#what are baby scavs

[draagu]

regicide

yes

[izanallu]

RAIN WORLD OC(s) ‼️‼️

I haven’t actually posted anything else about Lapse specifically besides one post so here’s some actually finished art for once (ignoring the non shaded drawing next to it)

My take on ancients is probably really far from anything canon if there even is any implications on what they look like under the mask buuuuuut oh well

Also just figured out how to do the read more thing. I’m learning this platform as I go 🙏🙏

Close up of my scav because I can’t get over how epic he looks

Fluffy baby ❤️❤️

Someone please help me find a name for him, he needs a name

[rainworldouterwoodau]

Edit: Read the entire fucking rant i am done with people misunderstanding this over & over

I AM SO SICK OF PEOPLE ALWAYS TALKING HOW ARTIFICER IS IN THE WRONG & NEVER TALKING ABOUT HOW THE SCAVS STABBED HER CHILDREN OVER A PEARL LIKE YES ARTIFICER IS IN THE WRONG & SHE DID WORSE THAN THE SCAVS BUT COULD WE PLEASE ALSO TALK ABOUT WHAT THE SCAVS DID WAS HORRIBLE ASWELL??? I SEE SO MANY PEOPLE TRYING TO JUSTIFY SCAVS BECAUSE THEY STABBED HER CHILDREN & THAT FUCKING PISSES ME OFF LIKE THEY SAY "Scavengers can Kill whoever steals their things" EVEN BABIES??? Fucking tell me how Is that ok stabbing a fucking baby over some object isnt the Life of the baby more important??? I feel sorry for the innocent scavs ngl but- WHAT 😭 Bro if 99% of scavs werent fucking assholes nothing would have happened, the pups were the ones who died for a very stupid fucking reason permanently too, the scavs respawned, Scavs have all the rights to kill someone when taking their stuff but - NOT THE PUPS😭 they dont even know what a scavenger is all they know is what food & mom are

This Is my First rant about Artificer's story because i am very pissed off about how i never see people talking About How scavs value Objects more than the lives of babies

[kiababs-creative-void]

Hey.

Hey what if I said Artificer au where after murderating the hell out of yet another scavenger camp she finds a gaggle of tiny puffball scav kittens (scittens) tucked away in a pipe and realizes she just slaughtered every possible parent of this litter and wonders how many babies she left orphaned in the wake of her warpath?

What if I told you she knows she can't make amends for her genocide, but she can protect these kittens now. That, at least, she can do.

[its-the-sa]

call me a heretic but i really want to make an AU where artificer reconciles with the scavengers.

i mean.., they're a bunch of chaotic, impulsive, scrappy junkyard beasts who love explosions their AI code is written to distinguish between five different types of violence. arti was made for that kind of bullshit. in different circumstances, she'd get along great with them. she probably DID get along great with them before The Incident. she would fit in with them so well if she could just let go of her bigotry.

i just.. really wanna see that happen.

i wanna see her post-game, angry and alone, not understanding why she still feels so hollow. i want to see her isolating herself in metropolis for dozens of cycles, massacring the same scavs over and over, until she eventually starts recognizing them. i want her to gradually start noticing their individual differences. i want her to start wondering what their names are. i want her to start feeling a little bit ashamed whenever she recognizes someone she has killed.

i want to see her stumble across a baby scav one day and want to kill it, but be unable to bring herself to do so. i want her to begrudgingly realize that her maternal instinct is stronger than her hate.

i wanna see her subconsciously start showing mercy to the passive scavs who just want to be left alone, and start exclusively hunting down the crazy trigger-happy ones who fight to the death for shits and giggles. and i want it to gradually start being fun for her, too. i wanna see her participate in casual death matches for sport rather than vengeance. i want the other warriors to gradually warm up to her and invite her to play insane variations of chicken with them. i want her to be bewildered by the realization that she has somehow acquired friends.

i want to see her come to truly, deeply regret her reign of terror. i want to see her grapple with the fact that many of her victims will never forgive her. i want to see her learn to cope and eventually start to forgive herself.

i want to see her reach a place where she's finally able to properly mourn for her pups. i want her friends to show her how to conduct a scav funeral. i want to see her set off ritual explosions and paint memorial glyphs on the walls and string up a pair of blue and green pearls on an altar.

i want to see her fully integrated into scav culture and happy about it i want her to find her best ending in the last place she would've ever thought to look

... is this anything?

[psystirene]

scabs + slugcat / scab hybrid

some hcs under the cut fdhshcshc

As part of making Rain World's creatures all look like they came from similar ancestry, I try to keep everything with three toes, etc. I think another feature that is common in a lot of Rain World's species is hardened heads, usually these are derivatives of the material known as "living metal". This is what iterators are made out of. It is a living structure like skin but is tough as steel, but has a sort of high metabolic cost (partly due to its weight).

So this is mostly seen in lizards, who can afford it because they are (mostly) solo predators, efficient hunters who basically just eat and sleep (and breed presumably?).

Scavs are probably omnivores, and can't eat directly from carcasses. Over time their living metal components devolved into a more natural sort of carapace, keratin-type structure, which forms the "mask" of the scavs. Probably also teeth and such.

