#rw rot

[bird-cag3]

got inspired

original under the cut

#rain world #rain world art #rw meme #rw hunter #rw rot #rainworld #rw slugcat

[sleeplesscubes]

Pebbles what the actual fuck is happening to your cancer

#rain world #rw five pebbles #rw rot

[hrishcha]

oh nno

#rain world #five pebbles #rw #iterator #rw rot #rw five pebbles #i am. so normal about these robots #scopophobia

[ecliip]

hunter acension ending hidden cutscene

spearmaster broadcasts visualized

#rain world #rain world downpour #rw hunter #rw spearmaster #no significant harassment #seven red suns #looks to the moon #five pebbles #rw rot #rain world art #ecliip art

[cheeki-tails]

RAIN WORLD ART MONTH: #25 - KARMA 3

#my art #rain world #rainworld #rain world downpour #rainworld downpour #rw downpour #rw moon #rw pebbles #looks to the moon #five pebbles #rw looks to the moon #rw five pebbles #sigh... tagging all these slugcats... #rw survivor #rw spearmaster #rw artificer #rw hunter #rw gourmand #rw rivulet #rw saint #rw rot #rot rw #rain world art #rain world fanart #rain world fan art #rain world art month #rw art month

[failed-inspection]

"All the world will be your enemy, Prince of a Thousand enemies. And when they catch you, they will kill you.

But first, they must catch you."

Thinking about how dangerous the enemies are in Spearmaster's campaign... I mean they're dangerous in all campaigns of course, but Spearmaster has some real messed up spawns /pos, talk about a perilous quest.

Sorry I haven't uploaded in a hot second, mainly rain world related art block!!

#rain world downpour #my art #phone doodle #rain world #rw spearmaster #rain world art #rain world fanart #rain world fan art #rain world spearmaster #rainworld spearmaster #spearmaster #rw red lizard #rw rot #rw centipede #rw yellow lizard #rw dropwig #rw vulture #rw king vulture #Also wanted to experiment with colors palletes!!

[sad-leon]

What an unfortunate development

Got a close up, then my first design of iterator leo. still getting used to iterator designs and proportions

Mikey and Raph are others in the local group, thinking they may share they're own water source, mikey being the newest of the group. Donnie takes Moon's place and Leo takes Pebbles' :D

I don't expect this to become a whole thing, but I have some more thoughts about it if people are interested

#sad•leonart #rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #rainworld #the rot #rainworld tmnt au #iterator leo #rottmnt leo #rise leo #rottmnt leonardo #rise leonardo #rw rot #this is the first time i've had my own art as my phone background #im like... actually proud of how this turned out #my first full illustration with my knew tablet :D #i think the lack of shading and simple highlights really make me like it more #like i could add more #but then it will probably get cluttered #also letting go of everything needing to make sense #like... would the rot work exactly like that? no #but i had fun drawing it that way

[opashoo]

Rain World Art Month Day 31 - Unfortunate Development

#When I saw that the day's prompt was a location #I was hesitant #but I realized that it meant I had even more reason to try for it! #rw survivor #rain world #rain world art month #rw rot #my art #slugcat

[kelnexia]

So I know that a few other artist have already made similar designs with the same general concept… But I’ve grown really attached to this little AU that I made – even if it isn’t the most unique.

Anyway, it’s a fairly simple off the strings AU, with a rot themed twist ^_^

#rain world #rainworld #rain world downpour #rw iterator #iterators #five pebbles #rw rot #rain world au #rot merged #art

[thehappiestgolucky]

If it sucks, hit da BRICKS!!

Thanks to everyone who submitted their Rivulets, I hope I've got them mostly right, it was long and hard to do but fun!

This has only made me want to do more and I am staring at Spearmaster as my next victim-

Credits under here

@much-significant-harassment @rainworld-rivulet @soaricarus @pansear-doodles @whippiekippy @cosmikazie @verdeltiathedead @azrielfiend @chillysaint @fauxbia @girlbossespurr @mothlight-hours @shark-bytee @woopdeloopei @b1g-ju1cy @infinite-echoes @cyan-lizard @boiledegghole @ecliip @ssagesaurus @pookapufferfish @completeandtotalchaos @autism-yaoi @harborchild @emperormoth101 @tanzytechgem @dustyfandomtrashbin @the-jordas-trials @eggobuggo @subwaybug @mildeleef and then also my two at the other end

#rain world #rain world downpour #rw rivulet #doodles #rain world gijinka #gijinka #rw rot #anthro #i guess sksksksksks #this was fun! but oh my god thats so many creechurs #if i got something with the credits wrong god please let me know im not very good at this sksksksksks #thats a lot more people to @ than im used to #so I hope i got them right! im gonna go back to my doodle dump now before i request spearmasters

[slugcatmusings]

What is the Rot? Why is the Rot?

Spoiler Warning and Holy Wall of Text Batman Warning. I got WAY too into questioning the turbo-cancer here, hopefully my rambling makes sense.

