fcmn

[fcmn]

Hi, I'm Fcmn&, but you can call me Ficy or SD.

This is my blog where I mainly post about my little fan projects in my favorite fandoms. Most of my posts will be in English, but I can understand and speak/type in English or Russian.

Before you ask, my projects are in no way mods for the games or fan animations, mostly just text posts and from time to time art made by my partner.

I don't really have any socials besides Tumblr and Youtube, but my youtube is not related to this blog, but there it is regardless: youtube.com/@mbackroomss

I'm opened for answering any appropriate questions :3 You can send me questions in English or Russian, I'll answer them.

[fcmn]

Wandering Stars

Now, the Iterator of the Consonant's campign, and also one of the new regions.

Also, I really want to hear your opinion on Wandering Stars' dialogue and what empression did it gave about the character.

Wandering is an Iterator with a green "skin" and a dark grey robe with golden stripes on it. WS also has a flipped heart symbol on It's forehead. He has black eyes with two green pupils, his eyes changes from black to light green while interacting with his system.

Wandering Stars as a region is a point Consonant will reach while trying to swim down the Void sea. His going through an straight upward hall right to an Iterator can where he meets WS. After observing Consonant for a little, Wandering Stars starts up a dialogue (English is not my first language if you couldn't tell by now, so sorry for bad English):

WS: A little beast. One with an unheard attunnment. Fascinating.

WS: Your body structure is not one I'm familiar with. You are not naturally born, are you? I also doubt you were made by any of the Iterators.

WS: The way your body is structured does not resemble any style of Iterators I'm familiar with. Unless you are from afar, further than even a Chasing Wind, perhaps?

(WS goes to the center of the chamber and does a little research through his data base)

WS: Little beast, I know what you are looking for. A way out. You are one of the kind, but even you are trapped within those endless ripples. But it would seem, that this little quirk of yours does not let you use the old path.

WS: I suggest you move forward, for whatever it is waiting you outside my chamber. I shall provide any help I can give, as my creators intended.

(WS tries to give Consonant mark of communication, but after that a golden ripple comes from a Consonant with slowed sound of receiving mark of communication. Consonant karma level is dropped to none, no karma at all)

WS: Strange. It would seem that you have a deep connection to this world. I have never seen that. I can't tell what will happen to you. But you probably should go.

WS: I hope you will find a way out, Little beast.

(Whole chamber is covered with a golden shine, after which WS is gone, similar to how Moon and Pebbles disappear at the end of Saint's campign)

Now, after exiting the empty chamber, Consonant entered the Wandering Stars region. Whole region is similar to other superstructures, there's no zero gravity in the region, but a low gravity instead (Except WS' chamber). Wandering Stars doesn't have any neurons or inspectors, but it has a new creature, Warden. Wardens are a plus shaped bio-mechabical creatures with two insect leg on each side of their body. They are usually neutral and will just stare at Consonant, but if you run past them, they will become hostile and also they will be hostile towards Consonant if he enters a private room, they are marked with a few red light around the entrance. When hostile, Wardens will target creature with the clossest side of it's body and launch a claw at them, similar to Leviathan's jaws. After grabbing the creature, killing it in process, Warden will consume it's corpse.

While exploring Wandering Stars, Consonant's body will slowly start changing it's golden color to the color his tail end was.

After going through Wandering Stars, at the bottom of the region, you enter another Iterator chamber with WS inside, in the middle of reading a pearl. After he notices Consonant, dialogue follows up:

WS: Little beast, hello. We met again. Did you came back to me, craving for company or your journey lead you here?

WS: No matter the case, you are here. Looks like your body is struggling with something. You were not that colorful last time.

WS: I cannot detect any sickness. You are not sick, I have no answer to question, what is happening to you.

WS: I suggest you hurry, Little beast.

After leaving the second chamber, you can come back and Wandering Stars will still be inside, but will be busy with his own business and won't react to Consonant presence.

