New Management, Heavy Baggages » SCP-8265
And with his noose he will hang us all, just to dry his tears.
Item#: 8265
Level4
Containment Class:
esoteric
Secondary Class:
Uncontained
Disruption Class:
amida
Risk Class:
critical
Visual art [painting] by an instance of SCP-8265-K. Depicting SCP-8265 and its effects.
Special Containment Procedures: Because of the extreme physical damage caused by SCP-8265 to the instances of SCP-8265-K, the Health Division must take prompt action in premature cases of severe headaches or vocal cord pain. Staff are reminded that if you hear a colleague singing for longer than two minutes, please follow Protocol 679-2/C/J6-23-J and alert your supervisor.
Update 15/05/2020: Previous Special Containment Procedures are being archived. The MTF Iota-7 "Fishers of Men" is currently working on the interception of hexophysical instance related to SCP-8265, known as SCP-8265-A. The anomaly is to be considered partly neutralised, however, instance -A has not yet been contained and some experts warn of a possible reactivation of SCP-8265 if the revision of Project ARC is not fully implemented.
Description: SCP-8265 is a oneirophage phenomenon of anomalous physical distortion. It occurs randomly, although it only affects human subjects and usually Intra-VELO, however the possibility of being afflicted by this anomaly increases with the addition of Risk Factors.
Informative list of Risk Factors tied to SCP-8265 manifestations.
The following values are expressed by equating the Csíkszentmihályi-Lundini Coefficient with the mathematical symbol known as "percentage" (%). The Grabar' Value (GV) follows the rule that: the higher the coefficient, the greater the probability of encountering the anomaly event compared to an ordinary person.
Risk Factors
GV
Going to the theatre often (> than once a month)
+1.2%
Having fed instances of the genus Corvus
+5%
Frequent wearing of masks or costumes (regardless of the reason and type)
+8%
Close descent from an Italian noble family
+11.1%
Visited the Republic of Moldova's Government House at least once (if more than one visit was conducted, the value remains the same)
+13.5%
Knowledge of the meaning of "Nevermeant"
+15%
Knowledge of the existence of Curcarsi
+47.9%
The primary effects generally regarded as negative of SCP-8265 are the physical and psychological transfigurations brought about in the anatomical structures of the throat and the encephalon.
When the anomaly comes into contact with a host (referred to as SCP-8265-K) it inevitably undergoes a peculiar and abrupt mutation of the vocal cords. Following this initial phase, the small cracks created will produce sounds that can always be traced back to opera singing. In fact, SCP-8265-K after an hour will only be able to express itself through romances and recitatives from various operas. Even if the works are rhymed sonnets or other scripts typically unsuitable for certain vocal registers, -K will perform it by singing as if the writing were appropriate for solo repertoire, however the instance adapts its voice according to the type of situation by taking advantage of its enormous variable vocal range.
It should be noted that some of them have undergone heavy textual variations, referring to an anomalous dimension "where stars shine on a yellow sheet" [sic].
Subsequently to or during these singing performances of plays, the SCP-8265-K instance undergoes psychophysical changes that severely affect the health of neurons within the nervous system. Analyzing the situation more closely from a medical point of view, one can see how this progressive death of neurons is similar to neurodegenerative diseases that have cognitive and sensory impairment as a symptoms.
The Department of Nootics and Onironautics claimed that the patients' visions are due to the consumption of Psi Waves by SCP-8265, in another way it can be said that the anomaly consumes such psychic energy to extrapolate information and concepts. This information is purely speculative, in fact the department has not yet been able to understand why the descriptions of the visions always coincide with an "invisible figure" [sic].
Addendum-1: Discovery by the Foundation
Thus the first contact between SCP-8265 and the SCP Foundation is reported. The event was recorded by a security camera placed in the corridor by exit C of the East Wing of Site-77. The file is only an excerpt of the scene; before the highlight, the DNO Director Luciano d'Ancona is seen choosing which snack to take from the vending machine.
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Date and time: 17/04/2004, 03:03 PM
Place: Vending machine (code: DIANA 620.77.MS.)
On-site personnel: At the beginning of the excerpt (03:03 PM) Luciano d'Ancona, Nootics and Oneironautics Department Director; from a minute later (03:04 PM) Costanza Knight [aka: SCP-8265-K], a researcher in the aforementioned department.
L. D’Ancona: (In a low voice) I read about a nutritionist who tried a diet consisting solely of snacks, keeping under eighteen hundred calories he managed to lose weight. So, if I were to try this diet and eat only chocolate biscuits I would lose a few grams, nay, a few kilos!
The director senses a presence behind him
L. D’Ancona: Yes I know Marta, I shouldn't eat the snacks, it's only eleven o'clock and this morning I had breakfast with the sausages from Saturday's barbecue. But know that I read that with more sugar in your body you work bett- (he turns around)
There is no one behind him
L. D’Ancona: I must have imagined it…
L. D’Ancona: Anyway, calculating the calories I ingested this morning and those I'll be eating shortly, we're already up to one thousand eight hundred. Well, after all, Rome wasn't built in a day, my body follows the same rule, so starting the diet today or tomorrow is indifferent.
Some unidentified anomalous variation can be seen plaguing the space next to the director. There appears to be a motionless object or body, but it is virtually invisible to both the camera and d'Ancona's eyes. In the meantime, a whistle can be heard in the distance.
L. D’Ancona: How strange, it seems like someone wants to rush me into choosing snacks, but there's no one here…
The researcher Knight enters the scene; upon seeing d'Ancona, she interrupts her whistling.
L. D’Ancona: Ah! Good morning Costanza!
C. Knight: Hello, Director. Still here at the machine?
L. D’Ancona: I’ll be with you in a second; we will find that place.
C. Knight: I am sure, but it is in the star-filled sky that we must seek. To die - to sleep, no more; and by a sleep to say we end. The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to…
L. D’Ancona: Um, I didn't know you knew opera singing.
C. Knight: I know not of this city built on lies;
Search all my thoughts as one would thumb through books,
You’ll find no treason hidden in these lines.
And though you hang me with a cord of gold,
A gallows dressed in wealth is still a noose.
But as the Prince once said, "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so"—
Yet think what thou wilt, my truth remains the same.
