YetAnotherNewb

SCP-XXXX-5 and SCP-XXXX-7 in containment

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX-5 and SCP-XXXX-7 are to be stored in a standard safe-class containment locker at Site-██. The exact location of SCP-XXXX is to be maintained as strictly need-to-know information.

Recovery attempts of SCP-XXXX-1 through SCP-XXXX-4, as well as SCP-XXXX-6, are not considered feasible at this time. Any pieces of SCP-XXXX located outside of foundation custody are to be secured as soon as possible. Depictions and descriptions of SCP-XXXX are to be purged from the public historical record.

Following the events of Incident XXXX-6, the research and security teams assigned to SCP-XXXX must be at least 50% composed of individuals scoring lower than a 5.0 on the Platonic Moral Integrity Scale. All Catholic personnel¹ are prohibited from interacting with or having jurisdiction over SCP-XXXX.

Description: SCP-XXXX refers to a sword which was broken in 1296 AD. During the Foundation's tenure, it has only ever existed as a set of shards. Seven of these shards have been recovered by the Foundation, and have been numbered SCP-XXXX-1 through SCP-XXXX-7 accordingly. These shards display a variety of anomalous characteristics, such as:

• Ability to withstand up to 1,000 10,000 N of force with no ill effects.
• Slow Rapid regeneration from physical damage.
• Negation, to varying degrees, of local Thaumaturgy.²
• Indeterminable composition.³
• Provocation of positive emotions in individuals in good standing with the Catholic Church, as well as individuals rating at least a 5.0 on the Platonic Moral Integrity scale.
• Provocation of negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, and regret in individuals in poor standing with the Catholic Church, those scoring lower than a 5.0 on the Platonic Moral Integrity Scale, and associates of certain GoIs.⁴
• Provocation of mild extreme pain in individuals with anomalous conditions enhancing their capabilities.⁵

The strength of these effects has a bidirectional causal link with the spiritual and physical authority of the Catholic Church, and especially its affiliated anomalous branch, GoI-002 "Second Sword".

+ Addendum XXXX-1: History of GoI-002 "Second Sword" and SCP-XXXX (Requires level 3 clearance)

A classical depiction of SCP-XXXX being used to neutralize a Class-5 Bestial Anomaly in modern-day Libya.

The Second Sword⁶ was founded in 422 by Pope Boniface I in response to various new anomalies and anomalous conditions brought into Europe by the Hunnic peoples, and spread throughout Roman territories by the fleeing Gothic peoples. Due to their state-endorsed nature, they quickly became the dominant anomalous organization in Europe, devoted to containment and neutralization of anomalies they deemed unacceptable.

The Second Sword created SCP-XXXX in 760 during the prelude to the Saxon Wars at the request of emperor Charlemagne, due to the concentration of anomalies in Saxon hands. In response, the Second Sword conducted a metaphorical ritual to bind the metaphor of the Second Sword as the sword of god and the source of all spiritual authority to an actual, physical sword, and delivered it to Charlemagne. The extreme strength of the metaphor led to a highly potent weapon being created - there are many accounts of SCP-XXXX being used to easily neutralize malevolent spiritual and bestial anomalies.

After the Saxon Wars, SCP-XXXX was returned to the Second Sword, which proceeded to use it sparingly over the course of the next 4 centuries, in campaigns such as the scouring of Transylvania⁷ and the Cathar Crusade.⁸. This period is considered to be the golden age of the Second Sword, with anomalous activity nearly totally driven out of Catholic Europe.

While the Second Sword was largely independent of the papacy's influence due to the sensitive nature of its work, it was subject to various political pressures. This came to a head during the period of 1294-1296, due to the dispute between Pope Boniface VIII and King Henry IV of France over taxation of the Church. At the height of the dispute, Pope Boniface VIII authorized the use of a wide array of anomalies, including SCP-XXXX. This escalated into a series of anomalous battles, climaxing when agents of Henry IV used unknown means to shatter SCP-XXXX. Terrified, the Church as a whole backed down. This series of disputes is known as the end-point of tangible political and anomalous power being held by the Catholic Church and Second Sword - Following this incident, the Second Sword's power to create and neutralize anomalies was severely diminished, most likely due to the metaphorical link between their power and SCP-XXXX. The Second Sword was ultimately supplanted in Christendom, and indeed worldwide, by a variety of other organizations.⁹

Several events have caused a resumption of attention to the Second Sword. Following the events of 2/17/2010, civilian medievalist Dr. █████ ██████ was brought on as a temporary consultant¹⁰ to help explain the apparent resurgence of the Second Sword. After reviewing the non-redacted historical record, he wrote the following memo to the project head, Dr. ███████

+ Addendum XXXX-2: Memo re: [REDACTED] (Requires level 3 clearance)

Dr. ███████,

After reviewing the material you've sent me, I believe I've figured out the underlying forces behind the Second Sword's resurgence - or at least, a number of patterns in their behavior that could help to build a general theory of their activity. My observations follow.

