#Spearmaster is easily

[kcdodger]

"To love, is to know when to let go. Even parts of yourself." I haven't actually done any Rainworld fanart yet, and this is pretty basic (but, more complex than I originally intended - I just had to color the little guy, I love him so much.) but I figured... Why not? Inspiration hit. It may not be a lot. But it means something to me.

#rainworld #spearmaster #pearl #color #fanart #Spearmaster is easily #my favorite slugcat #I love that little guy to death. #Everything he does is governed by kindness. #Did you know that the campaign isn't #complete #until you deliver #Moons' message? #It is entirely a courtesy. #It isn't required by order for Spearmaster to do it. #And yet #he must. #Because it's who he is. #My wife thought of it that way #and now I do too.

[sparkdoesart]

Uhh day,, 10?

Worm grass!!!!!

Getting to the next ones soon!!!

#rain world #i imagine riv can easily walk over the grass #and monk hates it #because it scares her when riv does it #spears is just sopping wet cat about it #my art #rw spearmaster #rw rivulet #rw monk #rw art month #rw art month day 10

[thehappiestgolucky]

I was trying to find some simple fun things to doodle and my friend basically suggested I doodle the current special interests together and that’s how the sluggies have been splooned and i’m,,,,really liking it actually sksksksksks

i’m gonna design the rest. maybe even have this as a dumbass au. it’s not the first time i’ve mixed franchises together that don’t make sense (stares at a moth in hisui)

#rain world #splatoon #doodles #rw survivor #rw monk #rw gourmand #rain world gijinka #gijinka #inkling #octoling #rip their silly slugcat ears and tail. get ink fish’d idiot- #brain has been going ‘yo think of a general idea for them too actually’ why are you like this brain #anyway get ready for artificer agent 4. hunter captain 3. spearmaster agent 8- #monk neo agent 3- #listen. this is gonna get silly #i also solidified my splatoon art style yipee!! #i also probably won't replace the idols. i'll figure out whatever i want to do with the iterators #also can't decide how i wanna go about arti's kids. i could easily be so mean... #its fun trying to translate stuff especially the hairstyles! #squids and octos have limited tenticles so its really fun to work out how to make it work whilst resembling the gijinka designs #there is gonna be more of this no there is no escape

[north-winds1]

what's your favourite scug?:3

It's changed a lot since I first played downpour. Originally it was artificer but now it's between gourmand and spearmaster.

If we're talking about before downpour then it's probably monk, it's nice to just look at the environments with no threat sometimes.

I love playing as gourmand the movement and ability are very fun to mess around with. Being able to kill certain things without a weapon is also very useful.

Spearmaster's also very fun to just go hunting for creatures with or for expeditions.

#Also gourmand just being able to create a singularity bomb with little effort is really fun as well #Gourmand could easily be one of the most dangerous slugcats if he wanted to but instead he kind and takes care of slugpups #Definetaly one of my favourite slugs #rain world #Wind ask #Spearmaster. Monk and gourmand are just the fun time squad #I definetaly play one of them if I want to just play some rainworld casually

[ask-suns-pup]

how long do you think it will take to get to five pebbles?

Seven Red Suns will be unavailable for asks for the rest of the cycle.

#ooc: I actually have no idea how long it will take to reach 5p since I'm using cycles as a chapter structure #I have several plot points & subplots planning between here and there so it's not like there will be nothing happening #but take the estimated time with a huge grain of salt #it could easily be way higher or way lower than that #rain world #seven red suns #spearmaster #ask #anonymous #cycle 2: upper structure

[sugarr-moon]

in celebration of my AU slugcar lineup for the 3rd time lets go!

individuals + slugcat bios below cut

Survivor(or viv)

pronouns: any/all

an anxious, paranoid slugcat whos a nervous wreck most of the time. after their fall, their experiences lead them to be much more cautious and wary. they usually need another slugcat to accompany them whenever leaving the safety of their home, and has an irrational fear of being alone.

Monk

any/all pronouns

an optimistic, light-hearted slugcat with an introverted personality. they prefer to spend their time with their lizards rather than anyone else— besides their close friends. they’re under gourmands mentorship and guidance to become a colony healer and inventor. they have a unique tact for being able to bloom karma flowers where they please.

Hunter

any/all pronouns

a skilled fighter and adventurer. the second in command to gourmand, they’re typically indifferent and logical. with the help of monk, NSH, and gourmand, their rot has became much less of a problem, no longer being lethal. however, it still gets in the ways of their duties at points. hunter is headstrong, stoic and skilled— and a much valued member of the colony.