Basically spear-defying lizard heads, dark scav heads & horns, and vulture masks are all derived from the same thing (= the Ancients obsession with masks /hj)

Other fun fact headcanons: - Scavengers have a primordial pouch (think the glob of fat over a cat's stomach. It's for protection) - Scav quills rattle to make a rustling-esque sound and are used as part of body language. - Scavs can vocalize but it sounds really dumb. I'm imagining deer sounds. Please listened to deer sounds. - Scavs do not have external ears, but they have ear holes under where their masks end.

Also realistically slugcats and scavengers could not have a hybrid baby, but I was asked by Kip what I thought it would be like and what I came out with is, basically, a fuzzier slug with ears farther to the sides, more upper body & arm strength, stubbier tail, and probably less pipe mobility but the ability to jump from pole to pole (yippee!!)

[rain-world-headcanons]

i love scavs so im going to drop some of my headcanons here :D

scavs have their own crude language loosely derived from that of the ancients and, if given the proper time and environment, could eventually form advanced societies

the reason scavs often leave colored pearls alone is because they see them as tainted or cursed

the blue paint scavs use is made from hanging fruit, red from either clay or ground snail shells, and white from ground squidcada chitin

baby scavs are typically left safe in underground burrows, but when needing to be transported they ride on the backs of their parents

scavs groom each others spines as a way of bonding, like cats

scavs also play with each other!! usually just chasing each other around but sometimes they play fight (or actually fight) with their eartlers

I LOVE SCAVENGER WORLDBUILDING ITS SO COOL

i think its fun to think about how an advanced scavenger society would be! would they continue the cycle the ancients continued, or would they break it? they know about echoes, i wonder if they'd 'worship' them or be scared of them, or try to figure out what they were... or even learn from them!

and OOH the white the pearl the purer.... thats honestly a cool concept! i like the paint concepts too, that's certainly not something i would've thought of! maybe the blue could also be from the headplates on squidcadas as well? or pale blue lizard scales or vulture masks!

baby scavs being left in underground burrows explains why we don't see any! i wonder if it's a baby pigeon situation or if they're just absurdly fluffy [which is a very common fanon thing - personally i really like it!] when they're small. grooming eachother and playing with eachother is honestly really cool - playfighting - and actual fighting - with their eartlers could maybe be a way of showing strength? :o

[enteragoodnamehere]

OCtober but with my Rain World OCs - Day 1: Introductions

WOO YEAH BABY THAT'S A LOTTA GUYS!!!!! I wanted to doodle all of my Main slugs and iterators and I forgot how many I had lmao. anyways closeups + more info under the cut but warning that its a lot lol

The Mediator (and Timmy) - they/them (and he/him) - The Mediator was a slugcat that lived near the Stranger's colony of scavs/Tollbooth and would frequently mediate disputes between them and other slugs. They had no interest in living with a colony and were perfectly happy with living by themself... until they met Timmy, a weird aquatic slugpup with an intense attachment to a red pearl. Unable to find his family/colony and recognizing that the area was no place to raise a pup, they go on a quest to find somewhere better for Timmy, which ends up being on Five Step Dance's can. They also befriend the Scribe too!!

The Stranger (or "pearl" in scav sign language) - it/she by iterators- A normal slugcat raised by the scavenger colony living in the ruins of Tollbooth's can. They deliver a message to Five Step Dance from Tollbooth informing her of Toll's collapse and how it was 100% Rapid Ascent's fault (not really but Toll's pretty biased). It's treated basically as another scav by scavengers, but other slugcats are unnerved by it and its mannerisms (hence the name). A good hunter who cares very deeply about its colony

The Scribe - they/them - purposed organism created by Rapid Ascent to find a specific pearl (the one Timmy has!). Their antenna and mane allow them to "read" pearls (its not true "reading" but more like. I forget what its called but when a image is represented by numbers and letters y'know?). They eventually revolt against Ascent though and go join The Mediator and Timmy's little group to live like a normal slugcat.

The Diver - it/its or she/her specifically by Butcher - genetically modified "slugcat", its really more eel lizard than slug though. Created by Butcher's Blade for no real purpose besides "can I make an organism that would instantly be an apex predator in a marine environment". It ended up loving The Diver though and now it treats her like a spoiled house cat. It'll rip and maim and try to eat anything that gets too close though so watch out

The Entertainer - any prns - another modified slugcat created by Butcher because it was bored. The Entertainer was supposed to be entertainment for Butcher, but it grew bored of him really quickly and kicked her out of its can. It's mostly only still alive through its good relationships with pretty much everything lmao

The Visitor - any prns - wild slugcat that can sorta sense/manipulate electricity. How? idk lol. They were made for a challenge a while back and were meant to resemble a green alien, but she's evolved since then.

The Friend - he/him - my very first rain world oc!! he's pretty much what the Stranger would become, being another slug raised by scavs.

The Killer - she/her - joke character based off a co-op session I did with my sibling that I got attached to lmao

Five Step Dance (FSD or "Dance") - she/it - (cw: brief mention of attempted suicide) - the group senior and oldest iterator in the entire region. all my iterators are supposed to represent one of the 5 Urges, and she represents number 1 (violence). She had a bad upbringing, with Ancients that didn't really care about her, leading to her can falling into disrepair and no one doing anything about it. She grew to hate her creators, going as far as to try and kill one of them using The Executioner (the modified centipede in the image with her). She felt immense guilt about this and tried to get a better grip of her feelings, which lasted until Tollbooth told it that Ascent (her closest friend) was lying to and manipulating her and was also responsible for Tollbooth's collapse. She had a mental breakdown, sent the Executioner after Ascent and killed him, tried to kill herself, failed, spent a bunch of time being angry and taking it out on anything she could, and then calmed down when the Mediator showed up at her can. Its very angsty and I care so so much about it.

