Info
Hilbert let the place go a bit.
Originally a reddit port by u/Nerdykiddo4884, then rewritten by Uberspective
Current version written by Boring Talking! :O(
| Other pages by me | |
|---|---|
| Levels | Level 2 | Level 4.4 | Level 11 | Level 13 | Level 19 | Level 22 | Level 25 | Level 38 | Level 41 | Level 74 | Level 82 | Level 100 | Level 106 | Level 108 | Level 111 | Level 120 | Level 134 | Level 145 | Level 174 | Level 179 | Level 185 | Level 196 | Level 206 | Level 208 | Level 320 | Level 368 | Level 369 | Level 370 | Level 371 | Level 409 | Level 421 | Level 427 | Level 445 | Level 511 | Level 557 | Level 587 | Level 600 | Level 602 | Level 603 | Level 605 | Level 606 | Level 607 | Level 608 | Level 609 | Level 669 | Level 713 | Level 790 | Level 812 | Level 910 | Level 948 | Level 998 | Level 999 | Blue Channel | The Middlesorts | The Frontrooms | PA98 | |
| Entities | Entity 1* | Entity 40 | Hypothetical Creator | |
| Phenomena | Phenomenon 31 | |
| Objects | Object 22 | |
| Tales | A Late Letter to a Late Friend | Case Closed | J. Doe and His Night With Your Mom | Permission Overwritten | The War For Scene-01.1 | |
| The playground | Click me! | |
This pertains to the Frontrooms apologue. For other uses of "the boiling frog", consult: the boiling frog disambiguation page.
"The boiling frog is a common misconception around the survival instincts of certain amphibians. The concept is that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will flee, but if it is placed in cold water that is brought to boil, it will not recognise the threat and perish. The story, originating from an unknown area of Earth, is used as a cautionary tale about being aware of the sinister threats that appear gradually instead of suddenly."
-from the G.P.D.'s "Earth it, Learn it" series of online eBooks.
SURVIVAL DIFFICULTY:
Class 2e - Environmental
- Unsafe
- Secure
- Non-Entity Hazards
Description
A bland hallway of Level 13.
One of Level 13's uninhabited residences.
Level 13 superficially resembles a 20th century apartment complex, but the layout of its rooms and halls is a completely unorganised mess. The hallways are incredibly bland, painted in dull shades of white or beige. They stretch for miles in long strands of dimly lit plaster and laminated wood or linoleum. Staircases are plentiful, and usually elevators are in close proximity too. The operative quality of these elevators, along with just about everything else in Level 13, is inconsistent.
Level 13 has 290 floors in total, spanning a width and length that is either infinite or looping. Due to Level 13's monotony, the actual Euclidean structure is hard to pinpoint. As it is currently understood, the area of Level 13 has stable geometry, but the perimeter (should there be one) may not. Under normal structural physics, the level would be unable to support its own weight.
Each apartment room is nearly identical, the only perceivable differences being dimensions,1 the placement of furniture, and additional anterooms like hallways or closets. At minimum, each dwelling consists of a main room with a joint kitchen and living room, as well as two side rooms in the form of a bedroom and bathroom.
As the Backrooms has never functioned as Earth does when it comes to entropy and cause-and-effect, it is not surprising that Level 13 continually refreshes the stock within its rooms. Level 13's regeneration differs from kinds on other levels, however, because its renewal deliberately targets Earthborn humans.
The fridges are only restocked with basic supplies for basic food, frequently coming with pre-packaged microwavable meals. The utensils in the kitchen are of suboptimal quality, and everything else works to a level where habitation is just about comfortable enough. Anyone living in Level 13 can, theoretically, survive with a balanced enough diet, decent hygiene, and moderate comfort. The conditions are not fantastic or joyous, but, besides suicide, there is minimal risk of death.2
Televisions play a basic stream of vintage media, although picture quality differs and television episodes are seldom played in order.3 Similarly, clothing, books, and other items of leisure that generate are always old and written by a random grab-bag of authors.4
Residents
A bedroom utilised by a permanent resident of Level 13.
Many people have claimed rooms for themselves; a practice that has been done for decades. Life in Level 13 is extremely basic, and despite it varying from person to person, the day-to-day boils down to: wake up, eat, find mild life joys, eat again, and go to bed. It is an incredibly mundane cycle, especially for Backborn wanderers, but to those from Earth, it is a welcomed vanilla reminiscent of endless weekends.
Quite often, people living in Level 13 become extremely lethargic and antisocial, spending more and more time within their room. Those that live with others will remain good friends or at least amicable with each other. While it is not uncommon for love to blossom and for people to have children, most people do not. The longer one resides in their room, the more one becomes attached to it and unwilling to leave it.
Exceptions to this rule apply whenever anyone has lived in a room for more than a decade. Sometimes, long-term residents disappear without a trace, and their room becomes available to other potential residents. Obviously, many jump to the conclusion they have been murdered or possibly eaten by the level, but the objective truth is that there is no evidence to support any hypothesis. Even neighbours, particularly new ones who may attempt communication with nearby residents, report that they are merely there one day and gone the next.
On April 21st, 2020, a small team of M.E.G. members interviewed a willing resident to better explain the day-to-day life of an average person in Level 13.
Bases, Outposts and Communities
The B.N.T.G. - "Free Home Project"
An apartment specifically in B.N.T.G. owned territory. Note the orange soda cup to the left and the polystyrene takeaway tub in the background, both originating from Level 11's New Times Square.
The interior of a fridge door a day after restocking.
Due to the B.N.T.G.'s goals and culture particularly resonating with many Backrooms newcomers and their high birth rates, the group has constantly had an issue with overpopulation. Even with its frequent collaboration with the Backrooms Remodelling Company to house people en masse, they have always struggled with a surplus of heads.
