Roth Syndrome[1], known more casually as The Wretched Cycle, is a multi-stage anomalous psychological affliction exclusive to those within the wider Backrooms. Being extremely pervasive across nearly every level within the Wake[2], nearly everyone who enters will at some point be subject to its influence.
Working in tandem with the mundane mental symptoms of prolonged habitation within the Backrooms, Roth Syndrome and its effects are arguably the most prevalent threat any wanderer within this dimension will face, requiring high amounts of mental discipline and caution to avoid.
Discovery
Documentation of Roth Syndrome dates all the way back to approximately 1000 AD, with texts by the Wake Catholic Church[3] detailing what they called "Labyrinth's Mania", a sickness which was thought at the time to be caused by demonic possession. Common methods used to counteract the progression of Roth Syndrome included prayer, exorcism, and baptism, most of which failed to counteract the Wretched Cycle[4].
Research into Roth Syndrome would continue into the late 19th century, with medical experts at the time instead positing that the Wretched Cycle was instead the result of a "miasma", caused by a noxious form of "bad air" abundant in the Backrooms; in the case of Roth Syndrome, causing a anomalously triggered "madness". It was also at this time that the treatments for the phenomenon began to be discovered and solidified, with casualties due to Roth Syndrome rapidly decreasing in the following decades. However, as medical science began to advance and the miasma theory of disease was disproven, this theory regarding the cause of Roth Syndrome would eventually be discarded, with the source of the phenomenon remaining a mystery.
In the following years, humanity’s understanding of the true nature of Roth Syndrome was soon to change. On January 2nd, 1998, a six-month long research project was undertaken by a team of scientists from the Kauer Research Organization extensively studying the brains of those afflicted with the Wretched Cycle. After a grueling period of research involving input from psychologists, neuroscientists, and paraphysicists[5] within the group, the origin of Roth Syndrome would finally be revealed.
Causes
Although the exact mechanisms through which Roth Syndrome functions are still being researched to this very day, a general cause as to what causes the phenomenon has been ascertained. Studies conducted in the 1950s by leading paraphysicists had concluded that all beings capable of thought (including humans, entities, and animals) emit trace amounts of psychic energy, which has the capability of transferring thoughts and emotions to other sentient beings[6]. Often, the majority of this trace psychic radiation is lost to the void, instead gathering in an esoteric area within our wider reality known as the Akashic Field, a metaphysical collection of all thoughts and emotions experienced by sapient beings.
Although in Baseline Reality, the Akashic Field has minimal influence on human minds, in the Backrooms, this ceases to apply; due to the instability of the dimension and abundant pathways toThe Void, large amounts of near incoherent psychic energy (dubbed "psychic noise") is able to travel through the void and fill the Backrooms, interfering with neuron signals in the brain and causing various harmful psychological abnormalities.
The results of this anomaly are about as adverse as one may imagine. Those who fully succumb to the Wretched Cycle are pejoratively called “Wretches” by most, near completely unrecognizable from their previous state and often exiled from the settlements in which they reside. When faced with the possibility of this affliction, many choose death over having to experience the outcome of a psyche plagued by Roth Syndrome.
Symptoms
A zoomed-in photograph of a late-stage Wretch, recovered from an M.E.G expedition into Level 3.
Stage I - Prodromal
The beginning of the Wretched Cycle's progression is insidiously subtle. Many fail to notice the onset of Roth Syndrome at this stage of the cycle, simply overlooking it as a symptom of mundane disease or their own imagination. However, with careful observation, one can notice the signs of the aliment and seek timely treatment before one's condition worsens.
Symptoms at this point vary, but commonly include paranoia, mild headaches, insomnia, short-term memory loss, and minor auditory hallucinations. Although these symptoms many initially seem benign, they can significantly impair survival within the Backrooms, as well as being a prelude to the later stages of Roth Syndrome.
Stage II - Symptomatic Onset
Once the true symptomatic onset of the Wretched Cycle begins, the effects will begin to become much more noticeable. Headaches, paranoia, insomnia, and auditory hallucinations will begin to worsen, and visual hallucinations will begin to appear, often being unnerving or disturbing in nature. Additionally, cognition will begin to decline, with a constant "brain fog" affecting the victim, as well as an increased prevalence in dissociation and memory loss (both short and long-term).
From then on, symptoms will continue to worsen. The worst of the disease has yet to come.
Stage III - Severe Psychological Decline
From this point on, Roth Syndrome will reach a more harmful stage in its development. The previous symptoms will become significantly more pronounced, as well as the onset of delusions beginning to occur; consequently, the wanderer will slowly begin to become detached from reality. Additionally, nerve disorders caused by Roth Syndrome will cause an intense itching sensation on the skin with no discernable source, as well as brain damage caused by the Wretched Cycle resulting in extreme body dysmorphia. These symptoms often result in self-mutilation via pulling off the skin, often causing major injuries and making one vulnerable to infection of the wounds.
Extreme switches in mood and abnormal aggression will begin to manifest as well. Victims of Roth Syndrome at this stage often rapidly switch between intense fear, extreme mania, raving ferocity, and crushing depression within a matter of mere hours. Adding to this, many major memories will have begun to be forgotten, usually those more than a year old. Due to these behaviors, it is at this stage that many begin to be exiled from their settlements, often considered by others to be a lost cause at best and a waste of valuable resources at worst.
Although recovery is still very much possible, it must be pursued immediately to avoid progressing to the final stages of the malady.
Stage IV - Acute Neurological Period
At this stage, all hope for a return to normalcy has been lost.
