Backrooms 3: Kiosk Kingdom - Updated Research Inquiry

Hey everyone! So Nilbog, made an excellent comment, asking why Dan would select the Cendral File to review, instead of reading the VRD report on humanity. It was a great point. Dan would absolutely be more interested to find out why the VRD were scooping up humans. So I rewrote the section. I'm not going to post the whole chapter, but here is the updated "Research Inquiry" documenting humanity instead.

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There were thousands of files, neatly sorted and tagged, each one dedicated to a different species. Not just names either, but detailed genetic logs, environmental notes, medical breakdowns, and a host of experimental data. I scrolled past half a dozen names I didn’t recognize before landing on one I did, Homo Sapiens.

I mentally selected the entry, and a wall of text unfurled across the screen.

Like the handful of other research reports I’d come across, this one wasn’t filtered through my Localized Administrative Assistant, so there were no jokes or snarky commentary—just hard data and observations direct from the VRD Research Staff.

>>> Research Inquiry: Initializing <<<

Test Supervisor: Senior Xeno-Geneticist, Iteration 1.24643A

Test Date: 08.19.1986 CE (Julian Standard, Updated for User Preference)

Subject: Genetic and Cultural Analysis of Homo Sapiens (Humans) – Specimen Set #573, extracted from Earth (Null World Designation 367-X)

Introduction

Homo Sapiens represent an anatomically unremarkable bipedal species with limited natural weaponry, no inherent mana capabilities, and highly inefficient biological regeneration. At first glance, their viability as subjects for galactic integration appears limited. However, upon closer investigation, their biology—combined with extreme behavioral adaptability and rapid technological advancement—elevates them to one of the most anomalously promising species ever recovered from a Null World.

Earth, their origin world, contains no ambient mana; an ecological condition that should be biologically unsustainable for most sapient life. And yet, humans have not only adapted to this inhospitable condition, but have thrived. Their development of combustion-based power systems, refined fission/fusion technologies, and chemically engineered pharmaceuticals—all achieved without the use of ambient mana catalysts—demonstrates a degree of creative compensatory evolution unmatched by other cataloged species.

Cultural Observations

Culturally, Homo Sapiens are distinguished by their non-linear societal growth and remarkable diversity. Unlike most sapient species—who tend toward dominant cultural monoliths, centralized hierarchies, or stable ideological systems—human civilization is fragmented into thousands of interdependent and often conflicting worldviews.

Their societal evolution is anything but steady; rather than a gradual climb, technological progress occurs in erratic bursts of discovery, often referred to as “tech booms,” which rapidly reshape global norms before plateauing into periods of consolidation or upheaval. This instability, while chaotic, has proven highly effective at accelerating development.

Humans also demonstrate advanced abstract tool use, frequently repurposing technologies and systems far beyond their original design intent.

They have, for instance, weaponized sound frequencies, developed entire symbolic languages for emotion and logic (such as music, mathematics, and humor), and created multi-layered narrative structures that serve no immediate survival function but reinforce group cohesion and behavioral synchronization. In effect, their societies run on stories—myths, fictions, and ideologies that act as social software, shaping behavior and governance through memetic transmission more than through biological imperative.

Perhaps most uniquely, individual humans will regularly engage in high-risk social behavior, including self-sacrifice for symbolic or ideological causes. Even with full awareness of the fatal consequences, they will die for beliefs, emotions, or abstract constructs. This behavioral tendency makes them volatile, unpredictable, and highly reactive under stress—traits that must be carefully considered in both experimental design and live-combat simulations.

Research Objectives

Homo Sapiens were initially identified and collected for genetic and behavioral research programs aimed at cross-species augmentation and adaptability modeling. Though lacking inherent mana capabilities or exotic physiology, their unique combination of resilience, creativity, and cognitive plasticity renders them highly desirable across a wide spectrum of experimental applications. Key areas of study include:

·       Blank-Slate Mana Absorption and Genetic Hybridization: Since humans are entirely devoid of mana, they offer a clean baseline for VIRUS interfacing and make them ideal candidates cross-species hybridization, without suffering genetic destabilization or adverse effects.