The power of the Second Sword's anomalies was waning long before the Phillip-Boniface disputes: We have records of the Teutonic Knights being lent anomalous artifacts to assist in their governance of their Baltic conquests, as well as similar loans being made to the knights of the 4th Crusade. Yet we lack the standard deliverance of thanks to the Second Sword for their involvement, as well as extensive mention of these anomalies in their records, and even archaeological evidence of anomalous activity in these areas. Our tentative conclusion must be that the power of these anomalies was so weak that the parties involved didn't think it was worth mentioning in their records - damning for an organization devoted to creating anomalies.

Christ had enough and said "no". In the book of Luke, Christ ends up telling Paul to put his (the second) sword away, and heals the Roman soldier he injured. Within the context of the Twin Swords metaphor, that's usually considered an admonishment to not use spiritual authority against temporal authority. But the Second Sword was doing that all over the place towards the end of their tenure! That's why their blade mascot ends up breaking - they might have scrubbed the hows and whys from their records, but I can say that it was all but certainly mundane. The Second Sword doesn't fall apart because King Henry IV has an anomaly up his sleeves (or one powerful enough to break it in its own right), It falls apart because they chop off one too many ears and Christ gets tired of putting them back on. As such, he suspends their right to use the Second Sword in a literal and metaphorical sense.

Redemption is a tale as old as time: The idea of a Sword breaking apart due to its wielder's moral failings, only to pop up again, renewed, appears throughout Western myth. It's a powerful story - or as you guys would call it, a Pataphor. Christ suspended the Second Sword's right to wield their namesake, but there's no reason to believe that suspension had to be permanent. Just like Aragorn or King Arthur before him, the Second Sword has the capacity to redeem themselves in the eyes of god and renew the broken blade. If that happens, then we can expect the metaphor of the Second Sword, along with the actual Second Sword (both the organization and the object itself) to be stronger than ever. What's more, I can conclude this is almost certainly an ongoing process, with the fragments of the Sword being reassembled as the Second Sword makes strides out of obscurity.

Therefore, my central hypothesis surrounding the Second Sword's resurgence is that there is tridirectional causality between it, the reconstruction of their mascot, and the proximity of the leadership of the Second Sword to the Christlike ideal. As such, I recommend that the blade be given an SCP Designation, and that all possible pains be suffered to secure the remaining shards of it, if any such shards exist.

Following Dr. ██████'s recommendations, a timeline of notable Second Sword operations was conducted to test his hypothesis surrounding the role of SCP-XXXX in the Second Sword's resurgence.¹¹

+ Addendum XXXX-3: Timeline of notable [REDACTED] (Requires level 3 clearance)

Date(s)	Action/Decision	Result
1480-1530 AD	The Second Sword refuses to loan out anomalies to the Spanish inquisition in their efforts to uproot non-anomalous religious minorities, operating independently to eliminate Sarkcist and Serpent's Hand-affiliated individuals in Andalusia.12	At the height of political pressure from the Spanish Crown, agents of the Second Sword reported the recovery of the ornamental rosary attached to the pommel of SCP-XXXX.
1640 AD	After a period of lengthy deliberation, Pope Urban VIII publishes a lengthy papal bull prohibiting the use of anomalies in the 30 year's war, due to the war having become primarily about disputes among temporal authorities, which spiritual authorities could not credibly intervene in.	A French Monk reports the recovery of a piece of SCP-XXXX, this piece being the head of an ornamental sculpture of Christ attached to the hilt of SCP-XXXX. It is quickly recovered and stored as a relic in the Second Sword's headquarters beneath St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome.
1862 AD	Upon the discovery that Hong Xiuquan, leader of the Taiping Rebellion in China, intended to use a variety of Second Sword-produced anomalies, including portions of SCP-XXXX to assist in his war against the Qing Dynasty, the Second Sword dispatches agents under the guise of members of the French intervention force.	The Second Sword's intervention proved highly effective, neutralizing or capturing all anomalies in Taiping custody, capturing a large portion of SCP-XXXX's blade.
4/26/1937	Second Sword uses a variety of anomalies to secure the civilians of Guernica during the bombing campaign conducted by Francoist forces.13	Second Sword forces report the recovery of the torso of the ornamental sculpture of Christ formerly attached to SCP-XXXX, displaying multiple wounds, in a largely destroyed church in Guernica.
3/3/1946	Coinciding with the formation of the GoC, a wide variety of dilapidated nation-level anomalous organizations are invited to join. Most accept, and the Second Sword is expected to be one of them due to their relatively marginalized nature, but instead issue a formal letter of rejection on this date.	Priests in Africa report the recovery of the hands of the ornamental Christ statue attached to the hilt of SCP-XXXX.
1995-ongoing	The Second Sword uses unknown anomalous means to protect █████ ████████ from SCP-2578. To date, the Second Sword has provided protection from SCP-2578 for ██ Catholic heads of state.14	The Second Sword successfully recovers an ornamental shield bearing the seal of the Second Sword, meant to be attached to the hilt of SCP-XXXX.
2/17/2010	Unknown. However, Sarkcist activity reaches an all-time low over the following 6 months, contrary to SCP-████'s predictions of [DATA EXPUNGED]. SCP-████ is used to determine the Second Sword's role in causing this disparity.	A dove reportedly drops the tip of SCP-XXXX through a window of St. Peter's Cathedral such that it lands on the desk of the Second Sword's Administrator.

