The various denizens of Rain World's monsoon-prone ecosystem.

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Playable Slugcats

In General

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/slugcat_9.jpg

What Fate a Slugcat...

A small quadruped animal that looks like... well, a cat with an elongated body, making it look like a slug. All eight slugcats have their own campaign across different time periods, each with their own scenarios. Only two slugcats are available at the beginning, with a third unlockable in the base game (Monk, Survivor, and Hunter, respectively), with five more slugcats added and unlockable in the Downpour DLC (Spearmaster, Artificer, Gourmand, Rivulet, and Saint).

Aggressive Play Incentive: All three of the most combative Slugcats (Hunter, Artificer, Spearmaster) have mechanics that force you to attack dangerous creatures for sustenance.
Ambiguous Gender: For the most part, the genders of the slugcats aren't specified. Artificer is the one exception, being referred to with feminine pronouns in the Developer Commentary and ???'s dating simulator.
Armor-Piercing Attack: Some Dexterity Required, but slugcats can thrust with their spear if they slide, which will actually penetrate a lizard's hardened skull if done right. However, since you do need to be close, it's often a risky maneuver.
Badass Adorable: All playable slugcats are this. The Monk exemplifies it the most with their kind expression and down-to-earthness, but even the scowling Hunter does little to mitigate their own cuteness.
Befriending the Enemy: Slugcats have the capacity to tame lizards and befriend certain other creatures.
Color-Coded Characters: Each slugcat is mainly distinguished by its default color: white for the Survivor, yellow for the Monk, light red for the Hunter, beige for the Gourmand, maroon for the Artificer, blue for the Rivulet, dark purple for the Spearmaster, and green for the Saint.
Falling Damage: Slugcats are the only creatures that can be hurt or killed by strong falls or other surface impacts. However, slugcats can still fall a long way before they are lethally damaged.
Fluffy Tamer: Slugcats can tame lizards, which are otherwise very dangerous predators to them.
Genius Bruiser: Well, genius for a small animal, anyways. Contextual clues (like how they can understand language so easily) show that slugcats have at least human levels of intelligence, and the little bastards can be surprisingly tough to take down if they're well-armed.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: The Hunter is scarred from their time surviving in the wilds. The Artificer is littered with scars from their time fighting the scavengers.
Heavy Sleeper: Due to the frequency of rains and the short length of drought, it can be assumed that slugcats spend most of their life hibernating.
I'm a Humanitarian: When playing as the slugcats who can eat larger creatures, the corpses of other slugcats are also fair game, as shown by slugpups and the Hunter Long Legs. However, slugcats in Jolly Co-op cannot eat each other's bodies.
Multiple Game Openings: Each slugcat has its own starting point in the game world:
- The Survivor and Monk begin in the most basic tutorial, in the Outskirts.
- The Hunter begins in the middle of their travels through the Farm Arrays.
- The Gourmand begins in Shaded Citadel.
- The Artificer begins in the Garbage Wastes.
- The Rivulet begins in the watery Drainage System.
- The Spearmaster begins with the Outer Expanse gate locking behind them as they enter the Outskirts.
- The Saint begins in the Windswept Spires in Sky Islands.
Pyrrhic Victory: Slugcats who ascend don't come through unscathed. While the world is a serious Crapsack World, and the slugcats are now free from the cycle of violence that defined their lives, most have someone they have to leave behind, like with Spearmaster and Seven Red Suns. Slugcats who try to ascend but fail receive the brunt of it. The Artificer sees their pups one last time, but their spirit dissolves; the Saint can ascend any organism, but becomes stuck in the cycles as an echo.
Reincarnation: Apparently nearly every organism on the planet is effectively immortal - every time they die, they simply reincarnate at their last resting point. The end game is finding a way to escape this cycle of reincarnation and move on.
Silent Protagonist: Slugcats have no vocalizations, period. Even when struck, slugcats will refuse to make a sound. That being said, cutscenes and animation show a surprisingly varied amount of Facial Dialogue, showing that they're definitely smart enough to emote.
Stomach of Holding: Some objects that are not food or other edibles (pearls. for example) can be swallowed and held onto while keeping Slugcat's hands free, effectively allowing them to carry three things at once. The stomach only has room for one item at a time, though, and Slugcat needs a few moments to regurgitate whatever its swallowed.
Trademark Favorite Food: Though not outright stated to be as such, Popcorn Plants and Eggbugs are the only kinds of food which are fully edible for all of the slugcats, including the carnivorous Hunter and Artificer. Centipedes are a close third, with only the vegetarian Saint being unable to gain food pips from them.
Wizard Needs Food Badly: All slugcats need to eat their fill of food before hibernating for the next cycle in a shelter (lest the rain kill them), though the required and carryover amount depends on the slugcat. Should they fail to do so, they can choose to starve; this will start the next cycle with lowered stats, status debuffs, and needing to fill their entire hunger bar (required + carryover) to survive the next hibernation.

The Survivor

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rainworld_survivor_portrait.png

"A nimble omnivore, both predator and prey. Lost in a harsh and indifferent land you must make your own way, with wit and caution as your greatest assets."

One of the three slugcats available at the start of the game, this white slugcat's campaign represents the game's "normal" difficulty. The Survivor begins the game as part of a tribe, but gets caught up in the rains of the environment and is sucked away from their family. Now in a completely new and unfamiliar land, they embark on a journey to reunite with their tribe.

Fighter, Mage, Thief: Is the Thief of the 3 playable slugcats prior to Downpour. Has Jack of All Stats and its only real objective is to survive above all costs and make it to the next day.
Jack of All Stats: Their gameplay contains no special gimmick, but unlike other slugcats, the Survivor also has no particular weaknesses.
Multiple Endings: They can either ascend or travel to the Outer Expanse with two children in tow. The latter ending requires beating Gourmand's campaign first.
Ridiculously Average Guy: Relative to the other slugcats, they have no outstanding attributes one way or another.
Strong Family Resemblance: Of their family members, the Survivor has the same color as one of their parents and their youngest sibling; the other parent is yellow like the Monk.

The Monk

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rainworld_monk_portrait_8.png

"Weak of body but strong in spirit. In tune with the mysteries of the world and empathetic to it's creatures, your journey will be a significantly more peaceful one."

One of the three slugcats available at the start of the game, this yellow slugcat's campaign represents the game's "easy" difficulty, though certain things (such as the breath meter being short) make them, ironically enough, harder in some aspects. The Monk is the younger sibling of the Survivor, who voluntarily jumped down the drainage system their sibling fell into in order to find them. Compared to the Survivor and the Hunter, the Monk is easier to handle, encounters less predators, and has an easier time taming lizards; however, they're less athletic than the other two, and struggle more with direct combat.

Big Brother Instinct: Inverted. Monk is younger than the Survivor, but nonetheless, their story kicks off when the Monk jumps into the drainage system to find their missing sibling.
Big Eater: Inverted, the Monk has the lowest pips per cycle of any character, at 3. Even the Spearmaster, who are at least as small as them, have a higher pip per cycle. The Monk also ties with the Saint for smallest food meter, at 5 pips.
Easy-Mode Mockery:
- Without Rain World Remix active, the pearls they find are whited out, because they're farther in the timeline than other vanilla slugcats. Also, some of the unlock pods are not available as Monk. On top of that, because you do not have coloured pearls, you cannot earn "The Scholar" Passage.
- Five Pebbles treats them more abrasively than usual, as he is getting annoyed at how slugcats keep visiting him.
- They are worse in direct combat with other creatures: their spear throws have a randomized reduction to their damage, and their slightly lighter weight makes them more vulnerable to Worm Grass, Leeches, Coalescipedes, and juvenile Centipedes.
Fighter, Mage, Thief: Is the Mage of the 3 playable Slugcats prior to Downpour. Has very weak attack power and is generally terrible at combat, but has incredibly high reputation, making befriending enemies a breeze and can even have them fend off other foes for it as well.
Friend to All Living Things: Their core mechanic is that they can befriend creatures easier, and predators are less aggressive towards them.
Fluffy Tamer: Most slugcats can tame lizards, but the Monk's abilities are especially geared towards this trope, as they can more easily befriend other creatures, and predators, including lizards, are less aggressive.
In Harmony with Nature: It's depicted as in tune with the remaining wilds, in a way that stealth, evasion, and diplomacy are better ways of dealing with creatures than fighting.
I Will Find You: Their embark on a journey to find the sibling they're separated from.
Multiple Endings: In both endings, they rejoin their sibling, the Survivor. They can either rejoin after ascension or rejoin in the Outer Expanse. The latter ending can only be accessed after the Player goes through the Gourmand's campaign.
Strong Family Resemblance: The Monk shares their coloration with one of their parents; the other parent is white like the Survivor

The Hunter

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rainworld_hunter_portrait.png

"Strong and quick, with a fierce metabolism requiring a steady diet of meat. But the stomach won't be your only concern... this path is one of extreme peril where every cycle eats away at an ominous countdown."

One of the three slugcats available at the start of the game, this red slugcat's campaign represents the game's "hard" difficulty. They're carnivorous, requiring them to eat living beings to survive. The Hunter's journey begins at Farm Arrays, with them holding a green neuron to be delivered to a certain Iterator...

Aggressive Play Incentive: It's an obligate carnivore that barely gets any sustenance from plants or batflies. This incentivizes you to hunt down larger creatures to eat.
Ambiguous Situation: The existence of Hunter Long Legs strongly implies that the 20-cycle limit that Hunter is afflicted with is connected to the Rot, but exactly how the Rot could infect Hunter is left unanswered.
Big Eater: Ties with the Artificer for second highest pips per cycle (6) after Gourmand. Their description even mentions that they have a "fierce metabolism".
Extreme Omnivore: The Hunter can eat any dead thing's corpse, even lizards.
Fighter, Mage, Thief: Is the Fighter of the 3 playable Slugcats prior to Downpour. Has the strongest attack power of the three, and has the ability to carry 2 spears at once. It's primarily carnivorous as well, gaining more hunger points from eating creatures other than fruit, meaning fighting creatures is much more encouraged when playing as him than any other Slugcat, further cementing him as a Fighter.
Harder Than Hard: The hardest difficulty level in the base game. The Hunter has a higher amount of hostile creatures in each area; starts with a low reputation with Scavengers; cannot use Passages; and, in order to complete the campaign, must travel across most of the map with a limited amount of cycles. Oh, and visiting Five Pebbles does not give you max karma anymore, but increases your cycle count, so the Hunter must visit each Echo if they want to ascend.
Hard Mode Perks: The Hunter is a better fighter than the Monk and the Survivor (at least until its cycle counter reaches 0), starts with more karma than them^note, and has some lore tidbits only accessible by playing their story.
Lightning Bruiser: Downplayed. Like the Artificer, it deals 25% higher spear damage than normal, its movement speed is slightly faster, and its slightly heavier weight makes it somewhat more resilient against Worm Grass, Leeches, Coalescipedes, and juvenile Centipedes.
Red Is Violent: They're a light shade of red with scars, spears, and a scowl to indicate that they're a fighter. As a carnivore with a higher metabolism, they need to kill other animals to eat on a constant basis.
Retcon: Their limited time in the world was stated to be a result of "karmic imbalance". Aside from the only karma disadvantage being the lack of Karma Flowers, the More Slugcats expansion reveals that they're actually afflicted with the Rot.
Sticks to the Back: They're the only slugcat capable of storing another spear on their back.
Video Game Cruelty Potential: After unlocking slugpups, the Hunter is one of the few slugcats that can adopt them. The issue? Unlike the Survivor and the Gourmand, the Hunter is either destined to ascend or turn into Hunter Long Legs. Either the player keeps the slugpups until the Hunter's demise, lets them despawn, or (most commonly) uses them as meatshields or food.
Your Days Are Numbered: Potentially averted, albeit at great pains, but the Hunter has a strict time limit of 20 cycles that ticks down every time they hibernate. Once it reaches zero, they begin to suffer seizures and reduced capabilities; if they are killed from that point on that save file permanently ends, though it's entirely possible to struggle through the game even once your time's technically up. Five Pebbles will extend this limit by 5 cycles, but he can only do this once.