Upon reaching this point, the unfortunate victim can no longer be considered human, and is now classified as an instance of Entity 15 ("Wretches"). Those who reach this point are entirely detached from reality, reduced to near-animalistic beings who roam the Backrooms, in a constant state of pain and panic due to the phenomenon, often attacking those who encounter them out of fear. Their capacity to remember and reason has been near entirely extinguished due to extensive brain damage caused by Roth Syndrome, and they are often shells of their former selves, with gruesome injuries due to self-harm and dilated pupils.
Although many of these entities manage to persist for years on end by consuming Almond Water and resorting to cannibalism to survive, it is only a matter of time before they meet their fate.
Stage V - Medium Mortis
Medium Mortis (latin for "Half Death") is the final stage of the Wretched Cycle, occurring upon the biological "death" of a Wretch.
Upon the cessation of biological function due to a variety of factors (including seizures, infected wounds, blood loss, and coma), a Wretch's brain will continue activity for reason unknown, maintaining consciousness even post-mortem. Brain activity will continue to manifest even with severe damage to the brain, with tests by the Brutus Experimentation Organization finding that even grinding up the brain of a Stage V Wretch will still result in readings of electrical activity in the remains testing positive.
Survival Guide
Although the progression of Roth Syndrome is highly variable (with timespans ranging from mere days to multiple years), some factors known to speed up its progress are mental stress, fear, physical exhaustion, lingering in unstable levels, and being in the proximity of anomalous entities. Consequently, even despite the Wretched Cycle's hazards, there are many things one can do to treat and mitigate its effects.
It is known that Almond Water can help with the Wretched Cycle, however it only slows down its progression; to fully avoid the onset of Roth Syndrome, one will have to employ a variety of other tactics, including but not limited to habitual meditation, socializing with others, and frequent rests to avoid burnout from the psychological toll of survival within the Backrooms.
Be warned, however; most of these methods cannot fully reverse the progression of Roth Syndrome. Due to the brain damage caused by prolonged exposure to volatile psychic signals, sequelae will persist even if one is cured of the ailment.
Footnotes
↑Etymology derived from the surname "Roth", meaning "red", as well as David Roth, the first test subject used in Kauer's study of the Wretched Cycle.
↑A relatively disorganized group made up of catholics who no-clipped into the Backrooms.
↑Ironically, baptism sometimes successfully managed to treat Roth Syndrome, due to the occasional usage of Almond Water instead of mundane water in the process.
↑Paraphysics is the study of anomalous phenomena, particularly those which impact or contradict the usual laws of physics.
↑This effect is often near unnoticeable within normal reality, save for certain instances.
From: rhollinwell@kro.net
To: dfuller@kro.net
Good evening, sir.
As you very well know, the Parapsychology and Paraphysics Divisions have been on the forefront of the study of Roth Syndrome ever since the start of our group, having uncovered nearly all of the current information known about the illness today. But, I digress. Due to the urgency of the current situation, I won't bother you with such formalities.
You see, for a long time we had next to no clue on how the Wretched Cycle affects non-human organisms. When faced with this lack of knowledge, we did what was natural; we set up an experiment. A three-year long study of a controlled Deathmoth population in captivity was conducted, seeking answers as to if and how Phenomenon 35 affects entities born within the Backrooms. At first, our findings were quite predictable in hindsight. The Deathmoths were immune to Roth Syndrome, in accordance with our theories that beings which were vulnerable to it could not be prevalent in the Backrooms, as natural selection would have weeded them out in time.
But then, we came up with another study.
We set things up with a population of Deathmoths native to a stable level, moving those entities to an unstable level in the hopes of finding out if they would be affected by the anomaly in this scenario, and if natural evolution could in theory grant resistance to the Wretched Cycle in time. This time the results were more interesting; around 67.3% of the Deathmoths had begun to be affected by the phenomenon, showing telltale symptoms of Roth Syndrome.
However, what was even more interesting were the ones who weren't affected. As the moths who didn't have a resistance to the ailment died and the ones who did lived on to mate, we noticed a certain behavioral pattern as the generations passed. As the population contained within our facility adapted to the Wretched Cycle, we noticed that each individual Deathmoth was slowly becoming more outwardly aggressive (both to each other and other humans). Monthly attacks on researchers entering their containment compound became weekly attacks, and soon these attacks would become a near daily occurrence.
The implications of this are ...unsettling, to say the least. From these findings, we cross-referenced with our various other datasets, including the rising prevalence of hostile Facelings and Glowfolk, the increases in violent crime committed by humans documented by Backrooms Investigation Foundation, the ratio of hostile entities to passive ones. Eventually, our research team came up with a unified theory.
You see, our research points to the possibility that there may be a common trait present in species immune to the Wretched Cycle: increased prevalence in aggression. In the process of natural selection, the entities immune to Roth Syndrome will survive more often, passing down the genes that made them immune (along with the genes that made them more aggressive) down to their descendants.
Repeat this enough times over the course of hundreds or even thousands of years, and you get what we have in the present day: a massive entourage of hyper-aggressive, carnivorous, and sometimes even actively malicious "murder monsters", free to form a violent ecosystem and out-compete any other lifeforms. For obvious reasons, the fact that the aforementioned traits are starting to become more prevalent in humanity and other sapients should concern you greatly.
I hope you and other members of our group's leadership can devise a solution to this problem in due time.
Sincerely,
Dr. Hollinwell Head of Phenomenon Research, Kauer Research Organization
Written and designed by Stormy.
Thanks to Eggy for crit during the writing process and Box for help with conceptualizing ideas for the article. (also Pex for making me find a better name than "limpsychosis")
