RAINWORLD GLYPH DOCUMENTATION

FINDINGS, IDEAS & COMPARISONS

Dm suggestions or edits to gwyn#9899, Fidgel#0636 or Gecko Eater 3000#2539 on the Official Rain World Server.

It’s worth noting that only the Achievement and Karmic Glyphs have any definite meaning. The general alphabets are selected randomly when the tile is placed, and so while documentation is good, the usefulness of any interpretation is moot.

(All images used on this doc can be found in full-resolution here.)

Have changed editing to view only for the long term, to prevent vandalism/as need for further editing seems unlikely.

RAINWORLD GLYPH DOCUMENTATION 1

FINDINGS, IDEAS & COMPARISONS 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1

PRIMARY KARMA SYMBOLS—FIVE NATURAL URGES 1

ACHIEVEMENT GLYPHS 3

MARK CONJECTURE 5

SKY ISLANDS CIRCULAR GLYPHS 5

RAIN WORLD ALBUM ART GLYPHS 5

FIVE PEBBLES’ DIALOGUE 6

GUARDIAN GLYPHS 8

GLYPH IMAGES 9

K & C GLYPH ALPHABETS 9

UI SPRITE-SHEET (spritesheet for UI and various overlays, many unused) 9

C GRAFFITI 10

Both Korean Inspired (K) & Cyrillic Inspired (C) Alphabets. 11

PRIMARY KARMA SYMBOLS—FIVE NATURAL URGES

PAINTING/SYMBOL	EXPLANATION/MEANING
	MEANING: Fighting/Struggling/Striving. Fighting could then be seen as a natural manifestation of general struggle within an advanced society. EVIDENCE: ‘’This was an eternal dilemma to them - they were burdened by great ambition, yet deeply convinced that striving in itself was an unforgivable vice. They tried very hard to be effortless. Perhaps that's what we were to them, someone to delegate that unrestrained effort to.’’ — Moon.
	MEANING Lust/Desire/Procreation/Want.
	MEANING Sharing/Communication/Friendship/Bonding/Guidance ADDITIONAL NOTES Has been held to be intoxication, due to lantern, canister and link with Five Precepts. However, context in other glyphs does not seem to support this, and a direct analogue for each Precept with the Urges does not seem likely, like lying. The Mural could also show one ancient guiding or mentoring another, with the text below and the lantern ‘’lighting the path’’. Possibility of more ornate ancient on right being advised by ancient with scrolls on left? Teacher may also fit, although The Scholar has a closer meaning.
	MEANING Gluttony. EVIDENCE “The subject is how to shed one of the five natural urges which tie a creature to life. Namely number four, gluttony.’’ — Moon. This is also the yellow overseer’s symbol for “food”.
	MEANING Perseverance/Survival/Ego/Shielding from harm. Seems to imply a shielding of the self from harm, the desire to survive and to avoid danger, to cling to life, explaining why this symbol is the original highest karma level (before meeting Echoes or FP), and the symbol for “The Survivor”.

ACHIEVEMENT GLYPHS

GLYPH	DESCRIPTION
	Survivor
	Wanderer Relates to travelling/searching/quest?
	Monk Relating to self/harmony Also could represent morality
	Pilgrimage Wanderer + Monk = Pilgrim The finding of self through travelling?
	The Friend Communication/Bonding + Harmony/Monk Forming a bond through selfless means (giving food)
	A New Friend Survivor + Bonding + Harmony Interpretation of 3rd Karma Glyph as Mentor or Teacher here may make sense, as Moon acts as a teacher to players, reading pearls and giving information. Also 5th Glyph could represent the player having survived the journey to Moon, having been guided by the Overseer.
	The Chieftain Bonding + Survivor(?) Would indicate respect?
	The Scholar Wanderer + Knowledge? The quest for knowledge?
	The Hunter Gluttony + Struggle/Fighting Eating solely by killing. Is also the yellow overseer’s symbol for “predator”.
	The Saint Survivor + Monk Represents survival through harmony/no killing
	Stolen Enlightenment Gluttony + Self Eating selfishly, here 4 marks seem to indicate a failure to be harmonious/or to wilfully damage another
	Ascension In several conversations between the iterators, they refer to self-destruction as “crossing oneself out”. The removal of the self from the world. Also the 10th and final Karma Symbol
	Dragon Slayer Could represent deliberate killing/murder. Four marks in the context of excessive violence.
	The Outlaw Struggle/Fighting + (ambiguous centre line) Four marks again in the context of excessive violence.
	The Journey Received after meeting with Five Pebbles Could refer to: Farm Arrays, Pebbles himself.
	Mark appearing in rooms before Echoes Possible 2 marks on top Bottom half seems to be the same as this K Alphabet glyph:

