Iterator

Iterators are semi-biological Artificial Intelligences used by the Ancients with the only intended function is to solve the Great Problem. Only two iterators are accessible in-game: Looks to the Moon, and Five Pebbles. Several other Iterators are mentioned in-game through pearls.

Description
Iterators have massive metal superstructures, sometimes called "cans", suspended high above the ground by number of supports. The undersides of the superstructures are frequented by periodic lethal green electric storms. A city can be found on top of each Iterator.

In-game lore strongly suggests that Iterator cans produce the water vapor & cloud layer surrounding them, and as such are responsible for the heavy rainfall of the game world.

Each superstructure contains an internal zero-gravity environment populated with Neuron Flies. There is also a central iterator "puppet" which can be directly communicated with.

Looks to the Moon / "Big Sister Moon"
As the senior Iterator of the Local Group, Moon once often acted as the decision maker for her neighboring Iterators. Her interactions with the Slugcat show her to be kind and considerate, and yet rather assertive as well. Her can collapsed sometime after Five Pebbles, her closest neighboring Iterator, began leeching off her water supply, leaving her in an almost catatonic state.

Moon is located in the far right of Shoreline, in the ruined Looks to the Moon facility. Slugcat is able to understand her speech once given the mark of communication by Five Pebbles. Her dialogue changes depending on the being played. If brought pearls of any kind, she will attempt to read them—revealing much of the game's hidden lore.

Five Pebbles / "Erratic Pulse"


Five Pebbles is the impatient and short tempered Iterator who controls the Five Pebbles region.

Five Pebbles grew extremely frustrated after the last of the Ancients ascended, leaving him and other iterators behind to work on a problem that, in his eyes, no longer needed to be solved. This all came to ahead when Sliver of Straw, another Iterator, released what is known as the Triple Affirmative; a confirmation that a solution has been found, affirmative that the solution is portable, and affirmative that a technical implementation is possible and generally applicable. Five Pebbles took immense interest in this event, as she had not only apparently solved The Great Problem all the Iterators had been working on, but she had also been confirmed to die, leaving her method a mystery.

This fueled him with motivation to achieve personal ascension, and he began masquerading in local Iterator group chats under the pseudonym "Erratic Pulse", probing others on their thoughts and beliefs. He ended up confiding in Seven Red Suns, an Iterator who he viewed as a close friend and mentor, that he was upset with his situation and wanted a solution. Eventually, Five Pebbles attempted to enact a plan where he would rewrite his own genetic code.

Unfortunately, the process resulted in him using up a tremendous amount of the groundwater that both he and Looks to The Moon shared. As Iterators need water to function, this caused slag to build up in her systems. Five Pebbles closed communications from all incoming sources, so most of her pleas to stop did not reach him.

Eventually, Looks to The Moon utilized forced communications in order to talk to him directly, this caused his processes to fault at a crucial moment, causing "The Rot", which continues to plague Pebbles to this day.

No Significant Harassment
No Significant Harassment is a flippant and sarcastic Iterator, often making friendly jabs at others and showing little concern towards issues their peers consider serious.

If is able to reach Looks to the Moon with both the Green Neuron and its starting pearl, it will be revealed that No Significant Harassment was responsible for reviving Moon by sending the Hunter to her aid. The rare Green Overseer is believed to belong to No Significant Harassment.

In the Spearmaster campaign, No Significant Harassment is shown to be somewhat close to Seven Red Suns, another Iterator. They act as a confidant, listening to Seven Red Suns' dilemma concerning Five Pebbles cutting off all communication, and Looks to The Moon being unreachable through the broadcast network. Despite the tense situation, No Significant Harassment still keeps their laid-back attitude, teasing Seven Red Suns for developing an attachment to the Spearmaster after having observed their journey.

In some of the dialog revealed by broadcasts, No Significant Harassment is shown to have both a more caring and serious side in contrast to their usually lighthearted tone, attempting to contact moon out of worry and leaving Five Pebbles a very stern message, respectively. At one point, No Significant Harassment becomes cold and defensive towards Seven Red Suns, as they are upset that their plan failed so drastically.

Seven Red Suns
An Iterator in the Local Group. SRS is a close friend to Five Pebbles. Especially when he develops the Rot. Similar to Pebbles, Suns is rather cynical in their views, even going as far to pronounce the futility of the Iterators and their attempts to solve the "Great Problem".



was sent by Seven Red Suns to establish contact with due to him and   both abruptly disappearing from the communication network.

