SCP-9911 - SCP Foundation

SCP-9911

SCP Anthology 2025 » SCP-9911

Item Number: SCP-9911

Object Class: Uncontained

Special Containment Procedures: The presence and effects of SCP-9911 remain undetectable by conventional measuring instruments. No further containment procedures have been deemed necessary beyond routine monitoring of relevant astronomical research institutions and organizations.

SCP-9911 is currently the primary observation focus of the Selva Oscura (SelvOs) telescope array, located in halo orbit around the Sun-Earth L₂ point.

Description: SCP-9911 is a novel astrotheological phenomenon affecting all known planetary bodies in the Solar System. It is considered to be the conversion of these objects into Akiva sinks through poorly-understood processes.

Akiva sinks are typically found in items of religious significance, and are the primary medium for which Akiva flux may be channelled as both receptor and emission source. Objects and entities without this property do not exhibit any anomalous traits when exposed to Akiva radiation,¹ though emission of Akiva radiation may occur in rare cases.² Consequently, most known Akiva sinks are manmade with the express purpose of interfacing with divine entities and/or phenomena.

SCP-9911-affected objects do not map towards any such defined recipient, resulting in the accumulation of Akiva radiation. Larger and brighter objects accrete Akiva radiation more rapidly than their dimmer counterparts, such that the most significant objects affected by SCP-9911 correspond to the classical planets of the Solar System. Akiva emission, while still feasible for these objects through natural entropic processes, is far exceeded by the accretion of Akiva radiation in a runaway effect. Though unconfirmed, it is thought that this process has been occurring since the formation of these objects several billion years ago.

A notable exception to SCP-9911 is the Sun, which does not exhibit the characteristics of an Akiva sink despite being the focus of active worship across hundreds of millennia by sapient entities. Several competing theories have been proposed, the most prominent being that:

Convective processes in the Sun make it impossible for any incident Akiva radiation to precipitate SCP-9911, as affected convection cells do not remain close to the surface for long enough periods of time.
Sunlight has been the focus of active worship for most of human history, as opposed to the Sun itself, of which a persistent image was not produced until it was first photographed in 1845.
The Sun already emits Akiva radiation on a scale that is three orders of magnitude greater than expected from the passive effects of SCP-9911, via reciprocal association with and proxy of worshipped solar deities. The appendage of a deity(s) is unable to serve as an effective Akiva sink.

SCP-9911 was first identified during the Selva Oscura Initiative, an early SETI and planetary defense initiative based on theological markers. Spearheaded by the Department of Stellar Affairs in cooperation with the Department of Tactical Theology, Selva Oscura utilizes a highly sensitive telescope array adapted from static-frame ontokinetic detection methods.

The operating principles of the SelvOs telescope array differ from traditional observatories, as direct Akiva radiation propagates poorly over astrophysical distances. Instead, it zeroes in on deviations in baseline reality in a process analogous to interferometry. The presence of deities or any form of strong "faith" imparts a measurable effect on the malleability of local reality, from which reality shifts in one way or another become "visible" to the SelvOs array. This method of detection is suitable for significant shifts at very long ranges that would otherwise be diminished by the compact nature of unperturbed baseline reality between the source and a detector.

From: pcs.tenpics|orecul.d#pcs.tenpics|orecul.d
To: pcs.tenpics|iew.j#pcs.tenpics|iew.j
Subject: Abnormal SelvOs Readouts

Greetings Dr. Wei,

We have a problem. SelvOs might have a malfunctioning peripheral unit. We've been getting these unusual spikes in some of our initial readouts.

Is everything working at your end?

Dr. Durante Lucero
Project Head, Selva Oscura Init.
Department of Stellar Affairs

Dr. Lucero,

I just ran the diagnostics myself. All satellite systems have been green since initialization. Mechanically, there is nothing wrong with the array.

However, I cannot speak for the detectors. Their calibration and operation are the purview of Tactheo. Perhaps your issue lies therein. Will poke my liasion.

Dr. Ji-er Wei
Senior Engineer
Department of Engineering

Hello Dr. Lucero,

Every detector has already been calibrated with our reference markers. Even so, we've triple checked the measurements. Consistently exceeded expected parameters each time. And at that magnitude? It can't possibly be an extrasolar point source.

Where are these signals coming from?

Dr. Beatrice Portinari
Senior Researcher
Department of Tactical Theology

Somewhere near or in orbit around Mars. Signal's too fuzzy to be sure.

Are you certain we scaled this correctly?

Dr. Durante Lucero
Project Head, Selva Oscura Init.
Department of Stellar Affairs

The detector hasn't warmed up for observations outside the Solar System yet. If everything in SelvOs is as it should be, which I can tell you with absolutely certainty that it is;

Then that source is the size of the planet Mars.

Dr. Ji-er Wei
Senior Engineer
Department of Engineering

Attachment: Archive, Supplementary Log
Source: Selva Oscura Initiative, Nov 1991

FOREWORD:
Several weeks of continuous SelvOs array observation results successfully substantiated the Akiva sink properties of Mars, as well as various other Solar System objects. A probe fitted with Akiva counters and measuring instruments were later launched to confirm these findings.

«BEGIN LOG»

LUCERO: Dr. Portinari, I presume.

PORTINARI: Dr. Lucero.

[LUCERO and PORTINARI shake hands.]

LUCERO: Please, call me Durante.

PORTINARI: I hope I'm not too late for the big event?

LUCERO: You're just in time. The probe is fast approaching the planet.

[LUCERO leads PORTINARI into the mission control centre full of Stellar Affairs personnel intently watching a central screen from their workstations. Large video feeds readout satellite telemetry, onboard systems statuses, and a projection of trajectory of the probe on its way to Mars.]

PORTINARI: Is working in Stellar Affairs always this exciting?

LUCERO: Indeed, Doctor. Everyone has been really looking forward to seeing what this flyby will tell us.

PORTINARI: You can drop the formalities, Dante. [She smiles.] Bea is fine.

LUCERO: Oh I, uh. I— Um. O-okay, Bea.

[WEI coughs.]

WEI: Entering Martian gravity well in 5… 4… 3…

[All screens in the room displaying satellite information go blank before WEI can finish his countdown. A hushed panic proliferates within the room as papers start ruffling and keyboard clacks fire off.]

LUCERO: What just happened? Where's our feed?

WEI: Fuck. We've lost contact with the probe. Give us a second to review the telemetry log.

[LUCERO brings his fist down on the table in front of him.]

LUCERO: I swear to god, if this is that "Mars Curse" time portal bullshit again I'm going to—

PORTINARI: Patience, Dante. We don't know that yet.

[LUCERO turns to PORTINARI as he prepares to retort, but swallows whatever he was going to say. He sighs.]

LUCERO: Just— please give me some good news, Wei.

WEI: I'm an engineer, not a miracle worker. What, you think I can MacGuyver a probe into pinging us without a commlink?

[All blank screens abruptly return to normal. It becomes clear that the probe has resumed transmission.]

WEI: Well.

PORTINARI: Wei, do we know what happened?

WEI: One second.

[A waving Stellar Affairs researcher catches WEI's attention, signalling for him to check his console. WEI leans in to read from his screen.]

WEI: "Critical component failure in the demonics detection suite redundancy". Took out the main commlink and some backup systems. It won't be able to receive any further commands.

LUCERO: But the demonics suite… It's an internal system, isn't it? Buried under shielding? it shouldn't be vulnerable to space debris impacts.

PORTINARI: No, no it's— it's not an impact. The demonics suite is internal, yes, but it is also passive. Reacts adversely under sufficient Akiva radiation, akin to an exorcism. You don't need too much to trigger it, hence it being a redundancy, but this looks more like it blew up…

LUCERO: There's definitely something out there, then. Is the main detector still intact, Wei?

WEI: Mostly. We'll get results in a second or two. I've been rerouting power to it while you two were talking.

LUCERO: Much obliged, Wei. This is exactly why I handpicked you for Chief Engineer.

[A new window appears on the control centre screens. It depicts Akiva radiation measurements, representing it as red line growing exponentially the second the probe crossed into the Martian gravity well. The room erupts into tempered conversations of awe and disbelief at these results.]

PORTINARI: I… I need to make some calls.

LUCERO: Then… the Babylonians were right.

[The screen readout of Akiva measurements continues. The room has grown quieter, with unease regarding the growth of the red line. It has not stopped rising.]

LUCERO: Mars is a god.

