I've had this one sitting around for months, here goes nothing.
e: I can guarantee that something was borked with the Latin, so anyone with the know (Dmatix, looking at you), go ahead and fix.
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My Latin is really far too poor to make any solid suggestion on that front. I do, however, notice what seems to be a slight historical blunder:
"(Ptolemy was here)"- The Ptolemaic dynasty was the ruler of Egypt from the death of Alexander and until the death of Cleopatra (30 BC), more than a hundred years before Trajan (circa 105 AD). It makes no real sense for this name to appear on the Man-Eater, unless we have an undead Hellenistic Pharaoh on our hands here, or an unusually well-bred legionnaire.
As for the SCP itself, I'm not quite sure what to make of it. I'll have another read of it later.
I considered that, but that opens a whole new set of historical questions. For that legionnaire to really know who Ptolemy actually was well enough to be a smartass about it, he would need to be fairly well educated, especially for a post Marian Reform legionnaire (by 105 most of the Roman army was comprised of the rural proletarian, traditionally the least educated folks in the Empire).
Hmm…I added a stick figure to it, so it's more of a "Kilroy was here" thing (like I had originally intended). Some guy somewhere heard the name Ptolemy, liked the sound of it, and turned it into a meme. Does that work better?
Yep, that's better. It really isn't a big deal, it's just me being nitpicky about Roman history, as I'm prone to do.
"Ptolemy was here".
I'd chalk that up to it being someone completely different who just happened to be named "Ptolemy".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy_%28name%29
The name was a lot more common than you seem to think; there's a reason that the name "Bartholomew" ('son of Ptolemy') exists.
I feel like I'm missing something, but I like this anyway.
Everything you need is in the article, really. A few Google searches will clear most things up.
This thing is an anthropophagus (a man-eater), very possibly artificial in nature (as it's marked as the product of a factory), was either the fourth of its series or the fourth attached to the Second Valiant Trajanic Legion (which was stationed in Alexandria, explaining why it was discovered in Egypt).
And it seems the boys were fond of it, sort of like a mascot, affectionately calling it "The Elephant".
"D20, what should my SCP be based on?!"
You roll a 1(+0)! Critical miss!
Your SCP now looks like Gossamer!
"D20, what should my SCP do?!"
You roll a 2(+0)! Critical miss!
Your SCP now eats dead bodies and rocks!
"D20, give me a personality quirk to make my SCP likeable!"
You roll a 2(+0)! Critical miss!
Your SCP is now covered in Latin graffiti!
I don't wanna play this game anymore.
Yup. Those were totally my rolls here. It wasn't as if I was trying to write something that had (gasp!) originally been made for a practical purpose or anything, no, that would be silly and stupid. Just like funny things, practical things never happen in real life.
Don't get so salty; I love the idea, but some of the choices were a little odd. Why would the Foundation add a plaster cast of a Bigfoot fake as a visual representation of what this creature looks like? What's the point of the addendum aside from the point of origin?
Let it be known: Lucius fucked many beautiful women this night
And what?
I'm fairly sure that's a direct translation of Roman graffiti found in Pompeii.
The picture was there only because I wanted a picture, so that'll get chopped if someone else brings it up.
The addendum is just an account of origin, nothing more, and that wonderful bit of graffiti is because some guy in the Second Valiant named Lucius forgot to turn off his swag one night and woke up covered in bitches, and to rub it in everyone's face he carved it into their Man-Eater.
Or he was full of shit and did it to fool future members of the legion into believing that such a scenario had happened.
that wonderful bit of graffiti is because some guy in the Second Valiant named Lucius forgot to turn off his swag one night and woke up covered in bitches, and to rub it in everyone's face he carved it into their Man-Eater.
Or he was full of shit and did it to fool future members of the legion into believing that such a scenario had happened.
the way you phrased that was worth the price of admission all on its own
To me, what sets this apart from other SCPs is that it's purely militarily functional; a magical Roman version of a bomb-sniffing robot or something. Which is cool, but isn't a very exciting hook. It feels like something is missing. I'm sure there's some aspect of this SCP, either in the article or just in your headcanon, that you could play up a bit to tie it together a little more.
Man, I feel a bit like a little kid trying to help mum cook or something. Regardless of whatever changes you do or don't make, I like thinking about the adventures of the Second Valiant Trajanic Legion. That'd be a cool Tale.
I always wondered how they kept those Roman battlefields so neat and free of pesky dead bodies!
Seriously, I like this. A useful, albeit huge organic machine to convert dead bodies to nutritious food and rock into usable products. Upvoted.
(account deleted)I'm neutral voting for now, just because I feel the containment procedures need to be reevaluated a bit. It's an intelligent creature - it might not be sapient, but it possesses the ability to use tools, and just because it seems like it isn't going to break out of containment, doesn't mean they shouldn't prepare for the worst.
Otherwise, I really like the concept. I like the idea of what's basically a battlefield janitor, and I like it even better that it seems to be natural. Although, I don't quite understand if it's suppose to be stone or organic.
Oh, I've been waiting for an anthropophagus! They're one of my favorite monsters. Thanks for this.
Sorry, but… this isn't an anthropophage. Anthropophagi are a race of cannibals that, by all accounts, look like perfectly normal human beings. This is, in fact, a blemmyes. I will concede, however, that there isn't much difference, as they are both cannibalistic, but still.
The mix-up of anthropophagi and blemmyes comes from this line in Shakespeare's Othello:
And of the Cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders.
Now you know.
And knowing is half the battle.
Blemmyes is more accurate, yes, but it doesn't sound nearly as cool. It still eats dudes, though, so it still fits.
At least you didn't call it a sciapod. Then I would shove my fist down your throat. But I would like to think that the Romans would know the difference between the two, seeing as Pliny the Elder's work was still relatively recent at the time.
Oh yeah, the soldiers working with it would know the difference. It's only referenced as an anthropophagus outside the article proper, so consider it a lazy researcher in-universe, or the actual author going by the sound of the word outside of universe.
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page revision: 2, last edited: 15 Jan 2023 15:06
