#gnosis

[grunckle]

Qualia and Ascension in Rain World

(To clarify I'm mostly talking about base-game lore and not including Downpour, but honestly most of these things can transfer over)

Qualia

One thing that’s relatively hidden in Rain World’s text and subtext is the concept of qualia. Qualia is described as being, “sensory experiences that have distinctive subjective qualities but lack any meaning or external reference to the objects or events that cause them.” It’s a personal sensory experience that cannot be comprehended by another person other than the individual themself, and are often hard to convey via language.

Qualia is a reoccurring motif in Rain World, but what’s more important is the way in which it’s conveyed to the player. The picture that’s painted is that of a world or civilization that placed a great importance on the individuals’ experience, and it’s shown through pearls or environmental details.

Here are some examples of qualia appearing in the text through pearls.

“It's qualia, or a moment - a very short one. Someone is holding a black stone, and twisting it slightly as they drag their finger across the rough surface. The entire sequence is shorter than a heartbeat, but the resolution is extraordinary.”

“A memory... but not really visual, or even concrete, in its character. It reminds of the feeling of a warm wind, but not the physical feeling but the... inner feeling. I don't think it has much utility unless you are doing some very fringe Regeneraist research.”

“This one... is authored by Five Pebbles, when he was young. There has been an attempt to scramble the data, but it's sloppily done, and most is still somewhat legible. It's written in internal language, or thoughts, so it is hard for me to translate so you would understand.”

But the most prominent examples of qualia and it’s importance in this world are the Memory Crypts and possibly ancient naming conventions. The deep purple pearl (shortened) found in Shaded Citadel states,

“In this vessel is the living memories of Seventeen Axes, Fifteen Spoked Wheel, of the House of Braids (…) Seventeen Axes, Fifteen Spoked Wheel nobly decided to ascend in the beginning of 1514.008, after graciously donating all (ALL!) earthly possessions to the local Iterator project (Unparalleled Innocence), and left these memories to be cherished by the carnal plane. The assorted memories and qualia include:”

Ancients likely mutated their own neural tissue into the cabinet beasts we see in Shaded, which were used to store their memories and qualia before ascension. Even james said once "how 5 pebs got the rot is a good hint here" in response to someone asking how cabinet beasts work, and how they're made.

Adding on to this, ancient (and iterator) naming conventions seem to be built off of the concept of qualia, with them focusing on individual images or experiences.

Nineteen Spades, Endless Reflections

Droplets upon Five Large Droplets

Two Sprouts, Twelve Brackets

Looks to the Moon

Generally, this all points to a world focused on the expression and preservation of the individual experience. You could even consider some of the echo dialogue as more evidence for this running motif, but I already have too many quotes lol.

Ascension

So now time to talk about my interpretation of ascension. In short, you turn into a worm, but I should probably explain more than that.

So its been surfacing on rw-tumblr that the light in the end of the game is called the egg in files. Although file names shouldn't be taken as fact or canon, it is pretty obvious given the birth imagery.

But something a little lesser known is what happens to the worm that takes us down to the void-sea depths. Void worms normally have a bright glowing effect, on their body, which is present for ours as well. But after it unhooks us, it swims down, and when it passes us on it's way back that glowing effect is gone.

To be honest, I don't really think this can be interpreted in many ways, but the most obvious one and the one I personally subscribe to is that the worm laid the egg. Biology and spirituality really aren't that different in Rain World, it's implied that karma is stored in the brain through Five Pebbles's slideshow. Adding on to that, we see voidspawn after eating an iterator neuron. One's spiritual state is innately tied to their mental state, and that dictates what and what they can't perceive.

And for that reason I decide to take a more biology leaning approach to what happens in the ending. At face value, we are fertilizing the egg of a void worm to be reborn into a voidspawn.

Not only do void spawn and void worms have multiple characteristics in common, (worm like bodies, tendrils/tentacles, glowing heads, void spawn look microbial and void worms are likely some of the oldest "life" in game)

but voidspawn are seen inside egg-like coverings and share the same egg light seen in the end of the game, confirmed to be the same thing by Videocult in a livestream they did.

I believe that all this points to ascension being re-birth into a voidspawn, which eventually undergoes metamorphose into a worm. Higher-dimensional beings, who manifest and give birth to a new world.

So how does this tie in with qualia? Another thing you might know is that the area in which void spawn are most plentiful is Shaded Citadel and areas in Shoreline near Shaded. And shaded is absolutely packed with Cabinet Beasts, even outside Memory Crypts. I believe these qualia-storing creatures are what manifest voidspawn.

From what we see in ascension, it still looks physical and largely based around the real world. Hunter still has his scars and see's an iterator, survivor sees the slug tree in a more mystical and formless state, and monk sees survivor frankly just looking like a normal slugcat. I think that ascension is a product of qualia. We transcend our earthly knowledge via the egg, and our own qualia is used to give birth to a new world. This is why voidspawn appear most in Shaded Citadel.

Now I won't be getting into Void-Worm theories too much here, I'm mostly focused on ascension but I can't ignore the Gnosticism parallels. For those who don't know, Void Worms heavily resemble the Yaldaboath from Gnosticism, along with sharing some similar celestial motifs.

and running with that some people theorize that, like the Yaldabaoth, void worms are responsible for manifesting the material world. Ascension seems to be a mix of the concepts of Gnosis and Nirvana, but I believe it might lean more on Gnosis.