DOWNPOUR ACHIEVEMENTS

	The Martyr Possibly be k10 and only correspond to martyrdom (similar to dragonslayer)
	The Nomad Survivor + Journey Similar to wanderer, possibly journeying for a more specific purpose?
	The Pilgrim Wanderer + 2 marks/ what is above the echo symbol Follows the 2 mark rule for a peaceful activity since it is received after listening to every echo. Likely representing travelling with specific intent.
	The Mother Communication + Lust/Desire Loneliness, desire for company
	A Helping Hand Survivor + Sharing/ Friendship(3rd karma) + Knowledge Hunter exclusive achievement. Received after delivering the green neuron to Pebbles or Moon.
	The Champion Closed off C5 symbol Most likely only meaning champion
	The Expedition Leader Closed off + curved c20 Likely means leadership or bravery.

MARK CONJECTURE

Several glyphs bear the same two or four mark pattern, two marks appearing on glyphs denoting peaceful activities, and four marks on glyphs relating to violence or morality.

The Outlaw, Dragon Slayer and Stolen Enlightenment all feature 4 marks

The Saint, Chieftain, A New Friend and Survivor all feature 2 marks

SKY ISLANDS CIRCULAR GLYPHS

Key between the 14 Glyph K Alphabet and those found in Sky Islands (SI)

The SI-Glyphs could be said to be a sort of rebus, as they bear resemblance to the rebuses on the Japanese prefectural and municipal flags. The similarity is mostly within the radial design of the SI-Glyphs, as the Japanese prefectural and municipal rebuses also often bear this radial and circle-like quality.

RAIN WORLD ALBUM ART GLYPHS

On the artwork of the album ’’Rain World - Songs & Rhythms’’ we can see two more glyphs not found anywhere within the game. Considering that these two glyphs are unseen within the game itself, but present in this meta context, it could be theorized that the glyphs in order mean ’’Rain’’ and '’World’’.

From the second glyph on the album art we can derive two other glyphs.

The second glyph below appears to be a flipped K-Glyph 3

FIVE PEBBLES’ DIALOGUE

When you first meet Five Pebbles, he shows you several messages and pictures:

NOTE: 5Ps’ dialogue is almost certainly randomised and has no meaning, given randomisation of all other alphabet glyphs.

GUARDIAN GLYPHS

The guardians have above their heads what’s called a ’’think-ring’’ in the files, a projection of a series of concentric rings containing a set of 8 unique glyphs.

In the game’s files these eight glyphs are all numbered starting from 0, with the exception of the dot glyph designated as ’’-1’’.

Because of how uncommon it is for a list to start from 0 unless it is a series of numbers, and how the dot glyph is designated with a hyphen / minus sign, one can conclude that these glyphs actually compose a base-7 number system used by the guardians. This makes the so-called ’’think-rings’’ a sort of abacus.

In addition, the design of these glyphs hold similarity to the Cherokee syllabary and the Thai abugida. Though considering the asiatic inspiration in the game, it is more likely that the Thai abugida was the intended inspiration.

GLYPH IMAGES

K & C GLYPH ALPHABETS

Middle section is a repeat of the first. K Alphabet has 14 characters, C has 20, plus O, ¬ and . at the end.

UI SPRITESHEET (spritesheet for UI and various overlays, many unused)

C GRAFFITI

Both Korean Inspired (K) & Cyrillic Inspired (C) Alphabets.

For ease of use, K 1 to 14 and C 1 to 20 can be used.

The second glyph set down is a combination of both, and can be found before the Outskirts>Industrial gate.

Note: The following glyphs are selected randomly by the level editor when placed and have no meaning.

Glyph (K = Korean inspired)	Notes
K1	Same as 2nd Karma Symbol
K2	Wanderer Glyph
K3	Monk Glyph
K4
K5
K6
K7	Dragon Slayer Glyph.
K8
K9	Same as 1st Karma Symbol
K10	Martyr glyph(?)
K11	Sky island variant bears similarities with final karma symbol.
K12	Is repeated in lower half of Echo Mark
K13
K14	Knowledge Appears in Scholar alongside Wanderer