Project PARAGON Hub
Image Credits
https://flickr.com/photos/edrost88/51028286661/
https://flickr.com/photos/edrost88/49936015106/
https://flickr.com/photos/edrost88/17206710982/
https://flickr.com/photos/edrost88/28412109437/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hercules_rescuing_Hesione_from_a_sea-monster._Engraving._Wellcome_V0036065.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_great_flood_-_Biblical.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Piri_Reis_map_of_Europe_and_the_Mediterranean_Sea.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jiroft_scorpion.png
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spray-Cooled_furnace_equipment.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Florists%27_review_(microform)_(16056404993).jpg
Images for skyking1, 2, and 3.png were created by @wayland_cycle as well as https://flickr.com/photos/mmorgan8186/41964294042, released under Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0.
Likewise, the Project PARAGON logo was created by @Aethris_Art, and released under Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0.
_(16056404993).jpg){kind=link}
All image edits were made by me, djkaktus.
{$comments2}
{$doesthisfixthebug}
Project Paragon
Items Maintained by Project PARAGON
SCP-4812 - Wrath
SCP-2932 - Titania's Prison
SCP-2254 - The Demon La Hire and the Valley of Lust
SCP-4840 - The Demon Lancelot and the Flying City of Audapaupadopolis
SCP-6666 - The Demon Hector and the Dread Titania
SCP-6765 - The Demon Ogier and the Bleeding Throne of Malidraug
Other Items Referenced in this Documentation
SCP-073 - Cain
SCP-076 - Able
SCP-140 - An Incomplete Chronicle
SCP-343 - "God"
SCP-1000 - Bigfoot
SCP-3790 - Department of Abnormalities
REDACTED PER PROTOCOL ████-ESHU
SCP-4008 - Wormwood
SCP-001-LILY - The World's Gone Beautiful
Project PARAGON
Internal Memorandum
Good evening, and welcome to Project PARAGON.
Between four and five-hundred thousand years ago, the skies opened up and a global cataclysm took place. Those alive to witness it saw every flower on the planet bloom simultaneously, followed immediately by a rainstorm that would not end. Depictions of the flood describe how it rained unceasingly for four years, and as the floodwaters rose much of the old world was washed away. When the rains ended, and the waters receded, those who remained were left to cobble together whatever was left. The cultural heritage of those people was lost as the struggle for survival set in.
Stories become myths. Myths become legends. Legends become buried by the sands of time. So it was, until in 1933 when British airman Sir George Dansen saw something in the sky he would have never expected — a city, floating amongst the clouds, visible for the first time in recorded history.
So began the Foundation's involvement in cataloguing the emergent entities, artifacts, and records from an age that was lost beneath the rising sea all those many years ago. In 1938, under the direction of the former O5-7, the Oslo Commission was formed, headed by then Director of Site-19 Dr. Emil Lancaster. Once the true scope of the Commission's task was fully realized, the Commission was disbanded and reorganized as Project PARAGON.
The document you're reading serves to collect various reports submitted by Foundation researchers, agents, task forces and informants about the anomalous entities and artifacts under the jurisdiction of Project PARAGON. As is often the case with projects that follow emergent or ongoing anomalous phenomena, this document is subject to change as more information becomes available. Everything here should be considered a summary of collected knowledge - for more information, please see the relevant research documents.
The work we're doing here is critical — there are powerful forces from the ancient world moving in ours, and without the effort to understand and prepare for them there is little doubt that we would meet the same end as our forebears. We have a duty — not only to protect our future — but to preserve our past.
We will see to it that our work is done.
Sincerely,
Dr. Shannon Lancaster
Director, Project PARAGON
Background Information
General Timeline of Events
Note: All dates are relative, and exact timelines cannot be exactly inferred from ancient sources.
- ~ 8 - 600,000 BCE - The first society of beings identified as distant human ancestors (Homo aeturnus) is destroyed in the fall of Audapaupadopolis (SCP-4840). The cause of this is not fully understood, but is believed to have been the result of an attempt by the Fae entities (Trans stellaris) to kill the First Man, an individual called Adam El Asem, by compelling the Children of the Night (Homo nocturnus) to cross the sea and annihilate him. The two eldest sons of Asem, Cain (SCP-073) and Able (SCP-076) are expelled from the city shortly before its destruction.
- ~ 6 - 500,000 BCE - Proto-human ancestors Homo antediluvianus, Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo sanguinus begin to propagate across the Afro-Eurasian continent. Many small civilizations rise and fall during this period, and very little is recorded about their histories.
- ~ 5 - 450,000 BCE - The third son of Adam El Asem, Seth (SCP-4840-A), encounters an individual within the Homo antediluvianus subrace named "Harrian the Elder" and befriends he and his family. After Harrian earns his trust, Seth gifts him Asem's iron crown, said to have been crafted from a star from another universe, and names him Apollyon, meaning "King Over The Darkness".
- ~ 4.5 - 400,000 BCE - The "Sky Kings" of a kingdom called Apollyona begin their rule over "Old Europ". Utilizing the thaumatological aspects of Asem's crown to enhance their own military might, the Sky Kings become the dominant superpower in the antediluvian human world. They wage numerous wars against their neighbors, most significantly against the Daevites of Daeva, a massive region of individual governorships to the east of Apollyona. It is unknown how many individuals wore the title of "Sky King", but records indicate this number could be as high as two-hundred.