«END LOG»

Excerpt from speech by Project Head Dr. Durante Lucero
Proceedings of the Selva Oscura Initiative, 1994 Annual Review

Names have power.

When we were still carving stone tools and staining handprints into cave walls in prehistoric Eurasia, we did not dare to speak the name of a certain apex predator, for fear it would be taken as an invitation. We no longer remember that animal by any name other than the taboo ascribed to it. It has become the taboo. Consensus reality stitches itself into the fabric our voices weave together.

"As below, so above."

Such was our line of thought when we discovered that almost every celestial body in the Solar System emits absurd amounts of Akiva radiation. Perhaps, after millennia upon millennia of worshipping those celestial wanderers in the night sky, should we not be so surprised to find that they cast the shadows of gods?

Of course, there are several methods of apotheosis. Rituals and such exist, as excessively demanding as they usually are. Consistent worship over generations is also a straightforward and fairly common catalyst to divinity, but both are insignificant on such a grand scale. You see, people tend to overlook the oldest form. That is, to simply be.

The crux is to be so formidable, so undeniable, so… real. To enforce your existence, persistently, unyielding. And with enough time a rock may yet be indistinguishable from God.

Alas, this presents a font of misconception for those of you who are unacquainted with matters of theology. The planets are not gods, for the flavour of their apotheosis is aimless. Devoid of ego. Mere vessels full to the brim, overflowing with divinity. Divinity not attributed to a worshipped deity, but chunks of rock and gas so massive and dense and violent and burnt and battered that an aspect of faith spontaneously emerges from absolutely nothing.

When I first proposed the Selva Oscura Initiative, it was in pursuit of a dream that one day we might find another star system out there, shimmering with characteristic Akiva flux from the reverence of alien deities. To see with our own eyes how the nature of belief might differ across time and space. What luck have we, to find them in our very own backyard, watching over us in the night sky. What wealth of knowledge we might extract from them. What dreams we can bestow upon them.

What wonders we might mold in our image.

INCIDENT LOG
MONITORING-ASPECT: RASHITH HA-GILGALIM
LOCATION: N/A
RESPONSE LEVEL: NEGLIGIBLE

Minor but statistically significant spectral distortions are detected in cosmic microwave background radiation observations. Over the course of several months, Foundation correlation algorithms flagged these distortions as consistent with the latent Humic fluctuations in the radiance of a singular theological entity, and may be detected from all directions within the observation range of the Selva Oscura array.

Notably, these distortions are only visible from within the Solar System — observations made by Foundation deep space probes in interstellar space do not corroborate these findings.

This one stumps me completely. I have no idea what this could possibly be. I'm currently liaising with the dark matter experts within Stellar Affairs to see if this might be of help to them.

No further action needed.

— Director Lucero

False colour image of Vega, cognitohazard markers filtered.

INCIDENT LOG
MONITORING-ASPECT: MAZLOTH
LOCATION: N/A
RESPONSE LEVEL: LOW

Trivial cognitohazard flagged during routine astronomical survey, traced to the approximate positions of Alpha Centauri, Arcturus, Canopus, Sirius, and Vega. Analysis of non-insignificant markers indicate similarities to scopaesthetic and sight-parity cognitohazards. SelvOs observation of these objects indicate significant discrepancies between their theological signature and that of the Sun.

Proposals to develop countersigil for inoculation currently under consideration, but considered to be low priority.

I remember laying down in the garden in my home as a child, watching the night skies. My father and uncle introduced me to the brightest stars, separate from the planets brighter still. And how far away they were, for the starlight we see to predate humanity by several orders of magnitude.

And yet, there was always something about how they twinkled in the sky. Like they were looking back at me across time and space as I waved hello to them.

Perhaps this is their way of waving back.

— Director Lucero

INCIDENT LOG
MONITORING-ASPECT: SHABBATHAI
LOCATION: SITE KRONOS-1, POLAR SATURNIAN ORBIT
RESPONSE LEVEL: LOW

Unexpected kickback in Site Kronos-1 Prometheus Engine overloaded all built-in dampeners during initial start-up sequence. Overflow successfully redistributed across site-wide grounding infrastructure. Despite data server insulation from aforementioned infrastructure, technicians reported appearance of large discrete data packets.

After sufficient analysis, packets were found to encompass schematics for a significantly more efficient Prometheus Engine design, extensive meteorological forecasts for Saturn's upper atmosphere over the next 4 months, and a special containment procedures draft proposal for a Keter-class anomaly not presently known to the Foundation.

It's bloody genius, is what it is.

Make no mistake, our latest Prometheus Engine designs are the product of the best minds in Engineering and the other two departments, but arriving at a final product we could all accept was nothing short of a nightmare. We're engineers, not miracle workers. We've done jobs for Tactheo and Stellaf,³ sure, but those were one-on-one. A singular point of contact. Only one set of schematics that we have to bend the laws of physics for.

We received no less than 50 revisions in total for the Prometheus Engine, each iteration scaled down further and further in a back-and-forth game of passive-aggressive placation between Tactheo and Stellaf until a compromise could be attained between what would be ritually feasible, and what would hold together in the extreme conditions of outer space. And then we engineers had to water the damn thing down into something we could actually build.

So we build a few engines and send them off into space. There we were, patting ourselves on the back for a job well done, and then we get word from the last station to turn on their engine that a better design was achieved. It's not even a new system, this thing had the existing schematics integrated into the core, and somehow ticked every box the other departments wanted.

Bea and Dante are going to be chuffed to bits with this one.

— Chief Engineer Wei

INCIDENT LOG
MONITORING-ASPECT: TZEDEQ
LOCATION: SITE MARDUK-1, HIGH JOVIAN ORBIT
RESPONSE LEVEL: LOW

Site Marduk-1 Prometheus Engine spontaneously acquired minor ectoentropic properties within the first quarter of operation since installation within orbit around Jupiter, wherein the contents of a single coolant loop was found to have been transmuted into wine.

Attempts to fully drain and repair the coolant loop led to rapid replenishment with alternative vintages. The coolant loop has since been successfully repurposed for recreational use by onsite personnel.

Nothing wrong with a bit of vice every now and then. Consider it an employee benefit for Site Marduk. No further action needed.

Which does remind me, I should probably get some wine myself for that appointment with Bea next week.

— Director Lucero

INCIDENT LOG
MONITORING-ASPECT: NOGAH
LOCATION: SITE ANAHITA, VENUSIAN ORBIT/ATMOSPHERE/SURFACE
RESPONSE LEVEL: MEDIUM

Multiple reports of unprofessional conduct perpetuated by Site Anahita personnel have been received, the majority of which involve personnel attached to long term onsite projects, and range from allegations of corruption, nepotism, and sexual misdemeanours. Due to reported behaviours deviating significantly from prior personnel reviews, behavioural histories, and psychological profiles, it is believed that an unidentified anomalous phenomenon is currently active across all Site Anahita facilities.

Additionally, psychically sensitive members of Site Anahita's staff pool report recurring nightmares following a common theme. Attached is a testimony of one such individual:

«BEGIN LOG»

FULK: Yes, that's right. Abrahamics Division. Posted to Site Anahita-1 as part of the first Project Paradiso wave. Now, I'm familiar with the reputation that Site Anahita has with… unsavoury behaviour, but that's not what my report is about.

FULK: I have nightmares. Every other week I dream that I'm alone in the station. I try to find my way to the command centre to call for someone, anyone, to come collect me. I have this implicit awareness that my personal comms and all the terminals I can access won't work, it has to be this one terminal interface setup mechanism thing in the command centre.

FULK: I know my way around the station in my waking hours, but in the dream it devolves into a labyrinth. I can see Venus in every window, panel, and display. I walk deeper into the station, descending, even. And I will notice that the walls begin to bear markings and sigils of a dark red substance, but I know that it is not blood. They increase in number and size and complexity that by the time I reach the command centre entrance, everything within my vision is red. Then I awaken, never having entered the command centre.

FULK: I will tell you now that I've tried recording these sigils upon waking up, but I can never quite remember what they looked like. All I can tell you is that seeing those markings gives me the same gut feeling as when I look at Tartarean iconography.

FULK: My gut tells me there is something else going on with Site Anahita. Something unholy.

«END LOG»

AFTERWORD: Follow-up investigations conducted by Department of Tactical Theology specialists found no presence of Tartarean influence nor activity in either Site Anahita facilities or Res. Fulk. Their request for transfer back to Site-89 has been approved by Director Portinari.

