Associated Historical Concepts

The following are **associated concepts** and **potential inspirations** behind the lore of the Room series.

## Historical Movements

* Occultism and occult symbology
	+ Aliester Crowley (see also: Crowley) and Thelema
	+ Western Esotericism
	+ Pentagram Importance
	+ Hermetic Order of the Dawn
	+ Magical Organizations
	+ Hermeticism

## Important Basic Terms

* Divination may be the biggest feature in this game. The use of foreshadowing through the constellations and rituals in the Room chapter 4 and how it plays out in the Room 2, to name one example, is how divination manifests in this series. Notably, this contrasts with disenchantment
* The null's relationship to the abyss, the use of ceremonial magic (as is the 'body of light'), and tendrils (i.e., the Sephiroth and appearance of branches) are used by Crowley as is the Room Series. Interestingly, in the intro to the Room 3, the diary's depiction of the null doorway reflects the cover picture of such lore
* Alchemy, and alchemical symbology, 5 elements
* Astronomy and astronomical symbology
* Astrology and astrological symbology
	+ Grimoire
* Incantations

## Geometric Inspirations

* Sacred geometry
	+ i.e., Metatron's Cube
	+ Overlapping circles grid
* Geomancy
	+ i.e., some puzzles use geomancy in the constellation part of the Room 1 and the Raven depiction in the Room 3 clock room
* The unicursal hexagram
	+ very much a recurring set of a square/rhombus, circle, and triangle throughout the Room 3 and the Room: Old Sins
* Polygrams
	+ very recurring throughout the series, especially in the Room: Old Sins as well as the Room 3 side pieces
* Tesseracts
	+ Petrie polygons
	+ Orthographic projection
	+ Sigils: related to magic, a term often used by occultists like historically-relevant Aliester Crowley
* Polyhedrons
	+ Non-euclidean polygon shapes (i.e., geometry on a sphere)
* polygons
	+ Typical shapes like pentagon, octagon, etc.

* Particular Lore-Related Material:
	+ Related mystical planes of existence can be seen in occults related to the glyphs within the Room Series in relationship to shapes that could be crafted with a tesseract. Other shapes throughout the series can be found in greater depth to higher dimensions. Components into tesseracts are Petrie polygons and Orthographic Projections. A simple way to understand these concepts can be found here
	+ Other projections and symbols seem to manifest from Vertex figure shapes
	+ Similarly, abstract shapes actually seem to conform to Kepler-Poinsot polyhedrons
	+ These shapes themselves conform to an even greater aspect of polyhedrons as a hole, an aspect more familiar through Schlafi symbols and Polygon Compounds
	+ Also, consider this page for helpful reference of math and mystical aspects of religion
	+ Different symbols would appear to have different properties, in addition to specific color variation, though the nuances of the differences between them are still unknown. Notably, the null core matter itself and various shapes appear to be derivations from the system of 5 Platonic Solids, which also derives itself from Metatron's Cube.

## Real-World Related Inspirations to the development of the Room Series

* The rooms possessed within the null each seem linked to individually trapped bodies somewhat similar to the trapped bodies in the imprisonment ending of the Room 3 and the plot of the Room 5. Whether it is the Room 2 and Room 4's distinct eye objects, the reoccurring holistic animals and human properties throughout the series, and the easter egg of A.S. seemingly communicating to the Protagonist in the Room 2 alongside Maggy's puppet-crafted body also communicating to the Protagonist in the Room 3, there is evidence that such souls power the null found within the beam of light
* Hypnosis, False awakening, Apparitional experience, Anomalous experiences are all related to the Null experience/trance
* Alignment of the planets have astrological significance akin to the astronomical phenomenon of syzygy

### Doorway Mechanism Mechanism

* In the Room 3, the doorway mechanism contraption alongside the device that tunes the beam of light to activate the doorway passage appears to be a tunable laser. The activating laser is sometimes directed using lenses and beam splitters.
* The doorway machine itself seems to use a combination of hydraulics (as is seen in The Room: Old Sins's gas-pressuring variation of Foucault's pendulum) and static electricity.