- ~ 400,050 BCE - The second-to-last individual to be called "Sky King", Sarrus VIII von Apollyon, summons a large army of warriors from throughout all the tribes allied to Apollyona and sails across the sea to the distant continent of the Faeries. This army, believed to be the largest assembled up to this point in recorded history, is commanded by four legendary knights - La Hire the Fierce, Lancelot the Conqueror, Hector the Stalwart and Ogier the Faithful. His young son, Sarrus IX, remains in Apollyona as its governor in his absence. The details of this quest are not well known, but it is understood that the armies of Apollyona found the Faeries in a weakened state, themselves having been aggressed years prior by the rising power of Homo nocturnus, who the Faeries are believed to have been subjugating for many thousands of years. Sarrus VIII sacks the foremost holy city of the Faeries, kills the Faerie sovereign, and takes the last living member of the Faerie religious nobility - a nameless Fae princess - as a hostage.
- ~ 400,040 BCE - During the return journey, the Fae princess places a curse on Apollyon's house and his kingdom. The nature of this curse is unknown, but the historical record indicates that the utterance of this curse caused a terrible storm to engulf the fleet, and caused the chains binding the princess to catch fire and burn Sarrus VIII's flagship to cinders. In a desperate attempt to save his ship, the Sky King was caught in the chains as he was casting them into the sea, and was pulled down to his death. Upon arriving back in Apollyona, the news reaches Sarrus IX, who is named the new Sky King. Sarrus IX's first action as Sky King is to demand a pit be dug out of the earth, and an iron tomb placed in it. The Fae princess, still a prisoner of the humans, is placed within the iron tomb. Sarrus IX then has the tomb buried, sealing the princess within.
- ~ 400,030 BCE - Over the following several decades, several calamities strike Apollyona. Records recovered from Daevite translators indicate that flooding, famine, crop failure and pestilence were rampant - though many of these catastrophes were averted due to the actions of the four legendary knights. However, each of the four knights would eventually become corrupted as a result of the princess' curse, and would begin transforming into a monstrous demon of Faerie origin. Records indicate that the first of the demons to flee Apollyona was the Demon Ogier (SCP-████), followed by the Demon La Hire (SCP-2254), the Demon Lancelot (SCP-4840-B), and finally the Demon Hector (SCP-6666-A). The exact timeline of these events is not well understood, due to the lack of recorded history from the time, but the emergence of the four "Primeval Demons" is believed to have coincided with the arrival of the "Great Profanities".
Drawing of a mural taken from the journal of Winston J. Connington, depicting Sky King Sarrus IX von Apollyon fighting the Profane Restrictor.
- ~ 400,020 BCE - The first of the "Great Profanities", the Vinuvinex (SCP-4812-E) appears in the historical record. These entities are believed to have manifested as a result of the curse placed on the House of Apollyon, and each is believed to have been created with the intent to target increasingly larger aspects of human society. The Vinuvinex, or the Profane Restrictor, kills Sarrus IX von Apollyon's young daughter by freezing her to death. In response, the Sky King engaged the Profanity in single combat, resulting in the Vinuvinex being driven "into the heart of the Earth".
Drawing of a mural taken from the journal of Winston J. Connington, depicting the Profane Adamant battling the Demon Lancelot.
- ~ 400,020 BCE - Shortly thereafter, the Lamenellant (SCP-4812-K) appears in the skies over Europ. Sometimes called the "King of Many Faces", the Lamenellant - or Profane Adamant, attacks many of the smaller towns and villages of Apollyona, causing untold devastation. It is eventually driven off by Lancelot, who may or may not have been at this time transfigured into the Demon Lancelot (SCP-4840-B). All accounts of the Lamenellant thereafter are by Daevite scholars, leading researchers to believe that the Lamenellant, for whatever reason, did not attempt to return to Europ during the remainder of the last days of House Apollyon.
Drawing of a mural taken from the journal of Winston J. Connington, depicting Sky King Sarrus IX von Apollyon being consumed by the Profane Dark.
- ~ 400,015 BCE - The four knights, now Primeval Demons, either leave the country of their own accord (La Hire, Ogier) or are driven out (Lancelot, Hector). Sarrus IX and his citadel of High Apollyona are defenseless when the final profanity, YASH - or the Profane Dark - emerges from the Earth. In an evening, all of High Apollyona is swallowed by YASH, bringing a sudden end to the reign of the Sky Kings in Ole Europ as Sarrus IX is killed, along with whatever of his family remained in the citadel. The remaining human settlements throughout the kingdom continue to suffer through hardship until the end of the age.
- ~ 400,010 BCE - The Children of the Night (Homo nocturnus) cross the sea and begin devastating human civilization en masse. Many humans are captured and taken as prisoner back to the home of the Children of the Night, in the darkest of the Fae's forests. It is during this time that a sorcerer named Methuselah (SCP-343) is brought to the domain of the Children of the Night after being captured within the Daevite region of Malidraug.
