AI Storytellers
Not in-game characters per se, but AI modes which can either be chosen at the start of the game or switched mid-playthrough. They control and adjust the in-game events, acting as "directors" of the story. Tropes relating to all storytellers
- Enmity with an Object: "They" are nothing more than a series of spawning algorithms. Tynan and the players anthropomorphize them into actual characters with personalities.
- Freudian Trio: Randy is the Id, Cassandra is the Ego, and Phoebe is the Superego.
- Killer Game Master: Depending on the difficulty. On lower settings, they generally leave you alone unless you intentionally trigger an in-game mechanic, but on harder ones, they will not show mercy.
- Money Is Not Power: Played with. The raids they send are scaled with your colony wealth, not the actual defensive capabilities. This can catch new players who hoard wealth off-guard.
Cassandra Classic
Cassandra Classic
- Alliterative Name: Cassandra Classic.
- Freudian Trio: The Ego to Randy's Id and Phoebe's Superego.
- Meaningful Name: Cassandra employs The Hero's Journey, a classic narrative structure to drive the plot.
- The Hero's Journey: Played straight. Cassandra's spawn rates function on an arc, slowly climbing to a climax before quickly descending back down.
Phoebe Chillax
Phoebe Chillax
- Freudian Trio: The Superego to Randy's Id and Cassandra's Ego.
- Meaningful Name: Phoebe is a storyteller for players who want to chill and relax (or "chillax") rather than be constantly pursued for the plot.
Randy Random
Randy Random
- Alliterative Name: Randy Random.
- Artificial Limbs: Has at least one; his left hand. He might have more, but we don't see any of his other limbs.
- Delinquent Hair: Sports a well-groomed punk haircut, presumably part of his Bad Boy image.
- Electronic Eyes: He might have one, unless it's just a case of heterochromia.
- Fiery Redhead: Downplayed, since he's not aggressive, just random and unpredictable.
- Freudian Trio: The Id to Cassandra's Ego and Phoebe's Superego.
- "Have a Nice Day" Smile: Sports a white tattoo of one on his head. The tears in his suit also create the opposite.
- Meaningful Name: He'll generate mostly random events, meaning the player can never be truly prepared for what's to come.
- Random Events Plot: Not that the game has a major "plot" to begin with, but choosing Randy means there's no predictable escalation of story events and the periods between such events are also random. It could be many months of nothing happening or you could be swamped with ten big raids in rapid succession.
Factions
The player's colony is by far not the only one on the Rimworld. Between neolithic tribes, gun-toting outlanders, pirates or The Empire, there's plenty of people to make your colonists' lives better or worse. Tribes
Gentle Tribe, Fierce Tribe, Fierce Neanderthal Tribe, Savage Tribe, Savage Impid Tribe, Cannibal Tribe, Nudist Tribe
Clockwise from top left: Gentle Tribe, Fierce Tribe, Cannibal Tribe, Fierce Neanderthal Tribe, Savage Impid Tribe, Nudist Tribe, Savage Tribe.
Neolithic descendants of earlier settlers who have lost their technology. They can be encountered as factions on the world map. With Ideology installed, the player may also encounter cannibalistic or nudist tribes, and with Biotech, fierce neanderthal tribes and savage Impid tribes also feature as factions.- Always Chaotic Evil: Savage tribes cannot be negotiated with, meaning they will forever raid you unless you wipe every single one of their settlements off the map. However, individual members of said tribes can still be recruited to your colony if you manage to capture them alive.
- Barbarian Tribe: Anything except the Gentle and Nudist tribes fall into these.
- Contemporary Caveman: Justified. They are descendants of Advanced Ancient Humans who have since lost their technology due to events involving the mechanoids and insectoids.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Many of their character and settlement names feature words from Galician, a language spoken in Spain.
- Religion of Evil: With Ideology installed, Savage tribes tend to very often have memes like "Supremacist" and "Raider". Taken up a notch with the Cannibal tribe, who will always have "Cannibalism" as a meme.
