Rw Iterator - Blog Posts

[ Chess Tournament ]

Here we go I actually read the comments this time!

@hourglass-meadow thank you for the comment!

Also honorable mention to @littlemelonfrog

(ik it's not iterators playing it there but I'm sure Pebbles do play Connect Four with Arti occasionally ✨)

Iterator Maker!!

(My examples are simple on purpose! For stuff like the antennas, those are just general shapes and you can customize those as you’d like)

After about a year since I made the original drawing, I found it in my files today. I've decided to remake it and share it with every lovely person on here. Some Moon and Pebbles <3

Another iterator made by yours truly! Her nickname is Moth and the outfit is DEFINITELY going to be redesigned in the future, but for now she has a horrid little dress <3 Her can is completely overgrown with plant life and many of the creatures have taken on fungal parasites, including some of her very own overseers. Her puppet is completely blind, so she relies heavily on her overseers and her own hearing to react to her surroundings. She's open for asks as well!

Took some time to figure out how to draw clothes! Now we've got some updated designs for my boy Tiers :] The Rot design isn't canon and most likely never will be, but I thought it'd be fun to draw :3

what is Tiers and Stanley's relationship like? also ur art is so nice!!

Tiers created Stanley as a test subject to learn about how certain creatures would react to a genetically modified animal. They are close friends.

Some Iterator Info!

Due to Tiers' large antenna/antler size, it is nearly impossible for him to move them. Since he lacks that form of expression, the ancients in turn allowed more flexibility in his joints and the ability to move more of his face than most iterators. Although it doesn't serve a function when dealing with his actual work, it can be helpful when reducing stress and the flexibility allows easier repairs.

Tiers with an explosive spear

wonder how he got it

Oh my! something iterator related that isn't related to any OCs of mine?? how queer.

Ahah yeah looks like I hate FP

a lonely god and her singular angel

there's too much lore behind them to explain here and now, but what you need to know most is that bloom (the iterator) adopted and then created teal, in that exact order. (and eventually went comatose for unrelated reasons, but that's less relevant)

[ Chess Tournament ]

Here we go I actually read the comments this time!

@hourglass-meadow thank you for the comment!

Also honorable mention to @littlemelonfrog

(ik it's not iterators playing it there but I'm sure Pebbles do play Connect Four with Arti occasionally ✨)

Clay Suns I spent way too much time on

Next to R2D2 for scale, suns tiny

How Big are Iterators?

One thing Rain World does very well is portraying a sense of scale when it comes to iterators. They're massive superstructures large enough to have entire cities built on their roofs, and their processes are literally so powerful that they alter the natural environment around them.

I think in-game they're kind of meant to be unknowably huge, especially since the player character is literally a small animal who can't possibly fathom an iterator's entire extent. Despite this, I decided to try and figure out exactly how big they are.

Just a warning, this post is a bit long. I really fell down a rabbit hole here.

In-Game Clues

Five Pebbles and Looks to the Moon are the only iterators that the player can explore, but they're so huge that it's impossible to see exactly how big they are from so close. The only glimpse we get is from atop the big tree in Outer Expanse, where Five Pebbles' superstructure can be seen in the distance.

He's so big that his entire can doesn't even fit on the screen.

(Ditto, minus the clouds)

With nothing else close by to compare him to, it's almost impossible to tell exactly how big he is from this image.

However, we can see the entirety of other iterator cans in the distance from atop The Wall.

Here's what they look like not obscured by clouds:

The Speculation Zone

I made some assumptions about iterators to make my calculations easier.

An iterator's can (the large rectangular section) is 2 times as wide as it is tall.

Their legs are 1/2 the height of their can.

Their can is half obscured by a relatively uniform cloud layer.

These assumptions might not be entirely accurate, but they make the math easier.

Cloud Layer Height

At first I was tempted to try and estimate iterator height based on the cloud layer surrounding them, but I made the mistake of assuming the cloud layer is made up of rain-bearing nimbostratus clouds (which can reach up to 5km in height). This would make them literally taller than Mt. Everest. Iterators are big, but I don't think they're that big. I think it's safer to assume that the cloud layer is made up of low-lying stratus clouds that form a thick fog.

