collab:meta-and-ue

Ideas:

• Sark/mekha
  • Nadox and the Mekhanite
    • Heartwarming tale about like, the first meeting onward?
    • Do Sarks have goi formats? Maybe a piece of scripture about it?
    • Kinda unfortunate we can't use existing drafts but whatevzzzzzzzzzz

SCP

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: As SCP-XXXX displays no apparent interest in leaving its current location, Provisional Containment Site-408 was constructed around its sanctuary, disguised as an astronomical observatory. Due to the extreme remoteness of Site-408’s location, minimal security is required.

SCP-XXXX cannot be forcibly contained without significant loss to personnel. The indirect containment of SCP-XXXX depends entirely on the willingness of SCP-XXXX itself. Personnel are not to engage with SCP-XXXX or interfere with its activities, unless directly ordered to do so by the acting Site Director.

Description: SCP-XXXX is a vaguely humanoid entity displaying numerous anomalous capabilities, including rapid corporeal transmogrification, reality alteration, the teleportation of objects and entities, and a form of extrasensory perception resembling sight-based omniscience. SCP-XXXX exhibits abnormally high intelligence and extensive knowledge of the occult and various fields of science. While SCP-XXXX has ignored or even shown hostility to direct communication, it has been gleaned through observation that its objectives include the acquisition of information.

The Foundation became aware of SCP-XXXX as a result of its investigation into the unexplained disappearance and reappearance of 62 scientists, engineers, and academics occurring between September, 2008, and January, 2012. Targeted individuals worked in all major fields of science and have even included members of the Foundation. They would be returned days later to their current residence, with no signs of injury or malnutrition and with no memory of their disappearance.

This phenomena has been recorded prior to the aforementioned period. These disappearances typically occur shortly after a major scientific milestone, with the largest mass disappearance (214 individuals) occurring shortly after the first detonation of a nuclear weapon (1945). These previous cases were never solved but it was hypothesized that a rival Group of Interest, most likely GRU Division "P", was responsible. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was discovered that they suffered similar disappearances as well (blaming the Foundation, Global Occult Coalition, and the United States government). It is believed that the most recent wave of disappearances began following the inaugural test of the Large Hadron Collider¹, as the first beam was circulated through the collider on the morning of 10 September 2008 and the first disappearance was of a CERN physicist on the 11th.

Bio-samples were recovered from all 62 individuals, along with their clothing and any other items they had with them at the time of their disappearance. Biometrics detected no anomalies, and subjects displayed no evidence of anomalous alteration. Stool samples revealed a steady diet of mutton, chicken, cabbage, as well as spices traditionally associated with Xinjiang (or Uyghur) cuisine. Detritus recovered from feet and footwear underwent sedimentological and geochemical analysis and was found to most closely resemble the surface layer sand of the Taklamakan Desert, located in the Tarim Basin in China’s Xinjiang region.

Agents Kim Yu and Justin Lee were disguised as Chinese officials and sent to the Tarim Basin to investigate. As nothing was known about the source of these disappearances save its presumed location, agents focused on questioning locals regarding anything outside the norm. After several weeks traveling between communities on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert, a lead was uncovered while questioning merchants in the oasis town of Qiemo. The merchants referred to an unusual visitor to the bazaar, who traded ancient coins and artifacts for food and water (though was never observed consuming either).

They described the entity as unusually tall (estimates ranged from 2.2 to 2.4 meters), strong (carrying supplies that would normally require several camels to transport), but slow moving. He was known for his tattered and dusty attire which included a robe, cloak, and scarf, along with a pair of bronze gauntlets and bronze boots. It was believed that the stranger was a hermit who lived in the Kunlun Mountains to the south. The merchants further claimed that he must be of considerable age, revealing how even their parents and grandparents had traded with him. None of the townsfolk knew his true name nor did the hermit discuss anything but business, adding that he had a voice like “sandstorms and radio static”.

The hermit had become the subject of folklore, the merchants offering various theories about his origin. The most popular legend was that the hermit was a warrior-monk from a distant land, either punished by Allah or bound to serve some sorcerer for all eternity. Agents were skeptical of these stories but believed they had evidence of an anomaly nonetheless, though a connection to the disappearances remained undetermined. The hermit was classified as PoI-7603 with their capture deemed a top priority.

Drones were employed to survey the Kunlun Mountains and the land between them and Qiemo. After several weeks without sign of PoI-7603, an individual matching his description was spotted approaching the town. After allowing him to purchase supplies at the bazaar, Foundation operatives followed him at a distance, while a drone observed his movements from above.

PoI-7603 ignored established trails and scaled a vertical cliffside without any apparent equipment. While operatives sought another path, the drone successfully maintained surveillance before losing sight of him at coordinates 37°14' N, 85°45' E. Operatives were delivered to this location via helicopter, discovering a small cave ending with an artificially carved stone wall inscribed with unidentified symbols, hypothesized to be some manner of door. After several failed attempts to open the way, C-4 was strategically adhered to the presumed door and detonated.