L. D’Ancona: Hey, are you ok?
C. Knight: Your city has stopped dancing, but my head is empty of information that could be useful to you.
One can see the previously infinitesimally distorted space return to normal. Dr. Knight falls to the ground, apparently due to neural weakening that has triggered muscle wasting.
Note: Researcher Knight was emergency hospitalized. The cerebrum had lost part of its brain mass, appearing to have been "exported". The missing parts seemed to be 5% of the original mass, but some areas had suffered various irritations, as if a mass had put pressure on it. Dr. Costanza regained consciousness three days later, the damage although permanent was "tamponed" through the high technology of the Medical Division in collaboration with the Genetic Manipulation Division. The subject had to undergo a second operation upon waking; her vocal cords were reattached in an attempt to restore them to their original state. In addition, Knight had to go to a speech therapist to learn not to use soprano and regain a normal tone of voice.
Addendum-2: History of the Anomaly
After the event previously mentioned in the first addendum, the management of Site-77 established a Research Team consisting of experienced DNO members and some international historians. The team took the name Team Ξ13/"Amygdala". Here, the conclusions on the historiography of SCP-8265 are set out and summarised, much of the information having been extrapolated from various texts, especially Italian and English.
SCP-8265 largely influenced the opera, however, it has been established that it did not directly originate this theatrical and musical genre. In fact, the first theatrical performance performed before an audience took place on 6 October 1600, on the occasion of the wedding of Maria de' Medici to the French king Henry IV; on this occasion, no writing mentions gibberish about the traitor city or Alagadro, so it is logical to assume that SCP-8265 had not yet originated at that time or had not yet come into contact with our world.
It is in fact from 1745 that we can notice a work that actively mentions SCP-8265, the writing in question being The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni. Between the lines we can see how there is an obvious connection with the anomaly, in fact as the protagonist we find Truffaldino, servant of two masters and suffering from gluttony, the motive factor of the story and origin of the misunderstandings or troubles. In the incriminated scene, Beatrice (a female character disguised as a man to go in search of her lover) and Florindo (a man from Turin and her lover) are once again deceived by Truffaldino, who had exchanged the contents of the two trunks by giving letters from his lover to Beatrice and a painting belonging to the latter to Florindo. When Truffaldino is caught red-handed, Florindo asks him how he came into possession of a painting of his beloved, he replies that he has inherited it from another deceased master, who: With his hands my head he has opened and my conscience cleansed me, now hear how I sing and all this is thanks to the Court of the King!
Inauguration of the plaque on the house where Carlo Goldoni lived in Rome (xilography).
Since this early writing, mentions of the King's Court and a Lord conscience-rummager have increased exponentially. It appears that the physiological changes conducted on the laryngeal musculature by SCP-8265 have produced effects on opera and opera singing for centuries, in fact making a brief calculation of known opera singers (not differentiating roles or vocal types) from 1945 to 2006 45% died from neurodegenerative mental illnesses that were not well treated, and furthermore by consulting the anamnesis (investigation or collection of information about the patient) it was noted that most of these had "strange inflammations on the brain similar to a force with a small surface, such as fingertips" [sic].
Since 1985 there has been an enormous rate of increase of SCP-8265 cases in the global population, unfortunately the cases in Italy (the point most affected by the anomalous phenomenon) were not recorded by the Foundation due to the presence of the Anomalous Materials Information and Security System (AMISS, or SISMA in Italian). From the abandoned documents from the GoI post-scandals of 1996 it was found that indeed, although SISMA was not aware of the anomaly, after 1985 there was an increase in cases of cerebral problems and palpations of the encephalon [sic].
From the findings of the research team, it was easy to trace the element back to the pocket dimension informally known as Alagadda. Site-77 still seems to this day to be the point of greatest interest for SCP-8265, but the personnel on site were (this applies until 2013, since a massive information campaign on the subject began from there) still not trained on Alagadda, except for a very few — including the recently deceased former DNO director Luciano d'Ancona; his assistant, Marta Solei; a senior researcher of the previously mentioned department, Amelia Thevenet; the director of Site-77 and a few other department directors.
The Research Team was enlarged, the focus shifted from the historical reconstruction of the anomaly to the assiduous, sustained and unequivocal search for the nature of SCP-8265. For Ξ13/"Amygdala" it is indispensable to file any information from interrogations with instances of -K, no matter how long or repetitive they are or how similar they are to the original works. See the complete documentation in the archives section of Site-77.
Addendum-3: Special Case/71-NET
On 17/02/2020, Dr Amelia Thevenet contracted a very acute form of SCP-8265. In fact, after an initial inflammation in the throat area, she suffered from fainting from too much singing effort and severe pain in the encephalon. She spent six days in the medical area of Site-77, on these occasions she always sang. It is on the sixth day that the Elan-Vital Energy’s Detection System installed on the room indicated a strange emission of particles. Browse the collapsibles to view the entire event.
Workplace Safety Notice: The following documents contain information that may increase the Risk Factor and gradually expose any reader to SCP-8265. If you have access to this version of the file you already know what possibles risks are, but if you have received this SCP document without being assigned to research the anomaly please DO NOT PROCEED and alert your supervisor as soon as possible. You have been warned.
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Date and time: 23/02/2020; 00:23 AM
Place: Single room A101 in the clinical department of Site-77. Room access: free for specialised personnel and Level 4 staff.
On-site personnel: Researcher Amelia Thevenet [aka: SCP-8265-K, case 389], bedridden.
00:23 - 00:25 -K moves from a fetal position to lying on its stomach, it can be notice an increase in sweating — in fact the pillow is visibly wet.
00:27 The subject wakes up.
00:28 The subject intones notes associated with the music that usually accompanies Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco.
00:30 -K takes the sheet and tangles it.
00:30 The canary-yellow sheet is placed over its head, perhaps to simulate a headdress.
00:33 The IV needle comes off - with some difficulty it tries to dab it with the pillowcase.
00:34 -K gets up, walks slowly to a bedside table.
00:39 -K opens the drawer and takes out a sock and a paper tape. It detaches two pieces and puts it back in the drawer.
00:43 -K lies back on the bed, the blood still falling on the pillow, continuing to stain it.