Outside the Wandering Stars region, Consonant will stand on a platform that has two paths. First one is the Void sea above him, that he cam swim upwards, which leads to the first ending. Or go to a hole at the end of the platform, that will lead to fall right into Rubicon. Rubicon itself is similar to Rubicon in Saint's campign, except here it's structure was changed to make more traversable as other scugs than Saint.

That's it for this post. Next time we'll talk about the endings of a campign.

[fcmn]

So, now about Consonant World state and his regions.

The world state of Consonant's campign can't be called the same as any other campign. Consonant have a unique thing with his world, it's shattered into different times. Let me explain.

In his world, regions are mostly from other times, past, present or future.

For example: Shoreline. The top part of the region is actually a Frigid Coast and the lower part is Waterfront facility, and Looks to the Moon is from Survivor time, in a semi dead state.

All the region changes:

Outskirts only have one change, the right half of the region is shattered to a normal state (Survivor campign) and frozen state (Saint campign)

Idustrial complex is fully from Rivulet's campign (rain, spawns, etc.).

Chimney canopy isn't changed at all, but the gutter is in the frozen state.

Sky islands is replaced by Windstep spires.

Farm Arrays isn't changed.

Subterranean isn't changed, but Filtration system is replaced by Ancient labyrinth (Saint campign).

Outer expanse is also didn't changed.

Shaded Citadel from the Industrial complex's gate now is Frosted cathedral, but the rest of the region is basic.

Shoreline is now Frigit Coast on the surface and Waterfront facility on the bottom, Looks to the Moon is from normal Shoreline.

The exterior isn't changed too much, but the Underhang is now a lot more stormy and the Wall is snowy below the clouds.

Five Pebbles isn't changed at all from the Wall route in his can. Unfortunate development is replaced with it's version from Spearmaster's campaing, the rest of the region, besides Memory conflux and General system bus is replaced with The Rot.

Drainage system is replaced by Undergrowth.

Garbage wastes isn't changed.

Pipeyard is... Pipeyard. It didn't changed.

The depths didn't changed, but Void sea is changed. After some sweaming you will get to the new region, Wandering Stars.

That's it for now, the next post will be about Consonant's campign Iterator, Wandering Stars and it's region.

[fcmn]

So, I showed you a little art of my slugcat OC, Consonant. So, I decided to tell you a bit more about him, and also about Wandering Stars, because they do have a connection.

But before I start, I wanna point out that Consonant's story isn't completed yet and it will likely changed in some parts. Also it's not a mod of any kind (sadly) and very unlikely to ever become one, because I am no modder and have zero skills at coding and I also lack time to learn it, so, yeah, it will be my little story, a fanfiction of sorts.

So, Consonant is a Slugcat, that was formed from two karma flowers, that made their way into Five Pebbles' superstructure and somehow got into tubes with void fluid. Then, after void lore moment, Consonant comes to life and thrown out of the FP's superstructure down to the top of the Shaded Citadel. After some time, Consonant wakes up in this world. World where he is an intruder, creature without a purpose and place in the ecosystem, even left out of the cycle.

As walking karma flower, Consonant have some unique abilities that gives him a chance to look at the world from a Watcher's perspective.

Consonant have a food pips amount identical as Saint. Similar to Saint, Consonant can't throw spears, but he can throw other objects like rocks with the same power as Survivor. Consonant have a diet similar to Survivor and Monk.

Consonant naturally doesn't attract any attention of the creatures around himself, the noise he makes doesn't alert anyone, or even standing in the creature's line of sight doesn't show him as prey for predators. Only via touch him will make his presence known for a creature that touched him. However, only yellow lizards differ in this regard due to their communication abilities, and after revealing himself to one Yellow lizard, whole pack will be aware of his presence.

Consonant also have an ability to stop time in the room he currently is for a short period of time, which is based on how many food pips he have before activation, earning more pips while time stop is active won't make it go longer. After time stop ending, Consonant will fall onto the ground with seizure for a second and will loose two food pips. If Consonant had less than two food pips, he will get the starvation debuffs until next hybernation.

