Rain World Thalassophobia: character + campaign concept

Hi! this video is a presentation of my ideas for my rain world original character the Beholder and their campaign!
even though my editing skills may not be the best I hope you find this video entertaining!

All drawings were done by me, sound effects are either from random copyright free videos or taken from rainworld itself.

* songs used *

all by James primate!

[fragil]

Fun facts

So you probably noticed grey wind doesn’t have one of their arms, thats because their original arm was stolen a long time ago. Their original arm can still be found in necropolis, being a two hand item that slows you down and makes you sink. I didn’t want to mention it in the video bec i felt like it would ruin the mood of the necropolis.

The S button would be the top button of the right section of the controller.

I was originally going to name the character swabbie, but thought beholder fitted the story better and decided to leave the original as a fun nick name that grey wind uses.

The beholders design was inspired by the sea bunnies! Best animal.

The weird tentacles that extend out of the beholders face are inspired by the sea cucumber.

The pink and blue color scheme is supposed to be a nod to rivulet. ( feel like this one is pretty obvious but still- )

The beholder actually went through a lot of design changes. The character originally was going to have a more slug like tail as well as two pairs of long wiskers, with a very light blue base with dark blue dots, then it changed to pink with green dots, then blue dots, and then the design changed to the current one.

UI and CW originally wore yellow instead of green, I changed it because it would complete a triadic combo with with the other 4 vanilla iterators.

The overall vibe of thalassophobia was inspired by subnautica.

The characters ability to breath underwater was inspired by my own INDIGNATION at the fact they state that rivulet can breath underwater when they CANT WHY IS IT WRITTEN “breaths underwater, (…)” THATS SO ANNOYING AAAA

the festering burrow may have been inspired by the floor “the womb” from the game the binding of Isaac.

The way the festering burrow is its own entity who is against you, may be inspired by the tunnel from the coraline book.

The Necropolis is also a reference to a floor in the binding of Isaac of the same name, as well as a level of the upcoming ( at the release of this video ) little nightmares 3.

I actually had to change the names of two regions, the glooming dunes where originally called the floor, which as you may already know, is a subregion of metropolis. The other one was subaqueous thicket, which was previously called the kelp forest, which is the same name of the very subnautica biome i took inspiration from!

The orange fluid Grey wind makes for the beholder is pretty much the same as the LCL from neon genesis evangelion.

Something i ended up noticing as i worked on the art is just how much it changed during development! Try comparing some of the illustrations of the beholder from the start with the ones shown later on, goes to show how much time this whole thing actually took to make!

The stalkers design is probably inspired by the big spider from the game limbo. As well as the teacher from little nightmares 2 with its long stretchy neck.

A fun idea i ended only thinking about much later was a flash ability that can stun enemies! But i think the character has enough going on as is.

[meloncaaat]

“How much trauma do you want with your slugcat”
“Yes”

[toaster]

“BLOWS UP SLUGCAT WITH MIND”
-Unparalleled Innocence

[MBRx]

The idea of unparalleled innocence being a terrible person is so ironic I love it

[chickennuggetman]

the last bit when he draws rivulet made me get chills all over

[maayatheperson]

I love how in the ascension ending UI’s pose stays the same. It’s not a gentle embrace. UI looks as though they are preaching, rather than reaching out

[stoftheFatuiHarbingers]

It's awesome to finally see Wind and Innocence used in a concept.

Wind and Innocence are basically the antithesis of each other. Wind is basically the parent of the whole local group, evidently being the most mature. He was the one who called out Innocence and reported what happened to Pebbles. Innocence on the other hand, is basically the closest the game gets to a straight up villain. Literally bullies a cancer patient. Leaks the pebbles videos onto the iterator group chat. It's ironic that the worst of the iterators is the one called 'Unparalleled Innocence.' Wind is based though.

It would be amazing if this was turned into a mod, though it'd take a seriously long time. The modding community is getting there though, so hopefully your concept will be playable one day. Amazing ideas!

[No.Significant.Harassment]

You can't just be dropping these FIRE character concepts on us without why warning!!

[lilhedgehog]

I hope you make this into a mod someday if you end up wanting too. Because an entirely aquatic slug cat sounds like a really cool way to play.

[ellamurray]

Goodness gracious the design for the stalker is Terrifying. If this was in the game and I saw that thing’s neck creeping around a corner I would just close rain world dude that thing is METAL.

In all seriousness though this is one of the most inventive and viscerally creative fan made rain world concepts I have ever seen. Bravo! Also i love how you portrayed UI’s relationship with the beholder. Poor little scug :(

[ritter]

Idea: in rivulets, you can find the beholders new eye if you ascended as it, and bring it to moon or 5p, who will give directions to chasing wind. You can show it to chasing wind, who will be very happy and explain to the rivulet why he created him, who the beholder was, and will keep the eye. Chasing wind will fill his tank with the same liquid that the beholder had, allowing him to rest, eat, and swim back out the chamber.

[figbarrr]

these character concepts are so well made, they honestly feel like they could be official! The artwork is amazing as well.

[NikoSunday-ytih]

There should be some tweaks to the Beholders gameplay should you decide to use
jolly co-op to bring them into survivors/monks/hunters campaign.

My suggestion: fishbowl helmet to prevent suffocating on air and some kind of disability object (crutchs, wheelchair, rarefracton cell, Etc)

[TheMegaxPlus]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder?
Wrong.
Pipe bomb.

[LevonBaton]

Man, loyalty ending is the saddest thing i ever seen on Rain World

[jessiesowter]

I love that this references the broadcast discussing UI sending rot images to the local group! little unaware slugcat being behind it all is kinda funny, but at the same time, the loyalty ending was heartbreaking - I assumed that the beeping was because of Beholder running out of breath, but the reveal that UI had mewnt to kill them anyway made it even sadder :(
I doubt Rivulet was made by an iterator at all, and rather, the entire slugcat species just evolved to have gills, or were at most modified by iterators along the line, but it's highly plausible that Riv came across CW/GW at least once - perhaps he was even the one that gave Ruffles the mark of communication, or even the pearl - because they are implied to go on iterator expeditions all the time

[risinivy]

This has to be one of, if not THE most in-depth and well-written campaigns I've seen.
The character and creature design is incredibly unique yet fitting for the world (don't even get me started on how HORRIFYINGLY AMAZING the Stalker is), and the environments all hit several key notes that makes the original regions of Rain World work, plus their own unique ways of getting past the "no rain" issue.
The cutscenes and drawings were also top-notch... I felt so much emotion looking at the little fella, and I was astounded by the animation unveiling Beholder's siphon gimmick.
Above all, while I admit I'd love to see this become a full mod, what I want more than anything is to pet the poor scug.

[freybear]

The fact that the beholder is traumatised by iterators is something to *behold*

[kcinrennat]

This whole concept is amazing! I love how the overseer eye has so much use in game, and isn't just a useless feature. The biomes were really unique, and I feel like the end-cycle events were great workarounds for the "too deep for the rain" thing. The story itself was even more unique, with two 'new' iterators and the first time we've seen one being genuinely abusive towards their creations. Great job Fragil, you're really good at making these concepts!

[erinbednarzyk]

Calling it Thalassophobia as you explore the deep ocean is a cool detail! Thalassophobia, in case anyone is wondering, is the name of the Phobia/fear of the deep ocean. I actually have Thalassophobia myself, and find this project really neat!