Walpurgisnacht

Summary:

Article for the folklore department.

Walpurgisnacht

Dr Ch_M 14 Aug 2022 15:46

*Greenlights: yes

page type: SCP article

Elevator Pitch: "Walpurgisnacht" Also known as the Feast of Saint Walpurgis, a night celebrated in Bavaria, Germany, from the night of April 30 to May 1, and according to the local folklore this marks "hexennacht" ("Witches Night") where the witches gather on Mount Brocken for vacation while waiting for spring, the local custom was for the people to light a fire at night to ward off evil spirits, but due to the people's departure from that custom due to (urbanization) there was no longer an effect to expel witches.

Central narrative: After reports of a series of thefts and mutilation of livestock and emergence of semi-human entities appeared in the area a few weeks before the "Walpurgisnacht" event, the Foundation is conducting an investigation into the matter, which does not produce any results.

The Foundation then receives a call from an unknown person, later identified as a member of the "Mages Academy", who provides information regarding the Witches' Night and instructions on rituals to be performed so that the Foundation's agents can interact with the event atop Brocken Mountain.

After the Foundation manages to discover the location of the gathering, Two D-class individuals are sent during the night of the event to discover, the live broadcast recordings briefly show the following: Differences in scenery inside the cover include a red atmosphere, buildings supposed to be located on the top of the mountain showing erosion, a gathering of an estimated 100 witches of different appearances, and the presence of winged human entities similar to goats, occurrence of black magic ritual activities and orgy Using animals as a sacrifice, specifically, a group of 20 individuals appears to have formed a circle, opening a fiery crater with what appears to be a gigantic entity within it slowly emerging out of it, recording is interrupted after the presence of D-classes is discovered by one of the winged creatures, only to discover the mutilated bodies of the two of them in the morning.

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Protocols including planting civilian agents in neighboring towns to encourage the practice of ancient customs of exorcism have been shown to be effective in stopping most of the events caused by the hexennacht and preventing witches from appearing on the mountain during future events.

Note: There are probably some unclear details, but I plan to work on them as soon as I start the actual writing.

The file follows the following format: the description of the phenomenon in question, the analysis of the Department Of Mythology And Folkloristics on the connection of the phenomenon with local superstitions, and finally a exploring record of the D-Classes, and additional accessories about the investigation.

As a courtesy to our readers on mobile devices, please collapse long posts. Also, please mind the Ideas Critique required reading wordcount limit. ~Zyn

Last edited on 17 Jan 2023 07:11 by Zyn Show more

References to the German-speaking Branch?

Einer von Rabe 15 Aug 2022 16:45

A bit of a strange question, but are you going to include reference to DE lore? For example, the Mages Academy, Sites in Bavaria, MTF 20-Rena "Seers" or Dr. Faust?

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Re: Walpurgisnacht

OriTiefling 15 Aug 2022 14:24

about the disappearance of civilians residing near the area

How does this plot point end? You introduce it but it doesn't seem to conclude. Did the witches kidnap them? Why?

Re: Walpurgisnacht

OriTiefling 24 Aug 2022 20:56

Greenlight This seems like a fun, well thought out concept!

Re: Walpurgisnacht

Comrade Waldo 15 Aug 2022 18:15

Don't mind if I step in…

Before I start with my own critique, I suggest you look at the links that Einer von Rabe suggested, since I think you have a lot of room to maneuver within this particular concept.

Now I'll start with my thoughts: I like the concept and enjoy SCPs that tap into urban legends and myths. There's a significant lack of a story here. You begin by saying that there have been disappearances across the area during Walpurgisnacht and then the Foundation goes there to investigate - and ends not so well. Okay, what happens next? I don't know how much you know about the festivity, but there has to be information that could help your narrative: you know, like why do the witches meet that night in particular? What's their purpose? Why do they kidnap people? You technically have answered one of these, since you said they're waiting for spring - but why? I don't know much about this, so I'm ignorant about it, but since this is your story you need to have enough information to craft your story so that the audience may be interested, and the critters may greenlight your concept.

That's all for me, I hope this has helped. PM back if you need further help. Good luck!

