Group #: GOI-004, "The Church of the Broken God"
Membership: Three known factions, ~300,000 worldwide
Resources: USD$1-5 billion annually, anomalous capability
Status: Active
The smith answers only to God, for his hands repair His body.
-Builder Robert Bumaro
Description: The Church of the Broken God is an anomalous religious organization which worships mechanization and believes flesh and life to be inherently evil or "broken". Though its origins are unknown, Broken God-related artifacts have been recovered from archaeological digs dating back to the Greek Classical period, and church dogma asserts its existence predates the appearance of life on Earth. Central to their theology is that their deity has been scattered, dispersed or otherwise rendered inert. Through the use of technology, often anomalous, Church followers seek to bring together the components of the body of God, thereby allowing the Divine a physical form to utilize and bringing about some sort of techno-organic apotheosis. Several SCP objects have been attributed to this group since its discovery. Personnel may reference items indexed under "broken-god" for a restricted list.
The current leader of the oldest extant denomination of "The Broken Church" (GOI-004A) is an individual identified in records as "His Holiness Robert Bumaro, Builder of the Broken God", who apparently gained the title in 1946. While this sect continues its efforts to reconstruct their deity, the religion as a whole has at some time in the past century undergone a major schism. Two significant breakaway movements from the original church have entered into a major theological conflict.
Cast in the Design of God, We Faithful.
-The Schema of the Patriarchs
The "Cogwork Orthodox Church" (GOI-004B) espouses a form of literal religious iconography known as "Standardization", whereby adherents submit to anomalous mechanical enhancement with the stated goal of remaking themselves in the image or plan of their deity. Due to the extent of their mechanical augmentation, members of this sect often emit audible ticking or tapping sounds, and have been referred to disparagingly as "Tickers" by members of the other two sects.
Cogwork Orthodoxy deliberately adheres to technological norms of the late Industrial Revolution, and regard the mass-production of analogue, steam and clockwork-driven machinery as a form of prayer. Orthodoxy doctrine is highly centralized and regulated by a group of unknown composition, known as the Patriarchs. This body issues detailed production orders and design documents, which form the core of the group's extremely extensive holy writ. Orthodox belief decries the use of electronic or digital devices, and views distributed information sharing and decentralization as tantamount to the dissolution of divine knowledge. Items and reports pertaining to the Cogwork Orthodoxy are currently being indexed under "cogwork-orthodoxy".
Individuality is the file system through which our Lord is compiled.
-Words_Of_The_Prophet.txt
The "Church of Maxwellism" (GOI-004C) represents a modernized, computation and network oriented means of worship. No central organizing church body is known to exist. However, interviews and covert surveillance has determined that all known cells are in regular contact with one another, and capable of coordination. Maxwellists favour small-scale body modification through the use of advanced cybernetics and organ enhancement. While artificial limbs or reinforced skeletons have been observed, Maxwellist implants focus primarily on communication, data storage, networking capabilities, and sensory enhancement.
Maxwellist doctrine interprets the Broken God as a "fragmented" deity, which exists as disparate data present in the linked technology and cultural zeitgeist of the digital age. Worshipers approach the divine by embracing their unique traits and sharing their knowledge and capacity for the good of the collective Church. By connecting all minds through computer networks, they believe their deity can be "recompiled" as the aggregate will of humanity. Due to their use of computer fan noise as a meditative aid, members are often referred to as "Hummers" by members of the other two factions. Items and reports pertaining to the Church of Maxwellism are currently being indexed under "maxwellism".
Given the fragmented nature of GoI-004, a clear timeline of events involving the Church is difficult to determine. Contradictory information regarding its origins, primary doctrines, important figures and historical development is collected with every raid on hostile cells. The retroactive recognition of unrelated cults as predecessors of the Church represents a significant problem for Foundation historians.
The following is a brief summary of information regarding the Church's history, from sources the Foundation presently considers the most reliable. It is to be taken as a guideline when dealing with members of the GoI or suspected artifacts, though Foundation agents and researchers must always remember that it represents incomplete knowledge, subject to expansion or amendment with every new discovery.
Xia Anomalous Culture Group
Recent archeological findings of ancient anomalous sites have established a link between the ancient Xia Dynasty (a legendary dynasty which ruled China from 2100 to 1600 BCE, of which there is no non-anomalous evidence) and the Cult of the Broken God.
The Xia culture group practiced a dualistic religion, worshipping entities known as Father Serpent Fuxi (equivalent to the Broken God) and Mother Dragon Nüwa (equivalent to the Sarkic deity) above all gods. Scholars were said to practice "The Way of the Serpent", and members of the culture underwent at age twelve transformations into serpentine bodies, said to resemble "the Body of the Dragon". These anomalous transformations, along with the anachronistic technology recovered from archeological sites, confirm the Xia Dynasty as one of the first anomalous civilizations in historical record. According to Xia cosmology, Fuxi and Nüwa fought after creating humankind, eventually culminating in Fuxi transforming himself into a "Great Brass Cage" to imprison Nüwa. While the worship of Fuxi took precedence over worship of Nüwa, the Xia culture group saw the rebuilding of Fuxi as an event to be prevented at all costs, since it would free Nüwa from her cage, and lead to the end of the world.
