Rain World

Home // Slugcats // Iterators // Lore & Storyline

The Ancients and Void Fluid

---

Eons ago, an ancient civilization much like modern humans inhabited the planet. Even such a developed society could not escape the grasp of the Great Cycle that impacted all living creatures. Birth, death and rebirth were connected to each other like a ring, making true death impossible. It became this civilization's goal to break free of this cycle—a process known as transcendence.

Even far before the storyline of Rain World began, methods and spiritual instructions were devised by beings such as monks to rid oneself of natural urges. These methods were practiced in an effort to escape the Great Cycle, but there is no indication that these instructions were able to achieve any success.

The situation changed drastically, however, with the Void Fluid Revolution.

At some point in their history, the ancient civilization discovered what later came to be known as Void Sea far below the surface in the Depths. The Void Sea was comprised entirely of Void Fluid. While it was difficult to harvest the fluid due to its nature of dissolving anything that comes into contact, devices known as Void Drills were invented to gather up small amounts Void Fluid embedded in rocks slightly above the Void Sea, where its concentration is lower and wouldn't pose a risk to the equipment. The impurities such as rock and sediments were then filtered out to obtain a sample of the pure liquid.

This fluid was soon found to be an outstanding source of energy, leading to the creation of devices such as the Mass Rarefaction Cell, Technological advancement quickly boomed, and the ancient civilization reached the height of its power.

After further studies, it was found that the Void Fluid does not just dissolve objects, it also removes them from the physical realm. Attempts were made to dig even deeper into the Depths to find higher concentrations of Void Fluid as well as uncover more information about it, but the ancients' equipment simply broke or dissolved. As later described, no one returned if they ventured too deep into the Depths. However, this property of the Void Fluid coincided with what the ancients thought to be the solution to escaping the Great Cycle. The civilization believed that the ability of the Void Fluid to remove one from the physical world was the transcendence they had longed for. Since any that came into contact with Void Fluid did not return, it was inferred that they must have broken free of the cycle.

However, a risk was associated with taking the plunge into Void Sea to escape the world. Not even Void Fluid was enough to remove those with sufficiently large egos from the physical realm. This resulted in some "horror stories" in regards to semi-transcended abominations. Several Ancients that did not entirely transcend are likely to be the Echoes seen throughout the timeline. These creatures claim to know how to transcend, but express a sense of regret and sorrow at being trapped between the mortal realm and the transcended realm.

Karma

---

In order to transcend, it seems that one would have to abandon all attachments and desires, entering an "effortless" state. These are summarized with what they referred to as the five 'natural urges'; The first being wrath/violence, the second lust, the third material possession/attachment, the fourth gluttony/indulgence, and the fifth being self preservation/ego. These are the first five of the ten known levels of Karma, with the symbols that represent the latter half changing with current maximum Karma level.

With such a degree of commitment required and with the knowledge of the consequences of failure, the ancients once again turned to archaic methods to rid of one's natural urges and ego before deciding to use Void Fluid in order to finally transcend. However, this seemed not to be an entirely perfect solution, which would explain why Iterators were constructed. Additionally, the last Karma symbol seems to be the desire to ascend others, this backed up by dialogue in the Saint's campaign.

Creating and using the Iterators

---

The ancient civilization began using its technological prowess to create and construct the Iterators. Iterator was the name given to artificial superintelligences of colossal size and incredible power that were constructed to solve the 'Great Problem'—to find the method of breaking free of the Great Cycle without the use of Void Fluid. Although these superstructures were mainly of efficient machine and purposed organisms, these constructs can still be found imbued with the ideology of the Ancients, with these 'Karma Shrines' residing just above the roof of the so called Iterator 'cans', a series of murals held within an ornate spacious room, with each room filling mural depicting one of the five natural urges. These are known to appear within an Iterator of an older generation and one of the newest, suggesting that this is a pattern found throughout all Iterator superstructures.