- ~ 400,000 BCE - The human prisoners of the Children of the Night find the exhausted corpse of another human sorcerer named Noah El Mehtoh. The next day, it is said that every flower on Earth bloomed all at once, followed by a torrential global rainstorm. The resulting apocalypse was called the Great Flood, which devastated any remaining populations that had not yet taken actions to protect themselves against the catastrophe. Survivors of the Great Flood fled to high ground, and nearly all traces of antediluvian civilizations were wiped off the Earth entirely. The exact length of the storm is unknown, but SCP-343 has claimed that an entire generation lived and died during the Great Flood.
- ~ 399,900 BCE - As the floodwaters recede, the remaining human subraces (Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo sapiens) begin rebuilding their societies from nothing. What information about the antediluvian world was not washed away in the Great Flood is actively hidden through thaumatological means by Seth in Audapaupadopolis.
- ~ 1900 - The Foundation Administrator, Frederick Williams, in a letter to fellow occultist Aaron Siegel, makes a passing reference to a "bogeyman" named "the YASH" that is said to live in a cave in France. The Administrator dismisses this claim as nonsense.
- 1933 - British airman Sir George Dansen inadvertently discovers the Flying City of Audapaupadopolis, itself now revealed due to the failing of Seth's thaumatological abilities. The SCP Foundation identifies the city as an area of primary concern, and classifies it as SCP-4840. Seth (SCP-4840-A) identifies the large humanoid collapsed over the Temple of Sunset as the still-warm corpse of the Demon Lancelot (SCP-4840-B).
- 1938 - The Oslo Commission, headed by Dr. Emil Lancaster, is founded within the SCP Foundation to study and categorize antediluvian artifacts and anomalies.
- 1957 - The Oslo Commission and Project ATLAS, a group commissioned to study the Wormwood (SCP-4008) are dissolved and folded into Project PARAGON.
- 1964 - The Profane Adamant, Lamenellant, is seen flying over the northern Soviet Union and is aggressed by Soviet fighters. When the futility of their attempts becomes apparent, the Foundation is contacted by agents within the GRU-P organization, and the entity is classified as SCP-4812.
- 1966 - Project PARAGON discovers the access point to the subterranean chamber containing SCP-6666, the Dread Titania, as well as the still living Demon Hector (SCP-6666-A).
- 1968 - Information gathered from within the Connington Set leads researchers to the location of the Profane Restrictor, Vinuvinex. After being disturbed by the Foundation research teams, the entity became animated again and began proceeding in the direction of a nearby population center. It is intercepted by MTF Ark-11 "Light Em Up", who contains the entity after a prolonged engagement, and classified as SCP-4812-E, with both the Profane Dark and Profane Adamant being classified as SCP-4812-S and -K, respectively.
- 1985 - The Demon La Hire (SCP-2254) is discovered near Fallon, Alabama. SCP-2254 is not originally understood to be of antediluvian origin, and does not immediately fall under the jurisdiction of Project PARAGON.
- 2019 - An excursion into the forest within the chamber below SCP-6666 reveals the remnants of the Children of the Night's society, including a large mausoleum-like chamber where many thousands of instances of SCP-1000, paralyzed and inert as a result of a toxic substance being released by SCP-6666, were being held dormant.
- 2020 - The Demon Ogier, a ███████ ████, and a █████ ██ ███ █████ are discovered beneath [DATA EXPUNGED] and classified as SCP-████-█, █, and █.
- 2021 - Foundation Overseers [DATA REDACTED] into SCP-3790's seventh [DATA REDACTED].
Antediluvian Peoples
Little is known of the human civilizations that existed prior to the Great Flood. Modern evolutionary disinformation campaigns have disseminated the understanding that modern homo sapiens did not exist prior to this period; however, early human ancestors and other relevant beings have remained relatively unchanged since this antediluvian period.
Homo aeturnus - Children of the Sun
An antediluvian human from a mural within SCP-4840. Subject is depicted observing the Children of the Night destroying the First Man.
The first known human civilization existed in the SCP-4840, the city of Audapaupadopolis (written as audapaupadopolis in the original language of Homo aeturnus). This city was inhabited by the original human ancestors (Homo aeturnus), a race of humanoids with inherent thaumatological properties - properties attributed to having a direct lineage to the "first man", an entity of considerable power and authority referred to as Asem in ancient texts. While it is not known exactly when this city came into existence, it is believed to possibly be many millions, if not tens of millions, of years old.
The exact lifespan of this civilization is not currently known, nor is it believed that it ever can be known. The single living individuals who have existed long enough to have resided within Audapaupadopolis are SCP-073, Cain, and SCP-4840-A, Seth. By Cain's own recollection, the city existed long before his own birth. Additionally, Cain's perfect memory is understood to exist as an attribute of a curse placed on him by the entity called Asem, and he cannot perfectly recall much of what occurred prior to his affliction.
Homo aeturnus eventually left SCP-4840 after the presumed death of Asem, beginning their gradual change into later human ancestors as their thaumatological connection with their progenitor disappeared. These would eventually become Homo antediluvianus, Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo sanguinus.
Notably, SCP-4840 was not only inhabited by these early humans - ancient descriptions of this place indicate there may have been other powerful entities living within Audapaupadopolis at the time, though the identities of these entities are currently unknown.
