[Fig.1: Deerling searching for prey.]
Entity Number: 201 ｜ Class: Zoophoid
Habitat: Isolated
Entity 201, or blue-ringed deerlings, are skittish, agile creatures seen across various secluded levels. They are identified by their abnormal coloring and attraction towards high-pitched sounds.
Description
Blue-ringed deerlings are omnivorous, tetrapod scavengers that thrived in the forests and woodlands of exterior levels. They were initially called "pale sheep" by the Chinese-speaking explorers and marked as a symbol of fertile soil.1 However, research has shown that the entity shares more biological similarities to the Cervidae family, save for various features including tarsus bones and claws on all four of its limbs.
Deerling sightings were common in the early days of pre-MEG settlement, especially during times of loss and grieving.2 They were nearly hunted to extinction by the Second Great Wave of settlers in 2012, who described them as "freaky-looking" and ill-fit for the climate of a proper settlement. The general trend of setting traps for stray deerlings was popularized by Director Indiza and urged on by MEG upper wings, who recognized the versatility of the creature's vibrant hide. Due to increased human activity in the Backrooms following 2014, the deerling population has expanded into a wider variety of level environments. They have also since been re-associated with more sinister interpretations, after various ill-fated encounters in the subsequent years.
Fig.1 depicts one of the first sightings of an instance of Entity 201 in an interior level.
Biology
The head of a blue-ringed deerling bears two perked ears with rabbit-like pinnas from which emerge white, web-like growths when within range of prey. Its body is translucent in color, being pale grey or white under natural sunlight and glowing blue-green in fluorescent light. While idle, faint circular ringed patterns can be spotted on its skin. These patterns brighten when the deerling is snaring its prey or feeling threatened.
! Warning !
The blue-ringed deerling is extremely toxic.
Just by looking at its main food sources — leech adders, nguithr'xurhs, and the occasional carcass of a sightless seer as a delicacy — it is no mistake that the brightly colored blue marks on its fur are an indication of great warning. Any physical contact with the creature runs the risk of falling victim to the potent toxin sapped from its prey via digestion. The neurotoxin takes only half an hour to completely neutralize the human nervous system, inducing paralysis followed by an excruciating death.
As of current, there exists no cure.
When approaching the entity, any creatures, including humans, risk becoming ensnared in its halo effect. This is marked by the glowing of webs sprung from the entity's ears, forming a halo-like ring around their head, like a malformed dreamcatcher. The tactic appears to be a favored method in immobilizing non-human prey, paired in sly conjunction with their venom to quickly reduce the most troublesome of meals to a cold cadaver. Likewise, wanderers in this state will become entranced, losing control of their body while experiencing vivid hallucinations from a foreign perspective. Based on eyewitness accounts and survivors, it is hypothesized that these perspectives belong to the past victims of Entity 201, with many profiles matching that of late wanderers who are known to have succumbed from blue-ringed deerling venom.
Behavior
Blue-ringed deerlings are deemed low on the entity threat scale, as reports of "close calls" with deerling encounters far supersede actual records of lethal interaction. There has yet to be a case of a deerling actively chasing down an adult wanderer, as the creature's hunting patterns generally err more on the side of opportunism. Most deerlings that settle near civilization break away into cover upon being openly observed, resulting in the overwhelmingly low-quality archive of available image files.3
Despite their unassumingly gaunt appearance, blue-ringed deerlings have been observed engaging in unexpected feats of acrobatics. They can be agile when the situation calls for it, known to scale the walls and ceilings of fenced-in settlements in spite of twig-thin limbs and unsteady locomotion. They have also been sighted crossing the surface of lakes and rivers, suggesting that either the blue-ringed deerling’s weight is vastly disproportional to its body mass, or that this is merely one of the countless illogicalities of the Backrooms.
Deerlings seem to concern themselves plenty with man-made locations. They are reputed to possess a curious streak, as evidenced by the surplus amounts of footage depicting blue-ringed deerlings trashing MEG machinery. It is heavily discouraged for settlers to leave out fresh game and the recently deceased in areas known to house a high density of the deerling populace, as they have been known to feast on both animal and human carcasses.4 Despite mainly targeting smaller entities, the deerling's appetite extends to anything it can fit in its mouth. In rare tragic cases, this includes human infants.
Appendix
After the aforementioned events in The Inland and various illicit scandals in the months thereafter, local archivist Ellis Quinsay headed outside the borders of the settlement without alerting the rest of their team. At around sundown, Quinsay encountered a grazing blue-ringed deerling just outside the wire fence surrounding the settlement and ducked under the fencing to approach it. The creature was quickly alerted to the archivist’s presence, and what followed is described by Quinsay upon their return to Base Psi.
Up here, the wind was wild today.
I was traveling further up the mountains to snatch some bears; you know how it makes a morning on the weekends. Welcome sunlight poured through the canopy brighter than descending saints, and bulbs of great jade pearls fell from the trees. The timbers grew just a bit more elastic in the absence of the rain, the boulders just a bit more willing to budge. I pushed through — and lo and behold, the forest was a complete breeze, lots of grand clearings letting me walk easy. I had a bag of fish and mushrooms over my shoulder, and I was in a hell of a mood, whistling a tune Daisy taught me. Just a few more steps and I would be back round the border. Couldn’t wait to get back down there tonight. They were gonna love my catches, ‘specially Daisy. I was gonna head back and tell her Daddy’s made a grand fortune and not in credit, no…
Up here, the wind was wild today…
And then, of course, it went on. It could have been a dozen or two dozen times before I snapped out of it. Or it snapped me out of it, I hardly know. But when I came to, the sky was still drizzling with rain, the burst of endorphins was fading from my system, and the deerling had turned and trotted back into the forest.
Back then, I didn’t think anything of it. I mean, I’m remembering it now, how many times the scene looped in on itself, but in the moment, it didn't occur to me; not at all. I was just heading down the mountains, holding a bag with no weight at all, light-footed and giddy. It was like I could walk for another hundred, hundreds of feet and it wouldn’t slow me. There was no sense of weariness. But then it ended, and I wasn’t Daisy’s daddy. I was just Ellis.
Please excuse me.
Archivist Quinsay returned to Base Psi but has rejected further psychological intervention. The profile of the wanderer featured in Quinsay’s hallucinations has been identified as Jacob Marseille, who had gone missing off the trail of The Inland twelve months ago.