Rapid Ascent (RA or "Ascent") - he/they - the 3rd iterator of this local group built, representative of the fifth urge (survival). Dance's communication technology had failed during his construction, but rather than trying to fix it the Ancients just gave him executive control over the entire group's communications, meaning any calls or messages to or from Dance would have to go through him. The Ancients also drilled the idea that any emotion was bad and that he was the only sensible one of the local group. This really fucked him up, and post-mass ascension he became paranoid and desperate for control and attention from people he respected (basically only Dance lol). He began blocking communications from other Iterators, subtly manipulating Dance and lying to it, ignoring Tollbooth's cries for help as it was collapsing. This came back to bite him in the ass though after Tollbooth sent a message by slugcat courier (the Stranger) to Dance exposing them. Their puppet died after Dance sicced the Executioner on them, electrocuted to death. Now, if their consciousness is also dead or if they're still sentient but unable to interact with the world? Nobody knows.

Tollbooth - it/its - the youngest iterator of the group, represents the 3rd urge (companionship). It took after Butcher pre-collapse, being rebellious and only doing the bare minimum for the Ancients. It wanted to be liked and accepted by its local group and didn't really care what its creators wanted. Post-mass ascension, it noticed that one of its legs of its can was damaged and could lead to a collapse. It went to Rapid Ascent for help, but was ignored and blocked from contacting others. It eventually collapsed, although it still had some consciousness afterwards unlike Moon. Many cycles into its collapse, a group of scavengers moved into the ruins of its can. It was able to communicate with the scavs, and they performed some "repairs" to make it more stable. The scav colony also designated it as a Tollbooth and good ally, and gave it clothing (a cloak made out of rain deer hide, a vulture mask fashioned after toll markers) and rudimentary "prosthetic legs" as a peace offering. Moved by the scavengers kindness, and still bitter about Ascent, it forsake its old name and devoted its remaining life to caring for the colony. However, before this it also made a pearl for Dance explaining its situation and casting blame on Rapid Ascent for its collapse, which would eventually lead to Ascent's death.

Butcher's Blade (BB or "Butcher") - it/its - the second iterator constructed, representative of the fourth urge (gluttony). I'll be real guys I've been writing for 2 hours and I'mm tired so uhh. It likes genetic modification and gives itself the rot :thumbsup:

[mochichoki]

Heya! I'm just random passerby- Don't mind me-

Gotten temporarily possessed, so I drew your Lantern Mouse critter as a Slugcat and that fancy Scav of yours

Adios

OH MY GOD MY BABIES OH MY GOD💖💖💖💖💖💖

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY THEY ARE SUPER BEAUTIFUL THEY CAME OUT SO ADORABLE AND CUTE!!!

I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY THEY ARE SUPER BEAUTIFUL THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

HAVE A NICE DAY/NIGHT 💖💖💖💖💖💖

[i3utterflyeffect]

the slugs are done cooking!

anyway here's yellow, blue, and red!

Blue

Blue has the ability to store more than one thing, including extra food, in cheek pouches!

They also can make baits for other creatures if given the correct resources. This can be great for them to lay out to attract an eggbug or something, but isn't a sure-fire way of getting food before the cycle ends. Admittedly, Beckon's cycles are much longer than Pebbles', so they get a solid amount of time outside before the rain.

Can and will eat anything! This includes things that are not digestible by slugcats. Probably has eaten a spore puff and immediately thrown up. Also sometimes will die spontaneously and be the one to discover that something is poisonous. If they were playable you could probably eat certain things that'd take your pips instead lol

instead of netherwart, they eat bubbleweed! similarly exotic and not found in Beckon's surroundings, and probably grows more around Abberant Creation/Crafter of Connection. actually did i mention that alexcrafter/CoC and AC are the same person. i don't think i did. that's unrelated tho

instead of getting scars from lava, it's instead from toxic waste like you might find in the Garbage Wastes. They can walk okay still, miraculously, but the skin has become extremely sensitive and any injuries in that area would hurt a LOTTTTT. They learn this after trying to pluck a paincone and getting swarmed.

Also related to the scarring, has a very high scav reputation due to saving a baby scav.

Yellow (there's no yellow text so it's orange. oops)

Expert with explosives and can craft grenades on the go. Grenades are made with a cherry bomb and a rock. They can also make a spear explode on impact-- different from an explosive spear since it's made with a grenade rather than the red cloth(?)

VERY VERY bright. had a habit of eating beckon's neurons when he wasn't looking and by the time they learned not to they were already glowing like a flashlight

probably started wailing upon learning they were eating beckon's brain on accident also

can basically craft anything like gourmand. has made VERY dangerous things before by complete accident. such as previously mentioned nuke.

