Lore of Rain World: Downpour

This page contains the lore and backstory of Rain World, as well as new discoveries that have come to light in Rain World: Downpour. The contents of this article should always be supported by evidence from texts and excerpts found in the game.

Please discuss potential changes on the talk page to ensure your additions are valid.

The events that transpire from the start to the end of the Rain World universe are complicated and entangled. The 's journey across the world is also riddled with clues and subtle messages of the past.

A number of pieces of evidence and excerpts acquired over the course of the game's storyline offer a logical and well-supported explanation in regard to the cause of the world's current state of decay and disrepair.

The game's original timeline is separate from the events of the Downpour DLC, which is considered an official alternative universe. For this reason, all Downpour-related lore is compiled here in addition to the original lore in order to create a cohesive and comprehensive timeline that does not interfere with the already established lore.

The following are a list of resources used heavily in compiling the information seen below:
 * Pearl/Dialogue
 * Broadcasts
 * Looks to the Moon (character)/Dialogue
 * Five Pebbles (character)/Dialogue
 * Echo/Dialogue
 * Developer Commentary*
 * While not directly related to the content within this page, a lot of the information within provides insight on design decisions and allow for a more accurate breakdown of in-game details

Environment
The story of Rain World takes place on a terrestrial planet, similar to Earth with a yellow sun and a singular moon that can be seen alongside peculiar green stars in the night sky. As long as it has been recorded, the surface of the planet is icy and cold, likely devoid of most forms of life, apart from the ruins of countless civilizations past, particularly the still active megastructures from one of the more recent extinct civilizations, whose facilities output a significant amount of heat as a product of their functions.

The Great Cycle
All beings in the universe of Rain World are locked in an everlasting cycle of death and rebirth. The specifics of this and how it works are unknown, as no concrete information is given. Creatures can die out, and new species can emerge and evolve, but no soul ever truly leaves this world. This property was discovered by the planet's dominant species, colloquially known as the Ancients, who viewed it as a prison. They desired a way to break free from the cycle, to truly pass on from the world—a process they dubbed "ascension". Means of ascension were eventually found.

Intelligent Life
The aforementioned Ancients were a powerful, Buddhist-influenced dogmatic society heavily enveloped in their traditions and beliefs. Even with their collective power, they were unable to break free of what became known as the Great Cycle, the universal element that affected all living creatures. Other prevalent intelligent species, at least within the time frame of the game events, include the s, a nomadic stout bodied bipedal organism capable of hunting, non-verbal communication, and social interaction. Their abilities are not dissimilar to the s, a lankier more primate like species that are much more tribal and collective, wary of other creatures but capable of trade and communication with others if the proper precautions are taken.

Purposed Organisms
Most, if not all life seen within the world are descendants of purposed organisms, a mix of organic and inorganic life-forms created and genetically engineered by the Ancients for their own functions, whether it be production or amusement; working at such an unprecedented efficiency with the combined advantages of their biological components structured and streamlined as if it were a machine. Occurring within the Void Fluid Revolution, much of the natural flora and fauna of the world had died off or disappeared by the time the Ancients had obtained this power, resulting in most of the evolved lifeforms seen eons later being offshoots or at least part of these once unnatural creatures. A good example of this are Miros Birds, which were created to protect the Memory Crypts. The Slugcat species is suggested to be a descendent of a purposed organism, a type of slug creature that would clean the insides of pipes. While not stated in game, it is heavily implied that the Spearmaster is a purposed organism, created to be an ideal messenger.

Pearls
Pearls are reflective, spherical objects used by the Ancients to store information, ranging from stories to images to songs. Many are found scattered throughout Rain World, holding a vast array of history and data. Much of the information within this page is sourced from these data pearls, which were often used as facility logs or records of iterator communications, in which Looks to the Moon at different points in the timeline will provide different transcriptions of most pearls, alongside the pearls that can be read within Artificer's campaign by Five Pebbles, providing their own unique perspective on established pearl transcriptions and often providing new information altogether.

The Ancients and Void Fluid
Eons ago, an ancient civilization much like modern humans inhabited the planet. Even such a developed society could not escape the grasp of the Great Cycle that impacted all living creatures. Birth, death and rebirth were connected to each other like a ring, making true death impossible. It became this civilization's goal to break free of this cycle—a process known as transcendence.

