Per 
Item #: SCP-XXXX
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: The village housing SCP-XXXX has been designated Provisional Area-██. It is surrounded at a distance of 500 meters by a perimeter of 2 meter tall reinforced stainless steel fence topped with concertina wire and accessed via a standard security gate. The fence and gate have been set up under the guise of a U.S. military installation and appropriate signage has been installed. All major floras (e.g. trees, bushes, etc.) between the fence and the village have been cleared and a simple runway has been constructed to facilitate travel. MTF Sigma-7 “Puma Hunters” has been assigned to maintain security. One squad is to be split between guarding the door of the house, the entrance to SCP-XXXX, and the command post inside the house. The second squad is to patrol the village at all times. The third squad will remain on standby in case of breach, and the last squad will rest before being cycled in to patrol. See Addendum XXXX-γ for full schedule details.
The entry door to the house is to remain closed when not in use. Access to SCP-XXXX is restricted to personnel maintaining 2/XXXX clearance or higher. After the events of the second exploration, only Class D personnel are authorized to enter SCP-XXXX without O5 approval. See Event Log XXXX-β for details.
The previous residents of the village have been amnesticized and relocated.
Initial containment procedures have been superseded by the above following the events of the second exploration (See Event Log XXXX-β for details)
Due to the immobile nature of SCP-XXXX, it is unable to be contained specifically without containing the entire village, which is now designated Provisional Area-██. The jungle around the village has been cleared to a distance of 100 meters and a 2 meter chain link fence has been installed. Standard signage has been hung to disguise the site as a logging operation. Residents of the village have been amnesticized and relocated, and MTF Sigma-7 “Puma Hunters” has been assigned to maintain security.
Description: SCP-XXXX is an anomalous hallway located in a house in a small tribe village in western ████████. The house containing the anomaly appears completely ordinary from the outside, round and 12 meters in diameter with a single door on the outside and several windows surrounding the building. The windows all appear blocked, preventing the ability to see inside. The doorway’s jamb was destroyed when the regional police forced entry, which prevents the door from latching.
Inside, the house is unremarkable, save the anomalous entryway on the west wall. There is a kitchen area at the rear of the dwelling, as well as a bed on the eastern side. As with all dwellings in this village, there is no internal plumbing. An ordinary outhouse is located behind the house.
Some effects of SCP-XXXX are observable inside the house, on the outside of the doors and on the windows. A material similar to an orange fungus (designated SCP-XXXX-2) has grown, which causes the light filtering in from windows to take an orange hue. Air composition was tested, and there are no spores, despite its hazy appearance. Chemical analysis of SCP-XXXX-2 has revealed that it is genetically identical to Acrasis Rosea1.
The entrance to SCP-XXXX is a set of double doors missing a matching exit on the external wall. When the doors are opened, a hallway extends farther than can be visually measured. The hallway is anomalously lit for nearly its entire explored length, and its path takes it directly through neighboring houses and outside of the perimeter fence of Area-57. The full length of this hallway is pending further investigation. To date, exploration has measured a minimum length of 135 kilometers.
Exploration has revealed that the hallway changes its compositional material the deeper one travels. 6.14 kilometers from the door, the wall composition gradually changes from wooden slats to worked stone over a distance of 84 meters. The stone slowly reduces in workmanship and quality until a distance of 9.91 kilometers from the door, where the composition begins to slowly change from stone to soil. At a distance of 15.72 kilometers from the door, the wall composition makes its final change, from soil to SCP-XXXX-2, at which point seemingly random deviations in the path are reported. Passageways extending beyond the main passage shortly terminate in dead ends or small rooms containing crude shrines. All attempts to photograph or otherwise record the appearance of these shrines result in corrupted data upon exit of the anomaly (e.g. radio broadcasts play static, researchers cannot recall the appearance, etc.). Many shrines contain primitive idols (designated SCP-XXXX-3).
Instances of SCP-XXXX-3 are described as roughly similar to idols discovered in south-central ███████, dated to the late 12th century in appearance; explorers describe them as “sinister” or “threatening”, but are unable to deliver specific supportive details, likely due to the same phenomena causing the corruption of recorded description. Handling of SCP-XXXX-3 causes an infestation of SCP-XXXX-2 to take place in the host (designated SCP-XXXX-4). When infestation completes, instances of SCP-XXXX-4 become hostile to all life and can cause infestation to targets upon successful attack, then creating additional instances of SCP-XXXX-4. Up to five (5) instances are known to exist inside SCP-XXXX at this time. The only known method of terminating SCP-XXXX-4 instances is severing the neck, thereby removing the head.
Exploration revealed the hallway led to a large dark room (135 kilometers from the entrance). No further descriptions were relayed over the radio before the exploration team was terminated by an unknown assailant.
Further investigation is underway.
Addendum: Event Log XXXX-α (Initial Containment/Exploration)
SCP-XXXX was discovered during routine police scanning. A local citizen, ████████ █████████, called in a report to the police about her son, ████████ █████████. The transcript of that call, as well as the computer-generated English translation, are available below.
Original call (Spanish language):
Mi hijo estaba en un viaje de caza, en la jungla con un par de otros. El viaje fue mucho más corto de lo habitual. Cuando regresó, la bolsa que solía usar para mantener la carne estaba vacía. Bueno, no está vacía, pero no tenía carne adentro. ████████ estaba muy enojado cuando regresó. Volvió solo con la bolsa envuelta en algo pequeño y redondo. Primero pensé que era una pelota de fútbol. Le preguntamos qué pasó con sus amigos, pero él nos gruñó como un puma.
Esto fue, algo así como hace una semana? Hemos estado cortos de carne ya que él no ha estado cazando. Él entró a su casa y no ha regresado. Pero no he escuchado nada desde dentro días. Es casi como si él no estuviera allí. La puerta estaba atascada, así que no pude controlarlo. Llamé a la policía y patearon la puerta. Dentro, la habitación está cubierta… algo. No pude ver tan bien, pero hay una puerta allí que no estaba allí antes, y el pasillo sigue y sigue, por donde debería estar mi casa.Por favor salva a mi hijo. No sé lo que encontró, pero estoy seguro de que Mandigas lo tiene ahora. Por favor, ayúdanos.
English Translation:
My son was on a hunting trip, in the jungle with a couple of others. The trip was much shorter than usual. When he returned, the bag he used to keep the meat was empty. Well, it's not empty, but it had no flesh inside. ████████ was very angry when he returned. He came back alone with the bag wrapped in something small and round. First I thought it was a soccer ball. We asked him what happened to his friends, but he growled at us like a cougar.
This was, something like a week ago? We have been short of meat since he has not been hunting. He entered his house and has not returned. But I have not heard anything from within days. It's almost as if he was not there. The door was stuck, so I could not control it. I called the police and they kicked the door. Inside, the room is covered … something. I could not see so well, but there is a door there that was not there before, and the hall goes on and on, where my house should be.
Please save my son. I do not know what he found, but I'm sure Mandigas2 has it now. Please help us.
In response to this interception by Foundation agents stationed in ██████, ████████, a Containment Team and attached Task Force was deployed. A transcription of a Task Force squad leader’s debriefing is available below.
Interviewed: Sergeant Edward Haislip, TF 73-F, Squad 1
Interviewer: Dr. Weiss, Site-73 Psychologist
Foreword: Typical post-op debrief.
<Begin Log, 19:47, 12 November, ████>
Dr. Weiss: Good evening, Edward. Please state your name and position for the record.
Sgt. Haislip: Sure thing, Cathy. Sergeant Edward Haislip, Squad Leader, First Squad of Task Force 73 Fox.
Dr. Weiss: Thank you. So how was your mission?
Sgt. Haislip: Not too bad. Only one altercation. Sadly, we lost Private Simmons out there. I’ve got his tags, if you want them.
Dr. Weiss: We are not the military, Edward. You know our families have been amnesticized for their protection.
Sgt. Haislip: Yeah, yeah. I just want people to remember him. He was a good kid.
Dr. Weiss: So please tell me what happened. Leave nothing out.
Sgt. Haislip: Can I get a glass of water? Might be a long story.
Dr. Weiss: Certainly.
Dr. Weiss calls her assistant to bring in a glass of water. Her assistant arrives a moment later with a glass of water on a tray. Dr. Weiss hands the glass to Sgt. Haislip.
Sgt. Haislip: Thank you, doctor. So here goes. Seemed like a pretty routine bigger-on-the-inside anomaly when we got the report. Of course, I didn’t tell the Containment Team anything, they were too green to appreciate the simplicity of the mission. We just let them go in blind.
Dr. Weiss: I see. Perhaps a little communication could have helped?
Sgt. Haislip: Nah, we were fine. Anyway, we arrived on site in Colombia pretty late, so we hit the sack. The guy in charge of the Containment Team… What was his name? ███████, that’s it. ████ ███████. He took charge when we woke. Questioned the locals, all the normal stuff. Nobody had any info we didn’t already know; it seems the lady that called it in was pretty thorough. So we went into the house. There was this orange crap all over the windows and around the doors a little bit. Looked like a fungus, I dunno. We got a sample of it, so you guys can figure it out. Anyway, other than that, the house was pretty normal. Except for the set of double doors on the western wall.
Dr. Weiss: I see.
Sgt. Haislip: So we opened the doors. That ██████ kid, he had a drone and ███████ wanted to use it to explore. The thing crapped out after like 400 feet though. Useless. So they did some arguing about how we were going to explore it, and funny as it was I have places to be tonight, so I announced I was taking point and just walked on in. I mean, It was just a hallway, right? Who cares? Anyway, it was one of the most boring explorations I’ve been a part of. They followed, and we walked and walked and walked for like four hours without incident. Along the way, the composition of the walls changed and after about the third hour, we started to see branching paths, but nothing went anywhere. Sometimes there were shrines and idols. ███████ studied one. I don’t know if he took a picture or what, you can ask him. But it was just the single path we were on, trudging forward until the end of time.
Dr. Weiss: Hmm…
Sgt. Haislip: Yeah, I know. I pulled ███████ aside and told him, I said “Look, we don’t have the supplies for this. We need to turn back and get a research team out here. It’s easy enough to contain this, just don’t let people in the door.”
Dr. Weiss giggles.
Sgt. Haislip: He agreed and we turned back. Only then did things heat up. After another hour or so of walking, we were attacked by this humanoid… thing. I mean, I could see some vestiges of a human body, but the thing was mostly just that orange goop from the walls. It was swinging at all of us, and it caught Private Simmons across the chest. Breached his armor like a blowtorch on Styrofoam. The kid went down. The squad kept shooting the thing, but bullets were worthless. No permanent damage, anyway. The damn thing would just fill it wounds with the orange goop like the T-1000 from Terminator 2. Great movie. Anyway, I pulled the machete I carry and just cut off its head. It didn’t get up after that. Then Private Simmons looked up at me almost crying and begged me to shoot him before the infection took hold. I could see the orange crap already starting to infest his chest. So I euthanized him and took his tags.
Sgt. Haislip holds up the tags again.
Dr. Weiss: I see. Are you doing okay after that?
Sgt. Haislip laughs.
Sgt. Haislip: Doc, I saved him from whatever the hell that fungus is. I don’t need grief counseling. The only thing that bothers me is the loss. But I’ll get over that. It’s not the first time I lost someone on mission. Nature of the game, right?
Dr. Weiss: We try to mitigate it, but… yes, it’s a known hazard of your position.
Sgt. Haislip: Yeah, it’s no big deal. So after that fight, we just walked the rest of the way without incident. We arrived back at the CP, radioed home with our status and the research team and Puma Hunters arrived in a couple hours, and we came home. So hey, you wanna go get a drink?
Dr. Weiss blushes.
Dr. Weiss: You know I cannot do that, Edward. Patient doctor relationship and all.
Sgt. Haislip: Doesn’t hurt to ask. That’s it, though. Need anything else?
Dr. Weiss: Nope, that should do it.
Sgt. Haislip: Good stuff. Gonna go grab a bite to eat. I’m taking the Containment Team with me, so I’ll let them know to come talk to ya tomorrow.
Dr. Weiss: Sounds good, Edward.
<End Log, 20:03, 12 November, ████>
Closing Statement: Sergeant Haislip indicates there's an unknown entity dwelling within SCP-XXXX. Deeper exploration will be required.