- Rock Beats Laser: Even if you're technologically advanced, it's possible to be taken out by tribal raiders due to their sheer numbers.
- Visual Pun: The faction symbol of the Nudist tribe is a tent without cloth.
- Zerg Rush: Their main tactic, especially as your colony becomes more powerful, is to send hordes and hordes of lightly-armed soldiers down your corridors. This can notably work if you're unprepared for an assault.
Outlanders
Civil Outlander Union, Rough Outlander Union, Rough Pig Union
Clockwise from top left: Civil Outlander Union, Rough Outlander Union, Rough Pig Union.
Industrial peoples that feature as factions on the world maps. They have lost much of their ancestors' technology, but still fare better than the tribes. With Biotech installed, rough pig unions also feature as Outlander factions.- Space Western: Played with. The Outlanders work with an early industrial level of technology and wear cowboy hats, making them resemble American settlers.
- Visual Pun: The Pig Union's faction symbol is a barn.
Pirates
Pirate Gang, Cannibal Pirate Gang, Yttakin Pirates, Waster Pirates
Clockwise from top left: Pirate Gang, Cannibal Pirate Gang, Waster Pirates, Yttakin Pirates.
Perpetually hostile factions that menace the players at every point in the game. They utilize technology stolen from other factions. Ideology also adds cannibal pirate gangs, while Biotech adds Waster and Yttakin pirate gangs.- Always Chaotic Evil: They'e another faction which is impossible for you to befriend.
- Evil Is Sterile: They are incapable of crafting or sowing their own resources, so they just pillage more prosperous communities for their stuff.
- It's Raining Men: A common tactic of their's is to drop pod themselves right on top of your base, often inside your base, completely bypassing most defences in the process.
The Empire
The Empire
- The Empire: It's in their name. They're an interstellar superpower which once ruled over several star systems, but were nearly annihilated by some unspecified cataclysm. Nonetheless, although they are a shadow of their former self they are still by far the most powerful faction on the Rim.
- Feudal Future: They are extremely technologically advanced, but have an aristocratic society, dress in olden clothing styles, and utilize augmented versions of archaic weaponry in battle, such as decorative plate armour and melee weapons, like swords and war-hammers, honed with nanotechnology.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: They're a tiny fraction of their former strength, but due to the Rimworld being a backwater post-apocalyptic planet where the other factions possess only industrial level technology at best, they are far and away the biggest power in the star system.
Ancients
Ancients
- Advanced Ancient Humans: Many of them were the original inhabitants of the rimworlds before things took a turn for the worse.
Mechanoids
Mechanoids
Hostile automatons left behind by whatever power once operated on the rimworld. They serve as high-level antagonists for any player that dates to enter their ruinous abodes.- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: They went feral after their human controllers died, and now attack any human they see on sight. This can happen to your own mechanoids if their handler loses control of them for too long (and the feral mechanoids will attempt to "convert" other nearby friendly mechanoids if possible).
- Really 700 Years Old: Many of the mechanoids are centuries if not millennia old, and still in perfect working condition.
- Space Age Stasis: The oldest mechanoids can be over two-thousand years old, but there is no change in design from those you can build now.
Insectoids
Insectoids
Genetically engineered giant insects that menace people on the rimworld.- Always Chaotic Evil: Unlike other wildlife, which are generally neutral, the insectoids are always hostile and will attack any human or mechanoid they see on sight. All colonists will agree that "the only good bug is a dead bug". It is still possible to tame them if you manage to down them in battle instead of killing them, however (in fact, they're significantly easier to tame than several normal animal species).
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Giant insects genetically engineered as war beasts, they now scourge the Rimworld in vast underground colonies.
- Dug Too Deep: The two main ways of stumbling upon an insect hive is to use the deep drill (which always incurs a small chance of digging into a hive) or digging into a mountain.
- Flesh Versus Steel: The Flavor Text for the megascarab states that they were created for the purpose of battling against mechanoids. So if you are unfortunate enough to be attacked by insectoids and mechanoids at the same time, it is possible to have them fight, as they are hostile on sight to each other.