While I can sympathize with personnel feeling lonely or homesick on Paradiso Sites, there are bridges that should remain uncrossed in professional settings. It's still a Foundation research facility after all.

We've had to overhaul the staff structure of Site Anahita to root out any problematic staff members. They're all undergoing disciplinary hearings back on Earth. In the interest of preventing this from happening again in any Paradiso Site, we've implemented regular inspections by the Project's management.

— Director Portinari

INCIDENT LOG
MONITORING-ASPECT: KOKAD
LOCATION: SITE WOTAN, MERCURIAN SURFACE/SUBSURFACE
RESPONSE LEVEL: MEDIUM

Multiple reports are received regarding interfacility disputes over esoteric waste rights; specifically, over which Site Wotan facility would get first pick over inbound shipments. Notably, this is incongruent with Site Wotan waste management protocols, as devised by the Department of Acroamatic Abatement, since no "first pick" policy exists. Furthermore, all facilities already had existing stockpiles of unprocessed waste within expectation.

A Site-wide response was issued to announce that no such policy would be introduced, in addition to a reminder of proper protocol and conduct. A reprimand to Site Wotan Directors who had exhibited unprofessional behaviour regarding the matter was also submitted. This was met with resistance from the aforementioned Directors, who were later taken into custody off-planet for suspected anomalous influence.

Shipment of esoteric waste to Site Wotan has been suspended until further notice.

Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. First Site Anahita, and now everyone at Site Wotan is going crazy. I know these people. I handpicked them to oversee Site Wotan, but I look them in the eyes now and I see a fire that wasn't there before.

I've seen Akiva poisoning before, and this isn't that. Something else is at work here. I just know it.

— Director Lucero

INCIDENT LOG
MONITORING-ASPECT: SHABBATHAI
LOCATION: SATURNIAN ORBIT/ATMOSPHERE
RESPONSE LEVEL: HIGH

On September 15th, 2017, the Cassini spacecraft was deliberately plunged into the Saturnian atmosphere by NASA with routine Foundation supervision, as part of a planned decommissioning process that was reviewed and approved by the Department of Stellar Affairs.

Shortly thereafter, a sharp increase in Akivic emission was detected throughout all Site Kronos facilities, overloading all systems connected to their Prometheus Engines. It is expected that redundancy and backup protocols have been initiated to restore critical systems to operational status.

Communication with Site Kronos has yet to be restored at this time.

Proceedings of Project Paradiso, 2016 Emergency Meeting
Partially redacted under orders of the Office of the Overseer

«BEGIN LOG»

PORTINARI: With all due respect ma'am, we had prepared for a certain degree of Akiva fluctuation from the Cassini retirement, but what we've been seeing is far more potent. Under other circumstances, this would have been a fully-fledged apotheosis. We have never observed a deific entity apotheosize from an extant godform. Some of us are arguing over whether SCP-9911-♄ was ever one to begin with.

███████: [REDACTED]

O5-██: [REDACTED]

PORTINARI: Director Lucero is presently en route back from Site Wotan following his inspection. Additionally, theological matters such as the events we are currently seeing are well within my purview. May I continue, or should we spend precious time waiting for my counterpart to return?

O5-██: [REDACTED]

PORTINARI: Thank you. Dr. Damian has proposed the Cassini probe impact as the impetus for what we are currently seeing. Space junk falls to the gas giants all the time. This is unavoidable, but raises no theological issue in the long term. Cassini, however, was subject to international attention, and consequently the adoration of millions for the simple reason that it had reached the end of its mission.

PORTINARI: I'm sure some of you are familiar with the concept of divine offerings. When presenting an offering to a deity, considerations must be made to ensure that the offering in question is worthy for said deity. It must have value, or it becomes little more than a dud. This value may be monetary or materialistic, but the strongest value you can confer to an offering is emotional. This threshold is when an offering becomes a sacrifice.

PORTINARI: In short, we sacrificed Cassini to SCP-9911-♄.

[Quiet murmuring on recording.]

O5-██: [REDACTED]

PORTINARI: No. The planet itself is not SCP-9911-♄. It is an individual SCP-9911 entity, a godform that has permeated the entirety of Saturn like a glove enveloping a hand.

PORTINARI: We have never made a pact with any SCP-9911 entity. Never even interacted with them as we would conventional deities. Much like we've never had to ask the Sun to let us bask in its warmth, or for the air to let us draw breath. Even if we had not intended it, Cassini seems to have been accepted as an offering by SCP-9911-♄.

O5-██: [REDACTED]

PORTINARI: We don't know what the terms of this pact are. There has been no prior communication regarding this.

███████: [REDACTED]

PORTINARI: Our Chief Engineer was at Site Kronos for routine inspections. If there's anyone who can restore communications there, it's him.

O5-██: [REDACTED]

PORTINARI: Yes, we can expect a report from Site Kronos by the end of the day. We intend to formulate a response based on the information we learn from it.

«END LOG»

«BEGIN TRANSMISSION»

WEI: This is Chief Engineer Wei, transmitting from Site Kronos-2.

WEI: Status report… We've lost about a quarter of our personnel. They're not dead, no, but they're in some sort of trance. Blank faces but constantly muttering things. We tried to screen for possible causes, but given that most of the personnel affected by this condition were directed to investigate it to begin with, Site administration has decided we're better off not finding out.

WEI: We've barricaded them in the lab modules for now. Sealed the vents in case it's infectious. I don't think there's anything more we can do at this time. Something went wrong with the evacuation, possibly connected to SCP-9911-♄ but we're unsure. We're stuck on this station. This transmission will reach you in over an hour, and by then… Well, who knows? We certainly don't.

WEI: I suppose the only thing I can do now is provide you lot with information as it happens. We know that whatever's happening does not involve our immediate obliteration. Life support is running just fine, and station has been holding together, structurally speaking. Lost contact with Kronos-1, though. Feel something in the air, too. Just a feeling.

WEI: Let's see, uh…

WEI: We know that SCP-9911-♄ is not malicious in nature. If anything, everything it's done so far has been in the interest of Project Paradiso and the Foundation in general.

WEI: We know that a brain is growing in the server room and has firmly rooted itself into our archives. Check the surveillance feed if you don't believe me.

WEI: We know that the Prometheus Engine is operating at 1,578% efficiency. Which is a record that we would have held a celebration for.

WEI: We know that the 409 septillionth digit in pi is 1. Just thought you should know.

WEI: We know that the pipes in Site-19 use HP/NSF-1810-90 rated sealants.

WEI: We know that a cascade awakening event is inevitable.

WEI: We know that there are 361,584 live monarch butterflies currently in existence.

WEI: We know that the benign tumour in Res. Benedict's stomach will become malignant in 21 years and 175 days.

WEI: We know that Sauelsuesor is hailing you for communication.

WEI: We know that an asteroid 3 millimetres in diameter has just burned up in the Saturnian atmosphere.

WEI: We know that the genetic code of the 10th chromosome for an individual blue whale currently in the South Pacific Ocean is AGG ACT TCC AGT ACA ACG TGG GCA TGA TGT GGT GGA T—

«END TRANSMISSION»

Attachment: Archive, Supplementary Log
Source: Project Paradiso, Oct 2017

«BEGIN LOG»

LUCERO: Hollow divinities, I said. Empty of desire and direction.

PORTINARI: An apotheosis can bring many changes, Dante.

LUCERO: Undoubtedly so, but it literally had the intelligence of a rock even as a godform.

PORTINARI: This is untrodden territory for Tactical Theology as well.

LUCERO: For something so disordered and chaotic, yet absent of complexity within that could possibly ever evoke independent thought… And yet we made a pact with it? So what were all those minor miracles before? Freebies?

[PORTINARI shrugs.]

[LUCERO nervously snaps his fingers.]

LUCERO: You mentioned the uhh… what was it— Cassini. The Cassini probe. That was the explanation that you presented to the O5, yes? It does have a basis, right?

PORTINARI: The Cassini probe retirement is currently the leading theory that we are working with, yes. The theory has credence.

[Silence]

LUCERO: But it can't just be Cassini, can it? All that emotional value placed upon the probe — that was just a last-minute bandwagon. A trend. Eclipsed even in great numbers by what value was conferred unto it by the people that made and launched the craft. Those who worked on and with the probe. If that was all it took, any old scrap of space junk could've done the job.

PORTINARI: What are you suggesting?