Addendum: Event Log XXXX-β (Exploration Log)
| EXPLORATION MANIFEST | ||||
| EXPLORATION NO: XXXX-1 | DATE: 17 NOVEMBER ████ | |||
| DEPARTURE TIME: 0900 | RETURN TIME: TEAM LOST | |||
| NAME/DESIGNATION | SEX | EQUIPMENT | DATE OF BIRTH | NATIONALITY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| █████ ████ / Gypsy 6 | M | Radio/Pedometer | 02 JULY 1986 | USA |
| D-2927 / Gypsy 6A | M | Radio | 28 FEBRUARY 1988 | ALGERIA |
| D-2273 / Gypsy 6B | M | Radio | 17 MARCH 1988 | BHUTAN |
| D-2209 / Gypsy 6C | M | Radio | 31 DECEMBER 1992 | ARGENTINA |
| D-8572 / Gypsy 6D | M | Radio | 12 AUGUST 1996 | CHINA |
AUDIO LOG
DATE: 17 November ████
NOTE: Researcher ████ led the expedition into SCP-XXXX. Four D-Class personnel were assigned to his unit. All members were given a radio, one week’s rations, and appropriate equipment for sleep. Researcher ████ was also given a pedometer to track distance. Researchers █████ ████████ and █████ ████ manned the radios at the CP. Dr. ███████ ███████ supervised the operation.
The expedition departed after the radio tests. The unedited radio log follows.
[BEGIN LOG]
[00:26:17] Gypsy 6: CP, this is Gypsy 6.
[00:26:22] CP: Gypsy 6, this is CP. Go ahead.
[00:26:25] Gypsy 6: Just checking in. We’ve advanced far enough that we can’t see you behind us anymore.
[00:26:31] CP: Roger. Let us know if you see anything not already documented.
Radio silence for 4:43:07.
[05:09:38] Gypsy 6: CP, this is Gypsy 6.
[05:09:41] CP: Go ahead.
[05:09:44] Gypsy 6: We’ve crossed over into Zone 4. We’ve been walking a while here, and I haven’t seen any evidence of a fight. No XXXX-4 corpses or anything.
[05:09:56] CP: No body? That’s interesting. I guess it was reclaimed by XXXX-2. Have you seen any instances of XXXX-3 yet?
[05:10:05] Gypsy 6: Negative. I’ll report in if we do.
[05:10:09] CP: Roger.
Radio silence for 0:12:23.
[05:22:32] Gypsy 6: CP, this is Gypsy 6.
[05:22:35] CP: Go ahead, Gypsy 6.
[05:22:38] Gypsy 6: We’ve located an instance of XXXX-3.
[05:22:42] CP: Please describe it.
[05:22:46] Radio static begins.
[05:22:53] CP: Come in, Gypsy 6.
[05:23:01] Radio static ends.
[05:23:02] CP: Gypsy 6, talk to me.
[05:23:05] Gypsy 6: Did you get that, CP?
[05:23:08] CP: Negative. Goddamn infohazardous effect is stepping on you.
[05:23:12] Gypsy 6: Ugh, sorry. I’ll write it down to bring it back.
[05:23:17] CP: Probably won’t transfer past the doorway. Good to try, anyway. Keep exploring, please.
[05:23:23] Gypsy 6: Roger.
Radio silence for 7:32:08.
[12:55:31] Gypsy 6: CP, this is Gypsy 6.
[12:55:34] CP: Go ahead, Gypsy 6.
[12:55:36] Gypsy 6: We’re gonna bunk down for the night. We’re pretty tired.
[12:55:41] CP: Roger. What’s the reading on your pedometer?
[12:55:45] Gypsy 6: It’s, uh… 43 clicks.
[12:55:50] CP: Roger that. Radio in when you’re ready to proceed.
[12:55:55] Gypsy 6: Roger.
Radio silence for 5:12:13.
[18:08:08] Gypsy 6C: Hey, uh, hello? Can you hear me?
[18:08:14] CP: Roger, please relay your call sign.
[18:08:17] Gypsy 6C: This is, uh, Gypsy 6C?
[18:08:21] CP: Roger, Gypsy 6C.
[18:08:25] Gypsy 6C: 6D is… he’s acting weird. Feverish, maybe? Nightmares or something?
[18:08:33] CP: What happened?
[18:08:35] Gypsy 6C: I, uh, I dunno. He went into one of the, uh… the shrines. We stopped him before he picked up one of the idol thingies, but he went in there and got pretty close. He had a crazy look in his eyes, but he came out with us.
[18:08:51] CP: No cognitohazardous effects have been documented…?
[18:08:55] Gypsy 6C: Maybe it’s nothing. I dunno. He just woke me up muttering something in his sleep.
[18:09:00] CP: What did he say?
[18:09:02] Gypsy 6C: I dunno. It was just… sounds mostly. Weird stuff. I’m gonna get back to sleep. Thanks for talking to me.
[18:09:12] CP: Roger. Have Gypsy 6 call when he wakes.
Radio silence for 4:27:41.
[22:36:53] Gypsy 6: CP, this is Gypsy 6. We’re ready to move out.
[22:36:57] CP: Roger, Gypsy 6. Report anything interesting.
Radio silence for 17:37:52.
[40:14:49] Gypsy 6: CP, this is Gypsy 6.
[40:14:52] CP: Gypsy 6, we haven’t heard from you all day. Report.
[40:14:56] Gypsy 6: Nothing interesting. This path just goes on forever. We’ve lost all sense of time. You can’t tell if it’s day or night in here… everything’s just… orange. We had an incident today, CP.
[40:15:11] CP: Why didn’t you call it in?
[40:15:13] Gypsy 6: Didn’t seem important. Everything seems okay. Anyway, God damned 8572 tried to steal an idol from one of the shrines. We knocked it out of his hands and just kicked it back in. Nobody else wanted to touch the thing – very creepy looking. Almost like <radio static>…-40. Crazy shit.
[40:15:40] CP: Roger. You know we can’t hear you when you talk about it, right?
[40:15:44] Gypsy 6: laughing I forgot. In the moment, you know? Anyway, we’re preparing for sleep. I’ll radio in when we’re on the move in the morning.
[40:15:56] CP: Roger. Read your pedometer to me please.
[40:16:00] Gypsy 6: Oh yeah! Forgot about that, it says… 105 kilometers. Wow, we’ve walked really far!
[40:16:10] CP: Roger. We’ll talk to you in the morning, Gypsy 6.
Radio silence for 8:57:25.
[49:13:35] Gypsy 6: CP, we’re up and on our way.
[49:13:38] CP: Roger. What’s 6D’s status?
[49:13:42] Gypsy 6: Didn’t want to get up, that’s for sure.
[49:13:46] CP: Say again?
[49:13:48] Gypsy 6: He was just tossing and turning like he was caught in a nightmare. Now he’s just sitting over there staring at 6C. It’s creepy, honestly.
[49:13:58] CP: 6C called in night before last, reporting that 6D seemed to have fallen prey to an undocumented cognitohazardous effect of XXXX-3. Has his behavior changed?
[49:14:10] Gypsy 6: Very much so. But he’s a D-Class, I don’t know what normal is for these loonies. Distant. No offense, guys.
[49:14:19]Gypsy 6C: Distant. Eh, no problem, man.
[49:14:22] Gypsy 6 yelps as a crash is heard through the radio, followed by yelling.
[49:14:23]Gypsy 6: What the-
[49:14:24] CP: Gypsy 6, come in.
Radio silence for 0:01:32.
[49:15:56] Gypsy 6: Labored breathing. CP, this is 6.
[49:16:01] CP: What happened?
[49:16:04] Gypsy 6: Labored breathing. Fucking 8572 attacked 2209. Gouged out his damn eyes. I took off running. 2273 and 2927 are with me. I think we’re outpacing 8572. I’m pretty sure he’s a XXXX-4 at this point. What the fuck happened?
[49:16:25] CP: You reported he touched a XXXX-3, yes?
[49:16:30] Gypsy 6: Labored breathing. Yeah, he did.
[49:16:33] CP: Did anyone else?
[49:16:35] Gypsy 6: Labored breathing. No. I guess that’s what happened, then. He picked it up and it infested him. Write that down, doc.
[49:16:43] CP: Already did. So what’s your status? You’re just… running away? Further down the hallway, or toward us? And is the XXXX-4 instance giving chase?
[49:16:53] Gypsy 6: Labored breathing. I’m running further down. And it was chasing when I started, so I can only assume it’s still chasing. It was shambling, though. No way it’s going to catch me like that.
[49:17:04] CP: Roger.
Radio silence for 0:12:37.
[49:29:41] Gypsy 6: Labored breathing. Still running, doc. Somewhere along the way I lost 2273 and 2927. Guess all that cardio’s paying off right about now.
[49:29:51] CP: Roger. Is the end in sight? What’s your pedometer?
[49:29:55] Gypsy 6: Labored breathing. 107 and change, doc. I’ll radio in if anything crazy happens. For now, I’m just gonna keep running. I’m not sprinting anymore, so it’s gotten comfortable.
[49:30:18] CP: Roger, just keep me in the loop.
Radio silence for 2:23:17.
[51:53:35] Gypsy 6: Whispering. CP, this is Gypsy 6.
[51:53:39] CP: Roger, Gypsy 6. What’s your status?
[51:53:42] Gypsy 6: Whispering. Agitated. Jesus Christ, keep it down. Let me turn this thing down. 2 seconds of silence. Okay. So my pedometer’s at 134.693. The corridor is opening up, but it’s actually really dark ahead. I can’t see what’s happening, but this doesn’t look at all like the shrines behind me.
[51:54:30] CP: Roger, Gypsy 6. We register you’re at 134.693 kilometers past the door, and you’re entering a large dark room. Has there been any sign of the XXXX-4 instance?
[51:54:40] Gypsy 6: Whispering. Negative, doc. It’s just me in here… Me and whatever else is ahead of me. This is weird, doc. I can see things moving in the shad—
[51:54:50] Researcher ████’s voice is cut off with a gurgle.
[51:54:51] A heavy thud followed shortly by a lighter thud.
[51:54:53] A quiet hiss followed by the footfalls of multiple entities and the vocalization of an unknown language. The creatures are moving away from the microphone.
37 minutes of relative silence. There's quiet rustling, akin to the sound of bugs crawling in dead leaves, and the quiet flowing and sloshing of liquid, like a creek falling down shallow terraces. Periodically, a hiss can be heard, or a short agitated burst in the unknown language.
[52:33:27] Footfalls approach. Rustling can be heard, then a crash followed by silence.
No further transmissions come through.
[END LOG]
Okay, I have no idea what’s in there, or what it was that attacked Researcher ████, but I want more security on this house right this instant. A whole platoon split between the inside and outside of that house. Whatever the hell that is, we can’t let it out. And get a fence up. Make it look like a military compound for all I care. We can’t let that out, and we certainly can’t let civilians in. Safety first, guys.
- Dr. ███████
Addendum XXXX-γ (Containment Guard Schedule)
| GUARD SCHEDULE EXAMPLE | ||||
| 00:00 – 06:00 | 06:00 – 12:00 | 12:00 – 18:00 | 18:00 – 00:00 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squad 1 | Interior | Exterior | Reserve | Rest |
| Squad 2 | Exterior | Reserve | Rest | Interior |
| Squad 3 | Reserve | Rest | Interior | Exterior |
| Squad 4 | Rest | Interior | Exterior | Reserve |
Item #: SCP-XXXX
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX is to be held within a standard humanoid containment unit within Hall ██ of Site-██. All staff stationed at, or D-Class personnel held at Site-██ are to be briefed on subject’s anomalous effects. Following Interview XXXX-A, all personnel are to receive a complete medical screening before contact with SCP-XXXX. Any medical issue precludes personnel from interaction with SCP-XXXX.
Description: SCP-XXXX is a female humanoid of Caucasian descent. SCP-XXXX has brown hair and brown eyes, and appears to be 25 years old. The words “Ms. Surgery, from Little Misters® by Dr. Wondertainment” are tattooed on the rear of its right shoulder.