00:46 -K finds a black plastic tube, usually used to tighten the arm before drawing blood.
00:51 It puts the yellow sheet over its shoulders. After this, the instance begins to sing in mezzo-soprano, intoning the following phrase: «Thus did Alagadda fall from grace, brought low by those of lesser place. An insult to its royal height — a feeling lost, a traitor’s slight. I never saw his face, nor knew his frame. Just what they called him — only just a name. His voice? I know not how it truly rang, just how it whispered in the dreams he sang.»
00:55 A fly settles at the foot of the bed, staring at the play enacted by -K.
00:59 Intensifying the tone: «His age, his hair, forever left unknown, yet in my mind, his image stands alone: The villain’s mask — old, bitter, full of gloom as twisted shadows dancing in a room.»
01:03 SCP-8265-K makes a sort of bow. As it brings its hand up he quickly throws off the yellow headgear.
01:05 -K takes the white sock to which it had previously attached two pieces of scotch tape. It places it over his right eye.
01:06 It begins to recite: «The time, the post he held - that much I know, a nothing lieutenant, fleeing at the crow. But fate, oh fate, what did it weave for him? At court, we knew… his chances ever slim.»
01:08 And again it continues: «They cried, "Run, Nappa, run!" - too late, the call. The claws had found his flesh and watched him fall.»
01:09 -K is about to remove its scotch. While the Foundation's devices notice an anomalous accumulation of EVE Energy, these particles belong to an entity invisible to the naked eye.
01:15 -K continues with its act, not caring (or perhaps not even noticing) the presence of an anomaly at its side. SCP-8265-K clutches the bloodstained pillow, some of it spills onto its clothes.
01:17 And so -K begins to sing again: «Yet something stirred, a force began to rise,
A challenge to the king, a bold surprise.
The hanged emperor's life dared to claim. For freedom's cause, he set Alagadda aflame.»
01:18 It catches its breath. After a while, it switches to soprano: «He shunned all pity, saw but hero's light, to him, all souls were equal in the fight. And Peppe seemed to breathe with living grace, defiant fire etched upon his face.»
01:20 The EVE energy mass moves apparent hand-like appendages in an anomalous manner. The unseen anomaly seems to applaud.
01:21 -K arrives at the last act of his opera. It takes the black plastic tube and ties it around its neck, not too tightly.
01:24 And it sings, -K intones: «The Masks rebelled - against the grinding law, but admin's eye saw not the truth it saw. Still, Alagadda fought, with sharpened will, Its fire unbroken, proud and burning still.»
01:26 It laughs and goes: «And thus their city rose in shrouds and flame… while ours fell silent, buried under shame. Yet not the end - our culture held its thread, for Peppe Nappa dreamed, though seeming dead.»
01:27 The shapeless mass of EVE takes on a form that is at least noticeable within Basic Reality. It makes the space around it begins to curve, albeit irregularly with respect to the assumed configurations of space-time. From now on it is referred to as SCP-8265-A.
01:28 -K takes all the objects from the previous scene used and wears them all together: Nigredo, Albedo, Citrinas, Rubedo, Viriditas. Can you show us the way to Curcarsi?
Fold
Archived description of the new instance [-A]: SCP-8265-A is an anomaly of almost certain ultra-dimensional origin. It occupies an intangible space within the Baseline Reality, this condition of its de facto non-existence results in the superposition of SCP-8265-A with the plane point. The subject gives off a large amount of EVE — from the emanation of particles it could be understood that it has a humanoid form. Further research is still in progress.
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Name and Surname: Amelia Thevenet.
Role: Senior researcher (DNO).
Current (2020) field of research: Noospheric mapping of hard-to-find collective consciousnesses.
Place of birth and correlated information: 03/01/1986, FP-07 "Zagrobnika"’s rubble (uncertain). Adopted in 1989 in FP-108 “Gorična”, where she is still a citizen today.
Psycho-physical condition: The almost certain death of her parents when she was an infant shaped her tremendously, in fact medical examinations conducted by the orphanage in Gorična showed that she originally had latent psionic potential, later lost due to the extreme stress she was subjected to from an early age. The tragedy is traced back to events regarding a neutralized Type Black anomaly, denominated by the Global Occoult Coalition (GOC) as LTE-6679-Otranto-Silver, that attacked Zagrobnika. At the orphanage, although she was welcomed by the directors with pleasure, the facility's records show discriminatory behaviour by the children towards her. Factors in her childhood led her to suffer from anaffectivity. She always showed a very strong attachment to authority and superiors, described by many as "excessive" [sic]. It is worth mentioning the continuous competition against director Marta Solei.
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Date and time: 25/02/2020
Place: Office/11-B; Amelia Thevenet’s office.
On-site personnel: A. Thevenet.
[REDACTED FOR BREVITY]
SCP-8265-A appears behind Amelia Thevenet, who is working in her office alone.
A pressure appears on her skull, this force is actually the anomaly that is penetrating the doctor's tissues and bones without causing her excessive pain. In fact, it does not seem to pass easily through matter, but instead it manages to pass through it by applying a lot of force. (case still to be studied, Team Amygdala is researching)
SCP-8265-K seems to have a few spasms and in the process produces little screams every time the anomaly pushes. The scream is actually a tune from Beethoven's 9th symphony.
A. Thevent: S- Stop…
A strange sound is emitted from SCP-8265-A, described as baritone.
SCP-8265-A: Do you feel like a rope around your neck?
A. Thevenet: Y-
SCP-8265-A reverses the Thevenet's way out of its body.
A. Thevenet: (catching her breath)
SCP-8265-A: You… you perceive me as "something"?
A. Thevenet: So (she clears her throat) I know what you are, and I do not wish to bring mockery. I am here to help, always if your people are worthy.
SCP-8265-A: Do you have to sing when you speak?
A. Thevenet: Surely it was you of Alagadro who attacked me with this ugly affliction, which I now carry like a boulder.
SCP-8265-A: (Sigh) Your wish is granted.