Gourmand(or gourm)

any/all

the up-beat and welcoming chieftain of their colony, gourmand always looks out for others. protective of their home and family, they’re somewhat hesitant to strangers and intruders. they are working on teaching the members of their colony on how to invent and forage. they’re also somewhat of a therapist, always willing to be a shoulder to lean on if anyone needs it. they’re quite stressed with this workpile, but hunter has been a great help.

Artificer(or arti)

any/all pronouns

artificer is aggressive and anti-social. most slugcats stray away from them due to their bad temper and explosive mood(pun intended). underneath the surface though, they do have good intentions. they’re very protective of the ones they love, and do care for the colony. they have a waryness to talk about their past, and a strange aggression towards scavengers. they have a soft spot for the colonys pups, and doesn’t mind looking after them.

Rivulet(or riv)

any/all

energetic, charismatic and curious. they enjoy rambling and sharing anything they find with their friends. their curiosity though sometimes gets them into trouble, and they’re quite reckless. one of the people they’re closest too, though, is of course looks to the moon, someone they consider a mentor figure. they enjoy playing light hearted pranks, and they’re usually seen around artificer— despite their contrasting personalities.

Spearmaster(or spears)

any/all

a messenger on a journey from seven red suns, they’re from an incredibly far away land. they used to be close with rivulet and hunter, before eventually having to return home. they do miss their friends, but they know that where they truly belong is with their iterator.

Saint

any/all

cold, withdrawn and somewhat egotistical. they don’t like interacting with anyone much. though, monk, someone they’d consider their pupil, does have fascinating abilities they think could help on their mission. they’re extremely devoted to attunement, and believe that any act of attachment is vile. though, their latest mistake though, has somewhat sent that world view spiralling…

Nightcat(or cosmo)

any/all

a strange, silent slugcat. they never really speak with anyone besides survivor and gourmand. they’re interested in constellations and charting them. they’re scared easily, and prefer the sound of silence. the third eye on their head belongs to that of an overseer, which can project images, which is helpful to their star charting.

i cant put enots here bc tumblr is bullying me but enjoy!

#rain world #rain world downpour #rw #my art #rw survivor #survivor rw #rw monk #monk rw #rw hunter #hunter rw #rw gourmand #gourmand rw #rw artificer #artificer rw #rw rivulet #rivulet rw #spearmaster rw #rw spearmaster #rw saint #saint rw #nightcat rw #rw nightcat #rw enot #rw inv #rw sofanthiel #downpour: the shattered cycle

[copepods]

thinkin about spearmaster... i imagine them as a super fucked up beast with a ton of health problems. not out of malice on suns account but because of 1) exclusively liquid diet and 2) a pearl half the size of their head wedged in their chest. i think that their organs (eg heart and lungs) are a lot smaller than normal to make room for the pearl.. which means they tend to get out of breath really easily and faint a lot. also they're probably malnourished because having to do all that workout just for a little Lizard Soup is probably not getting them a ton of calories in the long run. like living inside suns' superstructure is probably fine for them, there's plenty of neurons to eat without straining themself too much, but i dont think this thing is built for living in the wild long term

#text #rain world #spearmaster 🤝 hunter: bioengineered freaks who suffer because their creators made em weird

[exo-dus404]

is artificer like a mother to pebbles? seeing how everyone sees artificer as a mother figure for pebbles and pebbles is like artis pup Wanted to know if thats how arti sees pebbles too!

YES EXACTLY! However……there’s SOMETHING that Artificer won’t be thrilled about if she ever finds out……

CW warning: Character death, unethical experiments, manipulation, and general AU dark themes.

Being chased and hunted by the scavengers, Artificer with her child stumbled into [The Local Group]’s territory. And this is when everything went wrong.

They were surprised that when they reached a certain point, the scavengers stopped chasing them. They stopped for good reasons.

The region they barged in was Five Pebbles. His security system was immediately alerted and began neutralizing the “possible contamination”. Both of Arti’s pup were killed during the process while Arti was able to escape and find a blind spot, heavily injured.

Then FP received a system ping of something clogging his drainage system. He went to investigate and found the dead pups. He was disgusted and tried to dispose them, only to find out that one of them is still breathing, but barely alive. He took that one to NSH, since the latter just won’t stop harassing him for new test subjects.