- Giant Spider: The "megaspider" is actually a subversion. The Flavor Text notes that, despite its name, it's actually a giant insect and not a spider (presumably some sort of modified beetle, as it has elytra).
- Zerg Rush: They have no strategy beyond swarming their opponent with sheer numbers and only attack by biting and clawing. This is nonetheless a very effective strategy since they tend to pop up in areas that are hard to defend against and their numbers are sheer enough to overwhelm most enemies, especially in the late-game.
Xenotypes
Introduced in Biotech, Xenotypes add a bit of variation to the game by introducing several genetically engineered Human Subspecies, ranging from super soldiers to vampires. Baseliners
Baseliners
Normal humans, unaltered by genetic modification.- Humans Are Average: Well, the other xenotypes are humans, but Baseliners still fill this trope, as they are generic humans with no modifications.
- Meaningful Name: They are the baseline from which the other xenotypes were engineered.
Dirtmoles
Dirtmoles
Posthumans genetically engineered for mining operations somewhere far away. Now, many of them find themselves on the rimworlds.- Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Barring a proficiency for crafting, dirtmoles are essentially stereotypical dwarves, spending their time underground to dig for resources, fighting well at close range, and disliking bright light and open spaces.
Genies
Genies
Genetically engineered posthumans with high intelligence and precision, but delicate bodies.- My Brain Is Big: They always spawn with a unique bulbous head shape that looks like this, signifying their brains-over-brawn nature.
Highmates
Highmates
Genetically engineered sex slaves. They are beautiful and charming, but not good for much else.- Amazing Technicolor Population: They can have blue, purple, or literally white skin.
- Inhumanly Beautiful Race: They have the "Very Beautiful" gene.
- Nice Guy: They always spawn with the Kind trait.
- Perfect Pacifist People: Highmates are genetically incapable of violence.
- Sex Slave: Designed for this purpose, but it's ultimately up to you whether you treat them as such or as normal people.
Hussars
Hussars
Super soldiers engineered for war. They are deployed in scores by the Empire as janissaries.- Healing Factor: Their wounds heal four times faster than on baseliners.
- Meaningful Name: They are named for an ancient kind of soldier. Also doubles as an etymological connection to the Empire; while the term is mostly associated with Poland, it might derive from the Greek chonsarioi, a term used by the Byzantine Empire for light cavalry.
- No Social Skills: Hussars are usually kept separate from civilians because their inherent aggressiveness tends to rub baseliners the wrong way.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: All hussars have blood-red eyes, which indeed serves as a warning not to mess with them.
- Super-Soldier: Bred for war, hussars are excellent fighters and often proficient builders and miners, probably to signify their skills in siege work.
Impids
Impids
Fast, horned humans that can spit fire, designed for unknown purposes.- Breath Weapon: They have the ability to spit fire.
- The Eeyore: They have genetic pessimism which gives them a permanent -8 mood debuff.
- Horned Humanoid: They have prominent horns sprouting from their foreheads that give them a demonic appearance, but these are purely aesthetic.
Neanderthals
Neanderthals
Literally. At some point and for some reason scientists took ancient DNA samples and resurrected the extinct human subspecies. Now they can be found on planets across the galaxy.- Frazetta Man: Averted for once, they are genuine Neanderthals; stocky and a little slower to learn, but still with a healthy level of human intelligence.
- Human Subspecies: No ifs about it, they are the Neanderthals of ancient Earth, resurrected from DNA samples.
- Stout Strength: They're stockier than Baseliners, but tend to be physically stronger.
Pigskins
Pigskins
Originally engineered as organ donors, the Pigskins came out more human than anticipated. On the Rimworlds, unions of Pigskins generally congregate with their own, but are ready to make allies and enemies if need be.- Gone Horribly Right: They were intended to be more pig-like, essentially just pigs with human organs. However, the end result was much too close to humans than intended.
- Pig Man: As the name implies, they're a genetic combination of human and pig.
