Level 2

<choose>
<option>Is this a faucet?</option>>
<option>Est-ce un robinet?</option>
<option>这是一个水龙头吗？</option>
<option>क्या यह नल है?</option>
<option>¿Es esto un grifo?</option>
<option>هل هذا صنبور؟</option>
<option>это кран?</option>
<option>Isso é uma torneira?</option>
<option>Apakah ini sebuah keran?</option>
<option>Ist dies ein Wasserhahn?</option>
<option>これは蛇口ですか？</option>
<option>이것은 수도꼭지인가요?</option>
<option>Да ли је ово славина?</option>
<option>นี่คือก๊อกน้ำใช่ไหม?</option>
<option>Bu bir musluk mu?</option>
<option>Це кран?</option>
<option>È' questo un rubinetto?</option>
<option>Đây có phải là vòi không?</option>
</choose>
Level 2 can seldom be entered from normal reality, similar to levels such as Level 0 and Level 1. Approximately 2–5% of wanderers report it as their first introduction to the Backrooms.
== ⤳ Description ==
Level 2 is a network of utility tunnels constructed out of concrete, sometimes via brick, lightweight metal, and stone, with rusty and malfunctioning pipes lining the walls and/or ceilings. Although antique documents detailed the level as merely one, straight corridor, the number has mysteriously increased since the early 19th century and a sudden boost happening in the mid-1980s. Currently, the level is made up of several corridors whose maximum width can fit three individuals, though the layout causes them to never intersect with each other. Instead, one has to rely on smaller hallways (sometimes vestibules) to travel from one corridor to another. The level's architecture is uniform throughout most of the level, though the concentration of pipes would increase if one travels northwards.
Around 200 kilometers from one’s initial entrance point, Level 2 is an unnavigable void of pipelines going in arbitrary directions—some penetrate through each other in odd manners, purposely done to keep wanderers away from traveling beyond that point.Sometimes, the level transforms into a single, linear pipe. There are openings which indicate that the pipe is floating amidst the Void. Fortunately, however, there have been no reports of entities lurking around these areas, most likely due to the heat and extreme humidity. Unknown diseases, mutated bacteria, and viruses have been discovered within these networks.
Geological activity in Level 2 is prevalent, and earthquakes occur as often as in regions on the Ring of Fire in the Frontrooms. Any powerful enough tremors can demolish and therefore render parts of the level inaccessible due to the lack of maintenance work, howbeit most do not have enough intensity to inflict severe damage on the level's structure. The circumstances behind these earthquakes presumably originate from cracks within Level 2's giant concrete mass. Chunks of them may push against each other, and with these theorized crevices within, one of them may slip from stress buildup, thereafter releasing an outburst of energy.
Temperatures in Level 2 vary in nature: A gush of cold wind which lowers temperatures can suddenly breeze in a warm area. Snow can form within the level's edifice, but it is not known how they can enter in the first place.These cold areas are usually heated by steam pipes, which forms puddles. The snowfall in the level is sterile though may contain debris, and can be used as a source of hydration. Besides that, the level averages 20–30 degrees Celsius, whilst also having certain areas bearing temperatures of around 60 degrees Celsius. Areas where air vents are prevalent have colder temperatures. Exiting the level through this method is not advised, as it is rare to find a system big enough to crawl through for hours. Chipping away the concrete is also futile, as the distance between cracks within the level’s matrix can be greater than that of tectonic plates in the Frontrooms, which otherwise could be used to easily traverse through level.
Instances of changing layouts are also common, but the anomaly has yet to be captured by a video camera despite many stating that they were able to touch the seemingly hallucinatory objects. Exploring Level 2 while simultaneously recording would not prevent the changes from still occurring, and more often than not, the recording would show the person filming to be experiencing the anomaly in real-time as attested by the cameramen themselves. Therefore, the phenomenon is mainly thought to be purely an effect of being exposed to geometrical anomalies that are prominent in earlier levels. The only solid corroboration of the theory, a window outlooking what appears to be the Whole, seems to be taken in a vacated attic that is partly or mostly constructed out of wood. However, no location/level has matched the description other than Level 2 itself. Although the level is mostly constructed with concrete, certain, older areas of the level are constructed out of wood, though cobwebs cannot form given that the environment is highly unsuitable for invertebrates.
The supply of provisions and hydration is heavily limited in Level 2 despite the number of water pipes in the level. Because no machinery or boiler rooms required for these pipes to function have been discovered as well as the humid temperatures in various areas of Level 2, rust, bacteria, and other pathogens overwhelm its insides that may contain Almond Water. These are to be avoided, either from ingesting or even being near them, as an infection of airborne diseases such as the Hydrolitis Plague is possible when staying for a prolonged time even without physical contact with the liquids.