NSH was not happy to get a pup that’s barely alive, and FP was enjoying his annoyance. With someone as skillful as NSH, he can easily save the pup, but he sees no reason to. He cut it open for its heart and put it into a new project that he’s been working on. It worked. Soon he will name the creature “Spearmaster”.

Months later, FP will wander off his own territory to get away from everyone during a mental breakdown. That’s how he encountered Artificer. The animal seems to have mistaken him for a lost pup of some kind of animal species due to his small size. And it won’t let go of him. He stayed with Arti for a while until Moon pinged him, demanding him to come back.

He was surprised that the animal started to follow him. Soon after, they met Moon, and Artificer immediately jumped in between them, claws out and fangs bearing. She certainly senses immense threat from the iterator in front of them. However, Moon just smiled, and gave her the mark of communication:

“The brave mother…I am the leader of the [Local Group], and you may call me [Looks to the Moon]. You are afraid. Terrified, even. But that’s okay, for I bear no ill intentions.”

“You don’t need to understand what we are. Godlike to you, if you insist. You lost your children, am I right? Your anger and hatred trapped you in a never ending cycle……it’s painful, and you want a way out.”

“I can help you.”

“The scavengers killed your children. They knew what will happen, yet they intentionally chased you there and activated the weapons.”

“You want revenge. Let me help you.”

“For a disposable animal like you…….in exchange, I want everything from you.”

“I am your only hope. If your simple mind can somehow make sense of what I just said.”

“…….”

“Very well. The mother who is stuck in the unending cycle of hatred and violence…..welcome to [The Local Group].

#rain world #project triple affirmation #三重肯定au #rw au #rain world au #asks

[pansear-doodles]

Translating Rain World food to Filipino cuisine

#6 Halo-Halo

A cold dessert composed of a variety of ingredients. First on the glass is shaved ice with Rain Deer milk. Then is the Nectar Root ice cream, that's made from sugar, cream, milk and Nectar plant roots. Top with diced blue fruit, jellyfish, diced dandelion peaches, slime mold, centipedes, batflies, diced hazers, bubble fruit, cream and lilypuck. Most of these toppings are optional- customize your dessert however you want!

Slugcat Remarks: Spearmaster: (My favorite... When the ice melts, it becomes a delicious cold sugary soup that I can easily drink from my spears.)

Rivulet: Don't add too many toppings! Or else you'll make a salad!

Survivor: I don't usually like Nectar Roots, but when you turn it into ice cream, its a completely different experience!

#rain world #rainworld #fanart #rainworld downpour #rain world downpour #my art #food

[nonbunary-does-arts]

OUTDATED DESIGNS!

My anthro Scugs!! + Enot/Inv/???

I'll leave design and personality notesnotes under the read more!! :D Hope ya'll like my takes on the scuggies hehe.

MONK - (He/They)

Monk is known for being kind and willing to jump after their loved ones, so I decided to sort of make it look like they're the last scug that would do that. He's very family-oriented.

His more closed-off appearance is purposeful, I view Monk as a scug that takes a bit to come out of his shell.

He's very cute and gets very flustered pretty easily when someone compliments him.

His clothes were made by Gourmand.

SURVIVOR - (They/Them)

The glaringly obvious prosthetic leg is also on purpose. Survivor's fall was very bad, and it resulted in their leg becoming infected to the point it needed to be amputated, from the ankle down.

They're actually dating a scavenger, and that scavenger is the one who was there for them through the procedure, and even had a hand in crafting the new leg. It's modeled after a scavenger leg.

Their folded ear is due to a bite from a lizard that tore off a good chunk, leaving it floppy.

HUNTER - (It/They/She)

The scar on their throat has left them a selective mute. It doesn't mind all that much.

Its clothes were made by No Significant Harassment, for ease of letting other Iterator Messengers, if they were to ever happen upon her, to know who she was created by.

It's very no-nonsense, and takes its job very seriously. When not assigned a task, they're often seen pacing back and forth, or hunting.

GOURMAND - (He/They/She)

I knew from the get go I wanted him to be BIG.

The pearls around his neck were gifts from scavengers. They wear them with pride and have in fact made pearl necklaces and bracelets for the scavengers as well.

She's the motherly matriarch of the scug population in the outer expanse, and teaches them all what she knows.

ARTIFICER - (She/It)

YEEEEEEEHAW

She's SO fucking pissed off it's not even funny.