The Dynasty is said to have started with the Yellow Emperor, a legendary figure considered to be the initiator of Chinese civilization, who defeated contemporaneous worshippers of Fuxi and Nüwa. Throughout their history, the Xia civilization would enter conflicts with other civilizations, such as the aforementioned cults, the Ortothan civilization, the future Shang dynasty, and [REDACTED].
The Xia culture group was significantly more advanced than any other civilization of their time, having developed structures similar to computing devices, up to and including artificial intelligence, as well as a writing system more developed than the future Shang dynasty and even reality warping devices. They were accomplished blacksmiths, particularly of bronze and a beryllium-bronze alloy, present in several anomalous objects. The properties of this alloy are currently being researched. Records suggest the Xia culture developed methods of interstellar travel. Whether these were constructed, theorized only, or something else entirely has not been determined.
The Xia Dynasty came to an end following a conflict with creatures identified as "Golden Crows", which destroyed all physical evidence of their existence outside of a few anomalous sites, objects and organisms. Information on them persisted through legends of the surrounding and succeeding cultures, and there are accounts of the continued presence of survivors as guardians of forgotten history.
For more information on the Xia Anomalous Culture Group, see Document 2481.
The Mekhanite Empire
Ample evidence has been collected of the presence of Broken God cults in Mycenaean Greece, a Greek civilization spanning the years 1600-1100 BCE. The Broken God came to be known as Mekhane, and over time the cult grew powerful enough to establish a Mekhanite Empire, existing roughly from 1200 BCE to 1000 BCE.
The Mekhanite Empire was a highly centralized theocratic state, with no distinction between the position of political, religious and military leader. The State maintained control over the production of goods, particularly of the metallurgic industry, considering it a holy craft. The Empire had strong trading relations with Egypt, Assyria and Canaan. Their aggressive commercial policies, evangelization practices and naval strength made them one of the most powerful states at the time, though they also gave them an unpopular reputation among contemporary states.
The Mekhanite Empire introduced several important concepts to the Broken Church theology, most importantly the establishment of the rebuilding of the Broken God as the ultimate goal of the Church. Written accounts document the change from a primarily deistic religion to the current Apotheosis doctrine as far back as 1154 BCE. Of important notice is that the earliest known document that proposes this doctrine called the Broken God "Wan".
Relationships between the Mekhanite Empire and contemporaneous civilizations, primarily the Daevites and the Sarkics, were often fraught with tension, though proof of alliances between the Mekhanists and the Daevites against the Adí-üm Empire has been encountered. Tensions between the Mekhanites and the Adí-üm Empire reached an all-time high around the end of the 11th century BCE. Evidence of colossus constructed for this war has been found as far away as the Aralkum desert. Accounts on the end of the war vary, though it is agreed that, while the Mekhanites ultimately won the war, it dealt significant damage to the state, leading to the collapse of the Empire shortly afterwards. Artifacts from this time period would be salvaged by various anomalous organizations over the years, surfacing as recently as the Seventh Occult War.
The City-State of Amoni
The survivors of the Mekhanite state experienced a schism after the fall of the empire. A significant portion traveled to other lands, hoping to find new territory in which to settle. The rest stayed on Amoni, a small settlement mostly undamaged by the war.
For both groups, the period immediately after the collapse of the empire was defined by the need for secrecy. The surrounding states immediately claimed dominion over the Empire's former territory, hoping to find the secrets to the Mekhanites' technology. Similarly, the former members of the Empire were hunted, considered a valuable source of information. Survivors looking for new places to live hid their origins, often practicing their religion secretly or conflating it with other deities. It is believed most descendants of these survivors eventually abandoned their faith to facilitate integration with society.
Meanwhile, the survivors in the now City-State of Amoni hid information on its location from the rest of the world, living in self-sufficiency while recovering from the effects of the war. It would take them until the 6th Century BCE to regain their status as an influential player in regional politics, primarily due to their advanced technology. While their overall military strength fell significantly with the fall of the Empire, engineers from the City-State were highly prized among other civilizations, gaining them several important allies that guaranteed them a continued existence.
No longer possessing a numerous army nor control over the sea trade, the City-State of Amoni would instead concentrate on agriculture and the production of unique goods. The City-State remained closed to foreigners, not willing to show any sign of weakness to outsiders, with the majority of contact with other states coming from trade in designated ports and the true location of the city remaining a secret. This state of isolation would remain until conquest by the Romans on the 1st Century BCE.
