knew that suns was watching. overseers can act on their own, we know that from what we see in canon, but pebbles knew that suns was actively watching when spearmaster entered his can. which. god this wasn't supposed to be about pebbles but pebbles not killing spearmaster is something that's so important to me because he so easily could have killed them and there was no reason for him not to. but despite how hurt he was and how wronged he felt, he knew that it would have ruined suns so he held himself back and it's so AAUUGHHHHHH!!!!!!! i love them all so much. this is barely even about suns anymore sorry i didn't mean to type so much about spearmaster i just love their campaign so much. don't even get me started on the thought of ascending as spearmaster that shit will make me start killing people
i actually was going to talk about headcanon stuff too (mostly stuff from before the global ascension/after riv) but. i started thinking too hard about suns and pebbles and spearmaster and wanderer and and and. Well sorry but i fear that if i think about rain world any more today i may end up on national television. so maybe another day
#mhmnwwmewbmwh ebmenwm ebebjehwjelwkhe a#NOBODY READ THIS I'M SERIOUS the more i started typing the more embarrassed i got but. euugghhhhh. ilike them so much#it felt kinda silly breaking stuff up into paragraphs like i was typing something important but i didn't want it to be a wall of text#i need paragraphs to stop being so long. it's embarrassing#anyways i almost never talk about my personal rw interpretations bc i get shy about it but. augh. eerie convinced me to answer this🥹#it's nothing special really they just mean a lot to me especially their relationship with spearmaster. oh my god what if there was a family#that's why this mostly ended up being about them and spearmaster. In the end it's always about their kitty cats#it's not even an analysis. i just started reading the broadcasts and went AUGUHHHHHHH#what if suns was sooooo dense but they loved and cared about everybody so much. But oh my god they're kind of really dumb#and remembering faelings original design... i honestly really dislike how msc massacred suns design but i don't like to be a downer about i#it just means i get to see sooooo many cool fan designs instead so❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️#this post wasn't about designs as much as it was about them as a character but i think we alllllll know my favourite suns designs🫶#btw if you're curious about the hc stuff well. a lot of the past suns hcs i have are shkikas fault honestly#i never really thought about suns before the ancients ascended but ummmmm. hehe.#i like kikis interpretation of past suns relationship with the ancients in their city so much. so go look at their comics ok? for me#also while typing this i realized just how many typos there are on the broadcasts dialogue wiki. i could fix her💔#WAAAUGHHHHHHHHHHH ok nobody look. nobody look at me i don't like talking i'm scared#runs away crying#everybody pretend i don't exist i need to go bury my head in the sand now
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Qualia and Ascension in Rain World
(To clarify I'm mostly talking about base-game lore and not including Downpour, but honestly most of these things can transfer over)
Qualia
One thing that’s relatively hidden in Rain World’s text and subtext is the concept of qualia. Qualia is described as being, “sensory experiences that have distinctive subjective qualities but lack any meaning or external reference to the objects or events that cause them.” It’s a personal sensory experience that cannot be comprehended by another person other than the individual themself, and are often hard to convey via language.
Qualia is a reoccurring motif in Rain World, but what’s more important is the way in which it’s conveyed to the player. The picture that’s painted is that of a world or civilization that placed a great importance on the individuals’ experience, and it’s shown through pearls or environmental details.
Here are some examples of qualia appearing in the text through pearls.
“It's qualia, or a moment - a very short one. Someone is holding a black stone, and twisting it slightly as they drag their finger across the rough surface. The entire sequence is shorter than a heartbeat, but the resolution is extraordinary.”
“A memory... but not really visual, or even concrete, in its character. It reminds of the feeling of a warm wind, but not the physical feeling but the... inner feeling. I don't think it has much utility unless you are doing some very fringe Regeneraist research.”
“This one... is authored by Five Pebbles, when he was young. There has been an attempt to scramble the data, but it's sloppily done, and most is still somewhat legible. It's written in internal language, or thoughts, so it is hard for me to translate so you would understand.”
But the most prominent examples of qualia and it’s importance in this world are the Memory Crypts and possibly ancient naming conventions. The deep purple pearl (shortened) found in Shaded Citadel states,
“In this vessel is the living memories of Seventeen Axes, Fifteen Spoked Wheel, of the House of Braids (…) Seventeen Axes, Fifteen Spoked Wheel nobly decided to ascend in the beginning of 1514.008, after graciously donating all (ALL!) earthly possessions to the local Iterator project (Unparalleled Innocence), and left these memories to be cherished by the carnal plane. The assorted memories and qualia include:”
Ancients likely mutated their own neural tissue into the cabinet beasts we see in Shaded, which were used to store their memories and qualia before ascension. Even james said once "how 5 pebs got the rot is a good hint here" in response to someone asking how cabinet beasts work, and how they're made.