LUCERO: The current Prometheus Engine design from Site Kronos. All our prior limitations, incapacities, forced compromises, butterflied away in a miracle. What if the entity in Saturn added something else?

LUCERO: An interface. A catalyst. Something that divinity might latch onto, a nucleation point for it to crystallize into something else. And we made sure every single Engine got the upgrade.

PORTINARI: As far as we're aware, no such component exists. It would not have been something either of our Departments desired, so why would the entity include it in its designs to begin with? Not to mention that Wei would've definitely noticed it…

[Brief silence.]

LUCERO: Stranger things have happened. We need to consider all possibilities.

PORTINARI: Hmm. Nucleation points need not be physical for a theological entity to develop.

LUCERO: As in, apotheosis?

PORTINARI: At its climax, yes. Worship is a reciprocal action. There is an intrinsic exchange of ideas and concepts, regardless of underlying intent. Both parties confer expectations and obligations unto each other all the same.

LUCERO: We worship, they provide. I suppose in that sense, the Cassini theory seems the most likely explanation… But I must confess that it troubles me for a single event to have precipitated all of this.

PORTINARI: Unless the nucleation point isn't worship or sacrifice. It's expectation.

LUCERO: Expectation? Whose?

PORTINARI: Everyone who sent their thoughts and thanks to Cassini. Those who acknowledged that it fulfilled its duty to provide us with knowledge in its final moments. Just as SCP-9911-♄ had done so far. It wasn't just sacrifice, we raised the level of obligation. Cassini was a signal that we wanted more.

LUCERO: Right but that— that's not worship. People worldwide didn't just suddenly drop to their knees and sung Saturn's praises.

PORTINARI: They may not have had to. We've been worshipping Saturn in some form or another since the Stone Age.

LUCERO: So what, it's tapping into a reserve of prayer?

PORTINARI: In a sense. As you said, SCP-9911-♄ is— was an aimless existence. All that faith coming in with no real outlet to speak of.

LUCERO: Until Site Kronos.

PORTINARI: Yes. Even then, it had to know what we wanted in order to grant us dominion over its powers, in the absence of fresh prayer. I don't know if it was Cassini, or simply Site Kronos itself, but some way, somehow our cultural tapestries were laid bare. Our idea of what kind of god it was supposed to be. Mythologies that conferred sight. Temperament. Agency.

LUCERO: Everything it needed to become a fully fledged god. Myth made real.

[Silence]

LUCERO: Wei said there would be a cascade awakening event. Are we to conclude that the other planets are turning into our gods as we speak?

PORTINARI: Unfortunately so. Others in Tactical Theology are likely reaching the same conclusion as I have.

LUCERO: Then we must prepare a response, we— we have to evacuate the Paradiso Sites before it's too late.

[PORTINARI shakes her head.]

PORTINARI: That window of opportunity has already come to pass.

LUCERO: You don't know that. You can't know that.

PORTINARI: I will convene with my colleagues to discuss theological countermeasures. I leave the rest to your judgement.

«END LOG»

INCIDENT LOG
MONITORING-ASPECT: SHEMESH
LOCATION: SOUTH POLE, SOLAR PHOTOSPHERE
RESPONSE LEVEL: HIGH

SCP-179 manifests a fourth arm, which is raised in the direction of the Saturnian system. The motion is accompanied by an unidentified gesture, following which the lowest symbol present on its body is transformed into a novel non-trivial cognitohazard. 14 personnel recorded to be in critical condition after accidental exposure while monitoring SCP-179.

Shortly after, SCP-179 slowly moves its fourth arm towards the Jovian system. A fifth arm is manifested before it settles into position, pointing towards Mars. Evacuation orders were issued by Director Portinari across all offworld Foundation facilities shortly after. No transmissions have been received from SCP-179.

INCIDENT LOG
MONITORING-ASPECT: MADIM
LOCATION: SITE ARES, MARTIAN SURFACE/SUBSURFACE
RESPONSE LEVEL: CRITICAL

Disruptions were experienced during the evacuation of Site Ares facilities, despite widespread familiarity among personnel with proper evacuation protocol and conduct. Attached is a video log from Site Ares-5, the events within which were also observed throughout all Site Ares facilities.

Video Log, Evacuation Bay Gamma

«BEGIN LOG»

14:40:36: Personnel are directed towards the last remaining evacuation shuttle in an orderly line, per boarding protocol. The camera faces the bay doors, and individuals in the line are only identifiable by the back of their heads.

14:41:05: Automated systems failure detected, manual failsafe initiated in the form of a sliding terminal ejected from the side of the evacuation bay door. A pre-designated technician, a Tech. MacCabe, moves out from the line to operate it.

14:41:52: Concerns over the delay in evacuation bay door operation are expressed by individuals in the line. Tech. MacCabe continues operating failsafe terminal, but with increased annoyance as the screen continues to flash red in his face.

14:42:18: In an attempt to get a better view of the front of the line, an unidentified individual accidentally steps on the heel of the person in front of them. The person in front, a Dr. Renouard, responds by shoving the offending individual. This knocks over the next two people further behind.

14:42:30: Dr. Renouard is slapped in the face. She returns the slap to her opponent, who is identified as Sr. Res. Roland, as his face recoils towards the camera. Dr. Renouard then kicks Sr. Res. Roland into the line of people behind him.

14:42:49: Sr. Res. Roland's attention is now divided between Dr. Renouard, who has begun punching him, and the people he fell back against. The brawl grows as more people in the line are dragged into the altercation.

14:44:22: The line has disintegrated into personnel attacking each other with bare fists and personal implements, while its former peripherals crowd around to spectate. Stop orders are barked from security personnel offscreen.

14:44:31: Offscreen security personnel open fire on the brawling personnel, who recoil in pain but continue their scuffle.

14:44:38: Pooling of blood on the floor indicates the use of live ammunition by security personnel in a display of excessive force. Most brawling personnel have been incapacitated at this point, writhing on the floor while bleeding out. Security personnel have not yet ceased fire.

14:44:43: All personnel formerly in the evacuation line have now been incapacitated, including bystanders and Tech. MacCabe. Security personnel cease fire. The bay doors remain closed.

14:44:46: Gunfire resumes. No changes observed within view of camera. Despite heavy injuries and severe exsanguination, all personnel within view show signs of vitality. Intermittent explosions are noted by their loud blasts and shaking of the camera.

14:47:27: Sounds of gunfire slowly subside. An individual Site Ares-5 security officer steps into the frame, clutching her pistol sidearm with a trembling left hand; her right arm has been blown off at the elbow. Partially facing the camera, she is identified as Lt. Karlin. Her eyes are heavily bloodshot.

14:47:34: Lt. Karlin surveys her surroundings, resting a foot atop an immobilized individual. Blood begins rising from the ground in droplets, coalescing into a swirling ring above Lt. Karlin.

14:47:46: The ring of blood crystallizes into a crimson wreath, which falls atop Lt. Karlin's head. Her arm begins rapidly regenerating, as do the injuries of everyone around her.

14:53:25: Lt. Karlin's injuries have fully healed. Those who had sustained fewer injuries in the earlier firefight have healed just enough to ambulate, but not completely. They proceed to kneel before Lt. Karlin, while those writhing on the floor attempt to reach out to her with their hands or regenerating stumps. A spear forms within the grip of her virgin right hand, as blood streams from the floor and hardens into the weapon.

14:53:27: A red light flashes from Lt. Karlin's head as she hurls the spear in the direction of the camera.

«END LOG»

Attachment: Archive, Supplementary Log
Source: Project Paradiso, Oct 2017

«BEGIN LOG»

LUCERO: Okay. Time to rip off the bandaid. Dr. Estaço?

ESTAÇO: Yes, uh, Director Lucero. We've prepared evacuation reports from all Paradiso facilities. These are for the outer planets.

[ESTAÇO places three folders in front of LUCERO, who flips through them carefully.]

[LUCERO removes his glasses and pinches his brow. He sighs.]

LUCERO: So not everyone made it off-world.

ESTAÇO: Site Kronos… I won't repeat what you already know. However, Site Marduk and Ares managed to launch the majority of their evacuation shuttles. The remainder of their shuttles all had some form of complication that prevented their departure, and in some cases, their access.

LUCERO: The work of SCP-9911, no doubt.

ESTAÇO: And these are for the inner two planets.

[ESTAÇO places another two folders. They are comparatively thinner.]

LUCERO: This… No shuttles.

ESTAÇO: No shuttles. They never left.

