History WebVideo / RatsSMP

The ''Rats SMP'' was a private, modded ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' multiplayer server hosted by [=POWCreations=], which was founded by Apokuna and [=OwengeJuiceTV=]. It featured several prominent Minecraft YouTubers and streamers, especially from the ''WebVideo/OutsidersSMP'', the ''WebVideo/EmpiresSMP'', and other adjacent series.

* RoughOveralls: Resident farmer rat Scott wears overalls as a part of his everyday ensemble, and vastly prefers staying in the outdoor gardens and wheat fields to being cooped up in the Mansion, especially at the start of the SMP [[CabinFever when the Garden was still inaccessible]].

** Sneeg and Philza from the ''WebVideo/OriginsSMP'', a different world, make guest appearances in the series. Aside from a few comments that they look or sound familiar (and Sneeg gifting Scott a [[CelestialBody Nether star]] on arrival), the series attempts to side-step the issue that cc!Scott is on ''both'' servers. cc!Scott also logs onto the server still wearing his ''Origins'' skin on one occasion (admittedly non-canonically), and tries to write it off as him attending "[=RatCon=]".

* MythologyGag:
** With 6 of the main cast members having previously been on the ''WebVideo/OutsidersSMP''[[note]](not counting ''Rats'' creators with guest appearances on ''Outsiders'')[[/note]], which ended about two months before ''Rats'', there are many references to that:
*** Most of the ''Outsiders'' veterans have mentioned having a distaste for mazes and being trapped in them -- Acho and Krow explicitly cite it as a "distant memory" or "''déjà vu'' trauma" on Day 1, while El mentions having "horrible flashbacks" and Owen saying he "did his time". On the opposite end of the spectrum, Kyle, an ex-Outsider who makes a guest appearance on Day 42, claims to love mazes and believes himself to have been an expert on them in a past life.
*** As Sniff explains how rats from the woods like her call humans "hunters", Owen brings up how hunters might "shove a spear through things [and] people"… while staring at Apo.
*** On Day 16, Apo finds a demon horn headband and thinks it fits her; Owen semi-jokingly has her take it off, and tries to give them to Krow.
*** On Day 39, Apo mentions having a nightmare about timekeeping in the Maze from ''Outsiders'' because its structure shifted at sundown.
** Considering 5 out of 16 of the main cast members are members of Season 2 of the ''WebVideo/EmpiresSMP''[[note]](not counting ''Rats'' creators with later guest appearances in ''Empires'')[[/note]], there have been several nods to that as well:
*** Jimmy is ''not'' happy about entering the server via the Toy Room, and claims to have "flashbacks" in relation to toys. He has also explicitly stated that he hates salmon.
*** During his visit on Day 23, Tommy is seen to own several oddly familiar Sheriff toys, which he claims to be his sons.
*** On Day 42, when Scott picks up the termites' crown and puts it on, Owen briefly sings a relevant line from "The Crown (Part 1)" from ''Empires: the Musical''.

* SpaceEpisode: The third and last part of the "Ghosts of Ratmas" event on Day 60 takes the rats on a trip to the Moon in the "Future", where they have to [[spoiler:stop the intelligent cats' DoomsdayDevice from destroying the Earth and turning an Class 3 ApocalypseHow situation into a ''Class X'' one]].

* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: According to El, some of the rats tried some drinks after finding the Wine Cellar to the Mansion on Day 29, which resulted in, on their parts, a ''severe'' lack of judgement and [[spoiler:the intentional overheating and subsequent explosion of the Boiler Room. The Janitor is [[MisplacedRetribution not happy about it]], to say the least. Following the incident, Will then suggests, with Martyn backing them up, [[FrameUp framing the Janitor for the Boiler Room destruction]] by bringing in some alcohol from the Wine Cellar, citing that he was DrinkingOnDuty earlier that day.]]

* CatsAreMean: The cats of the Mansion, nicknamed 'Oy' and 'Oreo' by the rats, chase and attack the rats on sight and serve as the [[RightHandAttackDog Right-Hand Attack Cats]] for the Janitor during his time in the Mansion. The Jingle Jam Christmas event also reveals that [[spoiler:sometime in the future, when humans "eradicate one another" at war and leave the rats and cats to their own devices, sufficiently to the point of space travel for both species, the cats will attempt to [[ExaggeratedTrope blow up the Earth altogether]], forcing the time-travelled rat protagonists to have to destroy or otherwise stop the systems of the "Rat Obliterator 3000 [=V3.7=]".]]