Trans stellaris - Children of the Stars
An antediluvian faerie from a mural within SCP-4840. Subject is depicted observing the Children of the Night destroying the First Man.
Homo aeturnus existed alongside two other races of humanoid entities, the first of these being Trans stellaris - the "faeries". These entities, which are believed to have predated human life on Earth, are intrinsically tied to a base thaumatology that exists within nature, and originates from the influence of certain powerful beings of worship, chief among these being Gaia, a long since dormant "mother goddess" of the Earth, and Titania, a goddess of stars and the granting of wishes. These entities, while significantly more diminutive and structurally frail than their human counterparts, have considerably longer lifetimes.
Due to an event that is believed to have occurred immediately prior to, or immediately after the Great Flood, individual members of Trans stellaris are anomalously nomenclatively compromised.
Homo nocturnus - Children of the Night
An antediluvian Child of the Night from a mural within SCP-4840. Subject is depicted destroying the First Man.
The second race of humanoids to exist alongside Homo aeturnus were the entities known as the "Children of the Night" (or "Children of the Moon" in some translations), Homo nocturnus, currently classified as SCP-1000. Very little is known of these entities - it is believed that they were initially brought into existence by the faerie goddess Titania, and information recovered from interviews with SCP-343 during research of SCP-6666 indicate that their design was originally intended to reflect a limited understanding of early humans. As such, they are understood to be the youngest of the three primary humanoid races to have existed during the antediluvian period of Earth's history.
While what little there is of written history describes SCP-1000 as hostile entities, natively inimical to human life1, there is evidence to suggest that Homo nocturnus had a complex cultural system at some point in their past - though when this society would have existed is currently unknown. Prior to the discovery of SCP-6666, Homo nocturnus was believed to only exist in very small numbers, having been nearly entirely wiped out during the Great Flood. However, it is now known that a very large population of SCP-1000 continues to exist in the cavern beneath SCP-6666, though they have thus far remained dormant.
Locations
Olde Europe
Map of what is believed to be the antediluvian Afro-Eurasian continent. Part of the Connington Set. Origin unknown.
It is unknown how far back antediluvian man referred to the landmass that would eventually become the Eurasian continent as "Europ". Some collected texts preserved within SCP-4840 use the phrase "evop lum" (literally, land/country of ero) to name the land specifically ruled by the "Ero" people, a community of plainsmen and herders who are believed to have lived in what is now modern-day Spain and Portugal. Almost nothing is written about these people, and the few references to them do little more than list them as traders or merchants, along with other populations in the region.
It is unknown for how long humans lived in the region prior to the rise of the Sky Kings. Seth (SCP-4840-A) describes a period of ten-thousand years between the desolation of Audapaupadopolis and his meeting with Harrian the Elder, the oldest ancestor of the group that would eventually be called the "House of Apollyon (apolion)"2, and then an indeterminate amount of time between that meeting and his encounter with Xorus, one of Harrian's descendents, and the 6th individual to carry the title of Sky King.
Old Europ was inhabited primarily by the Homo antediluvianus subrace, which encompassed most of the major civilizations at the time. However, other subraces existed simultaneously, much like Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens would post-Flood.
Daeva
A mural depicting the "Mad" King Moros of the Daevites.
By far the largest of these subraces was the Daevites, Homo sanguinus. The lands of the Daevites, called the "Arid East" by the inhabitants of Ole Europ and just "Daeva" to the Daevites, was home to many different independent kingdoms of Daevites in a region that stretched from the area around the Black Sea, all the way to northwestern Indo-China. The Daeva were a notoriously secretive civilization, and their interactions with the inhabitants of Old Europ were seemingly rarely peaceful — though this is likely more the result of the latter's attitudes than those of the Daeva. Despite their secrecy, the Daeva were exhaustive record-keepers, and what information has survived to be recovered from SCP-████ has revealed a significant amount of their history and culture, including their history with the entity known as doi veajei (doiveajei), or the "King of Blood".
Abaddon
The area directly south of Ole Europ, in what is now modern North Africa, is described as having been a lush tropical forest by Daevite accounts, inhabited by a race of peoples called the "tall men" (as opposed to the "long men" of southern Europ). Next to nothing is known about this area, aside from it being extremely vast. A single account by a Daevite scholar remarks that a merchant party arrived at his citadel "…having set out from Abaddon, in those high forests to the west…"
This area is believed to have been devastated, possibly due to an impact by some kind of celestial object, during the reign of the Sky King Olmos I. In a tome preserved by Seth in Audapaupadopolis, a court scholar notes a star falling from the sky to the south, and hot wind and ash covering the kingdom for the better part of nine months afterwards.
Persons and Groups of Interest
The Sky Kings
In his account of history, Seth describes having stolen his father Asem's iron crown, an artifact of significant power, and later bequeathing it to an individual named Harrian the Elder, a tribesman who lived in Old Europ. In doing so he gave Harrian the name "Apollyon", or "King Over The Darkness", with the intention of both giving humanity a tool with which to defend themselves, and restoring mankind to some semblance of its former heights. However, while no extensive historia remains for the House of Apollyon, it is well understood in all accounts that the Sky Kings — all of whom would take the name "von Apollyon" — were a brutalist, monarchic society that wielded their considerable thaumatological authority in order to subjugate the Daeva, the "long men" in the south3, and other populations of Homo antediluvianus.