Has probably broken a karma gate by trying to figure out how it works. probably the karma gate to the void if beckons even has one. no ascension for the kids. not that i think they'd ever WANT to

Has some degree of electric resistance. you'd be surprised at the centipedes they can survive

can and will fix things for beckons with only the motivator of love and sheer willpower

Red (imo the most interesting)

can and will befriend anything.

for comedic value these creatures are included in the pool of things red can and will befriend. i mean maybe not the centipede but also it'd be very very funny

is differently colored because their niche is in mimicry! their tail has eye spots to scare off vultures and if they slap their tail it may look like it's about to bite! it's used to scare off predators, which red deals with more often than you'd probably guess.

looks like something else on first glance but don't worry about that

high lizard reputation! just more likely to survive beasts in general actually

i was initially going to say the monster school is an interspecies lizard pack but then i thought of what monster school would be like in rain world and that's the funniest fucking thing ever so i'll leave it up to y'all. dropwigs learning how to dropwig from a giant fucking miros? maybe a guardian if you're feeling extra silly? or train lizard who has taken in a ton of stray lizards. who knows...

gets gifted a yellow bandana by Abberant Creation or scavs maybe

surprisingly low scavenger reputation. they're not kill-on-sight but definitely 'oh shit troublemaker incoming. watch out' (they get better reputation after blue helped the scavs out tho)

their pig friend (reuben) is a yeek btw. if you don't know what a yeek they're the best critters in rain world

anyway i thought of some interesting things that might be able to happen but i want them to be surprises in case i end up writing slugpup shenanigans :3 if you want to write a fic you can ask me though

i'm working on green but they suffer a chronic lack of significant abilities i can work off of :pensive:

[spotsupstuff]

where should i start reading your Rain World stuff about your OCs and such?

i don't really have any order in it so just jumpin into the oc tag n readin thru it would do, i guess?? though yeah,, tumblr isn't nice with the tags i won't lie, so i'mma compile some stuff for ya

there Are something of intro posts for the characters, though they've evolved a lot over time (originally the Anemoi Iterators were just not a thing, the only one i was meant to have was Fish with Zephyr serving only as a little neat backstory for one of the scugs connected to Fish. so Zeph especially has had a lot of evolution done to her character)

here are the posts: • Intro for Fish Inside a Birdcage, the Seafarer, the Tinkerer and the rest of their little family (x) (out of this Fish and Tinktink are most important n developed, with Seafarer bein a char i wanna work on a bit at some point) • Intro for Murder of Crows (she's a bg character for Moon's group, I rarely actually do stuff with her), Abet Zephyr, the Pan Wielder and few of the Scavs living in Fish's facilities (x) (this is also where The Children of Eo group is first mentioned) • Intro for the rest of Anemoi Iterators of The Children of Eo group, voice claims (Zephyr's is outdated) and the first look at world map, which i'm updating for myself as i'm workin on this stuff and will repost at some point so y'all can see the updates too (x) • List of Iterator City names (x) • Voice claim for Three Sparrows and updated one for Zephyr (x) • Spotto™ Ancients design reference post (x) • -sigh- "Who's Beppi?" (x) (here's him as a baby) • quick off the string in Ancient times AU designs for Euros 'n Boreas (x) • Sparrows' quickly put together art ref (proper one pending) (x)

Three Sparrows' lore is scattered basically all over over the place n she doesn't have a proper intro post yet

Some direct links for the convenience: • How the Great Cycle works in the Serotonin Take (a little add-on to it)

• Iterator anatomy lesson (mostly about the puppets) • Iterator anatomy lesson: detailing of the Hivemind that makes them up • Iterator anatomy lesson: personality development • Rambling about worldbuilding, mostly the Folk Gods (quite disorganized, explains The Saint though) • Ancients' hand mutilation in the name of the Global Religion • Ancients' mask culture • Ancients and their feeding face tentacles • Ancients' "hair" • Ancients and water habitats • Ancients, their venom and Also The Cleaning Slugs • Ancients' gills and some stuff with breathing • Three Sparrows character notes • Little drabble thing for Three Sparrows, though some things might not hold up • "Has Sparrows made any connections while in school?" • Three Sparrows and her slugcat reincarnation (lil continuations of it x, x) • "The Eo Iterators get off the string, who dies who thrives?" (not canon, except the Haboob comic at the beginning) • Zephyr and Moon swap as a characterization exercise that got a lil outta hand (not canon, but neat either way) • A continuation of the above, with Looks to the Moon in the Eo group + some talking about Abet Zephyr as a person • Fooling around with the concept of Zephyr knowing Pebbles, but then big explanation of Mission Self-preservation aka the biggest thing happening in the OC lore • "Can Euros run Doom?" • How did Caper of Euros and Three Sparrows get together romantically • Caper of Euros' priorities the lil comic • "What is Euros like during a Hivemind unsync?" + Three Sparrows the treasured component • Euros and Sparrows married?? • Caper of Euros' first case of the Rot • post 1st Rot reconcilation between the lovebirds • "Did Euros' entire Lab have to be rebuilt after the eradication of the 1st Rot?" • Sparrows' deathbed • Sparrows' Memory Crypt beef (x)• "Who's older? Notos or Haboob?" + Euros 'n Haboob's relationship • Gushing about the ending of the playlist for the group (link to the playlist itself here) • some Tinkerer and the Scavs fooling around content • tiny Seafarer post • what happened between Seafarer and Artificer? why were they separated?

