Description
Common environment of the level.
Level 230 is the 231st level of the Backrooms, known as the Infinite Library. Home of the Librarians and one of the largest sources of books in the Backrooms.
The Infinite Library is a gigantic, maze-like sector of indefinite size. The place expands endlessly, with rooms of varying size, each containing their own bookshelves. The level consists of many buildings interconnected by corridors, hallways, bridges, platforms, staircases, gates and other structures. The scale of the buildings seems to differ from one to another, varying from dozens to hundreds of floors. Some rooms have lamps, candles, and even windows to illuminate the place, but each of the windows displays different scenes. The windows behave just like computer screens, as any attempt to break or open the windows would cause the screens to either shut down, turn pure bright white, or glitch to static television noises. Successfully breaking or opening the windows would not lead to the outdoors, and instead will bring you to a random room in the library.
Space seems to behave oddly here, as the doors and other connections between rooms may lead to random places. The buildings themselves seems to float out of nowhere, though the gap between the buildings are rarely ever seen. There are rare occurrences when the buildings and all of its room shifts in front of someone, proving the theory that the library continuously changes, even expanding its sections in order to create more and more books. Because of this, mapping the level is impossible, and navigating without guidance is unadvised, as there are many wanderers exploring the library who never return. Many survivors that were lost in the library tend to be found in miserable condition, as they either turned insane, or suffered some horrible fate worse than death.
A wanderer witnessing the library shifting.
Aside from its confusing layout, the library is a pleasant and comfortable space most of the time. Most of the rooms are clean and tidy, but others are more dirty and messy, much like abandoned buildings. Some rooms are more bizarre than others, such as a chamber with mountainous piles of papers, or places with exceptionally large books. Some buildings are designed more like an academy, gallery, or even a mansion. There are an unknown variations of rooms, but it's safe to say that there's an unlimited amount of rooms, as the library seems to own an unlimited amount of books.
The content of the library varies from one place to another. Most of the books here are copies of real books, including popular novels, magazines, even documents. It has a comic section too, including copies of every manga to ever exist. Basically, the library seems to copy any form of literature from the Frontrooms, but has copies of books known through the Backrooms too. Many copies of books here are modified or even corrupted, deviating from the original source and becoming their own unique versions. As an example, there are twenty different versions of the "Lord of the Rings” collected from the library; thirteen of them are the original books with only minor changes, while seven of them are significantly changes to the point that they could be considered as an alternate version of the original story.
A popular painting of the level.
Entities
The Librarians are the primary denizen of the level, and there are hundreds of them per building. They behave differently than in any other levels, with many of them possessing nearly human-like level of intelligence, even capable of communication.
Apparently, an entity known as the Storyteller is the boss that ruled the place. According to what known so far, the entity organizes not only the books, but the state of the library itself. It's implied that the Storyteller is the one behind the chaotic space of the library. But it's uncertain on how or why it happens. Based on what is known so far, the Storyteller is a psychic entity that manipulates memory and knowledge, and also a shape-shifting master of illusion, among countless other magical capabilities. There's currently no evidence that the Storyteller truly exists, as there's no surviving records of the entity. The Librarians imply that, apparently, many of the surviving wanderers did actually encounter the Storyteller, but none of them ever remember the encounter. This is due to the fact that the entity would always wipe their memory to prevent them from leaking any sensitive information, other than those chosen to bear the forbidden knowledge. Strangely enough, the entity wipes any photograph of itself, but may allow a painting or such illustration to stay. Apparently, it's fond of creative liberty, and thus, prefers if everyone interpreted him in their own ways.
Possible illustration of the Storyteller.
The level is also home to many more entities, mostly Facelings, Smilers, Scratchers, and sometimes Partygoers. On the more dilapidated, abandoned section of the library, Insanities are sometimes seen along with Death Rats, Death Moths, and Hounds.
Colonies and Outposts
Due to the unpredictable structure of the library, there's no known outpost on the level, but there are colonies here.
The Bookworms
- A loosely tied group of many wanderers.
- Currently has around five hundreds members.
- Friendly and rarely ever shows hostility.
- Always willing to trade for both items and information.
Magus Association
- An elite guild for self-proclaimed mages, wizards, and witches alike.
- Said to only accept those in excellent knowledge of mystical subjects.
- Led by five powerful beings with supernatural capabilities.
- Currently, has thirty-five members.
Church of Saint Freya
- A catholic sect proclaimed to seek out for divine truth.
- Their belief seems to stems from various historical sources.
- It has seven priests and priestesses that actively spread their teaching.
- Currently, has seventy-two members, including their preachers.
Voidseeker Cult
- An infamously dangerous cult worshiping the Heart of the Void.
- Mainly here to search for the Tome of Knowledge.
- Friendly and supportive only those that believed in their teaching.
- Not recommended interacting with them unless for those seeking the Five Treasures of the Void.
- Has millions of members across the Backrooms and approximately seven thousands members on this level.
- Apparently, their members here are mostly specialized in searching for the Tome of Knowledge. This subdivision goes by the name Daat Branch, derived from a sefirot of Kabbalah, which means knowledge.
Entrances and Exits
The level has many entrances and exits, but most commonly are doors or gates. If you have seen a path with a sign “The Infinite Library” in cursive or any other fancy fonts, then they would likely lead here. The library itself has many similar paths, lead to several levels, with a sign of their titles there. For example, Level 1 is marked as “The Habitable Zone” there.
Other uncommon way to go in and out of the library are listed below.
Entrances
- Board a train to the “Infinite Library” from The Metro or go to The Hub and search for the right door. You will arrive at an old station designed in Victorian style, and if you go upstairs, it would lead you to the library.
- Search for any libraries in Level 11 and try to move any of the bookshelves. If you're lucky, you will find a secret path that lead here. The path never stays the same, probably because the structure of the library itself never stays the same.
- Staying in the Library of Time of Level 153 may sometimes brings you here. Apparently, the two places are strongly connected. It's theorized that the Library of Time is just a branch of the Infinite Library.
- Interacting with any anomalies in Level 244 might bring you here too.
- There's an uncertain glitch happens at The End that may brings you here. The easiest exploit is by interacting with The Librarian and touch the entity. Usually, grabbing the right head may teleport you here.
Exits
- Search for a fire door and walk the stairs. It may lead you to Level 0, Level 1, Level 4, Level 5, Level 9, Level 11 or any other urban levels.
- Forcefully opening or breaking any of the windows would sometimes glitches you to another level, oftenly to Level -1 or Level REDACTED but other anomalous levels such as Hope or Level ∞ are among the possible destinations.
- Mess around with the order of the library, such as trashing the books and moving the bookshelves, and you might be transported to any dangerous levels. Among the worst case scenario is Level ! or even The void itself.
- Fall asleep after reading any of the books and there's a small chance waking up in any safe levels.
- No-clipping in a book about Level 237 will lead you to Level 237.
- You can read about a Book about ISS and a door will open to Level 2 to The Spacerooms
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zh-hk:關卡1