Even far before the storyline of Rain World began, methods and spiritual instructions were devised by beings such as monks to rid oneself of natural urges. These methods were practiced in an effort to escape the Great Cycle, but there is no indication that these instructions were able to achieve any success.

The situation changed drastically, however, with the Void Fluid Revolution. At some point in their history, the ancient civilization discovered what later came to be known as Void Sea far below the surface in the Depths. The Void Sea was comprised entirely of Void Fluid. While it was difficult to harvest the fluid due to its nature of dissolving anything that comes into contact, devices known as Void Drills were invented to gather up small amounts Void Fluid embedded in rocks slightly above the Void Sea, where its concentration is lower and wouldn't pose a risk to the equipment. The impurities such as rock and sediments were then filtered out to obtain a sample of the pure liquid.

This fluid was soon found to be an outstanding source of energy, leading to the creation of devices such as the Mass, Technological advancement quickly boomed, and the ancient civilization reached the height of its power.

After further studies, it was found that the Void Fluid does not just dissolve objects, it also removes them from the physical realm. Attempts were made to dig even deeper into the Depths to find higher concentrations of Void Fluid as well as uncover more information about it, but the ancients' equipment simply broke or dissolved. As later described, no one returned if they ventured too deep into the Depths. However, this property of the Void Fluid coincided with what the ancients thought to be the solution to escaping the Great Cycle. The civilization believed that the ability of the Void Fluid to remove one from the physical world was the transcendence they had longed for. Since any that came into contact with Void Fluid did not return, it was inferred that they must have broken free of the cycle. However, a risk was associated with taking the plunge into Void Sea to escape the world. Not even Void Fluid was enough to remove those with sufficiently large egos from the physical realm. This resulted in some "horror stories" in regards to semi-transcended abominations. Several Ancients that did not entirely transcend are likely to be the Echoes seen throughout the timeline. These creatures claim to know how to transcend, but express a sense of regret and sorrow at being trapped between the mortal realm and the transcended realm.
 * The Echo found within Bitter Aerie is not confirmed to be canon.

Karma
In order to transcend, it seems that one would have to abandon all attachments and desires, entering an "effortless" state. These are summarized with what they referred to as the five 'natural urges'; The first being wrath/violence, the second lust , the third material possession/attachment , the fourth gluttony/indulgence , and the fifth being self preservation/ego. These are the first five of the ten known levels of Karma, with the symbols that represent the latter half changing with current maximum Karma level. With such a degree of commitment required and with the knowledge of the consequences of failure, the ancients once again turned to archaic methods to rid of one's natural urges and ego before deciding to use Void Fluid in order to finally transcend. However, this seemed not to be an entirely perfect solution, which would explain why Iterators were constructed. Additionally, the last Karma symbol seems to be the desire to ascend others, this backed up by dialogue in the Saint's campaign.

Creating and Using the Iterators
The ancient civilization began using its technological prowess to create and construct the iterators. Iterator was the name given to artificial superintelligences of colossal size and incredible power that were constructed to solve the 'Great Problem'—to find the method of breaking free of the Great Cycle without the use of Void Fluid. Although these superstructures were mainly of efficient machine and purposed organisms, these constructs can still be found imbued with the ideology of the Ancients, with these 'Karma Shrines' residing just above the roof of the so called iterator 'cans', a series of murals held within an ornate spacious room, with each room filling mural depicting one of the five natural urges. These are known to appear within an iterator of an older generation and one of the newest, suggesting that this is a pattern found throughout all iterator superstructures.

The Iterators were a combination of organic and synthetic components, relying on specially grown microorganisms as peripheral processing devices: their natural metabolism and reproduction could perform very complex calculations beyond the capabilities of electronics physically. In order to keep their electronic components cool and their organic components clean, iterators required gargantuan amounts of water. The iterators stripped their nearby ecosystems of water and pumped water vapor back into the atmosphere, where it would condense into rain and be used again. Due to this process and the sheer number of iterators built, the equilibrium of the world's ecosystems was severely disrupted or even destroyed, creating a dense layer of fog and clouds rife with torrential downpours and periodic flooding. Ultimately, this effect came to be known as the Rain. The ancient civilization compensated for this by moving away from living on the surface, and constructed immense, dense cities directly on top of the surface of the iterators' "cans"—massive, square shaped buildings which protruded like islands far above the cloud layer. In addition to computing the solution to the Great Problem of transcendence, the iterators were tasked with providing regular shipments of food, water, equipment and Void Fluid for energy to these colonies.