** On Day 16, the rats find the Grandmother has made them all Halloween costumes, including a pirate costume that Owen wears. While he goes on to trade the hook-hand for some carpets to fix up the Mansion with Tommy and gives the hat to Kara as a gift, he uses the eye-patch on Day 82 to [[spoiler:make a gas-mask to help him enter the FesteringFungus-infested Boiler Room and [[KillItWithFire torch]] and decontaminate the place.]]

* CourtroomEpisode: On Day 36, a trial is held for Oli because he [[spoiler:pushed Apo to be mauled by cats to save himself]] on Day 29. El, acting as the judge presiding over the trial, declares Oli [[spoiler:neither guilty nor innocent but arranges a duel for the two parties to fight it out.]]

* FesteringFungus: After the explosion of the Boiler Room, a deadly invasive species of warped fungus begins to grow in the Mansion, concentrated at first in the garden, then in the destroyed Boiler Room as Owen decides to plant a mushroom to get rid of the bug infestation there. Inhaling its spores in large amounts is deadly to rats ''and'' humans, granting long-lasting Slowness and later Wither effects, the latter of which can be lethal; even inhaling too much of the fumes in which the fungus is burnt can kill in three days. So far, it has (directly or indirectly) claimed the lives of many of Scott's unnamed family members [[spoiler:and Owen (life #1)]]… but not Shelby, who's [[BrooklynRage from New York]] and is joked to be Built Different™.[[note]]In actuality, Shelby just downed a bottle of milk, which can clear one potion effect -- in her case, the Wither effect inflicted by the spores.[[/note]] In the end, [[spoiler:Owen sneaks back into the Boiler Room with a handmade gas mask to burn and destroy the fungus, though not without [[TooCleverByHalf almost suffocating in the resultant smoke]] and being rescued by Scott.]]

** There are lots to the rats' VillainSong from ''WebVideo/RatMovieMysteryOfTheMayanTreasure'': Olive's 1st episode opens with an excerpt from the song, a snippet of it is included in the introductory cinematic of Apo's [=YouTube=] episode, Owen sings a line from it on Day 6, and the rats sing it on Day 82 [[spoiler:in introduction to the Maid after she requests a formal discussion.]] Owen has also been nicknamed "the big rat who makes all the rules" (or other variants) for being a server admin.[[note]]Apo is also a server admin, but the Ratsgiving event clears it up by referring to them as "the ''small'' rat who makes all the rules".[[/note]]

** On Day 47, as the snowfall begins, Owen and several of the other rats rejoice in finally being able to have "a normal day where nothing goes wrong". Cue Krow walking up to the group awkwardly asking how things are going, the group immediately deducing something is up, and everyone finding [[spoiler:a [[RevengeBeforeReason very vengeful]] Scott in the Lobby with the cats. Cue a server-wide cat-astrophe, where everything, ''including the revenge plan'', ends up GoneHorriblyWrong.]]

[[folder:[=A–L=]]]

[[folder:[=M–Z=]]]

* HumansAreCthulhu: Played with. The humans are several times taller than the rats, who all but live in perpetual terror hiding from them. While the rats gradually get used to the humans' presence and later [[DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu help resolve conflicts between the NPCs from afar]] for varying reasons, and the humans occasionally ''do'' help the rats in turn with problems like magical mishaps, the inherent threat of being trapped in a cage with no one to save them in time is always daunting for the rats and a constant in their life in the Mansion, and there are many aspects of human society and culture that few of the rats are remotely able to comprehend despite having civilizations of their own.
-->'''Jimmy:''' ''(hiding from the Maid)'' I don't like this. I didn't know this is– This is Horror SMP!

** On Day 57, the rats browse the library for books on {{dimensional travel|er}} to help Sneeg find his way across the realms, only to find titles filled with scientific concepts incomprehensible for even some of the smartest rats, like atomic theory, evolution, global warming, microbiology, and relativity.

