Skies and Weather

The sky is in perpetual sunrise/set or nighttime, fluctuating between shades of yellow, purple, pink, blue, and orange. The sun and moon appear 18x wider than their Frontrooms counterparts, though the sun is much dimmer and can be viewed safely for short periods of time. The sun is also subject to the "Scanline Mirage," in which strips of sky appear on objects and slowly move up them.

The view of the horizon from the shore of Neo-Angeles

The sky of the level has a 24hr day/night cycle, though not in the same way as the Frontrooms. At the beginning of each day, the sun rises over the west horizon until it is fully visible at 3:00AM, then reverses direction until 6:00AM. This is followed by 6 hours of night, where the moon does the same. Then the same 12 hour process occurs on the east, completing the cycle.

The sky also tends to emit music during the daytime. This music is usually electronic music from or in the style of the 1980s-90s. This music plays at the same quiet volume across the level, regardless of how close you are to the sky. The music is usally real Frontrooms songs, though sometimes the "playlist" ends and the sky starts to generate music of questionable quality until a new list of songs starts. The music can also sometimes cause the Tune-Out, so it's best not to pay too much attention to it.

Cyberstorms

The seas and skies right before a cyberstorm

Sometimes, cyberstorms ravage the whole level. During these, the sky becomes black or dark purple, and neon streaks shoot across the sky. The atmosphere is also filled with static electricity, and most electronics stop working and can sometimes be fried if turned back on. Technology that naturally occurs throughout the level is usually immune to this, unless heavily modified. lighting can also occur, which instantly transforms people it strikes into Static Ghosts. Blocks of nonsensical code also descend from the sky and flow into the ground, but they have no physical properties and can be walked through. Some people have claimed that the code contains references to obscure but meaningful to them, sometimes containing comments that explicitly describe their memories. MAKNA has yet to formally record such sightings, so you do not need to worry about this.

You can easily tell if a cyberstorm is incoming if the sky turns completely black or purple, lights on building start flickering, and/or if the seas become flat magenta grids. Cyberstorms are safe as long as you avoid coasts, high-up areas, and technology from outside the level.⁴

Geography

The geography of the AESTHETIC appears to be a combination of landmasses from the Frontrooms,⁵ simplified into the four geographic forms the level can take. This allows people to explore places from the Frontrooms in some form for exploration or closure. The 4 parts of the Level are listed here.

The Cool Deserts

The Deserts make up the majority of the land in Level 201. These deserts are made from yellow, orange, or pink sand with similar material properties to the sand of Level 48. These deserts maintain an elevation of under 1200 ft, regardless of whether the area it correlates with is of a higher elevation.

Some desert shapes next to a sea

The deserts are often riddled with large, multicolored geometric shapes, many of which are physically impossible and defy gravity. These shapes will sometimes play music when approached, which has been found to help prevent the Tune-Out.

There are also Greco-Roman Temples that appear throughout the deserts. These temples have courtyards with gardens that contain a variety of plants only found in the AESTHETIC. Each temple also has an immovable and unchangeable 90s era personal computer on an altar in the center. These computers can access the storage of any computer in the Backrooms⁶, as long as the user has personally accessed the computer before⁷. The computers can also access memories of the user, and media familiar to them and recordings of meaningful memories will appear in the hard drives. This has made the temples a useful site for retrieving lost information, though some people have used them to dwell over their pasts and have gotten extremely attached to the temples. If someone is not relinquishing control over a temple computer after a reasonable amount of time, please contact MAKNA emergency services to remove the person and offer therapy services.⁸

Traveling alone in the desert for extended periods of time is known to cause hallucinations of people and events from positive memories. These seem to be more common when someone is in a hypercar or near a temple. If you begin seeing things, places, and people that cannot be there, or at least do not fit in with your knowledge of how the AESTHETIC typically appears, contact someone else immediately and talk to them or turn around to prevent the hallucinations from progressing.

The Neon Cities

Cities throughout the correlate AESTHETIC in size and location with cities in the Frontrooms.⁹ All buildings, unless modified by a human, have working electricity and gas, but no water beyond the occasional trace mist from the static seas. The architecture of most buildings is like that of coastal American and Japanese cities from 1960 to 2010. Some buildings are copied directly from he Frontrooms, and there has yet to be a report or rumor of someone who searched for their home in the location that correlates with it and was unable to find an exact copy. All cities are divided into two areas: downtowns and suburbs.¹⁰

A street in a downtown

A suburb

• Downtowns - These are groups of mid-high rises found in the center/downtown of cites, though these also spread to coasts (including those of lakes and rivers) and other central parts of the city. The buildings have most of their lights on at all times, and are often covered in neon billboards and branding. These buildings can also clip into each other like in Level 11, which sometimes causes the electrical systems to stop working.These billboards are sometimes only partially legible and are American, Japanese, or some mix of both.