The subsequent blast revealed a hollow interior containing a vast temple complex, since classified as SCP-XXXX-A. An example of rock-cut architecture², the structure exhibits both Hellenic and Indian³ aesthetics. The complex had been carved into the Kunlun Mountains at an elevation of 5978 m between approximately 600-800 CE and appears to have once been capable of housing 250-400 occupants.

SCP-XXXX-A has been divided into the following subsections:

• SCP-XXXX-A-1: Entrance Hall - Accessible through a cave in the Kunlun Mountains, the only non-anomalous entrance to SCP-XXXX-A. Besides the obvious Hellenic and Indian influences of its architecture, the walls have been carved with symbols associated with Sarkic and Mekhanite iconography.
• SCP-XXXX-A-2: Athenaeum - Accessible from the entrance hall, the athenaeum contains a vast collection of tomes, scrolls, and clay tablets inscribed with the writings of over 3000 languages.

SCP-XXXX-A is currently inhabited by two entities: PoI-7603 and SCP-XXXX. Most of what is known about the structure, its history, as well as SCP-XXXX, has been willingly divulged to interviewers by PoI-7603, as long as the Foundation respects the following conditions:

• Information is to be exchanged for information. The Foundation must be forthright when answering the questions of PoI-7603 and they will do the same.
• All objects save those contained within the Inner Sanctum may be freely studied, granting the Foundation access to a vast library and anomalous artifacts as long as they are never removed from the temple.
• The Foundation must not interfere in SCP-XXXX’s studies or disturb them in any manner.

These conditions were agreed to following a failed attempt to capture and contain SCP-XXXX which resulted in the immediate self-termination of 18 operatives.

PoI-7603 is a roughly humanoid automaton primarily composed of an alloy consisting of 75-80 percent copper, 15-20 percent zinc, and smaller percentages of nickel, lead and iron - the admixture responsible for their bronze appearance. Mechanically, PoI-7603 appears to function via pneumatics, hydraulics, and intricate clockwork. Their exact power source remains unknown and would likely require the complete dismantlement (and termination) of PoI-7603 in order for it to be studied. Prior to their (compromised⁴) containment, they disguised their anomalous nature with several layers of fabric (though it is suspected that their abnormal weight and height and general strangeness was enough to ward off others).

PoI-7603 is fully sentient (it is hypothesized that they have retained their original human brain, along with other parts of their nervous system) and prefers to speak and write in Koine Greek⁵. PoI-7603 refers to itself as "Derdekeas" and has been extensively interviewed, revealing a great deal of information regarding itself, SCP-XXXX, and related subjects.

+ Interview Log 01: PoI-7603

Interviewed: PoI-7603, "Derdekeas"

Interviewer: Dr. Jennifer Marsh

Forward: Translated from Koine Greek.

<Begin Log>

Dr. Marsh: Please state your name.

PoI-7603: Derdekeas. I am, or was, of the Legates-Faithful. But I have loyally served my Master, as friend and Speaker, for the last millennia and a half.

Dr. Marsh: What are you?

PoI-7603: I am what you see. I am machine. But not always was this my nature.

Dr. Marsh: What were you before?

PoI-7603: A man of flesh and blood; flawed and inefficient.

Dr. Marsh: And how did you come to be as you are now?

PoI-7603: Piece by piece. Ritualized augmentation. Most do not survive. It required strength, endurance, meditation but, in retrospect, being favored by fortune was perhaps the only reason the process succeeded.

Dr. Marsh: For what reasons did you undergo this process?

PoI-7603: For the purification of spirit. The flesh is a prison; an ancient cruelty. As a follower of Mekhane, there was no greater honor than to undergo the rites.

Dr. Marsh: Mekhane? Are you a member of the Church of the Broken God?

PoI-7603: Is that what they call themselves now? No. I suppose I am not. I adhere to the message but not the totality of the faith. My dear friend, once hated enemy, has rendered unto me the greater truth.

Dr. Marsh: Truth?

PoI-7603: That our contest is not against flesh and blood, but rather, the authorities of the universe and their dread progenitor. To save our world, we must embrace the heresy of synthesis. The adaptability of life, ordered by logic and reforged through artifice - this is the New Flesh.
<End Log>

Dr. Judith Low, Senior Adviser at the Department of History - Religious GoI Threat Analysis, was delivered to the site to oversee research into SCP-XXXX, PoI-7603, and the history of their temple complex. Though technically retired, she was reinstated due to being one of the foremost experts on both Sarkic and Mekhanite religions.