The Iterators were a combination of organic and synthetic components, relying on specially grown microorganisms as peripheral processing devices: their natural metabolism and reproduction could perform very complex calculations beyond the capabilities of electronics physically. In order to keep their electronic components cool and their organic components clean, Iterators required gargantuan amounts of water. The Iterators stripped their nearby ecosystems of water and pumped water vapor back into the atmosphere, where it would condense into rain and be used again. Due to this process and the sheer number of Iterators built, the equilibrium of the world's ecosystems was severely disrupted or even destroyed, creating a dense layer of fog and clouds rife with torrential downpours and periodic flooding. Ultimately, this effect came to be known as the Rain. The ancient civilization compensated for this by moving away from living on the surface, and constructed immense, dense cities directly on top of the surface of the Iterators' "cans"—massive, square shaped buildings which protruded like islands far above the cloud layer. In addition to computing the solution to the Great Problem of transcendence, the Iterators were tasked with providing regular shipments of food, water, equipment and Void Fluid for energy to these colonies.

Within the story line of the Spearmaster, the aforementioned Seven Red Suns and No Significant Harassment play a large narrative and influential role for the events that take place, Where the other remaining Iterators serve mainly as additional insight or supplementary world building outside of the in-game events. Notably are some comments on the state of the planet that Rain World supposedly resides in; with it's entire surface to be a cold, frigid wasteland, a world where the only remaining sources of heat come as a byproduct of the Iterator Superstructures. By the time the Iterators were created, this was the known state and landscape documented, with previous or otherwise past information on a different state of the environment unknown. The second Iterator, NSH as they are known, also has a role within the journey of the Hunter that later takes place.

Fall of the Ancients and Creation of the Rot

---

Unfortunately, the ancient civilization disappeared and collapsed before the Iterators computed the solution to the Great Problem due to a massive transcendence movement of the entire population, leaving the surface cities dark and abandoned if largely intact. However, the Iterators were left turned on, their final command being to continue working towards a method to transcend without using Void Fluid and guide lesser creatures on the path to the realm beyond should the solution ever be discovered. Over the next indeterminate amount of cycles up until the start of the game, the Iterators did not achieve any major breakthroughs. Only Sliver of Straw claimed to have uncovered the solution, but she died almost simultaneously as the confirmation of success was broadcasted to the other Iterators, causing the methods in which she attained this positive result to be lost.

Unable to find the solution after Sliver of Straw's ascension and growing increasingly frustrated, another Iterator—Five Pebbles—became convinced there was no solution to the great problem, there was no reason to keep trying to solve it, and that death was the only way out. It is likely he showed these beliefs off in Iterator chat logs under the pseudonym EP, or Erratic Pulse. The ancients had anticipated this kind of thinking, however, and put taboos preventing self destruction within the Iterator's genetics. One (and perhaps the only) way to circumvent these taboos was a very dangerous and repetitive shuffling of genetics that required a heightened water intake. The goal was to cause cells to mutate until the desired genetics were obtained: ones that would overwrite the encoded taboos. It is very likely Five Pebbles used this method to attempt overwriting his genetics. At some point Five Pebbles began drawing several times the usual amount of water, tapping into the neighboring Iterator, Looks to the Moon's water source. Attempts by Moon to persuade Pebbles that water shortages would be fatal to her failed and she had to leverage her seniority in an attempt to make him stop, to which Pebbles responded that this plea has "ruined everything". Upon being interrupted, Five Pebbles lost focus of his genetic shuffling, and it is likely it became what is known as the Rot (see Rot). Five Pebbles attempted to rid his systems of the Rot, doing things such as flushing it out into Garbage Wastes, but it has proven resilient and still resides within him, slowly consuming more and more, day by day. It is unknown if Five Pebbles still uses extra water during the time that the three playable Slugcats take place in. Due to many cycles lacking water, Looks to the Moon's processes eventually seized, her facility compromised, and her primary cognitive unit descended into an amnesic, near-death state.

The Timeline of the Slugcats

The Spearmaster

---

The earliest campaign in the timeline is that of the Spearmaster, taking place as Looks to the Moon suffers irreversible damage from lack of water, losing function and her legs soon to collapse. The Spearmaster is a messenger for Seven Red Suns, and, in their campaign, is sent out to Five Pebbles for a second time in their lives to deliver a message. They are accompanied by a red/orange overseer, one of Suns'. The Spearmaster was an purposed organism created to provide a practical long term solution for communication between Iterators, as their current communication arrays would inevitably decay. The reason for their current journey to Five Pebbles however, is due to the communication and involvement of Seven Red Sun's and No Significant Harassment, discovering from other Iterators and in further investigation that communication has been lost with Five Pebbles and his supervisor Looks to the Moon, of which Five Pebbles has taken in a significantly largely amount of water and is dehydrating and damaging Moon.