While there are at times signs of human activity, especially during the Great Depression, encounters with outside parties of wanderers as of currently have never been confirmed. Additionally, communication devices such as radios and walkie-talkies completely malfunction on the level. The circumstances are unknown, as linear space in Level 2 does not alter drastically nor even a slight bit unlike Level 0. However, the possibly infinite concrete space of Level 2 is theorized to be the perpetrator.
There are no doors that can be found, and recollections of similar fixtures, such as windows, trapdoors, and scuttle doors, are mostly identified as cases of paramnesia. Exits are instead found in the level's few crawlspaces, sometimes crowded by extensive and inoperative amassments of wires due to possible punctures that cause them to flood into the claustrophobic stretch. Moreover, these wires do still hold electrical charge, and could often result in serious injury.
Although still speculative, there is a possibility that Level 2 contains an anomaly that directly influences wanderers in the level. Recent Level 2 entrants have been tested to use up more energy than the average person, as well as producing unnatural amounts of adrenaline when the body is active (e.g. running). Furthermore, most who enter Level 2 also report either being more energetic upon arrival, but more exhausted as they exit; entities or subjects (human/animals) born in the Backrooms are not affected, however, and it seems only Earthlings experience the anomalous spasm. Escaping from entities, while made easier, can increase risks of dying from exhaustion or further entity attacks in the long run.
=== ⮡ㅤAdditional Information ⮢ ===
Recovered Diary:
My Findings No. 7
Found in 2007, the diary was the first record of Level 2. Written on 1762 by an unidentified explorer, Arthur T., whose surname is unidentifiable due to a lacuna, was found slipped in between two pipelines.
AN ODYSSEY
To pristine, white rocks! I wondered what of Zechariah would have said to me. Would he have called me Ishmael? Perhaps the pettifogging was too much for when the crumbling marble that surrounded the Ingleton-esque caves spoke to me like I was Belshazzar. The future was telling me to go thither. Something's been flowing through me during these times of hardship;—even I reminisced of my matrimony back home.
And how have I not mentioned the woven cannon barrels that line up the walls. Spheroids of bees inside and clouds not contrasted by the blues. The cramped and unreasonably elongated attic rained from a not-so-great height and the stench of rotten cattle from a thousand brittle skeletons underground of Paris. Persons in their towering periwigs and their shoulder caps with peacock feathers foliaged in the fitted bodices like stars on the sky. 
Thenceforth I end this for today and you will be expecting a second handful of paper in one fortnight. As dull as the advances have made my home—as they say—"L'habit ne fait pas le moine." The folks, the wanderers, as they say on the carvings on the walls, and I've sworn I could catch up to them, catch on their ways. Have I spelt it out correctly?
== ⤳ Entities & Anomalies ==
While mild compared to other levels of the Backrooms, Level 2's position as a starter location for many leaves much vulnerability, as most entrants are not accustomed to the presence of entities. Hotspots for entity activity have only been hardly mapped, and even finding one in the first place is made impossible from the level's significant size.
=== ⮡ㅤEntities ⮢ ===
Entities within Level 2 (i.e. Clumps, Hounds, Smilers, Skin-Stealers) have adapted to scurry headlong and mitigate the need to retain their energy like their counterparts in other levels. The absence of entities such as Facelings and Wretches, both having clues that they had populated the level at some point in the past, may be due to natural selection, given that their speed at maximum is lower than most humans and not to mention that the anomaly that causes one to run faster than within normal settings from the excessive energy consumption. Their biological structure as humanoid figures might also play into their regional extinction, coupled with the unstable brightness of the lights, which may impair its night-vision-bearing inhabitants' sensitive sight. 
Those that presumably do not require much energy to survive, such as Windows, do still exist in the level. Uniquely, however, rather than showing a void behind them, a hollowed-out section of the level seems to lie behind the glass. The shadowy figures that appear behind them look to have a more physical form rather than being confined to the second dimension. Recognize that the reach of their contorted arms is more extended, possibly because of the level's layout once again.
=== ⮡ㅤBiological Pipeline Network ⮢ ===
Found in certain junctions of crawlspaces, sometimes lying behind sufficiently sizable pipes to hide their openings, these organisms can often stretch up to 20–200 kilometers from their "mouth" to the ends of their digestive tract. Descriptions of their physical bodies are divisive, ranging from their internal organs using the space in the cleavages to protect them to have their "pipelines" being their entire body. However, the former bear more evidence than the latter, as inflicting serious damage either through stabbings, gunshots, and grenades has resulted in them bleeding out.
