#im normal. im so normal about symbolism and lore

[halfusek]

i drew my minecraft oc and my friend’s @waruihoshi technically an oc more like an npc on the minecraft server she roleplays as fnjkfdfd in the style of cult of the lamb because my oc runs a cult of the pink sheep :]

[azureblooet]

Ok bitches its fucking time:

LAMB HEADCANNON TIME:

(I separated these into rough catagories cause I have a lot for them and some require me to explain my lore headcannons)

==

General stuff:

Enby obviously (they/them)

Very much a people person

i mean they do run a cult so yeah

Didn't ever do the cannibalism thing (i mean mechanically it doesn't really do anything helpful)

Still needs to eat, but feeds more on the actual devotion rather than normal food.

Like the crown isn’t just bottomless power it still needs to eat devotion

This makes more sense with context of the magic system i have for my headcanons

though giving their body actual fuel to keep itself running means they don't have to sustain it with magic so they still eat

Actually snacks a lot due to both previous food insecurity and to keep their energy up

Also the leader having food preferences is like a point of connection for the cult (more info in the cult section)

They do a little happy single clap thing, like sort of resembling prayer but still fiddles with stuff

Cult:

Tries to make their followers pretty self-sufficient due to their absense during crusades, so they have actual leaders they’ve appointed, they also do sermons while The Lamb is gone.

Notably is praised for being a “god who knows mortal fear and hunger”

Generally has the message of “yo the bishops suck and we all got screwed over by the gods, I’m a god who is also a mortal so I’m different”

Before The Lamb dethroned Narinder him also being screwed over by the gods was a big part of his thing in the theology

Narinder thought this was stupid back at the gateway but the people actually liking The Lamb instead of fearing them makes their devotion a lot stronger

It also FEELS better for The Lamb who has felt a LOT of fear for the gods to be critical of the gods

This also means The Lamb getting sick or something isn’t a big sign of weakness and is more of a “I’m in this with you” type thing.

Nari’s whole “god of death” thing was him being like “the inevitable end of all” and everyone being his in the end whereas The Lamb is more of a “transience is an inevitable part of the world and that makes our lives beautiful” kind of thing

Like the whole “may mortal strife drive us to grow and reach new heights” “take solace as our death unites us all”

This is partially influenced by the beliefs the lambs had with the philosophy of “everything is connected” but also makes people less afraid of death so y’know

The cult’s beliefs and culture is heavily influenced by the lambs for festivals and decoration and iconography (talk a bit more about that in the lambs’s section)

Called “The Lamb” or just “Lamb” by people closer to them but is normally referred to as “Leader”

The Lamb couldn't read at first and had to have followers teach them

Thankfully one of the first followers was a nice librarian lady who is highkey their mom/grandma. Brought her back a few times before getting her gold skulls

She’s a deer, she sort of has fannon shamura vibes? Like that high insight and ability to read people’s emotions

She also highkey parents Narinder too but he’d never admit that

Kinda like dst Wickerbottom? (If you know you know)

Im working on the name, but she’s “Selene” in my notes

Regardless, The Lamb learned to read from her, and teaching literacy is basically her job at the cult

cause of the whole cults thing someone being illiterate is actually pretty common so it's not just kids getting lessons.

The cult grows a lot of cotton cause of The Lamb

Both as a symbol and because of clothes fabric and yarn being important objects of worship

The Lamb is difficult to *scare* but pretty easy to startle as long as you’re quiet.

The lambs/sheep:

Note: I don’t capitalize the word lamb when it isn’t a name for The Lamb

The lambs lived a bit outside of bishops’ real territory so they largely had their own culture and religion

They believed in “strings of fate” and a sort of “everything is tied together and part of a bigger thing”

Yeah like wool and fabric.

Theres more to it than that but that's a factor

Wool yarn and clothes were a big export for them but they were working with other plant fibers too so all types of string were everywhere.

Because of how much string and fabric they’d end up having and how good the textile trade was they had the resources to have a lot of festivals. Be it for seasons, shearing times obvi, cool space/astronomy stuff, whatever.

They didn't really have a church per-say but they had little shrines for like paying respects to nature and the “strings” of fate which tie everyone together.

Complicated braided lanyard type things are sort of “holy” symbols.

Sort of like a rosary?

they didn't have a reigning crown and had just an actual normal-ass town for the most part

Regardless the spiritual and religious stuff was more to justify making things and having festivals.

They’d tie different colored strings and little banners to stuff for festivals and stuff

Dangly bits and tiny puffy ornaments galore.

They did some magic, but it wasn’t much of a priority, it normally was things like little woven charms, protection spells, and maybe the odd glowy ribbon or fireproof coat.

Like they had some thaumaturges and witch doctors to deal with curses and magic injuries but they didn’t have a big faction of magic users

Reguardless! All of this matters because The Lamb makes little fabric dolls and swears about threads and ties and junk.

“ties above!” “ohhhh my fucking strings give me patience…” “oh thank ties”

(i mean in-world the words they’re using for ties/threads/strings is probably in another language, but I’m a monolingual dumbass so whatever)

Though the lambs had less gendered shit which in a world with actual hecking magic goes without saying ig, but their un-gendered parent word is “baba” because duh

(Ill be so fr I didn’t even realize the sheep pun until I had written over 2,000 words but it is very amusing nonetheless)

They had marriage earrings and horn jewelry instead of rings

Not all that important but rings are boring

But yeah the lambs had less ridged gender roles and stuff so The Lamb being enby wasn’t like a big thing or anything

Something about how all genders tie back to the same net of fate or something

Unlike basically every other version of The Lamb I’ve seen, The Lamb remembers a LOT about their home town and their traditions.

They are different than The Land of The Old Faith though so there’s a lot of different cultural values.

Like the lambs ate a lot less meat than The Old Faith people

(Sidebar: do we have a shorter name for this fucking place cause oh my god it’s a mouthful)

Particularly I bring this up cause The Lamb is VERY much not on the cannibalism wagon.

The lambs also had actual methods of water purification and bathing to like keep their wool clean, since they would use it for crafting

Because of that, the lambs were culturally pretty germaphobic and had a reputation for being way too focused on cleanliness

I mean cats are also in that boat but still

The fact that The Lamb knew how water purification works and being more sanitary was also a big part of the cult actually surviving.

I want to imagine that while The Lamb knew about and wanted soap they had no idea how to make it and spent a long ass time trying to figure it out.

They got someone in the cult who knew eventually but it was a whole ordeal

Like someone pulled up and talked about making a bathhouse and The Lamb was like “YES. YES. YES. YES. YE—”

Magic:

Their magic is strong due to the crown supplying a lot of raw power, but their actual form in using magic is sort of sloppy

(To be fair, most gods are like that but The Lamb is exceptionally bad)

Despite the how casually it's portrayed, reading minds is kind of hard and doesn't work on some people

As in: people think differently so unless someone has a really pronounced inner monologue they can’t really read the person’s mind easily.

Like what are you gonna read if the person doesn't think in words?

Feel the vibes learn the vague concept language? You can’t be staring at this mf for that long!

You can indeed be too neurodivergent to mind-read.

Also a few people in the cult can tell when The Lamb is reading minds and most of them responded pretty negatively to it so The Lamb tries not to read minds too often

(yknow cause like consent and privacy and all that?)

(one of those people promptly pulled a knife on them because I mean- its kinda violating for someone to poke around in your head) (The Lamb didn't kill them cause that’s like a fair response but it did scare the shit out of them)

The Lamb is really bad at detecting auras and concealing their own.

Most gods don’t really conceal themselves because their bombastic presence is like part of the gig

Most people can low-key feel auras subconsciously anyways so The Lamb isn’t incapable of it, but they aren’t good at it.

(As to how people feel auras; It’s sort of like how you can low-key feel vibrations even when you can’t hear but since you can normally hear you don’t consciously notice it?)

[sampoenjoyer]

(apologies it wouldn't let me save this in better quality)

No but okay I want to start a discussion about this lightcone, because it feels very important to me, but also I don't have a solidified idea of what its trying to symbolize/tell us. Like the puppet imagery is a very specific choice, and in retrospect you could argue it has to do with the way Sparkle puts up a fake persona/Aha themselves controls her (i think, im not big into Sparkle lore so correct me if I'm wrong.) But like, then we go to the Sampo puppet. So is he controlled by Aha? Or was he? Or is it about the fake persona he also puts up? Also I think it's important to note the details of their outfits: Sparkle's puppet is in her normal outfit, and Sampo...is in a suit? He doesn't have his grey hair? To me this implies this is what he looked like when he was last with the Masked Fools closely OR this puppet was made a while ago. WHICH IS SO INTERESTING.

ALSO THE DESCRIPTION IS RLLY CRYPTIC. Here it is copied over: "-Who witnessed his death?" -Me! I spied it with my little eyes! -Who took his blood? -Me! I used my little saucer! -Who dug his grave? -Me! Using my chisel and shovel! The wise uses all techniques in their arsenal, the sovereign soothes their heart with power, the hero views themselves to be righteous, and the fool laughs ceaselessly- "Now let us welcome Ms. Sparkle to bring us the performance of the years-Penacony's Night of Fright!" SO LIKE COPYING IT OVER FROM IN-GAME MADE ME REALIZE IT MENTIONS PENACONY??? AND ALL THE LIGHTCONES TAKE PLACE BEFORE WE GET THEM SO??? HAS SHE BEEN IN PENACONY A WHILE OR JUST A BIT BEFORE WE GOT THERE? I MEAN THE LIGHTCONE ITSELF HAS LIKE A WHOLE GROUP OF MASKED FOOLS WATCHING SO I IMAGINE IT HAD TO BE A WHILE AGO WHICH IS JUST FASCINATING. Also whose the he their referencing??? Immediately I think Sampo but I guess it could be someone else, or not representative of anything and just meant to be her being a bit of an oddball, BUT I DONT KNOW IT FEELS DEEPER THAN THAT TO ME. This lightcone stays in my mind a lot, LIKE EVER SINCE IT WAS LEAKED I THINK ABOUT IT SO MUCH. It also has some of my favorite lightcone art in-game im not gonna lie, its just so funny. (Also I love Sampo wearing a suit and dancing. This is not relevant to any analysis I just need to say it.) ANYWAYS I WANT TO HEAR SOME OTHER INTERPRETATIONS/TAKES ON THIS LC SO PLEASE GIMME ANY TAKE YOU HAVE :)

[angelpuns]

I think looking through my art over then years is really interesting because in middle school I drew a lot of ( terrible ) fanart, drew a LOT of comics and generally just drew whatever I wanted even though it was pretty terrible.

In highschool I drew a LOT of really serious, really grungey and really naked-heavy art ( Like...I drew naked women very very often because I was a closeted trans man :/) and I also drew a lot of ocs. I was mentally not the worse but I was masking super hard and wanted to understand the kind of struggles other people went through ( I was one of those kids that liked reading really sad stories and 'longed for trauma so that my being the way I am would make sense and be justified' anyway I did have trauma just could not recognize it as such because my life was ' too normal'. Not trying to like trauma dump or whatever I've just thought about it a lot )

Then in college/after college ( during a really difficult time in my life ) I drew a LOT of men. Especially sexy/sexualized men. But my art was less serious and more story driven. Still not comics but a lot of behind the scenes lore was happening. Also drew a lot of OCS. My college art was p weak cause I just wanted to make oc art at the time and all my instructors wanted me to make symbolic pieces that 'meant something' and I was very against that. ( I also was out at this time and was unmasking a lot more - but I also was living through some mildly traumatic stuff. I don't like to call it traumatic but it might have been that. I worry the stuff I think is traumatic isn't and I'm totally blowing it out of proportion. Anyway this isn't venting just observations )

And NOW I make a LOT OF FANART AND A LOT OF COMICS AND A LOT OF WHATEVER I WANT Which is hilarious cause we've come full circle. I don't draw sexual/sexy stuff at all anymore cause I don't enjoy it and I never enjoyed it ( I drew a lot of it in college/after college cause the people around me thought I was asexual and I wanted to prove I wasn't, because I really am not. Might be aromantic tho. Anyway drawing sexy stuff vs not drawing it means nothing in relation to my sexuality ) I also am working on drawing stuff that actually does mean something even tho I hated it in college. But I'm doing it the way I want to. ( this was all because of a comment I got on a fanfic. Wherever you are commented I hope you're doing well. You made me want to create art and fics that have a deeper meaning )

I think currently I am happiest with my art I just wish I had more time for it. Like yeah skill wise I'll probably never be where I want to be - as is the nature of being an artist - but I'm having fun and enjoy sharing my art and that's what matters.