The Gourmand

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rainworld_gourmand_portrait_8.png

"An indulger of the simpler pleasures in life. Carrying the world in your stomach gives many tactical advantages, but comes at an increased cost of sustainability."

One of the five slugcats added in the Downpour DLC. A bulky slugcat with the ability to craft all sorts of things by combining two items, one in each hand, to create a new item. They can also use their bulkiness to stomp down on enemies and deal damage.

Acrofatic: Surprisingly enough. Yes, the Gourmand gets fatigued just from throwing one spear, but they also have the strongest spear throw among all playable slugcats. They can also slide around at a ridiculous speed.
Ass Kicks You: They deal a hefty amount of damage from slamming into creatures, being able to defeat most red variants of creatures in a single strike with a long enough fall.
Badass Bookworm: While they can craft existing items from others for their advantage, they can also use their own bulkiness to slide at high speeds, as well as deal and withstand damage.
Big Eater: The Gourmand requires the most food out of all other slugcats to hibernate, consuming seven pips per cycle. They also boast the largest palate among the eight slugcats, and dedicate an entire sidequest just to eating as many different things as possible. They're also the only slugcat that can combine two food items to create a meal, which grants one extra pip.
Earn Your Happy Ending: After getting Five Pebbles to open one of the retaining wall's gates, they can exit the facility into the Outer Expanses to find a bunch of other slugcats, who they then teach how to craft and recount their wild adventures to. It's a surprisingly pleasant ending considering the state of the world they're in. This will also unlock a new ending for Monk and Survivor if they also head to the Outer Expanses.
Extreme Omnivore: They have the most flexible diet of all the slugcats, able to eat not only staple foods like Batflies and Blue Fruit, but also the corpses of large creatures (albeit with less food pips than for Hunter and Artificer).
Goomba Stomp: Falling down far lets it damage creatures it lands on.
The Hedonist: They are described by the game as enjoying life's simple pleasures. Five Pebbles concludes from their physical appearance that they have accepted their lifestyle despite the Crapsack World, prompting him to unlock some gates reaching beyond his facility instead of guiding them towards ascension.
Item Crafting: When holding two different items in each hand, the Gourmand can combine them into a variety of other things. Generally, combining food with food lets you make a meal that grants their combined food value plus one more, with varying results across your other options.
Kevlard: The Gourmand's thicker skin allows them to fare better against other creatures' attacks, sometimes even letting them survive a Scavenger spear.
Mighty Glacier: Its non-exhausted spear throw deals three times the damage of Survivor's, it can deflect spears by rolling and has a small change to take tiny damage from a hit, and it cannot instantly die to non-Red Lizard bites. Its heavy weight also makes it more resilient against Worm Grass, Leeches, Coalescipedes, and juvenile Centipedes. However, it moves slower through poles and tunnels, and while its spear throw and slide are great boosts, its exhaustion mechanic makes optimal movement more conservative in practice.
The Smart Guy: They're able to craft all sorts of items if they have the right ingredients for it, even typically rare objects like pearls and Vulture masks. There's already a detailed list of possible combinations on the wiki.
Stout Strength: When not tired, it can throw a spear for triple the normal damage.
Tummy Cushion: Its ending save file screens have one or two Slugpups on its large, fat belly.
Unreliable Narrator: The Gourmand's campaign is hinted to be a retelling of their scouting mission; their seemingly impossible feats such as being able to spit out endless amounts of items and live creatures, as well as crafting Ancient technology like neuron flies & rarefaction cells are likely embellishments tacked on their story. Supporting this is Moon's dialogue about the most egregious thing you can craft, a firebug egg (read: an egg full of void fluid from a creature in Saint's Rubicon, a place noted to be some sort of dream realm).
Looks to the Moon: Healthy one... what is this, and where did you get it? Is this a feat of your own creation? It's a bit unbelievable. A... creature like you procuring something like this would be an amazing accomplishment for your species... Ah, well, if it tells a good story then I won't question it too much~

The Artificer (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rainworld_artificer_portrait_2.png

"A fierce combatant, master of pyrotechnics and explosives. Keen to move up in the food chain, your journey will surely be one lined with constant bloodshed and warfare."

One of the five slugcats added in the Downpour DLC. The Artificer can craft bombs using rocks, or turn a spear into an explosive one, at the cost of one food pip; they also have an explosive mid-air jump, although overusing it can be dangerous to their health. They begin the game having already massacred the Scavenger Stronghold in the Garbage Wastes, finding a small drone that begins to follow them around. Permanently locked to low reputation with said Scavengers, the Artificer is hunted down everywhere they go. With their complete karmic imbalance locking them at the lowest level, their only way through karma gates is using the corpses of those very same scavengers to trick the gates open.

Aggressive Play Incentive: They share the Hunter's need to eat large creatures, but they must also kill Scavengers to use their corpses to open karma gates.
Ax-Crazy: Their gameplay centers around this. They're described as a "fierce combatant" by their description, their special abilities are primarily offensive, and their storyline involves massacring the Scavengers for killing their pups.
Bad Powers, Bad People: Unique from other slugcats, they excrete an explosive substance that's primarily used to turn rubbish and spears into things that go kaboom, easily landing them as the most destructive and combat-effective of all the slugcats. They're also the most blatantly evil, starting with the absolute lowest karma (of which the symbol stands for "Violence") and whose overall campaign leaves a trail of blood and is self-serving, even if indirectly helping Five Pebbles.
Big Eater: At 6 pips, they tie with the Hunter for second highest pips per cycle after the Gourmand. The rest of the slugcats only have 4 or 5 pips per cycle in comparison.
Cessation of Existence: If the Artificer goes to the Void Sea after killing the Chieftain Scavenger, this ensues if they try to reunite with the spirits of their pups.
Dark and Troubled Past: The dream flashbacks they have every now and then reveals that the Artificer was once the parent of two slugpups, who were both killed by Scavengers for stealing a single pearl.
Defeat Equals Explosion: If they die due to drowning or electric shock, the Artificer will immediately detonate, possibly killing whatever caused the death.
Determinator: If you see both endings, they've essentially won a one-slugcat war against the entirety of the scavengers, cheated their way into the Void Sea, and swam to the bottom alone (something all the other slugcats needed assistance from the Void Worm to accomplish) just to reunite briefly with the spirits of their pups before dissipating into the void.
Disproportionate Retribution: The Toll Scavengers deserved the Artificer's wrath for killing their two slugpups over a single pearl. However, going on a rampage and killing as many Scavengers as they can reach is disproportionate, especially when assassinating their chieftain isn't enough to satisfy their anger.
Downer Ending: After killing the Chieftain Scavenger, even if the Artificer somehow manages to make it to the Void Sea - where other slugcats can go to ascend - it doesn't work. The Void Worm refuses to take them to the bottom of the Sea, and swimming there on their own anyway leads the Artificer to reunite with the spirits of their pups... but only for a few moments before their own karmically-ruined spirit dissolves into nothingness.
The Dreaded: With the Artificer's reputation locked at the bottom, the Scavengers will send hunting parties with elite warriors in order to kill them. After Artificer defeats the Chieftain, Scavengers prefer to run rather than attack.
Establishing Character Moment: Starts in a Store Room surrounded by the corpses of Scavengers. They are also gnawing on a corpse.
Explosion Propulsion: They're capable of using explosions to propel themselves through the air, but using it too frequently in succession will cause them to blow up.
Hated by All: Their reputation with Scavengers is permanently locked at the lowest level; Scavengers frequently send out kill squads, and will attempt to kill the Artificer on sight no matter what. The feeling is mutual.
Having a Blast: The Artificer can craft bombs, as well as explosive spears; they are also immune to explosions, and propel themself with said explosions. If drowned or shocked to death, the Artificer's body will explode.
Lightning Bruiser: Like the Hunter, it deals 25% higher spear damage than normal, its movement speed is slightly faster, and its slightly heavier weight makes it somewhat more resilient against Worm Grass, Leeches, Coalescipedes, and juvenile Centipedes. Their jump blasts can be either a Double Jump or a creature-stunning parry that deflects spears if timed well. Their ability to maul stunned creatures is an additional damage source, too.
Mama Bear: Their entire campaign is them avenging their two dead slugpups.
Man Bites Man: Uniquely, they can grab and lethally bite stunned creatures.
Outliving One's Offspring: Both of the Artificer's pups died after a disastrous run-in with the Scavengers.
Red Is Violent: Like the Hunter, the Artificer is red, albeit a darker, more maroon shade, and they fit the "violent" part even more so, with their explosive abilities and desire to kill the Scavengers. Notably, neither of their pups are red, further accentuating the Artificer's violent goals after their deaths and how doing so prevents them from reuniting with their spirits.
Revenge: Their entire motivation stems from the death of their pups at the hands of the Scavengers.
Super Drowning Skills: Has a much lower lung capacity than other slugcats.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Downplayed; the Artificer shares a number of similarities to the Hunter; they have red coloration, identical raw stats, food meter, and diet, have combat-oriented gameplay, and are said to be karmically-inbalanced.
Surveillance Drone: The drone that the Artificer possesses turns out to be an ID identification drone used by one of the Ancients, and Five Pebbles has been watching their journey to his can for quite a while. He then helpfully restores it so you can access the Metropolis as a citizen.
Token Evil Teammate: Even more so than the Hunter. While the Hunter can befriend the Scavengers, and their entire campaign focuses on them delivering an activation key to reboot Moon, the Artificer's campaign focuses on them murdering the Scavenger population in Five Pebbles' city. In fact, they're so karmically imbalanced that completing their campaign locks their karma at the very bottom. Echoes will comment on this.
The Unfettered: Their skillset encourages aggressive playstyles which kill anything that crosses their path, matching their attitude as a bereaved parent who cares for nothing other than avenging their pups.

The Rivulet

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rainworld_rivulet_portrait_9.png

"Breathes underwater, and moves through the world with ease. These adaptations are essential, as you'll be pitted against a world of increasingly frequent floods, where time is of the essence."

One of the five slugcats added in the Downpour DLC. The Rivulet is a nimble and fast slugcat, with a much greater lung capacity than other slugcats... which they absolutely need, since their cycles are much shorter, and much of the world has begun to flood.

Affectionate Nickname: Moon calls them 'Ruffles'.
Cheery Pink: They have pink gills and pink eyes, their character icon suggests a more lighthearted disposition than the other slugcats, and their ending has Moon adopt them as a pet, a relatively low-key and happy ending compared to many of the other slugcats.
Earn Your Happy Ending: Their storyline ends with Moon adopting them and naming them 'Ruffles', which, like Gourmand's, is surprisingly pleasant given the Crapsack World the game is set in and the darker endings of most of the other characters.
Fragile Speedster: Rivulet's game plan is all about running from threats and getting to their objective as fast as possible, with their speed and agility being nearly unrivalled (for reference, the Rivulet can very easily jump as far as most other slugcats can leap) but their campaign having the shortest cycles with highest chance of shelter failure, discouraging combat in lieu of simply bypassing everything. (Slightly downplayed, however, in that they have decent spear prowess, should they choose to fight.) Also, they're slightly lighter than normal (like the Monk is), making them more vulnerable to Leeches, Coalescipedes, and juvenile Centipedes (though the Worm Grass's grip is offset by how fast the Rivulet runs, and Leeches frankly will have a hard time catching her to latch on so long as she keeps moving).
Genki Girl: Their character icon is them cheerfully winking, and they have dilated pupils, which are a sign of excitement in real-life cats.
Hand Wave: They start their campaign already with the Mark of Communication, as both Moon and Pebbles are too broken and derelict to give them one by the time they waltz into their facility. Moon theorizes that they probably got it from another nearby iterator like No Significant Harassment or Grey Wind, but no definitive answer is given.
Noodle Incident: For some reason, their campaign begins with a dead Scavenger falling into the water, with the Rivulet also falling right after being stunned by an explosion.
Super Not-Drowning Skills: They can last longer underwater, due to having gills. Not forever, though.
Water Is Blue: Rivulet being mostly light blue complements their more aquatic abilities and the increasingly flooded environment they live in. Moon even calls them "water dancer".