The first individual to take the name Sky King was Idus I von Apollyon, who was named as such in legend due to his having slain a dragon in single combat. The translation of the text "Collected Writings of Dol of Satar", a work which itself was a Daevite transcription of a piece of writing penned by a scribe within the court of Nilar II von Apollyon, reads as follows:
The king, who is most high among sovereigns, invited me to his court to sit by his side and keep a record of his musings, a task which has brought me great honor in doing so. I came upon the Ulem road, down from Bolen, and was greeted by the lord's royal vizier, who I came to know as Wilam of Humerphy. He took me to see the lord Nilar, who though he was aged showed great resilience and a keen mind.
The king sat me at his side and addressed me infrequently, but spoke at length of the stories of his youth — many of these I had written about in the court of his father the king Idus VII. For many hours I enjoyed the company of the lord of hosts, but after a time he grew quiet and seemed to consider himself, before asking me if I knew why the good peoples of Europ and his wide dominion honored him by calling him King over the Heavens. I told him that it was because his reach extended past the bounds of the Earth, which brought him great joy, but he dismissed the remark.
Thus spoke he:
When I was a boy my father, the king before me who your father and your father before him served, took me to the highest tower of Apollyona and asked me to reach as high as I could. I did so and could only reach so high, being small of stature as I was. He told me that the reach of a man ends at his fingers, but the reach of a sovereign must not end.
He brought me to his inner chamber and showed me the great paintings of his father, and his father's father. He named them all, one after the other — Idus the Fifth, Conqueror of Minos, who is said to have stolen a feather from the wing of Remiel, guardian of the Sun's tomb. Sarrus the First, who slew the Mad King and set the dark blood to boil. Jorei, the son of Lord Axem, who became the first Sky Queen and sailed to the dark forests where even the little folk would not walk, never to return. He knew them all, and told me I too must someday know them all.
Then he brought me to the first, and oldest. Worn and weathered it was, and I did spend some time trying to see the face of a man at all. "This is Idus the First" my father did say with some reverence. "His reach were the furthest of all man, enough to strike even at the heart of a beast of the sky. When the old Tiamat did descend to claim our family's crown for its own, Idus did not falter. He rose on a lightningbolt and pushed his sword into the beast's belly and rent it in two. Thus did they name him Sky King, and we all in line from him."
Spoke he: "Someday you will wear the crown he wore, and your reach must be like his - without limit. This is the lesson I learned from my father, and the lesson my father learned from his. Nothing must be outside of your grasp. If you desire it, seize it."
While aspects of this story are no doubt subject to hyperbole and many thousands of years of translation, it does serve to illustrate a very important aspect of the House of Apollyon — they saw each successive ruler as an extension of the first Sky King. Those who did not live up to those legendary deeds, be it by conquest, culture or suppression of their neighbors, were considered failures in the eyes of their society.
The House of Malidraug
A Daevite governorship east of Europ, the House of Malidraug was untraditionally patriarchal, being founded by the "Mad" King Moros and ruled thereafter by his sons Midas, Midwell and Metrok. They are by far the most well-understood of the ancient Daevite kingdoms, with much of their history having been preserved within SCP-████, unlike the cryptic unfinished tomes left by other Daevite city-states.
The lords of House Malidraug were expected to rule as men, even if they had been born female. One such ruler was the Sorcerer King Relivine, born Relaea, under whose tutelage (and the tutelage of his High Magistrate) SCP-343 became Grand Vizier, prior to that kingdom's destruction by the hands of the Children of the Night. Relivine, along with all those who lived within the central city of Malidraug, are said to have disappeared suddenly after the aforementioned attack on the High Magistrate's citadel. While SCP-343 had originally believed they had been killed, evidence collected within SCP-████ discredits this theory.
Domain of the Fae
Little is known of Fae culture, aside from that which was recorded by traders who frequented the small settlement of Ferrin on the coast of the Fae's domain. Through these interactions it was known that a hierarchy existed within the Fae, with some kind of emperor or regent acting as a divine conduit to the Faeries' gods, and a loose governorship of their land falling to several primogens - princes and princesses. Due to a catastrophic nomenclative breakdown in the time since these events, the names of those individuals are fully lost.
King of Night
While exceptionally little is known of the world of the Fae, it is far more information than what exists of the Children of the Night. The Children, or Interlopers, as they were often called by men and Fae, had no written history and no oral tradition, and their primary divine matriarch actively sought out the histories of other civilizations in order to annihilate them entirely.
While testimony made by SCP-343 indicates that the Children of the Night were incapable of creating a stable cultureplex, information gathered from SCP-████ indicates otherwise. It is now believed that the Children of the Night, while not having an extant recorded history to speak of, are capable of interacting with a kind of metaphysical collective consciousness from which certain information can be yielded. The single instance where this has been observed, SCP-████-█, has referred to this consciousness as the "Last King of Night". Access to more information on this phenomenon is forthcoming.