At some point in the campaign, they reach Pebbles, who rips the pearl that contains the message out of their innards, then proceeds to cut Sun out by destroying the red overseer, throwing the Spearmaster out, and locking down their facility entirely. After this, the Spearmaster travels to Moon's can, which is suffering from power failures and structural damage, within cycles of her collapse. With Moon realizing the state of Five Pebbles and her inevitable situation, she rewrites the pearl that was ripped out of Spearmaster to contain what would be her last message to the local Iterator group, with Spearmaster delivering it to Communications Arrays to send this message. After her final message is successfully delivered, Spearmaster supposedly finds their way back to Seven Red Suns, remaining by their side as a close companion. Choosing to ascend will basically give you a mix of the Hunter and Survivor's endings, with the final scene being replaced by the game rolling to credits.

The Artificer

---

The Artificer's campaign has less of a significant impact on the timeline, and is instead a more focused, character-driven story.

Throughout their campaign, the Artificer is in constant conflict with the Scavengers, having a hard-locked negative reputation. Because of all the bloodshed, the Artificer is stuck at the first level of Karma, which represents the natural urge for violence and wrath. The reasons for their violence are revealed through dream sequences during hibernation. A music cue is played before each dream, becoming more low-pitched and distorted as their situation becomes more dire.

The first illustrates the Artificer and their two Slugpups, one a mint green color and the other a light lavender, hunting for Batflies at a communications tower in Garbage Wastes.

The second shows them hunting a Batfly swarm at the top of a tower in Chimney Canopy, then being attacked by a Vulture before the dream ends.

The next sequence shows the family alive and well as they pass underneath an abandoned Scavenger Toll, before fading to black as the lavender Slugpup climbs up a pole inspect the hanging pearls.

The next dream shows Artificer and their pups fleeing from the Scavengers, as the lavender pup had stolen a pearl from the toll. The Artificer is forced to leave the lavender Slugpup behind, leaping over a cliff with the mint pup in hand, leaving the lavender pup cornered at the base of the cliff by the pursuing Scavengers.

The next dream shows the Artificer with the mint Slugpup in hand as they leap over a deep pool of water, disrupted by a Scavenger grenade explosion that causes the mint pup to fall into the water while the Artificer makes it to the other side, as they are grabbed by numerous Leeches before being dragged to the bottom of the trench.

Concluding the dreams with the Slugpups, the next dream has the Artificer in a cavern as they kill a lone Scavenger, which is flipped in the next dream as you take control of a Scavenger in a cramped cave as you kill the Artificer, the latter likely not happening and instead being a manifestation of their conflict with the Scavengers and their fear of loss and death. This backstory puts the Artificer on a quest to avenge the supposed deaths of their slugpups, by inflicting violence on all Scavenger kind.

At the start of the campaign, the Artificer finds a small drone which follows them on their journey to Five Pebbles' can. Upon arrival, Pebbles reveals that the drone was originally a Citizen ID Drone for an Ancient, resyncing it with his own systems and bringing it to a functional state. He informs them of an infestation of Scavengers in his city, disassembling his architecture for scrap metal. With a common enemy, he allows the Artificer access. The Artificer then journeys into Metropolis and can choose to assassinate the Chieftain Scavenger, taking its mantle and eradicating the remaining Scavengers.

Within Metropolis is an echo supposedly named Atop the Tallest Tower, who recognizes the Artificer's path of violence, and warns that the coming battle will be an unrewarding one culminating in a path of no return, urging the Slugcat to find another way out while they still can. If the player Slugcat takes the advice of Atop the Tallest Tower, they can instead choose to ascend and break free of their cycle of violence and retribution. From their Pilgrimage, the Artificer will only be able to gain a max Karma 9 after meeting 3 echoes 9 Karma, requiring them to bypass the Guardians within the Depths through temporarily augmenting their Karma by use of a Scavenger corpse, or by other means.

