A full timeline of events from both games, from an endangered bison to the death of gods.

Introduction

(Credit to @demigiant – [twitter.com]  on twitter for the thumbnail art)

The lore of the risk of rain franchise is deep and rich, with stories of betrayal and worship. Tales of gods and their creations. But, its also relatively hidden. The main way to learn about the lore is through optional logbooks, which take time to get and you may even not have all of them. Hell, coming up on about 500 hours in the game and im still missing a few. Even then, to those of you who didn’t play through the first game (like me), you may still be missing out on important information in the franchise’s lore. That is why im making this guide, to provide information which might not be apparent or easily recognizable in the game itself. A full timeline of events from the contact light taking a detour to an unknown planet, to the final boss of risk of rain 2. And if you couldn’t tell, yes, there will be spoilers. so if you prefer to find this out on your own than i recommend reading through the logbooks on the risk of rain wiki for a more neutral or bare bones explanation of the story.

Oh and, one more thing… to make this a little bit more fun and interesting, I am going to be mostly relying on my own memory for this guide, only looking up important bits that i really cant afford to get wrong. So if you notice an error, than it is most likely my fault. Also, there is going to be a lot of satire in this, so if your looking for a more by the books explanation than you can read the wiki, or watch one of the several awesome lore videos on YouTube that have been made by this community.

Without any further delay, lets get into risk of rain’s lore.

THE WORLD OUTSIDE PETRICHOR

Before we talk about the events of the first game, we must start even before that.

In the risk of rain universe, society has advanced quite a bit from our world, although it should be noted that risk of rain does not take place within our universe, but rather a similar universe which has had much more rapid evolution in technology and science. It is said that humanity has conquered other planets, with some items even implying that we have colonized almost all planets within our solar system. Even ones that today seem impossible to colonize. Part of the reason for this was humanities ability to create and design powerful tools that can help these endeavors. These tools are actually the items we see in both games, with things like the H3AD-5T v2 being directly mentioned in helping humanity conquer the planet of mercury. These items typically grew in power as humanity advanced as a society. To the point where many of these items are seen as common households items, with, again, the H3AD-5T v2 being used by everyday denizens of mercury. Which makes me never want to visit mercury because every time i get this item in a run i immediately begin scouring for a recycler like a rabid dog, then, if i do find one, i recycle it into something worse and then i look like an asshat in-front of all my friends than everybody hates me- Oh ♥♥♥♥ im talking about lore uhhh anyway; These items would seem to be godlike by any inferior species as the ability to both design something and create something seems to be pretty uncommon and a rather lucrative trait among the world of risk of rain.

So while humanity was conquering the solar system and colonizing what they could, they discovered a species of bison called the “Big Horn Bison” that was native to the planet Saturn- hey!!! I know that one! It’s got the funny rings around it’s a gas giant which is what they called me in high school, ayyyyy; ZINGER! Haha! … K so anyway people started to hunt and poach the ♥♥♥♥ out of this species, leading to it becoming endangered and in fear of becoming extinct. That’s when the population suddenly vanished from Saturn, and not in like, they died, but they just vanished. Now this was strange as while the bison were endangered, for them to simply stop showing up without any clue as to their fate was kind of an anomaly. Like did they just teleport away or something? Teleportation is likely not possible in our reality and it seems that risk of rain’s scientists agree, so what the hell happened? Well, there was one clue. One artifact was found on Saturn, which was not there before, it was a structure that had a round base with two curved pillars on opposite sides, pointing inward at each-other, and in the very middle of the structure was a little altar thingy; and if that sound familiar its because it was humanities first documented encounter with a teleporter, the structure we use in game to go from stage to stage. But why is a teleporter on Saturn instead of the planet the game takes place? Because of Providence. Rhode isl-

Providence , Mithrix , AND TELEPORTATION.

Providence is the first major character we interact with in the risk of rain timeline, as he directly causes the incidents which lead to the first game’s events. Providence Is one half of a brothers duo, the other being Mithrix. Providence is said to be a type of god, specifically, a god of creation. Meaning he possess the will to create, but not necessarily the ability to design. Or at least not very good designs. However, his brother, Mithrix, possess the opposite, the will to design but not to create. However, fortunately for Providence, his brother would create blueprints for how to create life, and other constructions. One of which was the concept of teleportation. It’s implied that Mithrix came up with the bulk of the design on how a teleporter would work, while Providence did most of the dirty work, constructing it into a feasible creation. Teleportation was viewed by the majority of humanity as being impossible, but somehow, these two “gods” made it work. And It was one of the only times Mithrix seemed to be happy, while Providence was distraught. As you see, these brothers had very different philosophies.

