Resonance is a phenomenon in which two or more sources of Mania react with each other cross-spatially, with a wide variety of possible triggers and effects. One common and basic example of resonance is the tendency for rapid destabilization of Maniacs’ mental states when many infected persons are assembled in close proximity, as the Mania inside them resonates with each other.
The presence of a Great Existence frequently induces resonance, and it is possible for resonance to occur between Black Rings as well. During the appearance of BR-002, resonance from BR-000 helped spur the formation of the new Black Ring, and each of the active Black Rings in DisCity resonated during the MBCC prison break caused by Suspect R (possibly due to the awakening of the Chief). Placing a Mark requires resonance between the user and the target.
Resonance Post-Death
Humans infected with Mania leave behind a “thin consciousness field" after death, which Oak Casket also calls Resonance. This remnant is likened to an echo or a mirage, and sometimes also referred to as the person's soul. A resonance phantom often keeps some final obsession, or permanently retains the thoughts and feelings that they had shortly before or at the time of their death. Despite this, they are rarely (if ever) aware of their surroundings -- they are more like a projected memory of a person's life than a fully conscious ghost.
Resonance fades over time, but other powerful Mania sources can cause it to persist, such as the environment within a Black Ring. There are many various ways that post-death resonance has appeared in the game, including:
- NOX reveals in her interrogation that the souls of all those who die while infected with Mania become trapped in the DisSea. She herself is a corpse filled with the remains of countless souls, whom she collects in order to save them from languishing in DisSea.
- Oak Casket has the ability to hear the voices of resonance fields, though she can't clearly communicate with them.
- Inside BR-002, memories of the mine workers create benign phantoms that replay scenes both from the glory days of the Inner Bay and the panic of the Black Ring's descent.
- When the Corpus of BR-002 neared rebirth during the Drifter Camp crisis (10-6), it caused the resonance fields of many whom it had killed 8 year prior to suddenly reemerge, despite having long since faded away by then.