Upon reaching the Void Sea, the Artificer will be unable to bring anything with them, demoting themselves to a Karma level of 9 for their descent, a warning constantly flashing red, and upon which after swimming past the Void Worms, the typical individual Void Worm that takes notice of the Slugcat will instead leave them after their initial curiosity, leaving Artificer to descend on their own. Shortly after with the Artificer continuing their descent, they will begin to progressively dissolve as they continue further, with these note-like particles erratically shooting off of their body, until they disappear completely and the ending sequence starts to play. Swimming through the Void Sea, their tail can be seen dissolving behind them, and with a close up shot, the scratch laden body of the Artificer can be seen with a golden aura seemingly emanating from / consuming their body, before the Artificer spots their two children, the mint green and lavender Slugpup, to which they get to embrace one last time before seemingly dissolving entirely, with nothing left but residual golden trails of their body, leaving the two Slugpups behind. Within the post-credits score sequence, the ending is noted to be 'acceptance,' suggesting that the Artificer gave up whatever feelings they could and became one with the Void Sea, at least to the extent that a Karma level of 9 would allow them.

The Hunter

---

Hunter is sent by NSH with a pearl and a slag-reset neuron to help Moon in her state of decay. The Survivor's story is based on the scenario that the Hunter delivered the neuron and revived Moon, with the rest of their choices unknown. In the Hunter's transcendence scene, the Hunter is seen with a strange purple goo coming out of it, before being seen in the arms of an Iterator-like figure, presumably NSH.

One interpretation of this cutscene is that the Hunter was injected with some of NSH's microbes, and then sent by NSH to transcend under the cover of helping Moon. The goo seen coming out of the Hunter is believed to be these microbes. This also explains Hunter's sickness- like in the Iterators, slag would build up off these microbes being worked, and would thus lead to organ failure in the organism. By doing this, NSH was able to effectively break the self-destruction taboo, enabling them to transcend with the Hunter.

A second interpretation is that the goo is the Hunter's sickness (in this case presumed to be either cancer or some other terminal illness rather than slag buildup) being removed from their body upon transcending. Oddly, Hunter's illness is implied to be Rot, but this may not be a canon appearence.

The Gourmand

---

The Gourmand is a Slugcat venturing from the Outer Expanse's tribe of Slugcats into the rest of Five Pebbles' grounds to scout out new land for their tribe. Somewhere along its journey, presumably after reaching Looks to the Moon, they reach Five Pebbles' superstructure, and receive the mark of communication. Pebbles opens a gate to the outside world from his facility to allow the Gourmand to leave. Following this, the Gourmand travels past Subterranean into the Sunken Pier, then into the Outer Expanse where they return to their tribe. They tell the other Slugcats of their journey, and if Gourmand's food quest has been completed, they venture into the facility grounds.

The Survivor

---

Some time after these events, Survivor is separated from their family by heavy rainfall in Outer Expanse, falling into a pipe leading to Outskirts. The Survivor is guided by one of Moon's Overseers, leading them towards Moon with images of their family and encouraging the Survivor to bring additional neurons to repair her memory. After visiting Moon, the Survivor travels to Five Pebbles, who grants them the Mark and guides them to the Depths. However, the player can choose to not transcend and/or steal neurons from Five Pebbles and give them to Moon. The player can also skip visiting Pebbles and Moon entirely, and instead pursue the Echoes to gain maximum karma and transcend that way. The Survivor, upon transcending, is taken to the Void where many other ascended Slugcats are shown.

The Monk

---

The Monk is seemingly a younger sibling to the Survivor, jumping after their older sibling during the beginning cutscene. The Monk's story appears to take place shortly after the Survivor's story, and generally follows the same story as the Survivor, being given the same options in terms of meeting the Iterators and transcending. In the Monk's ascension cutscene, they find the Survivor's spirit in the Void.

The Rivulet

---

The Rivulet begins by falling into Drainage System alongside a dead Scavenger after an explosion. They start with the Mark of Communication and a unique pearl inside of their stomach. With the current state of the world, the Rivulet is met with fast paced short and violent cycles of the Rain, often met with premature shelter failures in which they must find safety somewhere else as the Rain still rages on, although with enough time the rainfall normalizes, providing Rivulet with extra time gained from their short hibernation. Upon reaching a still sustained Looks to the Moon, Rivulet learns that the pearl is a schematic of an Iterator superstructure; with a detailed path of approach outlined for the maintenance of a linear power rail, the layout of which is unfamiliar to herself, and a lymphatic conduit water distribution system that is only present in the later Iterator models, prompting her to realize that the closest Iterator that would share these schematics would be Five Pebbles. With Moon remarking that she has not had contact with Pebbles for a long time and showing concern, the Rivulet heads to Five Pebbles, along the way finding Memory Crypts to be scattered with remnants of the Underhang, presumably falling from and colliding with the surface of Memory Crypts and infesting the local area with the Rot.