(new text block cuz apparently tumblr has a character limit for that) • Iterator anatomy lesson: the antennas • Iterator anatomy lesson: sexuality and desire for pleasure • Ancients' blood • Ancients' skin texture • "How are Ancient's born?" • "Did Ancients' ancestors have even bigger teeth?" • Farmer Ancients weaponry and tools + Sparrows' encounter with a Red Centipede • "How'd Zephyr end up like that?" • "What are some of Zephyr's happiest memories?" • "Did any other continent have a bootleg Iterator situation like Zephyr?" • What was young Boreas like • Boreas, his batflies and what Desaevio was like • "Very beautiful, very powerful." Boreas animatic made by me sister • Angry Boreas? Let's try to fix him with a controlled shock • Filler Iterators stuff, especially introduction of Orion's Pathway • designing filler stuff a lil: NAE, Gem, high circle Sparrows outfit, first look at the Preacher, Expiation and Spore • Orion's helmet and RW constellations • some lore stuff for Orion • Orion's General • more on the Polar War • Fish and Pigeon Drones • Fish Inside a Birdcage Daycare for scav kits • "What is stored on Caper of Euros' puppet chamber pearls?" • How Boreas and Zephyr took Euros' romantic relationship with Sparrows the comic • Sparrows' daily routine • "Has Sparrows ever seen Euros without his faceplate?" • Iterator baby photos and first appearance of Sparrows' mom, Inkling of an Inbound Daybreak • "Does Sparrows hide her tail in her high circle outfit?" • Movement within an Iterator • "How does it feel like to respawn?"/Sparrows' first death described a little • How did that wedding of Euros n Sparrows' looked • "Does the Rot smell bad?" • "How did Boreas bail Sparrows out of getting fired after the 1st Rot case?" • Grandmama Sparrows • some stuff on Euros' 3rd Mechanic • Euros and his relationship to his memories of Sparrows • "Why do Biting Notos' colony worships teeth and the mouth?" • "Did Notos know something was wrong with its puppet?" • "What does Orion think about Notos' puppet design?" • Biting Notos' sins against its own kind • Inhale in Haboob colony (and herself) notes and ideas • some things on the relationship between Euros 'n Haboob • the Anemoi + Fish as slugcats • Fate of Boreas' Blessing in Saint Time • Ascending Biting Notos comic

[macchitea]

Oh oh! I wanted to ask, what is Dedede in the Rain World AU? Iterator? Scavenger? Lizard? Something else? And, would Kirby have moor food pips then a regular pup? What about Meta knight?

Also I just imagine for Meta Knight when you try to drop his favorite funny sharp stick (Galaxia) he just puts it on his back like Hunter with spare spears. You cannot get him to leave it and neither can the garbage worms (which I can see him have a bad universal relationship with). This is your AU though and I’m wondering what you had in mind if you have a different idea, I’m just spouting thoughts

hI ANON!! (i finally have the time to get back to you!! sorry for the wait!)

i'm really glad you asked about rw!Dedede!

i originally drafted concepts of him being a gourmand-like slugcat with a Huge tail that he uses similarly to a hammer. he also is the (self-appointed) leader of a colony of lantern mice that he adopted!!

here were my early design drafts for him!

i eventually scrapped the idea of slugcat dedede since i felt it didn't fit the rtdl team dynamic very well seeing as dedede and bandee are both a different species from kirby and mk, and dedede having a very strong shape contrast to the rest of the dream team in kirby

and then i stumbled upon this post by @peculiurperennial and went feral a little <3; so at the moment, my headcanon is that rw!dedede is a chief scav!! (who still is the leader of a lantern mice colony)

as for why he's with the mice colony and not his own kind, who knows ;)

-

and yes!!! kirby would absolutely have a HUGE food pip requirement, possibly being close to gorm's food requirement; in my au, kirbpup is somewhat of an exceptional slugpup! he was 'born' with an accelerated metabolism and extreme adaptive capabilities that contributes to his giant appetite.

the baby is hungy!!

-

ASDFLDSKF AND I LOVE YOUR HC ABOUT GALAXIA-STICK;

i had the idea that galaxia couldn't be thrown and would be wielded as a melee weapon, but the idea that meta just outright reFUSES to put it down is amazing LMAO, i love it.

if meta somehow loses his funny stick he'll frantically try to search for it; he'll refuse to hibernate without it; its his comfort sword your honor

HATES garbage worms with a passion, if one tries to steal it he'll hold on like his life depends on it

also wary of scavs he doesn't know, but is generally more tolerant of them!

the only exception to this rule is of course kirbpup; its the only instance meta willingly lets go of his sword and lets someone else wield it!

the red cloth tied around the sword's base is actually a bit of meta's handiwork to make it more comfortable for kirbpup to hold :D

[pookapufferfish]

I wanna ramble about my rain world au so I am gonna do a very long ramble under the cut

This turned out quiet long but I had fun spending an hour and a bit writing this

So firstly, I am gonna officially name my au the Rough Stuff au.

I'm gonna start at the beginning of the timeline with Spearmaster. Like canon, Spears visited Pebbles and gave him the instructions that led to Pebbles rot. And during Spearmasters second visit to Pebbles the pearl gets ripped out and all that.

In my au Suns showed not much affection to Spears until halfway on the second trip. Spears took longer to get home after having the pearl ripped out. Moon tried helping Spears with the pain slightly but it never healed probably and left a scar. When Spears got back to Suns, Suns already thought Spears had died due to how much time had passed. Suns helps Spears usually on bad pain days if Rivulet and Hunter aren't around.

