A member of The Steel performing music on Level 11.
Entity Number: 90
Habitats: Native to Level -15, The Steel have spread to most populated Levels.
Description:
The Steel are sentient machine-like creatures made from various hard metals. The species is notable for its telepathic and telekinetic abilities; the latter of which allows them to use their minds to levitate themselves and smaller objects. Steel scholars and other researchers have investigated the mechanism driving these powers - however, this research has not reached a definitive conclusion.
Biology:
There is significant variation between individual Steels. The species has no natural reproductive process - Steel tribes instead gather up various resources and combine them through their telepathic powers to create a new Steel, in a process they call “The Startup”. The Steel do not age, but can be killed if subjected to enough damage.
Individual Steels vary in height, ranging from four to eight feet, correlating with the number of different metals in each individual. Steels often change their appearance by adding or removing metal and by painting themselves different colors.
The Steel do not communicate verbally - instead they use telepathy, or hand gestures and informal sign languages.
History:
Steel historians believe that the founding members of their communities within Level -15 eventually perished due to various environmental hazards. This, along with a failure to preserve their history via written methods, resulted in it becoming lost to time.
A large part of The Steel's modern culture is dedicated towards recovering this history and gathering more information surrounding their origins. Even now, they have no knowledge of how their species entered The Backrooms, or where they came from beforehand.
The few written records that do exist indicate that, at one point, they met members of The Lost and befriended them quickly. As development within their Level -15 settlements eventually came to a stand-still, members of their species were then sent out into the wider Backrooms in order to continue trade with The Lost and to learn more about other species. It is thought that this eventually resulted in their wide-spread population.
Current theories about where The Steel come from vary. Some Steel tribes believe they came from Mars, others believe they are the long-forgotten cousins of the extinct Macchina species.
Culture:
The Steel are well-respected scholars, and often work with The M.E.G. and other groups. In general, they work towards the mutual goal of learning more about their own species, though individual Steels have contributed to a wide range of research.
Other members of The Steel are notable for their contributions to the arts within The Backrooms. The construction of certain human settlements often rely on Steel aid, as their levitative abilities are extremely useful for lifting and carrying heavy resources.
Music performed by The Steel is considered its own sub-genre. They can operate multiple instruments at once when using their telepathy, effectively turning a proficient Steel musician into a one-man-band.
Religion:
A mural created by The Church of The Revered depicting their creation.
The Church of The Revered is a controversial Steel religious sect, with a small number of adherents. The faith posits they were created by an unknown, possibly human group, eons before any evidence of their existence.
Reputable Steel scholars disdain The Revered, and emphasize that the religion conflicts with The Steel's historical accounts of meeting The Lost, as well as a lack of any human records regarding The Steel’s creation.
Behaviors:
In general, The Steel are friendly and intelligent. Their upbringing and culture encourages familiarity with The Backrooms and cooperation with other species, and tends to emphasize qualities like analytical thinking and logic-driven action.
The M.E.G. is committed to assisting The Steel in rediscovering their history, and research remains ongoing.