SCP-8265-A snap its fingers
A. Thevenet: (Clearing her throat) Finally! (Looking at the singularity in the room) You moron. you don't know how much honey I had to eat to fix the constant sore throat. Ah, and my headache went away too! It was as if I had fingers massaging my brain, that's it. Do you want to know how much I spent on medication because of you? I even tried traditional Chinese remedies, I had to eat the inedible to try to get rid of that feeling of my fingertips rubbing against my brain…
Amelia Thevenet interrupts herself.
SCP-8265-A: I am glad that you are a talkative woman, just right to keep me company during the journey. You certainly have a sharp tongue.
A. Thevenet: (Apparently embarrassed after her outburst) I will work on it.
A few seconds of silence.
SCP-8265-A: By reading your brain, I discovered that you know a lot about my people.
A. Thevenet: Yes… I did some research on it. The fact that you have been "reading my mind" all this time does not exactly put me at ease.
SCP-8265-A does not respond for a few seconds.
A. Thevenet: Ehmmm, exactly which side should I look at you from? I mean, you know how it is, you're invisible, I have a bit of a hard time talking to someone I can't look in the face.
SCP-8265-A: Touché! My bad, it's been a while since I've met someone who actually has useful information, so I rarely get to talk to someone from this universe.
About two metres away from Amelia Thevenet an extremely large finger appears. After the finger appears another and another, forming a tridactile hand. The visible part of the anomaly approaches the doctor.
The researcher accepts the greeting, shaking (with some difficulty given the different number of fingers) SCP-8265-A's hand.
SCP-8265-A: It will be a pleasure working with you, Amelia.
After this sentence trails of colours depart from SCP-8265-A's hand and "like confetti" [sic] begin to compose a figure.
SCP-8265-A: See…
The colours form arched, hair-like shapes.
SCP-8265-A: I am…
The figure begins to make itself more recognisable. From the recording it is as if he were humanoid in form and extremely tall, estimated at three metres.
SCP-8265-A: The Non-Existent Knight, Lord of the Court of Green.
The anomaly is fully visible. It has a mask similar to the Venetian Moretta, only greenish in colour.
A. Thevenet: The pleasure is mine.
SCP-8265-A: I notice you're not weirded out.
A. Thevenet: Not much. I've seen stranger things, and as you could see when you watched me do that I am familiar with how your world works. I have been mapping the noospheric zone for a while now, which includes concepts such as "Alagadden", "Alagadro", "Heads in a Landscape", and many others.
SCP-8265-A: I understand that you know our city, but you who judge while seeing no further than a span have ego shadowing you.
A. Thevenet: In understandable terms would that be?
SCP-8265-A: You think you already know everything about Alagadda. Have you ever been there?
A. Thevenet: No.
SCP-8265-A: Have you ever received an invitation?
A. Thevenet: No…
SCP-8265-A: However, you know something we don't know and want to know.
A. Thevenet: Slow down. I am sure my superiors will want to build a way of communication with your world, but it cannot be one-sided. You've been asking me questions, you've been peering into my thoughts for too long, you've been haunting the site with a terrible migraine for years and you've been making us sing like canaries; now I'm the one asking for explanations.
SCP-8265-A: (Giggle) You've got guts.
A. Thevenet: Point one: what are you?
SCP-8265-A: That which in my world has no name, that which once was not and now is.
A. Thevenet: Can you talk like a normal person and not like a XVII century knight?
SCP-8265-A: After the Great Escape, nothing is the same as before. You know the infamous name of Peppe Nappa, you must know that before becoming the king of Curcarsi he was a subject of the Hanged King, like everyone else. Fate had nothing good in store for him — the crows laughed when he passed and presaged his future, they were an ever-present omen and a warning of what lay ahead. But he chose another path, he chose to be a hero, he wanted to be the hero who would save Alagadda.
But running away and gathering that crowd did him no good.
SCP-8265-A: Now it is among dreams, who knows where and who knows how to reach it.
A. Thevenet: Haven't you already tried to reach it?
SCP-8265-A: More times than you think. You see… the King knows that contacting the Collective Consciousness would be useless, the Masks there are not hospitable - though in their defence, neither are we. In the beginning I was created, Lord of Green; we have given this name to that dreadful colour that does not belong to our world. Before there were only four concepts: Nigredo, Albedo, Citrinas and Rubedo. Four colours were reflected in everything in Alagadda; the stars were black, the masks were pale, the sky glowed a putrescent yellow and finally red was the colour of the blood in our veins. It seemed to be a law of the universe, and for us it was, it really was. But with the succession of catastrophes, the cawing of the crows soon turned to crying, the stars began to fall from the sky, as in the Jeu de Paume they took a direction, and their parabola presaged our descent.
Dr Thevenet pulls a pen and a crumpled piece of paper out of her lab coat.
A. Thevenet: Wait a minute, what do you mean you were "created"?
SCP-8265-A: I was born for a meaningless process, like the one I represent. You have to know that when something changed, it was not only the space around us that changed. The Great Escape was not just a mass exodus, but a real pillage that would have impressed the Lansquenets. (giggle)
silence.
SCP-8265-A: Are you not so keen on jokes or is the history not really for you?
A. Thevenet: I'm just focused, it's not easy to follow your story.
SCP-8265-A: Um, okey. As I was saying, Nappa brought with him a concept that belonged to us, namely freedom. He took her with him into his dream world and together with the new concept he had created, he had plenty of time to mould the figure of the hero. To the eyes of a human — if I know your culture well enough, but I would say so — it may seem that the ex-Alagadian did the right thing. But out of an emptiness… out of the lack of frivolity in our lives a new feeling was formed, a feeling… (pause) as in… here yes, you would call it "Romantic". Melancholy has filled our Court, and in spite of myself I have been appointed Lord to represent these new feelings, these Things-Without-Names, also known as Green.
Amelia Thevenet goes on to note what SCP-8265-A said.
A. Thevenet: I will need more substantial information explained more fluently, so that my superiors can approve our exchange of salient data.
SCP-8265-A: You will have to accept me as your patron, so that I will guide you to Alagadda.
A. Thevenet: I will let you know.
SCP-8265-A: Take your time, the invitations for Alagadda have no real expiry date.
A. Thevenet: How will I contact you?
SCP-8265-A: One word is enough, Viriditas.
A. Thevenet: All right. (subheading) Viriditas.
Dr Thevenet pins it in the paper.