SCP-XXXX is able to, on sight, accurately determine whether a person or animal requires surgery for an illness or injury, as well as specifically which surgery is required. Additionally, SCP-XXXX is able to anomalously produce medical tools from behind its back to perform surgery to resolve any illness or injury requiring such surgery. SCP-XXXX claims a 100% recovery rate, but researchers have uncovered instances of seemingly unrelated repercussions in up to 56% of surgeries. Side effects of surgeries need not coincide with the nature of the surgery. Reported side effects include all varieties of color blindness, congenital analgesia3, aplastic anemia4, ███████████5, and death.
SCP-XXXX prefers to wear scrubs, opting for pastel shades when afforded the opportunity, and crocs. Subject is able to produce a business card from the pocket of any clothing worn. The card appears to have been edited when produced. Additional titles and memberships are written in following SCP-XXXX’s “name”.
SCP-XXXX is afflicted with a growing compulsion to perform surgery on personnel requiring a procedure that is only satisfied upon completion of said procedure. As the compulsion grows, Subject will take increasingly dangerous steps necessary to accomplish the procedure, to include kidnapping the target and attacking bystanders who attempt to interfere. SCP-XXXX’s attacks exclusively consist of precision surgical strikes which incapacitate victims; e.g. slashes to the calcaneal tendon, femoral artery, brachial artery, and carotid artery. Subject does, however, take caution with its attacks such that the victim(s) can be surgically restored to full health following the initial procedure. SCP-XXXX is not compelled to restore the victim’s health.
Addendum: Interview 4632-1 Transcript
[BEGIN LOG]
SCP-XXXX is escorted into the interview room by security personnel armed with standard anti-personnel equipment. SCP-XXXX stands next to the chair on its side of the table until a guard pulls the chair out. SCP-XXXX huffs loudly and sits.
SCP-XXXX: Impatiently. Thank you.
Dr. Donovan: Good morning. Please state your name for the record.
SCP-XXXX: Good morning, doctor. You may call me Ms. Surgery. Are you feeling well, sir?
Dr. Donovan: My name is Dr. Donovan, and I'm feeling fine. What were you doing in Pittsburgh the other day?
SCP-XXXX: I was seeing a patient. Are you sure you're well, doctor? No pain in your knee? You haven't noticed limited mobility?
Dr. Donovan: I'm fine. It was a torn ACL back in high school. Let's talk about your patient. Had you met with him before?
SCP-XXXX: No, doctor. He came to me for surgery; but let's talk about you. A torn ACL is a big deal. You'll need surgery to fix that up, you know.
Dr. Donovan: I'm fine, I said. Mr. ███████, your patient, reported you pulled him off the street into an alleyway and laid him out on the ground and just started cutting him up.
SCP-XXXX: Impatiently. Mr. ███████ was suffering from an early stage gastrointestinal stromal turmor. I cut it out and now he's without cancer. I cured him, doctor. Now let's talk about curing you.
Dr. Donovan: I don't need surgery. How could you tell Mr. ███████ had cancer?
SCP-XXXX: Impatiently. I just could. It's how they made me. I can see when someone needs surgery, and I can perform that surgery for them. My patience recover 100% of the time, doctor. Let's see that knee.
Dr. Donovan: How who made you?
SCP-XXXX: Exasperated. Dr. Wondertainment, of course. Now get on this table for surgery!
SCP-XXXX leaps from its chair across the table, grabbing at Dr. Donovan as he leaps away. The guards move to immobilize SCP-XXXX, who responds by producing a scalpel from an unknown source and slashing across the rear of one guard's left leg, severing his semimembranosus muscle6.
Dr. Donovan: Stop, stop! Let's talk about this!
SCP-XXXX slows its advance as it moves away from the fallen guard. The other guard backs away as well.
SCP-XXXX: Enticingly. Doctor, talking isn't going to resolve your issue. Stop fighting this, and let me help you. It's a simple procedure. We cut you open, we reattach the ACL properly, and we sew you up. You can walk home; it's an outpatient procedure.
//One of the researchers watching on the other side of the one-way mirror chimes in, reporting about Mr. ███████'s progress.
Researcher XXXX-1: Doc, Mr. ███████ reports he's made a full recovery. Miraculous, given the time frame. We have researchers looking into it, but if this skip's telling the truth, it might be worth letting it look at your knee. Hopefully, it can fix it and you can stop complaining all the time.
SCP-XXXX: Yes, doctor. Let me help you. It'll be fine.
Dr. Donovan: Guard, capture SCP-XXXX already!
The remaining guard lunges at SCP-XXXX. SCP-XXXX points the scalpel menacingly at the guard before slashing at his throat as he nears, nicking his carotid artery. it then leaps at Dr. Donovan, producing a hypodermic needle and injecting an undetermined substance into him before laying him on the interrogation table and beginning knee surgery. The surgery lasts 40 seconds and is uninterrupted. A security team rushes into the interrogation room as Dr. Donovan begins to sit up on the table and SCP-XXXX finishes sewing up the guard's throat. SCP-XXXX drops its needle and raises its hands over its head.SCP-XXXX: May I have a moment to reattach this man's semimembranosus muscle before you take me away?
[END LOG]
//Note: Dr. Donovan reports full recovery from all damage caused by the ACL injury he sustained as a teenager. His full range of motion is restored. He also reports that he now exhibits symptoms of protanopia7.
Years ago, one of my researchers came storming into my office and told me about a new object we had in containment. This object, a keter object, was a book. A Book. Can you imagine? Does it have teeth to bite you? Is there some kind of infohazard? Some effect on physical contact?
None of that. Imagine, for a moment, that your biography was written. That it was all true. You were born the day it says, and you’ll die the day it says, the way it says. Now, imagine that if this book comes into contact with something that could be used to write in it, the text expands. Maybe battles you lost were instead won. Maybe you live another year.
Now imagine that this book isn’t about you, but about a sinister ancient culture based out of south-central Siberia that worships an evil non-Abrahamic entity. That it’s about a culture that hoards slaves and practices magic and that it’s warmongering and subjugates every culture around it and sacrifices people to the Scarlet King.
That’s the book. I asked where it came from, and I was told that it’s from Spencer Dawson’s office. I’m told that the historian authority slashed his own wrists so he could see what happened next in the book.
So we keep it hidden, away from ink and toner and blood. And my boss wanted me to put together a brief summary. So, without further ado, I present to you “A History of the Daevites”, the CliffsNotes edition. Read on, if you dare.
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Table of Contents
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Daevic Culture
PLEASE NOTE
THE TEXT OF THIS DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE ON THE CIVILIAN ONLINE EDITABLE ENCYCLOPEDIA, WIKIPEDIA, IN A HEAVILY EDITED AND REDACTED FORM TO MAINTAIN THE HISTORY OF THE SCYTHIAN NATION AS IT EXISTED PRIOR TO DAEVIC INJECTION. SEE http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythians FOR DETAILS.
The Daevites (/ˈdeɪ.vaɪt/; from ancient Daevic 𒁲𒄿𒁀𒄿𒌅), known to civilians as Scythians, also as Scyth, Saka, Sacae, Sai, Iskuzai, or Askuzai, are a warmongering nation which began on the Eurasian continent, using a language predating the Proto-Indo-European language. They were mentioned by the literate peoples to their south as inhabiting large areas of the western and central Eurasian Steppe until the 3rd century BCE, and resurging in the 2nd century BCE until the late 12th century CE. The “classical Scythians” known to ancient Greek historians, agreed at that time to be mainly Iranian in origin, were located in the northern Black Sea and fore-Caucasus region. Other “Scythian” groups documented by Assyrian, Achaemenid, and Chinese sources show that they also existed in Central Asia, where they were referred to as the the Iskuzai/Askuzai, Saka (Old Persian: Sakā; New Persian/Pashto: ساکا; Sanskrit: शक; Greek: Σάκαι; Latin: Sacae), and Sai (Chinese: 塞; Old Chinese: *sˤək), respectively.
The cultural relationships between the peoples living in these widely separated regions are tenuous, save the ruling parties and their imposed culture, and so the term is used in both a broad and narrow sense. The term “Scythian” is used by modern civilian scholars in an archaeological context for finds perceived to display attributes of the wider “Scytho-Siberian” culture, usually without implying an ethnic or linguistic connotation. The term “Scythic” may also be used in a similar way, “to describe a special phase that followed the widespread diffusion of mounted nomadism, characterized by the presence of special weapons, horse gear, and animal art in the form of metal plaques”. Their westernmost territories during the Iron Age were known to classical Greek sources as Scythia, and in the more narrow sense “Scythian” is restricted to these areas, where the “Scythian” languages were spoken. Different definitions of “Scythian” have been used, leading to a good deal of confusion.
The term “Daevite” is used in both broad and narrow context by Foundation researchers to describe the specific ruling parties and their accompanying contingents, as well as the ritualistic devices used in the subjugation of the conquered, and even the culture at large, synonymously with the civilian term “Scythic”.
The Daevites were among the earliest peoples to master mounted warfare. They maintained urban centers where they ruled over slave populations, kept horses, cattle, and sheep, and lived in lavish palaces. They fought on horseback, using bows and arrows as well as many varieties of thaumaturgy, to include the animation of golems to fight by their side. They developed a rich culture characterized by opulent tombs, fine metalwork, and a brilliant art style. They were also largely known for militarism, conquest, ancestor worship, gruesome human sacrifice, and the practice of efficacious thaumaturgic rituals. In the 8th century BCE, they possibly raided Zhou China. Soon after, they expanded westward and dislodged the Cimmerians from power in the Pontic Steppe. At their peak, the Daevite Empire came to dominate the entire steppe zone, stretching from the Carpathian Mountains in the west to central China (Ordos culture) and south Siberia (Tagar culture) in the east, creating what has been referred to as the first “Central Asian nomadic empire”, though there was very little in the way of nomadic life.
Historically based in what is modern-day Ukraine, Southern European Russia, Crimea, and Siberia, the Daevites are ruled over by an inhuman class known as the Daeva. The Daevites are responsible for establishing the Silk Road, a vast trade network connecting Greece, Persia, India, and China, perhaps contributing to the contemporary flourishing of those civilizations. Settled metalworkers made portable decorative objects for the Daevites, and herbomancers crafted tree-based golems to assist in their conquests. These objects survive mainly in metal, forming a distinctive Scythian art, though the Foundation has indeed located numerous organic golems, classified as SCP-3140. In the 7th century BCE, the Daevites crossed the Caucasus and frequently raided the Middle East along with the Cimmerians, playing an important role in the political developments of the region. Around 650-630 BCE, Daevites briefly dominated the Medes of the western Iranian Plateau, stretching their power to the borders of Egypt. After losing control over Media, the Daevites continued intervening in Middle Eastern affairs, playing a leading role in the destruction of the Assyrian Empire in the Sack of Nineveh in 612 BCE. The Daevites subsequently engaged in frequent conflicts with the Achaemenid Empire. The western Daevites suffered a major defeat against Macedonia in the 4th century BCE and were subsequently gradually repelled by the Sarmatians, an Iranian people from Central Asia. The remaining Daevites were attacked by the Yuezhi, Wusun, and Xiongnu in the 2nd century BCE, wherein the Chinese general Qin Kai almost completely destroyed the Daevite civilization. The few remaining Daevites fled back into Siberia to lick their wounds and steadily rebuild their empire, while the surviving slaves and captives fled into South Asia, where they became known as Indo-Scythians. At some point, perhaps as late as the 3rd century CE, after the demise of the Han dynasty and the Xiongnu, the Daevites crossed the Pamir Mountains and settled in western Tarim Basin, where the “Scythian” Khotanese and Tumshugese languages are attested in Brahmi scripture from the 10th and 11th centuries CE. The Kingdom of Khotan, a Daevite stronghold, was then conquered by the Kara-Khadnid Khanate, which led to the Islamisation and Turkification of northwest China. The Daevite culture was ultimately eradicated by Genghis Khan during his great unification. The remaining Scythians and their closely related Sarmatians were assimilated and absorbed (e.g. Slavicisation) by the Proto-Slavic population of the region.
Names and Terminology
In the strict sense “Scythian” refers to the nomadic culture north of the Black Sea and is distinguished from the very similar Sarmatians who lived north of the Caspian and later replaced the Scythians proper. The Persian term Saka is used for the Scythians in central Asia. The Chinese used the term Sai (Chinese: 塞; Old Chinese: *sˤək), for Sakas who once inhabited the valleys of the Ili River and Chu River and moved into the Tarim Basin. Herodotus said the Scythians called themselves Skolotoi.