Re: Walpurgisnacht

Dr Ch_M 15 Aug 2022 19:53

Alright, alright everyone in turn guys.

fabledtiefling and Comrade Waldo I paid attention to your observations that the story does not explain too much About the events in the narrative, I had previously had initial thoughts about details like this but I wanted to hear the initial criticism first.[Modifications completed].

Einer von Rabe I'm not going to lie, I didn't think about it at first, but you provided a lot of great references from the German-speaking branch, this gave me some ideas for developing the narrative. So yeah, I'll probably use those references.

I'm going to take some time to reframe the idea and repost it, and I'm glad to see so many people with an idea like this so thanks for your feedback.

Last edited on 17 Aug 2022 17:35 by Dr Ch_M Show more

Re: Walpurgisnacht

Comrade Waldo 17 Aug 2022 18:05

Contacted through PM

It's much better than last time, but I feel there's a lack of an ending here. I think what could enhance this ending would be to show some dialogue from one of the witches as to why they continue with their practices if everyone else has moved on. Ever seen Hotel Transylvania? Maybe something like Vlad went through could inspire you. Or maybe show more about Mages Academy and involve them more after the incident with the D-Class, and let them cooperate with the Foundation.

Still, I like this concept a lot, and you made a significant improvement. So, greenlight! Contact one of the critters from the Butterfly Squad Roaster, or the other critters. Hope this has helped!

Re: Walpurgisnacht

Dr Ch_M 17 Aug 2022 18:26

Man, thank you very much, I will immediately work on your suggestions. Hope you like the final product soon.

Have a nice day (;

Edit: A little idea, Briefly: what if the story, instead of running in a few weeks, would be a report on developments every year since the event was discovered Specifically, I'm talking about the devil who is trying to get out of that hole in the ground, every year the witches return to complete the ritual of summoning him, so the habit of lighting fire at night must continue to prevent them from completing this and until the devil will destroy the world.

Last edited on 19 Aug 2022 18:27 by Dr Ch_M Show more

Re: Walpurgisnacht

Einer von Rabe 21 Aug 2022 06:00

That sounds very, very interesting to me. Do you think you can write this? I don't know if I could manage that, and it sounds quite ambitious.

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Re: Walpurgisnacht

Dr Ch_M 21 Aug 2022 11:20

Well, i can try.
And I got my first green light in weeks, so I can't stop, but as my first project I wouldn't turn down some help writing the draft, especially in terms of grammar, I'm a bit bad at it.

Last edited on 21 Aug 2022 11:28 by Dr Ch_M Show more

Re: Walpurgisnacht

Einer von Rabe 21 Aug 2022 12:23

I'm a native German speaker, don't know if I can help you with English spelling and grammar.

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Re: Walpurgisnacht

Einer von Rabe 23 Aug 2022 16:17

Okay, I'll give you my lime green light, even though I don't know if I can count as an "experienced reviewer".

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Re: Walpurgisnacht

Fireknight 23 Aug 2022 19:27

The criteria for what makes a "qualified reviewer" are listed here. If you meet them, you can greenlight. If you don't, I would recommend not giving pseudo greenlights, as they can confuse authors.

Re: Walpurgisnacht

Comrade Waldo 23 Aug 2022 17:10

Hey, sorry for taking so long! I'm doing follow-ups to previous critiques I did last week.

First, I like the idea of the witches attempts of finishing the ritual. It does sound ambitious, but you've managed to plot your story so all you need to do portray in the draft. And if you have complications with SPaG, while I'm not a native speaker and still have problems, I'm willing to help. So, send me a PM when you're done with your draft. Looking forward!

Re: Walpurgisnacht

Fireknight 23 Aug 2022 19:49

+ Howdy hey, here's what I have to say!

I'm not sure there's that much here. As I see it, you establish that there's a gathering of witches, and then you show the gathering of witches, and then the Foundation uses a ritual to stop them. It's technically a full story, but there's not much of interest. Both the witches and the ritual are established at the beginning, so it doesn't feel like there's any proper development.

You mention that this is caused by urbanization. Perhaps there's more you could go into on that topic. I think the causes and effects of this gathering are more interesting than showing us the gathering itself. Dark rituals tend to get dull on their own.