She refuses to leave the metropolis, even after chasing out the scavengers. She was unlucky in her attempt to kill the scavenger chief, as he ran off as soon as she started trying to kill him.

It's been so long she doesn't even recognize her own species anymore, killing with no remorse.

SPEARMASTER - (They/It)

No bottom jaw, and only their upper canines developed.

Often seen exploring around, often with Hunter when it's time to hunt.

RIVULET - (Anything)

This scug wears nothing but a swimming suit and not even he knows why. It just likes it.

It's actually almost as tall as spearmaster, lanky legs are good for running after all.

They talk FAST, often needing to be reminded to slow down a bit so the others can hear her.

Somehow always wet regardless of the environment.

SAINT - (He/Him)

GRANDPA.

I knew I wanted him to look extremely fuzzy.

His coat was crafted using a raindeer's wool, and it's helped keep him warm in the event of a blizzard.

I also wanted to make it look like he has many old man secrets under that coat. Tell us your secrets old man.

The beard was a must. I needed to give him a beard.

ENOT/INV/??? - (He/Him)

Yeah this dude it just a being that the gods want dead.

No matter what way anyone faces, his snout will never be front-facing.

He speaks in 2000's scene, and can somehow say emojis as well.

LOVESICK. AS. FUCK.

Will often attempt to match the hobby of a scug of the day he's crushing on.

Kind of a dick to Monk tbh. Surv has kicked his ass about it.

#my art #rain world #rain world anthro #rain world art #rain world downpour #rain world slugcat #rain world monk #rain world fanart #rain world survivor #rain world hunter #rain world gourmand #rain world artificer #rain world spearmaster #rain world rivulet #rain world saint #rain world enot #rain world inv #rain world ??? #rw slugcat #rw monk #rw survivor #rw hunter #rw gourmand #rw artificer #rw spearmaster #rw spoilers #rain world spoilers #rw downpour #rw rivulet #rw saint

[ghostplasmas]

Spear master moment

I really love the idea of Spearmaster having markings or tattoos that are either similar or inspired by Suns' markings. I wanted to also draw them in clothes, but I couldn't get it to work. I don't think starting off my redesign/design series with the most Human Looking Freak™ of the bunch was a good idea but whatever FUFNSJ

I also think that spearmaster would be muscular- not super beefy like you'd think for Arti or Gourmond, but more athletic. They're definitely not malnourished- they can easily store enough food to save for a whole other cycle- plus they're getting a LOT of protein from their hunts :33

(+ the original sketch and doodles under the cut)

Ignore the awful legs, It was 8 am and I was very sleepy

#my art #ghosts art #art #rain world #rw spearmaster #rain world spearmaster #spearmaster slugcat #spearmaster rainworld #rw art #rw #slugcat

[exceedboundaries]

Probably one of the first things I've made for Apricity: two iterator OCS and a slugcat OC! Hidden Dreamer and Fourth Tide Dreaming are a few months old, while Rain on Dawn Glass is newer and from when I actually started thinking about the AU. Both are part of a local group somewhat adjacent to the canon group's, and they're both slight oddities when it comes to, well, being iterators.

Fourth Tide Dreaming and Rivulet are both connected within this AU; while Tide is a companion to Dreamer, Rivulet is a slugcat from Tide's original community with a thirst for adventure that Dreamer set out towards Unparalleled Innocence's can upon request.

Read more below; they're all characters near and dear to my heart. (Especially Tide!)

Hidden Dreamer (or Youngest Dreamer, which was their original name), is the youngest iterator of any known in the broader region. They were created as a last minute replacement for their can after its previous iterator, First Spring Risen, severely malfunctioned and had to be decommissioned. Dreamer's ancients loved them dearly in the short time they had with them.

They're still considered young by many iterators who know of them, barely set in the ways that other iterators had many cycles to develop. They spend less time on what their fellow iterators do and spends more time on understanding the flora and fauna--mostly fauna--of the world, as well as on their companion, Fourth Tide Dreaming. They're easily excitable and chatty, and prone to loneliness. The string of colored pearls around their body in this form makes up just a piece of their treasured collection and catalog of information and messages.

Fourth Tide Dreaming, a slugcat that stumbled into HD's can, eventually became their companion. Their internals have been severely modified since then, mostly synthetic with effort put into longevity of life and survivability. Tide needs little food to survive and is slipperier than most predators expect--and more durable to match--which has often made them the messenger of choice whenever communications are slipping. They're also from Rivulet's original community, as mentioned above!