The Spearmaster

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rainworld_spearmaster_portrait_8.png

"An abnormality who feeds using needles pulled from its body. A traveler from a far away land; A feeling in your depths sets you out once again, messenger..."

One of the five slugcats added to the game in the Downpour DLC. The Spearmaster can generate organic spears from their tail, which can be used to kill and drain the life of other creatures. As the Spearmaster doesn't have a mouth, the only way for them to gain food pips is to seek out other creatures and leech their nutrients off with their organic spears. Their story begins with them having a message pearl stored in their stomach by their owner Seven Red Suns to be delivered to Five Pebbles.

Aggressive Play Incentive: Its sole method of gaining food is draining other creatures. This can only be done by hunting and throwing spears at would-be predators.
Bioweapon Beast: As Moon notes, their adaptations are too extreme to come from natural evolution; broadcast conversations from Seven Red Suns and No Significant Harassment confirm that the Spearmaster was indeed purposed by the former to survive their distant journeys.
Blue Is Calm: Downplayed. Spearmaster is purple while the other combative slugcats (Hunter and Artificer) are shades of red. Their indefinite self-supply of draining needles, lack of a mouth for eating, and collection of broadcasts and pre-collapse pearl entries make them a less scrappy fighter, fitting their color mixing red with blue.
Dual Wielding: Capable of generating up to two 'active' organic spears at any given time.
Glass Cannon: Sometimes. While the Hunter and Artificer (the other combative Slugcats) are slightly heavier, the Spearmaster is the lightest of all playable slugcats — slightly lighter than a starving Slugcat of any class besides itself^noteor Gourmand or Rivulet. Despite this Slugcat's strength, being so light makes it more easily killed by Worm Grass, Leeches, Coalescipedes, or juvenile Centipedes.
Hand Signals: Knows sign language via body gestures. Seven Red Suns taught them this as opposed to just giving them the mark of communication so they could communicate with each other rather than have one-sided conversations.
Heavy Sleeper: Averted. Their hibernation scene depicts them drawing on the ground instead of sleeping.
Inventory Management Puzzle: The Spearmaster has no mouth, and thus can't store items in its stomach unlike other slugcats. This becomes an issue when Five Pebbles rips out their message pearl midway through their campaign; requiring you to carry it in hand for the rest of the campaign all the way to Looks to the Moon and the Communications Array. This effectively limits them to using one hand at all times: no Dual Wielding, no grabbing onto useful fauna like squidcada, and using anything that isn't a spear is ill-advised as the Spearmaster can't feed nor defend themselves without one. This can thankfully be Downplayed by using Passages to skip vast portions of the journey however.
No Mouth: They rely on their needles to feed themself.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The Spearmaster is noticeably smaller and skinnier than other slugcats, not that it stops them from being an incredibly dangerous predator. This isn't cosmetic either, as their light weight interacts with the game's physics slightly differently; for instance, letting them jump farther and even outright flight with a squidcada.
Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Creates organic spears from their tail through the many holes in it.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Their campaign is actually their second trip to Five Pebbles. It's heavily implied that they were the one that gave him the illegal data pearl found in Chimney Canopy, containing the instructions to bypass the iterator self-destruction taboo - instructions that ultimately led to the accident that created the Rot in Five Pebbles, and Moon's dehydration that led to her collapse.
Vampiric Draining: As they don't have a mouth, the Spearmaster eats by using their spears to suck nutrients out of their prey.

The Saint (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rainworld_saint_portrait_5.png

"Frail and armed with a long tongue. Your journey will be one of perfect enlightenment, but walking this path requires patience, caution and complete attunement with the world."

The fifth and final slugcat to be added in the Downpour DLC. The Saint possesses an Overly-Long Tongue, which they can use to travel the regions faster by grappling around the buildings. The Saint is a herbivore, and is incapable of throwing spears. Their campaign begins in the Windswept Spires at the end of the timeline, when the world has entered an ice age, and they've woken up in the middle of the blizzard for a reason...

Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: After obtaining full Karma, Saint can "perform ascension" on other living beings found in the overworld — this includes Five Pebbles and Looks To The Moon, who were previously unable to ascend.
Bittersweet Ending: Completing their campaign has them wake back up at the very start, back in the middle of the blizzard, without their Ascension ability or any of the Karma they gained, and their abilities have helped them bring creatures and Iterators around it to ascension... yet exiting to the campaign selection screen to check their picture shows that they've become an Echo, like the ones of the Ancients that can be found around the world.
Braving the Blizzard: Their journey began in winter where blizzards are frequent.
Crucified Hero Shot: While it may or may not have anything to do with what they become capable of when they achieve full karma, their initial picture in the campaign selection screen depicts them in this position while standing.
Enlightenment Superpower: Upon gaining max Karma, they can fly and ascend other creatures around them.
Eyes Always Shut: They usually don't open their eyes, but will open them while they're performing an ascension.
Fate Worse than Death: Their ultimate fate scares even the stoic Five Pebbles.
Five Pebbles: An aberrant cycle twisting into mine, before spiraling onward into the abyss. What a horrifying destiny you've found.
Fragile Speedster: If something can kill the Saint, it will; they die in one hit to any attack with any lethality chance. To compensate, they have a grapple tongue for much better mobility to avoid attacks. Once they achieve maximum Karma, they also become a Glass Cannon that can also float around for even better mobility.
Glass Cannon: After achieving maximum Karma, they gain an ascension ability that can One-Hit Kill almost anything in the game, but they still die in one hit to anything that hurts.
Good is Not Nice: In the secret slugcat ending, in the dating sim segment, they still seem to have their goal of ascending other beings and ending the cycle of suffering that plagues their world. But they act very aloof and standoffish towards Enot, and think nothing of letting them die brutally to predators whenever they act particularly stupid/pushy/self-centered.
Gut Feeling: Upon entering a region or waking up in a shelter within a region that has an Echo the Saint has yet to meet, there is a very noticeable sort of throb for just second. This stops occurring in a region when there are no Echoes to be found there.
Irony: The character with the most pacifistic gameplay of the slugcats is also the one who can unlock the ability to One-Hit Kill nearly anything (three hit kill in the case of the Guardians).
Lotus Position: Fitting with their highly spiritual nature, Saint's sleeping portrait displays it sitting in a variation of this, making a couple of hand-signs that is commonly associated with spiritualistic individuals rather than resting their hands over their knees.
Magikarp Power: They start off with lacking defensive capabilities, as they can't throw spears properly. But after attaining maximum karma, they become bar none the most powerful of the slugcats, able to fly at will and instantly defeat almost any creature in the game with their ascension ability.
Mercy Kill: After gaining max Karma level, they can do this for Five Pebbles, and potentially for Looks To The Moon too to prevent her from ever turning out like Five Pebbles.
Messianic Archetype: Or more accurately, a Bodhisattva Archetype. The 'Saint' moniker speaks for itself regarding their personality and at max karma, they literally gain the power to ascend other beings. Their ending even implies they return to the living world as an Echo instead of ascending themselves, possibly to help ascend more beings.
Multipurpose Tongue: Much like a grapple worm's, the Saint can use their tongue to grapple onto distant platforms and swing across gaps.
Mundane Utility: What could one do with an amazing spiritual power at their disposal? Open up Popcorn Plants for food without having to freeze to near death in a blizzard, skip rough terrain that takes too long to cross over and rapid swimming.
One-Hit Kill: After gaining max Karma, they get the ability to "ascend" living beings. This is an instant kill on almost anything, including the Leviathan, Looks to the Moon, and Five Pebbles. The only things that can withstand this are Guardians (which take three uses to go down) and Void Worms, who can't be ascended at all.
One-Hit-Point Wonder: Any attack that has a random chance to incapacitate or kill will always be a guaranteed kill on the Saint, necessitating the use of abilities to keep away from danger.
Overly-Long Tongue: It's at least two or three times longer than they are tall.
Prophet Eyes: Upon achieving max karma, a cutscene plays where they have these.
Shout-Out: Although it might just be a coincidence, the Saint's pose◊ once maximum karma is reached is suspiciously similar to that of Fused Zamasu◊ from Dragon Ball Super.
Snow Means Death: Their journey starts far, far into the future that Five Pebbles' can has completely collapse on top of Shaded Citadel and the world is blanketed in a blizzard that shows no sign of ending, and the Saint needs to seek warmth or shelters in order to stay alive.
Technical Pacifist: Zigzagged. They can't use spears, and they either can't or won't eat meat. But that's it — knocking things off ledges with rocks, killing arthropods with spore puffs or spiders with flashbangs, and even using bombs is fair game. It's implied that the Saint is simply too frail to throw regular spears rather than having an actual Thou Shalt Not Kill code. Their pacifism also goes completely out the window when they gain the ability to ascend creatures.

Hostile Creatures

Lizards

The most common predators Slugcat will find in Rainworld, Lizards are characterized by their powerful bites and armored heads. They come in a variety of colors with differing speed, toughness, and abilities, though they share a common weak spot in their bellies.

Ambushing Enemy: White Lizards change their color to match the environment, and aquatic lizards blend into murky waters. These Lizards often hide from unsuspecting prey, and initially don't pursue them.
Aquatic Mook:
- Salamanders and Eels are species variants that live in waterlogged environments.
- Eel Lizards can swim far faster than most slugcats, but due to only having two, short legs, they are significantly slower on open land.
- Of note, Salamanders are the most common enemies to spawn exclusively in the early-day shelter failures, while it is still raining.
Attack the Mouth: While ducking or sliding, you can spear a vertically-level Lizard on the inside of the mouth, bypassing the armor of its head. This deals more damage and stuns the Lizard for longer.
Baritone of Strength: Red Lizards have deep, grouchy growls that signify how powerful they are.
Bioluminescence Is Cool: As part of the rather otherworldly setting, the heads and frills of all lizards (except Salamanders and Strawberries) can glow.
Chameleon Camouflage: White Lizards can fade into the background while staying still, allowing them to surprise their prey when they come close with their Multipurpose Tongue.
Deadly Lunge: All Lizards can make a burst of forward movement to rush down their target, whether prey or territory rival. Green Lizards can gain an especially long-winded and strong boost of speed across flat spaces. Caramels can launch themselves into the air to reach prey, too.
The Dreaded: Red Lizards, easily. Between their hyper-aggression in protecting their territory and all of the abilities they have available, very few creatures are willing to stay in the same rooms that a Red frequents, including vultures.
Explosion Propulsion: Cyan Lizards can boost themselves with their tails, letting them chase prey in open air and easily outmaneuver Vultures.
Fragile Speedster: Blue Lizards are the smallest and weakest Lizards, only being able to take two spear hits before dying. To make up for this, they're very agile and capable of climbing on background walls.
Heavily Armored Mook: Their armored heads deflect spears, forcing Slugcat to go for their torsos instead to damage them. It is possible to pierce their heads, but the motion requires the Slugcat to be close to the lizard's head.
In a Single Bound: Caramel and Cyan Lizards can leap and boost themselves (respectively) into the air.
Jack of All Stats: Compared to other Lizards, Pink Lizards have average health and mobility.
Lightning Bruiser: Red Lizards move faster than any other Lizard in the game, can spit and offbalance creatures that are far away, have a bite guaranteed to be lethal, and can tank six spear hits.
Mighty Glacier: Green Lizards are one of the toughest Lizards in terms of health, requiring six spear hits to take down, and their bites are one of the most powerful (with a 50% chance to kill), though they are by far the least agile out of all Lizards thanks to being the heaviest: unable to climb poles, they just lumber clumsily along the ground, ultimately making them one of the least threatening Lizards to the mobile and nimble Slugcat. These same traits, however, make them quite effective against other Lizards — including the much deadlier Red Lizards, which they No-Sell, as well as Vultures and Worm Grass (who can't drag away their heavy bodies).
Multipurpose Tongue:
- Blues, Whites, Salamanders, Cyans, and Strawberries can fling out their tongues to grapple onto their prey, with Whites' and Strawberries' tongues being the longest.
- Strawberry Lizards can use their tongue to grapple onto surfaces as well.
- With Downpour's default Remix configuration, Red Lizards can use their tongues to destroy spears.
Nocturnal Mooks: Two very unique cases: a Cyan Lizard in the Exterior's Wall doesn't appear until night falls above the rainclouds, and between zero and two^note White Lizards in Outer Expanse only appear at night, too.
No-Sell: Green Lizards are immune to Red Lizard bites, which makes them capable of defeating Red Lizards (except tamed ones, which can hurt and defeat them). The Green Lizards' heavy weight also makes basic Vultures and Worm Grass incapable of dragging them away to their doom.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Strawberry Lizards, while small and thin like Blues are, have much more health, and a tongue as long as Whites' and strong enough to cling to surfaces.
Sense-Impaired Monster: Black Lizards are completely blind, navigating solely by their extremely large hearing radius.
Stealthy Mook: Strawberry Lizards don't wait in ambush to attack prey, but getting covered in snow dulls their accents and makes them harder to see, until they lash out with their grappling-hook tongue.
Super-Persistent Predator: Red and Strawberry Lizards are the only lizards that will refuse to run away when critically injured; on occasion, they'll even start moving faster.
Super Spit: Red and Caramel Lizards both have a spit attack that can knock over and weigh down prey, with the former having much higher range and rate of fire.
Telepathy: Yellow Lizards are capable of communicating telepathically to each other with their antennae, allowing them to pack hunt effectively, utilising tactics such as surrounding Slugcat from all sides. Each pack has an "alpha" with very long antennae, and killing it disrupts the pack's communication.
Through His Stomach: All types of lizards can be tamed by feeding them prey such as Squidcadas and Scavengers, which will cause them to start following Slugcat around and attempt to protect them from threats. The amount of feedings required vary between lizards, with Green lizards requiring the least feedings and Red lizards requiring the most. There's even a passage you can get from sleeping with a tamed lizard in a shelter enough times!
Vertebrate with Extra Limbs:
- Caramel Lizards have an extra pair of legs, helping them leap into the air.
- Inverted with Eel Lizards, which each have only two legs, making them slow on land.
Wall Crawl: Blue, White, Eel, and Cyan Lizards are able to crawl along foreground and background walls to chase prey and lurk in uncontested territory.^note