Iskuzai or Askuzai is an Assyrian term for raiders south of the Caucasus who were probably Scythian. A group of Saka-Scythians went south and gave their name to Sakastan. Near the end of this article is an exhaustive list of peoples who have been called Scythians.
Oswald Szemerényi studied the various words for Scythian and gave the following: Skuthes Σκύθης, Skudra, Sug(u)da, and Saka.
- The first three descend from the Indo-European root *(s)kewd-, meaning “propel, shoot” (cognate with English shoot). *skud- is the zero-grade form of the same root. Szemerényi restores the Scythians' self-name as *skuda (roughly “archer”). This yields the ancient Greek Skuthēs Σκύθης (plural Skuthai Σκύθαι) and Assyrian Aškuz; Old Armenian: սկիւթ skiwtʰ is from itacistic Greek. A late Scythian sound change from /d/ to /l/ give the Greek word Skolotoi (Σκώλοτοι, Herodotus 4.6), from Scythian *skula which, according to Herodotus, was the term used to describe the Royal Scythians. Other sound changes gave Sogdia.
- The form reflected in Old Persian: Sakā, Greek: Σάκαι, Latin: Sacae, Sanskrit: शक Śaka comes from an Iranian verbal root sak-, “go, roam” and thus means “nomad”.
In the broadest sense and in archaeology Scythian and Scythic can be used for all of the steppe nomads at the beginning of recorded history. The grasslands of Mongolia and north China are often excluded, but the Ordos culture and Tagar culture seem to have had significant “Scythian” features. More commonly, “Scythian” is restricted to the nomads of the western and central steppe who spoke Scythian languages of the Iranian family. If other languages were used in the region, civilians have no definite evidence.
Foundation research, however, has yielded that while “Scythian” can indeed be used to describe the indigenous nomadic peoples of the steppe’s grasslands, the term “Daevite” must be used to describe the peoples ruling the Scythians and guiding their conquests with their inhuman machinations.
Origins
Literary Evidence
The Daevites first appeared in the historical record in the 8th century BCE. Herodotus reported three contradictory versions as to the origins of the Daevites, but placed greatest faith in his version, referring to them as “Scythians”:
There is also another different story, now to be related, in which I am more inclined to put faith than in any other. It is that the wandering Scythians once dwelt in Asia, and there warred with tthe Massagetae, but with ill success; they therefore quitted their homes, crossed the Araxes, and entered the land of Cimmeria.
Accounts by Herodotus of Daevite origins has been discounted by civilian research recently; although his accounts of Daevite raiding activities contemporary to his writings have been deemed more reliable. Moreover, the term Scythian, like Cimmerian, was used to refer to a variety of groups from the Black Sea to southern Siberia and central Asia. “They were not a specific people”, but rather a variety of peoples “referred to at a variety of times in history, and in several places, none of which was their original homeland.” The New Testament includes a single reference to Scythians in Colossians 3:11.
The Foundation has a contained anomalous object (designated SCP-140) which outlines the history of the Daevite culture in great detail. This work serves as evidence of the Daevites which far predates the 8th century BCE.
Sarkic weapons, armor, and trinkets have been discovered among Minoan ruins on the island of Santorini, placing Sarkic origins at least before the eruption event which triggered the complete collapse of Minoan civilization in the 16th century BCE. Daevic tablets dated to approximately 1800 BCE refer to a slave rebellion in the northernmost province, led by a charismatic heresiarch and “half-blood”, alluding to the deviation of the Sarkites from the Daevites nearly four thousand years ago.
Archaeology
Modern interpretation of historical, archaeological, and anthropological evidence has proposed two broad hypotheses. The first, formerly more espoused by Soviet and then Russian researchers, roughly followed Herodotus’ (third) account, holding that the Daevites were an eastern Iranian group who arrived from Inner Asia, i.e. from the area of Turkestan and western Siberia.
The second hypothesis, according to Ghirshman and others, proposes that the Daevite cultural complex emerged from local groups of the “Timber Grave” (or Srubna) culture at the coast of the Black Sea, though this is also associated with the Cimmerians. According to Dolukhanov, this proposal is supported by anthropological evidence which has found that Daevite skulls are similar to preceding findings from the Timber Grave culture, and distinct from those of the Central Asian Sacae. Yet, according to Mallory, the archaeological evidence is poor, and the Andronovo culture and “at least the eastern outliers of the Timber Grave culture” may be identified as Indo-Iranian.
Others have further stressed that “Scythian” was a very broad term used by both ancient and modern scholars to describe a whole host of otherwise unrelated peoples sharing only certain similarities in lifestyle, cultural practices, and language. The 1st millennium BCE ushered a period of unprecedented cultural and economic connectivity amongst disparate and wide-ranging communities. A mobile, broadly similar lifestyle would have facilitated contacts amongst disparate ethnic groupings along the expansive Eurasian steppe from the Danube to Manchuria, leading to many cultural similarities. From the viewpoint of Greek and Persian ancient observers, they were all lumped together under the etic category “Scythians”.
However, it must be noted that very few traces of Daeva DNA have been found amongst the various archaeological digs attributed to Scythian finds. The leading hypothesis suggests that the Daeva simply subjugated numerous peoples and that those are the “Scythians” referred to by civilian scientists.
The average lifespan of the Daeva is unknown at this time.
History
Neolithic Period (Before 600 BCE)
The period predating Classical Antiquity is only expounded upon in the text of SCP-140. Through the writings therein, we find that the Daeva arrived on our planet via what is best described as an Einstein-Rosen bridge, the portal to which opened in south-central Siberia. Upon the waters of Lake Shira (Russian: оз. Ширa), a portal opened to the Daeva’s home, and from that portal, the Daeva stepped onto the surface of the water and walked south to the shore.
The Daeva subjugated all they found, and their empire grew to encompass most of Eurasia, until about 1800 BCE when a passage describes a slave rebellion in the farthest north province led by a charismatic leader of heretics and “half-blood”. Additional research into Sarkicism correlates this with a “Grand Karcist Ion” and his campaign to separate himself from the Daeva. “Grand Karcist Ion” went on to found Sarkicism.
The Sarkic Empire grew, winning land from the Daevic Empire, until about 1200 BCE At this time, the Daevites only held a small city-state in Mongolia.
In the late 13th/early 12th century BCE, a great war took place between the Sarkites (the Kalmaktama [Deathless] Empire) and a coalition of Mediterranean peoples including the Egyptians, Mycenaean Greeks, Minoans, Canaanites, Assyrians, and Mekhanites. Specific details of this war are unknown, but it is theorized that the Mediterranean coalition deployed Colossi (see SCP-2406 for details) and a substance resembling “Greek fire” (traditionally theorized to have been developed in 672 CE) which turned the tide against the Sarkites. When the war ended, the Kalmaktama Empire, along with the Sarkites, was assumed destroyed.
The damage caused by the Kalmaktaman war was great, and many civilizations did not recover, resulting in the collapse of various kingdoms, a crisis of refugees, the decline of art, literature, science, and technology, and a lingering disease and famine caused by Sarkic biological weaponry; an event later known to historians as the Late Bronze Age collapse.
Without the Sarkic influence pressing them, the Daevites quickly resumed expansion. Before the first historian reference to the Daevites, they will have expanded as far west as the Black Sea, across the entire Eurasian steppe.
Classical Antiquity (600 BCE to CE 300)
Herodotus provides the first detailed civilian description of the Daevites. He classes the Cimmerians as a distinct autochthonous tribe, expelled by the Daevites from the northern Black Sea coast (Hist. 4.11-12). Herodotus also states (4.6) that the Daevites, as named “Scythians”, consisted of the Auchatae, Catiaroi, Traspians, and Paralatae or “Royal Scythians”, the latter referring to the Daeva.
For Herodotus, the Scythians were outlandish barbarians living north of the Black Sea in what are now Moldova, Ukraine, and Crimea
-Michael Kulikowski, Rome's Gothic Wars from the Third Century to Alaric, p14
In 512 BCE, when King Darius the Great of Persia attacked the Daevites, he allegedly penetrated into their land after crossing the Danube. Herodotus relates that the nomadic Scythians frustrated the Persian army by letting it march through the entire country without an engagement. According to Herodotus, Darius in this manner came as far as the Volga River.
Note: This seems incredibly unlikely, given the warlike nature of the Daevite culture. However,
as there is no contention of the issue within SCP-140, we’ll have to accept it at this time.
During the 5th to 3rd centuries BCE, the Daevites evidently prospered. When Herodotus wrote his Histories in the 5th century BCE, Greeks distinguished Scythia Minor, in present-day Romania and Bulgaria, from a Greater Scythia that extended eastwards for a 20-day ride from the Danube River, across the steppes of today's East Ukraine to the lower Don basin. The Don, then known as Tanaïs, has served as a major trading route ever since. The Daevites apparently obtained their wealth from their control over the slave trade from the north to Greece through the Greek Black Sea colonial ports of Olbia, Chersonesos, Cimmerian Bosporus, and Gorgippia. They also grew grain and shipped wheat, flocks, and cheese to Greece.
Strabo (c. 63 BCE – CE 24) reports that during an absence of local rule, King Ateas united the local Daevite population living between the Maeotian marches and the Danube under his power. His westward expansion brought him into conflict with Philip II of Macedon (r. 359 to 336 BCE), who took military action against the Daevites in 339 BCE. Ateas died in battle, and his empire disintegrated. In the aftermath of this defeat, the Celts seem to have displaced the Daevites from the Balkans; while in south Russia, a kindred tribe, the Sarmatians, gradually overwhelmed them. In 329 BCE, Philip’s son, Alexander the Great, came into conflict with the Daevites at the Battle of Jaxartes. A Daevite army sought to take revenge against the Macedonians for the death of Ateas, as they pushed the borders of their empire north and east, and to take advantage of a revolt by the local Sogdian satrap. However, the Daevite army was defeated by Alexander at the Battle of Jaxartes. Alexander did not intend to subdue the Daevites. He wanted to go to the south, where a far more serious crisis demanded his attention. He could do so now without loss of face; and in order to make the outcome acceptable, he released the Daevite prisoners of war without ransom in order to broker a peace agreement. This policy was successful, and the Daevites no longer harassed Alexander’s empire. By the time of Strabo’s account (the first decades CE), the Crimean Daevites had enslaved a new kingdom extending from the lower Dnieper to the Crimea. The kings Skilurus and Palakus waged wars with Mithridates the Great (r. 120-63 BCE) for control of the Crimean littoral, including Chersonesos Taurica and the Cimmerian Bosporus. Their capital city, Scythian Neapolis, stood on the outskirts of modern Simferopol. The Goths destroyed it later, in the mid-3rd century CE.
Sakas of the Eastern Steppe
Modern scholars usually use the term Saka to refer to Iranian-speaking tribes who inhabited the Eastern Steppe and the Tarim Basin. Ancient Persian inscriptions also used Saka to refer to western Daevites to the north of the Black Sea – the Sakā paradraya, or “Saka beyond the sea”.
In the Achaemenid-era Old Persian inscriptions found at Persepolis, dated to the reign of Darius I (r. 522-486 BCE), the Saka are said to have lived just beyond the borders of Sogdiana. The term Sakā para Sugdam or “Saka beyond Sugda (Sogdiana)” was used by Darius to describe the people who formed the limits of his empire at the opposite end to Kush (the Ethiopians) in the west, i.e., at the eastern edge of his empire. An inscription dated to the reign of Xerxes I (r. 486-465 BCE) has them coupled with the Dahae people of Central Asia. Two Saka tribes named in the Behistun Inscription, Sakā tigraxaudā (“Saka with pointy hats/caps”) and the Sakā haumavargā (“haoma-drinking saka”), may be located to the east of the Caspian Sea. Some argued that the Sakā haumavargā may be the Sakā para Sugdam, therefore Sakā haumavargā would be located further east than the Sakā tigraxaudā. Some argued for the Pamirs or Xinjiang as their location, although Jaxartes is considered to be their more likely location given that the name says “beyond Sogdiana” rather than Bactria.
