A collection of heretical CotBG literature, taking a different view on the entities Mekhane and Yaldabaoth. Presenting a possibility that the Broken God and the Sarkic God might not be that hostile to each other at the very beginning, or rather, was pretty close. And with several background pictures.
Huge thanks to Metaphysician, TwistedGears, and Doctor Cimmerian.
The poems are generally based on the idea that Mekhane and Yaldabaoth are a divorced couple aguring over their children human race is created by Yaldabaoth (the flesh god), and Mekhane (the Broken God) together. Yaldabaoth created human's material body, their flesh, while Mekhane bestows knowledge and souls. But they then later got into disagreement, waging war on one another. Mekhane ended up using his body as a cage, and imprisoned Yaldabaoth. This also caused him to shattered into pieces.
I choose to present both gods as dragons/serpents because that dragons/serpents was mentioned mutiple times in the Sarkic skips, and that Yaldabaoth in the actual myth is described as a worm with a lion's head. Aslo, Mekhane is compared to the serpent in the Eden in one of skips. I'm aslo really really into the serpent/dragon metaphor, and this also allows me to link the Mekhane/Yaldabaoth myth to Chinese myth. In-universe wise, the beliefs to see the gods as dragons is probably originated from the east. The more eastern it goes, the more heretical it is to the mainstream of CotBG.
Despite a different, or a heretical view on the entities, the poems are still more CotBG based, as Mekhane is generally portrayed as the good, or better side. They are likely to be collection by a small, heretical faction of CotBG, who translated the poems while adding the visual hallucinations effects to them, in the hopes to convey the message clearer. Foundation keep the original order of the poem, arranged by the faction. As to why the readers can see the images — well, you're probably not authorized by the Foundation ;P
The following would the explanations of each poem, which are of course, just headcanon :3 They may contridict, as in-universly speaking, they are written by different people with limited knowledge. They do ultimately fit into my headcanon regrading CotBG, Sarkicism, and the Hanged King.
Poem 1 - A poem that is written in the region near the origin place of CotBG, reflecting on the war bettwen metal worshippers and flesh shapers, as well as the gods themselves. A person picked up a rusted sword, forged by the Broken God, and either actually heard it talking, or dreamed it up. Two important ideas are mentioned: First is that humans are "descendants/sons and daughters" of the gods. Second one is that Mekhane originally intended to kill Yaldabaoth with the now rusted weapon, but abandoning the idea half-way. (Implying the gods' emtional ties)
Poem 2 - A poem written much later, where a poet tries to seek out the root of the religion. It is unsure whether he had actually went into "His wasted kingdom", or his experience is purely spiritual. In the poem he vowed to piece the god together, similar to a lot of other CotBG texts, but he aslo put forward the notion that "you have forgiven Mother's sins", and hinting that Yaldabaoth may be realsed eventually, but the gods may coexist in peace. He aslo adresses Mekhane as "Father (the) Serpent", as Yaldabaoth as "Mother (the) Dragon", which will recur in later poems.
Poem 3 - A poem written in a less civilized times where people offered blood sarcifce to Mekhane, or offer parts of their own body in exchange for metal/machine as replacement. This is a spin-off of the main stream religion as they probably witnessed some machines built by the Mekhanites, and started their religion based on that. (The idea of scarificing parts of ones' body to Mekhane and replace them with metal comes from Perelka_L, and the wolf and lamb analogy comes from 921, as I really really like that.)
Poem 4 - A poem written by one of the followers of Nadox, who is a major saint in Sarkicism. Unlike Ion, who believed that he had conquered the power of flesh, and claimed himself a god, Nadox noticed that Yaldabaoth may not be as dumb and mindless as it seems to be. He had forsaw the possible danger, that Ion didn't really control Yaldabaoth, and tries everything he can to save the world from the possible destruction. In the poem, his one follower based the text upon his
teachings, (the prophet in the poem with many hands and eyes is Nadox) altho he never really said anyway of those words, especially not the part where he pities Karcists and Metal worshippers. It adresses the possible danger that Yaldabaoth might bring, when it inevitably breaks free.
Poem 5 - This poem is written in Alagadda/SCP-2264, the Hanged King's court. It is revealed in the text that the God shaped hole, the absence of god in the City of Alagadda is actually in the dragon —— Yaldabaoth's shape. It was once resided by the flesh god until it was caged by Mekhane. While all the blood is for the Hanged King, the King is actually painfully bounded to his throne, powerless and helpless. The blood all went through the hole to Yaldabaoth, which will help him breaks free. The writer tries to warn people about this possible danger.
Poem 6 - Written in a war-torn area, most of the poem's content is imagined. The author imagined a scene where he is offered paths by both Mekhane, the mother, and Yaldabaoth, the father. It is implied that no choice is better than the other one, as people and gods fight over it pointlessly, similar to Poem one. But all was in vain after all, as the serpent slips away.
Poem 7 - This is the oldest of the seven poems, and is linked largely to Chinese myths. In original Chinese myths, Nüwa and Fuxi are either sister and brother, wife and husband, or both. Notably, both of them, in more anicent texts, are described as serpents with a human's head. Nüwa created human beings by breathing life into soil she made into human shape, and Fuxi taught people many things, including Bagua, used to represents basic elements of reality, and predicting things to come.
In this case, Nüwa is Yaldabaoth, and Fuxi is Mekhane, as their roles are matching. It is unstated, but hinted that this poem is actually written in a prehistorical civilization, as a race of serpent people ("Built us into great serpents as she is"/"Serpents as they were") who developed high techology ("High towers and gigantic machines lined beneath.") A lot of later ideas where links the gods to dragons are largely affected by the beliefs in this region. The Chinese dynasties after them would inherite some of their technology and culture, and deveop a worship for dragons and serpents.
Taisuixing, or Tai Sui, is believed to be a ghost planet in Jupiter's orbit, but goes in reverse direction. Legends also say that strange meat blobs will appear down the eather according to its location, and it will either bring harm, or make you healthy. In-universewise, Taisui is a reap of reality that links towards the cage where Yaldabaoth is trapped. Flesh occascially leaks through it. (I have more idea regrading these concepts, but I will not detail them here as they are irrelevant.)
Bascially speaking, this poem links Yaldabaoth/Mekhane myths with the Chinese myths, which will aslo helps to eastablish my headcanon that as Mekhane and Yaldabaoth actually existed in the SCPverse, different version of their story should appear in different parts of the world.