Karma serves a different role to Consonant. He starts with his base karma at level 10, but after each hybernation or death, his karma drops down instead of raising up. Hybernatinh at the lowest karma level will mean permanent death, similar to Hunter. Eating a karma flower will raise karma level by one, unless it's already maxed out, in which case karma flower will just give player reinforced karma level, which works the same way as for others slugcats.

After dying, without reinforced karma, at the place of death, a distorted karma flower grows. Distorted karma flower will drop karma level by one after consuming. If combined with rocks, bombs or spears, in a similar manner that Gourmand or Artificer crafting system, it will give items a little golden glow and grant unique abilities. Spear will be actually usable for Consonant and stabbed creature will became extremely hostile towards any other creature in the room except slugcat for a short period of time. Spear will disappear after hitting a creature or any type of surface. Rocks will summon a lightning strike, that won't do any damage, but will shortly stun creatures within range, including Consonant. Bomb will create a little ball where time is stopped and any object or creature besides slugcat that will enter this ball will also be frozen. Also, items (spears, rocks, etc.) won't be pickable while frozen.

That all for now, because it's... A lot. The next post about Consonant will be touching his world state and regions.

[fcmn]

Little update: name of my partner's Iterator is Raging Night

Hi! That's a little art of me and my partner who also made this art, this is me (on the left) and she (on the right) as Iterators, plus our scug OCs, Consonant & Spark Also I came up with the name for my Iterator: Wandering Stars Still waiting for my partner to came u[ with the name for her Iterator. Also this art is based of this art:

Made by: @kakyogay

So, go and say hi to them, their artwork is awesome :D

[fcmn]

Hi! That's a little art of me and my partner who also made this art, this is me (on the left) and she (on the right) as Iterators, plus our scug OCs, Consonant & Spark Also I came up with the name for my Iterator: Wandering Stars Still waiting for my partner to came u[ with the name for her Iterator. Also this art is based of this art:

Made by: @kakyogay

So, go and say hi to them, their artwork is awesome :D

[fcmn]

Drawing of the White Lady!

This was because I made an animatic about her

[fcmn]

My partner not so long ago started laying Rain World (2 months, yeah) and she got to Saint's campign, following some of my advices. Oh gosh I almost regret telling her to go meet Five Pebbles, because now she's just crying, but I guess this is something every Rain World player expirienced once.

[fcmn]

The Saint

Spoilers warning!

I will talk about Saint and everything connected to him, so, go play Rain World if you didn't yet, or proceed to read as usual if you are an expirienced RW player or just don't care in general

So, I said in my previous post about Downpour, I said that Saint is worth a whole separate post to talk about him. So here it is.

