The Created Ones
A sketch of Pratt Grimm, an agent of ours who is a Created One.
Habitat(s): Levels 321, 184, 11, and potentially others.
Description:
The main inhabitants of Level 321 are “The Created Ones”. They are intelligent and shockingly human in behavior. They often take the outward appearance of everyday man-made objects, with cartoonish limbs and facial features. They are one of the only species known to have established an independent, non-human civilization within the Backrooms, and are shockingly human in character. Because of this, it is easier to describe them culturally rather than scientifically like you would an animal, though this may change once they can be described in the past tense.
Created Ones predominantly inhabit and set up towns and cities within Level 321 (which they call "the lands of art") and Level 184. However, they claim to descend from formerly human "Originals" that escaped from Level 94, known to them as “the lands of falsehood”, led by one known as Hargan whom is known to still be alive within Level 321, according to the Regency. This is just one example of their cultural love for legends and grand narratives which makes their history more difficult to parse with how few human sources there are.
While generally peaceful and polite on first impression, most Created Ones tend to have a blunt and insular tone, and tend to view outsiders with disinterest or even disgust in some cases. As a result, it is best not to antagonize them when you meet them. It is hoped that they will become more civilized and less superstitious as contact with the M.E.G. becomes less difficult.
Biology:
Instances of The Created Ones are generally about 4-5 feet (120-150cm) tall, varying wildly in weight between 40 and 140 pounds (18-64kg), and lay eggs rather than producing live young. They are quick on their feet, and possess the same strength as typical human beings. Their eyes are large, big black, shiny circles, and their mouths are usually a cartoonish line when closed. Their bodies usually resemble man-made objects of some kind, consisting of anything from playing cards to lightbulbs to medieval swords.
While not confirmed, it is rumored among their population that humans could bring a Created One into existence simply by drawing a picture of an instance of one with the intention to create a new instance of this entity, and supplementing important information before drawing a circle around the picture, summon it into proper existence as a young child unless specified otherwise, with the caveat being that this would only work when done within Level 321. Why anyone would want to cannot be known, though.
Behavior:
Owing to their similarity to humans, the Created Ones have developed multiple "civilized" structures, and a state of their own, with a dynamic and complex society despite its distrust of outsiders. As a result, referring to them as entities is taken by them as an insult, as they view themselves to be human in spirit, though hopefully this delusion will fade with time.
Fortunately, their characteristic disdain for external organizations has been on a decline in recent years owing mostly to contact with instances of Entity 68. Over years of interaction and trade, the species’ cultural sentiment towards modern mankind has warmed considerably.
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Addendum April 25th, 2015
Another part of an M.E.G. exploration log created by Operative Gage. This is a translation, as both Gage and the interviewee, Duke Charles IV of Pierre natively speak French.
[BEGIN LOG SEGMENT]
Operative Gage: [So, I'm asking you to help me to document some information about your population directly.]
Operative Gage: [My first question for you is how exactly is the Regency civilized?]
Charles Pierre: The Created One being interviewed is a purple glass dodecahedron, and more well known historian in their country. [Well, while our formerly human ancestors settled this level after escaping what you call Level 94, and our state functions perfectly well.]
The sounds of scribbling can be heard off screen.
Operative Gage: [Are the people within intelligent or scientifically minded, though?]
Pierre balks at the question as he shifts forward.
Charles Pierre: [As intelligent or scientific as your native society, I should think.]
Operative Gage: [Actually, we have managed to get past the need for delusions like God, though your society hasn't.]
The sound of further scribbling can be heard before it is noticed that Gage pulls out a flask.
Charles Pierre: [Are you serious?]
Operative Gage drank something alcoholic.
Operative Gage: [Yes. Life is easier with it.]
Operative Gage sighs, coughing. Towards the edge of the frame, another instance of Entity 115 with a M.E.G necklace waves at him, but he ignores them.
Charles Pierre: [You speak as if we are not intelligent or sentient like you, and it makes the mis-apprehension the Blue Folk mention your organization showing them disturbingly believable. We are not entities like the Facelings, and I don't appreciate the attitude that we are less than you or entities.]
Operative Gage: [What would you be classified as, then?]
Pierre paused to word his answer properly.
Charles Pierre: [People.]
Operative Gage: [That was a quick answer.]
Charles Pierre: [Sometimes the simplest answer is the right one, and though your masters may not believe it so, it is the truth.]
Operative Gage: [Your country is barely even industrializing.]
Pierre nodded.
Charles Pierre: [We are trying, though. You talk like you are armed, yet you only possess that flask. We are human in spirit too, and you would do well to remember it.]
[END OF TAPE]
Note: This log was recovered by a passerby in Level 11 on May 3rd, 2015. Operative Gage is currently under reprimand for having lost it.