Providence believed that SOUL, a necessary component in almost all life, was a beautiful and divine thing. He Harbored great joy in giving creatures he created soul, and was generally more open towards lifeforms below him. Mithrix, on the other hand, did not give a flying ♥♥♥♥ about soul. He generally viewed lifeforms below him as scum, or in his words, “vermin.” He viewed soul more as an unfortunate side affect of life than something that should be cherished, despite himself being made out of a large amount of soul. Mithrix was also in general more tyrannical than providence, being described as overly ambitious, always wanting to expand his reach to even further beyond their planet and into the far flung reaches of space itself. Now apparently this was impractical, or Providence objected to this too much, because this really wasn’t an issue… Until Providence realized that his brother’s teleporter design was actually going to work.

Providence realized that with this powerful new ability his brother had designed, there was really nothing stopping his warmonger of a brother from invading wherever he wanted to, taking lives, and destroying soul in the process. There was just one problem. Providence was clever, And Providence loved soul. So Providence devised a plan: He would construct the entrance of a teleporter; but no exit. Effectively stranding whoever went through. When Providence got the teleporter in working order. He celebrated with his brother before doing the test run. He insisted that his brother be the first to try it. It was his design after all. Mithrix agreed, and used the teleporter, where he was teleported to Petrichor v’s moon, called commencement. Mithrix soon realized his brothers treachery, and Mithrix vowed to one day reclaim his planet and get revenge on his foolish brother.

Shortly after imprisoning his brother, Providence realized that he still had access to the teleporter blueprints, and got another idea. Providence Had long wished for the ability to help species on the brink of extinction, to bring them to Petrichor, so they could thrive under his reign. His brother however, wasn’t so keen on this idea, and so he would often object to it. However, with his brother gone, he could now do has he pleased. So he began to construct more teleporters, travelling to different planets, grabbing endangered species and bringing them to petrichor, all while his brother watched from the moon, seething with rage. Mithrix would also interestingly note that the creatures his brother seemed to “save” were all planet destroying pests. It is unknown if this is actually accurate, or if it is just Mithrix malding, but either way i felt it should be mentioned. Providence would keep his eyes on many species, including humanity itself, but also, a little known species of bison not so far away from earth, located on the planet saturn. Thats right. Providence found the Big Horn Bison.

Providence made his move to protect the bison, transporting them to petrichor, but he either wasn’t fast enough, or forgot to bring all the teleporters back, or whatever, because the human race was able to obtain one of his teleporters. Now, while humanity had no idea what this artifact they picked up was, it was a ticking time bomb until they discovered how to utilize the teleporter, which would lead them straight to Petrichor. The very species which had put the Big Horn Bison on the verge of extinction now had a fast-pass straight to petrichor V, the sanctuary where the bison were now living, along with the other species Providence was protecting. Providence knew he had to act. And act hard.

THE CONTACT LIGHT AND RISK OF RAIN 1

When humanity obtained the teleporter, they went to transport it on a transport spacecraft known as the “U.E.S. Contact Light.” This was a very large spacecraft, and carried much more items alongside the teleporter. The contact light took off from saturn, but didn’t immediately head towards earth, as it seems that it had a secondary objective, and the captain was ordered to take a detour to chart an unknown planet. This planet, was Petrichor V. We have no idea who gave the order to stop at petrichor V, It could’ve been some agency back on earth, or perhaps one of the brothers themselves. Its possible that Mithrix would’ve wanted them to land on and explore petrichor in order to loosen his brothers control, or it could’ve been Providence himself who sent out the order; especially when you consider the events that followed.

When The contact light docked inside Petrichor’s orbit, Providence used the teleporter that corresponded with the one currently inside the contact light’s cargo bay, putting him inside the ship. Providence then made quick work of 1. Destroying the contact light and 2. Killing like, a lot of people. Just; an incredible amount. However, Providence did not kill everyone on board, as many escaped through escape pods, some of these people who escaped would become the survivors you play as in risk of rain 1.

Now something interesting about most of the enemy logbooks in risk of rain 1 is that they are actually written by the survivor themselves, with most attributing the field notes to have actually been written by the original commando, which makes them possibly the most developed single character in the risk of rain universe currently. In the field notes commando often expresses a heavy feeling of guilt for what they have to do to survive, seemingly not wanting to fight these creatures but being forced too to survive, as all creatures on the planet seem to be hostile. The commando also logs the environments featured on petrichor as they pick up loose cargo from the contact light, in fact, the contact light rained down so much cargo on to petrichor, it not only covers all the loot from the first game, but presumably all loot from the sequel as well.