Entities of Primary Concern
The Primeval Demons
The Primeval Demons are four entities with varying anomalous capabilities that are believed to have at once time been human warriors in service to the ancient Sky Kings of House Apollyon, an antediluvian royal family that controlled much of modern Europe, North Africa and northwest Asia. The transformation of these individuals into their current forms is largely attributed to thaumatological influence by a poorly understood entity, described in surviving texts as "a faerie princess", which is currently contained by the Global Occult Coalition within the NORSEGARD Containment Platform in the North Sea.
Much of the information collected by Project PARAGON regarding these four entities comes from a collection of ancient texts and artifacts that are part of the Connington Set, a paranatural collection of items assembled by Winston J. Connington in the late 18th century.
The Demon La Hire - SCP-2254
Depiction of the Knight La Hire from an ancient sarcophagus discovered near Vesoul, France.
One of four legendary knights in service to the Sky King Sarrus VIII von Apollyon, La Hire (lahaeiv) is usually depicted as the youngest of the group. Referred to as passionate and impulsive, and associated with the season of Spring.
The "Parable of the Lord's Blessings" describes how La Hire (or The Knight of Burning Eyes in the text) was called to the service of Sarrus VIII after he killed a giant that had been plaguing a village where one of the king's bastard daughters resided. The text reads:
The wit of the burning eyes knight was as quick as the course of his sword, and no less deadly.
SCP-2254 is believed to have been affected by a curse originating from the EROS entity - specifically, a curse of lust. Remarking on the knight's transformation into SCP-2254, a minister local to La Hire's citadel recounts the following:
The lord of swords takes many lovers, but poison is his well and from within it does lust overflow. No man, woman and beast who approaches his fortress is safe from his desires, and he takes as he wishes.
The last text to reference La Hire is the "Paranalium", wherein the now transformed Demon La Hire is branded with an arcane symbol in the shape of a heart and driven away by warriors of the Kingdom of Ulem.
The Demon Lancelot - SCP-4840-B
Depiction of the Knight Lancelot from an ancient sarcophagus discovered near Vesoul, France.
One of four legendary knights in service to the Sky King Sarrus VIII von Apollyon, (lanaselot) Lancelot is usually depicted as the largest physically of the four knights, and described as imperial, ruthless, and domineering, Lancelot is associated with the season of Summer. The "Account of the Seven Servants of Delm" describes Knight Lancelot thus:
The room did then grow still as the horns of Lord's emissary blew beyond our gate. And did we open them wide - through which strode that greatest commander of the Shatterkrist4. Taller was he than any man I have laid eyes upon, and his gaze was like the heat of the sun.
Each of the four knights are described in text as being capable with a different primary armament - La Hire's sword, Hector's lance, Ogier's staff and Lancelot's mace:
…strapped across his wide back was a long and terrible black rod, its metal wrought with twisted faces and hands outstretched as if pleading, atop which was positioned eight iron spikes, crusted and bloodsoaked from battle on the road. This mace was the Riterkas (viterakas), the hammer of the Lord's fury, and the man who carried it could barely be called a man at all — more like a titan of olde was he. Lancelot was his name, and in his presence no creature dared to stir, for fear that his dreadful eyes would fall on they.
SCP-4840-B was stricken with the curse of wrath. According to Daevite records, he was last seen in the world of man fleeing to the northeast, carving a path of destruction in his wake a mile wide.
SCP-4840-A ("Seth") indicates that the now Demon Lancelot came to the long abandoned city of Audapaupadopolis, and would have destroyed it if not for the efforts of three other legendary beings: the dragon Bharata, the sea-lord Arkthurus, and the Daeva sorcerer Relivine. The result of their engagement was the death of Bharata, who Seth calls "the last of the old dragons", the presumed death of SCP-4840-B, and the disappearance of the other two figures5.
SCP-4840-B remains where it fell, atop the now-ruined Temple of Sunset in Audapaupadopolis.
The Demon Hector - SCP-6666-A
Depiction of the Knight Hector from an ancient sarcophagus discovered near Vesoul, France.
One of four legendary knights in service to the Sky King Sarrus VIII von Apollyon, Hector (heketor) is often depicted as the most revered of the four knights, and described as loyal, determined, and unshakeable. Associated with the season of Fall.
Hector is described in ancient texts as being unfalteringly loyal to his sovereign, seemingly to the point of obsession. One Daevite translation reads:
…though each tried to please him, the wives of Hector were distant from the eyes of the lord of lances. Though they stood before him, he saw only his king - lord dominion of the heavens and earth.
Hector would remain loyal even after he was cast out from the House of Apollyon by Sarrus VIII's son, Sarrus IX, who set him on a task to destroy the heart of the Fae curse on Apollyon's kingdom. This would eventually lead him to SCP-6666, a dead Faerie god worshipped by the Children of the Night. It is theorized that, recognizing the danger of the Great Flood, the city of the Children was brought underground to protect them until the waters receded.
When Hector crossed the rising sea and discovered what had happened, he demanded the Dread Titania to grant him a wish. The outcome of this wish is believed to be the cloud of dense, toxic pollen that covers the floor of SCP-6666's subterranean cavern space, and keeps the Children of the Night inert.
