The Matriarchy Of The Rotwood

[Melindaington]

This was something I noticed after fighting Owlitzer a few times, that she was described as "Mother of the Night." After Mother Treek, I thought that was interesting that the first two bosses were "mothers" and kept an eye out for it. Then came Enigmox, "The Illusory Vixen," another female title. Then I got to Swarm, and seeing as there was no way to determine their gender (even if I could make arguments that bugs are matriarchal, and females tend to be bigger and stronger), I figured it was just a coincidence.

Then I noticed several of the stronger, imbued rots had feminine traits. (I can't remember their names off the top of my head so forgive me) The bat frogs, spinning eyeball flower, and green slugs all had stereotypical cartoon "girl" eyelashes in their imbued form, which seems like an odd detail by itself, let alone multiple times.

I'm curious what everyone else thinks. Does this have some kind of story implication as to how teffra works? Is it maybe related to how the Rotwood came to be in the first place? Maybe seeing their baby rots killed leads to an overdrive in motherly instinct which powers them up? There's so many possibilities. Or it's a coincidence. But possibilities!

[HeatAndRun]

Oooh, interesting. I can't believe how I couldn't find it!

[molivious]

10 hours ago, Melindaington said:

Maybe seeing their baby rots killed leads to an overdrive in motherly instinct which powers them up? There's so many possibilities. Or it's a coincidence. But possibilities!

I think something close to this was actually explained in the lore, and IIRC it's Toot who comments on it (the first time you are informed about Frenzies). It basically goes like the Boss Rots have so much Teffra in them that when they're killed, plenty of this extra Teffra spreads around the biome empowering the living Rots even further and create what is known as Frenzies. Then you kill the next Frenzied Boss Rot and the cycle continues.

Edit: found the actual dialogue line:
 

Quote

Version 1:
"Eh, from what I understand, killing a Boss Rot releases all its Teffra. Like popping a water balloon. Whenever that balloon is popped it makes all the Rots in that area more powerful. We call that a Frenzy Level. But 'ey, stronger Rots just mean more chance to show off the skills I've taught you. Plus you'll get Heartstones for each Boss Rot you defeat on a new level. Be warned though, Reviving allies costs Health on Frenzy Level 2 and above."

Version 2:
"Eh, Flitt had a good way of explaining it. How'd it go... They said it's like when you chop down a big tree in the forest. All the lil ones underneath are gonna grow to fill its place. When you cut down a Boss Rot, all the lil Rots in the area are gonna get meaner and tougher. And you just cut down one heck of a tree."

Also, there was mention of Boss Rots (or Rots in general) emerging from Teffra-contaminated areas. I think this is mentioned the first time you visit the Molded Grave and talk to Flitt. And it is implied in other conversations that Boss Rots basically live in (or are themselves) the heart of those contaminations. The introductory cutscene from the playtests (see below, removed in EA) probably explains best about how Rots and Boss Rots originally came to be.

 

[Alfons100]

[Melindaington]

14 hours ago, molivious said:

I think something close to this was actually explained in the lore, and IIRC it's Toot who comments on it (the first time you are informed about Frenzies). It basically goes like the Boss Rots have so much Teffra in them that when they're killed, plenty of this extra Teffra spreads around the biome empowering the living Rots even further and create what is known as Frenzies. Then you kill the next Frenzied Boss Rot and the cycle continues.

Oh cool, I missed the play test so I hadn't seen that opening! And while the excess Teffra does explain the frenzies, it doesn't explain why the Boss Rots still tend to be female, or why imbued Rots gain more feminine traits as they become more powerful.

I did, however, realize something about Swarm. When you first land, Flitt mentions not seeing a Boss Rot and instead seeing a large corpse, the presumed former Boss Rot. Then when you get to the boss, Swarm is described as The Orphaned Hivemind. This likely means that the former Boss Rot—the body Swarm is sitting on when you enter—was Swarms mother, the queen. While we still don't know if Swarm is female, it seems like there was certainly a time where the Boss Rot there was.

Also unnecessary tidbit, but the leg/scythe Swarm is holding seems to match the body (three spikes on bottom, two spikes on joints), so that might also be their mothers, which is... sad.