Anyway I'm gonna make a year of art summary but I am also gonna make a 25 years of art summary for my birthday cause I think the comparisons are just funny year to year. Like I'll have gaps and stuff obviously but the circle of art I've been going through is so wild

Also side note none OF THIS IS MEANT TO BE A VENT ANY MENTAL HEALTH/TRAUMA THINGS ARE JUST OBSERVATIONS I'VE MADE/SPENT TIME THINKING ABOUT OKAY SO PLEASE DONT WORRY ABOUT REASSURING ME I DO PLAN ON TALKING ABOUT ALL THIS IN THERAPY OBVIOUSLY IM MENTALLY ACTUALLY P DECENT RN THIS WAS JUST ME RAMBLING ABOUT THE VERY SILLY ART CIRCLE JOURNEY IVE BEEN ON AND ALSO SOME OF THE THINGS THAT INFLUENVED THAT JOURNEY AH

[bewitched-if]

first i wanna say that i'm already loving the wip. second, i have some questions.

how old is everyone? what personality can mc have? can we ruin kara's life? (she def deserves it). can i know more about the world's lore? could we plese get some facts about ??? and some facts about mc?

okay that's all i can think atm. have a nice a day!

hello anon, first of all, thank you!

second, here is the answer to your questions:

how old is everyone?:

A: - Juniper is 34. - Celeste is 31. - Calliope is 27. - Kieran is 30. - Rhys is 29. - Kara is 2-3 years older than MC. - MC's age is headcanon, but I would probably say MC is either on their mid twenties or early thirties (for both original mc and the body). - Mother and Father are in their sixties. - ???, you don't know if it have an age, you don't even know it.

what personality can mc have?

By personality, if you mean stats, then there is: Friendly/Hostile Independent/Dependent Fearful/Brave Trustful/Distrustful Grateful/Envious Emotional/Stoic

Behavior: Mental Health: 0%/100% (this will heavily impact the outcomes, character behavior, mc's health, and choices. oh, yeah, did i mention mc can die) Adaptable/Outsider Leader/Follower Intelligent/Naive (ps. there's probably more but i dont have the file with me rn so i cant check, will change if needed later)

can we ruin kara's life? (she def deserves it).

A: maybe, maybe not. you never know🤷‍♀️

can i know more about the world's lore?

A: I will do a post in here about the world some day (hopefully soon, js hope my lazy ass doesn't take over; it will also be in the game)

could we plese get some facts about ??? and some facts about mc?

A: here's three facts about MC and ??? MC: 1. mc is has anxiety :D 2. mc tried running away, only for mc's family to find them :D 3. mc also has PTSD :D

(nah fr, wait i need happy ones have another 3):

ACTUALLY HAPPY/NORMAL CANON FACTS ABOUT MC: 1. Ophelia gave MC a bracelet that symbolizes their friendship. MC still keeps it in their room. Well, IRL room. 2. Ophelia gave MC chocolate which they don''t know since their family ever lets them go outside, and got addicted to it. MC hasn't had taste of chocolate since. 3. mc had a pet hamster named mrs. hammie but she ran away.

FACTS ABOUT ???: 1. They have a whisper of a voice, it's almost impossible to hear it, but it's there. 2. They have often make MC second guess, do something out of their comfort zone which affects MC's mental health. (heads up, you will need to do something to make it go away :D) 3. They also make MC think of abhorrent stuff whenever someone hurts them.

A.N: also can i just say that the body really needs a name to determine if we're talking about original MC and the body MC now inhabits. like, every time somebody asks me about MC my brain short-circuits like, "are they talking about the body or OG!mc?" i thought of naming the body saint bcs the empire perceives em as saint but im open to suggestions. (and the body just sounds weird to me.)

[heartofwritiing]

Absent in the spring.

paring: q!wilbur x fem!reader (+ platonic q!philza x fem!reader)

summary: a small vacation to Phil’s beach house causes you to finally break down.

authors note: a follow-up to this fic but you don’t really have to read it. some more q!wilbur angst for you guys because I miss wilbur and tullulah content! also i made it so chayanne and tallulah talk in this lets just pretend the eggs are the human-dragon hybrids that are in fanart bc thats how i see them!

warnings: a little angsty sorry, hurt-comfort, happy end, not 100% following qsmp lore, unedited! please ignore any mistakes!

“how are you holding up?”

Phil’s voice pulls you out of your trance from fidgeting with the blades of grass next to your tucked legs.

You bring your gaze up from the lush green and watch on as Chayanne and Tallulah play tag a few feet away in the field behind Phil’s beach house.

The past month had been weary as you waited for your husband to return from his tour. Days stretched on though you kept going despite that dread in your chest of missing him.

Phil had noticed you seemed less like yourself as the month went on. You were sleeping less, and getting stressed. When he came over to help you take care of Tallulah yesterday he saw how defeated you looked while trying to keep a brave face for your daughter.

Being in an empty house wasn’t fun for anyone, especially when it was too dangerous to go outside on the server alone. So, Phil invited you out to escape that empty feeling, just for a while at least. A walk and boat ride later, you were now sat beside the man with his legs crisscrossed while he munched on avocado toast.

You had shrugged plainly to his question. Fine? Okay? you didn’t know…

Squeals and giggles erupted in your ears as you watched Tallulah finally tag a breathless Chayanne, who had gotten tired of running away from his sister and let her have a turn at the one being chased. Her little legs barely kept up with her taller older sibling as he quickly regained energy.

You couldnt help the smile that was brought upon your lips. Happy they were having such a good time together, being normal for once and not sheltered from the horrors of the server that was trying to harm them every moment. They needed this time, to be care free. To be kids.

You and Phil chuckled at their antics. Though It made your heart break thinking about Wilbur being absent. He wasn’t here to hear the sounds of his daughter's sweet giggles as she played blissfully in the tall grass. To see how she was getting along with everyone, making sure they were happy and cared for.

Wilbur hadn’t sent you a letter in a week. You understood he was busy with tour, you didn’t expect him to have much time to sit and write but your worst agitations were coming true.

The disappointment was settling in each time you would go to the mailbox by the door- you and lullah had spent a day painting and decorating to your liking, with splotches of colors and your names painted across in not-so-straight letters- it would be empty with no sign of even being open since the previous morning.

“I miss him,” you say suddenly to Phil, whose gaze shifts away from the kids to you. You keep your eyes locked on them, fearing that meeting his eyes would make you finally break down into the tears you were holding back for so long.

Phil brings his hand onto your shoulder, a simple symbol of comfort.

“Awe mate, I miss him too.” he said warmly. “he’ll be back soon, im sure of it.”

Swallowing the lump building in your throat, you were so glad you had Phil there for you in these moments. Tallulah had done a good part cheering you up but sometimes you needed a real talk.

"I thought I could do this on my own but-" you choke. "I need him, Phil. He's missed so much and I can't help but think he's gonna feel guilty for not being there for her, or for me."

You let yourself break down in-front of your father in-law finally letting go of everything you’d been holding onto the past month and a half.

Phil placed his hand on your back in support as you sobbed into your hands. The aching pain in your forehead with the slight headache building, the chest pangs told you this cry was long over due.

A tap on your shoulder brings your head out from your knees. You lift your eyes to see Chayanne standing over you, his hand stretched out with a simple white flower pinching between his little fingers. His eyes held nothing but innocence as he looked down on you solemnly. He did not understand why you were so distraught, nor did he care, he just wanted to aid you in any way that he could.

"Please don't cry, Tia Y/N," his voice was small but sympathetic, making your heart sink.

Phil looked so proud in that moment, to see his son come over to aid you with comfort made him perceive he was doing something right in raising a child for once.

Taking the flower from Chayanne, he immediately crouched down to give you a tight hug around your shoulders. Surprised but grateful, you began silently crying as another pair of little arms joined the embrace - you knew it was Tallulah. Finally, you allowed yourself to let go and broke down into tears, feeling their tight embrace.

You were so glad you had these kids. Though they didn’t understand your behavior entirely there was no judgement, only care.

“For what it's worth Y/N, you have us and we will always take care of you both.”

Of course, you knew that. Phil had always been there for you since you first met him. He took his role as a father to everyone very seriously.

“thank you for bringing us here Phil, we really needed this.” you breathe as the kids pulled away from you. Phil gives you a smile of understanding.

-

A few hours passed as you all sat on the dock, watching the last glimmer of daylight fade away over the water - casting a golden glow. Phil suggested a campfire to roast marshmallows. Tallulah and Chayanne were already running off excitedly to gather various sticks to help. Once the fire was going, you all sat together on the sand telling stories, laughing, and enjoying each other's company.

The hole in your heart was healing, and the weight on your chest lifted. You realized that even though life was rough and unpredictable, having a supportive family was what mattered, and you felt content and at peace.

You saw the others smiling, knowing the shared bond was enough.

That night you all slept at the beach house, and for the first time in a month, neither you nor Tallulah had a nightmare.

The journey the following day back to Phil’s was thankfully uneventful. Mostly just shenanigans between the two children. Collecting things like leaves for the scrapbook you and Tallulah were making for Wilbur, documenting all your adventures. Chayanne running ahead to deal with any monsters who dare cross your path.

Upon seeing the tiny house with a fenced yard, you all went your separate ways. As you opened the gate to the yard, the tall purple trees and the various flowers made you miss the tiny home.

Tallulah seemed happy to be back and automatically tried dragging you to see her turtles before you could close the gate. You asked her to be patient while you brought your bags inside.

Walking up to the front door, you heard a crash from inside and you froze. You instantly reached for your sword laying on your hip. Tallulah saw this as a warning and she quickly cowered behind your legs. Preparing for the worst, it could be anyone behind the door. Charlie looking for food, (since he was living near your house in a shed last you heard.) Quackity looking to start another fight about parenting. Or worse the code monster could’ve shown up again to take Tallulah from you.

You would die before that would happen.

Tallulah clung to your legs as you quietly unlocked the door and pushed it open. You gazed down at her and saw her worried eyes.

“If something happens I need you to teleport to abuelito and Chayannes to warn them okay?” You spoke to her firmly in hushed tones, being careful. Tallulah showed you the tiny purple stone for a quick getaway and indicated she understood.

The house was exactly as you left it, except for the suitcase and guitar bag resting against the sofa, which made you frown. Then realization settled in and a gasp escapes you.

Was he here?

Or was this another trick?

As you lowered your sword, you heard someone rustling down the ladder. The wood creaked with every step as the person in the yellow sweater came into view. With round glasses leaning down his nose, fluffy hair, and long limbs, you’d know him anywhere.

Wilbur felt relief wash over him as he stopped midway on the ladder and saw you staring at him in disbelief. as if he were a ghost. It pained him slightly. You couldn’t believe it.

Wilbur was back.

Tallulah peeked out from behind your legs and the tiny gasp she let out when she saw Wilbur. She ran into his arms and cried out;

"Papa!"

Wilbur grinned as his tearful daughter ran towards him. He scooped her up in a tight embrace as you watched, tears streaming down your own cheeks. He held her swinging back and forth gently trying to hush her cries. She was so happy to finally see him again. You had never seen such a wonderful sight of the two people you loved the most in this world.