M.E.G. Notice
Operative Gage is under review for dismissal after being found responsible for a medical and diplomatic incident.
In its extant form, Created One civilization is mostly concentrated within one key state-like entity with one noticeable colony of its own. Its unique characteristics are further described below.
Societies/States:
The Regent Commonwealth of Artland:
A recreation of the flag of the Regency, displaying the Broken Sun and Moon in its seal. The Regency has asked to write part of the entry for itself with the permission and signature of their current king.
The Regent Commonwealth of Artland is the largest society in the Backrooms and the only true state, founded in the late 500s to early 600s AD. With a land area of approximately 4 million km2 (1.5 million square miles) within level-321 (known to the Artikeli as “the lands of Art”), it houses the vast majority of us, with a population around sixty million, with the majority identifying as Christian.
Moreover, the Regency is a constitutional elective monarchy, governed by an elected king who serves a ten year term in the absence of a true royal family, with the provinces being governed by the hereditary nobility and a council of elected representatives from each province in a five tiered federal system.
- His Elected Majesty, Regent Roderic II, Duke of Nossex, and Trustee of the Broken Sun
The average individual in their society has a sense of politeness centered around liberty, like in Scotland or Ireland. This is a result of a time of extreme zeal following a slow conversion in their society during the 600s AD to get around their initial lingual diversity and create a strong shared cultural identity around commitment to literacy, with the tools for art in this level making innovating printing a simpler affair much earlier for them.
This mass literacy has resulted in the Regency having a culture obsessed with an informed egalitarian idea of rule of law since any citizen who can legally be conscripted can vote, leading to the government behaving more like an aristocratic republic despite their elective monarch.
The advised method of interaction with individuals in this society while in Base Tau is to ask if they're interested in talking, as this will establish a positive first impression.
New Artland
Level 184 -
The colonial dominion of the Regency within Level 184, largely having a more rural and laid-back flavor of society found in the Unkempt Plains. One might compare it to rural Iowa or Kansas in character.
Discovery:
While the Created Ones have been recognized for many years by other groups of interest, the first proper documentation of an encounter between their species and a member of a known GOI was in 715 CE with a treaty of eternal peace between them and the Lost, while formal M.E.G. contact with their civilization was established in 2015 with the help of an M.E.G. operative of their species, Pratt Grimm and his previous partner, the late Operative Jack Forrest. Considering how little the Lost speak of them, it is assumed this treaty held.
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Addendum April 25th, 2015
Another part of an M.E.G. exploration log created by Operative Gage following a drunken brawl with Duke Charles IV of Pierre. Part of this is translated from French.
Operative Gage turns on the camera, looking to be in a dark room with someone nearby wearing a necklace. He looks unkempt, holding an empty flask in his hand.
Operative Gage: [[I…I feel like I've…I'm…wasting my life. I used to be a professor! I used to mean something! I would be great if it weren't for this!]]
His speech is clearly slurred as he talks to himself, recovering from a seizure.
The person in the room meant to be sleeping with him looks over, a Created One named Selene Benaria that was a solid ball of silver.
Selene: Be silent! You're making your withdrawal worse not trying to sleep! Was a seizure not a close enough brush with death for you?!
Operative Gage: What is the point when I can never go home? Why should I keep living in this hell?! he asks before throwing up.
Selene: She moves up against him and took the empty flask before crumpling it like paper. The wine is making your mind as well as body sick from dependence, my friend. You must not give in to it. God does not take us from home to send us back. He calls us for a higher purpose. In your case, it is to tell our story and to be purified. You could easily live through this hardship if you care to.
Operative Gage: How do you know? You could just deliver this camera to the M.E.G. if I can't.
Selene: I care. I have been asked to oversee you for your own health, and I care to put in the effort, no matter your spite for it. You must care as well or you will live your life sleeping on your side.
Operative Gage: What can you do to help me?
Selene: I could join you in your travels. I can hold you from despair.
Operative Gage: Why do you taunt me with false hope?
Selene: It is only false if you do not try to take the chance to save yourself from this madness.
Operative Gage: Operative Gage's body shook, causing him to involuntarily cling to Selene despite being visibly bigger than her until the shakes stopped. I have nothing to lose, I suppose.
Selene: Now you speak the truth. It will not be easy, but you can be helped.
Operative Gage: I will hate you if it fails.
Selene: Patience, then. We have not failed this journey yet.
Operative Gage nods and turns off the camera.
M.E.G. Notice
Operative Gage is to be severely reprimanded after being found not to have disclosed his alcoholism prior to joining the M.E.G.
Do's and Don'ts:
Do:
- Answer questions.
- Be polite.
- Don't take them too seriously.
Don't:
- Attack them.
- Lie to them.
- Try to hide something from them.