Adding on to this, ancient (and iterator) naming conventions seem to be built off of the concept of qualia, with them focusing on individual images or experiences.
Nineteen Spades, Endless Reflections
Droplets upon Five Large Droplets
Two Sprouts, Twelve Brackets
Looks to the Moon
Generally, this all points to a world focused on the expression and preservation of the individual experience. You could even consider some of the echo dialogue as more evidence for this running motif, but I already have too many quotes lol.
Ascension
So now time to talk about my interpretation of ascension. In short, you turn into a worm, but I should probably explain more than that.
So its been surfacing on rw-tumblr that the light in the end of the game is called the egg in files. Although file names shouldn't be taken as fact or canon, it is pretty obvious given the birth imagery.
But something a little lesser known is what happens to the worm that takes us down to the void-sea depths. Void worms normally have a bright glowing effect, on their body, which is present for ours as well. But after it unhooks us, it swims down, and when it passes us on it's way back that glowing effect is gone.
To be honest, I don't really think this can be interpreted in many ways, but the most obvious one and the one I personally subscribe to is that the worm laid the egg. Biology and spirituality really aren't that different in Rain World, it's implied that karma is stored in the brain through Five Pebbles's slideshow. Adding on to that, we see voidspawn after eating an iterator neuron. One's spiritual state is innately tied to their mental state, and that dictates what and what they can't perceive.
And for that reason I decide to take a more biology leaning approach to what happens in the ending. At face value, we are fertilizing the egg of a void worm to be reborn into a voidspawn.
Not only do void spawn and void worms have multiple characteristics in common, (worm like bodies, tendrils/tentacles, glowing heads, void spawn look microbial and void worms are likely some of the oldest "life" in game)
but voidspawn are seen inside egg-like coverings and share the same egg light seen in the end of the game, confirmed to be the same thing by Videocult in a livestream they did.
I believe that all this points to ascension being re-birth into a voidspawn, which eventually undergoes metamorphose into a worm. Higher-dimensional beings, who manifest and give birth to a new world.
So how does this tie in with qualia? Another thing you might know is that the area in which void spawn are most plentiful is Shaded Citadel and areas in Shoreline near Shaded. And shaded is absolutely packed with Cabinet Beasts, even outside Memory Crypts. I believe these qualia-storing creatures are what manifest voidspawn.
From what we see in ascension, it still looks physical and largely based around the real world. Hunter still has his scars and see's an iterator, survivor sees the slug tree in a more mystical and formless state, and monk sees survivor frankly just looking like a normal slugcat. I think that ascension is a product of qualia. We transcend our earthly knowledge via the egg, and our own qualia is used to give birth to a new world. This is why voidspawn appear most in Shaded Citadel.
Now I won't be getting into Void-Worm theories too much here, I'm mostly focused on ascension but I can't ignore the Gnosticism parallels. For those who don't know, Void Worms heavily resemble the Yaldaboath from Gnosticism, along with sharing some similar celestial motifs.
and running with that some people theorize that, like the Yaldabaoth, void worms are responsible for manifesting the material world. Ascension seems to be a mix of the concepts of Gnosis and Nirvana, but I believe it might lean more on Gnosis.
From my limited knowledge, Gnosis is a few things, some of which being a state achieved from experiences or intuitions, and an essential part to salvation is personal knowledge. While researching a bit, I came across this text by Peter Wilberg called "From NEW AGE to NEW GNOSIS" which brings up some comparisons between Gnosticism and qualia as well.
"Gnosis is subjective knowledge of an inner universe made up not of matter, energy, space or time but of countless qualitative spheres or ‘planes’ of awareness – a knowledge obtained directly through inter- subjective resonance. It is the subjective science of this inner universe."
One thing though that has been brought up when discussing this is how this can be consolidated with the tone of the ending. It is pretty un-ambiguously happy, but if we're going with the Void worm Yaldaboath theory then that would put a bit of a sour twist on it right?
I agreed with these for some time, but now I actually think it ties in perfectly with Rain World's core themes as stated by the devs, "overcoming differences and finding empathy." I don't think the void worms are "evil" or malevolent, but I think they (and subsequently us after ascending) play a key role in demonstrating this theme.
By manifesting the physical world, we allow these souls to experience life and develop their own qualia so one day they can ascend themselves. We are shown compassion, and pass it forward.
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