“I missed you so much Tallulah!”

Wilbur rested his head on Tallulah’s and smiled sideways at you and reached out his arm. Without hesitation, you dropped your sword, which clanked loudly on the ground, and you rushed into his embrace.

You bury your face in his neck, holding onto his scent, his body, his everything. Never wanting to forget how he felt and sounded. Tears stream down your face, drenching his sweater, but you don't care. This time, they flow out of love and happiness, not frustration or sadness.

You all cried and held onto each other for dear life.

“I missed you so, so much my love,” he coos in your ear causing you to choke out a laugh. After missing his voice for months you were so elated to hear it again.

Wilbur sniffled as he squeezed you both tightly in his arms, never wanting to let go.

“I’m here my girls, and I am never gonna leave you again,” he whispers.

This was home.

End

[environmentally-friendly-ivy]

my secret life smp ramblings to my friends now here

OK SO LIKE THERES THIS OLD SERIES GRIAN HAD CALLED EVO AND THEN THERE WAAS THIS LORE ABOUT WATCHERS AND LISTENERS AND THAT SHIT SO LIKE WHATEVER AT THE END OF EVO(for grian) THE WATCHERS SEPARATED EVERYONE AND HAD THEM FIGHT THE ENDER DRAGON ALONE AND GRIAN DEFEATED THE ENDER DRAGON AND BECAME A WATCHER INSTEAD OF GETTING BACK TOGETHER WITH ALL OF HIS FRIENDS ON EVO AND THEN AFTER THAT GRIAN NEVER MENTIONED IT AGAIN ON HIS CHANNEL BUT ONE GUY DID AND THAT PERSON WAS MARTYN ‘IN THE LITTLE WOOD’ AND HE HAS THE LORE THAT THE LIFE SERIES IS A DEATH GAME BY THE WATCHERS AND LIKE RAHHHH AND THEN HE SAID ITS ONLY CANNON TO HIM CAUSE HE DOESNT WANT TO FORCE THAT ON THE OTHER PLAYERS BUT NOW THERES A BIG FUCKING ROCK WITH THE WATCHER SYMBOL AND ITS NOW LIKE 100% CANNON IN MY MIND AND LIKE AHHHH IM GONNA SOB OHHH AND ALSO IN LIMITED LIFE PEARL AND BIGB(BOTH IN EVO) BECAME A TEAM AND THEY WERE THE NOISY NEIGHBORS AND THE HAD LIKE A CATCH PHRASE OF “ALWAYS WATCHING” AND LIKE LOOK THEY SAID WATCHING LIKE WATCHERS UGHHH AND OKAY OTHER TOPIC THE PLAYERS ARE AHHHH SO MUMBO AND LIZZY ARE BACK IN THE GAME WHICH IS SO AHHHH AND GEMINITAY IS NOW IT IT AND OMG AND ANOTHER TOPIC AGAIN GRIAN AND SCARR 😭😭😭 THEY ARE SO 😭😭😭 DESERT DUOOOO OMG LIKE THEY RODE CAMELS TOGETHER WHYYY IS SO ❤️❤️❤️❤️(I JUST READ A POST I HAVENT GOTTEN TO THEIR POV YET) OKAY AND LIKE I JUST LOVE ALL OF THESE PERSONALITIES MASHING TOGETHER AND JUST BEING AHHHHH AND THERES ALREADY GOOD ART WHICH IS WHAT HOW SO FAST IM JUST SO SO SO SO INSANE FOR THEM AND IM GOING TO DIEEEE OMG THIS SERIES IS SO HEART EMOJI AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhh

OH AND

TO ADD TO THAT WATCHER LORE STUFF THERES ALSO JIMMY/TIMMY/SOLIDARITY GAMING WHO HAS THE CANARY CURSE WHERE HE DIES FIRST EVERY SEASON AND ITS LIKE OOH WATCHERS PUSH HIM OFF OR LIKE THEY PUT HIM DEATH OR WHATEVER AND THEN THERES SCOTT WHOS ACTUALLY GOOD AT THE GAME AND IN LAST LIFE HE DIDNT DO THE BOOGIE MAN THING AND NOW THE WATCHERS DISLIKE HIM BUT HES JUST TO GOOD AND STRATEGIC AND DOESNT MAKE BIG ENEMIES SO HE LIKE PRETTY MUCH ALWAYS GETS TO THE END(accept for the one time he teamed up with jimmy aka mister canary curse😭😭) AND OMG THAT JUST REMINDED ME OF FLOWER HUSBANDS AHHH 😭😭😭😭”home” 😭😭OMG THIS SERIES……

so as you can see i’m very normal about the life smp, i like it a very normal amount and i am definitely not emotionally attached to it

[i3utterflyeffect]

Could you provide a summary of the Rain World lore, or point to any good videos that do that? I’m interested in the Creatures™️ and want to know more about what you’re basing them off of

I'm so sorry anon i tried to make this short. this is all copypasted from a document. the power of autism killed me

if my frothing is too much here's a video by daszombes that probably summarizes this all

IN MY DEFENSE THO this video is also like, 20 minutes long.

im like. going into game mechanics and going into it in a similar way to how a normal player might be introduced to the game. and doing a bunch of shit abt it.

ANYWAY!!!!!!!! Summary of Rain World. Let's go. For context purposes I will be telling the story of Survivor and then going into lore, other stories, and Downpour. Obviously spoilers for everything Rain World and Downpour.

WARNINGS

Mentions of general death and animal death (duh)

suicide

child death (briefly)

fictional speciecide/genocide

potential existential crisis fuel

let's get started.

Your name is The Survivor. You live with a family of five. A little sibling, a baby sibling, and your two parents.

The reason the game is called Rain World is because of the heavy rains that buffet your land-- somewhat manageable from the place your home is at, but in many cases, lethal-- not only because of the flooding, but also because it rains hard enough to give you blunt force trauma that will kill you.

You escape these floods using shelters, hiding and hibernating at the end of each 'cycle'-- the time between each downpour.

During one rain, you fall down, plunging into the abyss as you are seperated from your family. Your mission is to go home.

You find yourself in a dilapidated urban sprawl-- it's something close to it, anyway. Not a city, but incredibly industrial. The world is overgrown. This little yellow thing shows up-- it's called an observer but we'll call it by the nickname Iggy for now-- and it directs you to food and then shelter during the barebones tutorial.

You'll go a few cycles, and discover some base mechanics.

KARMA: Karma is, essentially, a way to keep track of how you're doing. Every time you survive a cycle, your Karma goes up. Every time you die, it goes down. You start with 5 base symbols, each granting you one level. Karma is required to navigate the world, as each reigon requires a certain level for you to get in. We'll talk about this later: Karma is actually pretty important to the lore.

CYCLES: Mentioned previously.

DEATH: You are never truly dead in Rain World. Each time you die, you return to your last shelter, restarting the cycle-- but Rain World is special because it's not just you who knows. Creatures have a chance of coming back to life at the end of every cycle, and they will remember you. There's a system that coincides with this--

REPUTATION: Every species has its own perspective on you, and your actions will change their perception of you. Killing a lot of lizards of the same color might make them afraid of you. If you don't, and instead treat them well, they might ignore you. You are prey, so balancing reputation is important-- and I can only think of one creature that won't try to kill you if your reputation's bad. Even the fish will personally drown you.

One creature is incredibly dependent on reputation that it can make or break a run: Scavengers. If you're kind and often trade, offer pearls (they love pearls), save them from enemies, etc., they'll treat you well. Get a bad reputation, though, and you're dead within seconds. Some animals are just skittish though-- there's literally personality values determining how creatures will act. I love that so much.

I think that's all the important lore-based stuff.

After a few cycles, Iggy will direct you to where (at the time you assume) your family is, and you'll follow them through the areas, going through a large building, a garbage waste, and eventually reaching a unusual ocean lined with pipes and with a sunken building in the distance. As you get closer, you discover that Iggy was not directing you to your family, but instead asking you to go to this building.

After a lot of swimming (and running in terror as the giant leviathan worms try to crush you with their metal jaws), you'll meet HER. A blue humanoid with wires spilling out, attached to the room by a mechanical arm-- similar to the ones you might find on a train.

You cannot understand her at this time, but her name is Looks To The Moon; We'll come back later.

After assigning you a fetch quest, Iggy drags you all the way back, and I'm not entirely sure what the beginner's route is, but I'm pretty sure it's (unfortunately) Dark Level Spider Hell.

Eventually, you crawl through that pit, run away from the centipedes trying to kill you, encounter giant birds with mouths like scissors that really want to kill you that are very very fast, run from them, and eventually make your way up to the next area.

THE LEG & THE UNDERHANG

The Leg is an alarming change from the semi-natural formations of the ground. This place is industrial. It's a metal beam-column, reaching up into the endless sky. This place is infested with lizards, and a scarier enemy:

Daddy Long Legs, also known as The Rot. These are blind… Biological lumps of… something. They're black and blue, and completely blind. But they have great hearing, and the rot will find you if you're not careful. And it will consume you.

Keep the Rot in mind for later. It's important for the lore-- basically crucial.

If you can escape this hellscape and make your way to the top, you'll find yourself in a building larger than you can comprehend.

FIVE PEBBLES - SUPERSTRUCTURE

This area is simply labeled Five Pebbles. This will make sense later.

There's no gravity here, but there's lots of lights and strange things-- things that look like they'd belong inside of a creature, and little bite-sized rainbow things. These are called Neurons, and you actually need them for the fetch quest.

There's a lot of things going on, but you won't be able to admire it too long-- this place has Rot inside it too, and it's much harder to avoid when you can't control your path due to being weightless. It's pretty terrifying, but in a way, this place is kind of majestic.

You explore the sprawl of access shafts, and you begin to hear music-- the most acclaimed and chilling track in the game-- as you reach the General Systems Bus. The first time I arrived here, I was completely awestruck.

RANDOM GODS

A large room, with a single chamber isolated in the middle. Projected lights surround you, and you have to climb your way towards the top to enter the unusual room.

Inside is another robot, similar to Looks to the Moon, except he's pink, he wears a cloak, and most of all, he seems shocked at your presence, because the gravity in the room returns, and everything falls to the ground-- including you.

He talks for a moment, before seizing you with the power of Gravity™️, and lifting you up. He implants The Mark Of Communication into your brain-- a mark allowing you to understand the language he speaks.

The following dialogue occurs:

. . . ...is this reaching you? A little animal, on the floor of my chamber. I think I know what you are looking for. You're stuck in a cycle, a repeating pattern. You want a way out. Know that this does not make you special - every living thing shares that same frustration. From the microbes in the processing strata to me, who am, if you excuse me, godlike in comparison. The good news first. In a way, I am what you are searching for. Me and my kind have as our purpose to solve that very oscillating claustrophobia in the chests of you and countless others. A strange charity - you the unknowing recipient, I the reluctant gift. The noble benefactors? Gone. 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. For you though, there is another way. The old path. Go to the west past the Farm Arrays, and then down into the earth where the land fissures, as deep as you can reach, where the ancients built their temples and danced their silly rituals. The mark I gave you will let you through. Not that it solves anyone's problem but yours.

Turns out, this entire massive superstructure IS this guy; Five Pebbles is his name, and this puppet is merely a more interaction-friendly extension of his larger form. He's also not very happy with you climbing through his structure, and kicks you out onto the surface of the structure.

Now, let's go back to Moon and get some more information. We'll go to the west later.

Moondown

Looks to The Moon greets you much more pleasantly than Five Pebbles:

Hello little creature. What are you? If I had my memories I would know… You must be very brave to have made it all the way here. But I'm sorry to say your journey here is in vain.B As you can see, I have nothing for you. Not even my memories. Or did I say that already? I see that someone has given you the gift of communication. Must have been Five Pebbles, as you don't look like you can travel very far… 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. It is good to have someone to talk to after all this time! The scavengers aren't exactly good listeners. They do bring me things though, occasionally…

After giving her a neuron, she will thank you.

