SCP-3223 / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page SCP-3223.

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Author Post!

Zyn 06 Jun 2017 04:29

Image from here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pretty_scarab_beetle_(21261230285).jpg
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Big thanks to people (and pets) who contributed dialogue material for the logs:

• Tuomey: (housemate’s) cat
• kaktus: two cats
• subletea: cockatiel
• (Zyn has two fish that she taught to make kissy faces thank you Renfish thank you Huxfish)

And of course, many thanks to the reviewers in chat!

• Gaffsey for wording help and flow and specific details!
• Lazar for narrative development!
• Flawed for beetle discussion!
• WrongJohnSilver for overall commentary!
• Synth_Synapses for reading!
• Vacuum for nits and picks!
• Sirens for reading and liking the image caption!
• Photosynthetic for talk of resins!
• ghostpage for random details!

Click to show background and rambling and stuff

_{PUT A SCARAB BEETLE RIGHT INTO YOUR FAVORITE EAR}

I read somewhere that if someone was too poor to afford a Book of the Dead in Ancient Egypt or couldn’t read, a priest could help them out by whispering spells from the Book to a scarab, killing and mummifying the scarab, and sticking that scarab in the dead person’s ear, so the ghost scarab could whisper the spells and answers to riddles to them and help them cross the underworld to get to the afterlife.

This person, uh… ran out of scarabs. So they use pets, because pets can identify with humans and sometimes help humans. But the pets don’t always consider magical spells to be the most important thing they’ve heard.

Why can the priest understand all languages but not talk? Probably got some beetles in their ears. Think Babel fish, kind of. But the beetles can only repeat things that they’ve been told.

All these things I looked up while writing!

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarab_(artifact)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarabaeus_sacer
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Book_of_the_Dead_spells
• http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/0915_040915_petmummies_2.html
• https://www.wired.com/2013/11/egyptian-mummies-afterlife-diet/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Ra
• https://www.reference.com/history/did-ancient-egyptian-priests-wear-48f7bfe894fd9da1

Last edited on 06 Jun 2017 04:30 by Zyn Show more

Re: Author Post!

Communism will win 06 Jun 2017 05:16

If you're ever looking for more dialogue, I am contractually obligated to inform you that I call my cats "dumbass", sometimes "fucking dumbass", more than their real names.

---

if your reading this your gay

Re: Author Post!

Zyn 06 Jun 2017 07:06

Reminds me of my friend who calls her dog various nicknames involving "butt".

To be fair, I refer to my fish as butts sometimes. Especially Huxfish. He's such a prissy fish.

Re: Author Post!

Dr Sang 17 Nov 2017 15:47

I have a dog named Gomez, But he responds to "Dumbass" as well…

Sirens 06 Jun 2017 04:39

Loved it in chat, love it here. +1 wholeheartedly.

It is a pretty great image caption.

Zyn 06 Jun 2017 04:41

:D Thanks for reading it in chat! I really appreciate your time. :3

_{I picked the image because it looks like if you photoshopped some tiny cards in it would look like the beetle is playing Poker}

_{that was my first thought upon seeing the image}

Last edited on 06 Jun 2017 04:41 by Zyn Show more

Jacob Conwell 06 Jun 2017 06:43

Huh, neat.

I'm trying to remember more SCP articles that tap into Egyptian Mythology as this one does, and nothing comes to mind, which is shocking as you'd think that be fertile ground for a host of SCPs. Maybe I just over looked them.

Either way, the idea of a Egyptian priest using what animals it can find as resources to continue the practice of its rites is unique and interesting. Additionally, the vocalization log is very entertaining, going from light creepy to humorous quite often.

+1. Job well done.

Zyn 06 Jun 2017 06:59

I think there's an SCP that's literally the Book of the Dead, but I don't recall quite how that one goes. Also CWW/Scanny's Egyptian sword/khopesh that has to do with the Ancient Egyptians believing that the heart controlled the body? And the temple that I think builds itself? Those are the ones that come to mind for me immediately. There's probably several more at least—Egyptian mythology is absolutely fascinating. (_{when i was in 6th grade one time my class went on a field trip to a small museum that ran CAT scans on mummies and the museum guide and i had a nice chat about the artifacts and random lore/mythology trivia and it was great})

Regarding the vocalizations—most of the "spells" are direct translations from the Wikipedia article on the spells from the Book of the Dead. There's some rather intriguing stuff mentioned in there regarding names to speak and the right things to say.

Thanks for the +1!

ETA: Also, thanks for helping me name the article!

Last edited on 06 Jun 2017 07:11 by Zyn Show more

MrWrong 06 Jun 2017 07:29

I think there's an SCP that's literally the Book of the Dead, but I don't recall quite how that one goes.

That be SCP-911.

MarcusJuniusBrutus 06 Jun 2017 07:18

You had me at "anomalous entourage of incorporeal dung beetles".

I love Egyptian-derived stories, especially when those stories involve Gandalf, fatherly disappointment, and possible prospects of dung beetle orphanages. Have my + 1 and wear it on your hat.

Zyn 06 Jun 2017 08:04

Footnote 6 is probably the most fun I had writing a footnote ever for a mainlist SCP just because Gandalf. I'm glad you enjoyed the read!