Upon climbing the Leg onto the Underhang, the architecture seen within Memory Crypts can be found to have deteriorated and collapsed, before reaching the interior of Five Pebble's can. Upon entry, it is found that Five Pebbles structure has been heavily consumed by the Rot, with the former regions of Unfortunate Development and Memory Conflux to be completely consumed by the Rot, leaving a near unrecognizable ruins flooded in the lower regions collectively called the Depths, whose Rot activity has since ceased within the oldest affected areas and most prevalent within the outer reaches of its grasp. With the extent of this decay, the Rivulet is now left to reaching Five Pebbles through the previously mentioned lymphatic conduit water distribution system, a series of water filled pipes that span most of the interior and serve as a backbone to traversing the severely decayed structure. To the left of entry is the lower portions of Recursive Transform Array infested with Rot, although mainly untouched beyond this, but now affected by periods of power loss with deactivation of the local flux condensers and intermittent periods of low gravity. Within Five Pebble's chamber, he can be seen in a state of disrepair with the umbilical that moves his puppet now dysfunctional, much like Looks to the Moon, with only a music pearl to comfort him in his inevitable destruction. In a final attempt to redeem himself, he asks the Rivulet to take his last Rarefaction Cell found within the Linear Systems Rail embedded deeply in his structure, and give it to Looks to the Moon. Upon removal of the Mass Rarefaction Cell, the fluctuations in power cease as gravity is normalized and all of the flux condensers are visibly inactive.

Escaping The Rot and finding their way back to Looks to the Moon, Moon comments on the sudden normalization in the Rain as the last activity of Five Pebbles ceases, drastically increasing the length between cycles, at such a point beyond the normal length for other Slugcats. This gives enough evidence that the short and violent cycles that plague the Rivulet were a result of a greatly increased water intake from Five Pebbles, as he fended of the Rot in a last ditch attempt and gradually lost efficiency in his systems; needing more water to provide an overall lesser benefit. With the Mass Rarefaction Cell in hand, Looks to the Moon details that these are emergency power sources that the Iterators have become more dependent upon as their creators no longer exist to maintain them. She references the event of all of her rarefaction cells becoming dislodged and carried away by the flood waters, and that such a power source could partially restore her systems, something not possible for herself with losing control of her overseers and a severed umbilical; an arduous task if one were able to traverse the now flooded depths of her superstructure, a path to which she remarks might be reachable through an access shaft. After the Rivulet is able to reach the Heart of Submerged Superstructure, they are thrust out into Bitter Aerie as the tidal force generated from the reactivated core pushes them outside of the Arteries. This cold and desolate region is covered by snowfall and contains an Auxiliary Transmissions Array, the former appearing to be the remnants of the once long uninhabited city atop Looks to the Moon's roof; now inhabited by Scavengers. This area is shown to have been located within the outer reaches of any active superstructures for it to not have been affected by the normally transformative heat output from Iterator cans, resulting in the migration of Miros Vultures into these cold skies.

Traveling beyond this area by way of a one-way gate; normally only passable by the ancient citizens, the Rivulet finds themself within the Karma Shrine atop Looks to the Moon, able to reach her chamber shortly by way of access shafts. With her remaining intact superstructure partially restored, Looks to the Moon's systems are rebooted; regaining control over her overseers and of a portion of her newly powered systems, leaving her with these recovered memories and details of the events that transpired before and after her collapse, including those of the preceding Slugcats and Iterators that have helped her, through the recordings derived from her overseers. Realizing the state of Five Pebbles and of the events leading up to such, Looks to the Moons uses the Auxiliary Transmissions Array to initiate a forced private broadcast with Pebbles, detailing the improvement of her condition and her awareness of the deterioration in communication with the local group. Attempting to reconcile with Five Pebbles, she pleads that any anger has long since subsided and wishes to talk to and be there for Five Pebbles. At the very end, it is shown that Five Pebbles does indeed receive this communication from Moon from within his chamber, suggesting that they remain in regular contact with each other afterwards and that the grievances between the two have been resolved, a relationship that remains well into the future. However, two instances of this ending sequence exist, one with the Music Pearl and one without, depending on if the Rivulet stole Five Pebbles' Music Pearl and gave it to Looks to the Moon to transcribe. The normal sequence with the pearl will have halcyon memories playing in the background, while the one without will leave Five Pebbles in his chamber surrounded by the ambience of The Rot, haunting the entire scene, the credits, and even the main menu until there is another music prompt. This is likely to be the 'secret' ending mentioned within the developer commentary.