Going through these organic pipelines is often necessary, and fortunately would rarely lead to death as the process of digestion would only occur if the things they consume do not move after a few hours. Most of their diet comes from discarded pieces of food; and weirdly, debris; waste products, such as sewage, feces (presumably), scavenged organs and viscera, etc.; including junk, especially ones made out of plastic, glass, metal, and rubber. Using entryways to their insides can be an effective way to escape entities, however, as they generally avoid these pipeline networks in fear of an uncertain detail.
Alternative to using acids as the means to digest their food, they secrete a base referred to as the DuPont–Bayer solution.The name of the solution originates from the companies DuPont de Nemours, Inc. and Bayer AG, where the two individuals who managed to reverse engineer the base previously worked in. This is quite likely due to their "pipeline" being constructed out of aluminum, which the solution they produce do not dissolve, to presumably reduce the weight of their digestive tract their theoretical bodies are holding up. Besides, most of what they consume may contain sharp edges that could pierce them if it was made out of flesh instead of metal, and if an organism were to end up being digested, its stomach acid would be immediately neutralized by the alkaline, with the byproduct being their source of water and ions. The solution can dissolve an adult human within a matter of seconds.
=== ⮡ㅤThe Clockwork Theory, a.k.a. Hallucinatory Spatial Fluctuations ⮢ ===
Spatially, unlike Level 0 and Level 1, the geometry in Level 2 does not have a concrete category: constant or fluctuating.The level is Euclidean, supported by witness accounts of the manner in which the level's layout alters itself, which would not be possible if it was non-Euclidean. Most seasoned explorers believe that, despite being one of the three foundational levels, the total size of Level 2's accessible areas (which excludes the outer regions of the level, as it is contemporarily assumed to be an expanse of pipeline networks lying in a Void-like space) can theoretically be calculated if enough manpower and more developed technology is available. This has never been attempted, however, and it remains as a theorem with conflicting accounts on the subject.
The first report of such occurrences have been lost in time, perhaps appearing since human documentation reached the Backrooms. Individuals who experience this anomaly/hallucination are typically novices and intermediate travelers, with the reason being still under speculation. Ranging from the presence of furniture or areas that are officially known to be absent from Level 2, to the level's layout drastically shifting more frequently than that of Level 0. Details that show most often in these cases include, but not limited to:
*Locked doors on walls and in dead ends of hallways;
*Blank windows, sometimes even placed on the floor, either looking at a concrete wall, the Void, or the Whole;These are not window entities, as individuals who report these do not recount seeing a shadowy figure behind them. Plus, if it were to be an entity, they would have been attacked long before they are able to look through them.
*Small chairs and coffee tables, sometimes with expensive cigars, narcotics, and/or a few already drunken alcoholic beverages on them;
*Paintings, particularly ones that depict bright, outdoor landscapes;
*Fully furnished bedrooms akin to the ones in Level 5 within the rooms that connect the main corridors of the level;
*Staircases that either directly lead to a wall or another corridor of higher elevation.
The Clockwork Theory suggests that the entirety of Level 2 is a monumental clockwork with its inner mechanisms hidden behind the walls, suggesting that there is machinery instead of pure concrete. The moving parts, which are the furniture and small parts of the level, rotate instantaneously and subtly to disorient wanderers. This theory does not apply to Level 0 or Level 1, as the former does not possess the required space for such equipment, and the latter has significantly differing rooms that it is simply not possible to alter without cutting into an edge. Digging the concrete walls enough to assumingly reach these theorized machineries is not possible due to the instrument needed cannot fit nor be brought within given the limited space.
=== ⮡ㅤFalse Entrances ⮢ ===
In levels that are numerically not far from Level 2, including the ones that as of now are known to not bear an entrance to the level, there may appear locations that seemingly lead to Level 2. Usually, some signs and drawings indicate likewise near the supposed entrances, with the identities of the persons responsible for graffiti or hand-drawn markings being unknown. The quantity of these indications, as well as the false entrances bearing said markings, suggests that their placement was not coincidental.
Evidently, these locations might arise due to Level 2's semblance to a utility tunnel, albeit with unconventional proportions in some areas of the level. As most levels appear to take place within commercial buildings, institutions, and industrial plants, where utility tunnels are often present, parts of their edifice may look similar to Level 2. Distinguishing the legitimate ones with these anomalies is done by turning at the direction in which one has entered in immediately after passing through the entrance. If the passageway does not disappear, replaced by an obstacle such as a wall or revealing a whole different section that would otherwise be "behind" one upon entering, it means that it is a false entrance.