LUCERO: Bea was right. We were too late.

[PORTINARI enters LUCERO's office. She shoots a look at ESTAÇO, who quietly leaves the room.]

PORTINARI: Dante.

LUCERO: Bea. I— It's all over. The O5 are going to have our heads for this. Project Paradiso is—

PORTINARI: Undergoing a change in direction.

LUCERO: What?

PORTINARI: I've worked out an arrangement with the O5, with backing from Tactical Theology. Stellar Affairs and Engineering have already been looped in.

LUCERO: No, Bea— We— we've lost control of every Paradiso Site. Every single one. Ares has destroyed all their comms, Wotan is flooding their channels with declarations of independence, Anahita is— well. We can't see what's going on there but it sounds very wet. It doesn't matter what the O5 say: there's nothing we can do for the Project anymore.

[PORTINARI smiles and shakes her head.]

PORTINARI: Moving forward, Project Paradiso will no longer be focused on its former facilities. Its purpose will be the repulsion of SCP-9911's influence on humanity on Earth, and ultimately the suppression of the entities themselves.

LUCERO: But the personnel on— I— Why wasn't I consulted on this?

PORTINARI: No need to worry, Dante. Your place in the Project remains untouched. We still need the expertise of the Department of Stellar Affairs.

LUCERO: That's not what I meant. What about Wei?

PORTINARI: I miss him as much as you do, but you of all people should know that getting him back isn't that simple.

LUCERO: Project Paradiso failed. By all measures we should have already been thrown into a disciplinary hearing, and now you're saying the Project is being rehashed and they still want us at the helm?

PORTINARI: Time is of the essence, Dante. We fucked up. What we need to do now is to be proactive in our attempts to fix it, instead of waiting for someone else to step in and mop up our spilled milk. We do not have the time to cry over it.

LUCERO: Fine.

PORTINARI: The particulars should have already been sent to your inbox. Please look over them as soon as possible.

[PORTINARI leaves the room.]

[Silence. LUCERO abruptly slams the table, cursing under his breath.]

«END LOG»

Attachment: Archive, Supplementary Log
Source: Project Paradiso, Nov 2017

«BEGIN LOG»

PORTINARI: I should elaborate on the influence I mentioned. Tactical Theology has confirmed that SCP-9911 entities are attempting to propagate worship of their respective planets via line-of-sight principles. Edge cases, at the moment, but the evidence is irrefutable. It will only get worse and more frequent as the SCP-9911 entities grow accustomed to their full godforms. As I understand it, new containment procedures are being drawn up as we speak.

LUCERO: Line-of-sight principles, that's— How are we going to block planetlight? Are we blocking the sky?

[PORTINARI does not respond.]

LUCERO: Of course we are.

PORTINARI: Not physically, of course. Light and air pollution will serve our purposes well. Those that slip through the cracks, well. We'll handle those the old fashioned way.

LUCERO: Hmph. Define suppression of SCP-9911 entities. We're talking about entire planets here, built atop millennia of worship and ex-nihilo divinity.

PORTINARI: Indeed. These are hostile forces on the peripherals of our world, but that is the limit of their physical encroachment. They are bound by gravity, stronger and older than the identities we have given them. Identities that could, in theory, be swayed to something more docile and agreeable, but it would simply take too long to undo the prayer of our ancestors.

PORTINARI: So we looked for something that was always seen as something protective, a guardian, yet not so deeply intertwined with ancient faith that any deviation would be impossible in the short term.

[PORTINARI hands a folder to LUCERO. His eyes widen.]

PORTINARI: Fighting fire with fire.

LUCERO: I wasn't aware this was also under Paradiso jurisdiction.

PORTINARI: It wasn't. We didn't even know it was an instance of SCP-9911 until after Cassini.

LUCERO: What did you say to the O5 to convince them to give us authority on this? For all of this?

PORTINARI: That the SCP-9911 entities were gods. And at the end of the day, what's a god to the Department of Tactical Theology?

«END LOG»

IAU NOMENCLATURE: ALPHA LYRAE
RESPONSE LEVEL: LOW
MARKS: Upon the formation of a covenant, subjects report seeing a red line, thread, or arrow pointing them in an arbitrary direction that they believe to be the position of their "fated love". Out of desperation, curiosity, or some degree of compulsive effect, subjects will invariably end up attempting to follow their hallucinations and find their supposed partner, regardless of existing relationships. Unless physically restrained or otherwise subjected to theocatharsis, subjects affected by SCP-9911-Lyr-α will ultimately disappear entirely.

IAU NOMENCLATURE: ALPHA CANIS MAJORIS
RESPONSE LEVEL: MEDIUM
MARKS: Three stages of SCP-9911-CMa-α theomorphy have been identified at this time. Covenants with the godform in Sirius may be identified in its initial stage, characterized as the sudden onset of an unexplainable fever in afflicted subjects. Due to the ambiguity of these symptoms, most subjects will progress to the 2nd stage, wherein they will begin to hallucinate being able to communicate with all canine animals. Identification is trivial, and theocatharsis may be safely initiated at a neutral sanctum.

The existence of a 3rd and final stage has been inferred from the behaviour and activities of afflicted subjects. Progression to this 3rd stage requires active worship of SCP-9911-CMa-α, primarily through a series of rites and offerings. During this process, subjects exhibit more animalistic temperaments and physical changes, such as longer teeth and hypertrichosis. Due to timely Foundation intervention, no attempt at fully achieving the 3rd stage has ever been successful.

IAU NOMENCLATURE: MESSIER 45
RESPONSE LEVEL: HIGH
MARKS: When all seven constituent parts of SCP-9911-M45 are viewed by an uninoculated observer, they will rapidly undergo psychological heptafurcation and subsequent cortical remapping. This results in the individual becoming a collection of independent consciousnesses inhabiting the same corpus, but controlling only a seventh of its vertical anatomical plane.

Afflicted subjects invariably become panicked and attempt to separate themselves from each other, which is achieved by each seventh ripping itself off from an anomalously weakened body matrix. However, upon successful detachment, the seventh will rapidly regenerate the rest of the body, along with copies of the other six sevenths. This process continues until all sevenths are terminated by total obliteration of their brain matter.

Attachment: Archive, Supplementary Log
Source: Project Paradiso

«BEGIN LOG»

PORTINARI: Dante. How have you been holding up?

LUCERO: I've uh— We've been preoccupied with categorizing every star that might be an SCP-9911 instance. Stellar Affairs, that is. You know what I mean.

PORTINARI: I know. We both have access to the same reports. [PORTINARI pauses.] I want to know how Director Lucero is doing.

[PORTINARI reaches for LUCERO's hand. He barely reacts.]

LUCERO: Bea. Stellar Affairs had to review all of its operations to avoid risking accidental SCP-9911 contamination. As astronomers, we're the first line against this shit. Stuck in a hole that we— that I dug and we aren't even allowed to look up to see how far down we are.

[LUCERO looks up towards PORTINARI, dark circles under his tired eyes.]

LUCERO: These are stars we can never look at again.

PORTINARI: Dante…

[PORTINARI leans in to hug LUCERO. He does not resist, but he does no fully reciprocate the action.]

PORTINARI: This won't be permanent. That's why we still have Project Paradiso. We're going to figure this out, Dante. Okay?

[LUCERO looks away. He does not respond.]

«END LOG»

Z-A-P-H-K-I-E-L

Formal Designation: SCP-9911-♄
Monitoring Aspect: SHABBATHAI
Temperament: PHLEGMATIC
Disposition: BENIGN

Site Kronos has maintained a steady transmission program, comprising of a series of fragmented high-density data packets every few days. The vast majority of these packets contain information that the Foundation has deemed low value; of the data packets received and successfully reconstructed:
• 65% of all bytes were dedicated to trivial numerical expressions with decimal places ranging from the 5th to ~7 millionth degrees.
• 24% constituted probabilistic outcomes that depended on physically impossible or highly unlikely conditions; none of which have successfully come to pass.
• 8% are comprised of digitized fragmentary documents, most of which contain the contents of office wastepaper and receipts.
• ~3% is a constant broadcast of random words and sentences, periodically switching to various languages, including but not limited to Persian, Xhosa, and Chuvash.
• 0.0003% were successfully applied to random containment efforts across the Foundation, in the form of containment procedure revisions and research data on contained anomalies.

