Woman of Stone and Blood Hub

"It's sad…realizing you've been dragged to hell, and knowing that nobody but yourself will pull you out."

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  ⚠️ Content warning: This series contains a content warning for sexual assault, relationship abuse, abuse of power, coercion, abuse of a disabled person, self harm, mentions of suicide, sexual harassment, discrimination, and workplace abuse.
  Series by KatyaStrangelove

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Within the Foundation, power is desired over all else…

For Dr. Barrikada Ulyanova, a researcher scouted after the collapse of the USSR, power was never something she had much of at the Foundation. After the shock of discovering that she was genetically Daevite, born via a GRU-P experiment intended to revive the subspecies, she went from being looked at with suspicion to being looked at with hatred.

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For Dir. Carmine Violanti, Site-19's Personnel Director, power was something he used at his convenience. He knew how to wield it, how far it extended, and, most importantly, its theoretical breaking point. While supervising the investigation into Dr. Ulyanova's potential anomaly, he 'couldn't help' but become infatuated with her. He then used his power for the sake of indulgence, drawing the vulnerable researcher into a 17 year long 'relationship' marked by abuse, coercion, and manipulation.

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Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

This is a story of the slow and agonizing crawl out from under the crushing weight of the Foundation; a weight only made heavier by a man with his thumb on the scale…

⚠️ Content warning:

I have included content warnings for each element of this series, next to the articles in which they appear. Please heed these warnings when reading the material in question.

The Characters

Dr. Barrikada Ulyanova/Violanti

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Dr. Ulyanova is a member of the Daevite subspecies, designated SCP-9140-A-0 and, later, SCP-9###. She's a hardworking member of the Department of Political Anomalies (DoPA), originally scouted by the Foundation for her impressive accomplishments within the Soviet Union: She earned the Woman International Master chess title in her younger teenage years, for which she was given local acclaim. Then, she attended Moscow's Higher Party School far younger than was customary, before working under a notable Soviet politician prior to the 1991 collapse.

At the Foundation, she continued her education and earned a Foundation PhD in Applied Parapolitics and Anomalous Diplomacy in 1995. Later, in 2002, Ulyanova began work on a second PhD in Para-historiography, but was forced to quit after being promoted to Lieutenant Department Director in 2004.

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Dir. Carmine Violanti

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Personnel Director Carmine Violanti was born in 1954, the second youngest of six siblings. Despite spending his early years in a small Manhattan apartment, he came from a family of overachievers who boasted successes in a wide variety of fields, including as Foundation personnel. His older sister, Maria Violanti, spent 12 years as a researcher before her death during a containment breach in 1990.

Dir. Violanti always had an eye for problem solving, and always had a need to be needed. This, naturally, led to a string of successes that resulted in him gaining a coveted position as the Personnel Director of Site-19. Once he got a taste of power, however, it became an addiction — being needed by others to solve difficult problems gained him power, and vulnerable people needed help the most. Yet, even as his intentions twisted, his view of himself as an altruist never faltered.

Thoughts on the Daevites

DISCLAIMER:

This interpretation of the Daevites, their history, and their Empire is mine and does not hold bearing over anyone else's. If you disagree with my version, I understand completely. Lest we forget, there is no canon!

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Also I'm literally just rambling randomly here guys. Half of this barely has anything to do with the series, I'm just bloviating.

So, you may notice that the way I write about the Daevites significantly diverges from how they've been written about on the wiki prior. I've noticed that, and I've put aside a space on this page for my thoughts on the matter.

I. The Daevite Subspecies Situation:

The biggest difference is, of course, my personal confirmation of the idea that the Daevites were a separate subspecies of human. This has been a somewhat controversial take, with many articles hinting at it as a rumor/theory (including the OG Daevite article, SCP-140), and quite a few other interpretations rejecting the idea. There are a few articles that include the Daeva subspecies as a thing, but you'll likely find my interpretation to be a lot more mundane.

My purpose in including the Daevite subspecies, in the way I have included it, is largely as an exploration of how certain biothaumatological (SCP babble for 'magical abilities originating from someone's biology') properties possessed by the Daeva would have been advantageous in one context but detrimental in another, or vice versa. Instead of simply making the Daevites universally overpowered magical humans-not-humans, my goal has been to show how the effectiveness of their differences is extremely dependent on the material conditions they exist under.

