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THE ORIGINAL
I've been workshopping this idea since June 2021 — this is a smaller, refined version of what I was trying to accomplish originally. I'm finally pretty happy with what I've got.
Big hugs go to stephlynch for the render
And I live by that.
This article is very interesting. It plays off of DoA vibes, but has its own identity that I really enjoy. The theme also contributes well to this effect.
I'm not sure how pre-planned the ending was, but taken as a tribute to 173's image removal, it hits even harder +1
I remember finding a draft for this one awhile back on the Site-19 Nudist Club, good to see it finally be post to the main site.
This is a very good SCP article. Great and interesting read. However, I don't like the background theme you have. To me it's very distracting and not very aesthetically pleasing. Otherwise, everything else is top notch +1
this deserves nothing less than a standing ovation.
+1. what a tribute.
The atmosphere in this article, between the dying foundation as a backdrop and the very well balanced clinical tone, is suffocating. The middle section where it plays off popular scps landed particularly well for me because I couldn’t recognize most of them. There was a strong sense of unease rather than the usual ‘who’s that Pokémon’ shtick articles that hint at other articles can do.
Assuming they are all references to popular articles, I wonder if a few unnerving red herrings - references to an object that don’t exist - would have worked well? It further reinforces that this foundation isn’t the first and all knowing kind, and would help preserve that unease to people who are better at getting references than I am.
This is certainly compelling. You've got me stroking my chin and going "hmm" "hmmmm" over here. My thoughts/questions/theories:
The Foundation going into lockdown/dissolution due to lack of resources is an enticing hook, one that (has far as I can tell) is only elaborated/added on by:
Conclusion: Exploration of SCP-6371 is under indefinite standby. Resources will be put towards prolonging the lifespan of the SCP Foundation, as dictated by General Command.
I'm uncertain as to whether the reason the Foundation is shutting down is due to 6371 or an external factor. Then there's IV.II; at first I thought the logo designs were meant to allude to wikis that try to copy/emulate SCP, "An iteration of the insignia featuring an upside-down triangle, represented in negative space." But now I'm thinking these are prototype logos, though maybe just in the context of this article (I've definitely seen the upside-down and 5-arrows logos on actual pages). Then there's the part when 6371 becomes less dirty, less… abandoned. Hmmmm…
I gives me the impression that this place is where the SCPF began: I imagine a group of people setting up this place as a home base, to fuck around and study this weird thing they found. The inclusion of "We die in the dark so you can live in the light" here instantly made me think of the Administrator's Note; this place is where the phrase originated. Given the response the author made to another comment, I'm not confident in my initial guess.
The rooms in II… I tried thinking of what articles they could be referencing, but I'm not confident they even are. Then I thought, what if these are allusions to old site members? Then more and more possibilities popped into my head: Are these articles that had their images removed? Are these Pre-Mass Deletion SCPs? Are these some of the first SCPs written on 4-Chan? This is the most compelling DoA article I've read, you've done a wonderful job here. +1!
This really comes together by the end, at first I was unclear if this was an attempt to do another DOA thing but the subtext and subversive nature of the piece really shine through
Also, it’s surreal which I appreciate.
Not a big fan of the breaking up an article into chapters like that, but it’s such a minor thing, it doesn’t matter.
Also want to say the stark design of the article serves to make the final image really surprising as it’s got this earthy color. I could care less about 173 and yet by the end, I was affected by the absence
Really good article +1
"We die in the dark so you can live in the light" has been used so often as a tagline that it doesn't have any punch anymore. Similarly, the section with the placards describing empty rooms is clearly trying to evoke the same spirit as SCP-3790 but names like "the Click", "The Undoer" and "The Terrifier" just do not create frisson or sound memorable in the same way the names in 3790 are. My biggest gripe is that the ending of this piece doesn't feel like a space where something was contained. The monolith of symbols feels symbolic for the sake of it, as do the line of placards and the formatting of the piece. It does not feel like a place that was actually inhabited or abandoned in the setting, which makes its references feel hollow.
This was almost the perfect time to post this, in the wake of the news surrounding SCP-173 & Untitled, 2004. Great stuff, honestly. It really had me doing a lot of wondering & asking questions.
Definitely something to puzzle over. I almost wish this weren't tagged abnormalities because framing the article through a DoA lens limits it. The conceit of a typical DoA article, at least to me, is an experiment in horror through negative space, centred around an exploration of an older, forgotten department. More often the horror stems from what you don't know, and though the department is presented as seemingly ancient, everything contained in their facilities seems preserved in time. There is little actual insight into how the department operated, or what they really did, or what led to the delineation from "Abnormalities" to "Foundation". Intriguing to start with, but as time has passed, it's a concept with diminished returns.
This is a bit different from what we might expect from DoA. What is really contained here? It doesn't feel like a containment facility. The article's skeleton is an iterative exploration of a spooky building, feeling more like a survival horror game than Foundation-business-as-usual. The "anomalies" in their "containment chambers" aren't the centrepiece, but the decorative garnish on top. What the centrepiece is, is the eerie atmosphere to all this. Every room is described with vivid imagery, almost teetering on the edge between clinical and prose-like. The article itself physically constrained in width, and text justified, giving off claustrophobia. It's almost like the entire article is in service of the atmosphere, and that beyond that, there's no "point", like the typical DoA article might have you expect. I can't tell if any of the anomalies (except the last) are even meant to be references. I think they're diversions. The Statue is not present, and it's implied it escaped the building, and all other anomalies are now-dead or benign to begin with.
Is it all a sham? Is no one allowed in because it would break the illusion — and reveal that the Foundation in this setting isn't at all like "we" know them to be? That their organization isn't? That their resources are left disused and dwindling because they don't actually do anything? Maybe they're more afraid of these so-called anomalies than we are — maybe that's why they're committed to inaction, almost by accident, because they're paralysed by fear.
Outside the clear physical end — The Sculpture is no longer contained — there doesn't seem to be a coherent thematic conclusion. There's no world-ending threat; the Site, and the Foundation itself, and the entire article ring hollow. DoA might have seemed methodical, containing not only monsters that deserve to be kept underground, but among war-crimes and general abuses against humanity, their own monsters. The Foundation here is certainly not. Whatever it was, is rotted out beyond comprehension. And the personnel who once worked for it are being given the full insight. Maybe there really is nothing at the core. It makes you wonder, then, if they are the ones Dying In The Dark (a now-empty shibboleth, like ARD mentioned), then why the seeming inactivity? Is it that they lost so long ago that it no longer matters? Or was it a facade to begin with?