Access to Site Kronos surveillance camera feeds has not been disrupted, although all footage has been subject to significant degradation by the influence of SCP-9911-♄, being laced with apparent data packet encoding. Preliminary attempts to reconstruct an internal view of Site Kronos-1 reveal the widespread growth of neural tissue throughout all levels of the station, presumably originating from the onsite personnel, which have been found embedded into these growths.

All personnel have also exhibited signs of extreme cranial deformation, expansion of the brain, and partial exencephaly through both extant and novel facial cavities. Through extensive surveillance and reconstructed audio recordings, it is believed that all personnel visible through these cameras are alive and fully conscious. These findings are consistent with the final stages of theometamorphosis in SCP-9911-♄ covenantbearers.

All personnel stationed at Site Kronos facilities have been designated as irretrievable.

Z-A-D-K-I-E-L

Formal Designation: SCP-9911-♃
Monitoring Aspect: TZEDEQ
Temperament: SANGUINE
Disposition: DISCERNING

Among all offworld sites, Site Marduk is the only one where access to cameras and onsite infrastructure has not been irreversibly severed. Consequently, the progression of SCP-9911-♃'s influence is well documented across the Site Marduk facilities. Veneration of the Jovian godform is centered in the facility cafeterias, where continuous banquets have been held since the apotheosis of Jupiter.

Site Marduk-1, High Jovian Orbit

Facility personnel have assembled in the cafeteria, where the tables have been joined together and chairs taken from other rooms to comfortably seat all of them. Glasses of wine and a variety of dishes from the cafeteria menu on that day are present. All personnel offer a prayer to SCP-9911-♃ before partaking in the contents of the table. This ritual is repeated three times per station lightcycle for two hours; the remainder of time is spent by personnel engaging in recreational activities. Attempts to establish communication with personnel during these periods have been consistently ignored.

Site Marduk-3, Ganymede

Minor spatial distortion observed in site cafeteria, elongating it lengthwise by several meters to make room for a longer banquet table, which has transmuted from multiple metal units to a single long mahogany table. Fresh fruit, elaborate pies and pastries, a variety of meat dishes, fresh seafood, and entire roast animals are visible on the table. Upon the emptying of a dish, it vanishes and is replaced with another full plate of food.

Each individual possesses no less than 3 glasses for wine, mead, or other alcohols, which also gradually replenish themselves. The ritual-recreation cycle is not adhered to, though individuals have been noted to offer prayers on their own accord at a similar frequency. Most individuals do not choose to leave the cafeteria either, spending their time socializing and playing party games at the table.

Site Marduk-4, Europa

Unidentifiable fruits and plant matter are prevalent in the Site Marduk-4 table spread, along with a series of extravagantly decorated dishes. Whole animal dishes have included alligator, moose, blue whale, and unicorn.⁶ Prayers are performed between bites of food and drink, the latter of which is believed to also include various anomalous recreational drugs.

Certain Site Marduk-4 personnel exhibit numerous physical changes as a result of a sedentary lifestyle and/or continued veneration of SCP-9911-♃, primarily regarding their proportion of body fat and distending of the abdomen to accommodate for the excess amounts of food ingested. Those that do not exclusively consume food at the Site Marduk-4 banquet frequently partake in various esoteric activities that are thought to be recreational in nature, rather than acts of SCP-9911-♃ veneration.⁷

Site Marduk-6, Zeusynchronous Orbit over Great Red Spot

Regardless of original location, all Site Marduk-6 cameras depict the condition of the former site cafeteria, which is believed to have acquired exotic geometric properties as it is now significantly larger than the boundaries of facility. The presence of a ceiling can no longer be confirmed, as it rains alcoholic beverages in several locations of the Site Marduk-6 banquet.

The table spreads of the outer Site Marduk facilities are also ubiquitous, though the arrangement of dishes is centered around live organisms. The most frequently plated live organisms appear to be human beings of unknown identity, in which they are vivisected and picked apart by Site Marduk-6 personnel for consumption. They appear to retain consciousness throughout the entire process, but do not exhibit pain nor resistance. These individuals occasionally utter prayers to SCP-9911-♃, and are rewarded with servings of their own organs. Once the bones are picked clean, they too are anomalously replaced with another individual for further consumption.

All personnel stationed at Site Marduk facilities have been designated as inextricable.

C-A-M-A-E-L

Formal Designation: SCP-9911-♂
Monitoring Aspect: MADIM
Temperament: CHOLERIC
Disposition: MALIGNANT

All communication and access to Site Ares facilities have been lost, almost entirely due to sabotage by Site Ares personnel. Information on the status of Site Ares and the Martian surface have been obtained via autonomous drones or specialized space observatories. Notably, SCP-9911-♂ does not interfere with the arrival of drones, presumably to allow Site Ares personnel the opportunity to form hunting parties and destroy the drones themselves.

Each Site Ares facility appears to operate under the command of a martial leader, most likely selected by combat prowess or tactical skill, and independent of prior job roles. Individual facilities have been known to establish military bases and outposts over large distances from a central base of operations, usually the Site Ares facility itself. Consequently, each facility regularly organizes military operations to raid, destroy, or conquer such installations from rival facilities. This may entail the deployment of small squads of less than ten personnel, or the total mobilization of an entire facility. Confrontations between Site Ares facilities invariably end in the shedding of blood, though no fatalities have ever been recorded.

Such military operations typically see the use of Foundation-issue firearms, with some form of bullet manufacturing capacity being sustained by the Martian Prometheus Engines to supply them. However, various types of traditional iron weapons have become increasingly common as sidearms, which are used in a ritualistic manner while offering an enemy's blood, limbs, or organs as tribute to SCP-9911-♂. Furthermore, a wide variety of military vehicles have been observed during confrontations, such as tanks, artillery, planes, and in one case, replicas of the USS Lexington and HMS Prince of Wales,⁸ with deep gashes tracking their movement across dry Martian soil. The details of their origin and operation remain largely unknown, though SCP-9911-♂ involvement is almost a certainty.

Significant alterations to the Martian atmosphere have been detected, with a gradually thickening composition of gases moving towards an approximate analogue of Earth's atmosphere, though oxygen levels have been recorded to be in excess of nitrogen levels. However, the pressure and temperature on the Martian surface remain outside the range deemed safe for humans to survive without protective equipment. Site Ares personnel appear to ignore this, and travel for extensive periods of time without any protective equipment beyond basic body armour. It is believed that Site Ares personnel bypass this danger via invoking divine protection from SCP-9911-♂, or that they simply endure it until their regenerative properties restore any damage sustained.

Preliminary reports have also suggested the population of individuals on Mars exceeds that of the confirmed number of stranded Site Ares personnel, and has rapidly increased over the past few years. Regardless, the activities of Site Ares personnel, adjusted for growth or otherwise, are unable to account for the appearance of a layer of blood in the deepest depressions at the bottom of the Hellas Planitia basin, which has filled to a depth of approximately 2-3 meters.

All personnel stationed at Site Ares facilities have been designated as irreconcilable.

Attachment: Archive, Supplementary Log
Source: Project Paradiso

«BEGIN LOG»

[LUCERO paces nervously about the empty conference room, muttering inaudibly to himself. PORTINARI enters, closing the door behind her. LUCERO stops to look at her.]

LUCERO: Hey.

PORTINARI: Hey. What did you want to talk about?

LUCERO: I'm— I have a question. About Paradiso. About what we're doing here.

PORTINARI: Well we're… responding to the theological threat posed by the planets? SCP-9911?

LUCERO: No, I know that but— What are we doing?

PORTINARI: Oh, um. [PORTINARI inhales and looks away.]

PORTINARI: Is this about us, or—

LUCERO: Because I have no idea what I'm doing anymore. All I do, all day every day, is review and approve censure and gag orders on internal and civilian academia. Over and over and over again it's the same thing. I can barely understand what my eyes are reading anymore.

PORTINARI: Dante, we've been through this. Everything will make sense if you read the entirety of the emails and briefs, and even then you could always just ask me.

LUCERO: Oh, for god's sake— I am an astrophysicist. I never trained for this— never asked for this. My job is supposed to involve studying outer space and everything in it, anomalous or otherwise. There has to be another solution where we don't have to hide from the heavens.

PORTINARI: Look, I'm sorry but we have to take every precaution we can. We can't afford half-measures.

[LUCERO hangs his head and sighs.]

PORTINARI: I want this all to be over just as much as you do. Believe me.

LUCERO: Bea. Be honest with me. When are we going to kill them?

PORTINARI: …what?