As commando continues through the planet, they eventually figure out how to operate teleporters, something which they refuse to believe is real. And they eventually make their way to the contact light’s wreckage. After fighting through the debris they repair some parts on the ship and then head to the cockpit to try to take off and escape, before being confronted by Providence himself. Using the Items and loot they have amassed, they are able to actually kill Providence, putting his soul saving days to an end. After the fight though, Commando remarks on how they felt as if they had just made a huge mistake, despite their lack of knowledge. And funny enough, the simple act of killing Providence would begin the planets ultimate spiral into destruction.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE CONTACT LIGHT INCIDENT

The fate of the commando from the first game is unknown, but we do know that there are no repeat characters in risk of rain 2, with the only exception being Acrid. We also know very little about the U.E.S, Or U.E., as if the S in U.E.S stands for Ship or star-ship, than the organization could perhaps be a United Earth, hence the initials U.E. Theory-craft aside, we dont know much about what goes on in between the first game and second game, however there is some information that gives more insight on to what Mithrix was up to when his brother passed. It is unknown if Mithrix was aware of his brothers passing, but Mithrix always knew that his brother would die without his help. It can also be assumed that Mithrix was aware of the contact light incident, as its size and explosion in space would be hard to miss for some one with nothing else to do.

Even before his brothers death, Mithrix began to shoot down lunar pods containing powerful but dangerous artifacts, likely his best attempt at creating something, these artifacts are the lunar items that we can obtain in risk of rain 2. For the sake of the lore however, no item is more important than the beads of fealty. The beads of fealty essentially allowed mithrix to communicate with whoever held them. This is also the only lunar item with no downside, meaning it could’ve been Mithrix’s best solo creation to date. It’s also the one that Providence feared most, as he would often hunt any surviving pods that contained the beads and destroy them, along with anyone who might’ve obtained the beads. As with the ability to communicate, Mithrix could now try to gain supporters among the creatures on the planet. One of his early supporters could’ve been kur-skan, also known as “the heretic.” However, an interaction that plays between the heretic and Mithrix in risk of rain 2 implies that the heretic also betrayed Mithrix at some point. leading to a mutual resentment between both Mithrix and Providence.

The logbook for “a moment, whole,” seems to chart a correspondence between a scavenger and Mithrix, as it seems the scavenger had picked up the beads without Providence noticing. Mithrix tries to get the scavenger to use the Primordial teleporter, which would somehow free Mithrix, But discovers that it is locked… by a lock of his own design, and that the scavenger is too much of a smooth brain to unlock it. He states that as long as his brother is alive, the lock will persist. He then explains to the scavenger that while he may not have freed Mithrix, Mithrix values loyalty above all else, so he may use the beads to travel to “a moment, whole,” where he can wait in safety until Mithrix eventually escapes and frees him. This logbook provides context on the importance of Providence’s death, as without him, someone skillful enough could unlock it, and free Mithrix.

The U.E.S corporation soon learned of the contact light incident, and felt compelled enough to send in a small team consisting of a naturalist and his friend, Tharson, who keeps him safe throughout the journey. It is heavily implied but not technically confirmed that the ship that the team used was neither from the U.E.S Contact Light or The U.E.S Safe travels, the ship from the second game, and was instead its own, probably rather small vessel. The crew document some of the wildlife, before their ship gets damaged by a beetle guard, and they presumably perish. Shortly after this, its implied that the U.E.S sends more people down to the planet, as in the logbook for the alloy vulture, it implies that there is a team with an alternative motive rather than trying to escape, or rescue survivors. However the main operation would come a bit later, as apparently the U.E.S was VERY interested in petrichor V.

A RESCUE MISSION? (RISK OF RAIN 2)

Sometime after the Contact Light incident, the U.E.S pulls a veteran captain out of retirement to head a top secret mission. The mission? Take the U.E.S Safe Travels to petrichor V, and rescue any survivors from the contact light incident. Now… even to the captain this was really sketchy, as the Safe Travels was not a rescue ship and had 0 armaments. And also with the kind of signals the U.E.S picked up it was clear that any survivors of the Contact Light’s crash would be dead by the time the Safe Travels had arrived. So its incredibly likely that there was some ulterior motive to the Safe Travels mission, it could’ve been to study the planet further, or maybe trying to obtain information on how the teleporters worked, who knows? Well the captain didn’t, but he hated his current job so he agreed to head the mission. Shortly after the captain assumed the role of heading the mission he went out to grab his crew, grabbing a bunch of commandos, the huntress, the mercenary, and the engineer to all help him on this mission. He would also convince or force a Mul-T unit and a cargo loader to be on the main ground team. The Bandit would then sneak on said ship, and either make a deal with the captain or just remain undetected until they reach the planet. And they would find Acrid, Rex, and the artificer on the planet itself.