• Suburbs - These are low-density neighborhoods that fill the rest of the cities. Palm trees often line sidewalks, and cars can be found in driveways and garages.

All cities are connected by an American-style highway system.

Notable Building Types

• Shopping Malls - Shopping malls are found throughout both the downtowns and the suburbs. They vary in appearance, but always share the same architecture era as the rest of the cities and have palm trees growing in pots. The branding and styling of businesses are distorted versions of Frontrooms Japanese and American businesses, and the content of the businesses only vaguely line up with their counterparts.¹¹Food found in the malls are always lukewarm American or Japanese dinners with very little fruits or vegetables and abnormally high levels of carbohydrates, fats, and sugars. Food reappears every day at 3:45PM, and old food disappears during this time. Stores in the malls carry products from the 1980s-2000s that were commonly sold in the US/Japan.

• Gas Stations - These are usually found in the suburbs and next to highways, and have large neon signs with unrecognizable logos. Their architecture resembles typical American gas stations. The stores have products found in typical Japanese and American gas stations, and the food has the same nutritional properties as the in the malls, but restocks at 5:15PM instead. The gas pumps have nonfunctional payment interfaces, but special cards have been made that "complete the transaction" and allow gas to be taken.

• Launch Sites - Launch sites are scattered throughout the deserts next to roads. Each launch site contains a spacecraft similar to the Space Shuttle, which regenerates every 2-14 weeks. The launch sites also contain control rooms that can be used to launch the shuttle into the sky of the level. Viewing the liftoff of the spacecrafts have been known to invoke feelings of nostalgia and wonder, far beyond what viewing a Frontrooms spacecraft launch would invoke.¹² The M.E.G. plans to use these spacecraft for exploration after the Neo-Angeles issue is resolved.

The Static Seas

The Static Seas include oceans, lakes, and rivers found throughout the Level. During normal weather, the seas reflect the color of the sky, and appear similar to a 90s CGI render. The surface of the sea is only a moving hologram, and the fluid beneath is only 4x denser than normal air. The air is also breathable, though difficult for people who are not used to breathing compressed air. This makes the bottom of the seas traversable and potentially habitable for humans. The air beneath the surface also contains statically charged mist, which can be extracted for water.

During a cyberstorm, the surface of the sea will take the form of a magenta mesh on a black background, which some residents have called the “Web Sea” In this state, seas will become extremely wavy, and tsunamis can form that can extend miles inland. The fluid beneath the seas will also begin flowing at extremely high speeds and can electrocute people and electronics.

A Hyperlink Window leading to Level 0.3

Digital Trenches and Hyperlink Windows

Around the floor of the seas, Digital Trenches can be found. These trenches often have large, colorful energy crystals jutting out of them. However, the main appeal of the trenches are the Hyperlink Windows. These are windows similar to that of computer applications from before 2005.¹³ They can vary in size and appearance, and can be any form of digital media. Touching a Hyperlink will place wanderers in a partially physical state, where they will appear as a zone of static. The wanderer will then be telepathically asked whether to “continue” or “exit.” Answering continue will return the wanderer to the border of the trench they entered from, and answering “exit” will send them to the Hyperlink's destination level, or fling them at high speeds into the sky.¹⁴

A of known functioning Hyperlink Windows can be found in the Exits section. Do not approach a Hyperlink unless you are sure that it is safe.

The Mirage Mountains

The mountains are made of gray or tan stone, with the "snow" being made of white stone. The mountains emerge directly from the desert, and the roads wind up the mountain if it is in their path. They also have caves of energy crystals, but those seem to lead to a mostly unexplored sub-level, which is why MAKNA and the BNTG are looking for volunteers!¹⁵
The Mirage Mountains get their name from their occasional disappearances, called the Holo-Shift, and the fact that they often grow more transparent the farther you are from them. The Holo-Shift is a process where the mountains will become a hologram, then turn back to a mountain after a while. The shift takes anywhere from 15 minutes to 4 hours, giving plenty of time to react, should you be prepared!

Mt. Miracle and Mt. Alicia, where the first studies on the Holo-Shift were conducted

Signs of the Holo-Shift include:

• Lights from celestial bodies, cities, or crystals being visible through the mountain
• Desert sands being visible through the ground
• Objects or people no-clipping a few inches into the ground
• Static electricity emanating from the rocks
• Soft buzzing noises, similar to those in Level 0

When one notices the shift, they should immediately begin preparing for the mountain to lose its physicality. This may include traveling to a desert, equipping a parachute, or entering a hypercar or other vehicle containing Rocket Juice and preparing to fly.