Demon Hector is referred to as the Demon of Agony - although whether the translation refers to physical or mental anguish is not currently understood.
The Demon Ogier - SCP-6765-D
Depiction of the Knight Ogier from an ancient sarcophagus discovered near Vesoul, France.
One of four legendary knights in service to the Sky King Sarrus VIII von Apollyon, Ogier (ogiev) is often depicted as the smallest of the four knights, and described as mysterious, pensive, and melancholy. Associated with the season of Winter.
Additional information is forthcoming. Refer to SCP-6765 for more information.
The Great Profanities
The three Great Profanities are powerful entities of thaumatological origin that came into existence near the end of the antediluvian period of human history as a result of a curse placed by the EROS entity - a Faerie princess whose mummified corpse is currently contained by the Global Occult Coalition. These entities, collectively designated SCP-4812, are generally referred to as the Lesser, Greater, and Final Profanities.
SCP-4812-E - The Profane Restrictor
The Lesser Profanity
SCP-4812-E's containment cell.
A large humanoid construct composed entirely of metal that acts as a near-perfect heatsink. The entity was called vinuvineks, or Vinuvinex, by royal scholars, and is described in some translations as being a curse on the House of Apollyon specifically, in comparison to the more general curses of the Greater and Final Profanities. The Vinuvinex is said to have found and killed Sarrus IX's young daughter, likely by freezing her to death, before being eventually bested by Apollyon himself.
Interestingly, the account of a royal archivist in Apollyon's court describes the king killing the Vinuvinex with a "godless lance", in "Sixth Chapters of the Reign of the King Sarrus IX von Apollyon":
The King took upon him the Godless Lance and came down to the Vinuvinex, and with nothing but the Mammoth's Hide between him and the infinite cold drove that sacred spear into the Vinuvinex and put it into the flaming heart of the Earth.
The "Godless Lance", or in some translations the "Spear of the Non-Believer" is a weapon of considerable anti-thaumatological power attributed to Adam El Asem, the First Man. However, Seth (SCP-4840-A) has confirmed that no such weapon ever fell into the hands of men, with the original having been destroyed along with its owner when Asem was sundered by the Children of the Night during the Fall of Audapaupadopolis. As such, it's likely that there was a tradition within the House of Apollyon to call certain weapons "Godless Lance", either as homage to or in an attempt to usurp the authority of the original.
SCP-4812-K - The Profane Adamant
The Greater Profanity
Ancient depiction of a winged scorpion with the face of a man, believed to SCP-4812-K.
A colossal insectoid entity covered in an impervious reflective chiten, vaguely resembling a winged scorpion with the face of a man. In Daevite translations, 4812-K is called lamenelant, or Lamenellant, and is said to have been the first of the Profanities discovered when the armies of Sarus VIII returned from the domain of the Faeries across the sea. La Hire specifically is noted to have been the first to describe the Lamenellant, but its relationship with Knight Lancelot is perhaps the more compelling history.
In many texts, the Lamenellant is used interchangeably with the word "lankelt", or Lancelot, leading researchers to believe that the text was referring to the same entity twice. However, it is now believed that this discrepancy is due to the Lamenellant being attributed with the "seduction" of Lancelot and his eventual transfiguration, while the truth of this is unknown and likely impossible to be known. Despite this, many translations seem to imply that it was widely believed at the time that Lancelot had gone off to engage the Lamenellant and, failing to do so, been corrupted by its malice. However, considering that the Lamenellant was likely intended to be a curse upon the dominion of men generally (likely all of Europ), and considering that most accounts of the Lamenellant are attributed to Daevite scholars in Daevite regions, it is not unreasonable to assume that the Lamenellant was driven away from Olde Europ by Lancelot, towards Daeva, before the Knight eventually succumbed to the curse.
SCP-4812-K is the only one of the Profanities currently uncontained. It is believed that SCP-4812-K's flight patterns indicate that the creature is searching for the EROS entity, likely due to that being's relationship with SCP-4812-S.
SCP-4812-S - The Profane Dark
The Final Profanity
Radiographic imaging of SCP-4812-S's central core. Scans indicate that the core is likely hollow, but the contents of its interior are unknown.
Described by the ancient historian "Tornold of Yire" as the greatest of the three Profanities, SCP-4812-S is a large, amorphous entity in a subterranean cavern near Alès, France. While SCP-4812-S has been almost entirely inert during its containment, historical evidence suggests that SCP-4812-S may have been singlehandedly responsible for the destruction of High Apollyona, the capital of the kingdom of Sarrus IX, and the death of the last Sky King himself. Called "the Last Foe of Man", SCP-4812-S — or YASH (yac) — causes near-immediate death to any living creature that directly observes it, or any part of its body.
The nature of SCP-4812-S has perplexed Foundation researchers since its discovery. However, additional translations recovered from the SCP-████ site indicate that, while the Lamenellant and Vinuvinex are certainly Fae demons of considerable power, YASH is — in all likelihood — either an aspect of, or itself fully, an ancient Faerie god. One translation of a sailor on a Westernese6 trading vessel mentions a conversation between a captain and a Faerie in his journal — Note: the recovered text is a translation, and heavily fragmented.