The Saint

---

The Saint's campaign is notable for taking place in the distant future. So far that any significant Iterator activity has ceased, with endless snowfall and blizzards replacing rainfall as little outputed heat remains. Various species have evolved adaptations such as fur to survive the harsh weather. Several parts of the world have changed considerably- Five Pebbles has collapsed on top of the Shaded Citadel creating the Silent Construct, a wreck of shredded and torn sections of what was Five Pebbles can, destroying most of Shaded Citadel and bringing light to the remainder. The Rot is almost nonexistent, where any growth has long since died off from exposure and decay, also missing from places like Garbage Wastes. Drainage System is now Undergrowth, a rich jungle full of life. Nearly every region has been reformed in some way. The unusual heat within Undergrowth may be explained by Looks to the Moon's activity, as her submerged superstructure heats the nearby water, which gets circulated through the former facilities.

Within Silent Construct, Five Pebbles puppet lies at the exposed and destroyed remains of his chamber, with nothing left but faded pearls and their now severly deterioated music pearl, barely consicious and of no use. Looks to the Moon however has remained somewhat the same as she was last seen as the Rivulet, although with a foreboding attitude towards some inevitable end. Neither Iterators have any objectives for the Saint, in contrast to other Slugcats. As a result, Saint's campaign is relatively straightforward: they must explore the world, increase their Karma level by meeting all of the Echoes throughout the world, then ascend by traveling into the Depths ofSubterranean Subterranean. Each Echo has new dialogue, reflecting on the fate of the Saint and themselves, with a new unnamed Echo within Undergrowth, one of joyous demeanor and takes comfort in the act of living. The Echo within Shaded Citadel, Four Needles under Plentiful Leaves, has seemingly dissapeared, while there also exists another that can be found within Bitter Aerie, although it is considered more of an easter egg than of actual lore significance. Upon completing their pilgrimage, they gain the ability to ascend other creatures, including Five Pebbles and Looks to the Moon.

The Saint heads down into the Depths as per usual, only to find a massive chasm and the pseudo-mirror world of Rubicon in its place. If the player has chosen to ascend Five Pebbles and Looks to the Moon by this point, they are present in a puppet chamber just before the ending with unique dialogue. After swimming upwards into the Void Sea and past the Void Worms, a lone Worm swims up to the Saint. The Saint proceeds to use its ascension ability on it, seemingly resetting their own karmic loop as a slideshow of moments from the playthrough flashes on the screen, while Echo tentacles jut from the Saint's body. The Saint is sent to the start of their campaign, with the distortion of an Echo and a glowing silhouette of a Slugcat next to it.

This final sequence within Saint's campaign illustrates the inevitable fate of the Slugcat: that they exist within a cycle of their own, one that transcends even the great cycle that all living beings face, intertwining their own existence within the process of the cycle itself as they seemingly and infinitely aspire to bring enlightment to and Ascend all Creatures except themselves. Whether this is the choice of the Slugcat isn't entirely known, but it is certain that they play an unending role in the process of Ascension. Although not canonically being the one to have 'crossed out' Sliver of Straw, with the 3 marks that can be seen on their forehead in various in-game illustrations it can be interpreted that the Saint satisifies the Triple Affirmative: they show themselves to be an affirmative that a solution has been found, seen within the presence of known characters like Five Pebbles and Looks to the Moon; affirmative that the solution is portable, a physical vessel capable of traversing the known world; and affirmative that a technical implementation is possible and generally applicable, utilising their powers to Ascend any Creature they come across.