Rain on Dawn Glass is perhaps one of the tallest iterators of the lot, and one from the last normal generation of iterators. Her can is specialized towards communications, and as the greatest hub of its kind in the area, connects many local groups and regions of iterators together. Her can serves as the basis for most forums and points of connection between iterators today, as the most polished communications hub of the ancients, and most of her duties revolve around its maintenance.

She's a busy iterator, as her body effectively routes all current communications to recipients. She's used to being ignored for who she is in favor of what she can do for others, although it grates on her, and it's most often just her local group that talks to her as an actual person. She has a fond spot for Dreamer--perhaps something more--because Dreamer has never treated her with any distance or unthinking manner.

Dreamer and Rain's local group has utilized the iterator-off-the-string technology to band together to maintain Rain's can, which often leaves them dealing with nearby local groups to source ever-scarcer and ever-particular materials. They have a small contract with SRS to obtain specific compounds that Spearmaster helps retrieve.

#rain world #rain world au #apricity #rain world oc #rain world iterator #iterator ocs #slugcat #slugcat oc #exceedart #my blorbos #they are also lesbians. and very cute ones at that #i'm back to full time at work so you get my ocs. sorry

[its-rat-time-babey]

Slugcat Biology Headcanons:

Slugcats are just as intelligent as Scavengers, but developed intelligence later so their society is a bit less developed.

Slugcats have very short bristle-like fur that’s similar in texture to the bristles of a pipe cleaner. They also have a thin layer of slime covering them. Both of these things come from their origins as organisms meant to clean pipes.

By the time of the saint, Slugcats have evolved to have much longer fur to withstand the cold and still produce that thin layer of slime, which helps a bit with insulation.

The Gourmand’s ability to craft isn’t unique to them. All slugcats can craft things, but it’s a learned skill.

Slugcat colonies usually have a group of assigned crafters, who have the jobs of crafting supplies for the colony, repairing and expanding the colony den and generally taking care of things around the den, along with teaching new crafters how to do their jobs. They’re vital parts of the colony and tend to be rather high up leadership-wise.

The Gourmand was one of their colony’s crafters prior to being sent on their scouting mission. They’re also the grandparent of the Survivor and Monk.

Slugcat colours are genetic, with red being a very recessive gene that isn’t very common, hence why red slugpups are so rare and why neither of the Artificer’s children are red even though their mother is.

However at the same time, Slugcat genes can be passed on for a very long time without ever showing themselves. A slugcat born from a blue parent and a black parent could be coloured green because one of their great grandparents was green and the gene passed itself down through multiple generations without ever showing itself.

Slugcats are modified and used by Iterators for two main reasons: they’re extremely intelligent and can understand and follow commands, and they’re extremely stable genetically, so they can be very easily modified and changed without anything going wrong.

Slugcats are unique genetically because they’re extremely genetically stable. It’s very rare that modifying a slugcat’s genes will ever make them unable to reproduce or suffer from genetic disorders, so it’s very easy to modify them without any issues showing up.

The Hunter is an exception. They have their own version of the rot because the laboratory they were made in (and by extension No Significant Harassment in general) was also infected by the rot. No Significant Harassment’s rot isn’t as bad as Five Pebbles, but it’s still the rot.

However, when you combine slugcat’s extreme genetic stability with things like the fact that slugcat genes be passed on through several generations while still remaining dormant, you get an interesting effect. Slugcats are EXTREMELY diverse because Iterators will modify one slugcat for a specific purpose, that slugcat will reproduce, and the genes of that slugcat will end up passing on through multiple generations, surfacing at random times with random slugcats being born with the same modifications that their Iterator-created ancestor had, only for their children to usually lack those modifications or be born with completely different ones because a different slugcat in their family tree was made by an Iterator.

Genetic modifications can also sometimes mix and match by showing up at the same time, resulting in Slugcats with multiple different modifications or even completely new modifications that are fusions of multiple modifications.

The Artificer, Saint, and Rivulet are all descendants of Iterator-Created Slugcats, which is where the Artificer got her ability to produce explosive saliva, the Saint got their long tongue (the whole karma thing is completely separate), and the Rivulet got their increased lung capacity and speed. There are also a number of Slugcats still out there by the time of the Saint that have the Spearmaster’s abilities, being very distant descendants of them.