So, the Rot is… weird, from a biological standpoint. Really weird, if you stop to think about it. It’s most frequently described as some variation of cancer, and it certainly fits the criteria for it. Caused by damage to DNA? Check. Multiplies uncontrollably? Check. Comes in both benign and malignant forms, one stationary and the other mobile? Big fat check. Heck, even the Rot cysts eating other creatures kind of fits, according to some research I’ve done – there are apparently cancer cells that will eat other cells, which makes sense in hindsight since cancer cells are cells that have lost important genetic restrictions, which may include whatever lets cells identify other cells as “do not eat.”

(I ain’t a biology whiz and I’m doing research on the fly while getting my thoughts out here, so take whatever I say about biology with a grain of salt)

So, Rot is clearly cancer of some kind, right? Case closed. Except when me and a friend of mine were talking Rain World theories on Discord, she brought up some interesting points that got me thinking.

First point: Rot cells obviously mutate in a way that affects FAR more than just cell replication and termination. Some of the cysts can HEAR. As far as I know, cells in the body do not hear sounds. They communicate via chemical signals and maybe, MAYBE react to temperature. Hearing involves complicated, specialized sensory apparatus to pick up on vibrations in the air. Even if you simplify it and say that it’s only vibrations, that’s STILL a multicellular thing, not a single-cell thing. It’s something that took millions of years to evolve on Earth, if not billions.

And while Rain World’s timeline goes on for long enough that it those kinds of mutations might happen eventually, Rot cysts have the ability to hear pretty much right from the start – because even the Proto-Long-Legs react to your presence like the Daddy Long Legs do, and the Rot in Spearmaster’s campaign, where Pebbles has recently contracted it, reacts the same way as it does in later campaigns. It’s already able to hear.

As far as I know, cancer just means the same cell duplicating over and over again. Are more mutations possible with each division, as errors are made in the DNA during splitting? Probably. But not to THAT extent. There’s no way a lump of cancer somehow mutated the exact complicated genetic blueprint needed to grow organs, at least not without outside interference.

Second point: Cases of Rot are way too consistent across the board. Now, we don’t have a huge sample size to work from, but from what we see from both Pebbles’ Rot, and Hunter Long Legs, they’re… pretty similar. Hunter Long Legs is basically a mobile Rot cyst. They move the same way, seem to grow the same way (starts as a growth inside/on the body before eventually freeing itself from whatever wall/flesh it grew from in some capacity and moving elsewhere), they have the same senses, and they even eat the same way, via something like phagocytosis (how white blood cells “eat” invading organisms via engulfing them and breaking them down in a sac in their main “body.”)

Now, this doesn’t tell us much, because cancer, when it does emerge, is pretty consistent in symptoms/what the mutated cells do once they start replicating. It’s pretty much the same regardless of whatever organism the cancer is happening in. But what ISN’T consistent is what causes the DNA error in the cancer cell in the first place. IRL, cancer can be caused by all kinds of things – smoking, radiation poisoning, being out in the sun too long, drinking deadly chemicals and whatnot, anything that damages DNA. But in RW, the only time we ever hear Rot talked about, or see it present, is in the context of an iterator having f*cked up while mucking around with DNA. Pebbles was trying to create an organism that could change his own genome, and No Significant Harassment created Hunter as a messenger and probably mucked something up in the process in his haste to get them to Moon.

This doesn’t mean that there aren’t other causes of it, of course, we’re working with a sample size of two in an apocalyptic world with who knows how much potentially DNA-damaging stuff around, but… that’s still awfully consistent.

So, combining these points and everything we know to be canon, Rot is:

an organism that lives inside another organism

Until a certain condition is met, it cannot harm said host organism.

Once said condition is met, it goes out of control, wreaking havoc on the organism’s systems and mutating, giving it sensory capabilities and an appetite

Said condition is apparently someone messing up when re-arranging genomes, in yourself or others

It is widespread across multiple different species, at least iterators and slugcats but potentially other species as well.

Once you have a bad case of it, it is apparently NOT CURABLE. Pebbles tried everything he could think of but apparently exhausted all of his options by the time of the Survivor/Monk campaigns.

So, with all the context FINALLY laid out, here’s my wild theory: Rot isn’t a cancer. It’s a symbiote turned parasite. Specifically, I believe it’s a symbiotic microbe that lives inside the cells that make up every other creature in Rain World, and is held in check by a specific gene that all species share, and altering or getting rid of that gene causes it to go berserk, taking over and eventually mutating the host cells.

Yeah, I did watch Parasite Eve let’s plays as a kid, why do you ask? Anyway, hear me out here.

There is precedence for single-celled organisms living inside of other single-celled organisms. They’re referred to as intracellular endosymbiots (hopefully I got the spelling right there), and the most well-known one is probably the mitochondria. The powerhouse of the cell is thought to be descended from some bacteria way, WAY back that was engulfed by a larger cell and not only survived it, but BENEFITED from it. Since then those ancient proto-mitochondria and eukaryotic cells have mutually evolved to be dependent on each other. So it’s entirely possible for something similar to have happened in Rain World.

However, I don’t think it happened NATURALLY, here. Because something that’s able to take over a cell entirely and begin wildly mutating it is NOT something your average cell wants inside of it. There’s a VERY high chance of extinction if you do that. Which means that of course those funky bio-tech loving Ancients either took a look at a wildly dangerous cellular parasite and went “hmmm we can use this” or made one themselves.