Vultures

Deadly flying predators that are ubiquitous above ground, Vultures announce their arrival via a shadow in the background before swooping down in an attempt to grab and take off with their prey.

Airborne Mook: Flying enemies that swoop down from the sky and can attack while airborne, although they can stop flying and move on the ground just fine.
Attack Its Weak Point: Their head: they take double damage when attacked there, and the first headshot will remove their mask.
Berserk Button: Removing their mask. A demasked vulture will become significantly more aggressive towards Slugcat, making their bites immediately lethal, and cause them to ceaselessly pursue Slugcat, even across different regions.
Cool Mask: What initially appear to be their faces are actually skull-shaped masks they wear on their heads. Slugcat can knock one off a vulture's head with a well placed spear and take it for themself to wear, though doing so enrages it, causing it to pursue Slugcat more aggressively. They also appear to be a sign of status amongst Vultures, as masked Vultures will attack an unmasked one.
Cyborg: Are able to fly due to the gas pumps on their back.
The Dreaded: The mere sight of a Vulture appears to inspire fear in the wildlife, as almost all species of Lizards start running for shelter as soon as the shadow of one appears. If Slugcat takes one of their masks for themself, they can become this to the Lizards as they bear the visage of a Vulture.
Feathered Fiend: Huge birdlike predators that are capable of not only killing slugcat, but also most Lizard species with ease.
Giant Flyer: One of the larger creatures in Rain World, they boast an impressive wingspan several times wider than Slugcat's length, though this means that they're incapable of fitting in small spaces beyond poking their head in slightly.
Harpoon Gun: King Vultures have a pair of these attached to their heads, which they can launch at high speed to reel in prey.
Jet Pack: Attached to their torsos are several thrusters, which appear to provide the majority of their lift compared to their wings.
Laser Sight: King Vultures project these from their eyes to guide their head-mounted harpoons. They start blinking shortly before their harpoons fire.
Nocturnal Mooks: Metropolis and Gourmand's Outer Expanse each have a King Vulture that doesn't appear until night.
Vile Vulture: They're not exactly actual Vultures, being called those in name only, but either way they're still hostile predators that are out to eat the Slugcat and any Scavengers and Lizards they come across.

Centipedes

Giant, flat bugs that are rather tough and faster than they might appear.

A Head at Each End: They have heads at either end of their body, allowing them to sense stimuli at both ends and reverse direction easily.
Airborne Mook: Centiwings appear in the Sky Islands, which they navigate by flapping their segments' many wings.
Aquatic Mook: Aquapedes have wing-like fins and no legs, but they're plenty fast underwater.
Big Creepy-Crawlies: The Centipedes of Rainworld can grow up to several times Slugcat's length. Overgrown Centipedes are especially massive, and Red Centipedes are even longer!
The Dreaded: Red Centipedes, the final lineage variant of the species. They're big, fast, and once they've keyed onto someone, they will pursue them across multiple rooms in order to kill them. They're so dangerous that even Vultures have been known to flee them.
Heavily Armored Mook: Red Centipedes have armor along their segments that need to be broken off before they can be harmed.
High-Voltage Death: Their primary form of attack is to electrocute their target by grabbing with both ends. Smaller Centipedes, which the Slugcat can eat, can unleash a jolt that will stun the Slugcat. Larger Centipedes can typically kill lizards in one shock, nevermind the Slugcat.
Lighting Bug: Whichever head of an Aquapede currently moves forward will glow, like a makeshift headlamp.
Living Motion Detector: Particularly when moving, their vision is mainly based on movement.
Single-Use Shield: Each Red Centipede shell protects the respective segment from one hit.
Underground Monkey: The Aquapede and Centiwing to each other; they live at opposite ends of the world, and share the same recolored sprites.
Water Is Blue: While it's hard to tell underwater, Aquapedes' affinity to the sea is signified by their blue color.
Weaksauce Weakness: They are extremely vulnerable to spore puffs - a single good throw from Slugcat can instantly kill them if the cloud covers enough segments.
Wind Is Green: Centiwings' flight abilities are indicated by their green coloration.

Leeches

Swarming enemies who live in the water. When a living creature enters their body of water, they'll swim after it in an attempt to weigh it down and drown it.

Delicious Distraction: Leeches will swarm to the nearest edible thing in the water, leaving them extremely vulnerable to this tactic.
Instant Leech: Just Fall in Water!: Any living creature falling into water with leeches in it will cause the leeches to swarm over it quickly.
Life Drain: Jungle leeches will slowly drain away your food pips as long as they're on you, and even continue doing so during hibernation if the player activates a shelter with one still on them.
Personal Space Invader: How leeches hunt and kill food, swarming onto whatever they find in the water en-masse and drowning them.
Super Not-Drowning Skills: Blue leeches can last a surprising amount of time on dry land, and Jungle leeches can stick with you beyond cycles if you can't shake them off.
Underground Monkey: While the first ones you find are red, their are bigger sea and jungle leeches as well; those are blue and green, respectively.

Worm Grass

Predatory grass-like creatures that grow in patches. When coming into contact with prey, strands of Worm Grass will try to ensnare the unfortunate creature before pulling it in to consume.

Does Not Like Spam: Curiously, Gooieducks repel Worm Grass. This works best to protect you if you're crouching while holding it.
Man-Eating Plant: They reach for anything they can see and are able to kill and consume most creatures that fall into it.
Stationary Enemy: They're rooted to certain parts of the ground, and can barely reach from it.

Pole Plants

Predatory plants that disguise themselves as unassuming poles, they reveal their true nature upon being touched.

Ambushing Enemy: Staying almost perfectly still, they strike when Slugcat (or any other animal for that matter) attempts to climb on them.
Friendly Fireproof: Is able to ignore the Super Spit from Caramel and Red Lizards, and will not stop a Beehive or its swarm from passing through.
Immune to Drugs: Does not react at all to the paralyzing darts of a Spitter Spider in any way.
Interface Spoiler: They don't show up on the map, distinguishing them from normal poles.
Man-Eating Plant: Their rough bristles let them feed on any animals that mistakenly grab them.
Schmuck Bait: They periodically flare out their bristles, and your Overseer will indicate them with a large warning symbol. None of this stops you from seeing what happens when you grab onto them.
Unique Enemy: A few in Sky Islands grow from walls, and one in the Farm Arrays grows from a ceiling. There are a few at the top of the Wall while there are almost none at the bottom.

Monster Kelp

Large, leafy plants that live in the waterlogged areas of the world.

Living Motion Detector: They sense creatures mainly through fast movement or direct touch, and can be reliably evaded by slowly moving past their stems.
Man-Eating Plant: They will reach towards and eat almost any living creature that approaches them.
Nocturnal Mooks: The majority of Monster Kelp in Outer Expanse are only found at night.
Piñata Enemy: The Spearmaster's ability to create its own spears reduces Monster Kelp to free sources of up to 3 food each that are fairly easy to defend against.

The Rot

Strange, tentacled beings infesting Five Pebbles's internal and external complex, and have spread to The Garbage Wastes and even further into the Memory Crypts as the timeline progresses. Also known as the Long Legs, with a name before distinguishing each variant (ex: Daddy Long Legs).

The Dreaded: Almost every other creature in the ecosystem knows that these things are bad news and will flee upon seeing one, including some top-level predators like Red Lizards and Miros Vultures.
Helpful Mook: Daddy and Mother Long Legs absorb Rot cysts of smaller types. One in Hunter's and Spearmaster's versions of Garbage Wastes can dispatch multiple other Long Legs, making the cave at the bottom safer to traverse than if only the smaller cysts were there.
Hoist by His Own Petard: A drawn-out example over the course of the timeline. As soon as The Rot is born, it gradually eats away at Five Pebbles' can, only worsening as slugcats from later in the timeline keep visiting the area. But during The Saint's campaign, where the can finally succumbed to its damage and collapsed, The Rot is shown to be much less capable of surviving under exposure to the cold weather, with only a few instances of Brother Long Legs still active.
Implacable Man: All Rot variants have massive health pools, and can follow you through room transition pipes.
Mighty Glacier: Mother Long Legs are the largest, strongest, and slowest of the Rot variants.
Nigh-Invulnerability: Mother Long Legs are effectively invulnerable, only able to be killed by Singularity Bombs.
Palette Swap: Rot is mostly only differentiated by color and size. From smallest to largest, Brothers have brown markings, Daddies have blue markings, and Mothers have purple markings.
Purple Is Powerful: Mother Long Legs have purple markings and are the largest and most durable variant of the Rot; only the Singularity Grenade can reliably kill them, and explosive spears which can one-shot other variants won't work on Mothers.
Sense-Impaired Monster: All Rot variants are completely blind, only able to locate things by touch via their tentacles and an enhanced sense of sound. Brother Long Legs don't even have sound available to them, though wander much more aggressively to balance out the missing sense.
Tentacled Terror: All variants are dangerous Eldritch Abominations that use their bulbous tentacles to drag prey into their cores to consume.
Unique Enemy:
- There is stationary Rot with the color of Brother Long Legs. They are found in lower Garbage Wastes in Hunter's and Gourmand's campaigns, as well as Silent Construct in Saint's campaign.
- Garbage Wastes in said time period also has what is a Daddy Long Legs with the color of a Brother Long Legs.
- Very early on, Waterfront Facility has a Daddy Long Legs that's brownish like a Brother Long Legs, but whose tentacle accents are cream-yellow instead of black.
- The Five Pebbles region in Rivulet's campaign, known as "The Rot", has some of the deaf Brother Long Legs, albeit with the color of Daddy Long Legs.

Leviathans

Enormous, semi-mechanical creatures which can often be found swimming around the waters of the shoreline.