Spears doesn't like Pebbles very much since it was a very scary moment. Spears respects Suns and hasn't messed with Suns and Pebbles relationship, but Spears still glares at Pebbles whenever seeing him.

Next Arti. She lost her kids in the same scenario as canon. But her kids are still part of the cycle and come back, but they are all separated from eachother. Arti initially doesn't crave vengeance and just wants her kids, but as her search becomes hopeless and she cannot find her children she becomes enraged.

She goes on to kill many scavengers. She never really gets to the scav king but she does scare the scavenger population off of Pebbles. She stays with Pebbles as she sees him as a pup. She over time forgets how her pups used to look like, and her memory replaces her pups with ones that look like Pebbles.

Her pups are found by other slugcats and will be explained in those slugcat stories. But basically even if Arti saw her pups now she would not recognise them.

Hunter time. So Hunter was made and raised by Sig in a short time. Sig made Hunter to save Moon. Hunter showed no signs of Rot until the journey to Moon had already started. Hunter pushed though and decided to complete the journey.

After Hunter completed their quest they decided to stay around Pebbles for a while and met with Arti. The two got into a relationship but broke it off. Arti was still enraged with the scavengers and Hunter was still very ill. Hunter makes it back to Sig with assistance from Arti and Rivulet. Rivulet has not met Moon or Pebbles at this point and is just a friendly slugcat. Rivulet has only met Spears and Enot at this point.

Hunter gets fixed up by Sig. Sig tries their best but Hunter kinda has to permanently live with the rot, but it is more manageable. Sometimes the rot tries taking over and Hunter has seizures. But Hunter is in a more stable condition.

Gourmand, This is fun. So Gourm is the oldest slugcat in the slugcat colony. Gourmand acts as a uncle to all the pups in the colony and assists most parent slugcats. Gourmand goes on the journey to find more food and land to help the colony.

During this journey Gourm finds one of Arti's pups and takes them in. The pup grows up and is a good member of the colony.

Gourmand likes visiting Pebbles since Pebbles looks lonely. Gourmand is very smart and can usually understand a lot of what Pebbles is saying. Pebbles doesn't say it but he enjoys the company of Gourm.

Gourmand like providing for others and is basically a dad friend. After Gourm met Riv they became best friends and love talking to eachother.

Next is Surv and Monk. The story for them begins a bit before their campaigns. When Surv and Monk were little baby pups their parents located one of Arti's pups. They adopted the pup and it became Surv and Monk's third sibling.

When Surv fell and got separated Monk followed. The third didn't follow due to having separation issues and wanting to be their for their parents.

Surv and Monk have pretty basic stories, the don't have much change from canon. They both make it home. In this au the slugcat colony is still there and they both are welcomed home and are happy.

Rivulet time! Rivulet is a wild slugcat who travelled alone before meeting the others. Riv knows Enot because they are cousins.

Riv met Spearmaster first. They were awkward when first meeting due to Spearmaster not being able to speak or understand Riv.

Suns gave Riv the mark and helped Spears talk to Riv and helped teach Riv a bit of sign.

Riv liked joining Spears on messaging journeys and sometimes helped Suns delivering messages to Sig because Spears was in pain. This is how Riv met Hunter and Arti.

Riv likes helping others but forgets to take care of themself. Riv has self image issues and anxiety. Riv sometimes has episodes where they feel like they have to be useful or else nobody will want them around.

Rivulet also gets reckless and sometimes will get injured and say nothing because they don't want to be a bother.

Rivulet wants to be seen as fun, strong and reliable. They hate feeling weak.

Spearmaster and Hunter try to help Rivulet out of this mindset whenever they find out Riv is hiding pain.

Saint. Saint is a strange scug. Saint was made by Sliver and is partly echo. Saint was raised with no love or affection and was taught this is normal. Saint believes that everyone and everything wants to ascend and that they are doing everyone a favour by ascending them.

Saint sees life as meaningless and is quite blunt with what they say. Saint asks many questions when meeting the other slugcats because they confuse Saint.

Saint doesn't understand why all the Slugcats want to live. Gourmand especially confuses Saint.

Gourmand convinces Saint that life has purpose and tries teaching Saint to live. Saint is close to Gourmand and becomes close friends with Gourm. Sometimes Saint relapses and believes they must ascend everything but Gourm is usually able to calm down Saint or is able to knock out Saint in worst case scenarios.

Saints worst incident was seeing the rot on Hunter and attempting to ascend Hunter to "stop their pain." Hunter survived the ordeal but Gourm had to knock out Saint.

Gourm and Saint usually have to be together to stop future incidents. Saint helps Gourmand babysit.

Nightcat is fun but not much. Nightcat isn't truly a normal slugcat. Nightcat was once a part of the night sky. Nightcat would wonder the land when it was night. They were close to members of the slugcat colony who were nocturnal.

After meeting Surv and Enot, Night fell in love. Night hid the fact of being part of the night sky for a long time but being in a relationship eventually meant it was revealed.

Through their love Night split from the night sky and was able to join their partners in the slugcat colony.

Night is a bit secretive and shy around new people but is very affectionate to those close to them.

Enot, my weird scug. Enot isn't a big flirt or a hopeless romantic. Enot is a slugcat who like rivulet is anxious and has self image issues. Enot hides behind jokes and being flirtatious. Enot is very loyal to Surv and Night.