+ Interview Log 02: PoI-7603

Interviewed: PoI-7603, "Derdekeas"
Interviewer: Dr. Judith Low
Forward: Translated from Koine Greek.
<Begin Log>
Dr. Low: You were once human. When and where were you born?
PoI-7603: I was born in a small village just south of Neapolis⁶. I cherish the memories of my childhood there. Only in retrospect could I truly appreciate the natural beauty of the land. As for when? It has been so long since I studied the stars. Searching for the memory. Memory recovered. Calculating… Approximately 2,145 years and 143 days ago.
Dr. Low: What brought you so far east?
PoI-7603: The Great Dismantling⁷ had begun. Many died. Others driven into hiding. I was powerless to stop it. Any action would have merely amplified the violence.
Thus ever with fanatics.
So I began to wander, doing my best to disguise my [augmentations]. I recall helping those in need - villages, kingdoms, and fellow travelers. I believe that I even became the subject of a number of folk legends.
[a distorted approximate of laughter reverberates from PoI-7603's head]
I was in search of something; an answer to a question I had yet to formulate.
He… [PoI-7603 pauses] He changed everything. I first encountered him in Baghdad while studying at the House of Wisdom⁸. He wore red robes that hid his face, spoke no words, and otherwise kept to himself. Yet he radiated with a power I had never known. I spied on him for days - like me, he showed no need for sleep. His appetite for knowledge was voracious - truly, I believe he studied every tome and scroll that place contained. He worked those librarians ragged.
I asked others about him. His name was unknown and none had heard him speak a word. And yet it was as though the librarians knew exactly what he needed and when he needed it.
When he had learned all that he came for, he simply took his leave as wordlessly as his stay. Though he did leave behind a purse of gold - a generation donation.
I had to know what he really was. I stalked him through the city, followed him into the desert. Though he traveled through sand, his feet left no prints. What was he? I grew to hate him. I was the one who chose to stalk him and yet had the gall to take offense. I raised my blade and demanded that he reveal his true nature.
What a fool I was.
He stopped. I was expecting an answer but was soon struck by an impossible force. My eyes, blessed by the Saints, failed to even register his attack. I was launched across the dunes with meteoric speed. But I was a fool and continued to persist. I was a warrior of the Faith! What chance did this itinerant scholar have against one such as I?

[Subject shakes their head, releasing another chortle]
I carried with me the Holy Armaments. Unleashing their glory, I turned those dunes to glass. The stranger was nowhere to be found and I felt certain of his disintegration.
Then the glass shattered and from the epicenter there rose a torrent of limbs and eyes, whose yellow gaze stared into the depths of my soul. He was Sarkic. I had never encountered one before. Indeed, I even speculated that they were merely a myth - an allegory for the corruptibility of flesh! I was face to face with the ancient enemy of my people. I wish I could say that logic protected me from fear but I could feel my gears reverse…

We fought for days. I thought us evenly matched but in retrospect, I know he was holding back.
By the sixth day I had had enough and fell to my knees. I was prepared to welcome my dismantlement.
Instead of shattering me, as he had every right to do, he returned to his previous form and continued with his journey. East he walked, always east, and I followed.
Dr. Low: Why would you follow such a being?
PoI-7603: His mercy aroused my curiosity. This was the monster of every Mekhanite’s nightmare - a true daemon of the Flesh! And here he was, the better man. Had I the upperhand, I would’ve never done the same.

<End Log>

+ Interview Log 03: PoI-7603

Interviewed: PoI-7603, "Derdekeas"
Interviewer: Dr. Judith Low
Forward: Translated from Koine Greek.
<Begin Log>
Dr. Low:
PoI-7603:
Dr. Low:
PoI-7603:
Dr. Low:
PoI-7603:
Dr. Low:
PoI-7603:
Dr. Low:
PoI-7603:
Dr. Low:
PoI-7603:
Dr. Low:
PoI-7603:
Dr. Low:
PoI-7603:

[[/collapsible]]

THKRIPTURE

Footnotes

1. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and most powerful particle collider and the largest machine in the world. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008.

2. The creation of structures, buildings, and sculptures, by excavating solid rock where it occurs naturally.

3. Specifically Jain rock-cut architecture common to the western region of the Indian subcontinent.

4. PoI-7603 has agreed to permanently remain inside the temple complex.

5. Koine Greek (also known as Alexandrian dialect, common Attic, Hellenistic or Biblical Greek) was the common form of Greek spoken and written during the Hellenistic period, the Roman Empire, and the early Byzantine Empire.

6. Now the city of Kavala.

7. When Byzantine Emperor Zeno the Isaurian in 483 CE ordered the torture and execution of the Mekhanites, as well as the burning of the Schema. Survivors would disguise their beliefs, eventually becoming the Church of the Broken God as it is known today.

8. The House of Wisdom was a major intellectual center during the Islamic Golden Age. It was founded as a library for private use by the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid (reigned 786–809) and culminated in prominence under his son al-Ma'mun (reigned 813–833) who is credited with its formal institution. By the middle of the ninth century, the House of Wisdom had the largest selection of books in the world but was destroyed following the Mongol Siege of Baghdad.