Cyborg: Its mouth is made of metal and robotically operated.
Eaten Alive: The fate of anything that gets too close to one — although, considering its semi-mechanical nature, it's moreso getting trash compacted alive.
Nigh-Invulnerability: Nothing short of a Singularity Bomb or Saint's Ascension can scratch them.
Sea Serpents: A huge, semi-mechanical one.
Unique Enemy: There is an albino Leviathan in the upper Subterranean's large lake.

Giant Jellyfish

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Huge versions of normal Jellyfish found in the Submerged Superstructure, using their long tentacles and powerful electric shocks to kill prey.

Defeat Equals Explosion: Unlike most other enemies who leave their corpse behind when they die, killing a Giant Jellyfish will cause it to explode into multiple white chunks as well as a few edible slime molds.
Electric Jellyfish: Like their smaller cousins, they're sea jellies that use electrocution as a weapon.
High-Voltage Death: They have an organ underneath their bulb that can deliver electric shocks. Unlike the smaller jellyfish, their shocks are powerful enough to kill prey caught by them.

Spiders

Eight-legged arachnids that live in the Shaded Citadel and other dark areas of the world.

Giant Spider: With sole exception to Coalescipedes, all Spiders are as large as Dropwigs and can stand their ground against most Lizards.
Mook Medic: Wolf Spiders have the ability to temporarily revive dead Spiders by biting them.
Nocturnal Mooks: A Wolf Spider and a Spitter Spider in the Exterior, all spiders of those species in Metropolis, and one or two of the Wolf Spiders in Outer Expanse do not appear until night.
The Paralyzer: Spitter Sspiders use darts with a delayed poison that incapacitate their target.
Spider Swarm: Coalescipedes are a textbook example, being a collection of smaller Spiders that only attack once they group up to be larger than their target.
Weakened by the Light: Coalescipedes are afraid of most light sources, and a thrown flashbang can outright kill both them and the larger Wolf Spider.
Weaponized Offspring: When they die, Mother Spiders explode into a swarm of Coalescipedes that attack the nearest creature.

Dropwigs

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Earwig-looking arthropods that tend to hang near-hidden against the ceiling, waiting patiently for their opportunity to drop down on unsuspecting prey that pass under them. They often leave valuable items like blue fruit or spears right under where they're perched, enticing prey to walk right under them.

Ambushing Enemy: They blend into ceilings and sometimes use bait to catch prey.
Artificial Stupidity: After a while of having dropped down, they will scramble to try to find a place to perch from - completely ignoring any prey like Slugcat that might be right in its face.
Big Creepy-Crawlies: Arthropods resembling earwigs that are larger than Slugcat.
Fragile Speedster: Fast, cunning and deadly, but a single well timed spear will often kill it on the spot.
Schmuck Bait: A blue fruit, explosive, or karma flower lying on the ground is a dead giveaway for these guys — spears and white pearls aren't too suspicious to be effective bait.

Stowaways

Tubelike ambush predators who live on ceilings in places such as the Chimney Canopy.

Ambushing Enemy: They rely on their camouflage in dark areas to catch prey.
Expy: Their design and method of attack is almost exactly the same as the Barnacles from Half-Life.
Grappling-Hook Pistol: They shoot large tendrils with hooks on them to snag prey.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Their main form of attack, being able to launch up to three barb-tipped tongues at any creature below them.
Stationary Enemy: They cannot move their main bodies at all.

Miros Birds

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Large, semi-mechanical birds that live deep within the Memory Crypts and Subterranean.

Artificial Limbs: They run around on mechanical legs.
Artificial Stupidity: They often get stuck in stair-shaped corners, due to their movement pattern and body shape.
Bioweapon Beast: They were created by the Ancients to guard their sacred grounds: the Memory Crypts.
Blinded by the Light: Their reliance on sight leaves them extremely vulnerable to flashbangs, which can disable them for up to 20 seconds at point-blank range.
By the Lights of Their Eyes: Their most easily visible feature in the general darkness of the areas they're found in are their bright yellow eyes.
Feathered Fiend: They resemble terror birds with mechanical parts replacing their beaks and parts of their legs, allowing them to sprint after prey and snap them up in an instant. Combined with their acute eyesight, forcing Slugcat to hide in the ground, they are extremely menacing avian creatures.
Hell Is That Noise: Their mechanical legs make loud clanking noises as they run which can be heard from offscreen, alerting you to their presence early. You'll need the warning.
Lightning Bruiser: Extremely fast on their metal legs, and their bite is a guaranteed kill.

Miros Vultures

Only found in the campaigns of the five slugcats added with the Downpour DLC, Miros Vultures are enormous, dangerous creatures, combining the most dangerous parts of both Vultures and Miros Birds with the added ability to shoot lasers out of their eyes, as if their components weren't dangerous enough already. Depending on the campaign, they can usually be found in the Exterior, in the Shaded Citadel, or in the Submerged Superstructure.

Airborne Mook: Just like normal Vultures, they'll swoop down out of the sky, the only warning being their silhouette swooping over the background a few seconds before. Unlike basic and King Vultures who perform much better in the air, Miros Vultures are also very fast on the ground.
Feathered Fiend: Oh yeah. You didn't like Vultures and/or Miros Birds already? Now they're worse.
Hell Is That Noise: Just like Miros Birds, they make a distinctive 'snipping' noise when nearby.
Laser Sight: Similarly to King Vultures, Miros Vultures can also project one of these, though rather than harpoons they use it to telegraph their explosive blast, and it only appears in retaliation for being damaged.
Lightning Bruiser: Miros Vultures are fast in the air and on the ground, have beaks that are as deadly as a Miros Bird's, and have over 1.5x the health of a King Vulture. This is topped off further by having an explosive blast attack.
Mix-and-Match Critters: They have the head of a Miros Bird and the body of a Vulture.
Nocturnal Mooks: Miros Vultures appear around Iterator cans early and late in the timeline, spreading to Garbage Wastes and Shoreline in Saint's campaign. However, they also spawn in Outskirts, Industrial Complex, Chimney Canopy, and Pipeyard once it gets late enough for the blizzard to appear.
Super-Persistent Predator: Due to an error in their code, they will lock onto the Slugcat no matter what else is in the room. They take a long time to leave a room too, which can cause some issues if the Slugcat needs to traverse the room in order to proceed.
Stuff Blowing Up: They have the ability to project a laser sight that creates a delayed explosion at whatever they're looking at.
Vile Vulture: Even more vile than the other vultures in the game!

Neutral Creatures

Squidcadas

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White Squidcada (left) and Black Squidcada (right)

Nonaggressive, flying, insectoid cuttlefish creatures who often nest in small colonies. Grabbing onto one allows Slugcat to jump much farther and higher.

Color-Coded for Your Convenience: They come in black and white varieties. White Squidcadas have stronger wings, allowing them to fly for longer when grabbed onto without tiring out.
Grapple Move: When attacking, Squidcadas have the ability to snag onto you with their arms, pulling you off platforms.
Ledge Bats: While they're unable to directly hurt Slugcat, they can push them around by ramming them. Annoying, but not deadly - unless you happen to encounter them in higher altitude areas, which they commonly appear in.
Mix-and-Match Critters: They're based on both cicadas (an insect) and squid (a cephalopod).
Unique Enemy: Squidcadas are canonically extinct at Saint's time, but a code oversight leaves exactly one black and one white Squidcada in the middle building of Sky Islands.

Noodleflies

Long, drooping creatures that usually spend their time flying around with their young. Generally passive unless one of their young is hurt, at which point they become extremely aggressive, relentlessly pursuing whatever harmed their offspring and attempting to violently skewer them with their needle.

Dodge the Bullet: Despite their size, Noodleflies are rather difficult to hit with a spear as they will dodge it. If you're intent on hitting one, it's best to wait for them to try and skewer you, evade, and then throw the spear at them while their needle is stuck in the terrain.
Friendly Fireproof: They cannot stun or skewer their young, as showcased when playing as an adult in Safari mode.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Emphasis on extreme prejudice; they drive their needles straight through anything that hurts their young. They have been known to kill green lizards with their needles.
Lean and Mean: Long and skinny, they are capable of following Slugcat through pipes and vents once angered.
Mama Bear: Extremely protective of their children. Hurting their children or being seen holding a Noodlefly egg is a surefire way to incur the otherwise passive parent's wrath.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Once angered, they'll stop at nothing until they're killed - they'll even follow Slugcat across multiple cycles!

Vulture Grubs

Small, yellow critters that can be eaten after being killed. Throwing one in open air will cause it to summon a Vulture. They're also known as Banana Slugs.

Ambiguously Related: It is unknown if they're larval Vultures, or partially artificial creatures that interact with them for a reason other than protection. Their use of lasers is a commonality with King Vultures, and they can use those lasers to summon Vultures if provoked. It's worth noting that if there are no other creatures around the Vulture will eat the grub.
Enemy Summoner: If thrown, it uses a laser beam to call upon one of the dangerous Vultures, potentially sowing chaos amongst other predators.

Snails

Small creatures who seem to be a cross between snails and turtles. They can produce stunning shockwaves.

Cycle of Hurting: Their pop can stun the Slugcat for a couple of seconds. Being around multiple of them can cause the Slugcat to be continuously stunned — especially the Saint, who convulses after each pop.
Mix-and-Match Critters: They have the shell material of a snail (a mollusk), but they have the head and legs of a turtle (a reptile).

Hazers

Small squid-like creatures often found near bodies of water. They can be eaten for food pips. Throwing one or damaging it will cause it to emit a large cloud of midnight blue smoke, blinding nearby creatures.

Smoke Out: Attempts to do this to anything harming/throwing it. As they are commonly grounded, though, it rarely works.

Beehives

Also known as Paincones. Pinecone-like nests with flying insects that can swarm to tether any intruders. Outside Arena mode, they must be neutralized via spore puff to be safely handled and weaponized.

Personal Space Invader: How the bees inside behave once the hive is provoked; Creatures swarmed are tethered to any nearby terrain via strands of material from the bees.
Scary Stinging Swarm: A given, for what they are.

Garbage Worms

Very long and thin worm-like creatures, found in and around the Garbage Wastes. They enjoy stealing spears from passing slugcats and Scavengers, although they won't deal any damage, but watch out: attacking one Garbage Worm will turn all Garbage Worms hostile to Slugcat for a cycle, causing them to harass Slugcat relentlessly - even to the point of attempting to drown the player.

Bandit Mook: They will grab and steal any spears off Slugcat, including explosive and electric spears.
Invincible Minor Minion: Simply don't have health values to bring below zero. They cannot die no matter how many spears you stick them with.
Lean and Mean: Long and skinny, and after being provoked, will attempt to drown Slugcat.

Scavengers

Highly complex and social monkey-like creatures, Scavengers tend to form tribes that can often be seen traversing or settings up camp in various regions of the game.They are notable for their dynamic reputation mechanic - initially acting neutral towards Slugcat, giving Scavengers gifts or otherwise helping them out will increase their friendliness towards Slugcat and even make them go out of their way to assist them, while harming them will cause their behavior to become more hostile, eventually resulting in them attacking Slugcat on sight and sending out hunting parties.

