How Big Were the [Rainworld Spoilers]?

How Big Were the [Rainworld Spoilers]?

Spoilers for - Rainworld and its new DLC, The Watcher. I'm talking HUGE spoilers. I'll try my best not

to spoil too too too much. But - you have been warned!!

In the world of Rainworld, you are but a small slug-cat. You must survive in the ruins of a civilisation long dead - using only your natural cunning as a middle-of-the-food chain predator.

But as you trapse through this corpse of a world - you may find yourself wondering - who built all this? Who were these ancient people?

Well - for the deepdive on the lore of these Ancients I suggest you piece together the puzzle yourself, or find a lore summary by someone else, such as; What are the Ancients? | Rain World Explained or perhaps even [OLD] A (not so) Brief History of the Ancients | Rain World Downpour Lore.

Today I am here to try to answer one question only. How big were they?

Seems like a silly question - but I think it is fun and illuminating.

In the base game we have some clues. Namely that they ancients were bigger than we are as Slugcats. The machinery such as railcars and... everything else... would just seem a bit absurd if not. We climb and slither through pipes between machines. We don't take the intended route - the path build by and for people but the one a rat might take.

Through-ought this work I will be using logical induction like this - taking something in the environment and making a hopefully reasonable guess based upon it - considering multiple factors. It's not exactly the most scientific method - but this is all just a bit of fun really.

So before we continue - I want to address the bodyplan of the ancients. 

These artworks can be found in the game. They are depicted in large on the walls at specific spots so they aren't a good indicator of size. But they do indicate that the Ancients were roughly humanoid and wore masks. They even have proportions similar to humans, although perhaps longer limbs.

There is debate as to whether they were avians - with beaks and clawed feet/hands. Some evidence might suggest not, like the statues that can be found waaaay underground. But it also could be the case that the ancients didn't build said statues. Many of the masks certainly are beaked so I will be depicting them as stick figures with beaks.

But I think there are only one or two clearer indicators. Doors and ladders.

I will start with Doors as they are less clear evidence.

Throughout the game there are examples of passageways and doors (Karma Gates) like this one. If the ancients were small - it would seem weird for their doors to be so big.

Thus if an ancient is the size of these doors they would be roughly a MAXIMUM of 5slugcats tall. This is likely an over-estimate, as you don't want to be hitting your head every time. It would also assume that there are many passageways perpendicular to what we see as a slugcat that could fit a 5sc tall being.

From here on out I will be using the measurement sc (slugcat) - as Rainworld provised nothing else we can concretely base a measurement on. 

However I think Ladders provide a far clearer image;

Throughout the game there are bars you can climb on - they seem to be two vertical with horizontal across. These, to my eye, are clearly ladders!!

So lets assume that to climb on a ladder - you must be able to touch three rungs. Two seems like an absolute minimum but would be hard to climb.

Using this metric, the Ancients come out to 4.5sc. Again, a bit more or a bit less seems reasonable.

However in the new DLC, The Watcher, has added more evidence for us to examine. Because you travel back in time to the time of the ancients!

Firstly - there are the shadows. Which blow the previous theories out of the water.

Real living Ancients!!!! The smoking gun!

But... as many have pointed out shadow and perspective can make things look bigger than they are.

15sc max, with an average of around 12 and a minimum of 10???? That is insane!!

Perhaps I am making some assumptions wrong - perhaps the pavement outside is raised (thus not on a level with the ground on the inside, but that only shaves off a max of 5 or so sc. That would still be around 5sc too tall to fit into most of the world - which was seemingly built for them.

What other evidence is there?

There are these prototype shelters... thus named because they were the prototype used when first designing the game AND also they are only available in the past. If they were used by sanitation workers (in the sewers) to protect from the sewers flooding - it might make sense for them to be ancient sized.

This corroborates the previous ~5sc theory.

Next is the masks. Its a blink and you'll miss it detail.

This seems to confirm the ~5sc theory.

But more importantly in that very frame is the table. A table is meant to be used. It must be at a convenient height - as must the shelves be!

So the left would be the minimum but the right seems to be the average/max heights for the table to be useful.

This seems to imply that the Ancients are at least a little taller - but ~5sc seems to be a nice average with up to 9sc in the tallest.

And last but certainly not least... BIG SPOILER WARNING

The creche. This is an ancient nursery room. Meaning that is a cot for an infant Ancient! Cute!

Just... ignore everything else pls.

This cot is ~3.5scs - but the baby inside would, presumably, be smaller. So maybe 1sc, 2sc or 3scs?

And if we compare this to a fully grown adult standing lovingly over their spawn - I think we quickly find the 15sc height to be absurd. 10sc or 5sc feel far more reasonable.

So in short - Ancients are likely somewhere between 5 and 10 slugcats tall. Most of the game world makes more sense if they are 5 tall, but 10 is more in-keeping with some of the evidence from the new DLC.

ADDENDUM:

Of course as soon as I finish I realise there is something I can add!!!

This is an Ancient's bath... for uh... cleaning themselves.

Please ignore the gash in reality. It is unrelated.

It is 4sc high, and 6.5sc long.

This doesn't tell us any information directly - but it does imply that, if proportioned like human baths for individuals (and this very-much is for one individual at a time as far as we know) then 6.5sc must be in the rough region of the Ancients' height. Not necessarily their precise height, mind, they might be taller or shorter. However - they are unlikely to be much shorter - because they would have needed to climb into the bath without too much difficulty.

Thus I would estimate that they are, on average, over 5sc. This confirms the 5 - 10sc range we previously determined and I think half way between that, 7.5sc, is a nice average.

However this would mean that most would struggle to fit in Karma Gates... so perhaps 5 - 7.5sc is a more reasonable range. Especially as a full 10sc tall Ancient would struggle to fit into the bath at all.

In conclusion - Ancients are on average between 5sc to 7.5sc tall.

ADDENDUM 2

This is a hallway implied to be traversed by the Ancients. It would imply they are significantly shorter or crouched/crawled through.

Not sure what to make of this tbqh.

Thank you for reading if you made it this far!
o pona!