These neurons are essentially their brains. She only has five left. She was previously a superstructure like Pebbles-- Who she calls her little brother-- but she has collapsed. Giving her these neurons can help her regain her memory.

You can also eat them! Don't do that. You will permanently kill her if you eat all of them. Also, she remembers if you've done that and won't talk to you.

Quick summary of the vanilla ending:

You go underground, find some religious stuff by an ancient culture before whatever culture created the upper world, you find a big golden ocean, you swim down, and… uh…

You get grabbed by a big worm that sends you to the ascension realm??

I don't fully know what the ending is. No one does. We call the big worm Jerry though, and he's a Void Worm.

Anyway, let's talk about the real basics. The juicy stuff:

Iterators and Ancients

Looks To The Moon and Five Pebbles are complex machines called Iterators, created by a dead race named the Ancients.

These Ancients have left the cycle by using something called Void Fluid, a corrosive material from the core of the world that cancels out your revival. This is called 'Ascension'. We'll talk about this more in a minute.

The Ancients way of life is structured around the idea of leaving the cycle of reincarnation, and they eventually succeed-- however, they decided that they should leave a gift to the 'lesser life' of this world, and allow them their own escape-- with less risk and an immediate payoff. Remember what Pebbles said?

A strange charity - you the unknowing recipient, I the reluctant gift. The noble benefactors? Gone.

Yep; The Ancients basically desired worldwide extinction, from what we can tell. And they didn't bother to create that solution themselves, instead tasking a bunch of sentient, functionally immortal beings, to throw themselves repeatedly at a proverbial wall trying to create this worldwide cleanse.

Iterators were made for this.

But let's talk some other things real quick before we dive into that mess.

KARMA AND YOU

Karma. These symbols are fun and also important.

You see, the base symbols Survivor starts with are representations of what the Ancient Monks call the 'five natural urges'. These don't change the gameplay at all, but karma is crazy important in lore.

Let's take a look at the base five.

KARMA 1: VIOLENCE

The lowest level of karma, this symbol generally represents anger, hate, and violent acts. The symbol is used in several others-- the ones for 'The Hunter' and 'The Outlaw', gotten by eating only meat for 3 cycles or committing needless bloodshed.

KARMA 2: LUST

Yeah. Lust. I've heard this can also be percieved as a desire for material objects (take that with a grain of salt), but other than that, I don't think I need to say more.

This symbol is used in the passage 'The Mother'.

KARMA 3: COMPANIONSHIP

The desire to form connections with others in general, not just friendships. Frequently found scrawled in areas with scavengers, and also used in 'The Chieftain', 'The Friend', and 'The Mother'.

KARMA 4: GLUTTONY

food… hrng….. Anyway this one is the desire to eat good food I assume????? What else is there to say, really?

It's used in The Hunter passage, as well as the Marytr (starve for several cycles intermittently), and Iggy uses it to point you to food.

KARMA 5: SELF-PRESERVATION/SURVIVAL

The urge to survive. This is why people pretty frequently talk about the ancients having a suicide culture-- not to mention that the others represent signs of depression. It's used in 'The Saint' (survive without using weapons) and 'The Nomad' (pass through 4 regions successfully) and, most notably, it's own passage: 'The Survivor', in which you survive five cycles with this amount of karma. It is the highest karma most slugcats can ascend to without Echoes-- We'll talk about Echoes in a minute.

There's one oddball karma that breaks from the formula, so I'm just going to mention that briefly:

7/7 KARMA: PEACE (O)

For some reason, this Karma is used in some other stuff, and only if it's your current highest Karma. Seen in 'The Monk' and 'The Saint' passages, it basically just means peace. That's all. This one's weird.

Let's get to arguably the most important topic:

ASCENSION AND ECHOES

oh god. where do i start. um.

Okay. So basically. Ascension is a separation from the cycle that keeps you from returning, or 'respawning'.

For ancients, this was simple-- they extract fluid from the core of the world named Void Fluid, and you just… Dive in, I guess?

There was a mass ascension at some point, leaving everything they created behind. But this is all lore for the ANCIENTS. Let's get to the slugcat method.

To ascend, you must reach true max karma (represented the symbol ⊗-- a crossed out circle) and go through the Depths and go into the Void Sea, but you can't get Max Karma yourself. There's two ways:

Visit Five Pebbles and gain the Mark Of Communication

or…

You can visit Echoes.

If someone has many vices, such as being arrogant or egotistical, or other connections to the world, they leave something described as a stain of their ego trapped between reality and ascension.

Ghosts, essentially. That's what they're called in the code as well. They will speak to you if you have the Mark, and a few will reminisce and admit they never even wanted to ascend. Whatever these beings are, they give you extra Karma, elevating you to the next level.

Now that your crash course on that is over, let's talk about the iterators, for realsies.

THE GREAT PROBLEM

Being made for a seemingly impossible task was not easy for them, especially after the ancients, well… 'dipped', I guess you would say.

No one could really get to the solution, despite having many cycles to do so, even before the Ancients left. Previously, the Ancient lived atop them in cities, so it was a very noticeable thing.

Some turned to other things: Art, companionship, creative projects, watching the world outside, talking with friends.

Others balanced between these things, finding something like a job and personal life balance.

And some went insane.

You see, the ancients created a 'Self-Destruction Taboo', which attempts to prevent the iterators from attempting to hurt themselves, only causing more damage as they try to work around it and find their own way out.

This wasn't common at first, but something happened that caused it to spiral out of control:

Sliver Of Straw and the Triple Affirmative.

The triple affirmative is a signal that informs all iterators that the Great Problem-- How to ascend all life-- Has been discovered. Three affirmatives:

Affirmative that a solution has been found.

Affirmative that the solution is portable.

Affirmative that a technical implementation is possible and generally applicable.

Here's the thing: The problem wasn't solved. Moon explains it best:

Do you know Sliver of Straw? She's quite legendary among us. Sliver of Straw is the only one to ever broadcast a specific signal: that the Big Problem we're all working on has been solved. The triple affirmative. […] She's also one of few that has ever been confirmed as exhaustively incapacitated, or dead. We do not die easily. Sliver of Straw sent [The Triple Affirmative] and the ensuing commotion was historically unparalleled, before or after. I still remember it. But… nothing happened - except that Sliver of Straw was apparently dead. When the dust settled we were all still there blinking at each other. 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. Either way, after that these different factions developed, as well as a huge forensic effort to recreate and simulate Sliver of Straw's last moments. Some of the simulations were wrapped in a simulation wrapped in a simulation, in case something dangerous might happen. Nothing much has come from it.

Sliver of Straw also abbreviates to SOS, and their name is similar to needle in a haystack.

We're still not sure what happened: The one fan-theory that pretty much seemed canon due to a challenge level was debunked. SOS remains a mystery. I've got my own thoughts, but we're not talking about that here.

Anyway, after Sliver of Straw died, there soon became more and more self-destructing iterators, with one common method resulting in a term for it's failure: The Rot.

Remember that? Yeah. They slowly destroy an iterator, but it doesn't truly kill them. They're still alive in there, somewhere.

Let's talk about how the Rot works once we get to the point where it begins in the main storyline.

THE COLLAPSE

Looks to the Moon was constructed upon a shoreline, and there was originally no plans to create Five Pebbles.

Almost all Iterators are incredibly far apart, even in their local groups, so it would have seemed preposterous at the time of her creation.

However, her surface became inhospitable some time after her creation, and traversing the ground beneath her would have basically made any attempt at evacuation worthless.

So a solution was proposed-- Two iterators connected by a bridge. They could safely leave her to her own things, and meanwhile, the ancients could spend their remaining time NOT dying.

I'd love to talk about the politics surrounding Five Pebble's creation, but that's unnecessary and this doesn't need to get any longer.

After their creators passed on, Pebbles slowly became despondent and began talking in a private group, using the psuedonym 'Erratic Pulse' to obtain information on how he could circumvent the Self Destruction Taboo..

The local group has 3 others. Two are important, one isn't. (sorry Chasing Wind </3)

Seven Red Suns, or SRS, is our current topic.

They are someone Five Pebbles looks up to, and ended up giving him this info, which they regret.

There's also No Significant Harassment, who is mischievous and good friends with most of the group before everything falls apart.

Here's some in-game dialogue:

[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment SRS: I can't stop dwelling over mistakes that I've made. I could just delete those memories of course, but that feels irresponsible. NSH: Oh? What kind of mistakes are we talking about here? SRS: I once gave someone some... sensitive information... the kind that could be dangerous if acted on. SRS: Yet I should have known they weren't in the right state to use that information responsibly. NSH: I take it you won't tell me the content, or to who. SRS: No, I will not, out of respect. NSH: Look, if you ever want to talk about it I can. We can share this little problem of yours. We were made to solve them after all! NSH: You're worried they're going to get themselves hurt by messing it up? SRS: They already have.

You can find the pearl containing this 'sensitive information' in other campaigns.

Here is Moon's comment on it:

This information is illegal. Someone probably tried to send it by a pearl somehow rather than risking being overheard on broadcast. It's an instruction on how to circumvent the self-destruction taboo. The problem with breaking taboos is that the barriers are encoded into every cell of our organic parts. And there are other taboos strictly regulating our ability to rewrite our own genome. Attempting to circumvent the issue using this process would be extremely risky. That's not to say that there exists any known methods that would avoid putting the user in harm's way. Those barriers are there for a reason. Where exactly did you find this pearl? I imagine you dug it up from somewhere within the surrounding facilities, in which case that wouldn't leave many options as to the recipient. That would explain a lot of things…

Pebbles used this pearl, and because of this, his water intake majorly increased, leaving Moon without any water at all: Iterators need water to function, though, as without it they can't flush out the massive amount of excess materials that is made by their operations. He didn't notice, not until Moon contacted him directly-- And he was angered by this, but not without reason.

Failing the pearl caused him to break the genome reprogramming, causing biological parts to be converted into Rot.

When Moon falls, he shuts out all the other iterators, and goes radio silent.

You're caught up on the backing lore. Now... Campaign time.

TIMELINE: SPEEDRUN EDITION

SPEARMASTER

A messenger made by Seven Red Suns who can make spears outta bone-- a little bit trypophobic but I forgive them it's not their fault. No mouth btw. those spears are how it eats. slurp

Delivered the pearl containing the Taboo bypass, but Seven Red Suns sends you back, with a message of worries regarding his physical and mental health, trying to tell him to open up and talk about his feelings. Pebbles gets mad. He kicks you out, as well as the pearl you were carrying. Did I mention that he rips it out of your chest? That pearl was embedded in you.

Anyway, you can take the pearl to Moon because she's still standing, and she encodes it with a goodbye, telling you about how she's about to collapse. You run to the communication arrays and broadcast that message for her, before returning home to Seven Red Suns.

ARTIFICER

"God Forbid Women Do Anything", Genocidal Revenge edition. Artificer had two babies. Scavengers saw one take one of their precious Porls. Baby is dead. Artificer runs but the other baby gets dragged to hell by leeches and drowns.

Anyway, Artificer returns on a genocidal rampage, locked at Karma One: Violence. You use scavenger corpses to get through Karma gates. The only thing that can sate your hunger is blood and flesh. You are continuously aimbotted by Scavengers but you keep coming back to kill more and more.

You're also explosive, did I mention that? I don't think I mentioned that. She explodes. She's very angry. She can launch herself through the air and maul people.

You can get to Karma 10 through echoes, but you're still denied by the void. It's unclear if she becomes an Echo or not.

You also have another ending! If you go to Five Pebbles, he'll say 'hey, that drone you have is a citizenship drone for my city, scavengers are ripping the city apart, I see that you hate them, and if you kill their chieftain we both benefit'!

If you choose to go that route you can tear through the scavengers, have a boss fight, and get a cool mask. Who cares about being empty inside since you can no longer go on a genocidal murder spree and being forever chained to the mortal realm by your anger and bloodshed when you have a cool mask?