#rain world #rain world spoilers #rain world downpour #headcanons #slugcats

[exx-bee]

decided that i probably should just. Sit down and get some canon iterators designed. I had NO ideas for SoS or GW, so that’s why they aren’t here :-) (maybe ill design em soon? dunno)

they’re all inspired by different creatures in the game! some r easier to see than others lol :-]

left to right goes

moon, pebbles, suns, sig, and innocence.

more design rambling and heeadcanons under the cut!

I like to imagine that the Ancients thought that the different critters in the world were cute/funky, and thats why the iterators are designed with beasts in mind. Perhaps even a bit of an apology to the world for ruining the ecosystems slowly- making gods in the image of nature.

Moon is based on an eel lizard :-) i associate her super heavily with water. Moon is the oldest iterator, hence the fact she has a more “clunky” design. If she was Off the String, she would easily be the most durable. Imagine nokia phone. Her puppet is powered by hydraulics. I think that ancients not only used Iterators for solving the Great Problem, but also had specialized iterators for different purposes. I think Moon was, alongside housing Ancients and puzzle solving, proficient with astronomy. She WAS the Ancients space program /hj.

Five Pebbles is based on a Slugcat :-) not only because i find it ironic and funny, but because I think he was a sort of “blank slate” iterator. The ancients that lived in his city were very endeared towards him, and thought his puppet was so cute. This is partly why hes aggressive/neutral to the slugcats in canon. His specialty, alongside Everything Else, was Anthropology. He is the second youngest.

Seven Red Suns is based on a King Vulture. This one is entirely vibe based, (alongside the fact that the first time i ran into a King Vulture was in my Spearmaster run) and i thought they looked cool! Suns was revered by his Ancients, but overall is kinda Stupid Silly. imagine an old man in the body of a 20 year old. Thats Suns. He specialized in bioengineering and biotechnology. It’d be fun if a lot of the biomechanical beasts in game originated from research done in Suns’ city. Suns is the middle child lmao.

No Significant Harassment was a strange one. Mix of a Dropwig, Stowaway, and Miros. Hes like a bug 2 me :-). He was very friendly with his Ancients, and they hated that. His City was abandoned pretty early on, due to the fact that many Ancients found that he wasn’t really taking the Great Problem into account. Sig focused in on communications and exploration. He’s the second oldest.

Unparalleled Innocence is, pretty obviously, based on a Chief Scav. They’re pretty vain and egotistical. They put great effort into making it as Difficult as Possible for Ancients to consult them on anything. They are ultimately so soso lonely, but dont care for solving the Great Problem. They kept their City running, but ultimately focused in on Archiving information- utilizing communications to get information and images from other Iterators, then turning them into Pearls. They are the youngest.

#woahghghhgagaag #iterators #looks to the moon #five pebbles #no significant harassment #seven red suns #i really like how sig and moon turned out #i like all of them #but i think i captured the vibes i wanted best iht them :-) #my art #iterator ref #feel free to ask about them i might doodle some more ! #some of these hcs might be important to tlwr #but also maybe not #we will find out together #rain world #this took like uhhhh #3-4 hours? #i wasnt paying attention really

[gay-artificer]

Perhaps my most controversial take is that Saint might not be a slugcat.

If we consider Survivor (and to a lesser extent Monk and even Hunter) as the quintessential example of a slugcat, we have the basis for what actually counts as one. From there we have to look at the deviants from basic form and determine how severe they deviate- which I think all others but Saint don't go to far. Spearmaster- Modified organism using a slugcat base. Stretching the definition of a normal slugcat here maybe, but more or less still resembles the rest of the group minus the obvious. Definitely not considered a member of the same species though. Artificer- Minus the weird explosion bacteria, it is a normal slugcat in terms of form Gourmand- Literally just fat and strong. Perfectly normal fella. Rivulet- Okay this is where we get interesting. Rivulet is both the first to deviate notably from the basic slugcat in terms of readable physical traits, and is also set further in the timeline. An evolutionary split from what a 'slugcat' is fully possible. However, their actual traits are rather minute. Rivulets main trait is the presence of external gills, suggesting an aquatic adaption. However in real world examples of external gills they are mostly a development of species that already had gills in some form in either their lifecycle or biology. The most obvious inspiration for rivulet's design is likely the axolotl, which is a salamander that has neotenic (juvenile) traits due to never metamorphosing. If you force metamorphosis, an axolotl looks like a normal salamander