In the Spearmaster campaign, it is revealed through broadcasts that Seven Red Suns is at least somewhat close to No Significant Harassment. The two of them engage on various topics ranging from the situation with Five Pebbles and Looks to The Moon, the Mark of Communication, or the messengers that they create and utilize.

Throughout the story, it's shown that Seven Red Suns was the one who delivered the instructions to Five Pebbles on how to attempt to write out the self destruction taboo; they feel incredibly guilty for this and express sorrow over hurting Looks to The Moon and dooming Five Pebbles, as well as losing him as a friend. Seven Red Suns also confides in No Significant Harassment that they have begun to feel affection for the Spearmaster as their journey unfolds, particularly after Five Pebbles violently removes the data pearl from their chest, wishing that the messenger would arrive back safely.

Seven Red Suns is seen along with Spearmaster in their character art after having delivered Moon's message.

Sliver of Straw
A sort of saintly Iterator amongst the rest for somehow achieving self-destruction. She broadcasted the “Triple Affirmative” to the rest of the Iterators shortly before dying: Affirmative that a solution has been found, affirmative that the solution is portable, and affirmative that a technical implementation is possible and generally applicable. Ever since her passing, Iterators have collaborated and convened in chatrooms in attempts to reproduce her conditions. All attempts so far have failed, however.

The Downpour DLC added Sliver of Straw as a secret and special encounter. She can be faced in Challenge 70, which can only be accessed if all other Challenges are completed. This encounter is not canon, and the developers of Downpour have confirmed this.

Grey Wind / "Chasing Wind"
An Iterator in the Local Group. Though often unmentioned in pearls, CW seems to be a participator in "Sliverist" groups. They grew suspicious of an "Erratic Pulse" speaking of personal Ascension in a conversation, and mentioned it to several members of the Local Group. CW contacted Seven Red Suns in an attempt to help Five Pebbles.

Unparalleled Innocence
Though barely mentioned in pearls, Innocence is one of Pebbles' neighbors. They were responsible for taking pictures of Pebbles' condition, which "were then made public in the Local Group".

History
As their name implies, Iterators were created by the Ancients to iterate—try, try again in solving the Great Problem. They also were tasked with taking control of the Ancients' daily troubles in an effort to help the people achieve Ascension easily. Iterators were created after the Void Fluid revolution, which allowed the Ancients to construct these massive superstructures with ease—hundreds, perhaps even thousands of Iterators were created during this time. Iterators would bring food, water, energy, and other necessities to the cities on their cans. After the last of the Ancients were gone, the Iterators began to work on two different issues—one assigned to them by their creators, and the other brought to attention by the Iterators.

The first issue is the "Great Problem"—the matter of helping "lesser beings", such as Lizards or Slugcats, ascend. This is a difficult issue—after all, most creatures in the current state of the world are fighting for their survival every cycle, and thus are often completely unenlightened. In addition, the Iterators have no reliable way to speak to or contact these "lesser beings", except in the case of the Overseers. Unfortunately, the relative focus on this issue was nigh completely abandoned once the second issue came into play.

The second issue is the matter of Iterators achieving ascension. Though at first considered completely impossible, Iterators began to speculate and convene with one another on how one could achieve such a feat. Interest peaked when Sliver of Straw, a deceased Iterator, released a "Triple Affirmative"—affirmative that a solution has been found, affirmative that the solution is portable, and affirmative that a technical implementation is possible and generally applicable, according to Moon. Due to Straw's mysterious death shortly after sending the signal, no Iterator knows what her solution was. Many iterators have tried to replicate her solution, but all have failed.

Trivia

 * The Rot seems to be nothing new. Seeing how the other Iterators knew about it when Pebble's case was discovered, it's likely that past Iterators have attempted and failed the same thing as him.
 * Five Pebbles seems to grow increasingly frustrated as more creatures show up in their quests for ascension, specifically Slugcats. By the time The Monk arrives, he wishes they'd just leave him alone.
 * At the uppermost region of The Wall, it is possible to make out buildings in the distance. These are the cans of other Iterators. In total, they number at least 10. Adding to this number Five Pebbles and Looks to the Moon, who we can assume is not visible here due to her subregion being so far below Five Pebbles', 12 total Iterators are potentially featured in-game through more than just text.
 * Coincidentally or not, 12 is also the number of the Iterators we know the names of, either through gameplay or pearl lores. These members may comprise the community so commonly known as the "Local Group". But beyond this community, as Looks to the Moon suggests, there could exist thousands more of Iterators, which we know nothing about.