- Walking Transplant: They were engineered to be organ donors since human volunteers were not enough, and crossing humans with pigs would put aside the potential ethical problems of engineering pure humans for this purpose.
Sanguophages
Sanguophages
Genetically engineered vampires. They don't age, are nearly deathless, and have multiple special abilities. In exchange, they have a need for blood and catatonic deathrest, and suffer in the light.- Bloodlust: Sanguophages have to consume hemogen, which is found in the blood, to survive.
- Burn the Undead: This can be an effective way of dealing with an enemy Sanguophage, as the fire will eventually destroy their neck or head.
- Healing Factor: They have superfast wound healing, meaning they'll be out of the hospital much quicker.
- Heal It with Blood: Played with. Sanguophages can use their stored hemogen to heal others by coagulating their wounds and stopping them from bleeding out.
- Immortality: Sanguophages have the "deathless" trait. As long as their head, neck and brain remain, killing them simply sends them into a regenerative coma.
- Inhumanly Beautiful Race: Downplayed. Sanguophages have the "attractive" trait, but are a step below Highmates.
- Kill It with Fire: Their "tinderskin" trait makes them much weaker to fire, and on top of that they are pyrophobic and will actively run away at the sight.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Averted with their physiology; they have a metabolism supported by Archites and many of their other traits are unambiguously genetic in nature. However, the nature of their creation involves a man meeting an Archotech, which treads the line between science and magic at least partially.
- No Zombie Cannibals: Sanguophages cannot consume hemogen from other hemogenic humans, meaning other Sanguophages are not viable sources.
- Our Vampires Are Different: They are a Human Subspecies that by all accounts resembles vampires of Earth myth. However, they're not created through actual magic... probably.
- Off with His Head!: Decapitation is a sure fire way of killing a Sanguophage, since they'll just regenerate otherwise.
- Super-Speed: They have a "fast runner" gene that predictably makes them faster.
- Super-Strength: Their "strong melee damage" gene make them excellent melee fighters.
- Super-Toughness: Thanks to the "robust" trait, they can shrug off a bit more physical damage.
- Technically-Living Vampire: They are a Human Subspecies rather than resurrected corpses.
- The Ageless: One of their genes stops them from physically aging. While time on the Rimworld doesn't pass by fast enough for aging to be a problem, it still saves them from the occasional bad traits they can gain while older.
- The Power of Blood: Hemogen is not only necessary for a Sanguophage to live, but also powers their other abilities.
- Vampire Hickey: Feeding on hemogen directly from the source does not open up a wound, but leaves a painful bite mark that gives them a -5 moodlet (unless masochist) and severe blood loss.
- Vampires Sleep in Coffins: They can use normal beds, but their death rest passes by much quicker if placed in a special deathrest casket.
- Viral Transformation: Downplayed. Sanguophages have the ability to insert their own genes into someone else, likely through a gland. This will then slowly overwrite the target's original genes. The gene implanter also has a two-year cooldown (for both the donor and the recipient), so a sanguophage can't assimilate an entire colony at anything more than a leisurely pace.
- Voluntary Vampire Victim: If you have one or two Sanguophages in your colony, you can have a doctor extract hemogen from your other colonists without it causing a fuss. Colonists with the masochist trait or who follow an ideoligion revering bloodfeeders can also be fed on directly without incurring mood penalties.
- Weakened by the Light: They have a mild UV insensitivity, meaning they'll be slower and more stressed in the sunlight. It is therefore best to have them work in the night.
Wasters
Wasters
Human bioweapons. They can thrive in environments that other breeds of human find toxic, but have a physiological need for psychite. Yttakin
Somewhat beastly humans covered in fur. They can survive in cold environments better than most.
Yttakin
- The Beastmaster: Their signature move is the Animal Warcall, which psychically forces a wild animal to attack intruders. They also have a base +8 boost to the Animal skill, making them all excellent handlers.
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: They're big and hairy fully bipedal primates. Their name even sounds like "yeti."
- Ursine Aliens: They look and sound like Wookiees.