Layout of an Iterator Superstructure
The basic layout of an Iterator superstructure consists of a large rectangular prism, at an approximate ratio of a width and depth of 1, and length of 2, often referred to as a 'can.' This central structure is elevated from the surface and rises high above the cloud level, with the support of 8 pillars spaced apart, referred to as the 'legs,' with one just before each corner and the remaining 4 legs spaced equally between the legs along the lengths of the underside, forming a collection of 2 rows and 4 columns, with the columns of each row closer together and the rows farther apart. The other parts of the exterior, which include the horizontal surface of the underside, the 4 vertical surfaces, and the horizontal surface of the topside are referred to as the underhang, the wall(s), and the roof correspondingly.

Much of the interior structure is unknown, but notable systems of the Iterator superstructures include the General Systems Bus (GSB), Neural Terminus (NT), Primary Cortex (PC), Memory Conflux (MC), Recursive Transform Array (RTA) / Abstract Convergence Manifold (ACM), Linear Systems Rail (LSR) / The Heart, Lymphatic Conduit Water Distribution System (LCWDS) / the Arteries. General Systems Bus, Recursive Transform Array, Linear Systems Rail, and Lymphatic Conduit Water Distribution System are found within Five Pebbles, while Neural Terminus, Abstract Convergence Manifold, The Heart, and the Arteries correspond to Looks to the Moon, with the differently named subsystems retaining a similar function. Recursive Transform Array and Abstract Convergence Manifold both consist of angular shafts lined with Flux Condensers, large 'electric fly zapper' coils that seem to serve as volatile capacitors for electricity, with the systems containing a single spacious room adjacent to the core of the structure, with a large chip-like object in the center, likely acting as a power distribution system and/or north/south bridge (Related to Computer System Architecture), or even as a Central Processing Unit (CPU). Found in both Iterators, Memory Conflux serves as the active memory structure for use by the system, likely for both short and long term memory, with individual cells often filled with these brittle coral like lattices that can be seen reconstructing themselves if disturbed, likely serving as an active individual thread or process. General Systems Bus, Neural Terminus, and Primary Cortex are all close to the central Iterator Puppet chamber, with GSB and NT serving as highways for purposed organisms like the Neuron Fly with access tunnels and busses directly to the chamber and its immediate surroundings, and connecting to further subsystems like Memory Conflux and the Flux Condenser arrays. The Primary Cortex is a region seen in both Iterators, being these systems of large chasms filled with green electric energy discharges, with organisms and conduits weaving through to the core, located nearby but not adjacent to the core chamber, likely serving as more of a 'backrooms' within the core, with a multitude of smaller electrified chambers more closely surrounding some layer around the chamber; a system as a whole with a less apparent or known function. Linear Systems Rail and The Heart both serve as containers for Rarefaction Cells, serving as immense power sources that are accompanied by the much needed water distribution systems (LCWDS and the Arteries) that span the facilities and flush out processor organism slag and regulate internal and external temperatures.

The Local Facility
Looks to the Moon and Five Pebbles serve as the only physical presence of the Iterators, with Looks to the Moon being an older model of Iterator. Looks to the Moon was built and mainly served during a time at which the Ancients still lived on the surface. The Local Facility is built around a great source of ground water a large circular aquifer at the center, with Looks to the Moon just to the east of this aquifer; her large rectangular can with her width / depth adjacent to the aquifer and her length running from west to east. Five Pebbles is just to the west across the other side of the aquifer, instead aligned perpendicularly with his length running from north to south. The two superstructures are connected by two bridges that span across the aquifer, suspended at a height just around the intersection of the legs and the walls. The first bridge, which is encountered in-game as 'The Precipice', starts from Five Pebbles second 'left-most' leg (when referring to Five Pebbles' eastern wall as the front), the one seen in-game, and connects to the first leg of Moon's first row. The second and encountered bridge connects from the first leg of Looks to the Moons' second row to the third leg of Five Pebbles front row. Together, they create a 'T' like formation, with Five Pebbles forming the horizontal top line, and the combined length of the bridges and Looks to the Moon's can forming the vertical line, albeit rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise when using north as the upward direction.