[LUCERO looks back up at PORTINARI.]

LUCERO: SCP-9911! The damned things masquerading as the planets and stars! That's what Tactheo is all about, isn't it!?

PORTINARI: No we— I mean, we've terminate deities before but this— This isn't that simple.

LUCERO: Then… What have you been doing this entire time.

PORTINARI: Really, Dante? I'm dividing my attention between 8 separate suppression proposals, all of which are dependent on radically different theological disciplines and particulars. And then there's the all the meetings I have to attend, progress reviews, feasibility reviews, interdepartmental consultations— My schedule is packed to hell and back, but I bent my back over to make time for you, and I will not have you accuse me of complacency.

[LUCERO stares at PORTINARI.]

PORTINARI: We both have roles to play here, Director Lucero. I suggest you focus on yours.

LUCERO: I see. Excuse me while I go inform Stellar Affairs that we've become a subdivision of Tactheo.

[LUCERO briskly exits the conference room, slamming the door behind him.]

[Brief period of silence.]

[PORTINARI sniffles.]

«END LOG»

H-A-N-I-E-L

Formal Designation: SCP-9911-♀
Monitoring Aspect: NOGAH
Temperament: SANGUINE
Disposition: DOMINEERING

Of all SCP-9911 instances, SCP-9911-♀ has exhibited the most aggressive evangelion, primarily on account of the godform's intrinsic visual magnitude and visibility well into twilight hours.

All Site Anahita facilities have maintained an active transmission of various camera angles of the Site Anahita-4 recreation room, which currently hosts a large writhing mass of amorphous flesh believed to have formerly been the sum total population of Site Anahita. Distinct bodies will periodically reform from the surface of the mass. These bodies will match the last known appearance of Site Anahita personnel, and will proceed to engage in acts of affection with each other in full view of the aforementioned cameras. These actions have ranged from those of romantic and sexual nature, though platonic gestures have been observed with comparable frequency.

Prolonged viewing of these transmissions has been linked to heightened suggestibility, impairment of judgement and inhibition, and ultimately the initiation of a covenant with SCP-9911-♀. Auditory hallucinations have also been reported while viewing these transmissions, ranging from reassuring, soothing, and beckoning messages from a voice of indeterminate gender to deep chanting in Latin.

Notably, bodies will occasionally leave the mass entirely and disappear offscreen into the rest of Site Anahita-4 for several hours, and returning with unknown materials in their possession before reintegrating into the flesh mass. Due to atmospheric insulation, attempts to hack into Site Anahita-4 to investigate these occurrences have been largely unsuccessful. Long-range Akiva flux analysis has, however, identified brief infrequent signatures congruent with those observed in other sites of interest. It is thus believed that SCP-9911-♀ may be convening with other theological entities of similar theonymy.

All personnel stationed at Site Anahita facilities have been designated as irredeemable.

M-I-C-H-A-E-L

Formal Designation: SCP-9911-☿
Monitoring Aspect: KOKAB
Temperament: CHOLERIC
Disposition: ANATHEMA

All 8 Site Wotan facilities appear to have devolved into a collection of no less than 43 distinct factions and self-proclaimed pseudo-feudal political entities, all vying for total control of all facilities on the godform. They each cite a claim to the title of successor of the Foundation, which allegedly legitimises the polity's claim to all anomalous waste on the planet.

Anomalous waste previously transported to Site Wotan for processing and disposal has been converted through unidentified means, most likely theological, into a variety of materials and implements seen scattered across the Mercurian polities. These include more mundane objects such as advanced communications and life support infrastructure, to more exotic instruments such as apparent Prometheus Engines and rudimentary eigenweapons. It is believed that a significant number of new subsurface facilities have been constructed with these objects, or to house them.

Despite the cessation of all communication with Site Wotan that is unrelated to their demands for independence, certain factions have been known to broadcast the condition within the Mercurian facilities as a form of propaganda. Thus it is known that Site Wotan personnel may be killed, but resurrect within 88 days, though none recognize them from their previous life, nor do they themselves remember it.

To achieve unification, SCP-9911-☿ is invoked during state prayer sessions, coronations, and declarations of war. Numerous alliances have been observed between polities, though allegiances rapidly shift. All Site Wotan facilities appear to adhere to a strict code of war, in the interest of precluding the complete destruction of all habitable areas on Mercury and/or its population. As opposed to Martian conditions, warfare on Mercury entails population raids, coup d'états and installation of puppet regimes, and the forced vassalization of smaller facilities by more powerful polities. The average lifespan of a single unified original Site Wotan facility is around 120 days, after which it typically collapses into civil strife among internal factions once again.

All personnel stationed at Site Wotan facilities have been designated as incorrigible.

Attachment: Archive, Supplementary Log
Source: Project Paradiso

«BEGIN LOG»

[LUCERO barges into PORTINARI's office. She looks up from her desk, glaring at LUCERO.]

PORTINARI: What are you doing here?

LUCERO: I figured it out.

PORTINARI: You what?

LUCERO: I have a theoretical solution to fully neutralize SCP-9911. Once I implement it, everything will go back to normal.

PORTINARI: What the hell are you talking about?

LUCERO: At first I thought the solution was to destroy the Paradiso Sites, on the notion that they were what brought about all of this. But then I realized that the current state of the SCP-9911 instances isn't dependent on those facilities nor the Prometheus Engines. What we need, is to tip the balance backwards.

PORTINARI: That's not how this works. You can't delete worship like that. This is literally the 1st law of thermodynamics.

LUCERO: Yes, yes, I know. I'm not interested in that. What I'm proposing, is that we reroute Akiva radiation outflow towards an inert medium. Have it soak up enough divinity that the planets are sufficiently weakened for us to deliver the coup de grace.

PORTINARI: There is nothing left in the Solar System that wouldn't immediately apotheosize if we did this. You of all people should know this.

LUCERO: Oh, but there is.

[LUCERO slams a folder onto PORTINARI's desk, papers bearing graphs and reports spilling out.]

LUCERO: The ice giants don't have a history in human mythology. Orbiting that far away from the Sun means that SCP-9911 doesn't have as strong an influence on them to begin with either. They don't even appear on our radars anymore. Too much interference between them and us.

PORTINARI: And your plan is to, what? Put some hypothetical machine in the gravity well of a god and somehow siphon off its Akiva emissions to store in a planet we're not even sure is still there?

LUCERO: I know they're still there, Bea. Gravitational effects don't lie.

[LUCERO grins excitedly as PORTINARI looks over the reports. Her brow furrows as she reads through the folder's contents.]

PORTINARI: No. We're not going on a wild goose chase for Uranus and Neptune. Not while we're already close to a practical and locally applicable solution. We're not doing this, Director Lucero.

[LUCERO's smile falls from his face as it darkens.]

LUCERO: Yeah. Okay. I get it. You have time for however many proposals come across your desk, so long as they're from Tactheo. But not me. No no no. Not Stellar Affairs either. Because to you, both the Department and I are dead in the water!

PORTINARI: Stop that. Stop that right now—

LUCERO: And you know exactly why we're like this. You were the one to hold my head under waves of sweet lies. You defanged Stellar Affairs so it could never get in the way. You left us to drown so that you and your friends in Tactheo could play god with the Solar System.

[Both glare at each other in silence with reddened eyes.]

LUCERO: Well!?

[PORTINARI does not respond.]

LUCERO: ANSWER ME, PORTINARI.

PORTINARI: I— I don't even recognize you anymore. Get out of my office before I'm forced to do something we're both going to regret.

LUCERO: Fine! Fine.

[LUCERO kicks the office door open, slamming them violently on the way out.]

[PORTINARI weeps softly.]

«END LOG»

«BEGIN RECORDING»

What I am about to do, I, Durante Lucero, do so of my own free will.

Way back when SelvOs hit the ground running, we picked up on signals from empty space. Everywhere. Chalked it up to some inexplicable fluctuating background Akiva nonsense. Like microwave background radiation. Because that was something we were more familiar with, an explanation that went down easier.

Ever since Saturn became… that thing, and I refuse to address it by its theonym or whatever— I'm an astrophysicist, goddamn it, and I'll call it by its proper name. Tactheo dogma, is what it is.

[Sighs.]