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In the following days, a short meeting took place between the panel of experts representing the O4-IT Council and Site-77 director, Elena Sifone. The meeting resulted in a voting form covering several factors. Below are summarised the salient points of the vote with the response of the Italian Initiative Council:
- Give Amelia Thevenet permission to contact the entity named as SCP-8265-A again. (APPROVED)
- Give the above-mentioned researcher the go-ahead to visit SCP-2264-B and possibly establish contact with the Court of the Hanged King. (APPROVED)
- Authorise giving information to SCP-8265-A concerning the Collective Consciousness to be curtailed, possibly endangering the very existence of the dream realm. (PENDING)
Following the committee, the ARC Project, an acronym for Alagadda-Reality Connection, was initiated. The programme includes the establishment of relations with the pocket dimension called SCP-2264-B, all this through the favourable position of Amelia Thevenet.
Date and time: 26/02/2020. 05:37 A.M.
Place: Cell K-7, Site-77.
On-site personnel: A. Thevenet.
A. Thevent: I am ready, I accept the invitation.
silence.
A. Thevenet: I had the paper here somewhere… (finds it in her right pocket) here it is! The sentence for accepting the invitation to the Court was - (she interrupts himself)
A. Thevenet: Certainly. Nigredo, the phase in black, the death process that alchemists subjected all alchemical ingredients to — the raven must rest on the skull to give life. Albedo, the bleaching following decomposition, represents purification. Citrinas, the period in yellow is where the philosopher's stone begins to take on its colours. Rubedo, the work is complete, the Great Work has worked. And among all these is Viritidas!
The figure of SCP-8265-A on begins to take shape, you can see its mask twirling.
A. Thevenet: For the alchemists it was a nothing phase, many even omitted it. After a period of apparent death, life emerges. The colour green is obviously the vital colour, representing nature. But why would Alagadda despise this colour, while the other four make up their entire universe?
SCP-8265-A manifests itself behind the researcher Thevenet.
SCP-8265-A: For you must know that our world is anchored to yours, but we idolise what you have discarded. If your society has developed on the beauty of life, we, on the contrary, dance and sing macabrely. I reluctantly am the dust under Alagadda's carpet, I am what frightens my fellow citizens. That is why I am always on the road looking for a way to accompany me to death, for when my mission is completed I can finally rest.
A. Thevenet: (recovering her breath after taking a slight fright at the anomaly behind) For God’s sake, when you appear you might as well warn.
SCP-8265-A: Sorry to have startled you.
The anomaly extends its hand to the doctor.
SCP-8265-A: Did you take your choice then?
A. Thevenet: Yes, I will accept you as my patron. I accept the invitation to Alagadda. We of the SCP Foundation are interested in establishing relations with your court. And it is also a personal factor, I am intrigued as to how deep this rabbit hole can go.
SCP-8265-A extends its hand to the doctor.
SCP-8265-A: Prepare yourself, hold on to me. Now that you have accepted the invitation you are my guest and your safety depends on me. It is customary in Alagadda to treat the guest in the best possible way.
Amelia Thevenet holds SCP-8265-A's left hand tightly. The anomaly rests on the ground in a sort of bow. The researcher protrudes accordingly, observing and replicating every action of -A. After a few seconds of silence, the instance begins to recite a sentence.
SCP-8265-A: My majesty, the invitation has been accepted, patron I have become. I wish to return from the human world carrying the souvenir by the hand. I, your humble Knight and projection of your will, am ready for hanging and my companion is accordingly!
And from the ceiling of Cell K-7 descend two nooses, seemingly generated directly from the concrete of the attic. The consistency was described by the researcher as not anomalous, however, it is highly possible that they are objects of an hexophysical nature.
A. Thevenet: Hey, wait a second. Isn't there a shortcut? Do I have to?
SCP-8265-A does not answer, as if in religious silence. The noose rests on the neck of the anomaly. The exact same thing happens to Thevenet.
A. Thevenet: (suffocating sounds)
The noose around the neck begins to tighten.
The two subjects begin to go up, quickly reaching the ceiling and being pulled upwards by the rope holding them by the neck. They both reach the edge of the ceiling and pass through it, apparently disappearing. Dr Thevenet is no longer traceable by GPS from this moment on — the micro-camera held in her breast pocket loses its signal for a few minutes, then reappears.
[OMITTED DUE TO LACK OF IMAGES FROM THE MICROCAMERA AND MICROPHONE].
The equipment starts working again.
A. Thevenet: (coughs) It was really necessary (she interrupts) Wow, so this is Alagadda?
The camera frames what appears to be for all intents and purposes SCP-2264-B. The sky is lit by a rancid vesper, described as "infected" by a green blur in the distance. At the centre of the scene framed by the camera device is a procession of alagaddians, their clothes appear to be made of connective tissue and immediately after seeing Thevenet they gather near it. They are all wearing masks, many of which are baute or otherwise very similar to traditional Venetian costumes.
Indistinct voices of the Alagaddians: She has arrived! She has arrived!
SCP-8265-A: Fellow citizens! Be still! I understand your excitement at her arrival! I know her song has reached our city and you are curious about his knowledge of Betrayal, yet I ask you to calm yourselves. Our king made of rope and string will be watching us and undoubtedly would not want you to touch our special guest. Leave her alone immediately.
The masked procession stops, listening to the words of SCP-8265-A. Quickly they move away from Amelia Thevenet. Corvids are perched on the buildings near the researcher, continuing to caw in a semi-human language.
Corvids: (cry)
A. Thevenet: Where the hell am I? (subtitle) I hope this damn camera is recording… (gives the device) It's got the green light, so — yes, I pray it's recording.
Corvids: (unintelligible)
The researcher approaches the anomaly. Who seems helpless, just like the other citizens of Alagadda.
A. Thevenet: SCP-8265-A, listen, I'm not understanding anything about this abstruse place. (stressed) I have just hanged myself and have been attacked by masked creatures who have no sense of existence in my world, some have legs where they shouldn't, others are full of hands, still others speak croaking. Instead the crows are laughing, they have been here for a few seconds but it feels like an eternity. Time probably doesn't even flow the same way, who knows what my superiors must be thinking of me! Just tell me what I have to do Non-Existent Knight.