Moon is also dead, she's not there.

Blood and violence. Rip and tear.

Slugcat pup was killed so let their corpses rain from the heavens, etc.

HUNTER

You are rot, rot is you!

Actually, you're a messenger slugcat made by No Significant Harrassment. For some reason this guy ended up giving you the rot for reasons still unclear to us. Unintentionally? Intentionally? Who knows. Your cycle count goes down instead of up.

You have limited cycles to speedrun to Moon and MAYBE ascend if you're lucky.

Go through Pebbles? He gives you extra cycles and wishes you the best of luck. Kind of depressing that you're both condemned to the same fate.

Get to Moon; Deliver a pearl that's a message of well wishes and cares from NSH. More importantly, deliver a slag reset key and restart her. She gets her neurons back. She's alive! And unable to help you.

Now? Run.

Your biological time bomb is ticking, and when you get into negatives, it shows. Not only does it turn permadeath, but you begin to experience collapsing into seizure-like spasms randomly, a growing hunger, and according to the wiki HALLUCINATIONS?

Ascend and you get a happy ending, but if you die you're gonna get a horrific surprise in the next campaign!

Fun fact: original hard mode campaign. Hunter is more skilled than the other vanilla slugs, but their world is harder too.

GOURMAND

Food. That's it. Just food. It's either going to be the easiest slugcat or the hardest one.

You eat your list of foods, maybe visit the iterators, and fuck off back home. You don't even have to complete the list. You can just Fucking Leave.

If you do complete the list tho you get slugpups. I like em. Cute slugs.

you can also CRAFT NUKES btw. did i mention that? Gourmand has crafting mechanics and also can craft nukes if you do it right. Not joking

You can also regurgitate an entire living squid. How? Gourmand.

Also by the way Hunter may or may not have popcorned into a mindless mass of rot if you failed to ascend them. Oopsie.

SURVIVOR

See introduction.

MONK

Survivor but babey mode (affectionate)

Remember Survivor's little siblings? Monk is one of them. They're a vanilla bannana boy and my favorite little guy.

You basically choose a route and if you've already completed it with Survivor there's a happy sibling reunion. Oh, there's two routes now, by the way. Once you complete Gourmand you can go home to the Outer Expanse. No one's there but you're both chilling.

RIVULET

WELCOME TO HELL.

This is probably the one that gave Downpour its title. The rain happens every three minutes, maybe less if you get unlucky. The rain shelters are failing and the world's succumbing to Rot.

Go throw yourself into Moon, and you'll discover Monk has given her two neurons and a dress; thank you Monk :]

You also have the mark of communication from someone (who knows who) and you have a pearl for an iterator system that Moon doesn't have called the lymphatic system. Apparently the rain's bad because Pebbles isn't doing well, but how bad can it be?

…hey, why is the citadel covered in Rot? That's weird and annoying.

Was there always this much in the overhang? It's kind of obnoxious.

Finally, you're at Pebbles, so let's-

Oh.

OH.

THAT'S JUST… THE ROT.

THAT'S WHAT IT'S CALLED NOW. OKAY. FUCK.

Pebbles is so sick he can't even maintain zero gravity, it's going on and off.

Dive into the water of the newly discovered path and RUN.

When you get to him, he asks you to disconnect his only life support-- a Rarefraction Cell-- and deliver it to Moon. A final apology. Leave him to listen to his music pearl in peace, it's the only thing he has left.

Take that cell, run to Moon. She knows exactly where it came from. She doesn't know where her core is anymore, though.

Time for the Submerged Superstructure.

Most of Moon's remains are underwater, now infested with kelp, water lizards, and scavengers. But you can swim down, down, down into the creaking metal, the shrieking waters. Let it swallow you whole.

Eventually, you will reach her Heart. Place the Rarefraction Cell inside, and you're washed away.

You are washed to the top, and descend down to find her where you left her-- but renewed with new life.

She'll contact Pebbles one last time. Happy ending, right?

Not yet.

SAINT

THE TRUE TRIPLE AFFIRMATIVE

Saint may seem peaceful at first-- Fragile and unable to throw spears, fluffy to fight the cold seeping into the world-- but they are arguably the scariest one out there!

The world is ending: Iterators have gone silent, and the world's being blanketed in snow. You're up above it all-- so your first instinct is to go east. To Pebbles.

But he's gone.

Descend, and you'll only find a heap of scrap metal: The Silent Construct. His remains.

You're collecting Echoes.

On the way, you talk to Moon. She tells you about the state of the world. How it's dying. That she might be the only one left.

The world is passing into a new era: one that doesn't need them.

At maximum Karma, Saint becomes something unique.

You gain the ability to ascend anything.

You can go back.

You probably are going to ascend Moon. Only a mercy, right?

Return to the silent superstructure, and find that Pebbles remains. He's still holding that pearl. The music is scratchy. Distorted.

How long has he been here?

However long it was, it was enough to pick off all his neurons. And despite this, he's not even granted the mercy of an ending; he can barely even think or speak. It's cold out here, and you can't imagine it'd be kind to leave him here alone. He has to go, too.

And with that, you descend to the depths.

RUBICON

The Void Sea doesn't have anything for you. In fact, you will only discover yourself in a hellish world where it seems to be flipped upside down, and the remains of the old civilizations that are probably familiar by now are succumbing to the void.

You're burned if you touch the void fluid. You must fly to avoid it.

So you go. You ascend many things that are either trying to kill you or keeping you locked out of other paths.

And finally, at the end, you go up, and ascend.

You swim up. The slugcat tree is here, but it's not what you're looking for.

You drop by a chamber-- one containing the two ascended iterators.

They're free, and finally together. Once you ascend, you can see the future and the past in a cycle.

They look at you, and it's not a circle. It's an endless spiral into entropy. Your future goes on forever.

But you keep ascending.

It's not long before the Void Worm finds you. It offers you ascension, a reprieve.

And you kill it.

You're trapped in the cycle forever. An echo, ever recurring.

And it continues on.

🎉CONGRATS!

you are now a rain world expert. consider yourself lore'd. feel free to look at the critters and beasts on the Miraheze Wiki. (thank you miraheze this is so much better than fandom wikis. we love you)

[fiberglassandflowers]

Hey idk if there’s some master post about mbts but if there is may I please ask where and if not could I perhaps humbly request a description because it sounds cool as FUCK

omg yayy okay so there's not a masterpost as of now (though there is a google doc in the works that will probably be. very big) BUT i will try to give a brief rundown. underneath a readmore 👍

OK SO. IN SUMMARY

MARY BELL TOWNSHIP: more like mary bell CLOWNSHIT ha ha. heavy surveillance like everywhere (including in peoples homes. how fun). it's also got some like radiation stuff going on. all the residents are a lil radiation poisoned But it's mostly fine. also the town moves and i dont know why.

VANNIE OVERTURE: based on suburbia overture. the mayor who is a vampire. major control freak. sucks shit. like most of the reason mary bell is the way it is. permasmile swag. has killed before. hates when people are weird freaks and is actively passive aggressive if not outright aggressive.

TRIP LETWO: based on 2econd 2ight 2eer. world's silliestguy contrarian and infamous public nuisance. deeply tortured individual but shes dealing with it i guess. physically cant leave mary bell township. he has too much goddamn lore

LYDIE LAPLACE: based on laplace's angel. so lame. just deeply lame. killed a guy and got kicked out of office building heaven (laplace's inc. id give this its own section but it doesnt really matter all that much). i dont ever think about it unfortunately im sorry women.

MINA BYRD: based on i/me/myself. very sweet very nice. ladybugpilled socialanxietycel. doesnt have a whole lot going on but she is nice im glad shes there. im gonna have a significant relationships section of this but im saying that shes roommates with lia here bc its not really significant otherwise

WALTER LEE: based on ...well, better than the alternative. worlds first cis father to be a butch lesbian. probably a girl but she doesnt know that. weird nostalgia issues so bad his wife left him.

DOTTY LEE: ten years old. strange little girl but i dont really think about it a lot. not much else to say about her really.

LIA CRATES: based on outliars and hyppocrates. her name is pronounced like lie-uh cray-tees not lee-ah crayts. i have to clear this up because i realized most people were wrong LMAO. a little mean but not so much when you get to know her.

WARREN LEARY: based on blackboxwarrior. actually the worst therapist you will EVER meet. isnt even licensed. you book a session with her and she only talks about herself the entire time. constantly referencing a dark and contradictory past.

MARSHA TILLIS: based on marsha, thankk you for the dialectics. slightly better therapist! still not that good. has the spirit of an old man despite being in his 40s. will begin to psychoanalyze your behavior upon the first thirty seconds of knowing you.

NORMAN LEE: based on love, me normally. guy trying really really hard to be a regular guy. has a loooot of problems that stem from this. hugest people pleaser the world has ever known. a little bit offputting. has hair symbolism :-)

MORTIMER: based on memento mori. doesn't have a last name. worlds silliest grim reaper death thing. works in the death division for laplace's inc. lived a pretty normal life. then it died :-(. more here

FERN O'DYNAMIC: based on thermodynamic lawyer. hates his bitch wife (who is a praying mantis for. unknown reasons? will elaborate). just has a lot of anger inside him and doesnt know how to deal with it so he takes it out on other people. he kind of sucks but he's a neat character.

MIRANDA WRIGHT: the person being sung about in thermodynamic lawyer. bug wife (i can blame anything on radiation). she wasnt always a bug she just kinda did that idk. there's not much about her but she's an etymologist.

COTARD LETWO: based on cotard's solution. she has so many problems oh my gooood. deeply lonely person. fascinated with the macabre. its like coping mechanism that makes you worse. im insane about her writing a basic description is so difficult fkdjsfhsjd

RAMONA MCLAREN: based on red moon + hand me my shovel (though the latter was included later on bc it fit her). worlds most intelligent and stupid single celled organism. patheticswag. absolutely batshit insane. attempting to solve the end of the world.

KUIPER SUNSHINE: based on dr sunshine is dead. uh. i dont really know much about her to be honest SORRY... its really silly though + haver of prophetic dreams that she is NOT transparent about. fucks with people a lot just for funsies

COLIN THESIER: based on cover this song. girl who used to be in a band but got kicked out bc of friend drama. survivor of a toxic codependent queer friendship. trying to be a better person bc she used to suck pretty bad unfortunately. a bit more here

theres like a couple more characters but none of them are really important enough to give their own sections. debbie letwo is trip and cotards mom, laplace is the head of laplace's inc, maude is walter's ex wife who left him (heres the scoop on that).

OK NOTABLE CHARACTER DYNAMICS TIME:

VANNIE/NORMAN: norman has been pretending to be a normal dude this whole time + vannie totally fell for it. normans stuck in this friendship bc hes too much of a people pleaser to break it off even though vannie actively drains him emotionally. also he feels validated by vannie thinking hes normal. its so awful im so insane about their dynamic

VANNIE/TRIP: THEY HAAAATE EACH OTHER. their entire core beliefs are at odds (guy who thinks everyone should do their best to conform vs. guy who loves being a weird freak and doing fuck all). their dynamic is honestly pretty simple in comparison but theyre so petty and stupid its insane. if you put them alone in the same room one of them isnt coming out

TRIP/NORMAN: theyre gay together. there's a weird lore thing about the way relationships are handled in mary bell but long story short theres paperwork that has to be filled out if you want to be registered for one and trip thinks its really funny for xem and norman to constantly break up so they'll have to fill out the paperwork because it fucks with vannie. theyre also kind of awful and tragic

WALTER/DOTTY: that is a father and his daughter. walters trying his best and hes doing well but nothing would have been better than just moving out of mary bell township to raise his child.

