Overview[]
Phenomenon 13 (Casper-Bray Numbering System[1] / Numeric Patterns) is a colloquial term to describe the occurrence of a number being assigned to a given level as an ever-present motif, typically paired with various anomalous phenomena surrounding the level and its assigned number. Although this anomaly may initially seem unimportant to your average wanderer, it can serve as a vital navigational aid and has contributed significantly to our understanding of the Backrooms' greater structure.
History[]
Although for most of human history, levels would be referred to purely by name, the practice of formally classifying them far predates the Casper-Bray Numbering System. Examples were usually limited to a specific group. Still, they included classification systems like the Major Numbering System[2]and the Auriellen Location Index[3].
Additionally, many were aware of the phenomena related to Numeric Patterns; however, they generally overlooked them as a coincidence or an insignificant feature. That was soon to change. In the year 1965, Impresario H Judah Casper, along with Impresario K Sarah Bray, would discover a striking property of Level Keys.
The Level Key of Area-002 (named Level 1 as of the current day) seemed to simultaneously emit a variety of radio waves with varying frequencies, which any radio within 1 meter of the Level Key could detect. When a functioning radio was placed near the key while within Level 1 and tuned to 1 MHz, the radio transmission somehow played back any sounds made near the nearby Level Key's vicinity. A similar effect would become apparent when the radio adjusts to other frequencies, with higher frequencies revealing audio commonly heard in different levels.
Due to the previously known occurrence of numbers being interrelated with a given level, a hypothesis was made that the "areas" of the Backrooms were ordered in some fashion, similar to the levels of a building. They set out to prove this hypothesis later in 1967, when a formula was made to determine the ordering of levels, resulting in a belief that Level 468 (which was as of yet undiscovered by the M.E.G.) was an aquatic level, based on the audio from the radio signals at exactly 468 MHz. After years of searching, the level would finally be discovered in 1988, confirming that this system could predict the properties of future levels and causing the M.E.G. to adopt the original Casper-Bray system and switch to using the terminology "Levels" to refer to parts of the Backrooms.
Detailed Description & Related Phenomena[]
Level Key Resonance[]
The influence of Phenomenon 13 encompasses a variety of isolated phenomena, the most famous of which is the anomaly's interaction with Level Keys and radio receivers. As mentioned before, if a functioning radio is placed near a Level Key while tuned to an MHz frequency of the current level's number, the radio will play back any sounds made in the vicinity of the Level Key, albeit with abundant audio interference.
The noises obscuring the audio vary, but usually include random sets of numbers recited in a monotone voice, garbled and unintelligible human speech indicating distress, distorted music, muffled sobbing, the sound of flesh tearing, and a few unidentified noises. This property is known to pose psychological risks; severe migraines, dizziness, and increased rates of Roth Syndrome have been reported as symptoms of listening to this sound for extended periods.
According to Judah Casper and Sarah Bray's original observations, 1 MHz is equal to one "level" of the Backrooms, as determined via the audio of each level heard via a radio placed near a Level Key; for instance, if a Level's audio is heard at 462 MHz, it would be classified as "Level 462".
Levels with non-integer MHz frequencies are classified as sub-levels (as they often share similarities with a given parent level), and levels which lack numbering or a resonant frequency entirely are dubbed Anomalous Levels, as many are strange compared to the rest of the Backrooms.
This function of Phenomenon 13 has been used in the past to create Level Detectors: handheld contraptions composed from radio receivers, speakers, Level Keys, and computer chips salvaged by the few non-terminal computers in the Backrooms. Once activated, the speaker will play a quiet sound, and the salvaged computer components will switch radio frequencies to match the sound. Once the device's program identifies the resonant frequency, its screen will display the Level accordingly.
Recurring Labels[]
Often, one will find various visual markers of a level's number within the level itself; these signs will always be relatively common but quite subtle, manifesting in forms including (but not limited to) printed labels on items found within the level, small numbers engraved on the walls in various forms, and the level number appearing in the background of Terminals in the space.
Nonetheless, exits labeled with a level number are unreliable, except in certain cases. Those lured into what seems like Level 2 often report dead-end corridors, with entryways that lock behind them, leaving them vulnerable to possible entity attacks or eventual starvation. The fate of those who take false entryways to other levels is uncertain—nobody has returned to tell the tale.