Saint campaing. It's something you can call a dramatic story, very heavy and emotional. Especially if you are a long time player of Rain World. This campaing, as the last one you unlock, is going to get your emotions at peak. First thing you see is a snow, a lot of snow, a whole blizzard. You just go as game leads you via little tutorials, like it did in Survivors campaing, when first time played the game. After that, you realise, you are not in new unfamiliar enviroment, it's Sky Islands, probably one you are familiar with, because the last campaing you played (probably) was Spearmaster and his journey ended there. Now you are here again, it's the a familiar room, but also isn't at the same time, it's Windstep Spires now. Then you go out, and you don't see timer before rain, you see a new pips, showing your body temperature. It's something you never saw before, something new and unfamiliar. Then you go further, found some echoes and probably get to Chimney Canopy Solitary Towers, where you think about visiting Pebbles, because you have enough karma to go through gate leading to The Wall. But as you make your way by the familiar route, you see nothing but a void, and a music that play in that moment desribes your shock. Pebbles just isn't there. But where is he? You ask yourself and just rethinks your route. You probably went to Industrial, and further, to Garbage Wastes, and then the Shoreline, which didn't escape the fate of regions before it, being a Frigid Coast now. You go to Moon, to the Echo up her collapsed structure and then, she doesn't tell you anything useful. You decided to go and try to find Pebbles. You go to gates into Shaded Citadel from Frigid Coast, but at the moment ypu get to it, you already see something wrong. You think about it until you find a room from The Underhang and then it clicks. Five Pebbles fell, fell on the Shaded Citadel. Silent Constuct is a defenition of Saint's campaing. Remnants of the past, merged together into something new, what was is no longer there, and never will be, but it does give a chance for something new to take it's place. And then you meet Pebbles. Five Pebbles, who once was a godlike being, with power and knowledge that no one could ever have, now, just a remnant of it, almost a husk, little puppet, sitting on the metal floor, covered in hard snow and ice. Barely able to speak, he is not that angry and mean anymore, he is innocent. The way he talks when you do any type of harm to him is so childish, you can't harm him, not like that. He's suffering from his mistakes, alone in cold, didn't even deserved a punishment of death, doomed to a painful semblance of life. As you go up to karma 10, you are granted a godlike ability, maybe even higher than that. You can Ascend any creature, free it from the cycle, something that Ancients and Iterators were seeking for so long. You ascend Pebbles and Moon, and every other creature on your way, as Saint would do. Then you thinks, maybe Ascending is worth trying, you Ascended everyone on your path to the Depths, so, why not Ascended yourself too, you earned it after all. And as you go through all the dangers before Depths, you see... Nothing. Void Sea took it away, and will take the rest of the world probably. And you jump down, descending not even into the Void, into pure nothing. Almost nothing. You reach Rubicon, Rubicon of your journey. As you go through what seems to be hell and the memory of the world, as Saint didn't saw it, you get to the final part of it, swimming up the Void Sea, but, as Void worm comes for you to help you Ascend, Saint denies it's help and tries to Ascend it. All the karma he is got from this journey now is nothing, even less than nothing. Saint tries to go up, but fails at it and disintegrates into an echo of itself. Cycle closed in. Everything goes back. World's entropy was reclaimed.

So, what exactly IS Saint?

A slugcat, trapped within a cycle, doomed to be a part of it for eternity and even longer, while making his own job Ascending others. What an irony, creature that gives Ascension, is unable to reach it themself. Saint IS the triple affirmative, the solution of the Great Problem. The loop started over. Those who were seeking a way out, created the solution and went away, leaving their creation behind, dooming it for rotting alone, forever. Forever.

[fcmn]

Sliver of Straw and Seven Red Suns is probably my favorite of them all :D

is this you

Other iterator designs

[fcmn]

So, I decided to talk about Downpour DLC of Rain World, because, why not?

I'll talk only about More Slugcat Expansion part of DLC, because Co-op and expeditions that were added is just great, I don't have anything to say about them.

Also I want to make clear that everything said here is purely my opinion and I don't force anyone to agree on it, and also spread hate on anyone who disagree on this opinion.

SPOILERS!!!

So, Downpour. An Expansion, that added 5 new characters to play and 5 new campaings to expirience, and yet, there's something I don't like about it. So let's talk about everything one by one.

1. Slugcats

Gourmand, Artificer, Rivulet, Spearmaster and Saint. Five new scugs, five new ways to play the game. I really like how fun they are, really, they all powerful and unique, you have to adapt for every single one of them. But this coin has two sides. Fun and power we got, cost us the idea of vanilla Rain World, the fact, that we are almost at the bottom of a food chain, we can overpower every threat, but with pure strugle and effort, not just because we have the ability to make everything go kaboom. I can't say I dislike the gameplay of new scugs, but I can't say I purely like it. The same creatures and threat that we encountered as vanilla trio, doesn't feel the same way for new squad, they can arguebly easy kill anything. I do believe, that there is a golden line between fun and philosophy of Rain World, it is probably possible to balance every scug in a way, that they will feel more natural for the eco-system, but still being fun to play. I'm not a developer, nor a game-designer, it's just my opinion as a player.

