Pamphlet can be enlarged. They're part of the SCP. Check 'em out. :)
Enjoy!
"WELL FOUNDATION. YOU MADE IT SO EASY. SO VERY VERY EASY." - dimensionpotato
Pamphlet can be enlarged. They're part of the SCP. Check 'em out. :)
Enjoy!
"WELL FOUNDATION. YOU MADE IT SO EASY. SO VERY VERY EASY." - dimensionpotato
Holy Bast mother of cats. I loved this even without the pamphlets, (I upvoted when I read about them praying all but his uncle's feet out of hell, which'd require additional 15 000 lira) but those are plain awesome. Bloody hell, *this* is how to do a religious SCP right.
- - -
Jesus Saves! . .. in the Most Holy Bank of his Holiness Pope Leo the Tenth, Saint in the Waiting.
Upvoted at "The Bones of Saint John the Baptist as an Infant", futilely upvoted again at "we regret that blessings cannot be sent through the mail", and I'm not even finished reading yet, gloria, gloria, gloria, forever and ever, amen.
A bit of a booboo in the second addendum. The observer is initially referred to as 13 and then is called 11 for the rest of it.
Interesting, upgraded to 'Very Interesting' once revealed that the "miracles" don't actually heal people.
Minor quibble: The word "Zionist" didn't exist until the 19th Century. Since the rest of the article is stuck in a 15th Century mindset, this contrast is jarring for people who care far too much about history.
Very amusing, and I enjoyed the various historical jabs in it (such as the hatred for German speakers, which makes sense considering Leo X was the Pope during the Reformation). The dig at the practice of Indulgence was also appreciated. The only thing I would comment on are the various jabs at Jew/Zionist. As Orion mentioned above the word Zionist was not used at the time, and it is also notable that Leo X was not particularly antisemitic at all. In fact, he borrowed money from Jewish loaners himself, and indeed allowed them several liberties uncommon at the time, and I quote:
"Leo X abolished certain discriminatory levies, did not enforce the wearing of the badges Jews had been forced to put on in the 12th century and also sanctioned the establishment of the Hebrew Printing Press. Leo X, as well as other popes from this period, such as Sixtus IV, retained Jewish physicians in Rome." (Rebecca Weiner, Jewish Virtual Library)
Other than that, a damn good SCP.
My interpretation is that not only are they scammers, but they're not even very good scammers. They're from… elsewhere/when, and just using the trappings of Catholicism/Leo X as a front. Like the Nigerian Prince scams. And having not researched Leo X in great detail, they tossed in Zionism as "you know, something the Catholics hated back then, right?"
Giving bearhugs to the unsuspecting since 1872.
That could certainly be the case. If it is, they should probably pray (heh) that someone like the Horizon Initiative doesn't lay their hands on them. That could go very badly indeed for our scammers.
The drawing caption says it was made by Observor -8, but that's the old guy who had a heart attack and died upon viewing 1521. Was that supposed to be drawn by a different Observor?
Giving bearhugs to the unsuspecting since 1872.
Fixed it.
Originally, the last log was twenty-seven entries long. It was an attempt to show that the Foundation had seriously attempted to zero in on the one, truly anomalous thing about these guys: the perception issue. Cutting people from the log led to tons and tons of weird issues throughout the SCP, including the omission of an addendum I really liked, but it made the thing much more readable.
"WELL FOUNDATION. YOU MADE IT SO EASY. SO VERY VERY EASY." - dimensionpotato
Just noticed something, Troy. It says that Addendum SCP-1521-3 was viewed by Observer 1521-13. Now, it says that 13 went in there alone, talked to the priests, payed them some money, and tried to get some more. Thing is, the lists says that 13 is five years old. Now, this might be intentional, but it does seem rather odd.
That one is intentional. And I think it puts these guys into perspective better than anything else in the SCP, as well.
"WELL FOUNDATION. YOU MADE IT SO EASY. SO VERY VERY EASY." - dimensionpotato
Stacked the images vertically because the page looks horrendous for anyone viewing it at a lower resolution. Feel free to revert if you really, really don't like it.
I was kinda hoping I would come to the discussion page and find that somehow this was more than just the scam artists that I thought it was.
I really am not that interested by this, and the last log dragged on too long to hold my interest. Also, what exactly are these entities doing with the money? Like… do they just keep it? To have? Or are they able to leave and spend it?
I named the final log "Exhaustive Research Materials Included for Voluntary Perusal" in an attempt to indicate that it wasn't necessary reading. There's a couple of neat things in there, but for the most part, it's fine to skip it.
And I've got no idea what they're doing with the money. Neither does the Foundation. Probably something naughty.
"WELL FOUNDATION. YOU MADE IT SO EASY. SO VERY VERY EASY." - dimensionpotato
Think I found a typo:
1521-HI14 inquired as to the nature of Observer-1521-13's visit, at which time he was informed that Observer-1521-11 was requesting a healing miracle.
Is this intented?
Also:
Upon entering, he was immediately approached by a humanoid figure wearing a priests smock and robes, designated SCP-1521 Humanoid Instance 46 (1521-HI47).
So… which is it?
These are tiny nit-picks. I +1'd the SCiP, as I really like it.
I almost feel like they should be more effective at the cancer thing. Or are they just not powerful enough to fix that?
They're just scammers. Elaborate scammers, yes, but scammers, They have no influence on cancer whatsoever.
Sure, but they do demonstrate a bunch of other powers. It's not too much of a stretch for them to have healing in there.
they do demonstrate a bunch of other powers
Really? They can hide the building from the perceptions of most people…. they can affect most people's perceptions of the language in which the sign is written… they can affect people's perceptions of photos of the building… basically, there's nothing anomalous that doesn't involve fucking with people's perceptions.
The stuff with the fountain - that's basically a Jacuzzi.
Even the D-class thinking that his cancer was cured, no really I am, isn't anomalous. It's a variant on faith healing and wish fulfillment fantasies, wherein the ill person wants to be cured so very, very much that when someone says that God (or reiki or homeopathy or crystal healing or whatever) fixed them, the placebo effect kicks in long enough for pain symptoms to abate briefly, which they take as proof that the "treatment" actually worked. And then they refuse to believe anything to the contrary.
Giving bearhugs to the unsuspecting since 1872.