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Good article, though the last sentence doesn't currently make sense. Also, the language describing "the mythological _ of _" might need a small bit of cleaning up to better state that SCP-390 was not, in fact, mythological.
Anyway, I really like the idea of someone unearthing a millenia-old high energy beam weapon. Very cool.
This is aristotel's laser isn't it? I would honestly recommend taking this idea, a really old super weapon, and make it into something more mysterious, more creepy and less generic. It honestly feels a little bland. Have it do something totaly unexpected, maybe, like turning targets litteraly inside out. Or have it flash boil all the water in the target zone or… really an infinite number of ideas instead of just being a laser
Cool, but short… way to short.
Never heard of the Heat ray of Archimedes, but it reminds me of Talos…. Somebody should make an SCP for Talos.
We already have a clockwork android running around someplace, though…
Although I could see, say, making an SCP out of Talos' foot - which, considering it was below the ankle, would still have the ichor in it…
How is this an SCP? If it is something that has been replicated in a modern context, but was just made out of its time, does that classify as something the Foundation would be handling?
as others have said, there's nothing strange/weird about it. I think it should be added to, and not by appending an experiment log. to me it seems like the description should be changed to make it into something that is worth the Foundation's study (meaning: it involves some scientific ability that is not common knowledge).
Seeing as a lot of people still have no clue what the reference is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes#The_Archimedes_Heat_Ray_.E2.80.93_myth_or_reality.3F
Archimedes lived from 287 BC to 212 BC, and was considered one of the leading scientists and inventors of antiquity, and an easy target of alien conspiracy theorists because of the revolutionary inventions he created.
During the Siege of Syracuse in 214-212 BC by the Roman Republic, it is said that Archimedes built several amazing devices to help the defenders of the city, including a "Heat Ray" or "Burning Glass" that could set enemy ships on fire from a long distance.
Historians have debated for a long time whether there's any credibility to this claim, and while Mythbusters considered this one 'busted' and impractical, this is an attempt to show that there is something 'off' with the whole thing. Lasers have only been around for a few decades, and have yet to even be put to use in actual military action, but somehow one was built over two millennia ago.
What I'm saying is that if it is just a laser, then it isn't really an SCP. I don't see why a standard scientific study that is run by some country's military wouldn't be taking place. I mean, I see that you're trying to make it a laser that works "mysteriously" rather than through science, but I don't know. If it gets dropped, or down-voted, these would be the reasons why.
…I gotta say, I liked this one better before the revision. Now, it just feels kinda… bland.
Basically, this is a piece of modern technology that was apparently made back in ancient times by a culture that shouldn't have had the technology. Which is all well and good, I guess, but…
This is the same gimmick that makes "lol future tech" SCPs work, and most of us don't really like them. Approaching it from the other end of the timeline is a novel departure from the formula that is, unfortunately, still just as boring.
Boooring. The article's written pretty well, I think, nothing to object. It's the very idea of it to be boring, I guess: an ancient but technologically advanced weapon? Meh. Not a very bad idea, but you could arrange something more original and supernatural than "lasers". Plus, some kind of lasers actually existed in ancient Greece: large, circular, concave mirrors which reflected and focused solar rays upon ships and set them on fire. This means that not only it's not very interesting (in which case I would just have left no vote), but also it's neither very anomalous itself, nor historically plausible (who needs super-duper-complex machinery when you've got something equally effective, but far less difficult to create, build or understand?).1
No mirror has been armed during the production of this post.
Mythbusters busted Archimedes' Death Ray, actually. Sorry to burst your bubble.
Mythbusters? Huh. Would've expected Snopes. How exactly did Mythbusters manage to blow stuff up doing historical research?
if your reading this your gay
You forget that Mythbusters can blow stuff up doing any research…Also, as an Archimedes lover, I personally believe his death ray was, in fact, very real.
believe
Well there's your problem!
Basically, Archimedes' Death Ray would only work at absurdly close range against a stationary target, and only if you give it a good deal of time. Anyone with any sense would just dump a jar of burning oil on deck.
That's kind of like someone writing a Lemuria SCP and saying "Not anomalous enough, I personally believe it was real >:(."
As for the article, I'm neutral on it. It's well-written, but the idea of an ancient thing that was much more advanced than it had any right to have been has now been done better on the site.
There isn't enough interest for me to upvote it. Ancient superweapons are awesome, but this one fails to engage me in a meaningful way. There's more potential than it realizes.
I upvoted, but it could be better. I think I'd like it better if the Foundation had done a little more analysis than "Hmm… no idea how it works AND OH GOD I'M ON FIRE, BETTER SEAL THIS AWAY!" A little bit of pseudoscience involving it focusing all ambient light in through a curious lens of a crystalline material, or a drop in room temperature, or the like would indicate that yes, the Foundation has an idea how it works, but the science doesn't completely work out. Or it only works because one of the components is slightly anomalous, such as a mirror which is perfectly reflectively to the best of the Foundation's ability to determine and seems to actively repel any material that might occlude any part of its surface.
(account deleted)