·       Cognitive Plasticity Under Duress: Human ability to maintain or even enhance performance under trauma is under investigation for adaptive neural circuitry and emergency response design in synthetic intelligence models.

·       Cultural Imprinting Effects: Test populations subjected to artificial historical paradigms (e.g., Roman Empire sim, Suburban Consumer sim) exhibit rapid behavioral assimilation, enabling targeted social conditioning and loyalty mapping.

·       Physiological Integrity Across Biomes: Humans exhibit surprising resistance to biome transition shock, functioning in aquatic, arid, cryogenic, and zero-G environments with appropriate acclimatization periods.

Environmental Simulation

The replication of Earth’s habitat within the Progenitor Ship has presented several challenges unique to Homo Sapiens. Unlike most species, which operate within a narrow cultural and ecological band, humans exhibit near-limitless societal variation—requiring the simulation of multiple, historically distinct environmental paradigms. Their societies are not only fragmented but evolve rapidly, often reshaping architecture, technology, and social norms within a single generation.

To account for this, the VRD has constrained environmental reconstructions to reflect what is considered the “peak” of pre-cybernetic human civilization, approximately ending at the Earth year 2,000 CE. Even within this narrowed frame, continual updates to the VIRUS Interface have been necessary, evolving from stone tablets and ancient "spell" grimoires to video game–style interfaces more intuitive for modern human cognition.

Current VRD simulations include:

·       Paleolithic Foraging Zones: To observe baseline social dynamics, small test groups are placed in zero-technology wilderness biomes. Notable observations include the emergence of hierarchy within 36 hours and religious iconography within 3 months.

·       Ancient Civilization Clusters: Replications of Earth locales such as ancient Egypt (Giza Complex), Rome (Colosseum District), and Feudal Japan (Edo Zone) have allowed for observation of human behavior during early-state formation.

·       Modern Urban Sprawls: 20th–21st century American suburbia and shopping mall constructs have been particularly difficult to maintain, due to the constant cultural flux observed during this period. Despite efforts, certain simulated technologies (e.g., smartphones, social media, fast fashion) evolve to quickly for the Progenitor Ship to adapt.

·       Post-Industrial Dystopias: Late-stage simulations involving environmental collapse, resource depletion, and rogue AI emergence have been used to test human adaptability and innovation under extinction-level pressure. Results are inconclusive but promising.

These self-contained biosphere functions as both a research lab and a cultural terrarium, giving VRD scientists the ability to observe Human interactions under “natural” conditions, all while introducing experimental variables, such as modified environmental stressors or controlled combat scenarios to study their adaptability.

To better analyze Homo Sapiens under stress, VRD researchers routinely orchestrate controlled conflict scenarios within simulated Earth environments. These engagements are engineered using competitive scarcity models, ideological opposition, or artificial threats introduced via Progenerated Dwellers. The goal is to provoke authentic survival behavior, observe intergroup dynamics, and assess adaptability during escalating threat exposure.

Participants are monitored in real time using VIRUS Interface telemetry, which tracks cortical load, biochemical spikes (adrenaline, cortisol, dopamine), musculoskeletal fatigue, and anomalous Relic resonance. Survivors are earmarked for extended observation or behavioral modeling protocols, while deceased subjects are routed for dissection, neural mapping, or integrated into the Influx Processing and Randomization System for further cross-species hybridization trials.

Conclusion

Homo sapiens defy conventional classification. Though physically average and biologically mundane by most galactic standards, they remain one of the most promising species in the known multiverse. Their origin on a Null World makes them a rare anomaly—sapient life emerging in a mana-void biome. And yet, they have constructed religions, weaponized atoms, reached orbit, and created recursive intelligence systems without the aid of traditional mana sources.

They are dangerous. They are innovative. They are unfinished.

Further study is warranted.

>>> Research Inquiry: Complete <<<

Attached to the introductory overview were countless nested files containing detailed anatomical surveys, experiment logs, and pages upon pages of dense research data.