After a few hours, the mountains will regain their physicality at the same speed of the last Holo-Shift. This can be detected by them becoming less transparent, or if you are inside them, a feeling of "stuffiness" or feeling like you are moving through gel. It is best to not go inside a holographic mountain unless absolutely necessary.

There have been rumors circulating of an entity dubbed "The Mountain Man." This entity typically appears as an adult male who witnesses describe as "oddly familiar" and "entrancing." The Mountain Man approaches lone explorers of the Mirage Mountains and begins reminiscing with them on past events as if he witnessed those events with them. The M.E.G. and MAKNA do not have enough information to confirm or deny his existence, so if you see him, please attempt to record your experience.

The Tune-Out

The Tune-Out is the main environmental hazard of the level. This can be caused by the music played from the sky or by simply reminiscing for too long on memories, though what differentiates safe music and memories from harmful ones is unknown.

Most long-term residents of the AESTHETIC have been pulled out of the Tune-Out at least once. Mental effects of the Tune-Out appear to persist for days or even months after people are pulled out of Stage 2 or later. These effects include frequently reminiscing on past memories, losing focus on reality, and trying to get people to live in the AESTHETIC. This has created a high demand for mental health professionals, so if you are one, please consider joining us!

Objects and Resources

• Rocket Juice
• Dumb Gum
• Water Extractors
• Hypercars

Rocket Juice can be obtained from fuel pumps found at most gas stations. It will often be in place of the “premium” or occasionally “diesel” options, replacing the button with a picture of a purple or blue landscape. It usually costs $4-5 per gallon, but the B.N.T.G sells cards that can bypass the payment system.

Rocket Juice can be used in any vehicle that consumes ordinary gasoline. Vehicles filled with it will emit blue and purple flames from their exhaust pipes when driven, and can travel at much higher speeds and sometimes fly for short periods of time. The flames also produce steam, which can be used as a source of hydration in isolated areas.

A bowl of Rocket Juice on a gas station floor, likely intended for consumption

Some people have used Rocket Juice as an “energy drink.” They describe the taste as “cool, sour, and tingly.” Some very rudimentary tests at Blue Flare have confirmed Rocket Juice consumption can increase stamina, energy, and even mental and physical strength, but no tests regarding its long-term safety or chemical makeup have been carried out. Urine created from the fluid has also been found to be highly toxic and corrosive to metals. Due to this, MAKNA highly recommends against the consumption of Rocket Juice.

A packet of Dumb Gum

Dumb Gum is a substance that can be found in the cities or the desert sands¹⁶Dumb Gum can subject the consumer to a variety of negative effects, depending on how much they consume. These effects include physical ones, such as hunger, irritation, foot fungus, and turning orange; and mental ones such as dizziness, temporary amnesia, hallucinations of being in a desert, and sudden obsessions with neon lights. Consuming Dumb Gum beyond the AESTHETIC, however, can lead to more dangerous symptoms described here. However, Dumb Gum is also known for being an industrial grade adhesive when mixed with cashew water, which can be used to repair electronics and machinery. This has made Dumb Gum extraction and refinement a high paying profession in the AESTHETIC.

Water Extractors make up the main infrastructure that allows for long-term habitation of the level. These are placed within the static seas in order to collect the statically charged mist that fills them. They are mainly produced in factories at Makarov City, and are shipped to stores in settlements around the Level. Most extractor designs were created and are manufactured by the Aesthetic Colonization Company based in Makarov City, which has been hiring engineers from across the Backrooms. These extractors seem to have anomalous properties beyond what standard engineering and electronics should allow, but the ACC has declined to address the questions of any group¹⁷ .

Since the invention of the extractors, the Level has been able to host virtually unlimited numbers of people, contributing to the mass migration to the Level.

A hypercar flying through an unknown city. The driver crashed into a building immediately following the photo was taken

Hypercars are anomalous vehicles that sometimes appear along the highways of the level. These cars are always models from 1975-1996, and are usually a vibrant color. They can be driven like a normal car, but they also have a "Rocket" mode. This is usually marked by an extra spot on the gear shift or a button. Activating it will allow the car to quickly accelerate or fly for as long as there is any fuel, and neon streaks will come from the back lights, similar to the way Rocket Juice causes normal cars to operate. Things and people inside or attached to the car will not experience the effects of acceleration or rapid deceleration, so they are safe to use as long as you don't get lost or somehow render the car unusable in a far away land.