Anyway. I've spent more time studying the signals than anyone else on the project. Whatever we detected, it wasn't just random noise. There was something more to it. Now, I would have brought this up to the others, but Saturn happened, and suddenly this discovery was a Damoclean sword above my head. Who's to say this wasn't some ticking SCP-9911 time bomb that I had unwittingly contracted myself to? That I wouldn't end up tied to a table in some blacksite while my mind was purged of an imaginary demon? That you lunatics wouldn't lobotomize me in search of something you can't even detect?

So I kept it to myself. Distracted myself with the crisis that SCP-9911 wrought. Dragged Stellar Affairs kicking and screaming into a new paradigm where the very heavens were made taboo. And through it all, this discovery never stopped gnawing at the back of my mind. The classical planets made sense. The Sun, albeit strange, made sense. The stars made sense.

We have never worshipped empty space. There is nothing in the void to receive prayer anyway. And yet, there is something unmistakably divine there. Something that has been thrumming and humming in my head for so long that— that I now realize it has been singing this entire time.

To Bea. I'm sorry. For everything. I'm sorry I kept this from you for so long. Perhaps there was a time where you'd come with me, if you knew about this. But I know now as I knew then, that your loyalties to Tactheo were always stronger than whatever it was we had. For what it's worth, we had a good run.

[Silence]

Perhaps I shall become a sort of Odysseus, as I sail through the blackest sea in the direction of the sirensong. I don't know what I will find at the end of this voyage. Perhaps something ancient, borne of people before people. Perhaps not borne of people at all, but something far more primeval. Perhaps you will never hear from me again. That might just be preferable, honestly. I've made my peace with it.

[Silence]

L'acqua ch'io prendo già mai non si corse.⁹

«END RECORDING»

AFTERWORD: Following this transmission, the shuttle operated by Director Lucero surpassed the trans-Saturnian boundary and was no longer detectable by Foundation instruments.

INCIDENT LOG
MONITORING-ASPECT: RASHITH HA-GILGALIM
LOCATION: N/A
RESPONSE LEVEL: PENDING

Immediately after the disappearance of Director Lucero, statistically significant spectral distortion was detected in the cosmic microwave background that corresponded to encryption protocols in use by Foundation spacecraft. Simultaneously, patterns of weak Akiva emission were detected by the SelvOs array from the trans-Saturnian void anomaly.¹⁰ Once analyzed and decrypted, the synthesis of these signal streams yielded a coherent data transmission with only minor variation.

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO DIRECTOR-LEVEL CLEARANCE]

G-A-B-R-I-E-L¹¹

Formal Designation: SCP-9911-☾
Monitoring Aspect: LEVANAH
Temperament: MELANCHOLIC
Disposition: CONVENANT

All Foundation facilities currently located on or in orbit around SCP-9911-☾ have been transferred to the oversight of Project Paradiso, which has graciously permitted their continued presence, operation, and expansion, as part of the covenant established with SCP-9911-☾.

New facility complexes have been constructed across the lunar surface to form large scale glyph and sigil arrangements corresponding to the intrinsic [REDACTED] of the lunar deity and established sacrificial frameworks. Personnel distribution has been adjusted accordingly to ensure maximum efficacy and balance of [REDACTED].

Worship of SCP-9911-☾ is presently sustained by the sum population of Foundation lunar facilities; theopathic inoculation is a pre-requisite for travel to the Moon, in the interest of enhancing worship efficacy and the preservation of lucidity, [REDACTED], and psychosomatic stability of Foundation personnel.

Sacrificial and oblatory protocols are observed twice per lunation, and must be executed at the moment of syzygy. Offerings and other sacrificial supplies may be provided from Earthside Foundation facilities, but oblations may only be procured from inoculated sources. Class D personnel are acceptable for oblation, with the caveat that [REDACTED] laudation protocols and elevated to at least Class B3 status for 12 consecutive lunations beforehand. Sacrificial rites are subject to short-term changes, such as [REDACTED] or [REDACTED] as deemed suitable by the Department of Tactical Theology, which in turn determine oblatory protocols for that specific lunation. The condition of oblations post-ritual is not theologically significant, and may be conventionally discarded.

During lunar and solar eclipses, all Foundation facilities must observe Rites SAMEKH and TAU. Lunar facilities will prepare suitable oblations [REDACTED], while all Earthside facilities within the umbra of the eclipse [REDACTED] individual [REDACTED] as overseen by a representative of the Department of Tactical Theology. [REDACTED] and are to remain in place until the next eclipse occurs. Further details of theological protocols related to SCP-9911-☾ are restricted to executive access by Department of Tactical Theology or Project Paradiso personnel.

If the terms of the covenant are carried out to the letter, SCP-9911-☾ will be more than sufficient to repulse most major divine incursions on Earth by other SCP-9911 entities. The remainder of incursions and forced covenants are to be resolved without the involvement of SCP-9911-☾, excepting those of, by, and from SCP-9911-☾ itself, though this will be largely avoided by established worship protocols.

The consequences of any breach in covenant before its predetermined expiration are presently unknown, and are designated as critical priority research by the Department of Tactical Theology.

Attached below is the inaugural ritual log for SCP-9911-☾, which successfully established the current covenant and direction of worship.

Attachment: Archive, Supplementary Log
Source: Project Paradiso

«BEGIN LOG»

[Floodlights illuminate the top of the ziggurat, shining on an assembly of hooded Foundation personnel, preoccupied with making the final arrangements for a variety of offerings on a circular stone altar. Four D-Class personnel and a white bull are led to the top of the ziggurat. The D-Class personnel are seated, kneeling towards the altar, while the bull is ushered onto the altar itself.]

[Upon the confirmation of procedure readiness, the floodlights are deactivated. Lights from the city of Harran glow in the distance, but are faint under the radiance of the full Moon hanging above in the sky.]

[A predesignated performer begins playing Debussy's Suite Bergamasque, L. 75: III for piano. This coincides with the disembowelment of the white bull in accordance with the Mithraic Tauroctony, which is left to expire on the altar.]

[The four D-Class begin reciting incantations and prayers tailored for the invocation of specific lunar deities.]

[An attendant steps forward with a bronze khopesh, enucleating the left eye of the east-facing D-Class. The eyeball is crushed in the attendant's hand, before it is scattered onto the altar.]

[An attendant steps forward with a bronze tsurugi, enucleating the right eye of the west-facing D-Class. The eyeball is placed on the altar, intact.]

[Two attendants perform a cranioectomy on the south-facing D-Class, exposing his brain to moonlight.]

[The last D-Class, north-facing, is dismembered by three attendants. His limbs, torso, and head are positioned onto the altar around the white bull's body.]

[All D-Class continue their recitations.]

[A hooded personnel steps forward. As primary oblation, they are wearing grey robes distinguishable from the black robes worn by attendants and other overseeing specialists from Tactical Theology. Pulling off their hood, they are revealed to be Director Beatrice Portinari.]

[Director Portinari steps onto the altar, breathing shakily. She breathes in deeply before reciting another incantation.]

[The light from the Moon grows brighter. Brighter than it should be on the clearest nights. It begins to focus on the circular altar, causing it to glow with a soft greyscale halo.]

[Offerings present on the altar begin to grow translucent. Flowers and fruits turn grey, but shine strongly. Wine and mead begins flowing upwards out of their glasses.]

[The white bull's corpse also begins to grow translucent, along with the sacrificed body parts of the D-Class. Despite their attempts to continue their incantations, they begin screaming and crying in pain. The efficacy of the ritual is confirmed by onsite theologists to remain within acceptable parameters.]

[All translucent offerings eventually vanish entirely, leaving Director Portinari standing on the altar alone. She stops her recitations.]

[Director Portinari's body begins to turn translucent. She attempts to stifle her cries, but fails as she watches her hands become see-through.]

[She collapses onto the altar, keeling over in apparent pain. Some of the nearby attendants express concern, but Director Portinari waves them away. Ritual efficacy remains within acceptable parameters.]

[Director Portinari has been entirely desaturated, appearing entirely in greyscale on recording while writhing in pain.]

[Director Portinari abruptly stops, as a look of confusion grows on her face. She looks about her surroundings, before breaking down in tears.]

[Director Portinari begins ascending towards the sky. The Moon is great and bright and terrible and far larger than it should be. She reaches out into the distance, clawing at nothing.]

[Director Portinari yells out the name of former Director Lucero amidst heavy sobs.]

[The pianist's performance ends.]

[Director Portinari vanishes completely. All anomalous phenomena cease, and nothing is left behind on the altar.]

«END LOG»

Footnotes

page revision: 16, last edited: 10 Nov 2025 14:37

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