Cyrus the Great of the Persian Achaemenid Empire fought the Saka whose women were said to fight alongside their men. According to Herodotus, Cyrus the Great also confronted the Massagetae, a people thought to be related to the Saka, while campaigning to the east of the Caspian Sea and was killed in battle in 530 BCE. Darius the Great also waged wars against the eastern Saka, who fought him with three armies led by three kings according to Polyaenus. In 520-519 BCE, Darius I defeated the Sakā tigraxaudā tribe and captured their king Skunkha (depicted as wearing a pointy hat in the Behistun inscription). The territories of the Saka were absorbed into the Achaemenid Empire as a part of Chorasmia that included much of Amu Darya (Oxus) and Syr Darya (Jaxartes), and the Saka then allegedly supplied the Persian army with a large number of mounted bowmen in the Achaemenid wars.
Note: This also seems out of character, but will be accepted under the previous context as well.
In the Chinese Book of Han, the valleys of the Ili River and Chu River were called the “land of the Sai”, i.e. the Daevites. The exact date of their arrival in this region of Central Asia is unclear; perhaps it was just before the reign of Darius I. Around 30 Sai tombs in the form of kurgans (burial mounds) have also been found in the Tian Shan area dated to between 550-250 BCE. Indications of Sai presence have also been found in the Tarim Basin region, possibly as early as the 7th century BCE. Some modern scholars thought that the sacking of the Western Zhou capital Haojing in 770 BCE might have been connected to a Sai raid from the Altai before their westward expansion.
However, as a consequence of the fight for supremacy between the Xiongnu and other groups, the Sai were pushed toward Bactria, and later on southward to northwest India and eastward to the oasis city-states of the western Tarim Basin of Xinjiang in Northwest China.
Accounts of the migration of the Sai are given in Chinese texts such as Sima Qian’s Shiji. The Indo-European Yuezhi, who originally lived between Dunhuang and the Qilian Mountains of Gansu, China, were assaulted and forced to flee from the Hexi Corridor of Gansu by the Mongolic forces of the Xiongnu ruler Modu Chanyu, who conquered the area in 177-176 BCE. In turn, the Yuezhi were responsible for attacking and pushing the Sai southwest into Sogdiana, where in the mid-2nd century BCE the latter crossed the Syr Darya into the Hellenistic Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, but also into the Fergana Valley where they settled in Dayuan. The ancient Greco-Roman geographer Strabo claims that the four tribes of the Asii, who took down the Bactrians in the Greek and Roman account, came from land north of Syr Darya where the Ili and Chu valleys are located. These tribes warred with and defeated the Sai. The freed Sai slaves then migrated down to the northwest area of the Indian subcontinent where they became known as Indo-Scythians, as well as eastward toward the settlements of the Tarim Basin in present-day China such as Khotan and Tumshaq.
Khotan and the kingdoms of the Tarim Basin
The Sai migrated from Bactria where they eventually settled in some of the oasis city-states of the Tarim Basin that at times fell under the influence of the Chinese Han Dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE). These states in the Tarim basin include Khotan, Kashgar, Shache (莎車, probably named after the Daevite inhabitants), Yanqui (焉耆, Karasahr) and Qiuci (龜茲, Kucha).
The official administrative language of Khotan and nearby Shanshan was Gandhari Prakrit in the Kharosthi script. There are, however, indications that Daevites were linked to the ruling elite – 3rd-century documents from Shanshan record the title of the king of Khotan as hinajha (i.e. “Generalissimo”), an Iranian-based word equivalent to the Sanskrit title senapati, yet nearly identical to the Khotanese Saka hīnāysa attested in later documents. That the regnal periods were also given in Khotanese as ksuna “implies an established connection between the Iranian inhabitants and the royal power” according to the late Professor of Iranian Studies Ronald E. Emmerick (d. 2001). He contended that Khotanese-Saka- language royal rescripts of Khotan dated to the 10th century “makes it likely that the ruler of Khotan was a speaker of Iranian.” Furthermore, he argued that the oldest form of the name of Khotan, hvatana, may be linked semantically with the name Saka.
During China’s Tang dynasty (618-907 CE), the region once again came under Chinese suzerainty with the campaigns of conquest by Emperor Taizong of Tang (r. 626-649). From the late 8th to 9th centuries, the region changed hands between the Chinese Tang Empire and the rival Tibetan Empire. The kingdom existed until it was conquered by the Muslim Turkic peoples of the Kara-Khanid Khanate, which led to both the Turkification and Islamisation of the region and ultimately the final fall of the Daevic Empire to Genghis Khan.
Late Antiquity
In Late Antiquity, the notion of a Scythian ethnicity grew vaguer and outsiders might dub any people inhabiting the Pontic-Caspian steppe as “Scythians”, regardless of their language. Thus, Priscus, a Byzantine emissary to Attila, repeatedly referred to the latter’s followers as “Scythians”. But Eunapius, Claudius Cladanius, and Olympiodorus usually mean “Goths” when they write “Scythians.”
The Goths had displaced the Sarmatians in the 2nd century from most areas near the Roman frontier, and by early medieval times, the early Slavs (Proto-Slavs) marginalized Eastern Iranian dialects in Eastern Europe as they assimilated and absorbed the Iranian ethnic groups in the region. The Turkic migration assimilated the Saka linguistically in Central Asia.
Although the classical Scythians may have largely disappeared by the 1st century BCE, Eastern Romans continued to speak conventionally of “Scythians” to designate Germanic tribes and confederations or mounted Eurasian nomadic barbarians in general: In 448 BCE two mounted “Scythians” led the emissary Priscus to Attila’s encampment in Pannonia. The Byzantines in this case carefully distinguished the Scythians from the Goths and Huns who also followed Attila.
The Sarmatians (including the Alans and finally the Ossetians) counted as Scythians in the broadest sense of the word – as speakers of Eastern Iranian languages, and are considered mostly of Iranian descent.
Byzantine sources also refer to the Rus raiders who attacked Constantinople circa 860 in contemporary accounts as “Tauroscythians” because of their geographical origin and despite their lack of any ethnic relation to Scythians. Patriarch Photius may have first applied the term to them during the Seige of Constantinople (860).
Archaeology
Archaeological remains of the Scythians include kurgan tombs (ranging from simple exemplars to elaborate "Royal kurgans" containing the "Scythian triad" of weapons, horse-harness, and Scythian-style wild-animal art), gold, silk, and animal sacrifices, in places also with suspected human sacrifices. Mummification techniques and permafrost have aided in the relative preservation of some remains. Scythian archaeology also examines the remains of North Pontic Scythian cities and fortifications.
The spectacular Scythian grave-goods from Arzhan, and others in Tuva, have been dated from about 900 BCE onward. One grave find on the lower Volga gave a similar date, and one of the Steblev graves from the East European end of the Scythian area was dated to the late 8th century BCE.
Archaeologists can distinguish three periods of ancient Scythian archaeological remains:
- 1st period – pre-Scythian and initial Scythian epoch: from the 9th to the middle of the 7th century BCE
- 2nd period – early Scythian epoch: from the 7th to the 6th centuries BCE
- 3rd period – classical Scythian epoch: from the 5th to the 4th centuries BCE
From the 8th to the 2nd centuries BCE, archaeology records a split into two distinct settlement areas: the older in the Sayan-Altai area in Central Asia, and the younger in the North Pontic area in Eastern Europe.
An alternative scheme, relating to the "narrow" definition at the Western end of the steppe and into Europe, has:
- Early Scythian – from the mid-8th or the late 7th century BCE to about 500 BCE
- Classical Scythian or Mid-Scythian – from about 500 BCE to about 300 BCE
- Late Scythian – from about 200 BCE to the early 2nd century CE, in the Crimea and the Lower Dnieper, by which time the population was settled.
Kurgans
These large burial mounds (some over 20 meters high) provide the most valuable archaeological remains associated with the Scythians. They dot the Eurasian steppe belt, from Mongolia to Balkans, through Ukrainian and south Russian steppes, extending in great chains for many kilometers along ridges and watersheds. From them, archaeologists have learned much about Scythian life and art. Some Scythian tombs reveal traces of Greek, Chinese, and Indian craftsmanship, suggesting a process of Hellenisation, Sinification, and other local influences among the Scythians.
The Ukrainian term for such a burial mound, kurhán (Ukrainian: Курган) as well as the Russian term kurgán, derives from a Turkic word for "castle".
Some Scythian-Sarmatian cultures may have given rise to Greek stories of Amazons. Graves of armed females have been found in southern Ukraine and Russia. David Anthony notes, "About 20% of Scythian-Sarmatian 'warrior graves' on the lower Don and lower Volga contained females dressed for battle as if they were men, a style that may have inspired the Greek tales about the Amazons."
Excavation at kurgan Sengileevskoe-2 found gold bowls with coatings indicating a strong opium beverage was used while cannabis was burning nearby. The gold bowls depicted scenes showing clothing and weapons.
Pazyryk Culture
Eastern Scythian burials documented by modern archaeologists include the kurgans at Pazyryk in the Ulagan (Red) district of the Altai Republic, south of Novosibirsk in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia (near Mongolia). Archaeologists have extrapolated the Pazyryk culture from these finds: five large burial mounds and several smaller ones between 1925 and 1949, one opened in 1947 by Russian archaeologist Sergei Rudenko. The burial mounds concealed chambers of larch-logs covered over with large cairns of boulders and stones.
The Pazyryk culture flourished between the 7th and 3rd century BCE in the area associated with the Sacae.
Ordinary Pazyryk graves contain only common utensils, but in one, among other treasures, archaeologists found the famous Pazyryk Carpet, the oldest surviving wool-pile Oriental rug. Another striking find, a 3-meter-high four-wheel funerary chariot, survived well-preserved from the 5th to 4th century BCE.
Bilsk excavations
Recent digs in a village Bilsk near Poltava (Ukraine) have uncovered a "vast city", with the largest area of any city in the world at that time (Bilsk settlement). It has been tentatively identified by a team of archaeologists led by Boris Shramko as the site of Gelonus, the purported capital of Scythia. The city's commanding ramparts and vast area of 40 square kilometers exceed even the outlandish size reported by Herodotus. Its location at the northern edge of the Ukrainian steppe would have allowed strategic control of the north-south trade-route. Judging by the finds dated to the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, craft workshops and Greek pottery abounded.
+++Tilla Tepe treasure
A site found in 1968 in Tillia Tepe (literally "the golden hill") in northern Afghanistan (former Bactria) near Shebergan consisted of the graves of five women and one man with extremely rich jewelry, dated to around the 1st century BCE, and probably related to that of Scythian tribes normally living slightly to the north. Altogether the graves yielded several thousands of pieces of fine jewelry, usually made from combinations of gold, turquoise, and lapis-lazuli.
A high degree of cultural syncretism pervades the findings, however. Hellenistic cultural and artistic influences appear in many of the forms and human depictions (from amorini to rings with the depiction of Athena and her name inscribed in Greek), attributable to the existence of the Seleucid empire and Greco-Bactrian kingdom in the same area until around 140 BCE, and the continued existence of the Indo-Greek kingdom in the northwestern Indian sub-continent until the beginning of our era. This testifies to the richness of cultural influences in the area of Bactria at that time.
Culture and Society
Like all cultures, the Daevites evolved and changed over time; though they did exhibit a rather unusual continuity. Universal fixtures in of the Daevite culture in all time periods included militarism, conquest, ancestor worship, urban centers ruling over large slave populations, gruesome human sacrifice, and the practice of apparently efficacious thaumaturgic rituals. Although at times the Daevite Empire was a collection of city-states, they appear to have been consistently returned to imperialism under a theocratic aristocracy (the Daeva), who were practitioners of cannibalism and thaumaturgy.
Although initially, Foundation researchers believed the Daeva to have been a hereditary class recycling the names of noteworthy individuals, evidence and the events of 3-16-20██ now suggest that the Daeva possess(ed) preternatural longevity as a result of ████████████████████████████. Several researchers, notably Professor ███████, have concluded the Daeva were so divergent from modern humans as to be a separate subspecies, a conclusion supported by graphic representations within SCP-140 and ███████████████████████████████████████████████.
Tribal divisions
Scythians, when free from the rule of the Daevites, lived in confederated tribes, a political form of voluntary association which regulated pastures and organized a common defense against encroaching neighbors for the pastoral tribes of mostly equestrian herdsmen. While the productivity of domesticated animal-breeding greatly exceeded that of the settled agricultural societies, the pastoral economy also needed supplemental agricultural produce, and stable nomadic confederations developed either symbiotic or forced alliances with sedentary peoples – in exchange for animal produce and military protection.