Enot is clumsy and loud. They worry about being annoying or out of line so they overplay it so that it hurts less when people dislike them. Surv and Night showed Enot so much kindness that they actually got really quiet and emotional.

Enot loves being around friends and joking around. Enot also enjoys swimming.

Enot's egg is actually a rock that they hold and use like an otter does. They love the egg and it is a comfort object for them, they like fidgeting with it.

Anyways if you have any more questions just send me an ask. I skipped a lot in this. This is kinda just a thing on how some relationships formed or how some scugs met, or fun facts I have not shared before.

If you read this all you are a legend :)

Thanks for reading.

[its-the-sa]

Different anon. God just boiling down the slugcats to 'animals' angers me in a way I didn't think I could be angry. Yes, they are animals, but by all means they are cognitive and understand complex emotions, communicate with a supposedly complex language, are able to be taught to do things. Why else would the iterators use them as messengers constantly? It's not like they're messenger pigeons where it's just going from point A to point B, they understand exact instructions. If this was just some random animal, making groans and grunts, they wouldn't be able to understand what Five Pebbles even meant when he was explaining how to ascend. Even with the mark, could you imagine if he told a lizard this? Artificer, arguably, is a prime example of this. Just an animal would get over their fallen children, sure they'd grieve but in the end they'd just make more. Arti not only is so enraged by their death, that she is physically incapable of ascension, but also swears vengeance upon a whole other species. This isn't just some animal who lost her children, this is a mother who is enraged at her children's murder. Sure, they aren't on the same level as humans are. Like obviously. But I'd argue it makes sense that a scavenger and a slugcat could fall down the path of enemies to lovers. Especially when you consider the fact that death isn't permanent in Rain World's universe. That would definitely change one's perspective on it. I dunno if I make sense, I'm juggling like three things at once, but I had to say what I needed to say. Wording bad, slugcat smort.

tbh it took me a minute to figure out what this was even referring to, because honestly I don't think that anon meant to use the word 'animal' to dehumanize arti in the first place. it sounded to me like they were just using it as a non-human equivalent for 'person', like "why would anyone fall for a person who committed hate crimes against them?" which is a valid question. it never even occurred to me that they could have meant it in the sense of calling her an inferior creature.

that said... you ARE 100% right and you should say it, lmao.

I very nearly got into this exact argument once, bc i saw some comments from a guy scoffing at the idea of arti showing mercy to baby scavs. because by his logic, 'she is just an animal, so she isn't bound by human morality. in the wild, animals kill any young that don't belong to them without hesitation'. and it just pissed me off so much, because not only was it such an edgy "mercy is for the WEAK!" alpha-male bullshit take, it was also just factually wrong. many animals can and do adopt the young of other animals, even other species, especially when they've just lost their own. and like you said, they can grieve, but then they move on. they keep surviving, and making more babies. they don't dwell on injustice, or let rage consume them to the point that it becomes a hindrance to their own survival. they don't go on single-minded revenge quests. they dont try to justify their own violence by demonizing entire species, and they dont end up plagued by guilt in their sleep. those are very, very human things.

and yeah, i see a lot of people theorize that it's the mark of communication that grants the slugcats higher intelligence, but I don't really buy that either. i think the mark just lets them understand the iterator's language. they must've already had the capacity to understand it, or else it wouldn't work at all. it'd be like trying to install windows on a calculator. also, even without the mark, slugcats are obviously shown to communicate with each other. they have their own culture, they tell stories and make art, and they're apparently able to understand karma and the nature of the cycle at least enough to be able to ascend. so like... any creature thats capable of spiritual enlightenment must at least be sapient, right??

it seems like in the absence of the ancients, both slugcats and scavs are beginning to move in to their niche in the ecosystem

[browzerhistory]

Please do share your scav social behavior headcanons!!!!

OK OK OK i have a Lot so prepare for an Essay beneath the cut

my social headcanons and biology headcanons kind of go hand in hand so i'll be expounding a bit on both in this (and there will probably be things i forget and then add later)...

the first thing i guess is scav biology - i think they're buglike creatures who lack the ability for complex vocal sounds (no 'traditional' mouthparts, limited vocal chords) and instead are mostly visual communicators, which is why their body language in-game is so exaggerated. scavenger dens (which are technically just creature dens in-game but shh) are usually complicated underground structures with different "rooms" for grub care, food/weapon/pearl storage, etc.

yes, you read that right - i refer to baby scavengers as grubs! i think a scavenger's life cycle tends to follow an egg -> grub (like a cicada or fly) -> pupa -> adult cycle. eggs are laid and grubs fed/watched over in special chambers in scavenger dens, and juveniles don't emerge until they've pupated, which is why we never see baby scavs in-game.

many factors such as what they're fed, how many other grubs there are, and even the temperature of the den can effect how a scavenger turns out, but it's generally common knowledge that a grub given special care and food will be more likely to become an elite scavenger, which have physiological differences to normal scavengers. generally, however, all grubs are treated the same due to lack of resources.

scavengers are lifelong carnivores, however, grubs need very small, soft meats to eat, such as vulture grubs. adult scavengers may also just... repeatedly hit lizard meat with rocks to 'tenderize' it if food is scarce.