We have no idea what the true goal of the Safe Travels was, but the crew land and basically the exact same thing that happens in risk of rain 1 happens. Monsters start attacking them they use the teleporters to get outta there, rinse, repeat. It’s mostly the same until they encounter the primordial teleporter. Now if you chose to loop at this point something interesting happens, eventually you start encountering these creatures called “void reavers” who are essentially time cops, and they attempt to “Detain you at the end of time.” Now why they might seem like a little footnote; the upcoming DLC “Survivors of the void” seems to imply that the void creatures play a major role in the game’s story. We dont know what it is, but something were doing in the game of risk of rain 2 is considered so dangerous that time cops come to try and detain us, keep this in mind for when the DLC releases, and something else we’ll get to soon enough.

If you continue to the moon however, you’ll end up at Mithrix’s crib, “Hey man come and sit on the couch, oh wait im to much of a frickin dingus to know how to make a freaking couch- GOD I HATE IKEA!”…- Mithrix, probably. Uh anyway as we emerge from Mithrix’s basement we can find a stranded spacecraft protected by a force-field, with dead commandos sprinkled about. It can be assumed that this ship came from the U.E.S safe travels, and is a rather small vessel meant pretty much solely for personnel transport. It’s also likely that mithrix plans to use this vessel himself to escape the moon. In order to actually reach Mithrix you have to charge 4 pillars and it spawns waves of enemies known as “Lunar Chimera” which seem to be Mithrix’s other attempts at solo creations, as these enemies never appear on the planet. Once you activate all the pillars or just launch yourself up to the arena, you get to experience the Mithrix boss fight.

Mithrix is a lot more talkative than his brother, so we get a little more information out of him. We learn that Mithrix has a bit of an inferiority complex when it comes to creations, often calling drones and other allies he kills “Inferior constructs.” He also sheds a light on how the survivors are actually able to survive in such a hostile environment, as he says “Weak, without your baubles and trinkets.” after killing an item-less player, implying that without items the survivors would have no chance against Mithrix or the planet itself. After finally killing Mithrix, the moon enters a “detonation phase” where it gets swarmed by the previously mentioned void reavers. Once the phase ends, either by you escaping on the rescue ship or the time running out, the moon will implode, with heavy implications that the void is somehow involved.

We cant get much info about what happens after the moon implodes so for now, this is kind of where the story ends.

CONCLUSION

So yeah, that’s where the story ends for now.

Two brothers, one of compassion and one of ambition, split apart over distrust; leading to the destruction of themselves and the planet they once called home. Two gods, who bickered and fought until their final breath, all of their work rendered meaningless..

…

… You know what?

No.

I wrote this all down, remembered everything i could, and put my heart and soul into this. I’m not ending this on a f****** sour note. In the Risk of Rain universe there is one overarching theme that is not ever explored or even mentioned, Human Ingenuity. Between the brothers, the power to create and design was split between the two of them, with one not being able to do the other well; but also in the risk of rain universe, the human race does both of these. They design AND create powerful items that allow us to slay gods. Hell, even I designed AND created this guide. The fact that humanity has this ability which was so valuable to the point where two gods had to split each power, is a testament to the ingenuity of humanity itself. The concept that no matter what obstacle comes in our way, be it space travel, or gods, we can overcome and thrive. That someone as insignificant as a single commando can overcome an entire planets worth of beasts and monsters to rise from the ashes a slayer of gods. The concept that we can Design something to solve any problem, and then Create it. That is what Risk of Rain stands for. Maybe. F*** i dont know dude ask Duncan i dont work for hopoo im some guy on the internet.

As for the cannon story, there’s still much more to discover for yourself, if you found any of this interesting, then please, the next time you load up the game just take some time to look through the logbooks. They are a truly interesting and unique read, and there is still plenty of things i have left out of this guide for you to discover on your own, so tell me this friend. Will you keep Her waiting?

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This is all for Risk of Rain 2 Full Timeline of Events/Story – Walkthrough hope you enjoy the post. If you believe we forget or we should update the post please let us know via comment, we will try our best to fix how fast is possible! Have a great day!