Accidental Unfortunate Gesture: Since Scavengers can communicate through Body Language, oftentimes they may take a slugcat's bouncing and flailing as a sign of aggression and will attack in response.
Artificial Brilliance: Their AI is incredibly in-depth, and by far the most complex out of any creatures in the game.
- They have a wide variety of body languages they can use to communicate with each other and with Slugcat, ranging from pointing towards Slugcat as a warning signal to tell them to back away, to reaching out towards them to indicate that Slugcat is carrying something that they want.
- Even individual Scavengers can have their own opinions on Slugcat - which may not be the same as the rest of their tribes. This has to do with the individual personality traits each Scavenger has, which can cause some to attack Slugcat on neutral reputation.
- They'll also react dynamically to actions Slugcat takes towards them - for example, saving a Scavenger from a predator will cause them to follow them thankfully and protect them in turn, while ignoring them will cause the Scavengers' view of Slugcat to lower due to them having stood by idly when they could've helped.
Artificial Stupidity: For all the complexities of their AI, they have a tendency to get themselves killed, most commonly through blowing themselves up with their own explosives or standing idly as a predator approaches them.
Boulder Bludgeon: They can throw rocks at Slugcat if they dislike them, which will stun (but not kill) them, though they're likely to follow up with spear throws if Slugcat doesn't leave.
Dungeon Shop: In certain rooms, Scavenger Merchants can be found, who will trade various goods in exchange for items you give them. Trading with them will also increase your global reputation with Scavengers.
Elite Mook: The Downpour DLC added Elite Scavengers, who wear Vulture masks; these Scavengers are far more agile and dangerous than their standard counterparts, frequently spawning with Electric Spears or even Singularity Bombs, and will often be aggressive towards Slugcat even if the rest of their tribe is friendly.
Hard-Coded Hostility: When playing as the Artificer, your reputation with them is permanently locked at minimum, making them always hostile to you.
I Owe You My Life: Saving a Scavenger's life from predators, in addition to increasing your global reputation with them, will cause that particular Scavenger to start following Slugcat around out of gratitude; they may attempt to save Slugcat's life if the Scavenger sees them in trouble.
Javelin Thrower: Like Slugcat, their primary means of offense is throwing spears at their targets. They can often be seen with spears on their back, some of which are explosive!
Nocturnal Mooks: Most of the Elite Scavengers that naturally spawn in Metropolis, all three of those in Artificer's and Spearmaster's Exterior, and just one of the regular Scavengers in Outer Expanse do not show up until night.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: It's hard to tell because of their Vulture masks, but Downpour's fierce Elite Scavengers usually have light red eyes.
Shock and Awe: Elite Scavengers tend to carry around unique electrified spears, which create a bright blue flash on impact, frying creatures hit by them.
Stuff Blowing Up: Scavengers, likely through the use of gunpowder plants, are capable of crafting powerful explosives, as can be seen with the explosive spears and grenades some of them carry. They won't hesitate to blow up anything from lizards to vultures, including Slugcat if they get on their bad side.
Video Game Caring Potential: Even after your reputation with them is maxed out, you can keep on freely giving them items they value if you so desire.
Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Slugcat is fully capable of stealing from Scavengers, killing them, and then looting their corpses... but this will cause Scavengers as a whole to become more and more hostile towards Slugcat, even sending kill squads after their location if the Scavengers are sufficiently displeased.
Would Hurt a Child: As the Artificer can attest to; Scavengers are not above harming actual children if they offend them.

Jetfish

Fishlike aquatic creatures found almost exclusively in Shoreline, although the Hunter will find them in Subterranean as well. They move quickly through water and can expel a jet of liquid for added momentum. By default, they'll harass and ram into Slugcat, potentially stunlocking and drowning an unsuspecting player.

Unique Enemy: Two albino Jetfish appear in Pipeyard's sump tunnel, and two more appear in the upper Subterranean if you play as the Hunter.
Video Game Caring Potential: At the beginning of the Survivor's campaign, there is a land-locked Jetfish that you can drag back into water. Not that the Jetfish will care, mind you.

Jellyfish

Saucer-shaped animals that float on water. They can be eaten, but can defend themselves with electric shocks when thrown.

Electric Jellyfish: Unlike real medusozoae, they stun other creatures with electric shocks instead of venom.
Lethal Joke Item: If thrown properly, their stingers can stun several larger non-centipede enemies into complete submission for a few seconds, rendering them helpless. Not bad for a throwable jellyfish.

Inspectors

Also known as Hydras or Axons. Tentacled creatures with three long heads on a spiky central body, Inspectors are only found within Iterator superstructures. They become aggressive towards any creatures that harm Neuron Flies.

Ambiguously Related: To the Overseers - when either Overseers or Inspectors die, they leave behind nothing but an eye - or three, in the Inspectors' case. Their colors also correspond to their respective Iterator.
Berserk Button: Harming or grabbing a Neuron Fly in their presence will provoke them, causing them to turn red and making the otherwise passive creatures start acting aggressively, grabbing and throwing nearby objects towards Slugcat, as well as grabbing and throwing Slugcat themself.
Our Hydras Are Different: Bizarre creatures that resemble part of a neuron, their three heads have a single eye each, and they serve a similar function to white blood cells inside of their respective iterator superstructures.

Passive Creatures

Overseers

Brightly colored, hologram-like worm-esque creatures with the power to project images. They can pop out of the ground seemingly everywhere and anywhere. Both the Survivor and the Monk start with a yellow one following them that attempts to provide information and instructions.

Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The coloration of an Overseer informs what Iterator they belong to.
Multistage Teleport: They move by repeatedtly zipping between spots from the ground. Being mostly made of light seems to help them in this.
Player Nudge: Some of the Overseers will project images to help the player. In particular, the olive Overseer will point the Monk and the Survivor towards food and shelter, highlight threats, and lead you towards Looks To The Moon and Five Pebbles.
Video Game Cruelty Potential: Spearing an Overseer will allow the player to collect its only non-hologram component to use as a slightly less valuable pearl in scavenger trades. This can be done without any punishment, too, as the Overseer following you usually respawns within the next cycle, if not immediately.
Video Game Cruelty Punishment: If you eat one of Looks to the Moon's neuron flies, your guiding overseer will threaten you via holographic image before proceeding to completely stop helping you navigate the world until you replace what you've eaten.

Batflies

Small insects found all throughout Rain World, in almost every locale. Due to how common they are, they'll be a large part of most slugcats' diet.

Alien Catnip: They are drawn towards a red plant called "batnip." Holding batnip will cause nearby Batflies to be attracted towards Slugcat, making them far easier to catch.
Mix-and-Match Critters: Their wings are spread out like bats', while they have the antennae of a fly.

Bugs

Tiny insects found throughout the world, unable to be directly interacted with. They come in a variety of forms depending on the location.

Eggbugs

Long-antennaed bugs that carry their eggs on their back. They're primarily found in remote areas such as the Sky Islands and the Farm Arrays, although the Monk and the Hunter will find them venturing out further into the world.

Dodge the Bullet: One of the few creatures in Rain World actively able to dodge a thrown spear at relatively close range.
Fragile Speedster: Eggbugs are extremely fast for their size, and also have some of the lowest health whenever they happen to exist in an area.
Metal Slime: These animals are sprinkled across different regions at different points in the timeline, and they will run as fast as a Red Lizard, jump over spears, and backflip like a swift Slugcat to escape any predators. If you manage to kill one, you're rewarded with enough food to keep most Slugcat classes fed for the day.
Properly Paranoid: They will actively seek out rooms that aren't inhabited, rightfully fearful of anything that could want to eat them. Their eggs cause them to effectively be worth a massive seven food pips on death.

Lantern Mice

Cute little mice that glow and can hang from most any ceiling using their tail.

Fantastic Light Source: How they glow exactly, is a mystery, but they are primarily found in the Shaded Citadel - so if you don't have a light yourself, they make a decent substitute, though they'll weigh you down (so it's best to use another light source if you can help it). Curiously, they buzz like fluorescent lights.
Lovable Coward: They'll panic and scurry at the slightest provocation, but they're quite adorable and perfectly harmless. And given the world they live in, it's hard to blame them for being skittish.
Variable-Length Chain: Well, tail. When scurrying about, they appear to lack a tail at all, like hamsters. When hanging from the ceiling though, they can hang quite low and they seem to be able to retract their tail at-will as they will raise themselves up if the Slugcat tries getting close.

Grappling Worms

Strange worms found in the Underhang and Leg, able to use its tongue to stick to terrain.

Charles Atlas Superpower: Regardless of the danger, size, or strength of what they've latched onto, a Grapple Worm will not let go of its chosen point until the Worm itself is killed. This can cause even some Red-tier lineage creatures to be tethered in place against their will.
Grappling-Hook Pistol: A tongue that runs through its body acts as one on both ends, able to grab onto any wall or ceiling without harm.
Helpful Mook: Slugcats can pick it up where it rests and use it as a grapple swing, which lasts either until the worm is dropped, or in the unlikely event of its death.
Made of Iron: Their tongues are able to grab onto things that would be harmful to touch or otherwise instantly eat them, such as electrical turbines and Daddy Long Legs.
Personal Space Invader: A Grapple Worm can latch onto other creatures, including Slugcat. If you can't grab its body or kill it with a weapon, you're effectively stuck.

Neuron Flies

Strange floating creatures found only inside Iterator superstructures. Looks to the Moon only has five remaining, but the ones within Five Pebbles will respawn infinitely.

Artificial Intelligence: An odd case. They are compact containers that can store memories and thought processes for iterators. Slugcat and slugpups can eat them for food pips, and cause them to glow upon consumption.

Rain Deer

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0671_7.jpeg

A Rain Deer being ridden by a Slugcat.

Massive antlered creatures found exclusively in the Farm Arrays.

Artificial Stupidity: They are infamous for having problematic AI - it can often be difficult to maneuver them where you want them to go, and they have rarely been known to just get over and sit down in a pile of Worm Grass.
Cranium Ride: Their main function - their long legs keep them out of range of the carnivorous Worm Grass found in the Farm Arrays, so by grabbing onto their antlers, Slugcat can also safely pass over dangerous areas.
Gentle Giant: They tower over Slugcat, yet are completely harmless towards them, and are fine with them grabbing onto their horns. They refuse to harm Slugcat even if Slugcat throws a spear at them.
Mix-and-Match Critters: They have the antlers of actual deer, but their heads and torsoes are proportioned like a rabbit's.
Trademark Favorite Food: Spore puffs. Throwing a spore puff in the vicinity of a Rain Deer will draw its attention, causing it to shriek and move towards the direction it was thrown, and dropping a spore puff near it will make it bend down to eat it, conveniently allowing Slugcat to reach its horns.

Yeeks

Energetic frog-like creatures found almost exclusively in the Outer Expanse. The Rivulet and the Saint will find them in the Farm Arrays and Subterranean.

Fragile Speedster: Yeeks move extremely quickly and erratically, but have low enough health that even the Monk can reliably one-shot them with a spear.
Helpful Mook: When held by any slugcat, a Yeek acts as a jumping boost to let the player reach higher locations and even just climb poles faster.
Nocturnal Mooks: There is a large group of them in Outer Expanse that doesn't spawn until night.
No-Sell: Yeeks cannot grab onto poles, so they are logically immune to being eaten by pole plants.
Too Dumb to Live: Yeeks do not account for where they might land after a jump, and will often leap gracelessly off of a deadly cliff or directly into a Lizard's mouth without hesitation.

Iterators

In General

Iterators are massive, semi-biological supercomputers that were created by the Ancients in the wake of the Void Fluid revolution. At first, they were designed to solve the Great Problem; to find a true way to escape the Great Cycle that trapped all living things without use of Void Fluid and the subsequent risk of becoming an Echo.

Vast quantities of water were required for an Iterator to function, however, and they exhaled vast quantities of water vapor in turn. As more Iterators were built, the titular rain became more and more ecologically devastating; forcing the Ancients to migrate atop the Iterator superstructures and rely on their aid for food, water & other needs. As time went on and on, a solution to the Problem was never found. Ultimately, the Ancients began a global ascension via the old path of Void Fluid, and left their creations behind...

Rain World primarily takes place within the walls of Looks to the Moon & Five Pebbles' facility, two Iterators built unusually close to one another. While the two are the only Iterators met & explored in-game, the "Local Group" of neighboring Iterators are directly involved in many of the game's events.

Absurdly Dedicated Worker: The Ancients they served are long gone, but absent any other tasks, they continue to try and solve the Great Problem given to them.
Fictional Social Network: The Iterators are all connected to each other via a network akin to Discord; complete with public forums, private servers, direct messages... even trolls and spammers.
Genius Loci: Their body isn't just the puppet they use to interface with, but rather the entire superstructure surrounding them.
Marathon Level: Iterator superstructures are massive. A single Iterator is comprised of entire regions in the game; said regions themselves being comprised of numerous subregions that vary wildly in layout, hazards, and wildlife. And that's before past and future versions of the superstructures are taken into account.
Monkeys on a Typewriter: Essentially a hi-tech version of the trope, made to constantly iterate possible solutions to the Great Problem.