Ravens: (incomprehensible)
A. Thevenet: What the hell do you want? [referring to the corvids.]
Corvids: Craw! Don't you recognise us? Craw! We've seen before! Craw.
A. Thevenet: I don't… I don't remember.
SCP-8265-A: Alagadda may be incomprehensible to you, but I am sure that with time you will learn to like it. Here you are like a star, people cheer you on. All your singing sessions — which you so dislike — have been played by our birders. All this time, Alagadda has lived off the voices of you and so many other humans; my brothers have been able to hear your deepest thought. According to the Gregorian calendar, it is since the eighties that these flying radios have been squawking about human exploits. We heard and resented people who knew nothing about our city and Curcarsi, but you were like Pavarotti and your tenor kept us awake during vespers.
The doctor looks away from the corvids perched on the eaves and her camera frames the surrounding buildings, made up of spires and typically Baroque architectural solutions. At the end of the avenue where the two talking subjects are standing, a huge palace with impossible shapes is visible. A few corvids can be seen on the structure's main rose window.
SCP-8265-A: Follow me, I will show you the city. Be careful where you put your feet, here you have to climb the stairs backwards and if you're not used to it it's easy to fall.
The camera starts to malfunction. After a few seconds it switches off because of the multidimensional connection.
From this moment on, Dr. Amelia Thevenet's physical form was lost for a couple of days. However, the camera connected with the doctor worked in jerks during this time, showing scenes involving SCP-8265-A and helping to better understand the workings of SCP-2264-B.
The DNO assiduously pursued their researcher, even though director Marta Solei repeatedly expressed "the futility of these searches" [sic]. Noospheric mapping of the various concepts related to Alagadda led to the discovery that the city itself is connected to the Baseline Reality (BR) via connections in the Infosphere; more information will be released in due course via a special document.
Unfortunately, the search was unsuccessful in terms of finding Thevenet. However, the Archives and Memoirs Section has taken advantage of the novice records to write an official description of SCP-8265-A.
SCP-8265-A is a hexophysical anomaly. It appears to have anomalous abilities that are difficult to comprehend, in fact it has the ability to disappear to the human eye, maintaining a constant shape but gaining almost infinite density. This makes SCP-8265-A a naked singularity "on command", having ample decision as to which body shape to take. SCP-8265-A's anatomy does not appear to be too complex: the organism possesses tridactylous appendages in both feet and hands; the torso is stubby; it has been hypothesised that it is in a sort of "symbiosis" with the vizard it always possesses on its face, perhaps being an extension of skin flaps just like the clothes of it and other alagaddians. Under the neck it has "wattles", some fleshy appendages (similar in composition to those of some birds) with flaps that form a semi-ruff, i.e. a pleated collar that was part of aristocratic clothing in the 16th century.
To make its interdimensional journeys between Alagadda and Basic Reality, SCP-8265-A exploits the Psi-Waves of the -K subjects. The "predation" of the anomaly has a fairly simple pattern:
- To identify a human subject who proves to coincide with the Risk Factors.
- Exploit the physical mutations produced by SCP-8265 to induce the subject to empty their consciousness, talking about information that might be of interest to -A (these seem to be somehow "recorded" and then reproduced in SCP-2264-B through the ravens who inhabit the city).
- In the case where the subject -K has knowledge of noospheric areas that coincide with Curcarsi, SCP-8265-A will be able to cross (albeit with great difficulty) the baryonic matter, going directly to probe the encephalon of -K. Probably in this way it is able to take in even more information.
The anomaly physically embodies the concept of "Viriditas" (the alchemical term, to be distinguished from the meaning of viridity).
Fold
Two SCP-2264-B Exploration Logs were transcribed by Amelia Thevenet. If you wish to consult the entirety of the logs, please access the complete file.
Date and Time: 27/02/2020; 09:51 P.M.
Place: SCP-2264-B.
On-site personnel: A. Thevenet.
A. Thevenet: -uold be recording. Oh, yes it has the light on. At least I think so, it did the same thing to me yesterday but I'm pretty sure nobody at Site-77 saw anything. When I get back I'll ask to see if all the files are there.
The micro-camera frames a masked procession walking down a street in Alagadda. The town seems to be celebrating. The citizens of SCP-2264-B dance in the streets and some corvids play pieces of non-human music (almost certainly native to the parallel dimension), while other Alagaddians follow the tunes produced by the birds' beaks on unconventional wind and stringed instruments, namely corpses (mostly flayed).
A. Thevenet: What a macabre sight. Although I am getting used to it after all. After the first hundred guitars made of leather and saxophones playing screams, it doesn't have the same effect as the first time.
SCP-8265-A: Everyone is celebrating, yesterday you passed through the white libraries of the Lord Without an Eye and in a few twilight hours you will be welcomed into the presence of the Hanged King. What luck you have had!
A. Thevenet: Some twilight? (you can see the researcher's fingers inside the frame, in a position as if she were doing particularly difficult calculations) So it would be… a few days! But I cannot wait a few days! My superiors will be looking for me, I must bring them information. I N F O R M A T I O N S. Capeesh?
The corvids perched on a kind of vermiform gargoyle clear their voices. Initially they produce random baritone sounds, then they become intelligible.
Corvids: Craw! It should be a pleasure for you to set foot in this city.Craw.
A. Thevenet: You corvids again? All the Alagaddians speak but are incomprehensible, do you rude people have to be able to speak my language?
Corvids: Craw! (laughter) CRAW!
A. Thevenet: I mean, what are you laughing at up there?
Corvid 1: She doesn't recognise us! (laughs out loud)
Corvid 2: Apparently not. Craw.
SCP-8265-A: I am sorry the corvids are bothering you, they are just glad to see you again. You see, I was not the only attempt by the King of the Noose to rid himself of the disease afflicting Alagadda. Sea of Ravens ring a bell? The birds that destroyed your city — Zagrobnika — were an attempt by our people to flush out Curcarsi and Peppe Nappa. I was hoping you wouldn't find out that way, those damn ravens can never keep their beaks in check.