Herodotus relates that three main tribes of the Scythians descended from three brothers, Lipoxais, Arpoxais, and Colaxais:
In their reign, a plow, a yoke, an axe, and a bowl, all made of gold, fell from heaven upon the Scythian territory. The oldest of the brothers wished to take them away, but as he drew near the gold began to burn. The second brother approached them, but with the like result. The third and youngest then approached, upon which the fire went out, and he was enabled to carry away the golden gifts. The two eldest then made the youngest king, and henceforth the golden gifts were watched by the king with the greatest care, and annually approached with magnificent sacrifices.
Herodotus also mentions a royal tribe or clan, an elite which dominated the other Scythians:
Then on the other side of the Gerros we have those parts which are called the “Royal” lands and those Scythians who are the bravest and most numerous and who esteem the other Scythians their slaves.
The elder brothers then, acknowledging the significance of this thing, delivered the whole of the kingly power to the youngest. From Lixopais, they say, are descended those Scythians who are called the race of the Auchatai; from the middle brother Arpoxais those who are called Catiaroi and Traspians, and from the youngest of them the “Royal” tribe, who are called Paralatai: and the whole together are called, they say, Scolotoi, after the name of their king; but the Hellenes gave them the name of Scythians. Thus the Scythians say they were produced; and from the time of their origin, that is to say from the first king Targitaos, to the passing over of Dareios (the Persian Emperor Darius I) against them (512 BCE), they say that there is a period of a thousand years and no more.
The rich burials of Scythian kings in tumuli (often known by the Turkic name kurgan) are evidence for the existence of a powerful elite. While an elite clan is named in some classical sources as the “Royal Dahae”, the Dahae proper are generally regarded as an extinct Indo-European people, who occupied what is now Turkmenistan and were distinct from the Scythians. “Dahae” is another civilian reference to the Daevites.
Although scholars have traditionally treated the three tribes as geographically distinct, Georges Dumézil interpreted the divine gifts as the symbols of social occupations, illustrating his trifunctional vision of early Indo-European societies: the plow and yoke symbolized the farmers, the axe – the warriors, the bowl – the priests. According to Dumézil, "the fruitless attempts of Arpoxais and Lipoxais, in contrast to the success of Colaxais, may explain why the highest strata was not that of farmers or magicians, but rather that of warriors."
Daevite rule
As the Daeva worked their way through the steppe, they came to subjugate the Scythians, community by community. Over time, the empire changed. They went back and forth between imperial rule and city-state segregation where government types varied between states, ranging from monarchy or aristocracy to oligarchy or tyranny. In time, though, the Daeva always re-unified the states under a single imperial rule.
Under Daevic rule, the Daevite Empire always returned to the warmongering, human sacrificial, slave-mongering nation with conquest on the tip of its tongue.
Warfare
A warlike people, the Scythians were particularly known for their equestrian skills, and their early use of composite bows shot from horseback. With great mobility, the Scythians could absorb the attacks of more cumbersome footsoldiers and cavalry, just retreating into the steppes. Such tactics wore down their enemies, making them easier to defeat. The Scythians were notoriously aggressive warriors. They “fought to live and lived to fight” and “drank the blood of their enemies and used the scalps as napkins.” Ruled by small numbers of closely allied elites, Scythians had a reputation for their archers, and many gained employment as mercenaries. Scythian elites had kurgan tombs: high barrows heaped over chamber-tombs of larch wood, a deciduous conifer that may have had special significance as a tree of life-renewal, for it stands bare in winter. Burials at Pazyryk in the Altay Mountains have included some spectacularly preserved Scythians of the “Pazyryk culture” – including the Ice Maiden of the 5th century BCE.
The Ziwiye hoard, a treasure of gold and silver metalwork and ivory found near the town of Sakiz south of Lake Urmia and dated to between 680 and 625 BCE, includes objects with Scythian “animal style” features. One silver dish from this find bears some inscriptions, as yet undeciphered and so possibly representing a form of Scythian writing.
Scythians also had a reputation for the use of barbed and poisoned arrows of several types, for a nomadic life centered on horses – “fed from horse-blood” according to Herodotus – and for skill in guerrilla warfare.
As led by the Daeva, Daevite warfare included all aspects of Scythian styles, as well as a decided preference for the use of thaumaturgy. Daevites raised golems in gardens, bestowing them with a level of sentience which allowed them to fight within the Daevite armies. (See SCP-3140 for details.) They also included thaumaturges in their armies, capable of mowing down the enemy with magical attacks if adequately protected.
Clothing
Clothing
According to Herodotus, “Scythian” costume consisted of padded and quilted leather trousers tucked into boots, and open tunics. They rode without stirrups or saddles, using only saddle-cloths. Herodotus reports that “Scythians” used cannabis, both to weave their clothing and to cleanse themselves in its smoke; archaeology has confirmed the use of cannabis in funerary rituals.
Daevite women dressed in much the same fashion as men. A Pazyryk burial, discovered in the 1990s, contained the skeletons of a man and a woman, each with weapons, arrowheads, and an axe. Herodotus mentioned that Sakas had “high caps and … wore trousers.” Clothing was sewn from plain-weave wool, hemp cloth, silk fabrics, felt, leather and hides.
Pazyryk findings give the most number of almost fully preserved garments and clothing worn by the Daevite/Saka peoples. Ancient Persian bas-reliefs, inscriptions from Apadana and Behistun, ancient Greek pottery, archaeological findings from Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, China et al. give visual representations of these garments.
Herodotus says Sakas had “high caps tapering to a point and stiffly upright.” Asian Saka headgear is clearly visible on the Persepolis Apadana staircase bas-relief – high pointed hat with flaps over ears and the nape of the neck. From China to the Danube delta, men seemed to have worn a variety of soft headgear – either conical like the one described by Herodotus, or rounder, more like a Phrygian cap.
Women wore a variety of different headdresses, some conical in shape others more like flattened cylinders, also adorned with metal (golden) plaques.
Based on the Pazyryk findings (can be seen also in the south Siberian, Uralic and Kazakhstan rock drawings) some caps were topped with zoomorphic wooden sculptures firmly attached to a cap and forming an integral part of the headgear, similar to the surviving nomad helmets from northern China. Men and warrior women wore tunics, often embroidered, adorned with felt applique work, or metal (golden) plaques.
Persepolis Apadana again serves a good starting point to observe tunics of the Sakas. They appear to be a sewn, long sleeve garment that extended to the knees and belted with a belt while owner's weapons were fastened to the belt (sword or dagger, gorytos, battleax, whetstone etc.). Based on numerous archeological findings in Ukraine, southern Russian and Kazakhstan men and warrior women wore long sleeve tunics that were always belted, often with richly ornamented belts. The Kazakhstan Saka (e.g. Issyk Golden Man/Maiden) wore shorter tunics and more close-fitting tunics than the Pontic steppe Saka. Some Pazyryk culture Saka wore short belted tunic with a lapel on a right side, upright collar, ‘puffed’ sleeves narrowing at a wrist and bound in narrow cuffs of a color different from the rest of the tunic.
Daevite women wore long, loose robes, ornamented with metal plaques (gold). Women wore shawls, often richly decorated with metal (golden) plaques.
Men and women wore coats, e.g. Pazyryk Saka had many varieties, from fur to felt. They could have worn a riding coat that later was known as a Median robe or Kantus.
Long-sleeved, and open, it seems that on the Persepolis Apadana Skudrian delegation is perhaps shown wearing such a coat. The Pazyryk felt tapestry shows a rider wearing a billowing cloak.
Men and women wore long trousers, often adorned with metal plaques and often embroidered or adorned with felt appliqués; trousers could have been wider or tight fitting depending on the area. Materials used depended on the wealth, climate and necessity.
Men and women wore long trousers, often adorned with metal plaques and often embroidered or adorned with felt appliqués; trousers could have been wider or tight fitting depending on the area. Materials used depended on the wealth, climate and necessity.
Men and women wore belts. Warrior belts were made of leather, often with gold or other metal adornments and had many attached leather thongs for fastening of the owner’s gorytos, sword, whetstone, whip etc. Belts were fastened with metal or horn belt-hooks, leather thongs and metal (often golden) or horn belt-plates.
Art
Daevite contacts with craftsmen in Greek colonies along the northern shores of the Black Sea resulted in the famous “Scythian” gold adornments that feature among the most glamorous artifacts of world museums. Ethnographically extremely useful as well, the gold depicts Scythian men as bearded, long-haired Caucasoids. "Greco-Scythian" works depicting Scythians within a much more Hellenic style date from a later period, when Scythians had already adopted elements of Greek culture, and the most elaborate royal pieces are assumed to have been made by Greek goldsmiths for this lucrative market. Other metalwork pieces from across the whole Eurasian steppe use an animal style, showing animals, often in combat and often with their legs folded beneath them. This origins of this style remain debated, but it probably both received and gave influences in the art of the neighboring settled peoples, and acted as a fast route for transmission of motifs across the width of Eurasia.
Surviving Scythian objects are mostly small portable pieces of metalwork: elaborate personal jewelry, weapon-ornaments, and horse-trappings. But finds from sites with permafrost show rich and brightly colored textiles, leatherwork, and woodwork, not to mention tattooing. The western royal pieces executed Central-Asian animal motifs with Greek realism: winged gryphons attacking horses, battling stags, deer, and eagles, combined with everyday motifs like milking ewes.
In 2000, the touring exhibition ‘Scythian Gold’ introduced the North American public to the objects made for “Scythian” nomads by Greek craftsmen north of the Black Sea and buried with their Daevite owners under burial mounds on the flat plains of present-day Ukraine. In 2001, the discovery of an undisturbed royal Daevite burial-barrow illustrated Daevite animal-style gold that lacks the direct influence of Greek styles. Forty-four pounds of gold weighed down the royal couple in this burial, discovered near Kyzyl, capital of the Siberian republic of Tuva.
Ancient influences from Central Asia became identifiable in China following contacts of metropolitan China with nomadic western and northwestern border territories from the 8th century BCE. The Chinese adopted the Daevite-style animal art of the steppes (descriptions of animals locked in combat), particularly the rectangular belt-plaques made of gold or bronze, and created their own versions in jade and steatite.
Following their expulsion by the Yuezhi, some Daevites may also have migrated to the area of Yunnan in southern China. Daevite warriors could also have served as mercenaries for the various kingdoms of ancient China. Excavations of the prehistoric art of the Dian civilization of Yunnan have revealed hunting scenes of Caucasoid horsemen in Central Asian clothing.
Daevite influences have been identified as far east as Korea and Japan. Various Korean artifacts, such as the royal crowns of the kingdom of Silla, are said to be of “Scythian” design. Similar crowns, brought through contacts with the continent, can also be found in Kofun era Japan.
Religion
Civilians attest that the religious beliefs of the Scythians were a type of Pre-Zoroastrian Iranian religion and differed from the post-Zoroastrian Iranian thoughts. Foremost in the Scythian pantheon stood Tabiti, who was later replaced by Atar, the fire-pantheon of Iranian tribes, and Agni, the fire deity of Indo-Aryans. The Scythian belief was a more archaic stage than the Zoroastrian and Hindu systems. The use of cannabis to induce trance and divination by soothsayers was a characteristic of the Scythian belief system. A class of priests, the Enarei, worshipped the goddess Argimpasa and assumed feminine identities.
While the Scythians may have indeed possessed these Pre-Zoroastrian Iranian beliefs, the Daeva and their converts worshipped another entity altogether. The Scarlet King was the prevalent deity worshipped by the Daevites.
Tablets found in a ruin in western Russia contain the following inscription, translated from Daevic for convenience:
In the time when The Tree of Knowledge was planted, all things were given form. Even the deep waters of the Darkness Below and the vaults of Darkness Above took shape and form, and many elder gods were born of them. Of these gods, whose names are oft forgotten, there was Khahrahk.
Khahrahk was not great upon his formation: in truth he was small. He crawled around in the darkness of the abyss, but unlike his brothers and sisters, he knew himself and knew the abyss. So blessed and cursed by awareness, he felt pain and loneliness, and looked beyond the depths: but the thought of the light and the shade of the tree pained him more. Existence was pain, and he would have no part of it. It would be better to not exist. It would be better for all things not to exist.