BACK-NET Latency[]
Phenomenon 13 has impacts on one's connection to a given server on BACK-NET; Terminals on other levels will have an increasingly slow connection to the host server the farther away they are from the host's level on the Casper-Bray Numbering System, with an average of 1ms in increased latency per level. BACK-NET connection on the Anomalous Levels has been reported to behave rather strangely; all sites and terminals within a given anomalous level are located within a level-wide intranet, isolated from the rest of BACK-NET; this has resulted in much information about these levels being hard to access.
Occhioline[]
The most common psychological effect of Phenomenon 13 is what is called Occhioline—the forced perception of "depth" or "height" within the Backrooms. All wanderers will exhibit a sort of instinctual feeling of how "high" a level is, with larger numbers on the CBNS feeling "farther up" in the Backrooms. Additionally, when traveling to a level "higher" or "lower" up on the Casper-Bray Numbering System, one will feel a temporary sense of vertigo and dizziness varying in intensity depending on the amount of level numbers elapsed—mere progressions "upwards" one level will only result in slight discomfort, meanwhile moving hundreds of levels on the Casper-Bray scale will often result in blackouts to the unaccustomed.
Although this property of the Backrooms is merely convenient for most, some have learned to use it to their own advantage. Most of the discomfort and vertigo will manifest once one crosses the threshold; however, some of it will begin to manifest at a heavily decreased intensity once one is near an exit. With careful concentration and training, one can use this to detect exits that may not be readily apparent. The benefits of this are quite obvious; for those who have mastered this technique, moving forward or backwards into the Backrooms is a choice rather than a curse.
Miscellaneous Psychological Effects[]
A secondary psychological effect of Numeric Patterns is the forced introduction of a level's number into the preconscious mind while inhabiting it. Although typically unnoticeable, it is arguably the most wide-reaching effect of the phenomenon as a whole; the most famous instance of this is what is called "4-lang", a language derived from French. Between the 17th century and the present, the preconscious psychological effects have resulted in long-term linguistic drift in the language of French inhabitants of Level 4, causing the language to include more sounds contained within the pronunciation of the level number in French (/katʁ//).
Theories[]
Calean-Andov Cosmological Structure[]
The Calean-Andov Cosmological Structure (CACS) is a cosmological model developed by The Kauer Research Organization to explain the position of levels within the void. Under this theory, level numbers are a representation of each level's order within The Void, with levels with higher numbers being higher up on the 4-dimensional w-axis.
Currently, there is one large piece of evidence to support this model, namely BACK-NET's signature latency problems. Due to how Terminals use signals through the void to transfer information, any increased latency between levels is likely a result of natural distance between levels, thus explaining the CBNS's significance in both the functionality of BACK-NET sites and their domain names.
However, there is one issue with this theory: namely, the existence of anomalous levels. Some scientists claim that anomalous levels are situated on a separate 5-dimensional axis; this would, by extension, make anomalous levels located within Uncharted Territory rather than the Void. Many dismiss this as impossible, but there does remain the fact that some levels have been confirmed to exist within areas adjacent to the space.
Creationist Theory[]
The Creationist Theory is a more religious conceptualization of the meaning behind Numeric Patterns, claiming that Phenomenon 13 is the result of intentional ordering or design by a god or outside force. A common interpretation of this theory by Christian wanderers is that the numbers associated with levels represent the layers of Purgatory (AKA the Backrooms), where God sends people to traverse to the topmost point in the Backrooms as a test to enter Heaven.
Onto other religious interpretations, in Nymphaeaist theory, levels having numbers attuned to them are a side effect of the tulpic nature of the Backrooms that Nymphaeaism professes, as each thought that can form a Level is assumed to be cleanly organized in plots stretching on for tangible infinity. In scientific theory, one can attribute this theory to the Voids 4th dimensional nature; a nature that lets it contain every Level on individual W axis, essentially creating a system that, when visualised in 3d space, can be best described as an overlap between every Level, the only distinction being its position on a singular axis.
Thoughts similar to pre-existing Levels are either integrated within the Level itself or turned into sublevels, depending on how much these thoughts truly overlap with each other. The emission of frequencies in accordance with the Levels axis is purposeful and presumed to exist to organize and redirect thought into sections of God's mind, to uphold the entropic harmony that suffuses reality.
Loading audio, refresh page if this doesn't go away...