WALTER/NORMAN: they’re brothers 👍 not much else to say there but they’re cool

WALTER/MAUDE: already linked a more in-depth explanation of their deal but ill summarize it here. maude thought living in mary bell township was really bad for a child (and it is) but since walter has issues about idealizing his childhood he was like "whaaat well i was raised here and im fine" and they fought about it and once it became clear walter wasnt changing his mind maude figured shed just spare herself from all of it. so she left 💯

WARREN/MARSHA: what if the two worst therapists ever were queerplatonic and violated hipaa together. also what if one of them [marsha] was helping the other [warren] because they're on the run from the law. would that be crazy or what

FERN/MIRANDA: actually awful. they really want to divorce but trip and norman keep clogging up the paperwork so theyre on a waiting list forever. their relationship was really good at one point but its not anymore :-( more info here

NORMAN/FERN: fern haaates norman because of the previously mentioned paperwork debacle but normans ass cant deal with the thought of anyone disliking him so hes just been really trying to get on his good side to no avail. also theyre coworkers so its more relevant

MORTIMER/TRIP: man how do i even summarize this one. due to lore reasons that you can read about in the link provided in trips session they have a super weird dynamic present day. or at least on trips end, mortimer is just super friendly to them and it wigs her out.

TRIP/COTARD: OUGUIGHJ. AOAUYFGDSFHSJ. tragic sibliiings. man i dont even know if i can go into this. go here and here if you want to learn more about them. jesus

COTARD/COLIN: frienndsss :-] classic extrovert forcing themselves into introverts life trope a little bit. they play music together and its great. mina's also in their little group but the two of them are closer

KUIPER/RAMONA: have been described by my friend as being "nonromantic freak4freak" and this is true. theyre working together on the end of the world stuff. they also rope cotard into it but thats lore i havent talked much about yet. go here and here for more info about them.

that might??????? be it?????? if there's more ill update it but thats the general basics i think. thank you for being interested and hopefully reading i greatly appreciate it :-)

[dipplinduo]

AAAAAAAAAH IM LOSING MY MIIIIND. CHAPTER TEN WAS SOOOOO GOOD, DARN YOU!

I LOVE that Drayton had a talk with Juli about why what Kiki did was bad, that kinda behavior is so often romanticized in all kinds of media and it’s important to note that it is NOT alright, ESPECIALLY if such behavior comes from someone you love and who loves you.

ALSO. KIKI IS DRAWING TERAPAGOS. SAME BEHAVIOR THAT HEATH HAD. WHAT IS BRIAR DOING TO MY BOY. I almost SCREECHED when I read that, not just because of the connections though, just genuinely love Terapagos a not normal amount.

AND THE FLOWERS. THE FLOWEEERS. HE GAVE HER WHITE CARNATIONS AND OLEANDERS. Juli used to grow white carnations with her mom, a flower that is LITERALLY the symbol of motherhood! And when given to a couple represents the couples’ loyalty! KIKI JUST DECLARED HIS LOYALTY TO JULI THROUGH FLOWERS!!! And the OLEANDERS. Symbolic of romance and charm, resilience and regeneration! BUT ALSO A PLANT KNOWN FOR ITS TOXICITY. A PLANT THAT CAN BE USED AS A SIGN OF CAUTION. Do you KNOW how much this bouquet has me frothing at the mouth?!

Pretty good chapter, 10/10.

🥹💕💕💕💕 I'm so glad you enjoyed it, this one had to be a good follow-up to ch 9 events.

Because YESSS, that talk was intentionally planned as commentary (and the events themselves were there for a number of reasons that will be used & explored). We know poor Kiki is going through it, but yeah, gotta have some reality checks & recognition moments for flawed characters

HAHAHA LOL

Dude I'm so glad flower lore landed well I got consultation and I did my research and I really wanted to just deliver there. You're mentioning a few things that were def presented, but are def not as obvious unless you know a looooot about flowers or just did the research. Either way??? MAD respect. Flower lore was so fun to write

[plounce]

ffxiv fic ideas that ping around my brain:

pre-shb thancred teaches ryne how to trap and skin a rabbit. and it's half about illustrating them living on the run & thancred teaching her survival skills. and half about the symbolism of it all. and ryne looking at the rabbit. this tug between "yes thancred interacting with me and teaching me, awesome i love positive attention" + "i love living out in the world and being Free" and... the rabbit, hungry and naive, baited into the trap. and thancred looking at ryne and trying to decide whether to have her be the one to kill it. or for him to kill this poor creature who just wanted to live, who he needs to die, in front of her. and they clean it, cook it, eat it, but when they go to sleep ryne can't get its shivering form and big glassy eyes out of her head. (will that be me?) [babybirch_joannanewsom.mp3]

pre-shb urianger taking care of ryne for a month while thancred splits off to throw off a eulmoran tail. urianger and ryne hanging out and having an alright time. half about their relationship (the sweetness, but also the tough spots - urianger's role in ryne's existence (he is guilty about it, while he's the most normal adult in her life so her brain is incapable of being mad at him about it (or is it), ryne's mixed feelings about how thancred is always happier and relaxed and nicer when they're at the shelves (yay he's happy! vs i wish i got that all the time, i wish he thought me worth his best self) (in general there's a lot about the ghost of thancred in the room); half about them exploring the ruins of the bookman's shelves (i firmly believe there are underground cellars), its neighbors, and voeburt in general.

urianger childhood lore. i had some headcanons about him being raised by an old, frail, distant grandmother which got squished a little by ee3 but the new lore is in line with my hc that urianger was neglected as a child and tbh im delighted for confirmation. some stuff about the augerelt family in general. their house (smaller than many in journey's end) having rumors of being haunted. moenbryda. autism.

urianger, moenbryda, thancred, and y'shtola (plus yda?) as teens in old sharlayan, for whatever overlaps they had in the city as youths. i strongly believe that thancred & moenbryda were closer than thancred & urianger were as teens. i also think there's something with y'shtola being forced to leave the colony (and also being raised by y'shtola) and away from matoya and thancred's teenage years spent in Spy School (where they melt your brain) that could result in two really temperamental, angry, resentful teens. louisoix delegating moenbryda to try to be a good friend (good influence) to them, urianger getting taken along for the ride

thancred teaching ryne how to swim.

epistolary/fake media fic. the one i wrote for ds9 is still my fave thing ive written ever. i'd love to write some scion paperwork

lucia and maxima hanging out and talking about growing up gay in fascist conservative garlemald, the revelations about emperor solus, their work in current garlemald, and their opinions on gaius (lucia does not like him over the livia situation, while maxima has always considered him a moderate conservative that he doesn't like but now there's also some strangeness from when they were in the burn in stb patches) (generally 'i dont like him but i dont hate him as much as i used to bc its complicated and hes become emotionally pathetic'). fic would end with them going "fucking nero tol scaeva though, right?" "OH my GOD."

there's more. maybe i'll add to this. who knows. if you get inspired by any of these please write to your heart's desire

[sweetie-peaches]

lore dump about those nutter buttersplease im so confused

Oh ho hi ho, careful for what you ask for

Descent to madness starts with a Miku audio and “no don’t turn me into a hat” but hat replaced with nut. Nutter butter is turned into a peanut, me too bestie.

Then just some, unusual ones, I won’t say these are like. Meaningful in anyway (pouring a coffee pot of peanut butter into a mug of nutterbutters, “thank you for 1 mil” ((they don’t have 1 mil, idk what this is about) I dream about, (two hyper realistic eyes, peanut pngs)

Then we get to the ones where it’s implied the nutter butters are alive?? And need to breathe through their bag( Warning for the rest of this post there’s themes of unreality, horror, and other dark elements) and you must clean yourself with their peanut butter

Then we’re introduced to nutter butter man

His intentions are unclear.

We get the banger quote “neither dead or alive but I am here” from schrodingers nutter butter

And we get our first Aiden mention, Aiden is the victim in this story, I believe.

Another warning if you go down this rabbit hole, a lot of the videos have extreme flashing lights and colors, and eyestrain, there isn’t warnings for these vids, keep yourself safe!

It turns more incomprehensible from here, with a few actual seemingly normal marketing posts! Kinda…. It’s weird. We get another mention of Aiden in a video where nutter butters are being drowned in water and screaming? Another nutter man mention

Next is what I believe is a massacred nutter butter, and “I sometimes get myself scared in my dream and think scary thoughts u?” With the caption “do not tell” we kill some nutter butters. A song! (Are the nutter butters singing. God what.) a reversed audio with two clown like people (idk how to decipher that shit) wearing white masks

The CRUCIFICATION OF A NUTTER BUTTER????

The nutter butter account begins messaging people, wonderful? We get a prompt in the caption of the next vid, “click yes to advance” to the question on screen, “do you vibe with me?”

Another message from presumably Aiden “I have ascended” great, good to know. Then a ask from help in the caption as the nutter butter man stands, ominously

Then another sighting of the nut man, in “this is just a dream” with the caption “go to sleep”

We have a book with “do not read” that’s full of symbols. That spells out Aiden. Then Aiden once again but with a Christmas gift. (Christmas 2023)

More unusual TikTok’s, we then get Aiden’s journal. There is a picture of nut man, with the caption “something nutty is going to happen soon but you have to find it yourself” then the code “2024 jt csjbot zfbs 1” (sounds like a YouTube link to me, but I’m not deciphering here)

Then we get our physical form of nut man, he seems to be tormenting someone outside their house, chasing them around. Some more incomprehensible stuff. Aiden is mentioned again.

By this point the Aiden mentions are in every video, there’s something about him in every one, I can’t find a meaning in them, but every single one.

We get a date in one video, written on a nutterbutter (align 10/21)

Another mention of ascencion, in which a nutter butter is on a drill; and then is thrown to the heavens to ascend??

We then get the “game” “find Aiden” in which whoever the player is must look around Aiden’s house to find him. The first place the player goes is Aiden’s son, Brian’s room (represented by a nutter butter mini) in which the player chooses to “destroy” Brian. The game continues once Brian is destroyed (killed??) and the player must dress a nutter butter. After getting dressed they make it to “Aiden st” where there’s a celebration with the words “almost here! One last step” Flashing on the screen. Once the player clicks a prompt however the game suddenly ends. With the caption “almost free”

There’s a TikTok of a nutterbutter being put to bed, in which it dreams of being viciously torn apart by the hand that put it to bed, (at this point I start to feel that nutterbutters are stand ins for people) we get the nutter butters celebrating national cookie day, where they eat a cake made of the blood from their brothern, use a baby nutter butter as a piñata, and burn down a house

We get a call audio, well a voice mail, “hello is anyone there (mumbling I can’t make out, sounds like are you? Help me out?) “well that was strange” then a song from the Barbie movie

Some stuff that at first I thought was a code but believe is just a genuine keyboard smash

[sayaberry]

completely sane and comprehensive walpurgis rising trailer analysis (+ concept trailer stuff)

from a normal madoka fan who can be trusted with lore

for coherency sake im putting this in sections of this doesn't completely look and read like word vomit, these are just some observations and theories i had about the stuff in the new film trailer

(im so fucking sorry for how long this is)

Homura’s new role

i’ve seen other fans bring this up over the past week so i won’t go fully into detail, but i do agree with the sentiment going around that homura has taken up kyubey’s role as the one who gives out contracts to new magical girls. mainly this part is just to further give evidence to this theory + other observations I noticed in relation to this

while there are some lines of dialogue in the trailer, what’s interesting is we only have 3 speaking voices in the entire film - homura, madoka, and what i believe might be walpurgis themselves (keyword here is might be, but we’ll get to that). focusing on the lines homura however, they sound interesting don't they?

they sound like she’s asking the viewer (possibly even a new magical girl) if they agree to the terms of a deal - a contract.

there is also that unknown new girl where, not only with her outfit having motifs of homura's original design, but in the background of the scene she first appears in, we can see homucifer's symbol appearing as she begins to cast her magic - a way of indicating that homura is giving magic to these girls maybe?