Hypercars are known to increase the frequency of hallucinations in the desert, so you should always make sure someone is available to talk to you when driving one for a long time. The radios are also able to play the music that comes from the sky. This radio music is rumored to be more likely to cause the Tune-Out than regular sky music, so you should only tune into human-made radio stations.

Static Ghosts

Static Ghosts are the people who have reached the final state of the Tune-Out. They usually wander around the Level, often near where they existed when they were human, but appear at higher frequencies in building directly copied from the Frontrooms and in temples. They appear as mostly transparent fields of purple static in the rough shape of the person they once were. They seem to perceive the world in a dreamlike state, and spend much of their time doing or attempting to complete mundane activities, even though they cannot interact with the material world. They often stay in the same place doing a task until they start to fade away and appear somewhere else in the level, or occasionally, in a place in another level they once resided in.¹⁸ Talking to Static Ghosts has mixed success, due to their speech sounding very far away and their aloof mentality. They also have angry and distressed reactions to energy crystals; the reason for this is unknown.¹⁹

The most well known Static Ghost is John Ecclair. John has been standing in a parking lot in Neo-Angeles since 2004.²⁰ Based on the rate at which he is fading away, he will likely be standing there until after 2036. He has his hands placed on an empty shopping cart, claiming it is busted²¹ and that he is waiting for his wife, Helen Ecclair, to drive over and pick up his groceries. Helen Ecclair did not enter the Backrooms until 2009, so he is likely reenacting a Frontrooms memory. Helen has requested that John is left in peace, but allows his fans to put up things around him and chat with him. He is now surrounded by decorations and gifts, and he is fully aware of how long he has been standing there. People who have spoken to him say he offers sound life advice, except for when he tries convincing them to become a Static Ghost, and can remember all conversations people have had with him, which has made him a beloved member of the AESTHETIC community.

Groups and Settlements

Due to Level 201's easily traversable nature, beauty, and the invention of water extractors, the level has become a habitable and enjoyable place to live. and migration to the level has rapidly increased, resulting in an estimated total population of around 16,000²².

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Makarov City

The capital building of MKC; the trees were sent from The Capitol in Level 11 in honor of the city's 10th anniversary.

Makarov City is a settlement of about 5000²³ people located around Houston-TX-AE. It was founded by chemist Anatoly Makarov in 1998, who discovered a method of extracting small amounts of water from the static seas, allowing for the first long-term settlement in the AESTHETIC. As the city grew, residents expanded the water extractors to cover nearly the whole coast of Houston-AE, and nearly 1/3 of the city was permanently shut down to power the extractors. This excess of water has been used to irrigate the desert for vegetable farming in order to vary the residents’ diets beyond what typically appears in shopping malls.

Since the 2011 Verdinia Containment, Makarov City has maintained a standing military to defend its borders and water extractors, which are one of its main exports besides vegetables. Other important aspects of its economy include technology/weapons development involving hypercars and energy crystals, tourism, and activities related to being the (formerly sole) de-facto administrative force of the level.

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Neo-Angeles

The shore of Neo-Angeles

This outpost was established by the M.E.G. as a hub for travelers and a base to continue the research done at Base Zeta. The main headquarters is located about 4 miles northwest of the VHS entrance in a skyscraper marked by a neon sign displaying the M.E.G. logo. As migration to the level increased, the various villages throughout the city surrounding the VHS entrance began competing for resources and space, leading the M.E.G to unify them as the single city “Neo-Angeles”²⁴ and govern from their skyscraper until the various leaders of the former villages could agree on a constitution. As of 2027, this has yet to happen, so the Neo-Angelean government has been growing farther from the rest of the M.E.G. and has merged many responsibilities with Makarov City to form MAKNA.

Due to it surrounding the main entry points for immigrants to the level, Neo-Angeles has grown to a population of 2,783,²⁵ and is predicted to surpass Makarov City by 2040. Its economy is based around its location as a transport hub between 201’s settlements, and other levels connected by a nearby Digital Trench. There are also many people who collect retro technology and products to export to other levels.

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B.N.T.G. Base “Blue Flare”

Blue Flare was founded shortly after the Level 2 Blackout to assist in the replenishing of energy resources at Office Space EL3A and other transport networks. Their main job is to harvest Rocket Juice from the gas stations and transport it to the exits to Level 2 and 11. Their original 20-25 members are stationed on the outskirts of Salt Lake City in gas stations. However, as the B.N.T.G discovered Energy Crystals in the mountains, it began hiring many of the migrants to the Level, which grew the population to around 1,450 by 2025. Weirdly, Blue Flare has also attracted a large number of artists, most of whom are unaffiliated with the B.N.T.G. They host art shows multiple times a year, which are usually focused on nostalgic or retro aesthetics. These shows are the main draw for tourists to the city.