A. Thevenet: So, Zagrobnika was destroyed because of you?
Corvids: Craw. Blame it on Peppe Nappa. Craw. If he had not escaped from us, the city would still be flourishing.
Amelia Thevenet clenches her fists.
A. Thevenet: It was always his fault… (subheading) I should trust them?
SCP-8265-A: I know it's still an open wound, I ripped your mind like tin foil. I understood what it feels like to lose loved ones. You were born there, in the ruins, amidst the screams and tears; yet you remember nothing - after all, how could you remember? You were too young when everything happened.
The doctor remains silent.
SCP-8265-A: Hey, look, we're fighting the same enemy. And we'd better work as a tea- (it is interrupted)
A. Thevenet: Why did you not simply let Curcarsi exist? You put thousands of civilians in the way.
SCP-8265-A: Just past this calle, look to the right.
Just past a city street SCP-8265-A stops, the doctor does the same. The procession moves on. In the distance two inhabitants of SCP-2264-B can be seen.
A. Thevenet: Who are those two?
SCP-8265-A: I don't know them personally, however they are two citizens. If that was your question.
A. Thevenet: Yes. And what are they doing there?
SCP-8265-A: They are simply contemplating the beauty of the sunset.
The two alagaddians are walking on the sand of the spieggia and looking at the black sea, illuminated by the twilight light.
A. Thevenet: Don't they see it on a daily basis for, like, round the clock?
SCP-8265-A: Yes. But you know, everything has an end.
A. Thevenet: So this might be the last one for you too.
SCP-8265-A: This is what I was trying to make you understand earlier, it is a question of either we see the next sunset or they will.
Silence.
A. Thevenet: This is sublime…
SCP-8265-A: Hm?
A. Thevenet: Nothing. I just think that Alagadda is beautiful.
And for now, Alagadda is still dancing.
Although Dr. Thevenet had reported that the encounter with the entity known as Hanged King would occur after several vespers, the following recording does not occur until twenty-four hours after the transcription (7). This has determined that time within SCP-2264-B flows differently. In fact, if one is inside the pocket dimension and spends seven "sunsets" there, they will be perceived as seven Earth days, even though in the Basic Reality only 24 hours will have passed.
Date and time: 28/02/2020; 02:46 A.M.
Place: SCP-2264-B.
On-site personnel: A. Thevenet.
The camera shows the palace as seen in the fourth transcript of the file. The festive mood seems to have changed slightly, in fact, what previously from a distance looked like two bells placed on the steeples on either side of the palace, are now distinguishable as two giant talking severed heads. They reproduce the sound of a bell, although slightly more like a shout.
All around the palace are various Alagaddians, celebrating. They dance a waltz-like dance, flooding the square from the huge structure.
The ravens remain silent, flying above the roof creating a huge column of birds.
A. Thevenet: So it's the big day. It has finally arrived.
SCP-8265-A: Yes, you are lucky that he welcomes you with all honours. But I have already told you about his condition.
A. Thevenet: I don't think you have. I'm all ears.
SCP-8265-A: Oh how careless I am. You see, my king we could say that… he is ill, he is a very ill man. Something ails him, he has been like that since the Great Escape. That night has stayed with him.
A. Thevenet: And what is one way to end its suffering?
SCP-8265-A: There is only one. You must confide your secrets to him, only then can you put an end to the tears flowing down his body. You see, when his son died, the Emperor wept for millions of sunsets. About thirty million twilights. The melancholy that had plummeted upon the kingdom with time passed, but for a being made of suffering, even the smallest pain becomes unbearable. Or so we thought, the sack around him wiped away his tears when my alagaddian brothers eased his pain by showing him the suffering of others.
SCP-8265-A: Only you can save my world and bring vengeance to your people. Your parents will probably not even have had a proper burial, and in all this Curcarsi still has the right to dream. Convince your superiors to review your project, the ARC Project. You will have our infinite gratitude.
A. Thevenet: I am willing to help you, but please know that the choice always goes to my superiors. I will do my best. I want to be a hero, I could not be one for Zagrobnika but I will be one for you.
The giant heads begin to chime faster. The Alagaddians stop dancing in the square and quickly gather near the cathedral.
SCP-8265-A: He has arrived. The meeting can take place.
The gigantic gate to the palace entrance opens, producing music. The words of the song, although incomprehensible, they seem to say at one point: «His Majesty, the Crybaby King, has arrived.».
SCP-8265-A: We can enter the palace. Follow me.
The two subjects enter the royal palace. Upon entering, one can see that the interior architecture is filled with mosaics depicting Alagaddian entities, which unfortunately have not yet been identified. The mosaic tiles are white, black, red and yellow; only one, located in a corner of the palace behind colossal columns, does not reflect this rule, being green.
This was the only element understood by the Foundation, in fact the mosaic depicts a central figure probably subject to the practice of iconoclasm, this because it lacks the tesserae on the face area. It is almost certain that the scene depicted is the Great Escape and the subject of iconoclasm is Peppe Nappa.
A. Thevenet: So this is the Court of the Hanged King?
A noose appears on the ceiling in the apsidal area of the structure.
SCP-8265-A: Your highness, I have brought you the cure to your melancholy. Look!
Now from the noose hangs a figure. It is completely wrapped in a sack-like fabric. It has a crown on its head.
A. Thevenet: Um, it is a pleasure to find myself in your court….
The doctor and the anomaly approach the hanging figure.
A. Thevenet: Your Highness? (subtitle) But, it is…
SCP-8265-A: He is crying.
The figure of the Hanged King is more visible. The sack around him is wet with tears.
SCP-8265-A: Your Majesty!
The room is flooded with light emanating from the hanged entity.
???: At last. My vengeance will come.
The micro-camera malfunctions, showing alternating white, black, red, yellow and green for a few seconds. After that it switches off completely.
After the end of the recording, Amelia Thevenet returned to Baseline Reality. She was found in Cell K-7 in foetal position, with various wounds on her neck, resembling lacerations of the skin due to hanging. As soon as she recovered, she uttered: "There are no exact words to describe my surreal experience."
Amelia Thevenet fully recovered from the experience in the following days, demonstrating an intact psychological state. In the following months she watched and re-watched the recordings, contacting English-speaking departments to describe her experience. If you would like to have a full view of the doctor's writings concerning Alagadda, request access to the management of the various sites with which the DNO researcher made contact.