Although Level 13 was unofficially being used by the group to give people basic accommodation and food without the need to pay for it, the Free Home Project was officially launched in July 2019 to combat their rapid overpopulation. Floor 283 was chosen due to its close proximity to useful entrances and exits, and despite allegedly speaking to the B.R.C. for a collaboration, the B.N.T.G. decided to fly solo due to the operation's urgency.
Despite the B.N.T.G. usually keeping accurate records on many of its residents, the census for the Free Home Project has never been explicitly stated, and details on their lives (or even reviews by its residents) have never been officially published. Unofficially, it is known that the Free Home Project is successful in housing people but unsuccessful in doing so effectively.
The apartment's supernatural lethargy is rife in Floor 283, even if the B.N.T.G. allegedly has schemes to avoid it. The main policies pushed are room rotations and discount deals for buying food from other locations the group owns, but they are scarcely used and not enforced or updated by officials. People inevitably become lethargic, and should the project survive long enough, it is also inevitable they will begin to vanish.
For those with the external connections or the sheer will to find a job elsewhere in the B.N.T.G. network, a clear exit and help with reintegration into society6 is provided by the organisation. While not strictly free, as services are paid for through B.N.T.G. loans which are paid back with interest, they are provided to everyone regardless of salary.
The B.N.T.G., like any bureaucratic organisation, is cagey about the definitive processes of its government, which makes understanding any specifics about the Free Home Project difficult. That being said, Floor 283 "survivors", a term coined by an unofficial self-help group, are plentiful—particularly in the remote B.N.T.G. communities.
Entrances and Exits
Entrances
Although not all entrances to Level 13 are known, a common trend with them is that they are all incredibly innocuous. Most entrances resemble doors or gradual architectural transformations into the hallways of Level 13, although there are exceptions to this rule.
- Level 62, Level 151, Level 210, Level 683, and Level 979 all have bland, basic doors that open to Level 13.
- Random, featureless doors in Level 12 go to Level 13, as well as a small handful of other levels. White staircases in Level 12 also lead to the topmost floor of Level 13.
- While walking down one of the hallways of Level 21, it is possible for it to gradually morph into one of Level 13's hallways. The transition is an optical effect only visible to the person undergoing it, as from an onlooker's perspective they vanish out of Level 21.
- Some room doors in Level 215's "Harbour Oyster Hotel" lead to rooms of Level 13. From limited primary sources, it is believed that a good chunk of Level 13's unaligned residences came from Level 215, both because of it depositing them immediately inside a room and because of its safety in comparison to 215 itself.
- Should it be operational, Level 2-FR's elevator can lead to Level 13.
Exits
Like entrances, exits from Level 13 are inconspicuous, sometimes leaving people passing by multiple exits in their plight to escape due to how flush they are with the level.
- Level 13 can be exited to Level 0, Level 114, Level 327, Level 395, or Level 410 by bland and unassuming doors. These doors will differ in design from ones leading into other hallways or rooms but are equally as drab in design.
- Going down staircases or elevators on the bottom floor of Level 13 leads to buildings within Level 70 or Level 208.
- Should a room generate a chessboard and two chairs, touching the chessboard leads to Level 157. It is worth noting that artificially creating this arrangement does not trigger access to the level, and this combination of furniture does not appear in already inhabited rooms.
- Should one arbitrarily find a door labelled "235", attempting to open it will teleport you to the level of the same number. Similarly, red doors lead to Level 275.
- Walls that are painted or wallpapered in a deeper yellow hue than the rest of the level can lead to Level 289 if noclipped through. If noclip fails multiple times, it can be assumed that the wall one is attempting is not one that has access to 289.
- Theoretically, entering any apartment building can lead to Level 387, but this has been scarcely documented.
- Rarely, staircases can change and begin ascending with no end, leading to Level 280.
Addendum
Due to the high-casualty tragedy that has recently befallen Level 13, it is now known that there are bounds and limits to which one will be willing to stay in the level. Not everyone has been willing to move, however. Even with an estimated 12% of Level 13 destroyed, a further 41% of it damaged, and a casualty rate in the hundreds due to the destruction of the Free Home Project, some still refuse to leave their rooms. Though thousands have flocked out of it as of July.
Obviously, allowing the anomaly to destroy Level 13 is not on the cards, but the level's catastrophe, coupled with previous escapees, shows that getting people out of Level 13 is possible. It is even possible with the likes of a previous M.E.G. interviewee, Michael Corvette, someone who had been living in Level 13 for years and yet is currently being rehabilitated in Base Beta.
Whether it be due to complacency, ignorance, or the level's utility, doing something about Level 13's inhabitants has never been on the forefront of any group's mind. Hundreds, if not thousands, of souls are in these apartments at any given time, wasting away because both they and the people around them believe it's their fate.
When the current catastrophe is sorted out, which no doubt it will be, the people in Level 13 will be rescued and rehabilitated so that they may have a bright future ahead of them. Whether they house with the M.E.G., the B.N.T.G., the C.B.S., or indeed any of the many groups helping in this time of need, it ultimately does not matter. Those who have already evacuated Level 13 will help refine the rehabilitation for those who are directly rescued later.
The Re-Alliance — Working better together
Addendum released 28/06/22
This pertains to the Frontrooms apologue. For other uses of "the boiling frog", consult: the boiling frog disambiguation page.
"Although a common phrase both in the Backrooms and Earth, the actual science behind it is (much like stories of other aquatic or amphibious animals like lobsters) untrue. Any species is logically able to recognise a change in temperature, but frogs, in particular, have a natural thermoregulation for their survival. Furthermore, a frog placed in boiling water will be unable to save itself."
-from the G.P.D.'s "Earth it, Learn it" series of online eBooks.