young/newly-emerged scavengers tend to be more nervous, energetic, and non-dominant due to being less experienced than their older peers. they're also more likely to throw rocks at sudden threats than spears, either because they aren't confident with spears yet or because they haven't figured out how to distinguish between "sound of scary things" and "sound of friend approaching".

a scavenger's antlers and other distinctive facial features are more like horns than antlers, as they grow slowly over time and do not shed. older scavs with longer/tougher antlers tend to be pack leaders (this is reflected in the in-game personality traits changing the way antlers/beards look). there are, of course, exceptions, but these are general trends across the whole population.

elite scavengers, like i said earlier, are different than a normal scav on a physical level. the most obvious are the down turned antlers, which sometimes require filing, and the ability to jump short distances. less obvious, however, are factors like strength and lifespan - elite scavs tend to live shorter lives than normal ones (whether that's from actual biological differences or just the constant fighting is up for debate lol).

when created intentionally (which is almost every time), an elite scavenger is raised to protect the tribe it roams with. extra food, more powerful weapons, etc. are given from pupation so the elite grows up tough.

the masks elites wear are vulture masks. the first time a new elite takes down a vulture, it's demasked, then the mask is carved specially to denote their prowess - think of it like a badge of honor. however, constant usage of the mask and the general anxiety of being the first line of defence can cause elites to lose some vision, which is why older ones tend to be quicker to draw their spear at an unknown sound.

(as for the chieftain... it's biologically just an elite, but it got lucky in that it was born into the most thriving scav population at the time and had the most talent/dedication out of its peers. plus a lot of the others got picked off as it got older, and it managed to pick up a citizen id drone at some point.)

the "sign language" scavs use is so universal and simple as to be practically genetic. there are, of course, regional differences, and a tribe in shaded citadel would need different predator signs than one in farm arrays, but the basics (which is what we see in-game) are basically all the same. scavengers can make noise, however, it's a quiet sort of chittering sound produced by rubbing mouthparts together in a specific way. it's not very handy when communicating something like "there are vultures here let's leave immediately" and more often is used in familial/trusting contexts, sort of like a purr.

jumping around a little, i wanna talk about the significance of pearls. a part of their fascination with them is "cool shiny thing" but there's also significant sort-of-religious connotations to them.

the scavenger chieftain has a mark of communication and a citizen id drone. it met with pebbles (or another iterator but more than likely pebbles) at some point, and he deemed it important enough to talk to instead of just. y'know. killing it. so it comes back to its home in metropolis telling stories about meeting a god (because of course 5P gives his 'godlike in comparison' bit to every bug that enters his chamber) surrounded by a halo of these pearls.

eventually pebbles gets fed up with the visits, and the booming population of scavengers is basically peeling him, so one day he throws the chieftain out of his chamber and tells it to take the scavs and leave (which it doesn't/can't obviously). and then along comes artificer and um. Well You Know.

it brings some more pearls as an offering of sorts and 5P reads what's on them. that gives the scavs the realization that (as far as they know) every pearl in the city has the words of ancient gods written on it. so they start hanging them everywhere as catch-all divine charms; for protection, strength, wealth, etc. and since the chieftain is the only one who can get to pebbles and come back (because of their drone) it's treated as a sort of prophet and venerated by the rest. colored pearls, which 5P likes more and usually keeps with him, are stored in safer locations and considered the most valuable/holy.

after arti commits good old-fashioned regicide (and general mass murder, terrorism, etc) the remaining metropolis scavs flee across the land and warn other tribes of a reddish slugcat with one scarred eye - this is why hunter's rep starts so low.

this turned out really long lol - thanks so much for asking! i really need to get all of this stuff organized in one place at some point but here's the basics/what i've thought about most.

[rain-world-headcanons]

Scavenger headcanons because they are cool:

- I like to think that while scavs have developed a language of their very own with functionally no resemblance to the Ancient's language, their writing system is still partially derived from Ancient text and symbols - which they figured out via both the late Chieftain scavenger (the one that Artificer eventually murders, who got the mark of communication which also allows a certain degree of understanding for written Ancient text) as well as interactions with Looks to the Moon.

- I don't know why but I like to think of Scavengers as pseudo-mammalian spider-beetles, and are distantly related to big spiders and coalscipedes (mother spiders). They have claspers on their backs (evolving from what was originally extra legs) that are usually for transporting their babies, but use them to hold spears when infant transportation is simply not necessary.

- Since Artificer, they have developed a tradition of moving their Chieftain away every now and then to avoid them from getting tracked and killed.

- Scavengers are originally structurally similar to hive insects, in the way that there are three "castes". However, the clear biological differences between castes are quickly evolving away from existence as the conditions favours egalitarianism among the species, and will eventually disappear. The most common caste is the "worker" caste, which are the scavs we are all familiar with - they kinda just do whatever that the community needs but can defend themselves and others if needed. The elite scavs are the "soldier" caste, which they earn by a display of strength (through killing vultures in very small groups, whose masks will become the mask that we often see), and transformed into one after the ritual through eating what is basically scavenger royal jelly. The chieftain is basically that but on steroids, proving their strength through both combat and the ability to take care of their community, and get fed even more scav royal jelly to become one after proving themself.

+ By the time Survivor and Monk appears, the castes have mostly devolved into just "workers" and "chieftain", and by the time Saint appears there are very little biological differences between the chieftain and common scavengers. In short, Chieftain is just a title at that point.

-