Gills or gill-like structures can also be internal or land-modified- Spiders for example have book lungs, which are likely evolved from book gills (whereas in human evolution our gills did not evolve into lungs, and gills instead 'turned into' parts of our skull and ears) you can also have lungs and gills, as seen with certain species of lungfish. It seems perfectly reasonable to guess that the slugcat- either currently or historically- made use of a gill or gill-like system- which would set rivulet up for either a reemergence of the trait or as an alternative evolutionary path. I could easily see the rivulet 'type' of slugcat existing alongside the normal species, just isolated to coastal and other floodzones- or as one of several independent cases of the external gill trait emerging. Complicating things further- Sea slugs make use of gills in several forms, while (most) land slugs have lost their gills and created a simple lung out a hollow cavity. There is also at least one slug that completely lacks both lungs and gills and breathes entirely through their skin. Lots of variety there within a group. What we can confirm though is that at minimum- slugcats do have a nose. However the presence of the nostrils alone doesn't tell us the fine details; Frogs also have nostrils and make heavy use of them for the vast majority of their breathing, but also have permeable skin that also allows for oxygen exchange (particularly while under water). So its complicated. All this is a very complicated way of say that there's no real indication that rivulet is all that particularly unique compared to the basic slugcat, minus the gills- which are something that could be a perfectly normal trait to develop without getting too far from the traits that make a slugcat a slugcat. It would be, at minimum, its own species though. Genus you could argue about. And then we get to Saint. Saint is ages forward in the timeline for our 'basic' slugcat, to the point where even lizards have heavily shifted their evolutionary patterns and there have been notable extinctions within the window the game provides. Saint itself has a very notable deviation: Very obvious long fur (or at least, something convincingly playing the role of fur). While furry slugcats (whether that be more cat-like or fine fur like a seal) is popular in fanon works, official art has an obvious smoothness to it more indicative of bare skin (Although the quality of this skin, such as if its more mammalian or amphibian, etc- is unknown)

While the type of skin could heavily change how big of a deal this is (it would be a lot easier to develop and lose fur with the structure of mammalian skin than amphibian skin; and if we are being technical mammals are the only thing that can truly develop fur/hair) It does at least mark the development of a trait that seemingly took several generations to acquire, at least on par with the development of a fur or fur-like trait in all surviving species of 'lizards' It does seem to intend to mirror, to a degree, the evolution of mammals. Which begs the question... can you really call Saint a slugcat? When you think about what survivor is, and how removed Saint is from them in both physical features and time period... would the term be appropriate? And to be specific, its technically incorrect to say things evolve "into" other things- they split and grow into distinct things (and sometimes all but one dies off in the process). Evolutionary history is difficult to chart for a number or reasons, and its extremely complicated- but when we say something like "snakes evolved from lizards" what it really means is that at some point there was a group of something we agreed were lizards, and then something within that group began to change into something with its own distinct features and traits until we gave it a new name. In the lizard and snakes example, snakes are technically lizards. Just lizards with very specific traits we don't consider lizard traits. But you also have examples like mantodea (Mantises) and Blattodea (Roaches and Termites).

A some point there was something that was neither mantis nor roach (the roachoids, which despite being more roach-like than mantis-like we don't consider them proper roaches), that split into things that would go on to form the basis of those groups (and then termites would split from there, making termites technically a type of roach). And for the rest of history humans would argue constantly about what to do with this mess So really the question is what do we consider a slugcat, and is Saint part of an evolutionary lineage that 'slugcat' applies fully across, or does Saint mark a split into something else, that would technically go alongside "true" slugcats under a wider net. Slugcat definitely isn't a singular species and I lean towards genus but could see an argument for family or order. Lets do DNA analysis on pixels and find out they are actually a type of lantern mouse

#thinking about this gave me a headache #im on team saint isnt a slugcat this a sinister new creature #anyway taxonomy already makes my head hurt and doing it with thats that have 200 % less information #sucks a little bit #but i do just really like the idea of an iterator being like errrm technically this isnt a slugcat the newest info put it in its own clade #rw bioposting

[despoticmouse]

doesn't spearmaster's wound close after a few cycles in game?

It does!

But I wanted to keep that open in my SM interpretation to help with the ‘something’s not right about them’ aspect; also I feel like something literally getting ripped out of your chest and leaving a gaping hole behind isn’t something that closes so easily without some heavy assistance.