This can also be validly interpreted as a continuation of the popular idea that the Daevites are an ancient civilization, frozen in time, brought closer to the present day anomalously and artificially. In this context, their differences from baseline humans are often not suited for modern life. Within my works, Barrikada requires the use of another anomaly (SCP-2140), significant medical care, and eventually an entire internal-external Hume regulator system to remain both alive and compatible with the Foundation and its power structures.

I also use this, as well as other sociocultural interpretations of the Daevites to offer an explanation of their many, many collapses detailed in SCP-140. In certain contexts, their use of thaumaturgy would render them unfathomably powerful and able to establish and maintain a massive empire, yet it would easily explain their defeat in other contexts (such as ones where other groups become more technologically advanced with ranged weapons, but the Daevites remain too reliant on magic).

One could say that mine is a rather materialist analysis of the Daevites (in the context of philosophical materialism, not the colloquial definition, á la Madonna), which is a sentiment I'd agree with for the most part.

II. The Daevite Theology Situation

You'll come to see that within my Daevite Lore, the Scarlet King is persona non grata (or, more accurately Deus non grata, I guess). I've never been a fan of his inclusion, I've always thought that for the matriarchal society I headcanon the Daevite Empire to be, worshiping a patriarchal god isn't particularly fitting.

Instead, I see the ancient Daevites as practitioners of a polytheistic religion that included a more diverse array of deities. Not to say that has any bearing on this series, though: Barrikada was raised in a purely secular environment.

Related Works

SCP-8537 - 11/7 Was an Inside Job

MAINLIST SCP ARTICLE — 1.5K WORDS

"SCP-8537 refers to the anomalous "butterfly ballots" used by Palm Beach County, Florida during the 2000 US Presidential Election."

SCP-9140 - PERESTROIKA!

MAINLIST SCP ARTICLE

"They just had to have their pound of flesh. And then they had to have another…over and over until I couldn't even recognize myself in the mirror anymore."

10.3K WORDS

"SCP-9140 is a set of Daevite ritual objects, referred to in translated primary sources as the Imperial Bloodsieve."

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⚠️ Content warning: This article contains a content warning for sexual harassment, attempted sexual assault, discrimination, and workplace abuse.

An Incomplete Interview

TALE

"Many have fallen prey to those with power for whom 'conflict of interest' is a phrase they're utterly incapable of understanding."

1.3K WORDS

"The Subject is asked why Site Administration had to ███ it ██ █████, and it answers by stating that it does not know if it is permitted to reveal the information."

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⚠️ Content warning: This tale contains a content warning for abuse of power and implied sexual/emotional abuse.

Dr. Barrikada Violanti's Marital Cage

TALE

"And with ████████ as my witness, I'll never be a victim again."

2.4K WORDS

"It was the guilt that seized her like nothing else; guilt for 'allowing it to happen' in the first place — contradicted directly by shame for being 'too unwilling' to submit to his will. None of it made sense."

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⚠️ Content warning: This tale contains a content warning for depictions of sexual acts, sexual assault, relationship abuse, abuse of power, and coercion.

SCP-9980 - Acrotomophilia: Sanguis Ex Tempore

MAINLIST SCP ARTICLE

"I know this looks bad, but really— I…I just need you to listen to me. Please."

3.7K WORDS

"Somehow…for some reason, I hoped he’d say yes. He’d lock the door, and I’d lift my hospital gown to my chest, because maybe – just maybe, it would be okay."

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⚠️ Content warning: This tale contains a content warning for depictions of sexual acts, relationship abuse, abuse of power, coercion, and mentions of blood/gore.

SCP-9### — Sunken Cost Fallacy (Tentative Title)

MAINLIST SCP ARTICLE - TBD

"Did you know cicadas only emerge every seventeen years? Well, I too went seventeen years without a voice."

TBD

"Dr. Violanti is a Class-II (Hume-Activated) Biothaumatological-Temporal Sink. When exposed to high external Hume levels, time within a radius of her person will reverse."

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⚠️ Content warning: Content warnings TBD.

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