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This is my first SCP, but I'm really confident in its worth. If people like this, I'll attach an interview log I wrote up for Incident-1390-1.
I hope it isn't too cliched to make a language-based SCP at this point, but I felt like having the grammar be the real anomalous property differentiated it enough from the others. Also, I don't think the effects have been done? But I could be wrong.
I'm open to any criticism you guys have!
Actually, I'm having second thoughts about it. It's kind of… almost cartoonish. And if D-Class Researchers pissed people off, I think a character in the log will just result in people's heads exploding.
I'd like to see the interview log, and I didn't think it at all odd that they'd have D-class for research on a cognitohazard.
This is an astoundingly stupid concept with decent execution. No vote.
Is there anything I could do to rectify it, or is it terminally stupid?
Edit: I'm gonna assume it's a DOA-level stupid for you then.
I have no idea, but I felt like it would be necessary for something like this. And besides, if they didn't, they could easily make them.
We have D-Class. We have researchers. They aren't the same thing.
They could be D-Class who perform research because they're infected…
D-Class who perform research because they're infected…
I considered that, but it seemed like a real mouthful! Thanks for the help and pointing out how dumb D-Class Researchers looked when typed out. I dunno how I thought it would fly.
This idea is…not so good, with the aforementioned D-Class researchers really irritating me.
But..I think I have a stage one infection.
Ergh.
+1.
Edit: Actually, I'm liking this more and more as I read it.
The problems with this are structural, not conceptual. People have told you this is a bad idea, but I think they're wrong, and that — in your haste to strictly obey the SCP format — you've buried the lede to this article. Here's what I'd do:
Establish that this is a serious cognitohazard in the containment procedures. Having done so, you can pull up the interesting part (winged, grammatical fascist demigod) up into the second paragraph, while discussing the interesting parts of the language (weird tenses, extra genders, cognitohazard) into the first paragraph. Some of the spare weirdness, particularly the 'weird' future tense (which isn't actually weird at all, to a linguist) need to be cut to make room for the weirder parts, like the 'xenophobic' tense. Perhaps some of that needs to be expanded, though I somewhat doubt it.
In other words, I think you've mastered the form, but are still having some problems with deploying it in support of your story. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.
+1
Also, you are writing a SCP, but you are also writing fiction. The form serves the story; the story does not serve the form. It is possible to write a bad, albeit correct, SCP, just as it's possible to write a bad but correct sonnet.
A few to many [REDACTED]s for my taste, but otherwise interesting. I'm intrigued by the notion of a culture where xenophobia is integrated into the very grammar of the language.
EDIT: Also, MTF Epsilon-13 (aka "Grammar Police") made me laugh.
If it helps, I tried to make every REDACTED revealed by the end of the document, or at least easily conjectured. Were there any that really made you grind your teeth?
If it helps, I tried to make every REDACTED revealed by the end of the document,
Oh, huh, I hadn't noticed that. Nevermind.
This is too many existing concepts mashed together. We've already got ancient aliens, forbidden languages, SCPs that mess with your language skills, etc.
It's not aliens. And it doesn't mess with your language skills, the way I see it. The SCP really does have a "perfect" grammar. Its effects, however, create some weird stuff.
Edit: Of course, I can see how people would assume that it is an alien grammar. I didn't outright say it wasn't because I thought it was a pretty good answer and didn't necessitate a downvote. But in my headcanon (yes I have a headcanon of my own article) it's not caused by aliens but something much more mundane.
Edito Dos: And I think I culled anything that could make people think it's aliens.
I really like this. +1.
Also, in my headcanon i kind of took it as is, and figured it is a language legitimately given to man by god, like the purest form of words. Unfortuanetly this threatens the normalcy of the universe so the Foundation contained it.
Easy way to test that.
"Hey 343! Do you recognize this?"
Oh, yeah, there's an idea. Let's expose an SCP that may or may not be the literal God, but who at the very least can walk through every barrier we have like it literally wasn't there, to another SCP that turns it into a grammar fascist. What could go wrong?
;)
Ha, I like that! It's an interesting theory. Really, my whole idea in writing it was trying to play with the commonly-linked idea of language and magic, except I wanted to mostly explore the magician and the linguist.
The rest of the execution was enough to prevent me downvoting, but the redation here is extremely frustrating.
Like I said, I tried to make sure that everything REDACTED was actually answered in the Addenda or an incident. Were there any you felt were not answered well enough? Because that's definitely a failure of the SCP, in my eyes.