In the following months, she resumed full-time work, spending much time in her office, no longer contacting SCP-8265-A under orders from Site-77 management. In May 2023, she set out a 251-page document intended to replace/improve the ARC Project, changing its purpose.
Addendum-4: Interview regarding the proposed extension of the Project ARC
Date and time: 11/06/2023
Place: Marta Solei’s office.
On-site personnel: Director of DNO, Marta Solei; senior researcher of the aforementioned department, Amelia Thevenet.
Marta Solei mixes coffee with a plastic spoon, meticulously breaking up the sugar.
A. Thevenet: (cough)
M. Solei: So Amelia, my superiors have given me the order to summon you to discuss the project- (stops talking and apparently starts looking through the papers for information)
A. Thevenet: If it's the name you're looking for, it doesn't really have one. A friend at the Archives and Memories Division — who is used to dealing with bureaucratic paperwork — told me that I can put it straight into the ARC Project.
M. Solei: I cannot object. As I was saying, the revision of the ARC Project could bring with it the resolution of the disease that has plagued Site-77 since its inception.
A. Thevenet: (she brings her hand to the head) I am aware of this, that is why I proposed it. Peace comes at a price though.
M. Solei: You are aware, then, that you are making a potentially disastrous request. Do you want the Foundation to repeat what happened in Zagrobnika?
A. Thevenet: Wrong. I just don't want a repeat of the Croatian Free Port disaster. Curing oneself is an achievable goal. We help the Hanged King in his task and he helps us, not by fomenting new tragedies like the one that happened in Holland or who knows what else.
M. Solei: (swipes through the documents in her hand, frantically searching for information on what Thevenet reported).
A. Thevenet: (in a debasing tone) Dear superior, it seems that you do not read notifications about dangerous anomalies on foreign soil, or do you? You don't seem to be well informed.
M. Solei: They certainly are, plus it's none of your business. I am already taking care of enough of my own cases.
A. Thevenet: Maybe it is too many assignments for you.
M. Solei: I conquered them one by one. I will not let them go so easily.
A. Thevenet: I will wait my turn. But doesn't it seem to you that the management of the site is putting a lot of emphasis on the resolution of SCP-8265?
M. Solei: Amelia, I honestly don't understand why you always have to try to get in my way.
A. Thevenet: I do not understand why, despite having had family members in Zagrobnika, you resent approving the project.
M. Solei: Because they disregard the gravity and ferocity of the Hanged King. They play with death, they idealise it all in his court. For years, one of its Lords [SCP-8265-A] has been wandering around, seeking out information on its own among our consciousness, its actions have led to the death of some and it forcibly kidnapped a researcher from my department. It seems as if this time in SCP-2264-B has changed you.
A. Thevenet: It sure did.
M. Solei: And you mean to tell me that the single sight of a monster in a sack with a rope around its neck changed your life? I don't understand you, I never did. Is this Alagadda thing really just competition to you? You want to be a hero, but you don't know what it means to fix other people's mistakes from the past.
A. Thevenet: I saw an entity that other men could not even imagine seeing. I went to his court and came back alive.
Silence.
A. Thevenet: And if you must know, I have a rather bizarre idea about the Hanged King.
M. Solei: I’m curious.
A. Thevenet: It is a wayward child. It has the same human flaws, it is a defenceless mammal like us who was saddened because one of its subjects destroyed its dystopia. But what you have not realised is that we can really play on this. We have an advantage, it is so blinded by the thirst for revenge that we can settle there, filing and cataloguing all the alagaddians, all the ravens and every star in the sky.
During Dr Thevenet's words, Director Solei spits some of the coffee (which she was sipping) back into the cup, in amazement or shock.
M. Solei: A crybaby? You just compared an enochian entity to a toddler? That’s seriously unprofessional.
A. Thevenet: I'm the unprofessional one? Listen, Marta, I have travelled for days in the middle of a city of madmen. What were minutes for you were long hours for me. I'm working my ass off to give hope to the victims of Zagrobnika. It's your dream, remember?
M. Solei: Doing the right thing… yes. Listen, for me your project is unfortunately unfeasible. I will have my say at the next rally of department and site directors. It will be up to them to choose whether to revise the ARC Project, it will be up to them to choose whether to feed Curcarsi to the Alagaddians.
A. Thevenet: Thanks for the support Marta. Remember that you are still my superior de iure, but I don't know for how long.
Amelia Thevenet gets up from her chair and picks up her papers.
Fold
From: moc.77-etis|enofisanele#moc.77-etis|enofisanele
To: O4-IT members
Object: ARC Project review
—————
I am writing this e-mail to inform you of the upcoming vote. Once again, Site-77 will meet in the Aula Magna to discuss the situation of Dr. Amelia Thevenet, a researcher who brought to my office a proposal to extend and revise the ARC Project.
For those who were absent at the last vote, the project envisaged (and still does) the stabilisation of the relationship between Alagadda and the SCP Foundation, in exchange for some information on the Collective Consciousness of Curcarsi. I therefore summarise the future prospects for both possible answers to the vote:
- If you vote YES for the revision and expansion of the ARC Project: Amelia Thevenet will once again return on a scouting mission to SCP-2264-B, but will bring with her a Mobile Special Force that will be created on the spot. They will bring information about Curcarsi to the entity known as the Hanged King, possibly leading to future attacks from Alagadda into the dream realm. In return for this, the Foundation would have free access to the pocket dimension. SCP-8265 is likely to cease to exist, as it was a phenomenon created by the actions of -A (which according to Dr. Thevenet's proposal would cease activities within the Baseline Reality)
- If you vote NO on the revision and extension of the ARC Project: the situation will remain unchanged, you will also be able to express your mistrust of Amelia Thevenet. If the votes of no confidence are sufficient, it will lose its prominent role within the relationship between SCP-2264-B and the Foundation. It is likely to remain hidden in Alagadda, preventing its destruction. According to the above-mentioned doctor, SCP-8265 would start attacking Site-77 again (the anomaly is considered to be in neutralisation phase as of 03/2020).
The future is once again in your hands, choose carefully.