Seven Red Suns: An analogy. You have a maze, and you have a handful of bugs. You put the bugs in the maze, and you leave. Given infinite time, one of the bugs WILL find a way out, if they just erratically try and try. This is why they called us Iterators.

However, this is deconstructed; even if the Iterators come across a Triple Affirmative solution, they would not be able to differentiate it from the wrong answers or test its effectiveness, which Moon and Pebbles acknowledge in the Saint campaign if you ascend both of them.

I Cannot Self-Terminate: Every single Iterator has taboos programmed into their genomes to prevent them from altering their body, and to prevent them from self-destructing until they manage to solve the Big Problem. This is why they're still around ages after the Ancients have disappeared. Some of them, like Five Pebbles, are actively trying to circumvent this.
Ragnarök Proofing: Downplayed. Aside from the two in-game, many of the iterators are still functioning well throughout the timeline. Nevertheless, without their creators to perform maintenance, their systems & equipment are all breaking down and eroding slowly; a fact that frustrates them all severely. In the distant future of the Saint, said degradation has finally caught up to them, and Moon notes that the time of the Ancients and iterators is nearing its end.
Unfulfilled Purpose Misery: The lack of solutions to the Great Problem, or even tangible leads on a solution, appears to affect many iterators, leading to personal issues such as melancholy and temper being not uncommon results of their fate: working on a task that is no longer relevant, but forced to continue in this ultimately meaningless existence regardless.
What Happened to the Mouse?: After the lockdown imposed by Five Pebbles during the Spearmaster's campaign, the other iterators in the Local Group lose contact with Moon & Pebbles; even moreso after the two break down later in the timeline. After Hunter, their status isn't elaborated upon much aside from foreign overseers popping up in Subterranean & Outer Expanse; as well as the final shot of Saint's campaign showing many iterator cans in the distance broken down and in just as much disrepair as Moon & Pebbles.
Womb Level: An unusual example - while built to serve as supercomputers, the semi-biological nature of their superstructures also makes them resemble a brain in many ways. While exploring the superstructures, odd entities that resemble synapses called "Inspectors" can be found, along with flying lifeforms called "Neuron Flies".

Looks to the Moon

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/moon_5.jpg

Hello, little creature. What are you? If I had my memories I would know...

An Iterator stationed on the far west side of Shoreline. One of the first Iterators created, and thus the Local Group's senior, she has since broken down and sunk into the Shoreline's waters. Once a slugcat has the Mark of Communication, she can provide insight into the world by describing various items and reading the data pearls scattered all over.

Affectionate Nickname: After the Rivulet helps her regain her power, she begins calling them "Ruffles".
Amazing Technicolor Population: Is mostly blue with a red spot on her forehead.
Be Careful What You Wish For: Before the events of the game started, Five Pebbles increased his ground water consumption, leaving Moon without any water, which could eventually lead to her death. We don't know exactly what happened, but nowadays her chamber is flooded and she gets drowned every time it rains.
Came Back Strong: After her collapse, the Hunter manages to revive her with a green neuron containing multiple slag keys sent by No Significant Harassment. Twofold with the Rivulet, who manages to take Five Pebbles' Rarefaction Cell and place it in her "heart" chamber, providing her with an emergency power system.
Cool Big Sis: Calls herself "Big Sis Moon" in communication logs, is generally sympathetic to everyone around her, even Five Pebbles, and will act as this to you if you're civil. Especially if you bring her more neurons.
Cute Machines: A charming little blue-green mannequin who acts as the avatar for a supercomputer.
Fatal Flaw: As No Significant Harassment puts it: her kindness. As Five Pebbles' senior, Moon had ample time to command Five Pebbles to stop taking water from her. Instead, she tried to reason with him, only giving the command when it was far too late for her structure to survive and accidentally unleashing the Rot in Pebbles' own structure. While this same trait allowed her to rekindle a relationship with Pebbles, both of them would have been better off if Moon intervened immediately.
Friend to All Living Things: Or, at least, the ones that don't want to eat her neurons. She's very friendly, and will read information stored on pearls to you, provided you haven't stolen any of what little remains of her memory.
Hourglass Plot: At the beginning, Moon is close to dying, while Pebbles is at least functional and operating. By the time the Saint's campaign begins, their positions have swapped.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: Justified, since Iterator memories are stored inside "Neuron Flies", small floating probes, and Moon lost most of hers - so she remembers perfectly the memories stored in the few neurons she has left, but has forgotten the rest. Taking any of them for yourself makes this worse, and will eventually kill her.
Ms. Exposition: Bringing items to her will prompt her to give a brief description of them. Uniquely, she is capable of reading pearls - regular pearls will give one of several generic lines of dialogue, but unique-colored pearls will give you lore about the place they were taken from.
Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: She uses her privilege as a senior (since Pebbles is younger than her) to command Pebbles to stop stealing all of her water. Unfortunately, doing this caused Five Pebbles to lose focus in his experiment and unleashed the Rot in his structure as a result... and it was too late to stop her structure from collapsing, anyway.
Video Game Caring Potential: Giving her neurons from Five Pebbles doesn't do anything gameplay-wise, but she appreciates you doing so nonetheless.
Video Game Cruelty Potential: You can eat her Neuron Flies for food pips. She will remember you doing this. The fewer neurons Moon has remaining, the more difficulty she has with communicating; with only one neuron left, she's reduced to complete silence. Even without eating her Neuron Flies, if you steal them, she may refuse to speak to you for the rest of the playthrough.

Five Pebbles

A little animal, on the floor of my chamber. I think I know what you are looking for.

An Iterator built high above the Shaded Citadel. Pebble's structure is much more intact than Moon's, though the sinister Rot slowly erodes away at it. Though arrogant and rude, he still aids the slugcats in their quests.

A God Am I: That's how he describes himself compared to you.
A.I. Is a Crapshoot:
- He grew tired of his purposed directive to solve the Great Problem, believing that there isn't an answer for it. This drives him to try rewriting his own genes so that he can self-destruct, but in the process, he severely weakens Looks to the Moon and accidentally creates the Rot.
- Ironically, the usual trope scenario of "kill the creators" is Averted; he was programmed to be physically incapable of harming the Ancients. This protection is extended to the Artificer, since a civilian drone assigned itself to her.
And I Must Scream: By the time of the Rivulet's campaign, he can no longer move around his chamber and is reduced to listening to an audio pearl to pass his remaining time. There's a bit of a Hope Spot by the end of Rivulet's campaign, but all of that is gone as the Saint's campaign begins so far into the timeline that he's barely responsive when they meet him.
Amazing Technicolor Population: His skin is pink.
The Atoner: The main reason he extends the Hunter's lifespan. In his own way, he admits guilt over the situation Looks to the Moon is in, and this drives him to help the slugcat.
- He also did this in Rivulet's campaign, asking the "wet mouse" to grab his remaining power cell and bring it to Moon, so she can at least still operate for as long as she can.
Broken Pedestal: Looked up to Seven Red Suns, but quickly grew disillusioned after he grew consumed with the Rot, as Seven Red Suns was the one to give him the formula.
Death Seeker: The entire reason the Rot was created was because Pebbles was trying to rewrite the biological components that outlaw self-destruction. It didn't work.
Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Upon meeting him, one of his first actions is giving you a mark that allows you to communicate with A.I.s and higher-level beings, as well as transcend the mortal plane. Why thank you.
Don't You Dare Pity Me!: If you went to Moon first before going to Pebbles in Spearmaster's route, you can listen to him ranting after reading Suns' pearl.

Five Pebbles: "Astounding. You could never understand how I feel, being pitied and lectured like this! What use would your help be? Your benevolent charity is what got me here in the first place! I wanted to find my own way out, and now I sit here rotting because of you and Moon! I'm not just another bug wandering your worthless maze! I will reach my own solution without any of you! Get Out!

How the Mighty Have Fallen: In the Saint's route, which takes place far into the timeline, Five Pebbles' entire can has collapsed into ruins and he is in a very decrepit state. He's even lost all traces of his former hubris, simply lamenting that there's nothing left.
Jerkass: He's a rather cynical guy, to say the least. He's also partially responsible for the state of the world, but Looks to the Moon is rather sympathetic towards him, saying that his inability to leave the world behind is tormenting him and driving him to insanity.
Mercy Kill: Depending on how you interpret the Saint's Ascension ability, performing an Ascension on Pebbles might be this.
Monster Progenitor: Accidentally created the Rot and its mobile forms, the Mother Long Legs, Daddy Long Legs, and the weaker Brother Long Legs, in an attempt to rewrite his genes.
Name That Unfolds Like Lotus Blossom: Downplayed; they're given names like "Looks To The Moon", "Five Pebbles", or "No Significant Harassment", which aren't as long and descriptive as the one the Ancients has.
Nothing Is the Same Anymore: In the Saint's route - which takes place further into the timeline than any other campaign - the entirety of Pebbles' can is collapsing on top of Shaded Citadel. And as for him...

Five Pebbles: "Little... Green thing... Nothing here... Nothing left..."

Offing the Annoyance: If, after speaking with him, you linger in his chamber despite his insistence that you leave, he'll get cross with you and kill you by using his gravity distortion engine to slam you into the walls.
Pet the Dog: While he can be unpleasant at times, he appreciates the Hunter's selfless quest to help Moon, despite the short life they have left.
Five Pebbles:"You do not have much time. It is admirable what you choose to do with it."
Shoot the Messenger: In the Spearmaster's campaign, he immediately rips the message pearl out of the Spearmaster's stomach. After reading its content, he immediately [turns red, destroys one of Seven Red Suns' Overseers, and throws the Spearmaster out of his room. If you try to go back, he'll just straight up kill you without saying a word.
Restraining Bolt: The ID drone that follows Artificer around and forces him to technically regard her as a citizen of his city prevents him simply killing her for hanging around his chamber like he does the other slugcats.
Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Do not throw things at him. It will only anger him and make him kill you.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: While his purpose is to solve the problem of helping lower species ascend, and he helps you progress toward the end of the game when you reach him, his methods are responsible for the current state of the world, the crazy rain downpours, the state of decay in which Moon finds herself, and the tentacled abominations that you meet at certain points in the game (who are some of the game's toughest enemies).
Your Days Are Numbered: He even draws comparisons between his and the Hunter's affliction.

No Significant Harassment

Haha with the slimers, lizards and etceteras? Surely the answer was in a lizard skull all along!

Another Iterator who sent the Hunter on a journey to reactivate Looks To The Moon.

Ambiguous Situation: Just like Seven Red Suns, we never really hear from him after the events of the Hunter's campaign. Considering that he mentions that his equipment is eroding, there's a high chance that he's also succumbing to the Rot, or at the very least simply succumbing to the wear and tear of time.
The Gadfly: According to some of his dialogue and messages, he's this.
Ironic Name: Contrary to his name, he likes to tease his fellow iterators a lot.
Small Role, Big Impact: Most of his dialogue is in broadcasts Spearmaster finds during their campaign. Despite his minimal presence, he's the one who started training purposed organisms as messengers, eventually sending Hunter to wake up Looks to the Moon. In addition, other iterators grew interested with said messengers and started purposing their own, with Seven Red Suns in particular sending Spearmaster out to Five Pebbles with information on the Rot.

Seven Red Suns

What else CAN we do? You're stuck in your can, and at any moment you have no more than two alternatives: Do nothing, or work like you're supposed to.

The owner of the Spearmaster and a close friend of Five Pebbles.

Ambiguous Situation: They're never referred to in any conclusive terms after the Spearmaster's campaign. If they broke down, or if Pebbles and Moon were simply no longer able to contact them due to their own decaying systems, is unknown.
Bio-Augmentation: It's implied that Suns specifically designed or created the Spearmaster to be the way they are.
Lap Pillow: In the Spearmaster's ending picture, Suns is shown giving the Spearmaster this, who is tired after all the mess they've been through.
My God, What Have I Done?: They feel responsible for sharing forbidden information with Five Pebbles, which caused Moon to almost die and Pebbles deteriorating from the Rot. Specifically, they sent Pebbles the information on how to potentially rewrite the self-destruction taboo out of his system. It didn't go well.