From my limited knowledge, Gnosis is a few things, some of which being a state achieved from experiences or intuitions, and an essential part to salvation is personal knowledge. While researching a bit, I came across this text by Peter Wilberg called "From NEW AGE to NEW GNOSIS" which brings up some comparisons between Gnosticism and qualia as well.

"Gnosis is subjective knowledge of an inner universe made up not of matter, energy, space or time but of countless qualitative spheres or ‘planes’ of awareness – a knowledge obtained directly through inter- subjective resonance. It is the subjective science of this inner universe."

One thing though that has been brought up when discussing this is how this can be consolidated with the tone of the ending. It is pretty un-ambiguously happy, but if we're going with the Void worm Yaldaboath theory then that would put a bit of a sour twist on it right?

I agreed with these for some time, but now I actually think it ties in perfectly with Rain World's core themes as stated by the devs, "overcoming differences and finding empathy." I don't think the void worms are "evil" or malevolent, but I think they (and subsequently us after ascending) play a key role in demonstrating this theme.

By manifesting the physical world, we allow these souls to experience life and develop their own qualia so one day they can ascend themselves. We are shown compassion, and pass it forward.

#rain world #rain world lore #lore #rain world spoilers #gnosticism #gnosis

[dimension20memes]

*Gnosis

#d20 starstruck #a starstruck odyssey #d20 #dimension 20 #gnosis #dimension 20 starstruck #dimension 20 spoilers #d20 spoilers

[carpp]

love this trio

#arknights #degenbrecher #silverash #gnosis #degenbrecher and the two grown men shes babysitting

[apolunatic]

inspired by that one cg (under the cut)

#arknights #degenbrecher #gnosis #silverash #enciodes silverash #gnosis edelweiss #gnosis arknights #silverash arknights #arknights spoilers

[takutron]

𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑟, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑓. 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑒𝑟𝑎… 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑑.

#scaramouche #kunikuzushi #genshin impact #原神 #fanart #genshin fanart #gnosis #genshin scaramouche

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

Absolutely losing my mind here at Silverash nonstop sniping down all the people Doctor suggests could be his friends if he just lets them. No you see I have created too many boundaries and walls around myself and throughout my network of *checks notes* acquaintances, employees, and family members, for me to ever be completely genuine with any one of them

#something about pathetic catmen #silverash #enciodes silverash #doctor #doctor arknights #pramanix #enya silverash #cliffheart #ensia silverash #gnosis #degenbrecher #matterhorn #courier #arknights rambling #arknights screencaps #arknights #ak tag #i ramble

[sugaldean]

Watching A Starstruck Odyssey for the first time.

Can't believe this meme is the plot of this season

#dimension 20 #d20 #brennan lee mulligan #a starstruck odyssey #gnosis #d20 starstruck #starstruck odyssey #dimension 20 starstruck #Starstruck Odyssey spoilers

[arknights-archive]

Penguin Logistics Card Express

01 / 02 / 03 / 04 / 05 / 06 / 07 / 08 / 09

#en server #birthday card #ch'en #hoshiguma #surtr #demetri #vigil #doctor #jackie #kazemaru #puzzle #silence #saria #ifrit #silverash #gnosis #degenbrecher

[sinnamon-toast-roll]

The color wheel art thing but its the Gunner Channel (plus some honorary Gunner Channel members)

#a starstruck odyssey #d20 starstruck #dimension 20 fanart #dimension 20 #procreate #color wheel challenge #color wheel trend #intrepid heroes #margaret encino #gunnie miggles rashbax #barry syx #big barry syx #skip takamori #riva #sundry sidney #plug strutt #bambi leroux #princeps zortch #gnosis #aurora nebbins #the ball is rolling up

[cerastes]

I can’t stop thinking about Gnosis. I’m obsessed with him. How do you fumble a girl that WANTS to be a henchwoman and is down with murder? Monch is literally unfumbable and yet Gnosis found a way. I want to eat his brain.

#arknights #gnosis #monch

[dimension20memes]

I'm so proud of this one lmao. My baby meme phase.

#dimension 20 #a starstruck odyssey #dimension 20 starstruck #gnosis

[maybebi47]

time for me to look too deeply into a silly d20 scene! do u guys ever think about that scene when gnosis sees their origins for the first time and is devastated at its ridiculousness? this elder computer diety just sits there and starts crying but THEN the gang immediately starts to console them and to share w this sad computer how much of a crew of bozos they really are, they all take turns talking about how embarrassing their origins were too and it makes gnosis feel better about themselves?

i just think this is the core of any friendship that matters, to make a joke out of urself and laugh with ur friends about it to make them feel better, thats the whole point of friendship

#i cried real tears about this #a starstruck odyssey #aso #d20 #dimension 20 #gnosis #the gunner channel

[ronsudsud]

#アークナイツ #arknights #degenbrecher #gnosis #silverash

[apolunatic]

FUNNIEST event

HELLO?

#do you (a goddess) ever just watch a tall goat woman kick a man off your statue (that doesn’t even look like you) #arknights #arknights spoilers #degenbrecher #gnosis #silverash #kjera

[the-random-factor]

#dimension 20 #d20 spoilers #d20 starstruck #a starstruck odyssey #gnosis

[ebcedar]

凑一下最近的九图。

#arknights #明日方舟 #アークナイツ #silverash #gnosis #executor #wei yenwu #passenger #lee arknights #hung arknights