### Eyepiece Properties

* Monocles
* The charging of the null doorways seem to be powered by lasers with distinct color relationships.
* Aligning color-distorted null glyph shards like through the colorful film can be seen as properties of certain glass projections.
* Other glass properties falls under general light prisms, and Porro prisms also occasionally appear throughout the series. Tunable lasers may also be aligned in relationship to colors as is group-velocity dispersion within the entire area of dispersion.

* The Null is the most recurring object in the game, as well as other objects like there being distinct elements
* The teleportation aspect of the series can be seen within the channeling of the body of light towards the astral plane, a subset of astral projection as a whole
	+ This could be seen through recurring beams by which white/yellow lasers are battery powered, red seems to be human soul-powered, blue seems to be null/null tendril powered, and green seems to be mage-powered
* There seem to be recurring benefits of properties of silver (and mercury) between Magical Maggie and the Witch in the Room 5 as related to astrology
* The orrery and astrolabe, astronomical clocks are all a common reoccurrence in the Room Series. (and time and timelessness in general, perhaps also astrariums)
* Lay lines, associated with occultists, are found within the Room Series
* Coat of arms (animal-based)
	+ Passcode 573 in the Room's first game
* Occultation of planets
	+ List of occultations of planets
* Zoetrope is used in the Room 3 final room
* Seance is the Room 2 location before the laboratory
* Planetarium projection is found in the fourth chapter of the first Room game alongside the Room 3's various rooms
* Crystal astrology is found in the Room 5 and potentially in the Room 3's Imprisonment Ending
	+ "Additionally, in Ancient Egypt amulets were used to ensure the well-being of the individual. The amulet's shape, decoration, inscription, color, material, or ritual performed with the amulet dictated its power. " -Wikipedia
	+ Weighting of souls as Egyptian-like for the Room 5 mummy room

* Roisicrucianism through symbols and "The Rose" as part of the Helena ship
* The Observatory deck and the sun/moon astrology face depictions

* Includes automatic writing such as in the Room 2 Seance room

* Perhaps the colors might indicate alchemy (i.e., the four elements of the universe, especially if many color models use these colors as the foundation for all other conceivable colors, in addition to one of the puzzles in the Room's Cog Room 4 holistic color combination)
* Tree of Life (Kabbalah) and the null tendril roots as either being roots or Chulhu
* Human sacrifice in the Room 2 and Room 4 games

## Null Glyphs

* Inspirations for these symbols may include or be inspired by:
	+ Mandalas
	+ Alchemy
	+ Tentragrammation
		- Sefer Raziel HaMalach
		- Cipher Manuscripts
	+ Zodiac & Planetary signs
	+ Astrology (with other types of planetary symbols)
	+ Tesseract-related symbols
	+ Christian cross variants

* + Occult Symbols
		- Isaac Newton, a member of the Royal Society of England, also took part in occult organizations and was involved with the idea of the Philosopher's Stone
		- Also relevant to America's creation
		- Magical Formula
		- Other popular occult symbols

* + - Egyptian hieroglyphs occasionally appear, such as the ankh and Udjat Egyptian eye symbol
		- The Freemason symbol can be seen in the Maritime Room in The Room: Old Sins. The Freemason symbol, related to related occultists of Crowley, is featured in the Room Series (i.e., the naval room in the Room 4)
		- Notably, the curiosity room when decoding the globe entails glyphs that contain the glyphs from Dr. Montfaucon and the Room 1 and Old Room alchemy glyphs
		- The Philosopher's Stone is particularly relevant in the series
		- Other relevant topics involve the Seal of Solomon, which has Null-inspired symbol fonts similar to that of the Null glyphs and Crowley-related information regarding history perhaps akin to the shades of light found within the Room Series

## Literary Inspirations

* Eldritch horror
* The Null tendrils can potentially be attributed to H. P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu mythos. The imagery of the book describes a land called Apocrypha that aligns with the Null tendrils and the occasional tendril-possessed rooms with hellish grey storms, such as those seen in The Room Three's Release ending and at the end of The Room: Old Sins. Similar imagery can even be connected to Lovecraft-inspired Apocrypha landscape within Skyrim.