Iterator Presence
Twelve iterators have been named but there are up to fourteen total (including the named twelve) which have been seen in-game. The seven mentioned within the timeline of most Slugcats are:
 * (5P) - "Erratic Pulse"
 * (LttM) - "Big Sister Moon" (BSM)*
 * (SoS)
 * Seven Red Suns (SRS)
 * Chasing Wind/Gray Wind (CW)
 * Unparalleled Innocence (UI)
 * No Significant Harassment (NSH)


 * "Big Sis Moon" to Iterators she is close to.

Five Pebbles and Looks to the Moon serve the only in-game appearance of iterators and their structures, with Sliver of Straw playing an important influence in the actions of the iterators, with others like Seven Red Suns, Chasing Wind, Unparalleled Innocence, and No Significant Harassment merely appearing in preserved records/logs or influence in the events that take place; an albeit distant but notable appearance within the world.

Seven more iterators are mentioned within the broadcasts of the Spearmaster, of which five are named and two are only known by their initials:
 * Pleading Intellect (PI)
 * Wandering Omen (WO)
 * Gazing Stars (GS)
 * Secluded Instinct (SI)
 * Epoch of Clouds (EOC)
 * HR
 * NGI

Within the story line of the Spearmaster, the aforementioned Seven Red Suns and No Significant Harassment play a large narrative and influential role for the events that take place, Where the other remaining iterators serve mainly as additional insight or supplementary world building outside of the in-game events. Notably are some comments on the state of the planet that Rain World supposedly resides in; with it's entire surface to be a cold, frigid wasteland, a world where the only remaining sources of heat come as a byproduct of the Iterator Superstructures. By the time the iterators were created, this was the known state and landscape documented, with previous or otherwise past information on a different state of the environment unknown. The second iterator, NSH as they are known, also has a role within the journey of the Hunter that later takes place.

Fall of the Ancients and Creation of the Rot
Unfortunately, the ancient civilization disappeared and collapsed before the iterators computed the solution to the Great Problem due to a massive transcendence movement of the entire population, leaving the surface cities dark and abandoned if largely intact. However, the iterators were left turned on, their final command being to continue working towards a method to transcend without using Void Fluid and guide lesser creatures on the path to the realm beyond should the solution ever be discovered. Over the next indeterminate amount of cycles up until the start of the game, the iterators did not achieve any major breakthroughs. Only claimed to have uncovered the solution, but she died almost simultaneously as the confirmation of success was broadcasted to the other iterators, causing the methods in which she attained this positive result to be lost.

Unable to find the solution after 's ascension and growing increasingly frustrated, another iterator—Five Pebbles—became convinced there was no solution to the great problem, there was no reason to keep trying to solve it, and that death was the only way out. It is likely he showed these beliefs off in iterator chat logs under the pseudonym EP, or Erratic Pulse. The ancients had anticipated this kind of thinking, however, and put taboos preventing self destruction within the iterator's genetics. One (and perhaps the only) way to circumvent these taboos was a very dangerous and repetitive shuffling of genetics that required a heightened water intake. The goal was to cause cells to mutate until the desired genetics were obtained: ones that would overwrite the encoded taboos. It is very likely Five Pebbles used this method to attempt overwriting his genetics. At some point Five Pebbles began drawing several times the usual amount of water, tapping into the neighboring iterator, Looks to the Moon's water source. Attempts by Moon to persuade Pebbles that water shortages would be fatal to her failed and she had to leverage her seniority in an attempt to make him stop, to which Pebbles responded that this plea has "ruined everything". Upon being interrupted, Five Pebbles lost focus of his genetic shuffling, and it is likely it became what is known as the Rot (see Rot). Five Pebbles attempted to rid his systems of the Rot, doing things such as flushing it out into Garbage Wastes, but it has proven resilient and still resides within him, slowly consuming more and more, day by day. It is unknown if Five Pebbles still uses extra water during the time that the three playable s take place in. Due to many cycles lacking water, Looks to the Moon's processes eventually seized, her facility compromised, and her primary cognitive unit descended into an amnesic, near-death state.

The Timeline of the Slugcats
Rain World: Downpour has a significant amount of lore in it; some hidden, some obvious. The campaigns of the new Slugcats happen at various times in the timeline, the most notable being the Saint, which happens in the far future. What is defined to happen, is not theoretically what can happen in game, but what canonically happens. The following Slugcat campaigns are in timeline order.