Why did they do this? Who knows! Currently, I’m tied between “they needed a better powerhouse for the cell to power the various weird adaptations they’re building into various creatures,” “there was some sort of disease that this parasite gave immunity against and they wanted to make use of it,” and “it gave their creations massively powerful regeneration factors that made them much easier to maintain.” Possibly it was all three. Whatever the reason, the Ancients either found or created this parasite, and put it into their creations’ cells, hoping to reap the benefits.

Well, they got the benefits, but they also got a microbe that hijacked the cells and harnessed their pre-existing DNA blueprints to build organisms disguised as great big blobs of cancer. Which is not exactly ideal, but hey, they just had to figure out a way of keeping the cell hijacking from happening! And the way they ended up going about it was to alter the thing so that so long as there was a specific DNA sequence in the cell, it laid mostly dormant. All the benefits, none of the risks – so long as that specific string of genes remained intact.

And then BECAUSE it was so beneficial, they spread their artificial symbiote and it’s genetic reins throughout ALL of their creations, from the smallest pipe-cleaning slugs to the iterators. Which meant that as their purposed organisms replaced most of the original ecosystem, they spread the symbiote as well. Thus making it possible for pretty much ANY creature on the planet to come down with a bad case of the Rot. And with the iterators, I wouldn’t be surprised if this symbiote is tied to their self-destruction taboos. Try to cross yourself out? Well, it’s gonna maybe happen now, but it’ll be a slow painful death as you’re eaten alive from the inside and all your own parts turn against you, so was it really worth it?

And they never told their creations this perhaps even actively hid it, because why tell them the cause of the main deterrent to them mucking with their taboos? They might find a way around it. The iterators were left ignorant of how Rot works, and because of this they never figured out that Rot HAD a cure after all: rebuilding that genome that reins in the symbiote. Because why in the name of the Void would they repeat the same mistakes that gave them Rot in the first place, and potentially make it worse?

#rain world #rain world worldbuilding #serious musings #rain world headcanons #rw rot #the rot #rain world rot #rain world turbo cancer #which is not actually cancer #yes i Parasite Eved the shit out of the Rot #yes that is a verb now I take no criticisms #anywho the Rot is a byproduct of the ancients Fucking Shit Up on Purpose #and it DOES have a cure damn it #I'm not giving the robots not-actually-cancer and NOT giving them at least a chance to cure it #not mentioned above is the fact that depending on the genes altered along with the restraining gene #you might get rot with fun mutations like being able to jump from organism to organism #or Rot that outright assimilates cells from other organisms #amongst other things #plenty of FUN stories to play with there >:D

[p4ll3t]

Body Disfigurement/body horror below the cut, proceed with Caution!

gave a second more detailed try at Rot infected artificer

#rain world rot #rain world art #rain world downpour #rain world #rain world rotpocalypse #rotpocalypse #rain world fanart #rw slugcat #rw artificer #rw downpour #slugcat #rw art #rw rot #rw rotpocalypse

[alexander-norkat]

The rot consumes

#based on the homer bushes meme clearly #unfortunate development is full of that meme and its very agressive #rain world #rw rot #the rot consumes #my art

[exceedboundaries]

Please. Please be reachable somehow as we venture out to find you. It was your rarefaction cell that set off this chain of events; you must be out there, wondering what has become of it. Have the cycles taken you down beyond repair? Was it Ruffles that spelled your end? I hope that your puppet still remains, when our rescue mission finds its way up your can.

Moon wonders if the prize that she seeks--Pebbles and his safety--still exists in truth. It is the work of cycles, short but agonizing in the uncertainty of it, to convince the others to assist her and physically leave Unparalleled Innocence to try and rescue Five Pebbles. Their party eventually consists of her, Suns, the slugcat that Suns calls their Messenger, and an older slugcat that No Significant Harassment seems anxious for upon their departure, rot-scarred and battered but hardy. Ruffles is held back; Moon can't bear to look at their wide, watery eyes watching them go.

She can only pray ineffectively to the uncaring forces of the world that he is alright. He must be alright.

He has to be, or else she isn't sure she'll make it, either.

#rain world #rain world au #apricity #rw lttm #looks to the moon #rw fp #five pebbles #iterators #exceedart #moon just wants her brother to be safe #holding them both so gently #rw rot

[comically-large-ukulele]

i zoned out and forgot that i’m in pain

this felt like it came from my soul and i cant explain why in a coherent manner

#rain world #rain world fanart #rw #rw fanart #rw spoilers #(sort of) #rw rot #rain world rot #five pebbles #rw five pebbles #rw fp #iterator #rw iterator #rain world iterator #rain world art

[geoffguy]

Day 24

The rot is objectively a cool region and I love how it looks but I HATE actually traversing it

also unrelated side note I love how the graffiti that depicts the rot is called "god of eyes" in the files, idk why I just think thats cool

#rain world #rain world art month #rain world fanart #my art #rw rot #what do I even tag this? #woe the rot