Sliver of Straw

An Iterator who confirmed the existence of the 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. However, she passed away shortly after broadcasting this information, meaning she was never able to actually tell anyone else what the Triple Affirmative was...

Beyond the Impossible: She's one of the first Iterators to fully die via unknown means, creating different factions as the remaining Iterators argued over her death and the meaning of her message. One of these factions is called the Sliverists, a group of Iterators who study Sliver of Straws' death and the Triple Affirmative.
The Cameo: She appears as a boss in Challenge 70 against the Saint. Considering Saint's ability and what happens after the challenge, this may or may not confirm that they are the Triple Affirmative Sliver of Straw is talking about.
The Ghost: Is this outside of Challenge Mode - which probably isn't canon, anyway. Straw is long dead by the time of even the earliest slugcat campaign, and no messages from her are ever directly read, but her confirmation of the Triple Affirmative's existence and sudden death deeply impacts almost every action that Five Pebbles takes.
Superboss: After a gauntlet of 69 special challenges, one of the most difficult challenges in the game is her bossfight, taking place in zero gravity with the Saint's ascension powers pitted against her own attacks.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her death influences Five Pebbles's Death Seeker tendencies, which kicks off the game when he starts using up the water to find a way to die.

Spoiler Characters

(No spoilers will be marked below)

Ancient Entities

The Ancients

The civilization who originally built the Iterators. By the time of the first slugcat campaign, they had almost all ascended and left their creations behind, except the few who were trapped as Echoes.

The Ghost: Most of the Ancients have ascended long before the events of the game, but they left a profound impact on the game, from the industrial complex environment to the Iterators' existence and actions to the central themes of escaping the cycle of reincarnation.
Name That Unfolds Like Lotus Blossom: They gave themselves very elaborate names. Echoes are called things like "Four Needles Under Plentiful Leaves", "Six Grains of Gravel, Mountains Abound", and "Droplets upon Five Large Droplets".
Precursors: They were the dominant species of their environment before they collectively decided to ascend.
Posthumous Character: They are a species-wide example of this, as they've all either ascended the cycle or became Echoes.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: On a wider scale, them leaving the Iterators behind to find a Triple Affirmative solution with no guarantee that the iterators can even tell it apart from the wrong answers or prove its effectiveness ends up indirectly leading Five Pebbles to resort to drastic means to self-terminate, leading to the creation of the Rot, the crushing rain cycles that give the game its title, and the near-death states of both Moon and himself.

Echoes

Spiritual remnants of Ancients who were unable to fully ascend, whether due to sufficiently large egos or other attachments to the mortal realm. Trapped between this world and transcendence and unable to interact with the physical world, they offer their wisdom to any creatures they meet with the Mark of Communication; each unique Echo will raise Slugcat's maximum Karma tier upon meeting them, although this will only happen once per Echo per run.

Actual Pacifist: They're here to raise a player's karma level, and since violence correlates with lower karma, the Echoes avoid killing or making the slugcats need to kill. All non-player creatures except Scavengers that approach an Echo are pacified so the player can interact with the Echo without having to kill.
Developer's Foresight: Metropolis's Atop the Tallest Tower has different dialogue if you reach it as a non-Artificer Slugcat (which is only possible via dev tools or modding).
Our Ghosts Are Different: Functionally, they are ghosts; the wandering spirits of once-living beings whose current state is connected to their inability to move on from the living world or their own personal flaws.
Meaningful Name:
- Just as an echo is a faded remnant of the original sound, these Echoes are faded remnants of the original Ancients who couldn't ascend.
- A few Echoes have names that correlate with the location slugcat finds them. For example, Atop the Tallest Tower is found at a very high place in Metropolis.
The Remnant: They are the spiritual remains of Ancients who couldn't ascend properly via the Void Sea, and technically the only Ancients left for the slugcats to interact with.

Guardians

Towering four-armed creatures with heads marked with the tenth Karma symbol, they are exclusively found within the Depths (and, for Saint, inside Rubicon instead). They have large, complex golden haloes. If they sense a creature attempting to pass by them has not attained maximum Karma, they will telekinetically fling said creature away, growing more aggressive every time.

Boss Bonanza: They collectively serve as the Final Boss of sorts in the Rubicon of Saint's campaign (as well as the game as a whole). They appear in certain rooms and lock the Saint in with them, together with several of the most difficult enemies the game: Cyan & Red Lizards, Red Centipedes, King & Miros Vultures, and more.
Cruel to Be Kind: Sure, killing something if they don't get the hint to leave if they're not max karma is a bit much, but as the Echoes and Artificer (if they make it past the Guardians) show, this is simply to make sure such creatures don't suffer a worse fate.
Early-Bird Cameo: Graffiti depicting the Guardians is one of the first players will see, just outside the tutorial rooms in Outskirts.
Failed a Spot Check: The Artificer can induce this on them, if they bring a Scavenger corpse along while at the highest karma, allowing her to slip by them.
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Their ghostly appearance, halo of glyphs, and telekinesis stand in stark contrast to the rest of the flora & fauna in the game, whose abilities normally come from heavy genetic alteration and/or advanced technological enhancements. It's unclear if they are Ancient constructs or something more, as no mention of them exists anywhere else beyond a single piece of graffiti.
NPC Roadblock: They guard the entrance to the Void Sea, preventing creatures from ascending before they are ready; without the maximum karma of 10, they telekinetically fling creatures away (usually to their death). Notably, they'll throw away any other creatures you manage to bring along with you; while you may be enlightened enough, your friends aren't.
Super-Toughness: They're the only entities in the game that can resist the secret Ascension ability, requiring three to take down (it one-shots any entity above the Depths).

Void Worm

Enormous creatures of unfathomable length who live deep within the Void Sea. If they find Slugcat worthy of ascending, they will take Slugcat to the bottom of the Sea.

Eldritch Abomination: The fact that they inhabit the void sea makes them a far cry from the repurposed and/or evolved creatures that the Ancients left behind.
Gentle Giant: They're utterly massive, being bigger than any other creature in the game (even Leviathans!) but they never hurt the Slugcat. Their method of delivering them to the depths of the Void Sea may be breakneck but it still ultimately leaves the slugcat unharmed.
Tiny-Headed Behemoth: Its ungainly anterior is connected by a thin neck to a head around a Slugcat's size.

Secret Downpour Creatures

Slugpups

Young slugcats, unlocked by completing the Gourmand's campaign. Slugcat can adopt them, taking up the responsibility of feeding and protecting them.

Artificial Brilliance: Slugpups can follow commands given by the player. In addition, slugpups actively pick up the player's behavior. For example: if the player avoids attacking lizards, the slugpup will run away from lizards once left by themselves; however, if the player attacks lizards that get too close, the slugpup will attempt to defend itself.
- Slugpups have unique personalities that determine how they react to their environment. Slugpups that are high in energy will tug on the player's hand if they are idle while slugpups low in energy prefer to take a nap.
Artificial Stupidity: Slugpups might hesitate to attack threats even when the threats stay still long enough to strike them.
Cheerful Child: Some slugpups are energetic.
Fastball Special: You can throw one to let it reach food or throw a spear farther.
Picky Eater: While slugpups will eat anything the players give them, they will have certain foods they dislike based on their personality. If they like the food, they will jump up and down in excitement; if they don't like the food, they will shut their eyes and shudder.
Video Game Caring Potential: Does adopting a slugpup give any material bonus? Not necessarily - they can carry around items and attack enemies, but protecting and feeding them isn't going to be an easy task, when it's already hard to take care of yourself.
Video Game Cruelty Potential: It is perfectly possible to either feed them to Lizards to tame them, or for the Hunter to cannibalize one for just three food pips.

Hunter Long Legs

The mutated remains of the Hunter, having succumbed to their illness yet still trapped within the cycle. If a Hunter save experiences permadeath, visiting the location it happened with the Gourmand will spawn the Hunter Long Legs.

Ambiguously Related: It looks and behaves like a regular Rot cyst, but its exact relationship with the Rot is unknown.
And Then John Was a Zombie: Once the slugcat who brought Moon back from the brink of death by bringing her slag keys, the Hunter's body has now become just another Rot cyst that must be defeated or run from.
Easter Egg: It's only found after experiencing Hunter permadeath and then reaching its location as the Gourmand.
Tentacled Terror: Good lord, is it ever. This thing looks unsettlingly like the mobile forms of the Rot, except for the color scheme.

Chieftain Scavenger

The leader of the Scavengers, found in Metropolis during the Artificer's campaign. Much like the Artificer, they also have the Mark of Communication.

Broken Armor Boss Battle: Has armor made from Red Centipedes, capable of deflecting spears.
Cool Mask: Wears a many-antlered mask, daubed with paint and with hanging strings of beads attached.
King Mook: The leader of the Scavengers.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: They oversee the Scavengers early in the timeline, and they have protective armor that lets them fight more effectively.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Has red eyes and is the most dangerous Scavenger the Artificer encounters.
Red Is Violent: Subverted. They are the only Scavenger that does not attack the Artificer on sight, but they fight visciously when provoked.
Surveillance Drone: Like the Artificer, they also have one of these.

Firebugs

Exclusively found in Rubicon during the Saint's campaign, Firebugs are warm-hued versions of Eggbugs. They can defend themselves, their eggs are explosive, and their needles are spears that even the physically-weak Saint can use.

Blade Spam: Once attacked, they rush to their assailant and then stab it with their needles upon grabbing it.
High-Pressure Emotion: They emit smoke in their hostile state.
Red Is Violent: They come in warm hues, and are blindly aggressive once attacked.
Underground Monkey: Bigger versions of Eggbugs.

??? / Enot / Inv / Paincat / Gorbo

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rainworld_enot_portrait_3.png

"Thanks, Andrew."

A secret ninth slugcat, obtained by entering the password "sofanthiel" on the title screen. Enot's campaign begins in the Memory Crypts during a shelter failure scenario.

Big Eater: Has the same dietary palate of the Gourmand, but requires a massive 12 food pips each cycle just to avoid starving.
Human Resources: Slugpups will create a singularity explosion upon death in this campaign, and then leave a second bomb in their wake to be used.
Lethal Joke Character: Despite everything else going against them, they can use the Artificer's bite attack, and always begin each cycle with a reskinned singularity bomb.
Nintendo Hard: Notably more than other slugcats' campaigns: every region in the game is altered in some way or another to make the game much harder, in ways that aren't necessarily even fair, and shelter failures will occur 100% of the time.
Secret Character: Implemented in the Downpour update as the reward for finishing an ARG mystery.
Stylistic Suck: All throughout the campaign. Outskirts has its terrain rendering and shading completely removed, area names are altered into community and developer injokes, and every death gives you a joking, reverb-filled quip.
Suddenly Voiced: The only playable character to have voicelines in any form, giving off humanoid yells and grunts when damaged or falling from high enough to be stunned.
Unexpected Gameplay Change: After ascending through the Void, the game shifts to a dating sim that doesn't take itself seriously at all.
Walking Spoiler: They're deliberately hidden behind an ARG, unlike any other playable character.

Train Lizards

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0667.jpeg

Also called Hurricane Lizards, these large, plum lizards are exclusive to Enot's version of Industrial Complex. They lack Red Lizards' Super Spit, but they exaggerate Reds' sheer power, and their lunge is a better tool for closing in on you.

Deadly Lunge: Their lunge is a faster version of Greens'.
Lightning Bruiser: Even faster and tougher than Reds, with a strong lunge to boot, and a lethal bite that covers every individual frame of its animation.

Characters / Rain World

Playable Slugcats

Hostile Creatures

Neutral Creatures

Passive Creatures

Iterators

Spoiler Characters

Ancient Entities

Secret Downpour Creatures

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Playable Slugcats

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