The Spearmaster
The earliest campaign in the timeline is that of the, taking place as Looks to the Moon suffers irreversible damage from lack of water, losing function and her legs soon to collapse. The Spearmaster is a messenger for Seven Red Suns, and, in their campaign, is sent out to Five Pebbles for a second time in their lives to deliver a message. They are accompanied by a red/orange overseer, one of Suns'. The Spearmaster was an purposed organism created to provide a practical long term solution for communication between iterators, as their current communication arrays would inevitably decay. The reason for their current journey to Five Pebbles however, is due to the communication and involvement of Seven Red Sun's and No Significant Harassment, discovering from other iterators and in further investigation that communication has been lost with Five Pebbles and his supervisor Looks to the Moon, of which Five Pebbles has taken in a significantly largely amount of water and is dehydrating and damaging Moon. At some point in the campaign, they reach Pebbles, who rips the pearl that contains the message out of their innards, then proceeds to cut Sun out by destroying the red overseer, throwing the Spearmaster out, and locking down their facility entirely. After this, the Spearmaster travels to Moon's can, which is suffering from power failures and structural damage, within cycles of her collapse. With Moon realizing the state of Five Pebbles and her inevitable situation, she rewrites the pearl that was ripped out of Spearmaster to contain what would be her last message to the local iterator group, with Spearmaster delivering it to Communications Arrays to send this message. After her final message is successfully delivered, Spearmaster supposedly finds their way back to Seven Red Suns, remaining by their side as a close companion. Choosing to ascend will basically give you a mix of the Hunter and Survivor's endings, with the final scene being replaced by the game rolling to credits.

The Artificer
The 's campaign has less of a significant impact on the timeline, and is instead a more focused, character-driven story.

Throughout their campaign, the Artificer is in constant conflict with the s, having a hard-locked negative reputation. Because of all the bloodshed, the Artificer is stuck at the first level of Karma, which represents the natural urge for violence and wrath. The reasons for their violence are revealed through dream sequences during hibernation. A music cue is played before each dream, becoming more low-pitched and distorted as their situation becomes more dire.

The first illustrates the Artificer and their two Slugpups, one a mint green color and the other a light lavender, hunting for Batflies at a communications tower in Garbage Wastes.

The second shows them hunting a Batfly swarm at the top of a tower in Chimney Canopy, then being attacked by a Vulture before the dream ends.

The next sequence shows the family alive and well as they pass underneath an abandoned Scavenger Toll, before fading to black as the lavender Slugpup climbs up a pole inspect the hanging pearls.

The next dream shows Artificer and their pups fleeing from the Scavengers, as the lavender pup had stolen a pearl from the toll. The Artificer is forced to leave the lavender Slugpup behind, leaping over a cliff with the mint pup in hand, leaving the lavender pup cornered at the base of the cliff by the pursuing Scavengers.

The next dream shows the Artificer with the mint Slugpup in hand as they leap over a deep pool of water, disrupted by a Scavenger grenade explosion that causes the mint pup to fall into the water while the Artificer makes it to the other side, as they are grabbed by numerous Leeches before being dragged to the bottom of the trench.

Concluding the dreams with the Slugpups, the next dream has the Artificer in a cavern as they kill a lone Scavenger, which is flipped in the next dream as you take control of a Scavenger in a cramped cave as you kill the Artificer, the latter likely not happening and instead being a manifestation of their conflict with the Scavengers and their fear of loss and death. This backstory puts the Artificer on a quest to avenge the supposed deaths of their slugpups, by inflicting violence on all Scavenger kind.

At the start of the campaign, the Artificer finds a small drone which follows them on their journey to can. Upon arrival, Pebbles reveals that the drone was originally a Citizen ID Drone for an Ancient, resyncing it with his own systems and bringing it to a functional state. He informs them of an infestation of Scavengers in his city, disassembling his architecture for scrap metal. With a common enemy, he allows the Artificer access. The Artificer then journeys into and can choose to assassinate the, taking its mantle and eradicating the remaining Scavengers.

Within Metropolis is an echo supposedly named Atop the Tallest Tower, who recognizes the Artificer's path of violence, and warns that the coming battle will be an unrewarding one culminating in a path of no return, urging the Slugcat to find another way out while they still can. If the player Slugcat takes the advice of Atop the Tallest Tower, they can instead choose to ascend and break free of their cycle of violence and retribution. From their Pilgrimage, the Artificer will only be able to gain a max 9 Karma, requiring them to bypass the Guardians within the Depths through temporarily augmenting their Karma by use of a Scavenger corpse, or by other means.