not to mention that the dress homura is wearing in this shot is absolutely emulating walpurgis’s aesthetics, so if homura really is playing villain like she claimed she would be at the end of rebellion to madoka, then taking up the role and dressing up as the 2 things that hurt her the most is a good way to show it

Multi-homu

the devil herself has some very… inconsistent character designs shown in the trailer - going from having a new dress to completely lighter hair and a new headband in her uniform to even in the POSTER design with a red ribbon similar to the one on her ultimate form

i want to posit this theory; that the homura’s in both the trailer and poster (with the exception of one) aren’t homura at all, or at least not a true homura - they’re her clara dolls

i have good reason to believe this, see, the multiple homura’s we see do have one thing in common with each other despite the differences in their designs (save for the fact they’re all homura) and that is they all share a design with a certain corresponding clara doll

the contractor homura we see at the beginning? she’s the 10th clara doll due to the flower clip and the similar looking shawl this homura wears:

uniform homura? that’s the 2nd clara doll due to the cross pattern found both on homura’s new headband and the nekura’s hat:

ribbon homura from the poster? its a little tricky since we can’t see her front but judging from the ribbon this could either be the 4th clara doll or the 8th clara doll, due to them both having ribbons in their hair design wise.

alternatively, this COULD also be the real homura, but the tell of whether it’s the real homura or not is obscured in the poster for the same reason we’re able to tell which one is the real homura in the trailer

the real homura? it's the one we see sitting in the chair on the school roof, and we know this is her because this is the only homura we saw with her soul gem:

her soul gem being here is important bc from what we can tell, the other copies don't have soul gems on them - for example, contractor homura summons the rotary phone right? if this was the real homura the she would have had her gem visible on her hand AND be able to summon the phone with it instead of using a proxy (the lizard, notice how the magic to summon the phone is also red?)

one more thing that proves this could be what's going on is in the concept trailer, we hear this conversation between 2 girls, and since the clara dolls are technically alive, this could be referring to them pretending to be homura (although i'll admit this could be a stretch)

i assume having multiple homura's is real homura's solution for not only keeping an eye on things, but a way for homura be near madoka 24/7. even if homura is the devil she can’t exactly be everywhere all at once (she only has a piece of the law of the cycles, so unlike godoka her powers are assumingly more limited than we realize),

therefore in my mind her solution then would to put a fake homura in locations that she would be able to keep constant watch over madoka - and with the ones we’ve seen so far; one at the school, and one for her magical girl duties

and why wouldn’t homura do this, after all the real homura is a clara doll herself! she’s canonically the 15th clara doll that’s missing, ai; and if the real homura can be a clara doll, why can’t the clara dolls become homura herself?

The Moon

one of the first shots we see within the trailer is of this room. the first thing that someone will notice is the giant half moon with telescopes embedded into it in the dead centre of the picture.

of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this moon before is it, it's also at the very end of rebellion!

due to the angle of the framed moon, one might assume that the one we see in walpurgis is the missing half of the moon from rebellion, but it's not! the halves are the moon in both walpurgis + rebellion are meant to represent homura and madoka respectively; with homura’s half being the one hanging in the sky and madoka’s half being missing. this can be further proved with further context the moon in walpurgis shows us

i want to talk about the actual frame the moon is being enclosed by. the frame itself isn’t really a frame at all - it’s a tarot card. specifically, it’s the tarot card for The Moon (XVII). not only is it fitting, but it’s also proof that what we are seeing is homura’s half of the moon given the meaning of the tarot itself

while i'm no expert in tarot, from what i’ve read The Moon seems to symbolize bad energy, false friends, deception, and intuition in people’s lives. but this is just the main meaning of the card, for those who don’t know tarot cards can have 2 different meanings. when The Moon is upright it’s a symbol for anxiety, illusion, fear, misconception, etc - basically, negative emotions. when The Moon is reversed however, it becomes a symbol for unveiling secrets, truth, regaining composure, and generally more positive/intuitive things

don’t these descriptions sound familiar? they are meant to represent madoka (reversed) and homura (upright) respectively, and due to the frame being in the upright position, it’s clear that the moon here is actually homura’s

if this is not proof enough, look at the telescopes imbued into the missing half of the half moon. what other character would it be other than homura that would be constantly looking for/at their missing half (madoka)?

(side note: while her half is still missing, those pinned butterflies we see could represent madoka here, as pinned butterflies often represent something that is innocent and fragile when alive being now trapped and dead, but still just as beautiful. great way to present how homura views normal madoka and godoka visually/subtlety)

Voice on the Phone

the trailer has 3 characters who have spoken lines of dialogue; homura, madoka, and a third unknown voice we hear talking to homura over the phone, and i have 2 ideas who this could be

here is the dialogue spoken by the unknown voice in the entire scene (+ one other character but we'll get to that)

(note: the pink line is madoka's line, just highlighted it for clarity)

before i explain who i think it might be i wanted to point out smth, the “it’s a secret/don’t tell anyone” lines might in fact be related to what hitomi of all people says in the concept trailer, the secret obvs being about madoka being a god and if she were to find out, everything would end:

additional context aside, one person i believe to be that voice on the phone is actually walpurgis. after all, the film is named after the stage witch and therefore playing a central part of the film, so them being a character would make sense. walpurgis is also a witch who is implied to be made up of other witches, so having multiple voices would make sense as well

as for the dialogue, it’s clear that it’s asking for homura to set madoka free so she can bring hope again. considering the end of the original series and how madoka brought hope for all magical girls who despaired and became witches (esp if they were the witches who became part of walpurgis by the end), it would absolutely want madoka to come back and bring them hope again. she was their salvation (just hope), their “best friend” who they don’t really know (madoka disappears due to her wish) but know they love - exactly why it’s able to call homura out on her hypocrisy of her doing this all for madoka in the first place. plus the trailer shows shots of walpurgis from the original show during this scene so it could be the trailer’s way of showing not telling who’s on the other side of the phone

as for the second person, you're gonna have to hear me out on this one; i believe there is a strong chance that the person on the other end of the phone is actually godoka - or to be specific, what's left of the law of the cycles (LoC)

remember, madoka split into 2 pieces; the piece that homura stole for herself - the human girl known as ‘madoka’, and the law of the cycles (godoka). if one piece is being under constant surveillance, where is the final piece? also crucial to point out that despite madoka being “normal” again and homura in charge, madoka’s wish is still in effect. this is both proven at the end of rebellion, the concept trailer, AND the new trailer - and the how is simple; the magical girls are still fighting wraiths, meaning the witches are still gone!

in rebellion homura states she still needs to deal with the wraiths, in concept trailer we see oktavia fighting a wraith + concept art for one, and in walpurgis we see the word wraith what im assuming to be a per-transformation scene (we'll get to that soon):

going back to the dialogue, it also would make sense this is LoC calling homura out to free her other half. Loc is like a cog in the machine without her human half, she only knows her job is to bring hope (just hope) but lacks the humanity to understand everything else, which would leave her without her emotions (something essential to magical girls) and sort of… monotone, perhaps even something like the voice speaking on the phone. without her humanity, LoC wouldn’t know who homura actually is (magical girl i don’t know), but she might retain that homura was her best friend that stole her humanity. not to mention madoka herself was also THERE when homura made the claim that she was the devil and doing this out of love for madoka! and call her out for it as well!

and if that still wasn’t enough the ONLY other voice we hear speak in the trailer is madoka herself, and only during this dialogue. at this point there’s enough of her to keep the witches away, but not much else

Unknown Magical Girl

as everyone knows, we see an unknown magical girl (who is wearing an outfit reminiscent of homura's) getting ready to fight something offscreen, and while we don’t get a really good look at her she doesn’t seem like someone we recognize. this is girl is highly likely one of the new magical girls we saw in the concept trailer, and while designs have obviously changed a lot since the trailer came out back in 2015 (and yeah, it WAS that long ago), if i had to take a guess on what concept design she would be, i'd guess this one:

her bangs are the closest to the new girl's hair from what can be seen so currently, she's the most likely contender

another thing to help prove this is a new girl is the shot we see of abandoned shoes on top a building (something that is usually seen as a way to imply suicide in japanese media) and a girl falling off a building into a cloud of pink.. something. im fairly certain what we're looking at is a pre-transformation scene, as:

even though the girl is falling, interestingly enough, if you look at the environment around her the rain has suddenly stopped, as if we’ve frozen time again (more proof for homura being involved with the magical girl process via a contractor this time around?)

is when the text for ‘wraith’ pops up

in a blink and you miss it moment, we see this kanji repeated on screen - and with my shitty transitional skills, the kanji shown here is the one for “who”, as in “who are you?”

pretty close and shut case right? mainly because i'm a contrarian i do want to throw out that this could absolutely be a red herring and this isn't a new girl at all, and actually madoka, but i might actually save that for an entirely separate theory post since it mainly fits into that

Hidden Images

now this is the one that I'm going to sound completely crazy for, which is why i saved it for last, but I fully believe there are hidden images hinting more to stuff that might happen in the film within the credits over the course of the entire trailer

i don't think any of these are new scenes, but just like with the walpurgis/homura part they’re showcasing relevant scenes from the anime/rebellion. But the keyword here is relevant, and it’s VERY interesting if i’m right on the scene they’ve hidden throughout the trailer.

first one is straight forward, there’s a hidden walpurgis in this shot here:

the second one however is way more interesting, as it appears MULTIPLE times throughout the rest of the trailer! once at 0:42, then again at 1:12, and the finally at 1:21 with the title credits. this is the image as i can get it most clearly:

doesn't that look familiar? it should. because this is none other homura than wrapped up in the karmatic strings from the original anime; the same strings that we ALSO see madoka is wrapped in!

of all the scenes to chose, it's fascinating that they choose the karmatic strings where homura specifically (since the girl in the trailer doesn't have madoka's pigtails, so we can conclude it's homura) is wrapped up. in the anime the original context is talking about homura becoming a witch (which shows her turning into a grief seed which is also in the trailer, not adding the screencap tho since its harder to see), and considering the stuff happening in walpurgis this is probably another red flag we're seeing for homura

(side note: im also personally interested for a different reason due to another theory i have related to homura being an anomaly since the end of the og anime like madoka but i haven't written/posted yet but i will someday. probably. bringing it up here tho just in case)

Extra

this is just some extra stuff i noticed that didn't really cleanly fit into a theory:

while im not 100% sure what the object contractor homura is sitting on (i know it's SOMETHING, but i cannot for the life of me remember what it is, looks a little like a mix of a harp and iroha's crossbow ironically tho), what is identifiable are the lights that surround her

specifically, the pink-ish sand we see in the lights is the same sand we see in homura's shield, the same sand she uses to reset time with

and of course the most obvious one, sayaka's new outfit with the bandages is a redesign of her with the mask we see in the concept trailer! shame we can’t have a better look at the original but tbh i like the new one better

(note: i do think the new designs for everyone tie into the previously mentioned theory from the unknown girl section but im putting this one here bc why not lol)

i believe that's mainly everything i wanted to talk about, idk how to end this

[latentspaceofficial]

research tangent! scp x wh13

so this is something a little bit different than what i normally talk about. i'm putting on a different cap today. ok little nerd moment thats been living rent free in my head for days. ive got an antistatic bag on my desk thats been sitting here for a while and i noticed something familiar

that sure as hell looks like the scp foundation logo

which got me really thinking. so its very obvious to me that the scp logo takes inspiration from this iso or ansi symbol. but whats even more odd was looking at the timeline of the scp wikis birth. im a zillenial (god i hate that word) so my childhood was watching markiplier play scp:cb, scrolling the old wiki, fucking with cleverbot. fun stuff like that. i was still a drooling idiot. when sci-fi renamed to syfy. but i remember the switchover and not being allowed to watch eureka because there were some "goddamns" in there. but i was allowed to watch warehouse 13, in spite of steve's existence. i was way too into the steampunk and lore of warehouse 13 when it was relevant. so much so i had a fucking farnsworth ringtone on my lg shit phone and i thought it was the coolest thing. i'm also still gay as hell for h.g. wells and her fit.

