The Exalted - SCP Foundation

Journal Entry, September the Twentieth, the Year of our Lord, Eighteen Ninety-One

I have encountered the most marvelous thing at the lakehouse! There is a winding closed path there that slopes ever upwards… even once you have returned to your start!

I have spent the last few days walking and studying it, and have yet to find an explanation. But I shall continue! I feel like I am on the edge of something enormous and wonderful, like standing on a cliffside overlooking the sea. And I will not cease until I have drunk my fill!

I should wire Franklin immediately to come join me, but I'm dread to involve anyone else until I have an explanation in my own mind. I seem to sense some mathematical forms that may adequately apply. Perhaps I should wait until I am further down this path before involving my brother. He is busy with his surgery, after all.

Journal Entry, June the Twenty-First, the year of our Lord, Eighteen Ninety-Three

I delayed perhaps too long in asking Agnes to marry me, but I was quite distracted by these wonderful equations. They are fascinating and complex and hint of a world of ease for all men, if we can but exploit them properly. It may be overly romantic, but I wanted to provide proof of my love and devotion to Agnes before asking for her hand. So I used some of the simpler forms I derived from the path to forge for her a key to open any lock and unbar any door, that she and I may never be separated.

Franklin teased me about it, but he is as fascinated as I am by these derived mathematics. So far, I have only found applications in the physical realm, but he believes they may be applicable to medicinal breakthroughs as well. He also suggested bringing on Thomas and Jeremy as well, although they are not scientifically minded and I do not see how they might provide assistance. Still, I am loathe to withhold benefit from the world, even if we must provide it slowly.

Journal Entry, January the First, the year of our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and One

The first day of a new century. It's hard to believe all the wondrous things we've discovered and created during the last decade. I know it's sentimental, but I harbor a fondness for Agnes' key. I suppose it is akin to the fondness another man might hold for his first-born son.

I spent the morning reviewing my notes on the data I collected on this past equinox, and I do believe that I may be able to finally formulate a partial set of rules to govern the properties of a body moving at or beyond the speed of light in a vacuum. I shall proceed with my experiments within the month. The Crab Nebula should be sufficiently distant to effectively test my hypothesis.

Agnes wishes me to review some documents regarding the outlay for the new facility Jason is building in Arizona, but I am no financier and have no desire to embroil myself in a spat with Jason. Frankly, my dear Agnes has a much better head for how to soothe his bruised ego than I ever have and I trust her to perform her duties well.

Journal Entry, July Second, Nineteen-Fourteen A.D.

Blast it! Thomas and his little coterie have been meddling again! The recent events in Sarajevo bore all the signs of their interference, particularly in light of their interest in the territories along the German-Austrian border. The depradations they have already performed… When I first met Thomas, I would not have expected such depravities of him. That flute alone…

I must meet with Agnes, Elizabeth and my brother, and soon. Perhaps if we hurry, we will be able to mitigate some of the effects of this. I dare not allow us to openly intervene, but perhaps something more subtle may be possible. I believe my brother has been breeding some sort of creatures that inhibit dream states. One or two of those let loose on a general or recalcitrant head of state might be useful.

Journal Entry, January Eighteenth, 1919 AD

I watched those pompous fools sign their treaty today, despite Franklin's misgivings. He was afraid that those traitorous breakaways would try to disrupt the proceedings, but even they must see how utterly foolish and wasteful this whole unpleasant business was. But to see these utter, utter fools crow and humiliate the Krauts… This will not end well.

In the meantime, we must attempt to reclaim our possessions lost in the heat of battle. At least a few of Franklin's beasts slipped their tethers at the beginning of the war, and he only just revealed to me that he neglected to remove their ability to breed true prior to their release. Jeremy and Thomas were quite busy as well, and I'm certain that the only reason England didn't suffer more was due to their interference. I quite wonder whether they would have been so quick to light the flame if they had known it would spread to the entirety of Europe.

Quite bothersome is a report that Elizabeth passed to me that a group of our agents monitoring the fronts went mad sometime last year, and have taken to worshipping that ugly mass of rust we recovered from one of Jeremy's holdings at the beginning of the War. She recommends letting them tend it, but I'm somewhat discomfitted by the idea of heathens in our halls, even if they would be fully under our control. I must discuss this with the others.

Agnes has been pestering me about our holdings in Canada, especially regarding some sort of aquatic nonsense that Jason has been experimenting with, but frankly, I'd rather not be bothered. He has always been a handful and I find the entire affair draining. Let her deal with him.

