Iterators are biomechanical artificial intelligences created and utilized by the Ancients in order to assist in solving the Great Problem. Only two Iterators are accessible in-game: Looks to the Moon and Five Pebbles. Several other Iterators are mentioned in-game through pearls.




"A little animal, on the floor of my chamber. I think I know what you are looking for."

Five Pebbles is the Iterator at the heart of the Five Pebbles supercomputer, inside the General Systems Bus subregion. He is one of only two Iterators Slugcat can meet, the other being the ailing Looks to the Moon. Five Pebbles is one of seven known Iterators, working to solve the Great Problem. The Iterator's failure to solve the problem drove many, including Five Pebbles, to madness. In his frustration, Five Pebbles began an experiment to create an organism capable of self-replication and rewriting the self-destruction taboo out of his organic cells. Doing so deprived Looks to the Moon of her water supply, eventually causing the whole facility to collapse and leaving her in an incapacitated state until revives her. When Looks to the Moon forced communications with Five Pebbles to plead for him to stop the excess water consumption, he reacted with rage, as Looks to the Moon had interrupted him at "the worst possible time" and caused his experiment to turn into the Rot instead, which slowly killed him.




"Hello little creature. What are you? If I had my memories I would know."

Looks to the Moon, known as Big Sis Moon by her friends, is the Iterator found in Shoreline. The yellow Overseer from the beginning of the game initially leads the Slugcat to Looks to the Moon's facility, where they find her sitting down and emitting sounds they cannot understand. Taking or eating the Neuron Flies above her head harms her, earning the "Stolen Enlightenment" achievement if the player does so upon their first meeting. Eating all of them, at any time, kills her. She collapsed after Five Pebbles used up all of the water in their area, remaining deactivated for some time before the Hunter revived her. She stayed trapped on a small island inside of her broken structure for an unknown amount of cycles until the Rivulet replaced one of her mass rarefaction cells and she was able to move around and run very simplistic systems. She was later ascended by the Saint.




"I am worried right now, to be honest."

No Significant Harassment is a flippant and sarcastic Iterator who often makes friendly jabs at others, showing little concern towards issues their peers consider serious. He doesn't show much regard to the Great Problem or ascension in general, unlike most others in his social circle. He cannot be encountered in-game, and only makes an appearance once, during the Hunter's Void Sea cutscene due to being their creator. He sent the Hunter to revive Looks to the Moon with sixteen slag reset keys stored in an unusually coloured green Neuron Fly.




"I can't stop dwelling over mistakes that I've made."

Seven Red Suns is an Iterator in the Local Group and a close friend to Five Pebbles. Similar to Five Pebbles, Seven Red Suns is rather cynical in their views, even going as far to pronounce the futility of the Iterators and their attempts to solve the "Great Problem". In the Spearmaster campaign, it is revealed through broadcasts that Seven Red Suns is at least somewhat close to No Significant Harassment. The two of them engage on various topics ranging from the situation with Five Pebbles and Looks to the Moon, the Mark of Communication, or the messengers that they create and utilize. Throughout the story, it's shown that Seven Red Suns was the one who delivered the instructions to Five Pebbles on how to attempt to write out the self-destruction taboo; they feel incredibly guilty for this and express sorrow over hurting Looks to the Moon and dooming Five Pebbles, as well as losing him as a friend. Seven Red Suns admits to No Significant Harassment that they have begun to feel affection for the Spearmaster as their journey unfolds, particularly after Five Pebbles violently removes the Data Pearl from their chest, wishing that the messenger would arrive back safely.




"Triple Affirmative! Triple Affirmative!"

Sliver of Straw was the only Iterator who possibly solved the Great Problem, and to be confirmed dead. Like most of her kin, she worked on finding a way of ascension. She seemingly succeeded, as she sent out a Triple Affirmative: That the solution had been found, the solution was portable, and the solution could be easily applied at scale. All contact with her was lost after the other Iterators received her message. They speculated on what became of her, only being aware of the fact she was definitely dead. These speculative talks became so heated the Iterator community was torn apart into groups based on opinion of what happened to Sliver. Sliverists believed she somehow achieved self-destruction, despite the taboo of the same name that keeps Iterators from doing so, and that this was the solution for Iterator ascension. Others believe that the solution itself was what killed her, and that finding the solution was hazardous, and so should be implied without truly being discovered.






Though barely mentioned in Pearls, Unparalleled Innocence is one of Five Pebbles' neighbors. They were responsible for taking pictures of Five Pebbles' condition, which "were then made public in the Local Group". From what is revealed through dialogue, Unparalleled Innocence may be generally considered mean. It is unclear whether this behavior is directed specifically towards Five Pebbles, or if they are in general considered to be unkind.




"Have you had any contact with Five Pebbles recently?"

Though often unmentioned in pearls, Chasing Wind seems to be a participator in Sliverist groups. They grew suspicious of an Iterator going under the name "Erratic Pulse" speaking of personal Ascension. Chasing Wind brought this up to several members of the Local Group. After Five Pebbles began isolating himself and attempting to cross himself out, Chasing Wind contacted Seven Red Suns in an attempt to reach out. Chasing Wind was the one to reveal that Unparalleled Innocence made images of Five Pebbles' Rot infected structure publically available and asks Seven Red Suns to get a hold of Five Pebbles. Additionally, they are one of the few Iterators who go by a different name; in this case, Chasing Wind is referred to as "Grey Wind".