Entity 187 : "Servants"

IETS

Entity Number: 187

Habitat: Level 11.3, The Backrooms.

From afar you could not tell there was something wrong with them. Just another bunch of youngsters hanging out in the outskirts of the city, but as I came closer, things started to get… weird. You expect lads that age to make lots of noise and be annoying, but these were nothing like that. They were standing there, not moving, not talking, just… impossibly still.

By the time I noticed the other stuff, the unnaturalness of their stance, the slight aura around them… well, they noticed me too. I was paralyzed. I had heard of them, but never thought I would actually encounter those monsters, not in Level 11 at least. They… they turned their heads towards me, and their movements felt artificial, like something else faking being human. That was scary, but it was when I saw their eyes, that red tempest of sheer wrath, that's when I ran.

— Preston.
Testimony of an encounter with the Servants.

The minds of people who transform into Servants seem to remain intact, as they often use memories of their former selves to deceive those they knew in their past life. Yet there seems to be no trace left of who they once were. Those who have interacted with loved ones transformed into Servants claim that they were nothing like the people they knew, their personalities completely erased and replaced by something else.

Servants are primarily engaged in acting as tools for the Ambassadors' activities, fulfilling a multitude of different roles. These include, but are not limited to:

• Offensive support.

The Ambassadors' main limitation when it comes to abducting their victims is their inability to physically interact with their environment. This lack is compensated by the Servants, who are able to restrain and immobilize the wanderers that their Ambassador sees fit.

• Reconnaissance.

The Servants act not only as the Ambassadors' hands, but also as their eyes and ears, a network of silent informants scattered throughout the Backrooms. It is important to remain vigilant and make sure you are aware of your surroundings, you can never know who might be listening.

• Lures and decoys.

Although not as effective as in the days following their first sightings, these kinds of tactics continue to be used by the entity. They seek to attract victims by acting in unusual ways, interacting with wanderers they met in the past, and even helping individuals in need, only to then direct them to a much greater danger.

• Intimidation.

Ultimately, Servants serve as a constant reminder. An ever-present display of what happens to those who fall prey to an Ambassador. Sometimes they can be seen marching in droves through large population centers, not with any specific mission, but sent by the Ambassadors to be seen.

• Recruitment.

Most Servants seem to act mindlessly, but some scattered reports mention the existence of Servants that, to an extent, retain their mental capacity. Servants of this type comprise a rare minority, and are sometimes seen giving speeches to wanderers in an attempt to convince them to become a part of their "community", with promises of "a paradise in which we are all one" and "an existence as part of the master".

Though it is believed that the base biology of the individual is maintained after they lose their humanity and become a Servant, there are some significant changes in their biological properties. The most prominent change is the loss of body coloration, which causes them to have an ashen skin tone. They have never been seen eating, and on the few times that wanderers managed to inflict serious wounds on them, they were not seen to bleed. In addition, instead of healing in the regular way, the Servants' wounds glowed with a reddish light similar to that of their eyes, which healed them at a slow pace.

I was part of this… project, yes. The autopsy of a Servant, it was quite rudimentary, if I may say so. No, I will not share information regarding the party that provided the body and everything else, I would rather not jeopardize my chances of working with them again in the future.

I will be brief, as I don't want it known that it was me who agreed to discuss the results of our little investigation. I'll just say that all of your theoretical observations are correct, both the outer casing and the inner tissues turn gray at some point in the transformation to Servant. Furthermore, all internal fluids were gone, no blood, no gastric juices, no nothing. I found this disconcerting, as the blood system remained intact, there was no sign that the fluids had been removed, they just vanished. But the most striking thing was the state of the body, as I was told the subject had been a Servant for about 1 year. A year without any of these essential components and it remained… surprisingly intact.

To this day I can't explain how, but there was no sign of putrefaction in that body.

— Anonymous.
Testimony of an encounter with the Servants.

The consensus among archivists is that stasis of the Servants' internal systems has no impact on their functionality, and that they no longer require the natural processes of a conventional human being to survive. Instead, they seem to receive the energy that allows them to continue living directly from the Ambassadors.

A few months after the first disappearances attributed to the Ambassadors, the victims began to return transformed into Servants. Although they were initially greeted warmly, their acquaintances soon realized that something had gone terribly wrong.

The following excerpt is the earliest documented interaction with a Servant the M.E.G. possesses. The interview is conducted by M.E.G. Volunteer Anton Mauri, who managed to take custody of former M.E.G. Archivist Roger Soler. Soler was among the first group of Sevants who arrived Level 11. He was taken to Base Eta, a small research outpost that housed around 13 people.

Interview Log: Roger S.

Excerpt - 05/08/2017

[M.E.G. Anton]: So, Roger. Can you state your name again? For the record.

[Roger S.]: I am Roger Soler.

[M.E.G. Anton]: Great. Roger, I can only Imagine the time you spent away… with them, I understand that you might not like to talk about it, but you know how this goes. This is important, this can— this will save lives, so I must ask you, would you tell us about it?

[Roger S.]: I don’t know. I don’t know what to talk about.

[M.E.G. Anton]: Well, we can start by the most obvious. You… you are all gray now, Roger. Do you feel any different?

[Roger S.]: I feel good, better than ever.

[M.E.G. Anton]: That’s good, very good. We can rule out major… repercussions, then. Don’t worry Roger, we’ll figure out how to fix this mess eventually, but if there is no discomfort, then we can proceed.

[Roger S.]: All right.

[M.E.G. Anton]: Why don’t we go back to the beginning? The last record we have of you is when you encountered the entity, what happened after that?

[Roger S.]: The Ambassador, it showed me, it showed me!

[M.E.G. Anton]: What did it show you, Roger? What did you see?

[Roger S.]: I saw… home, paradise.

[M.E.G. Anton]: So, it took you to its home, and then…?

[Roger S.]: …

[M.E.G. Anton]: Oh well. You don't have to share everything with us right now, we can get into details later. For now, I think it would be better for you to eat, god knows what they fed you, if at all. Feel free to rest, we're done for the day.

[Roger S.]: It is coming.

[M.E.G. Anton]: Huh. Did you say something?

[Roger S.]: It is coming.

[M.E.G. Anton]: What? What's coming Roger?

[Roger S.]: Cataclysm.

Do

• Always look into the eyes of those you talk to.
• Avoid direct confrontations.
• Travel with company. United we stand strong.

Don’t

• Approach unknown wanderers.
• Linger in the dark.
• Answer their call, even if they use the face of those you love.

By VivamusLudio | Author Page!