_{/puts +1 on tiny hat, wears}

TL333s 06 Jun 2017 12:16

"anomalous entourage of incorporeal dung beetles" rates right up there with "succ" on the List of Things I Should Never Have to Read in a Positively Rated Article.

This was adorable, though. :D I just couldn't help smiling as I worked my way through the article.

Zyn 06 Jun 2017 17:28

Dung beetles are actually pretty cool if you don't focus too much on the dung part. The ones referred to as scarabs have a little crownlike feature on their heads! And Ancient Egyptians thought that every day the sun was pushed into the sky by a giant scarab and rolled away at night!

I am glad the article made you smile! :3

THE BEETLES

Flawed 06 Jun 2017 12:55

OH MY GOD IT'S IN MY EAR GET IT OUT IT'S IN MY EAR

Oh wait…
You changed that part?
Fine. +1

Personal Recommendation: Don't make a colony out of them. MAKE A BAND AND NAME IT THE BEETLES

They make the sickest beets

Edit: wait, RENfish and HUXfish?

I smell something fishy here…

Last edited on 06 Jun 2017 13:00 by Flawed Show more

Re: THE BEETLES

Zyn 06 Jun 2017 17:32

Hahaha yes I changed the part about it crawling in your ear since this is not supposed to be a body horror article at all. (Although human mummification is pretty gross, all things considered.)

Don't make a colony out of them. MAKE A BAND AND NAME IT THE BEETLES

That might actually be feasible if SCP-3223-1 whispered Yellow Submarine lyrics to them or something.

Edit: wait, RENfish and HUXfish?

Ya. Their full names are Kylo Renfish and General Huxfish and I have a tumblr for their shenanigans _{I LOVE MY FISH SO MUCH DON'T JUDGE} I do not yet have an Orson Krennicfish yet but maybe someday.

Last edited on 06 Jun 2017 17:33 by Zyn Show more

Genshed 06 Jun 2017 19:03

I like this a lot. The pet scarab named Gandalf was a very satisfying climax to the entry.

I have visited the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose CA and seen the animal mummies. This brought back those eldritch, anomalous memories.
+1

Zyn 06 Jun 2017 20:32

The pet scarab named Gandalf was a very satisfying climax to the entry

My personal headcanon is that the phrase Dr. Mercer used to greet the beetle every day was "YOU! SHALL HAVE! GRAAASSS!" /sets beetle loose in the lawn for exercise

I have visited the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose CA and seen the animal mummies.

Oh man. I've never seen an animal mummy before. Gotta add that to my bucket list!

I'm glad you liked the article. :D

phyrestorm 06 Jun 2017 20:14

This is cool, but is there a reason for the beetles to be incorporeal? How does that even work with them crawling on people? Unless I missed something, I think that part should be taken out. +1 either way.

Zyn 06 Jun 2017 20:29

is there a reason for the beetles to be incorporeal?

Only ghost beetles can whisper spells from the Book of the Dead.

How does that even work with them crawling on people?

They just act like they're solid because it would probably not help an underworld traveler much if the beetle floated away doing its own thing or phased through objects instead of helping the person get to the afterlife.

Thanks for the +1!

phyrestorm 06 Jun 2017 22:23

Oh, I see. I don't know anything about the Book of the Dead (obviously.) I think the fact that they're just pretending to crawl on people and stuff could be made clearer, but maybe I was just being dense when I read it.

I wish I could have this guy send off my elderly cat when she goes.

WrongJohnSilver 06 Jun 2017 21:13

Just showing up to say that my headcanon is that one of those spiders mummified was SCP-1470.

Zyn 07 Jun 2017 07:18

_{the single cockroach is probably Sad Roach when he finally turned up following The Incident}

Petrograd 13 Jun 2017 23:21

I very much had a brief "why are you describing the humanoid's pupils and clothing -_-" moment that… I mostly stand by. The irremovable clothing power is probably more silly than the understanding all languages thing.

He's barely the point, though. I love the book of the dead getting conflicted with all the dumb things we say to our pets. +1

Zyn 14 Jun 2017 05:51

I very much had a brief "why are you describing the humanoid's pupils and clothing -_-" moment that… I mostly stand by.

The scarlet pupils are a nod to the Egyptian deity Ra (who has a morning manifestation associated with him, which is Khepri, the scarab beetle who was believed to roll the sun up in the mornings like scarab beetles roll balls of dung), and a sort of tongue-in-cheek Easter egg regarding this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Ra

The simple clothing is to reference the fact that at some point in 3223's (original?) life, he was a priest. And he would have actually put mummified scarab beetles into the ears of the deceased who couldn't read the Book of the Dead.

eta: the fact that the clothing can't be removed is an indication that he's kind of stuck as a priest now. Maybe he's gotta mummify a certain number of pets or produce the perfect scarab guide to the afterlife before he can move on. You decide!

I love the book of the dead getting conflicted with all the dumb things we say to our pets. +1

I always wondered, "why were scarab beetles the only animals who could guide the dead?". It was probably the mythological significance and the fact that beetles could fit in human ears, but I like to think that maybe people's beloved pets were more interested in remembering their owners' words than the Book of the Dead, so scarabs were picked for the job.

Last edited on 14 Jun 2017 05:53 by Zyn Show more

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