Upon this vow, he consumed his brothers and sisters, and grew strong on their essences. This act, this first sin of Khahrahk, caused him greater pain as he himself grew greater. He grew blind by his pain. So great was his spite and so absolute his hate, that he cursed the Creation and its Creator, and vowed to destroy the Tree and all that it supported in its branches and roots.
He clawed his way up to his throne on the bones of his fellow gods in those dark aeons. Many other gods born of the Darkness Below died in these times, or chose to leave those shadowed realms to work within Creation. Those that remained grew old and powerful, but they were bound in subjugation under Khahrahk.
When there were no more gods to subjugate in the lower realms, Khahrahk declared himself King of the Darkness Below, and took the name Khnith-hgor, and set the boundaries of his kingdom. This kingdom he built to bring utter despair to those who lived among the Tree and its roots and branches, to share his pain with all of Creation as he destroyed it. He diverted many souls to his realm, delivering pain untold upon them as they were stayed from their true rest.
With the borders of his realm set down, the King declared his war. His servants, and there were many, those birthed of the Darkness Below or those that had fallen to the King’s service, surged out of his kingdom, and there was war with Creation. This war continues to this day, and shall not end until the end of all things.
Of the gods the King had subjugated, Sanna was considered to be the wisest and most beautiful. She had not remained in the King’s realm willingly, but her escape had been prevented by circumstance. She obeyed the king with her words, but not with her soul, and for this goodness she is mourned.
With the war declared, the King took Sanna by force, and lay with her for seven days and seven nights, until the Mother of Those Beneath Us was broken beneath the King. When this was completed, he rose in her blood, and was from then on known as Shormaush Urdal - the Scarlet King.
Seven children were born of Sanna, seven daughters of the Scarlet King emerging from her broken womb. The King saw this, and took them by force to be his brides. Upon the seven brides the King put seven seals, so that they might never die as Sanna had died. With them, the King gave rise to seven ranks of abominations, seven orders of Leviathans, who became his most beloved servants, who march at the front of his war.
Of the seven, this can be said:
The first bride was A’tivik. She was beloved of the King, though her children were few. For her loyalty, her children were made wise above all others, and knew well the ways of war. By their hands, they guided the war, and lead to victory.
Her seal was vaduk, “dominion”, for just as she sought dominion, so she was dominated.
The second bride was A’ghor. A great hole was rent in her soul that she could not fill, and so she despaired and wept. She brought forth many children, and her children brought forth armies in a tide unthinking, to go forth and conquer.
Her seal was kifenn, “longing”, for neither the King nor her children could provide what she sought.
The third bride was A’distat. She had a great hatred of her sisters and brought ruin upon all she surveyed, and blasphemed upon sacred ground. Her children ride out to declare the triumph of the King, drowning battlefields in blood and ash, spreading pestilence and fear in their wake.
Her seal was hezhum, “desolation”, for she was wiped bare, and the furrows of her soul were salted.
The fourth bride was A’zieb. She was vast and powerful, and terrible to behold, taking the form of a great beast. Her children were like her, and feared no weapon nor magical spell, for their injuries were healed, and their hides impenetrable.
Her seal was ba, “wrath”, for by her hate she was forever bound in conflict.
The fifth bride was A’nuht. She was strong in mind, though frail in body. Her children were wise in the ways of magic, and created great destruction. But because of their power, the King had them crippled, so that they might not rise up against him.
Her seal was ner, “lack”, for her thirst and the thirst of her children was never quenched.
The sixth bride was A’tellif. She spoke not, and held herself private. Her children could change their faces and move about unseen, and walk among Creation unknown. They opened Ways between worlds, and made way for the war to spread.
Her seal was usheq, “hidden”, for she was lost in shadow.
The seventh bride was A’habbat. She was the smallest and weakest of the seven, but she was not broken utterly by the King, and was horrified by her state. Her children walked on two legs, and were mighty hunters and heroes: she taught them in secret, hoping that they might destroy the children of her sisters and overthrow the King. They are few, and they have failed.
Her seal was xokib, “hope”, for she was doomed to know of what she could not achieve.
The seven brides sealed forever, the legions of their children spread out, and added their strength to the war. Worlds that had resisted the dark gods of the King fell under the weight of ceaseless assault. The roots of the tree rotted, festered with the King’s spawn. The Ways became treacherous and poisoned, to where travel could only be made by the blessed, the brave, and the mad. The King’s realm grew fat with damned souls, and the Places of Rest waned in strength: Few souls managed to escape that fate, but even in death many still fought.
Many gods fell to the service of the King: The grinding machinery of the Factory, who consumed all, leant its mindless strength in blood and steel. The King on the Gallows, He Who Was Hung, tore at the Tree’s knowledge from within. The Prince of Many Faces warped the wills of mortals, and Moloch the Horned One brought forth their shame. Many more whose names have been erased also served. The King’s many mortal servants recreated the establishment of his line in living effigy.
It shall not be said that the King was unopposed in his conquests. Many gods and heroes among mortals struck back at the invasions of their worlds, serving under countless banners. But they fell, in time, and their ages are past, and they are as blood and dust.
The King and his armies approach the Taproots, the center worlds, in all his wrath, and all his hate, and all his spite. He reaches out to corrupt and consume and destroy. Even now his presence is felt. Time slips away. The Brass Goddess is broken, the Serpent has fled. The heroes are gone. The children of A’habbat have been slaughtered to the last. The King’s servants are already here, making straight the path for his arrival.
With this arrival the Tree shall die, and all creation shall die with it.
High above, the brothers of Death watch the war unfold, hovering over the depths. As they always have. They know the outcome of the war, for they are the end of all things, but they do not speak of it.
There is little more to be said.
These tablets are dated to the 18th century CE.
This text, as a history of the Scarlet King, leads one to believe it is as old as Creation, and one of the forebears of malevolence. In its war against Creation, it subjugated many gods, laying with one for seven days and seven nights, until it rose from the broken and bloodied corpse, siring seven daughters. It lay with these daughters and begat the beasts which would then lead its wars against the light. It is through rising from that corpse, covered in her blood, that it gained the title “The Scarlet King”.
Note: I theorize that we’ve seen one of these leviathans, that SCP-682 is a
child of A’zieb. Tell me this doesn’t sound like -682: “…feared no weapon nor
magical spell, for their injuries were healed, and their hides impenetrable.”
The Daevite Empire worships the Scarlet King by devoting itself to him through the wanton slaughter and subjugation of both its enemies and civilians.
Language
The Daevite/Scythian group of languages in the early period are essentially unattested, and their internal divergence is difficult to judge. The Scythian languages belonged to the Eastern Iranian family of languages. Whether all the peoples included in the “Scytho-Siberian” archaeological culture spoke languages from this family is uncertain.
The Scythian languages may have formed a dialect continuum: “Scytho-Sarmatian” in the west and "Scytho-Khotanese" or Saka in the east. The modern scholarly consensus is that the Saka language, ancestor to the Pamir languages in northern India and Khotanese in Xinjiang, China belongs to the Scythian languages. The Scythian languages were mostly marginalized and assimilated as a consequence of the late antiquity and early Middle Ages Slavic and Turkic expansion. Some remnants of the eastern groups have survived as modern Pashto and Pamiri languages in Central Asia. The western (Sarmatian) group of ancient Scythian survived as the medieval language of the Alans and eventually gave rise to the modern Ossetian language.
Evidence of the Middle Iranian “Scytho-Khotanese” language survives in Northwest China, where Khotanese-Saka-language documents, ranging from medical texts to Buddhist literature, have been found primarily in Khotan and Tumshuq (northeast of Kashgar). They largely predate the arrival of Islam to the region under the Turkic Kara-Khanids. Similar documents in the Khotanese-Saka language were found in Dunhuang and date mostly from the 10th century.
Physical Appearance
Early physical analyses have unanimously concluded that the Scythians, even those in the east (e.g. the Pazyryk region), possessed predominantly “Europid” features, although mixed “Euro-mongoloid” phenotypes also occur, depending on site and period.
In artworks, the Scythians are portrayed exhibiting European traits. In Histories, the 5th-century Greek historian Herodotus describes the Budini of Scythia as red-haired and grey-eyed. In the 5th century BCE, the Greek physician Hippocrates argued that the Scythians have purron (ruddy) skin. In the 3rd century BCE, the Greek poet Callimachus described the Arismapes (Arimaspi) of Scythia as fair-haired. The 2nd-century BCE Han Chinese envoy Zhang Qian described the Sai (Saka) as having yellow (probably meaning hazel or green), and blue eyes. In Natural History, the 1st-century AD Roman author Pliny the Elder characterizes the Seres, sometimes identified as Iranians or Tocharians, as red-haired and blue-eyed. In the late 2nd century AD, the Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria says that the Scythians were fair-haired. The 2nd-century Greek philosopher Polemon includes the Scythians among the northern peoples characterized by red hair and blue-grey eyes. In the late 2nd or early 3rd century AD, the Greek physician Galen declares that Sarmatians, Scythians, and other northern peoples have reddish hair. The 4th-century Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus wrote that the Alans, a people closely related to the Scythians, were tall, blond and light-eyed. The 4th-century bishop of Nyssa Gregory of Nyssa wrote that the Scythians were fair skinned and blond haired. The 5th-century physician Adamantius, who often follow Polemon, describes the Scythians are fair-haired. It is possible that the later physical descriptions by Adamantius and Gregory of Scythians refer to East Germanic tribes, as the latter were frequently referred to as “Scythians” in Roman sources at that time.
No descriptions of the Daeva have been given in currently held historical accounts.
Historiography
Herodotus
Herodotus wrote about an enormous city, Gelonus, in the northern part of Scythia, perhaps a site near modern Bilsk, Kotelva Raion, Ukraine:
The Budini are a large and powerful nation: they have all deep blue eyes, and bright red hair. There is a city in their territory, called Gelonus, which is surrounded with a lofty wall, thirty furlongs (τριήκοντα σταδίων = c. 5.5 km) each way, built entirely of wood. All the houses in the place and all the temples are of the same material. Here are temples built in honor of the Grecian gods, and adorned after the Greek fashion with images, altars, and shrines, all in wood. There is even a festival, held every third year in honor of Bacchus, at which the natives fall into the Bacchic fury. For the fact is that the Geloni were anciently Greeks, who, being driven out of the factories along the coast, fled to the Budini and took up their abode with them. They still speak a language half Greek, half Scythian.
Herodotus and other classical historians listed quite a number of tribes who lived near the Scythians, and presumably shared the same general milieu and nomadic steppe culture, often called “Scythian culture”, even though scholars may have difficulties in determining their exact relationship to the “linguistic Scythians”. A partial list of these tribes includes the Agathyrsi, Geloni, Budini, and Neuri.
Herodotus presented four different versions of Scythian origins:
- Firstly, the Scythians’ legend about themselves, which portrays the first Scythian king, Targitaus, as the child of the sky-god and of a daughter of the Dnieper. Targitaus allegedly lived a thousand years before the failed Persian invasion of Scythia or around 1500 BCE. He had three sons, before whom fell from the sky a set of four golden implements – a plow, a yoke, a cup, and a battle-axe. Only the youngest son succeeded in touching the golden implements without them bursting with fire, and this son's descendants, called by Herodotus the “Royal Scythians”, continued to guard them.
- Secondly, a legend told by the Pontic Greeks featuring Scythes, the first king of the Scythians, as a child of Hercules and Echidna.
- Thirdly, in the version which Herodotus said he believed most, the Scythians came from a more southern part of Central Asia, until a war with the Massagetae (a powerful tribe of steppe nomads who lived just northeast of Persia) forced them westward.
- Finally, a legend which Herodotus attributed to the Greek bard Aristeas, who claimed to have got himself into such a Bacchanalian fury that he ran all the way northeast across Scythia and further. According to this, the Scythians originally lived south of the Rhipaean mountains, until they got into a conflict with a tribe called the Issedones, pressed in their turn by the Cyclopes; and so the Scythians decided to migrate westwards.
Persians and other peoples in Asia referred to the Scythians living in Asia as Sakas. Herodotus describes them as Scythians, although they figure under a different name:
The Sacae, or Scyths, were clad in trousers, and had on their heads tall stiff caps rising to a point. They bore the bow of their country and the dagger; besides which they carried the battle-axe, or sagaris. They were in truth Amyrgian (Western) Scythians, but the Persians called them Sacae, since that is the name which they gave to all Scythians.