* WainscotSociety: The rat world exists in the nooks and crannies of the human world, hidden behind walls and in attics and alleyways. According to El's [[DefectorFromDecadence backstory]], some parts of rat society even have their own class system. There is often interaction between the two worlds, as the rats often still have to obtain food from ''somewhere'', and Acho's backstory demonstrates [[APetIntoTheWild how exactly one might fall between the two societies]]; meanwhile, a few humans (including the Grandmother, the Eldest Daughter, [[spoiler:and the Maid]]) are both aware of the rat world and are willing to help them out in times of need, causing the rats to regard them as a safe space of sorts.

** In the finale, the possibility of [[spoiler:Mr. Icraga or other humans coming up to the attic, the place where the rats live,]] is raised, which many of the rats dismiss. Later, this is exactly what happens once [[spoiler:Mr. Icraga calls the Janitor away from leave]].

* HumansAreCthulhu: The humans are several times taller than the rats, who all but live in perpetual terror hiding from them. While the rats gradually get used to the humans' presence and later [[DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu help resolve conflicts between the NPCs from afar]] for varying reasons, and the humans occasionally ''do'' help the rats in turn with problems like magical mishaps, the inherent threat of being trapped in a cage with no one to save them in time is always daunting for the rats and a constant in their life in the Mansion, and there are many aspects of human society and culture that few of the rats are remotely able to comprehend despite having civilizations of their own.

* WainscotSociety: The rat world exists in the nooks and crannies of the human world, hidden behind walls and in attics and alleyways. According to El, at least, some parts of rat society even have their own class system. There is often interaction between the two worlds, as the rats often still have to obtain food from ''somewhere'', and Acho's backstory demonstrates [[APetIntoTheWild how exactly one might fall between the two societies]]; meanwhile, a few humans are aware of the rat world and are willing to help them out in times of need, causing the rats to regard them as a safe space of sorts.

* WainscotSociety: The rat world exists in the nooks and crannies of the human world, hidden behind walls and in attics and alleyways. According to El, at least, some parts of rat society even have their own class system. There is often interaction between the two worlds, as the rats often still have to obtain food from ''somewhere''.

** Bek learns from Scott how to make tiny ''VideoGame/AmongUs'' crewmates using the Chisel and Bits mod early in the series and goes on to spread them throughout the entire Attic; Sneeg also builds one lying outside Martyn's [=@/ Bar=] during his guest appearance on Day 57.

* AmazingTechnicolorWildlife: A few of the rats have decidedly unnatural fur/hair colours, like Acho (lilac), Lizzie (pink), and Scott (light blue), with Acho's case being ''very'' PlayedForDrama and ties heavily into their backstory.

** On Day 39, Will and El are accidentally turned into cats after Oli throws one of the Eldest Daughter's potions on them, and have only [[WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve until midnight]] that day to undo the effects before they become cats permanently. PlayedForDrama in that both of them are terrified about the possibility of the transformation being permanent, with El considering running away and isolating herself because she wouldn't be able to stay in the Rattic and with her friends, and Will desperately trying to hold off TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody to eat their friends alive.

* TrueCompanions: In the series finale, the mischief of attic rats are referred to as [[FamilyOfChoice a family]], having relied on each other for food, safety, and companionship for the past months.

** On Day 47, as the snowfall begins, Owen and several of the other rats rejoice in finally being able to have "a normal day where nothing goes wrong". Cue Krow walking up to the group awkwardly asking how things are going, the group immediately deducing something is up, and everyone finding a [[RevengeBeforeReason very vengeful]] Scott in the Lobby with the cats. Cue a server-wide cat-astrophe, where everything, ''including the revenge plan'', ends up GoneHorriblyWrong.

** There are lots to the rats' VillainSong from ''WebVideo/RatMovieMysteryOfTheMayanTreasure'': Olive's 1st episode opens with an excerpt from the song, a snippet of it is included in the introductory cinematic of Apo's [=YouTube=] episode, and Owen sings a line from it on Day 6. Owen has also been nicknamed "the big rat who makes all the rules" (or other variants) for being a server admin.[[note]]Apo is also a server admin, but the Ratsgiving event clears it up by referring to them as "the ''small'' rat who makes all the rules".[[/note]]