Upon reaching the Void Sea, the Artificer will be unable to bring anything with them, demoting themselves to a Karma level of 9 for their descent, a warning constantly flashing red, and upon which after swimming past the Void Worms, the typical individual Void Worm that takes notice of the Slugcat will instead leave them after their initial curiosity, leaving Artificer to descend on their own. Shortly after with the Artificer continuing their descent, they will begin to progressively dissolve as they continue further, with these note-like particles erratically shooting off of their body, until they disappear completely and the ending sequence starts to play. Swimming through the Void Sea, their tail can be seen dissolving behind them, and with a close up shot, the scratch laden body of the Artificer can be seen with a golden aura seemingly emanating from / consuming their body, before the Artificer spots their two children, the mint green and lavender Slugpup, to which they get to embrace one last time before seemingly dissolving entirely, with nothing left but residual golden trails of their body, leaving the two Slugpups behind. Within the post-credits score sequence, the ending is noted to be 'acceptance,' suggesting that the Artificer gave up whatever feelings they could and became one with the Void Sea, at least to the extent that a Karma level of 9 would allow them.

The Hunter
Hunter is sent by NSH with a pearl and a slag-reset neuron to help Moon in her state of decay. The Survivor's story is based on the scenario that the delivered the neuron and revived Moon, with the rest of their choices unknown. In the Hunter's transcendence scene, the Hunter is seen with a strange purple goo coming out of it, before being seen in the arms of an iterator-like figure, presumably NSH.

One interpretation of this cutscene is that the Hunter was injected with some of NSH's microbes, and then sent by NSH to transcend under the cover of helping Moon. The goo seen coming out of the Hunter is believed to be these microbes. This also explains Hunter's sickness- like in the Iterators, slag would build up off these microbes being worked, and would thus lead to organ failure in the organism. By doing this, NSH was able to effectively break the self-destruction taboo, enabling them to transcend with the Hunter.

A second interpretation is that the goo is the Hunter's sickness (in this case presumed to be either cancer or some other terminal illness rather than slag buildup) being removed from their body upon transcending. Oddly, Hunter's illness is implied to be Rot, but this may not be a canon appearence.

The Gourmand
The is a Slugcat venturing from the Outer Expanse's tribe of Slugcats into the rest of Five Pebbles' grounds to scout out new land for their tribe. Somewhere along its journey, presumably after reaching Looks to the Moon, they reach Five Pebbles' superstructure, and receive the mark of communication. Pebbles opens a gate to the outside world from his facility to allow the Gourmand to leave. Following this, the Gourmand travels past Subterranean into the Sunken Pier, then into the Outer Expanse where they return to their tribe. They tell the other Slugcats of their journey, and if Gourmand's food quest has been completed, they venture into the facility grounds.

The Survivor
Some time after these events, is separated from their family by heavy rainfall in Outer Expanse, falling into a pipe leading to Outskirts. The Survivor is guided by one of Moon's s, leading them towards Moon with images of their family and encouraging the Survivor to bring additional neurons to repair her memory. After visiting Moon, the Survivor travels to Five Pebbles, who grants them the Mark and guides them to the Depths. However, the player can choose to not transcend and/or steal neurons from Five Pebbles and give them to Moon. The player can also skip visiting Pebbles and Moon entirely, and instead pursue the es to gain maximum karma and transcend that way. The Survivor, upon transcending, is taken to the Void where many other ascended s are shown.

The Monk
The is seemingly a younger sibling to the Survivor, jumping after their older sibling during the beginning cutscene. The Monk's story appears to take place shortly after the Survivor's story, but long enough that the world's have faded and no longer contain information. The Monk generally follows the same story as the Survivor, being given the same options in terms of meeting the iterators and transcending. As of 1.7, it is revealed in the Monk's ascension cutscene that they find the Survivor's spirit in the Void.

The ending cutscenes could also be interpreted as the s' wishes manifesting as final dreams as they lose consciousness in the void fluid: the Hunter dreaming of being back with NSH, the finding their family and the  being reunited with their sibling.