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Due to the disasters that caused these settlements to be abandoned, DO NOT APPROACH them, since they all contain hazardous rubble or properties.

M.E.G Research Base Zeta

This was the first known facility created for research of the AESTHETIC. Its 30-person team was located in an isolated desert temple, where people studied AESTHETIC phenomena. This team was the first group to formally observe and document phenomena such as the Tune-Out and the Holo-Shift, as well as being the first to create a list of safe Hyperlinks and their destinations. In 2018, contact with Base Zeta was suddenly cut off, and a rescue team was sent to retrieve them. When they arrived, the temple was destroyed, all but five members had become Static Ghosts, and the remaining ones had undisclosed anomalous medical conditions. The only documentation of what happened was a scribble on a pillar that read "THE SKY SEES US ALL. GIVE ALL TO THE SCREEN." This has been written off as a mental effect of the anomalies, but if you have an idea on what it could mean, we are always looking for new help in the investigation!

U.E.C Base “Neptune”

The base was intended to control an entire trench of hyperlinks found north of the VHS entrance. It was sustained by water extractors and a road system leading to the entrance from Level 11. It used as a hub for U.E.C. operations until an unusually large storm killed all 50 inhabitants. The U.E.C has since decided the Level is too volatile to be worth the manpower loss.

Backrooms Robotics Lab 201

This was a launch pad where Backrooms Robotics attempted to convert a shuttle into a mysterious mechanical entity. The base was destroyed when the shuttle regenerated while the entity was under construction, causing them no violently no-clip into each other and explode. This is also where some water extractor designs are theorized to originate from, due to their technology far surpassing current levels.

Verdinia

The last photo of the Verdinia Deadzone before its final evacuation

Verdinia was founded in 2009 soon after Makarov City successfully constructed its first large-scale permanent irrigation project. It was intended as a hub for terraforming the deserts into a nature reserve using the properties of anomalous objects and entities, combined with water extracted from the seas. For maximum extraction potential, it was founded on the islands near Makarov City, which made it vulnerable to disasters. This resulted in instability, infighting, and biological hazards that rendered Verdinia unsafe and required Makarov City to form a military to prevent the spread of violence and toxins. This led to the designation of Verdinia as a deadzone and the relocation of its members to Makarov, where they continued their work under safer conditions. By 2023, the had Verdinians successfully terraformed 78²km into a nature reserve, becoming one of the most respected organizations in the city.²⁶

Entrances

Due to increased migration to the Level, many entrances and exits have been found, though the main way to enter is via the Nova Vetus Aesthetica VHS tape. No-clipping into a device playing the Nova Vetus Aesthetica tape will reliably and safely transport someone to Neo-Angeles. The tape can be recognized by its magenta casing with neon blue stripes, and the video plays random scenes of Frontrooms cities from the 1980s. Multiple groups have stations in other levels with TVs playing the tape, most notably in Base Alpha, Base Beta, Trader’s Keep, and the Backrooms Entertainment Main Base. You can also rent a copy from our website: makna.aes!

Driving down roads in Level 9 and 11 can sometimes lead to Level 201. The sky will shift from day to sunset and the wanderer will emerge in a downtown or suburb near the VHS entrance. This is very difficult due to the limited amount of functioning cars/gasoline on most levels.

Level 46 and 48 can fade into a coastal desert near the VHS entrance.

Exits

Driving along a western coast from 12:00-6:00AM then closing the driver’s eyes will send everything inside the car to Level 48.

Naturally spawning TVs will sometimes switch to live security camera footage from a random level. No-clipping into the TV will send the wanderer to the recorded location. Because most functioning security cameras in the Backrooms are used by humans or entities, this can be a convenient but unreliable way to reach various settlements.²⁷

The most popular way to exit the AESTHETIC is through the Hyperlink Trenches. While most Hyperlinks are not functional or lead to dangerous levels, many safe links have been discovered. The most popular trench is near Neo-Angeles, which has public Hypercar transportation between it and the city.²⁸

The Future

IS YOU! The AESTHETIC is always in need of intelligent, creative minds like yours to Enter Our World and help us build a better one!

To facilitate positive broadcasting and smooth transitions to life in the AESTHETIC, the MAKNA has allowed various groups to post employment opportunities that bring economic and technological progress to the AESTHETIC and the Backrooms as a whole.

Other than that, we wish you a wonderful day, and we'll see You in the A E S T H E T I C !