However, there are a few cases in which the entryway is a door, where one may be trapped inside the corridor that is still located within their location due to it being automatically locked after it is closed. In levels with entity presence, it is especially advised against entering these masquerades as one may be liquidated by the entity within the corridor without an adequate weapon. These areas are relatively small and only consist of one corridor of approximately 20 meters on average.
== ⤳ Colonies & Outposts ==
Due to the nature of Level 2, no major bases have been established. Nevertheless, because the temperatures within the ventilation system are tepid, most groups tend to use explosives to carve out makeshift bunker-like living areas within the walls.
==⤳ Entrances & Exits==
=== ⮡ㅤEntrances ⮢ ===
* Level 2 is the final level one could access by noclipping out of normal reality.
* No-clipping out of and/or entering maintenance areas of certain levels may lead to Level 2.
* A variety of factors causes Level 1 to fade into Level 2, in addition to ordinary doors and stairwells which could grant one access to Level 2.
* Entering vents that are sometimes found in Level 8 leads here.
* Removing a manhole cover in Level 11 and descending downward.
* No-clipping into the pipes in the corridors in Level 17.
* Bunkers in Level 41 may lead here.
* The green door located in Level 111 has a chance of transporting one here, including a myriad of other levels; 
* Fire exit doors in Level 154 lead to Level 2.
* No-clipping through a painting with a setting that resembles Level 2 in Level 264.
* Entering a door in Level -1 has a chance of leading to Level 2.
* Exiting through the Lobby of Level -115, though it may lead to other levels as well.
=== ⮡ㅤExits ⮢ ===
* Executing certain tasks and entering parts of the level may lead to its sub-levels.
* Fire exits could lead one back to Level 1 or forward to either Level 3, Level 477, or Level 637.
* Entering a golden door marked with the symbol "Φ" will lead one to Level Phi.
* Certain hallways of Level 2 possess a chance of leading to Level 4 or Level 27.
* Coming across a sewer tunnel leads to Level 34.
* Infrequent rooms, which are decorated with festive ornaments, contain walls that if no-clipped through will direct one to Level 125.
* Traversing deep enough within corridors that are purely painted white will bring one to Level 268.
* The gradual increase of neon lighting signifies that an exit to Level 699 is near.
----
> Open Author & Licensing Information
> Close Author & Licensing Information
Author: SherlsF
Images:
* Background image (CC BY-SA 2.0): "09-rcp-downstream" by stanleymorrisonuk.
* Faucet image (CC0 / Public Domain): "Kitchen faucet for water as a black and white graphic image" by Patrick Mcquarrie.
* Background image for Survival Class Template (CC0 / Public Domain): "Texture metal rust surface sheet material iron textured" by unnamed author(s).
* Header image (Free for use license), edited by me: "Подвал ночью" by unnamed author(s).
* First image (Free for use license), edited by me: "Мрачный подвал" by unnamed author(s).
* Second Image (No known copyright restrictions), edited by me: "Basement Corridor of Development Building" from the U.S. National Archives.
* Third Image (CC BY-SA 2.0), edited by the Main Author: "Basement corridor" by Alistair McMillan.
* Background image for My Findings No. 7 (Unsplash License), edited by me: "tunnel underground low light photography" by Denny Müller.
* Foreground image for Image for My Findings No. 7 (CC BY 2.0), edited by the Main Author: "Down the tube" by tim.
* First gallery image (CC BY 2.0): "Underground_Rusty Pipe Tunnel" by Mr. Moment.
* Second gallery image (CC BY 2.0): "Underground_Waterway" by Mr. Moment.
* Third gallery image (CC BY-SA 3.0): "Schiffbau tunnel" by Audriusa.
* Fourth gallery image (CC BY 2.0): "Cramped Tunnel at RIT" by Justine M.
* Fourth image (CC BY-SA 3.0): "Antarctica: South Pole Station Ice Tunnels" by Eli Duke.
* Fifth image (CC BY 2.0): "Tunnel" by Bill Smith.
* Sixth image (Pixabay Content License), edited by me: "Window Basement Cellar Old" by Tabble.
* Seventh image (CC BY 2.0), edited by me: "A.D. Williams Clinic Tunnel Entrance" by Taber Andrew Bain.
* Eighth image (CC BY 3.0), cropped by me: "Intérieur du caisson" by Bally GC.
Previous version of Level 2 is linked here.
Ported from The Backrooms Fandom Wiki to The Backrooms: Convergence by Mctoran, with additional revisions.
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Category:Levels
Category:Dangerous