The Rivulet
The begins by falling into Drainage System alongside a dead Scavenger after an explosion. They start with the Mark of Communication and a unique pearl inside of their stomach. With the current state of the world, the Rivulet is met with fast paced short and violent cycles of the Rain, often met with premature shelter failures in which they must find safety somewhere else as the Rain still rages on, although with enough time the rainfall normalizes, providing Rivulet with extra time gained from their short hibernation. Upon reaching a still sustained Looks to the Moon, Rivulet learns that the pearl is a schematic of an iterator superstructure; with a detailed path of approach outlined for the maintenance of a linear power rail, the layout of which is unfamiliar to herself, and a lymphatic conduit water distribution system that is only present in the later iterator models, prompting her to realize that the closest iterator that would share these schematics would be Five Pebbles. With Moon remarking that she has not had contact with Pebbles for a long time and showing concern, the Rivulet heads to Five Pebbles, along the way finding Memory Crypts to be scattered with remnants of the Underhang, presumably falling from and colliding with the surface of Memory Crypts and infesting the local area with the Rot. Upon climbing the Leg onto the Underhang, the architecture seen within Memory Crypts can be found to have deteriorated and collapsed, before reaching the interior of Five Pebble's can. Upon entry, it is found that Five Pebbles structure has been heavily consumed by the Rot, with the former regions of Unfortunate Development and Memory Conflux to be completely consumed by the Rot, leaving a near unrecognizable ruins flooded in the lower regions collectively called the Depths, whose Rot activity has since ceased within the oldest affected areas and most prevalent within the outer reaches of its grasp. With the extent of this decay, the Rivulet is now left to reaching Five Pebbles through the previously mentioned lymphatic conduit water distribution system, a series of water filled pipes that span most of the interior and serve as a backbone to traversing the severely decayed structure. To the left of entry is the lower portions of Recursive Transform Array infested with Rot, although mainly untouched beyond this, but now affected by periods of power loss with deactivation of the local flux condensers and intermittent periods of low gravity. Within Five Pebble's chamber, he can be seen in a state of disrepair with the umbilical that moves his puppet now dysfunctional, much like Looks to the Moon, with only a music pearl to comfort him in his inevitable destruction. In a final attempt to redeem himself, he asks the Rivulet to take his last found within the Linear Systems Rail embedded deeply in his structure, and give it to. Upon removal of the Mass Rarefaction Cell, the fluctuations in power cease as gravity is normalized and all of the flux condensers are visibly inactive. Escaping The Rot and finding their way back to Looks to the Moon, Moon comments on the sudden normalization in the Rain as the last activity of Five Pebbles ceases, drastically increasing the length between cycles, at such a point beyond the normal length for other Slugcats. This gives enough evidence that the short and violent cycles that plague the Rivulet were a result of a greatly increased water intake from Five Pebbles, as he fended of the Rot in a last ditch attempt and gradually lost efficiency in his systems; needing more water to provide an overall lesser benefit. With the Mass Rarefaction Cell in hand, Looks to the Moon details that these are emergency power sources that the iterators have become more dependent upon as their creators no longer exist to maintain them. She references the event of all of her rarefaction cells becoming dislodged and carried away by the flood waters, and that such a power source could partially restore her systems, something not possible for herself with losing control of her overseers and a severed umbilical; an arduous task if one were able to traverse the now flooded depths of her superstructure, a path to which she remarks might be reachable through an access shaft. After the Rivulet is able to reach the Heart of Submerged Superstructure, they are thrust out into Bitter Aerie as the tidal force generated from the reactivated core pushes them outside of the Arteries. This cold and desolate region is covered by snowfall and contains an Auxiliary Transmissions Array, the former appearing to be the remnants of the once long uninhabited city atop Looks to the Moon's roof; now inhabited by Scavengers. This area is shown to have been located within the outer reaches of any active superstructures for it to not have been affected by the normally transformative heat output from iterator cans, resulting in the migration of Miros Vultures into these cold skies. Traveling beyond this area by way of a one-way gate; normally only passable by the ancient citizens, the Rivulet finds themself within the Karma Shrine atop Looks to the Moon, able to reach her chamber shortly by way of access shafts. With her remaining intact superstructure partially restored, Looks to the Moon's systems are rebooted; regaining control over her overseers and of a portion of her newly powered systems, leaving her with these recovered memories and details of the events that transpired before and after her collapse, including those of the preceding Slugcats and Iterators that have helped her, through the recordings derived from her overseers. Realizing the state of Five Pebbles and of the events leading up to such, Looks to the Moons uses the Auxiliary Transmissions Array to initiate a forced private broadcast with Pebbles, detailing the improvement of her condition and her awareness of the deterioration in communication with the local group. Attempting to reconcile with Five Pebbles, she pleads that any anger has long since subsided and wishes to talk to and be there for Five Pebbles. At the very end, it is shown that Five Pebbles does indeed receive this communication from Moon from within his chamber, suggesting that they remain in regular contact with each other afterwards and that the grievances between the two have been resolved, a relationship that remains well into the future. However, two instances of this ending sequence exist, one with the Music Pearl and one without, depending on if the Rivulet stole Five Pebbles' Music Pearl and gave it to Looks to the Moon to transcribe. The normal sequence with the pearl will have halcyon memories playing in the background, while the one without will leave Five Pebbles in his chamber surrounded by the ambience of The Rot, haunting the entire scene, the credits, and even the main menu until there is another music prompt. This is likely to be the 'secret' ending mentioned within the developer commentary.