I skimmed through bone marrow extractions, adrenal gland amplification, and neural grafting procedures where sections of the human brain had been temporarily overwritten or rerouted to test cognitive plasticity.

Other report logs described forced trauma scenarios used to study pain tolerance and psychological fracture points, while several focused on mana acclimation protocols; subjecting people—real fucking people—to escalating doses of ambient energy to map physiological thresholds. A few even outlined cross-species hybridization experiments that made my stomach tighten.

I could’ve spent weeks digging through the intel, but I didn’t have that kind of time or patience. The gist was clear enough, though. The VRD hadn’t just collected our kind. They’d broken us down shotgun style, reverse-engineered our biology, stripped out anything useful, and turned it into weapons or commercial tech.

I felt my blood simmering, a low, steady rage building inside my chest. For the past three months, I’d been living in hell—fighting, killing, running from horrors I couldn’t even begin to comprehend. I’d cut off my own hand. I’d lost my home, my friends, everything that made me me.

And for what?

So I could be a test subject in some twisted intergalactic lab experiment?

I forced the anger down—knowing the rage wouldn’t help me no matter how justified—and focused instead on an attached folder of video and image files. The more I could learn, the better off I’d be in the long run. At least that’s what I told myself. Most of them were recordings of the research experiments, which I quickly skipped. I didn’t need to see a bunch of snuff films firsthand.

But some were different.

Some of the archived footage depicted early humanity in their natural environment—spanning a staggering timeline that no other known species had managed to survive, let alone civilize.

The first recordings were grainy reconstructions of ancient river valleys, where tribes of early humans hunted mammoths and gathered roots on vast arid plains. They wore furs, used sharpened bone tools, and painted crude symbols on cave walls. The camera swiveled to show the slow shift forward—the banks of the Nile and the monumental rise of the Egyptian dynasties. Massive stone pyramids towered over desert sands, flanked by obelisks and complex irrigation channels. Humans bustled beneath them, hauling stone blocks, measuring shadows, and recording star patterns with a precision that hinted at a new age of scientific discovery.

The next cut leapt to the marble brilliance of ancient Greece—white-stone cities perched atop hills, surrounded by olive groves and amphitheaters. Here, philosophy and geometry flourished alongside the clang of bronze weapons in open-air agoras. The footage tracked processions of citizens debating politics and writing plays while warriors sparred in the shadows of temples built to immortalize ideals.

Further clips displayed pre-colonial Native American societies, living in careful balance with the natural world. Forests stretched in every direction, dotted with clusters of well-built lodges and hunting camps. Painted warriors moved through the underbrush with expert precision, their tools forged from stone, sinew, and raw “fuck-yeah” human ingenuity. Here, culture was less about conquest and more about harmony—rituals and dances recorded under the moonlight, punctuated by firelight and drumbeats.

Then, without warning, the footage lurched forward, centuries in an instant, landing in the strange, glittering chaos of the modern era. Cities bloomed like circuitry across the surface of the planet. The view moved past high-rise skylines to sprawling suburban housing tracts, each house nearly identical, segmented by cul-de-sacs and strip malls. People shuffled through parking lots, clutching shopping bags and smartphones, their eyes fixed on glowing screens as towering fast food signs blinked overhead.

It was jarring. Disjointed.

And yet, it was undeniably human—this endless pattern of reinvention. From cave art to pixelated checkout screens. From flint knives to nuclear power. Civilization had not simply evolved… it had exploded, fragmented, and reassembled itself dozens of times, each version more bizarre and resourceful than the last.

The footage ended with a slow pan across a crowd of humans in a claustrophobic mall food court—laughing, arguing, eating, existing—utterly unaware of how remarkable they really were.

The implications of the report hit me hard.

It explained why the Progenitor Ship was structured the way it was. Its job wasn’t just research. It was to recreate the habitats of whatever species they’d collected, all to study them in “natural” conditions. That’s what the lower floors were. The Lobby, the abandoned mall on level 3, the endless parking garage, and the never-ending expanse of suburbia on twenty-four. Those were all constructs that mirrored what the VRD assumed was our natural environment.

Yet clearly, something had gone very, very wrong.