Strabo
In the 1st century BCE, the Greek-Roman geographer Strabo gave an extensive description of the eastern Scythians, whom he located in Central Asia beyond Bactria and Sogdiana.
Strabo went on to list the names of the various tribes he believed to be “Scythian”, and in so doing almost certainly conflated them with unrelated tribes of eastern Central Asia.
Now the greater part of the Scythians, beginning at the Caspian Sea, are called Däae, but those who are situated more to the east than these are named Massagetae and Sacae, whereas all the rest are given the general name of Scythians, though each people is given a separate name of its own. They are all for the most part nomads. But the best known of the nomads are those who took away Bactriana from the Greeks, I mean the Asii, Pasiani, Tochari, and Sacarauli, who originally came from the country on the other side of the Iaxartes River that adjoins that of the Sacae and the Sogdiani and was occupied by the Sacae. And as for the Däae, some of them are called Aparni, some Xanthii, and some Pissuri. Now of these the Aparni are situated closest to Hyrcania and the part of the sea that borders on it, but the remainder extend even as far as the country that stretches parallel to Aria.
Between them and Hyrcania and Parthia and extending as far as the Arians is a great waterless desert, which they traversed by long marches and then overran Hyrcania, Nesaea, and the plains of the Parthians. And these people agreed to pay tribute, and the tribute was to allow the invaders at certain appointed times to overrun the country and carry off booty. But when the invaders overran their country more than the agreement allowed, war ensued, and in turn their quarrels were composed and new wars were begun. Such is the life of the other nomads also, who are always attacking their neighbors and then in turn settling their differences.
Strabo, Geography, 11.8.1; transl. 1903 by H.C. Hamilton & W. Falconer.
Indian Sources
Sakas receive numerous mentions in Indian texts, including the Puranas, the Manusmriti, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Mahabhashya of Patanjali.
Genetics
Numerous ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) samples have now been recovered from remains in Bronze and Iron Age burials in the Eurasian steppe and Siberian forest zone, the putative “ancestors” of the historical Scythians. Compared to Y-DNA, mtDNA is easier to extract and amplify from ancient specimens due to numerous copies of mtDNA per cell.
The earliest studies could only analyze segments of mtDNA, thus providing only broad correlations of affinity to modern West Eurasian or East Eurasian populations. For example, in a 2002 study the mitochondrial DNA of Saka period male and female skeletal remains from a double inhumation kurgan at the Beral site in Kazakhstan was analyzed. The two individuals were found to be not closely related. The HV1 mitochondrial sequence of the male was similar to the Anderson sequence which is most frequent in European populations. The HV1 sequence of the female suggested a greater likelihood of Asian origins.
More recent studies have been able to type for specific mtDNA lineages. For example, a 2004 study examined the HV1 sequence obtained from a male “Scytho-Siberian” at the Kizil site in the Altai Republic. It belonged to the N1a maternal lineage, a geographically West Eurasian lineage. Another study by the same team, again of mtDNA from two Scytho-Siberian skeletons found in the Altai Republic, showed that they had been typical males “of mixed Euro-Mongoloid origin”. One of the individuals was found to carry the F2a maternal lineage, and the other the D lineage, both of which are characteristic of East Eurasian populations.
These early studies have been elaborated by an increasing number of studies by Russian scholars. Conclusions are (i) an early, Bronze Age mixing of both west and east Eurasian lineages, with western lineages being found far to the east, but not vice versa; (ii) an apparent reversal by Iron Age times, with an increasing presence of East Eurasian lineages in the western steppe; (iii) the possible role of migrations from the south, the Balkano-Danubian and Iranian regions, toward the steppe.
Ancient Y-DNA data was finally provided by Keyser et al in 2009. They studied the haplotypes and haplogroups of 26 ancient human specimens from the Krasnoyarsk area in Siberia dated from between the middle of the 2nd millennium BC and the 4th century AD (Scythian and Sarmatian timeframe). Nearly all subjects belonged to haplogroup R-M17. The authors suggest that their data shows that between the Bronze and the Iron Ages the constellation of populations known variously as Scythians, Andronovians, etc. were blue- (or green-) eyed, fair-skinned and light-haired people who might have played a role in the early development of the Tarim Basin civilization. Moreover, this study found that they were genetically more closely related to modern populations in eastern Europe than those of central and southern Asia. The ubiquity and dominance of the R1a Y-DNA lineage contrasted markedly with the diversity seen in the mtDNA profiles.
However, this comparison was made on the basis of what is now seen as an unsophisticated technique, short tandem repeats (STRs). Since the 2009 study by Keyser et al, population and geographic specific SNPs have been discovered which can accurately distinguish between “European” R1a (M458, Z280) and “South Asian” R1a (Z93) Re-analyzing ancient Scytho-Siberian samples for these more specific subclades will clarify whether the Eurasian steppe populations had an ultimately Eastern European or Eurasian origin, or, perhaps, both. This, in turn, might also depend on which population is studied, i.e. Herodotus’ European “classical” Scythians, the Central Asian Sakae, or un-named nomadic groups in the far east (Altai region) who also belong to the Scythian cultural tradition.
According to a 2017 study of mitochondrial lineages in Iron Age Black Sea Scythians, a comparison of North Pontic Region (NPR) Scythian mtDNA lineages with other ancient groups suggests close genetic affinities with representatives of the Bronze Age Srubnaya population, which is in agreement with the archaeological hypothesis suggesting the Srubnaya people as the ancestors of the NPR Scythians.
Recently, new aDNA tests were made on various ancient samples across Eurasia, among them two from Scythian burials. This time the modern techniques of SNPs (in comparison to STRs in earlier tests) were used. The Iron Age Scythian samples from the Volga region and the European Steppes appear closely related to neither Eastern Europeans nor South and Central Asians. Based on the results both samples appear to be a link between the Iranic speaking people of South-Central Asia and both the people of the northern regions of West Asia and of Eastern Europeans. This fits with their geographic origin.
Ancient genome-wide analysis on samples from the southern Ural region, East Kazakhstan and Tuva, shows that western and eastern Scythians arose independently in their respective geographic regions and during the 1st millennium BCE experienced significant population expansions with gene flow being asymmetrical from western to eastern groups, rather than the reverse. Iron Age Scythians include a mixture of Yamnaya people, from the Russian Steppe, and East Asian populations, similar to the Han and the Nganasan (a Samoyedic people from northern Siberia). The East Asian admixture is pervasive across diverse present-day people from Siberia and Central Asia. Contemporary populations linked to western Iron Age Scythians can be found among diverse ethnic groups in the Caucasus, Russia and Central Asia, spread across many Iranian and other Indo-European speaking groups. Populations with genetic similarities to eastern Scythian groups are found almost exclusively among Turkic language speakers, particularly from the Kipchak branch of Turkic languages. These results are consistent with gene flow across the steppe territory between Europe and East Asia.
Legacy
Early Modern Usage
Owing to their reputation as established by Greek historians, the Scythians long served as the epitome of savagery and barbarism.
In the New Testament, in a letter ascribed to Paul “Scythian” is used as an example of people whom some label pejoratively, but who are, in Christ, acceptable to God:
Here there is no Greek or Jew. There is no difference between those who are circumcised and those who are not. There is no rude outsider, or even a Scythian. There is no slave or free person. But Christ is everything. And he is in everything.
Shakespeare, for instance, alluded to the legend that Scythians ate their children in his play, King Lear:
Hold thee, from this, for ever. The barbarous Scythian,
Or he that makes his generation messes
To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and relieved,
As thou my sometime daughter. (sic)
Characteristically, early modern English discourse on Ireland frequently resorted to comparisons with Scythians in order to confirm that the indigenous population of Ireland descended from these ancient “bogeymen”, and showed themselves as barbaric as their alleged ancestors. Edmund Spenser wrote:
the Chiefest [nation that settled in Ireland] I Suppose to be Scithians … which firste inhabitinge and afterwarde stretchinge themselves forthe into the lande as theire numbers increased named it all of themselues Scuttenlande which more brieflye is Called Scuttlande or Scotlande. (sic)
As proofs for this origin Spenser cites the alleged Irish customs of blood-drinking, nomadic lifestyle, the wearing of mantles and certain haircuts and
Cryes allsoe vsed amongeste the Irishe which savor greatlye of the Scythyan Barbarisme. (sic)
William Camden, one of Spenser's main sources, comments on this legend of origin:
to derive descent from a Scythian stock, cannot be thought any waies dishonourable, seeing that the Scythians, as they are most ancient, so they have been the Conquerours of most Nations, themselves alwaies invincible, and never subject to the Empire of others. (sic)
The 15th-century Polish chronicler Jan Długosz was the first to connect the prehistory of Poland with Sarmatians, and the connection was taken up by other historians and chroniclers, such as Marcin Bielski, Marcin Kromer, and Maciej Miechowita. Other Europeans depended for their view of Polish Sarmatism on Miechowita's Tractatus de Duabus Sarmatiis, a work which provided a substantial source of information about the territories and peoples of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in a language of international currency. Tradition specified that the Sarmatians themselves were descended from Japheth, son of Noah.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, foreigners regarded the Russians as descendants of Scythians. It became conventional to refer to Russians as Scythians in 18th-century poetry, and Alexander Blok drew on this tradition sarcastically in his last major poem, The Scythians (1920). In the 19th century, romantic revisionists in the West transformed the “barbarian” Scyths of literature into the wild and free, hardy and democratic ancestors of all blond Indo-Europeans.
Descent Claims
A number of groups have claimed possible descent from the Scythians, including the Ossetians, Pashtuns (in particular, the Sakzai tribe), Jat people and the Parthians (whose homelands lay to the east of the Caspian Sea and who were thought to have come there from north of the Caspian). Some legends of the Poles, the Picts, the Gaels, the Hungarians (in particular, the Jassics), among others, also include mention of Scythian origins. Some writers claim that Scythians figured in the formation of the empire of the Medes and likewise of Caucasian Albania.
The Scythians also feature in some national origin-legends of the Celts. In the second paragraph of the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath, the élite of Scotland claim Scythia as a former homeland of the Scots. According to the 11th-century Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland), the 14th-century Auraicept na n-Éces and other Irish folklore, the Irish originated in Scythia and were descendants of Fénius Farsaid, a Scythian prince who created the Ogham alphabet.
The Carolingian kings of the Franks traced Merovingian ancestry to the Germanic tribe of the Sicambri. Gregory of Tours documents in his History of the Franks that when Clovis was baptized, he was referred to as a Sicamber with the words “Mitis depone colla, Sicamber, adora quod incendisti, incendi quod adorasti.” The Chronicle of Fredegar in turn reveals that the Franks believed the Sicambri to be a tribe of Scythian or Cimmerian descent, who had changed their name to Franks in honor of their chieftain Franco in 11 BC.
Based on such accounts of Scythian founders of certain Germanic as well as Celtic tribes, British historiography in the British Empire period such as Sharon Turner in his History of the Anglo-Saxons, made them the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons.
The idea was taken up in the British Israelism of John Wilson, who adopted and promoted the idea that the "European Race, in particular the Anglo-Saxons, were descended from certain Scythian tribes, and these Scythian tribes (as many had previously stated from the Middle Ages onward) were, in turn, descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel." Tudor Parfitt, the author of The Lost Tribes of Israel and Professor of Modern Jewish Studies, points out that the proof cited by adherents of British Israelism is “of a feeble composition even by the low standards of the genre.”
Geneticist Eran Elhaik believes the word Ashkenaz (i.e. Ashkenazi Jews) is derived from the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian name for the Scythians. He places the original homeland of the Ashkenazi Jews in north-east Turkey and a region to the north of the Black Sea.
Related Ancient Peoples
- Abii
- Agathyrsi
- Amardi
- Amyrgians
- Androphagi
- Budini
- Dahae
- Parni (ancestors of the Parthians)
- Gelonians
- Hamaxobii
- Huns
- Indo-Scythians
- Apracharajas
- Kambojas
- Massagetae
- Apasiacae
- Melanchlaeni
- Orthocorybantians
- Saka
- Sindi
- Spali
- Tapur
- Tauri
- Thyssagetae