The Saint
The Saint's campaign is notable for taking place in the distant future. So far that any significant iterator activity has ceased, with endless snowfall and blizzards replacing rainfall as little outputed heat remains. Various species have evolved adaptations such as fur to survive the harsh weather. Several parts of the world have changed considerably- has collapsed on top of the  creating the, a wreck of shredded and torn sections of what was Five Pebbles can, destroying most of Shaded Citadel and bringing light to the remainder. The Rot is almost nonexistent, where any growth has long since died off from exposure and decay, also missing from places like. Drainage System is now Undergrowth, a rich jungle full of life. Nearly every region has been reformed in some way. The unusual heat within Undergrowth may be explained by Looks to the Moon's activity, as her submerged superstructure heats the nearby water, which gets circulated through the former facilities.

Within Silent Construct, puppet lies at the exposed and destroyed remains of his chamber, with nothing left but faded pearls and their now severly deterioated music pearl, barely consicious and of no use. however has remained somewhat the same as she was last seen as the Rivulet, although with a foreboding attitude towards some inevitable end. Neither iterators have any objectives for the Saint, in contrast to other Slugcats. As a result, Saint's campaign is relatively straightforward: they must explore the world, increase their Karma level by meeting all of the Echoes throughout the world, then ascend by traveling into the Depths of. Each Echo has new dialogue, reflecting on the fate of the Saint and themselves, with a new unnamed Echo within Undergrowth, one of joyous demeanor and takes comfort in the act of living. The Echo within Shaded Citadel, Four Needles under Plentiful Leaves has seemingly dissapeared, while there also exists another that can be found within Bitter Aerie, although it is considered more of an easter egg than of actual lore significance. Upon completing their pilgrimage, they gain the ability to ascend other creatures, including and.

The Saint heads down into the Depths as per usual, only to find a massive chasm and the pseudo-mirror world of in its place. If the player has chosen to ascend and  by this point, they are present in a puppet chamber just before the ending with unique dialogue. After swimming upwards into the Void Sea and past the, a lone Worm swims up to the Saint. The Saint proceeds to use its ascension ability on it, seemingly resetting their own karmic loop as a slideshow of moments from the playthrough flashes on the screen, while Echo tentacles jut from the Saint's body. The Saint is sent to the start of their campaign, with the distortion of an Echo and a glowing silhouette of a Slugcat next to it.

This final sequence within Saint's campaign illustrates the inevitable fate of the Slugcat: that they exist within a cycle of their own, one that transcends even the great cycle that all living beings face, intertwining their own existence within the process of the cycle itself as they seemingly and infinitely aspire to bring enlightment to and Ascend all Creatures except themselves. Whether this is the choice of the Slugcat isn't entirely known, but it is certain that they play an unending role in the process of Ascension. Although not canonically being the one to have 'crossed out' Sliver of Straw, with the 3 marks that can be seen on their forehead in various in-game illustrations it can be interpreted that the Saint satisifies the Triple Affirmative: they show themselves to be an affirmative that a solution has been found, seen within the presence of known characters like Five Pebbles and Looks to the Moon; affirmative that the solution is portable, a physical vessel capable of traversing the known world; and affirmative that a technical implementation is possible and generally applicable, utilising their powers to Ascend any Creature they come across.

Additions to Vanilla Lore
Completing Gourmand's campaign permanently unlocks Outer Expanse for Survivor and Monk. Going to the Slug Tree as either gives an alternative ending.