2. Story

This is something that I started to think about not so long ago. Each of the new campaings, except Saint, has a pretty similar pattern: Go to FP, listen to some dialogue, go into new region and get your score screen. Why is it always Five Pebbles? You have to visit him in order to progress the story. Which isn't true for Hunter, Monk or Survivor. I mean, as a new player, you'll visit him to get a basic understanding of what are you even suposed to do, but when you know where do you need to go, you can get to the ending without visiting Pebbles or Moon. You could say, that it makes sence for them to go to Pebbles, because they have to receive something from him. Fixing ID drone for Arti, giving Riv the ball, opening gate to outer expanse for Gourm and taking thr pearl put of Spearmaster. For SM, I'll say right now, that it is logical for him to visit Pebbles in prder to progress, he is a messenger. Probably it is the same for Riv, but I still have a filing that it could be done differently. Though I think it should be different for Arti and Gourm. As a Gourmand, it doesn't make sence for Pebbles to give him a mark of communication at all, he could just sent him out of his can and show him the direction to the Outer Expanse via the Overseers, much like Iggy does guide Monk and Survivor to Looks to the Moon and then to Five Pebbles. For Artificer, since she's next after Spearmaster, of which visit FP wasnt happy at all and he could just lock the karma gates to FP region like he did with Outer Expanse, so no one could enter his structure and distract him. Sofanthiel (ID drone), could be more useful in this scenario, he could act as an Overseer of sorts, pointing out threat, flashing images of Chief Scav and Elite Scavs as warnings and he could lead to the alternative way into Metropolis and also, I would give player a bit different route to the Chieftain Scav arena, the route that would make a visit to Atop the Tallest Tower mandatory for going forward, and the Echo there would give player a choice, proceed with the path of violence or choose a path of Ascension, which, in my opinion, does fit the "What fate a slugcat?" phrase.

Saint is just worth a whole another post to just talk about him, because he gives off mixed signals for me. But I can say, that, I love his campaing.

Overall, I do think that downpour story is good at some points, for me at least, but I also think, that it could've been done a lot better.

3. Five Pebbles.

I do like the new character of Five Pebbles, it does waves away almost everything pre-Downpour FP showed us, byt it's still a great character with good tragedy story. Five Pebbles and other Iterators being more human-like is a good thing for me. Five Pebbles being more similar to humans with his personality is something I like, because you can grow a bond with him through out the story. From SM's campaing where he is an angry teen who just pushes everyone away, all the way to the Riv's campaing, where he is more mature, regretting everything he's done in the past, not seeking forgivness upon himself. Seeing him first time in Saint's campaing and listen to him barely able to speak is... Heavy. It is a really emotional moment and I couldn't hold the tears, looking at the way he speaks and trying to listen his favorite pearl, even though it's already showing sings of decay, slowly fading out.

4. Sliver of Straw.

It's more about Challenge 70 being uncanon. I do dislike this statement and I think, it wastes a lot of interesting things to discuss because of it. All the theories about Sliver and Saint, also about Iterator's abbilities just fell into nothing. I personally love the theory about Saint being THE triple affirmative, created by Sliver herself to ascend her and probably others, but, it just happend too early, before Sliver was able to share the news about solving their great problem, and that's why she fought back, as Saint tried to ascend her. I just love this theory and I hate the fact, that it all just nothing more than a silly headcannon, because of how Challenge 70 is considered non-canon >:(

That's all I have to say about Downpour. Sorry if there was too much hate of just straight up nonsence, these are just my unfiltered thoughts on the DLC. Also I am, by no means encouraging you to spread any form of hate towards Downpour developer team or Videocult themselfs, they all did a massive job to bringing this Expansion to life and I am happy we do have it at all.

[fcmn]

Day 7: crossover

[fcmn]

I decided to drew a Sliver of Straw in a... different look. Meet Ascended Sliver of Straw! Best version of her design I came up with (also I do't mind any recreations, just tag me pls)