The way iterator rain functions could be an entirely different discussion, but I personally think it's caused by a sudden expulsion of large quantities of hot water vapor which very quickly condenses into rain clouds. A topic for another time, maybe. The takeaway is that I think the weather created by iterators doesn't have a clear analogue to real life weather, and it's misguided to assume that they function the same way.

Skyscraper Height

One thing that iterators have that can be compared to real life, however, is cities.

The largest buildings in these cities can be seen at a distance.

This in-game iterator sprite is 122 pixels tall, and the tallest building visible is 20 pixels tall. This means the top of this iterator's can is 5.6 times as tall as the tallest building on its roof.

We can compare these skyscrapers to the largest buildings on Earth. This requires some additional assumptions:

While the civilization that built the iterators is likely able to create skyscrapers much taller than the ones humans have created, I'm going to assume that the ones visible here are comparable in size.

I'm also going to assume that these skyscrapers are residential buildings, built to fit a high population density on top of an iterator. The tallest buildings on Earth tend to have very tall antenna spires which add to their overall height but are not inhabitable. Residential skyscrapers tend to be significantly shorter, so I'm going to use them as a comparison rather than the tallest skyscrapers on Earth in general.

According to Wikipedia, the current tallest residential skyscrapers range from about 300 meters to 475 meters tall. I'm going to assume the one in-game is 400 meters tall, as a nice even number.

5.6(400m) = 2240m

This would make an iterator's height, from ground level to the top of their can, about 2240 meters (2.24 kilometers, 1.4 miles).

Here's a diagram comparing that to the heights of some of the tallest free-standing manmade structures:

And here's a size comparison between a typical iterator can and Mount Everest:

Smaller than a mountain, but still huge.

Conclusions

Based on these estimates, I think typical iterator cans are about 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) in height.

This would make iterators significantly taller than anything created by humans, but I personally think an advanced society like the one that created the iterators would have no problem creating a structure this tall. (They canonically created thousands of iterators, after all.)

This estimate is also much shorter than my misguided original calculation, which made them taller than an entire mountain. While I do think iterators are meant to be unfathomably huge, I don't think there would be enough material on the planet to feasibly create thousands of identical mountain-sized superstructures. The player is also able to ascend from the ground to the top of Five Pebbles in just a few cycles (if they're quick), and I think it's much more feasible for an animal like a slugcat to be able to ascend a height of ~2km in a couple of days than to climb up an entire mountain. But again, this is pure speculation.

I made a ton of assumptions and rounded a bunch of numbers, so I could be completely wrong. There's probably other ways you could try to estimate an iterator's height that I haven't explored here. Let me know what you think; I love hearing about other people's ideas and theories.

Thank you for reading!

It’s thanks to The Three Laws of Robotics that the Rot exists.

scroll for more! ⬇️

Went to gym and spotted the cuttest, little, 5 lb kettlebell... idea cooked in my head - an ITERATOR. so, lol, here he is:

FIVE LIGHTWEIGHT BELLS 😂

he is small, he can be lifted up by his antennas (NSH's idea...)

#rainworld #rainworldart #rainworldoc

Sleeby Ruffles

What if Hollow Knight met Rain World?😊

ms paint iterators

I’ve been posing for 10 minutes, let me see the product!

Drew someone’s oc (i am so sorry for not posting in a while,, my requests r still open btw)

friend asked me to draw a rw oc again, this time with just a description

THIS IS THE FIRST ENGLISH MEME TO MAKE ME LAUGH IN A WHILE TBH this is so stupid i love it

im never doing lineart again

original version

this took 2 long ermm sorry yall,,,

what have i created

ok guys i think im cooking. Hear me out, what if iterators were the same color as their overseers, inspectors, etc (i wish there was a name for that or something)

sorry for the artstyle experimenr again

also pls give me art requests

hear ne out,, what if srs was actually red

Im so exhsudtrd. Sorru for the qualty i msdd it ob flipacoip pn my phobe rn

Oh btw art requests still open

ahhh your art is so cool!!! have you done five pebbles yet? or maybe a monk ?

tysm!! i really like ur art too, especially sewing systems

i was planning to draw five pebbles and monk later in the kind of series i guess? im doing right now so i decided to just doodle them for now

if you’re doing art requests…

rw trafficlights? 👉👈

i really like traffic lights but i suck at drawing ships so i had to draw them as that one meme 💔💔