Rw Headcanons - Tumblr Posts

1 year ago

One of the the popular theories for what the labs are, especially the place that looks like an iterator chamber is to interact with their iterator without having to actually visit their chamber. I'm inclined to agree but more specifically interacting to run experiments alongside the clerics.

Presuming the labs were at the least for interacting with the iterator it makes sense it would be in a temple, Iterators are considered holy. And what they're working on is holy so if it's to work with their ancients, you'd want to have the holiest people. Due to the importance of religion to the Ancients it makes sense that science and religion for them would be very close

The zero-g could be because it allows more space or because the experiments might be gravity-senstive.

What's up with 12th Council Pillar, the House of Braids?

Just wanted to share something interesting I noticed in Metropolis while looking at the room names on the interactive map! I doubt I'm not the first person to discover or take interest in this, but nonetheless now that I'm into the worldbuilding for this game, both canon and headcanon, I hope to at least encourage a discussion about what the rooms I found could possibly be for!

*Oh and by the way, spoilers for Artificer campaign, just in case.

Alright, so I was originally looking for how to get to a specific room for an Artificer expedition, but decided to browse around on the map just to refresh my memory on the region overall. Right off the bat I think it's interesting how this region's rooms are denoted mostly with lexical names rather than the more common "Capital letter + 2-digit number" formula. But scrolling to the right is where my interest really got piqued when I saw this name for the room right before that long corridor on the way to the 12th Council Pillar, the House of Braids, labeled "LC_templegate":

What's Up With 12th Council Pillar, The House Of Braids?

And the next room after that, "LC_templeentrance" confirmed my realization that this was a temple of sorts:

What's Up With 12th Council Pillar, The House Of Braids?

Now don't get me wrong, Rain World has always had a fair amount of religious associations, and even just the name "12th Council Pillar, the House of Braids" gave me the impression from the first time traversing it that it was once some high-esteemed, holy location of sorts. But I guess that never really sank in and captured my greater interest until now.

Part of that's because earlier I was focused more on just completing the campaigns from a basic playthrough perspective, not yet as big on uncovering every little lore detail, and another reason I didn't really take it in was that, at the time of my first Artificer playthrough, I wasn't as big on headcanon worldbuilding and trying to uncover/imagine Ancient culture and society outside of very general ideas. But now I think about it, another major part of this lack of realization was because of how the main rooms of this subregion that stuck out in my mind were the low-gravity iterator-esque zones. Many of which are explicitly labeled with "LAB", like this one, and they even have the same neurons, inspectors, and/or those gravity-distorting spheres:

What's Up With 12th Council Pillar, The House Of Braids?

I mean, that cube at the bottom even very strongly resembles an iterator puppet chamber!

But then the questions become: what are these rooms for, why are they so similar to the interior of the iterator they sit atop, and why put them in what seems like it was supposed to be a temple? And by extent, is this something unique to Five Pebbles, or do other iterators have similar temple-labs somewhere in their cities?

I guess the reason these parts stuck out to me more than the actual temple association was because 1.) we don't see this low-gravity mechanic and these features anywhere else in the game besides inside the iterators, so it already gets points for uniqueness, and 2.) they're such a great contrast to everything else within Metropolis; even the "temple" rooms still look very similar to the rest of the region in their general aesthetic.

What's Up With 12th Council Pillar, The House Of Braids?

Seriously, what's up with all this "lab" stuff? It's not that I haven't seen these things before at this point, but why are they here, in a temple, of all places?

However, I do really like this idea so far, as I believe it speaks to a theme of Rain World I really enjoy: the seamless blend of science and spirituality. I enjoy seeing fictional worlds where "magical" things are not only objectively real, but have a scientific in-universe explanation, and/or are employed to create magical technology, yet in a way where these two ideas can exist in harmony rather than seeming like opposites. And the Ancients seem to have been very big on that, not only having a very strong cultural sense of spirituality but also being very technologically advanced, and incorporating those spiritual ideas and even elements of the world into their tech (ex: mass rarefaction tech derived from Void Fluid, an objectively real and "magical" substance with direct connections to their religious beliefs).

I have yet to come up with an explanation for what these iterator-esque lab rooms are (and on that note why they so strongly resemble iterator interiors, to the point they even contain their neurons and inspectors, which are supposed to directly aid in their functions). But as of now, just going mostly of basic gut instincts, my current theories are: A.) they exist in the temple so that whatever scientific endeavors carried out within were blessed with a sense of "holiness" in a similar manner to the holy ash Pebbles talks about, and B.) whatever tasks they were used for was one entrusted to the clergy class of this city, probably because the tasks were seen as something very important and connected to the Ancients' spiritual beliefs.

However, as I said I'm hoping to invite discussion with this post. Figuring out the Ancients' design philosophies and intentions for their creations has been a passion of mine when it comes to my headcanons, so I really do want to see if I can find a more concrete, or at least reasonable answer as to what the overall purpose of the 12th Council Pillar, the House of Braids was. Therefore if anyone has any extra details or theories as to what it was, I'd love to hear them!

And if you made it to the end, thanks for listening to my little spur-of-the-moment ramble!


Tags :
1 year ago

I'm writing + talking to friends and I'm going crazy but I like to think that slugcats and scavengers are both sophonts but they may have language (body and verbal) differences that prevent the two species from forming alliances like that without trade / favours like saving lives. That slugcats only really spawn when in larger numbers in the first place but are more prone to nomadic lifestyles while scavengers largely prefer 'clan life' and craft their own structures(?) and tools


Tags :
1 year ago

narration from a slugcat pov that mistakes an iterator for another animal >>>>>>>


Tags :
1 year ago

bonus points when they notice when something is extremely wrong with this animal but they continue to describe it as one because what else could it be to them

Bonus Points When They Notice When Something Is Extremely Wrong With This Animal But They Continue To
Bonus Points When They Notice When Something Is Extremely Wrong With This Animal But They Continue To

narration from a slugcat pov that mistakes an iterator for another animal >>>>>>>


Tags :
1 year ago
This Is The Future Woke Iterators Want

this is the future woke iterators want

I had a crazy fucking idea for a rain world map and its based off of my own worldbuilding. No, it isn't structured how you think it is. Yes it is unhinged. I love creating


Tags :