Jugo were dead on the journey, having been struck on the head during a storm three night past—
asked the small folk if they would allow the crew to bury—
denied the right to bury the dead—
the lord of the ship insisted that we carry out the funeral rite for Jugo, for his wife back on Hola—
the queer folk demanded to send him to sea, not to be bury in the earth—
in the pit of the grave down in the deepest point, when the body does become miasma of the earth, there in the slime does the YASH fester—
dare not invite it to their shore—
make a prayer of safety over us, and then did Jugo pushed into the sea and set alight
Events
The Great Flood
Mural depicting the Great Flood.
The Great Flood was a worldwide paranatural cataclysm that is believed to have taken place between four and five hundred thousand years ago. The exact cause of the flooding is unknown - analysis of background Hume radiation at sites in the southwestern Bolivian Andes mountains indicate that there was a sudden and considerable shift in local reality that occurred between nine-hundred and four-hundred thousand years ago, though it is unknown if this event is directly related to the cataclysmic flooding.
Geological evidence suggests that over a period of roughly ten years, the global sea level rose between 1.3 and 2.8km as the result of an uninterrupted paranatural deluge. It is believed that this event had a profound and detrimental effect on most life on Earth - every living thing that was not suited for life underwater, or that did not find refuge on higher ground, was inevitably killed by the rising water. Some old world forests were able to acclimate to their new environment, though it is believed that this may have been the result of thaumatological influence by entities that were more prevalent on the Earth at that time. The remaining ecology, both flora and fauna, would have been totally devastated by the event.
Whatever human civilizations were annihilated by this event, and when the floodwaters receded the remaining pockets of human habitation were more or less reduced to a hunter-gatherer status. It is believed that this drastic decline in the state of human civilization as a whole is not fully a result of the Flood — SCP-4840-A has acknowledged that in the wake of the catastrophe, he began introducing a powerful global antimemetic effect of his own creation in order to take advantage of the Flood's catastrophic nature and neuter mankind's ability to recall certain aspects of its past. While this likely had the intended effect of cutting off humanity from the memory of its violent, thaumatologically active past, it had the unintended side effect of reducing most humans to a near-subhuman state.
The post-Flood period saw the rise of near-modern human life in Africa and the fertile crescent, while the more directly affected humans that survived in Europe (Homo neanderthalensis) became a technologically and culturally savvy but genetically altered population, eventually either assimilating with the more modern Homo sapiens or dying out entirely.
Cite this page as:
"Project PARAGON" by djkaktus, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scpwiki.com/project-paragon-hub. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.
For information on how to use this component, see the License Box component. To read about licensing policy, see the Licensing Guide.
Filename: aeturnus.png, nocturnus.png, stellaris.png
Author:djkaktus
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Source Link: SCP Foundation Wiki
Derivative Of:
Name: Hercules rescuing Hesione from a sea-monster. Engraving. Wellcome V0036065.jpg
Author: Wellcome Images
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
Source Link: Wikimedia Commons
Filename: europ.png
Author:
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Source Link: SCP Foundation Wiki
Derivative Of:
Name: Piri Reis map of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea.jpg
Author: Piri Reis
License: Public Domain
Source Link: Wikimedia Commons
Filename: flood.png
Name: The great flood - Biblical.jpg
Author: Thomas Pennant
License: Public Domain
Source Link: Wikimedia Commons
Filename: greyparagon.png
Author:Aethris
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Source Link: SCP Foundation Wiki
Derivative Of:
Filename: paragon.png
Author:
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Source Link: SCP Foundation Wiki
Filename: hector.png, lahire.png, lancelot.png, ogier.png
Author:
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Source Link: SCP Foundation Wiki
Derivative Of:
Name: Guardians of Traffic
Author: Erik Drost
License: CC BY-SA 2.0
Source Link: Flickr, Flickr, Flickr, Flickr
Filename: kaktus1.png
Author:
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Source Link: SCP Foundation Wiki
Filename: lamenellant.png
Name: Jiroft scorpion.png
Author: Behnam0o
License: Public Domain
Source Link: Wikimedia Commons
Filename: moros.png
Name: Painting of a King in the niche of the 38 meter Buddha, Bamiyan.jpg
Author: Unknown Author
License: Public Domain
Source Link: Wikimedia Commons
Filename: scpnewlogo.png
Author:
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Source Link: SCP Foundation Wiki
Filename: Skyking1.png, Skyking2.png, Skyking3.png
Author: wayland cycle
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Source Link: SCP Foundation Wiki
Derivative Of:
Name: 1476 Parchment Paper 2
Author: Mark Morgan
License: CC BY-SA 2.0
Source Link: Flickr
Filename: stylesheet.css
Author:LonLangLin
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Source Link: SCP Foundation Wiki
Filename: vinuvinex.jpg
Name: Spray-Cooled furnace equipment.jpg
Author: Jgraynow
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
Source Link: Wikimedia Commons
Filename: yash.png
Name: Florists' review (microform) (16056404993).jpg
Author: Internet Archive Book Images
License: Public Domain
Source Link: Wikimedia Commons
_(16056404993).jpg){kind=link}