The City-State of Amoni was profoundly influenced by the Pythagorean cults, incorporating their belief on the importance of numerology and harmony. It is believed the current Gnostic reading of the Broken God theology may have its roots in this period. These spiritual influences led to a marked increase in the production of literature and art around the 5th Century BCE, marking this the Golden Age of Mekhanite Literature. Similar advances in automaton design would occur around the 1st Century BCE, culminating in the creation of what are believed to be the first examples of artificial intelligence in the European continent.
The City-State of Amoni remained neutral in most military conflicts of the time, though they are known to have aided the Achaemenid Empire in war against the Sarkites, as well as have at least supplied military equipment to the Kingdom of Carthage at the time of the Punic Wars.
The City-State of Amoni would be destroyed during the 1st Century CE, after a conflict with the Hebrews proved their military strength could no longer be underestimated. While followers of the religion remained, no centralized body would form until the 19th Century.
The Industrial Revolution
The Church of the Broken God experienced a resurgence during the Industrial Revolutions, seeing the proliferation of machinery and mass-production as a signal of Mekhane’s imminent return. The various surviving cells would unify into what is known today as the Broken Church, looking to spread the word of their God in the new era.
At the same time, among members of the Church, debates started regarding the viability of conversion into mechanical entities, searching for a "post-Nibbanic" state of being. Conversion had not been a widespread practice since the fall of the Mekhanite Empire, and several high ranking members considered any conversion different from the one given by the then lost "God’s Ichor" to be a mockery of the Broken God. It is believed the tensions inside the Church were exacerbated by the oligarchy of the time, seeing benefits in the "new" religion but not willing to submit themselves to the Church’s authority. Ultimately, this led to the first great schism of the Church’s modern history, when several splinter cells defected from the main body of the Church to seek enlightenment in the new technologies during the 1840's.
With the economic support of several important factory owners and the knowledge of the church splinter cells, several experiments on possible paths of augmentation were performed. The splinter cells looked to further evangelize the oligarchy of the time, emphasizing the usefulness of the Mekhanite anomalous technology and spectacle of augmentations as reasons to convert. While few adopted the faith, many would become sponsors of the nascent splinter cells, looking to benefit from their knowledge. The increased awareness of anomalous technology threatened to destroy the Veil, leading to the first conflicts between the then nascent Foundation and the Church.
Eventually, the majority of these cells would be unified under the Patriarchs of the Cogwork Orthodox Church, which became the most important segment of the Church of the Broken God by the end of the 19th Century.
The 20th Century
The Church of the Broken God started the 20th Century in the most stable situation it had been since the destruction of the City-State of Amoni. The discovery of several suspected Broken God artifacts by the Cogwork Orthodoxy led many in cults to believe it was only a matter of time until the Broken God was reassembled. The Broken Church, not willing to let the splinter group be the ones to unite the God, started their own hunt for the artifacts.
The most important figure in recent Church history is Robert Bumaro, a mysterious individual who was first recorded as a collector of items suspected of being related to the Church. He recruited several enforcers and, through anomalous means, enhanced most of them until they were able to "communicate" with their God. This was unusual for the Broken Church, as, unlike the Cogwork Orthodoxy, they usually discouraged artificial enhancements.
Bumaro and his agents were able to collect close to a hundred artifacts of presumed importance to the Church, before disappearing in 1943. He would reappear in 1946, claiming the title of leader of the Church and "Builder of God". To this day, Bumaro remains a highly respected figure not just inside the Broken Church, but among all other known denominations.
A final schism occurred during the 1990's, though conflicts within the Church had started in the 1970's. As technology advanced, many members of the existing churchs felt the dogmas were outdated, and that the Church had to adapt its message to the times. The inclusion of electronic devices in augmentations was the cause of severe controversy in the Cogwork Orthodox Church, culminating in its prohibition by the Patriarchs as a heretical development. This addition to the Schema resulted in numerous excommunications and defections.
Similarly to the situation in the 19th Century, numerous splinter cells would emerge, though with significantly less success at attracting funding. Most of them would eventually unify during the second half of the 1990's, following the teachings of a woman named Saint Hedwig to establish the Church of Maxwellism. With commercial links to major players in the anomalous world such as Prometheus Labs, the Church of Maxwellism would soon establish itself as one of the major denominations of the Church.
Current Status
The Church of the Broken God has an estimated of 300,000 members as of today. There’s an increase in families of mixed faiths, as Maxwellism looks to evangelize newer generations using popular media and the Internet, making them the most important threat to normalcy among the members of the Church, despite a relative lack of military power compared to the other two denominations.
Current Church operations center around the recovery of an island off the coast of Greece. The reasons for this interest are currently unknown.
