"A figure referred to as 'The Chief' pledges his services to the King and offers to provide him with a 'weapon from God'."
Item #: SCP-8714.
Object Class: Eparch/Safe.
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-8714-A, -B, and -C are to be kept in secured standard Safe-Class containers. No further protocols are needed.
SCP-8714-D requires additional protocols for the safe storage of non-anomalous radioactive material.
Description: SCP-8714 is a collection of objects retrieved from the estate belonging to the late Lord Alexander Brandt III, in Northumberland, UK. The SCP-8714 collection was found in a chamber behind a hidden door in the manor's basement after a fire consumed the property, resulting in Lord Brant's demise.
SCP-8714-A refers to a seemingly medieval manuscript, written in Old Norse using the Younger Futhark alphabet, entitled 'Corvina Saga.' No anomalous properties have been identified in SCP-8714-A.
The first part of the manuscript recounts the preparations of a 'Christian King from Norway' to wage war against a stronghold of pagan warriors. Despite having 'God on his side', the king is still fearful of the legendary might of his adversaries. A figure referred to as 'The Chief' pledges his services to the King and offers to provide him with a 'weapon from God'.
The section describing the battle is damaged and illegible. The following part narrates how, despite the success of the weapon, the King feels overwhelmed by guilt. While he honors his deal with 'The Chief', paying him in 'gold and in flesh', he orders the destruction of all the 'divine' weapons. As the relevant section is partially damaged, the exact nature of the deal is left unclear, but it can be inferred that 'The Chief' requested the corpses of the defeated pagans as part of their payment.
The last section of the manuscript includes a series of diagrams and instructions detailing the design of what appears to be a rudimentary form of firearm. This firearm design does not present any anomalous components, though it appears to be at least theoretically functional.
SCP-8714-B is a set of two stone coffins, each one bearing an Old Norse inscription. The first coffin's label roughly translates as 'Stillborn. Waste. Failure.' and contains a bed of gold coins from various 10th-century nations, as well as jewelry and other valuable items. Partially buried in the gold is a human skeleton, dressed in 10th-century Danish armor. Other particularities include an impact dent in the helmet, presumably from an unidentified projectile. The impact is assumed to have caused a lethal cranial fracture. Inside the skeleton's chest, roughly at the location of the heart, there are an avian skull and spine, identified as the remains of an embryo of the Corvus corax species.
The second coffin contains a toxic aqueous mixture of liquid gold, organic material of human and corvid origin, and bis(2-chloroethyl)sulfide. The traces of organic tissue present a constant state of rapid cellular replication, similar to a cancerous growth, and necrosis. This coffin is labeled as 'Enhanced. Efficient. Success.'
SCP-8714-C is a set of three glass jars filled with formaldehyde. The first jar contains a specimen of Corvus corax conjoined twins. It is labelled 'Specimen retrieved from Balaclava'. The second one, labelled 'Specimen retrieved from Spion Kop', contains a Corvus corax with four wings. The third one contains a partially eaten human heart. Inside it, there is a Corvus corax embryo. The label reads 'Specimen retrieved from Somme'. Analysis of the heart has revealed traces of bis(2-chloroethyl)sulfide.
SCP-8714-D has been successfully relocated to Site-██ without altering its structural integrity. SCP-8714-D is a small wooden chapel that blends architectural elements from Medieval Scandinavian, Gothic Catholic, and Russian Orthodox traditions. Inside the structure, there are three wooden pews. Seven mummified human bodies, dressed in WWI-era combat uniforms from both sides of the conflict, sit on the benches. All the bodies show a chest wound consistent with a force piercing from the inside, and are missing the heart. Forensic analysis suggests bis(2-chloroethyl)sulfide poisoning as the likely cause of death.
At the chancel, there is a golden altar, which exhibits both Christian and Nordic Pagan eschatological motifs in its decoration, referencing iconography from the Book of Revelation, the Völuspá, and the Gylfaginning. A recurring motif is that of a seven-headed dragon with wings made of human skulls and bones, possibly merging the figures of the Norse dragon Níðhöggr and the biblical Beast of Revelation.
At the top of the altar is a wooden relief depicting what appears to be the blueprint of an aircraft design. Although the relief's design lacks any written label or explanation, it bears remarkable similarity to that of a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber. Multiple severed and mummified human body parts—heads, hands, feet, and arms, among others—have been nailed to the "wings" of the aircraft depiction. Forensic analysis has revealed the presence of at least 49 distinct bodies.
There are seven niches in the altar, four are empty, and three each contain the mummified body of a Corvus corax specimen. These specimens show several physical abnormalities, such as being unusually large in size and the presence of extra eyes and limbs. Each one wears a crown of gold with inscriptions in modern English: "Chief Information Officer", "Chief Technology Officer", and "Chief Operations Officer".
At the feet of the altar, there are two lead-lined chests, both of them engraved with the following inscription: "Telum ex deo". Inside one chest, there are 9 rings entirely composed of enriched uranium-235. Inside the other, there is a similar stack of 6 smaller rings of the same material. The total mass of enriched uranium-235 present in SCP-8714-D is 64 kilograms.