SCP-4702 / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page SCP-4702.

Author post

ManyMeats 25 Jul 2019 02:46

THROUGH me you pass into the city of woe:
Through me you pass into eternal pain:
Through me among the people lost for aye.
Justice the founder of my fabric moved:
To rear me was the task of Power divine,
Supremest Wisdom, and primeval Love.
Before me things create were none, save things
Eternal, and eternal I endure.
All hope abandon, ye who enter here.

~Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
Inferno, Canto III

Gehenna, Unknown to Man

I've read a lot of scips on this site that dabble in ideas of hell, but a lot of them are more the type of "hellscape" than necessarily something I would consider to be Biblical Hell or a true idea of a place of punishment for some divine or cosmic purpose. This is my attempt to pile on the imagery and try and take us there.

I realize this can be a bit purple, and that's intentional, but I hope you find it none the less evocative. This is attempt 2 at this piece, now with a different ending.

Image Attribution within

banner photo is "Kelmscott Manor 02" by 'Edward and Caroline' and is licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0

fireplace is "well well" by 'mer de glace', licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0 via creativecommons.org

Canaanite mask photo is "Mask with Void Eyes" by 'Idoma', licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0 via creativecommons.org

Last edited on 25 Jul 2019 02:50 by ManyMeats Show more

rattles 25 Jul 2019 03:03

I'm about to go to bed and thus cannot read this in full, but FYI there are tons of stray XXXXs.

EDIT: This is quite good, apart from certain word choices that I would consider to be gaffes. +1 duly awarded.

Last edited on 25 Jul 2019 17:19 by rattles Show more

Amelia Wright 25 Jul 2019 03:11

Got em' all.

ManyMeats 25 Jul 2019 03:18

That's totally not embarrassing at all. Thanks for pointing it out; should be corrected now as well as the footer.

good scp, i approve (if that means anything)

randomnessss 25 Jul 2019 12:48

As i was reading it, i was thinking "are there any phsycological effects, or anything else to this scp? It still seems vary bland to me."

But then i got to the end and it definitely changed my perspective of it. With the ending added, this scp definitely isnt bland at all.

It is also nice to see a different take on what 'hell' is, other than just the pits of doom.

Allround great and well written. (8/10 because even the best can be improved)

But thats just my opinion as a novice scper or whatever we call ourselves.

Re: good scp, i approve (if that means anything)

ManyMeats 25 Jul 2019 13:09

Thank you for your feedback! Large swaths of this have suffered/benefitted from substantial rewrites including the ending at least twice over. I realize I took a risk by writing something that took 'so long' to get there, but I appreciate you letting me know that in some measure it paid off.

Imic 25 Jul 2019 21:48

At first it just looked like an older SCP, without much meaning or story, and then I reached the end. Very good, this has earned all the upvotes.

ManyMeats 26 Jul 2019 03:16

Thanks for your time! It was risky to leave the twist at the end of such a long wall of text but I appreciate the slack you gave me to read til the end.

aismallard 25 Jul 2019 23:39

I enjoyed the purple prose exploration log-alternative (and I appreciated that it was lampshaded in the final addendum lol), but man the interview really brought it all home. I think overall it was well-paced and combined all the things it brought up to crystallize into something that was a different kind of disturbing.

Well done Dr. Eates, +1.

ManyMeats 26 Jul 2019 03:22

Thanks for your feedback! The final interview is actually probably the 4th iteration of it? I left about 6k words of 'failed' interviews on the cutting room floor.

tupacofficial 26 Jul 2019 18:50

In contrast to aismallard, I actually disliked the purple prose and was about to call you out for it until I read the last interview (and your author post), especially since a lot of it is rather clichéd imagery. While the exploration logs suffered due to this, I was glad to see that your interview actually acknowledged it and subverted my expectations of the whole piece overall. +1

Last edited on 26 Jul 2019 18:52 by tupacofficial Show more

Lazarus Taxon 27 Jul 2019 11:05

What I really like about this article is that the real horror within is entirely mundane: there is nothing in Hell, apparently, other than what we brought there ourselves.
+1

Last edited on 27 Jul 2019 11:07 by Lazarus Taxon Show more

Dr Kramer 30 Jul 2019 20:12

I somehow enjoyed reading this, even though it's terrifying. Very well written. +1

LordMetalton 01 Aug 2019 02:59

You had me hooked with the first log, though I was expecting this to disappoint me at the end. The final log prevented that by being one of the more disturbing visions of hell I've seen without resorting to the usual cliches. +1

As a side-note, does anyone else feel like the foundation should have a "Mole Rats get Owned" counter? I don't think I've read anything where things turn out well for them.

augmentedspartan 15 Aug 2019 22:02

I'm not a fan of the purple prose, myself. Not the concept of using it on an SCP (as long as it makes sense in context as it does here) but rather the writing itself didn't reach me. Nothing in particular that I can point out, it's just that the imagery never really did much for me.

My biggest problem with the article is the type of hell presented. Eternally repeating the worst moment of your life is a concept that I've grown bored of, doesn't have much entertaining imagery, and is just straight up not scary compared to the concept of eternal torture. To me it's a very weak payoff to all the buildup presented, especially because the moment described doesn't really strike close to me.

Personally I would have been more interested if you would have expanded on the concept of cosmic punishment itself, maybe explore the why or the concept of a universal morality, but just throwing a very subjective hell doesn't really drive forth that theme you were talking about.

ManyMeats 15 Aug 2019 23:15

Respectfully I think either I may have failed to get my entire point across or you may have missed some of what I was putting down.

Hell is not open. What we know to be the idea of a Christian "Hell" is actually more akin to Hades, it is a place of waiting for judgment. Gehenna is the place of final torture that God will condemn the wicked to, and that is not actually open until Judgment Day.

Gehenna is unknown to man until judgment. SCP-4702 is the place of waiting before it where those not truly worthy of being immediately granted heaven are forced to consider their sins and reflect before their final sentence is levied. Our MTF agent never actually reaches the other shore.

Nonetheless, I appreciate your feedback immensely and thank you for taking the time to read my piece.

Last edited on 15 Aug 2019 23:21 by ManyMeats Show more