Upon the completion of this timeline, ACCIS¹⁵ determined that Dr. ██████'s hypothesis had a high¹⁶ chance of being accurate. Following this determination, SCP-XXXX was given its current designation, and recovery efforts were made, resulting in the obtainment of SCP-XXXX-1 through SCP-XXXX-7, accounting for ~20% of the blade.

+ Addendum XXXX-4: Incident report XXXX-6 (Requires level 4 clearance)

On 06/08/2012, SCP-XXXX-1 through SCP-XXXX-7 were scheduled for transportation to a more secure location for testing. Transportation was conducted by a standard armored convoy accompanied by a single attack helicopter.¹⁷ Approximately 22 km from its destination, the convoy was ambushed by forces later determined to be acting under the orders of the Second Sword, which used anomalous means to incapacitate all ground-based security forces. Being that Sgt. ██████'s helicopter remained unaffected by the ambush, he continued to defend the fragments of SCP-XXXX from Second Sword forces with limited success until reinforcements arrived and secured the remaining shards, in spite of direct orders from O5-10 to stand down.¹⁸

After SCP-XXXX's remaining shards were fully secured, a formal inquiry was launched into potential foundation leaks causing the ambush. Investigators quickly found sufficient evidence implicating O5-10, leading to the suspension of his duties upon the O5 council and arrest. During interrogation, O5-10 claimed that his catholic faith had little influence¹⁹ on his decision to leak sensitive information on SCP-XXXX to the Second Sword, instead appealing to worldwide increasing rates of anomalous activity and the possibility that Second Sword activity may prove beneficial to the foundation's mission.

Following the predictions of SCP-████ and SCP-████, as well as a ██% increase in Keter-class containment breaches along with a ██% increase in foundation casualties during the year of ████, the O5 council began formal deliberations and high-level negotiations on the future containment of SCP-XXXX. These deliberations are expected to conclude by ██/██/████.

Footnotes

1. Including and especially members of the Overseer Council.

2. The degree to which the Thaumaturgy is negated depends on the amount of SCP-XXXX shards present, as well as the type of Thaumaturgy involved. Of note is the fact that SCP-738's anomalous effect failed to manifest in the presence of SCP-XXXX-2.

3. Spectral analysis fails to penetrate the outermost layer of the shards, preventing accurate readings from being made.

4. Including but not limited to: The Church of the Broken God, Marshall, Carter & Dark, Are We Cool Yet, Sarkcist cults, and various Fifthist sects. The strongest results come from exposing associates of the Serpent's Hand.

5. Including but not limited to Vampirism, Lycanthropy, the Clockwork Plague, and Sarkcist-related alterations.

6. The name is derived from a segment of the book of Luke where, shortly before he is arrested by the Romans, Jesus asks the Apostles how many swords they have - the answer is two, and Jesus responds "That is enough". When the Romans arrive, the Apostle Paul uses a sword to chop off the ear of one of the Romans, but Jesus tells him to put his sword away, and puts the ear back on. The analogy of two swords to represent spiritual and political power being separate, as well as Jesus telling Paul to put his Sword away, is seen by many scholars of medieval political thought to be the origin point for the separation of Church and state in western philosophy, and is present in the writings of medieval scholars such as Dante Alighieri, Thomas Aquinas, and Pope Boniface VIII.

7. Later proven to be incomplete by the vampiric conversion of Vlad Tepes III.

8. While the Cathar Crusade is well-known as a non-anomalous event, this is because Cathar-owned anomalies have been purged from the public historical record, along with their ties to the Church of the Broken God.

9. Absolute monarchies tended to replace them with their own nation-level anomalous orgainzations, such as His Majesty's Foundation for the Secure Containment of the Paranormal, the The Knights of the Military Order of Borja y Aragón, and others, while democratic, socialist, and secular nations and movements cultivated strong ties with the Serpent's Hand.

10. He has since been retained as a containment specialist on SCP-XXXX, SCP-████, and SCP-████.

11. This timeline was later augmented using information obtained during high-level negotiations with the Second Sword, as well as SCP-████. The timeline below contains these augmentations.

12. These presences were extensive, both due to the desperation of later Moorish leaders to gain anomalously-enhanced allies, as well as their greater religious tolerance.

13. No effort was made to protect infrastructure, factories, or what few military targets existed in Guernica.

14. Retaliation on the part of SCP-2578 has been reportedly limited to angrily-worded emails. Notably, the Second Sword has refused all requests to use this anomalous capacity to totally contain SCP-2578.

15. Anomalous Correlation/Causation Identification Software

16. p<.001

17. The Helicopter was a last-minute addition at the discretion of the convoy commander.

18. Sgt. ██████ later received the foundation silver star for valor, along with a formal reprimand for disobeying the direct orders of an O5.

19. Research into whether SCP-XXXX compels Catholics in any way to reassemble it is ongoing, but inconclusive.