but anyway anyway. the premise of warehouse 13 was finding dangerous "artifacts" that imbued special status affects on people and to neutralize them with "neutralizer grid polyethylene static bags" as they say. their motto being "snag it. bag it. and tag it." or something to that effect.

what im getting at is that warehouse 13 has a similar premise to the scp foundation, but more mainstream comedy and less psychological horror. there's a tangential link between wh13 with scp via anti static bags and the symbol. so i looked into this a bit. through cursory searches, i didn't find anyone really talking about this other than a similar premise. so i looked at timelines. in july 2008 the scp foundation wiki (idk which one) was started, while wh13 piloted on july 2009. with a year delta, it seems clear "who stole from who". but wait. writing, pitching, and filming takes quite a while. is a year really enough time? i can't find any trademarks registered by universal nor any evidence of a canadian filming license. so this is where i stopped typing on my phone and started researching. the waters are a bit muddy, so bear with me. wh13 was co-written by a handful of people and rewritten as well. but the original plot was announced by sci-fi here in october of 2007

according to wikipedia (the free encyclopedia), inspirations for warehouse 13 include the x-files, raiders of the lost ark, something called moonlighting, and this show from the late 80s and early 90s called "friday the 13th: the series". i'd never heard of it, but it shares the vaguest premise with both wh13 and scp to keep bad artifacts away from harming people.

well what about the scp wiki? when did it form? well it's complicated. (i'm sorry for my poor cropping, it will happen again)

the scp wiki itself states that the original scp came from 4chan and that a lot of original organization happened on 4chan. indeed 4chan is the source of famous scps such as 173

posted on june 2007 is the original lore post about 173 and can be seen as the beginning of scps. which pre-dates the announcement of wh13. i don't know about you, but how fast you could go from trolling 4chan to a pilot script? at this point "some government authority retrieving dangerous magic embued items" was not a previously done idea and was indeed original. the x-files kinda did this before with balancing larger plot arcs with mini plot supernatural occurrences, not all aliens. but nothing about being an authoritative group that comes in and cleans up super natural mishaps. nah, mulder and skully just stayed in the basement or took an occasional road trip to see a whistleblower. i honestly love scp far more than wh13, but i'm going to be the devil's advocate and not give the new era spin on an old idea to the scp wiki just yet. 173 is an scp, but the idea of scps is not fully laid out yet. the thread was also deleted days later and thus only lived in the minds of active forum users of the time as fan derivatives were made. so there was a period of time where the fandom had started to form, but no official wiki existed. the semi official scp wiki formed in january 2008. later than the announcement of wh13 but before the pilot of the show ever aired in july 2009. so it's always possible the writers were 4channers and yoinked the idea. again, it's so fascinating how close in time and narrative the scp wiki and wh13 are. i personally doubt the writers were on 4chan at the time, but neither the wiki nor the show writers exist in a vacuum. i think it all warrants scrutiny and there's no smoking gun saying who inspired who, or if it's absolute coincidence. that is unless some ogs from the scp wiki or the writers of wh13 are able to speak on it. i'm curious what other people think.

[aroace-poly-show]

hi more me guessing hw songs.

i learned the lyrics to Snowman by halyosy (lyrics) and now can't stop thinking of it as a potential hw song- not as a song they would cover, but as a song their virtual singer would sing to them (kaito to tsukasa specifically). i don't think you've ever shared virtual singer lore so im making it up drawing influence from the feelings of both the nightcord and wxs virtual singers

""I told a lie to my mom", a boy began to cry. I am made to be all white so that I can take away the darkness in his heart". -> n25s miku's whole thing is to be there for mafuyu and help ease the pain in her heart. i'd guess the virtual singers of hw would have a similar motivation. (also, the lie in question was that the boy had friends and was talented at school and sports, so that his dying mother didn't worry about him. if this isn't tsukasa at its core.)

"I tried to warm your cold smile, but I can't make a smile with my artificial eyes" -> but the vs aren't actually real (i dont want to think about the implications of sekai so i will leave it there), so what can they do other than provide support? provide a word here or there, a wish of healing? but also- the wishes of the virtual singers have to come from somewhere, right? is this not also the wish of hw- "i want you to be happy, even if i am not yet myself"?

"Neon tubes and monochrome snow" -> i actually don't really know what this line means in the actual song but here- the neon lights of the theater, the colorful world of the stage, and the cold, grey feelings freezing them in place?

"I'll tell you how to do it, I believe you can do it, Soft snow covers our tracks" -> this again as the wish of the virtual singers- i can't change for you, but i can offer advice and push you forward because i know you can (oh also spitball other point- kaito's line in his 1.5 anni card- "when faced with a wall, i don't want to push them up over from the bottom. I want to climb it myself and pull them up with me, so that we can see the other side together"). i had a connection to the soft snow covering our tracks part but i don't know how to say it in words. but in colors it's a soft orange. which i know doesn't make any sense.

"You ran with your friends" -> emu nene rui do i need to say more here. (yes because it never gets old. because of the pain, of the things that tore them down, of the steps they took back up, they found their dreams friends family).

"He will be alright now, 'cause there's no winter that isn't followed by spring" -> yes

also raising the point of snow imagery- it alrealy exists in normal n25- mafuyu did chose the name "yuki". and i think there was an event about it. i think that theme also works in hw. but instead of the damp, blue sort of snowfall that feels cold and hollow, it's the warmer, sparkly snow of dawn. it's the snow that was lonely in the night, but beings to feel less so when the light first begins to break.

AADHWJJDNWKDNWKDUSQJOSHISKWUQNDOBWNSNSJ acey are you in my fucking brain. aroace wxs fanatics really do share a brain cell because HELLO??????/silly

i haven’t said shit about the virtual singers yet but ohmygod your guess is so fucking on point. awawawa. this is so fucking hw core and like it fits so so fucking well into the current thoughts i have for both tsukasa and the main story guhhhh explodes explodes explodes

firstly, might as well do a tiny bit of explanation for hw virtual singers. they both have the same overall personalities as canon wxs, kaito being the responsible older brother figure (representing what tsukasa wants to be like yknow) and miku being very childish and all (i. forget her symbolism w tsukasa. whoops). also given that the sekai and they were created from tsukasa’s feelings, they are well aware that tsukasa isn’t quite okay. even if he isn’t entirely aware of it himself. yknow how he is. anyway. you’re very right about hw virtual singers. their goal is both to ease their pain but also to like. revive the bit of hope they all had, and help them not lose it again. given it’s an online theater group, they of course want to help them do shows and find joy in doing again, because despite it hurting them so badly they still hold so much love for shows and the vs want to help them with it, but more than anything they want them all to find joy in living again. like they’ve all been hurt and vs is there to ease that pain and help them find joy and hope despite being given so much shit and having been hurt. yknow. and i don’t have much to add aside from that cause like. you got them so well. my god

"You ran with your friends" throwing UP. i hate these clowns and their stupid loving friendship and love and care they have for each other because who else understood them like they did each other who else did they have aside from each other because who else will drag them back up and cling to hope with them like they do for each other. they’re so. sobs.

"He will be alright now, 'cause there's no winter that isn't followed by spring" YES. YES INDEED. they’re all gonna be okay. they’re gonna be okay. cries.

tsukasa side note:

""I told a lie to my mom", a boy began to cry. I am made to be all white so that I can take away the darkness in his heart" -> also like you said TBIS IS TSUKASA AT HIS CORE and he’s exactly the same in hw. he wants to be that big brother his siblings can look up to he wants to make them proud and he especially doesn’t want to worry anyone Ever and saki and toya know something might be wrong but he won’t tell her (but to be fair. he hasn’t exactly admitted it to himself either) bc he’s tsukasa tenma!! he’s okay!!! he has to be okay!! he’s going to be a star!! and what kind of star would let a lot a few setbacks get him down!! so there’s no need for anyone to worry!! cause he’s a-okay!! (<- lying. to himself as well.) honestly at this rate i’m not even gonna need to do the tsukasa ramble since i’m just rambling about him in asks when i can /lh

[sodapopsolstice]

Homestuck^2 sucked because none of the trolls actually aged like they were supposed to. Like the humans aged (even though they're MEANT to be immortal and dont give me they're mentally 40+ JOHN NO LONGER FITS IN HIS GOD TIER SUIT HE HAS AGED) but we don't ever see the natural development of the trolls.

Vriska, Aradia and Sollux I can kinda give leeway since they've went through timelines and dreambubbles and double death and half death and yada yada those 3 are kinda fucked up timeline wise so I kinda see why they never aged.

But Terezi, Karkat and Gamzee? No fucking excuse.

Kanaya is a grey area however cause you know she's "Kanaya The Vampire Fashion Queen" but like no credible sources I can find SAY anything about age when it comes to rainbow drinkers and I can't find out if The Dolorosa was actually a rainbow drinker so we don't have a naturally lived rainbow drinker example so I'm just gonna have to assume Kanaya ages like a regular troll.

However, the other 3 have no right to not be ageing. For example, I'm gonna pull up a image of Commander Vantas here:

It's hard to tell with Cmdr. Vantas because THE ONLY TIME WE SEE HIS FACE IS IN HERO MODE OR IN A LIGHTING AND SITTING DOWN anyways. But with what we are given with Cmdr. Vantas he DOES in fact give signs he has aged, not as much as he should of, by this point he should have gotten a good bit taller than the humans and have completely red eyes, but it's better than THIS

what the fuck. Meat Karkat SHOWS NO SIGNS OF AGING AT ALL HE LOOKS THE EXACT SAME AS HE DID WHEN HE WAS 13 WHEN HE IS 20 AT BARE MINIMUM and you may think im overreacting, cause obviously its just his symbolic sprite he doesn't ACTUALLY look like that

You buffoon, you oaf take at look at this. HE ISN'T AGING IN THE SLIGHTEST IN MEAT.

Other than artstyle and change of clothes he looks the fucking same, at this point in HS^2 he should be looking like The Signless but he doesn't even look older than Kankri. But maybe Karkat is a bad example maybe the poor guy has a case of eternal babyface and he's just cursed to look 13 forever.

Let's take a look at Gamzee instead.

There's so little images I could find off sight of Gamzee in hs^2 and I did NOT want to be on that buggy ass website for long so this is the best you're getting. As expected, Gamzee ALSO has a case of chronic babyface and it's especially egregious as he's the descendant of THE GRAND HIGHBLOOD.

Tbh this is actually kinda a good image since we can semi eye measure Vrissy and Gamzee. Of which Gamzee seems imo taller than Vrissy, not in massive hulking beast like GHB but like and adult man to a 15 year old, which would be normal and expected IF HE WASN'T AGAIN THE DESCENDANT OF THE GRAND HIGHBLOOD.

That guy is literally known in fandom for 2 things, being pissed off and being huge, again Gamzee follows the trend of not having the adult troll characteristics of dark grey skin and whilst his horns are red due to being hero mode and we can't see his eyes i think we can assume he probably doesn't have some nice lavender lookers on him.

And there is a reason why I've spent the last 1 or 2 hour complaining about obtuse homestuck lore and it's simple it shows a lack of care.

It shows that Homestuck^2 on the surface is a mediocre at best adaptation of Homestuck but as soon as the thin surface layer is scrapped away, it shows a hollow project, it shows a project that generally proves itself to be a homestuck thing but it doesn't show passion, I could probably right now find you any HS fan and ask them what makes adult trolls different to young trolls and they could probably easily tell me how and why. So why couldn't a whole team of people attempt at the very least, a version like that?

Its little things like the trolls not aging/aging like humans to the damn table to the lack of acknowledgement for already accepted and semi canonised reps of queer culture in favour for rep that punches down to the outright ridiculous swivels in personality that's prove to me at least that HSE and HS^2 were dead on arrival.