Journal Entry, May Ninth, 1933

As I predicted, the humiliation of the Germans produced bitter fruit. This Hitler fellow has all the hallmarks of a developing nuisance, and I greatly suspect that we will need to send one of Sophia's little gentlemen to bring him into line. The atrocious Italian affair is also of concern. I should see if any of our agents within their government can stabilize things until the Germans are under control.

The only consolation is that the heightened fervor of that state allows us to hide our activities amongst the masses somewhat more easily. I am particularly pleased with the preliminary results of my spatial expander in the Black Forest. If successful, I believe I might be able to apply the same precepts to a more portable environment, perhaps even as small as a cabinet.

Agnes insists that we need to expand our operations in the Orient, but for the life of me I cannot see why. The Chinese are of no interest to me, much less the rest of the Mongoloids in that region. At best, they would make rude fodder for some of my brother's more esoteric experiments.

As much as it pains me, I believe I must speak with Elizabeth about the situation with Jason. His behavior is growing more erratic, and I suspect that we may need to restrain him before he becomes dangerously unstable.

Journal Entry, December Twenty-Fifth, 1943

The waste, the waste, the sheer and utter WASTE!

Agnes was correct, Sophia was useless, and Jason is nothing but a failure! So many! So many lives spent without reason! I am furious that Jason allowed Roosevelt to even begin the atomic program, much less allow it to proceed this far!

I must see if Sophia can salvage any of this by sharing the information amongst the Germans. She tells me our agents amongst them have access to a large pool of subjects with whom we can test the radio-active effects. I am less trusting of her competence, however. Perhaps Agnes will be willing to oversee the project.

Journal Entry, September 2nd, 1945

At long last this debacle is over, although I had hoped that it would have ended differently. As I oversaw the close of the previous War, so shall I oversee the closing of this one. I have grown so tired of these machinations.

Perhaps I shall retire to my neglected studies.

Journal Entry, August 17th, 1948

I am much amused by this fellow Feynman. His innovative diagrams are quite useful for the modeling of the subatomic, and I dearly wish I had known of them in the early years of our endeavor of this Foundation. They would have quite expedited much of my research. I have considered inviting him into our cohort, if only to see whether he would have any other little intuitions regarding the true shape of reality. However, I fear that we may be somewhat retarding the growth of the unenlightened masses by continually plucking the finest minds from their midst.

In less pleasant developments, Agnes has formally left me. Truth be told, it was not much of a surprise, given the gulf that has grown between us. I remember when we would lay in the grass and have quiet conversations about music or physics or the intrigues of our extended families. But that has all vanished, replaced with Council meetings and logistical coordinations and a chilly, distant, brittle shred of respect and regard.

Even with all the powers at our fingertips, there is so much we cannot, no, WILL not do.

Journal Entry, March 3, 1961

The Soviet space program is proceeding apace, albeit somewhat quicker than I initially anticipated. I suppose Nikita feels like he must prove something.

I do not anticipate any incursions into our Lunar territories in the near future, but we can never be too careful. I'll travel to the Lunar base later this month to inspect the protective and camouflage measures for the base and the deposits at the Lagranges. In any case, I haven't used the telescopes there in quite some time. I may be given reports about our extra-Solar probes, but I still like to look in on the projects once in a while.

So many responsibilities these days, so little time to relax. Whatever happened to the lad who walked the path so many years ago? I get so maudlin around my birthday. And so few people left to remember it.

Journal Entry 01/01/1966

So begins the 75th year since my discovery of that damned path.

I can no longer turn a blind eye to the disease that has overcome us all. For truly, hubris has spread like a plague among us, as we bend and twist and break the world to fit our whims. I claim no innocence in this, but cannot ignore the horrors unleashed with grim joy by those I once called friends and family.

I remember the curiosity I felt when I first walked the path, and the wonder once I found the equations that sustain it. I remember the excitement in my brother's eyes as he began to see the ramifications, the delight on Agnes' face when I showed her the key.

The path gave us the power to rebuild the world. It is time I finally do so.

Journal Entry, September the Twenty-Third, the year of our Lord, Eighteen Ninety One

My sabbatical to the new lakehouse has done me a world of good. I discovered an old walking path on the grounds that led to a marvelous vista above the lake, and I made a sketch of it for Agnes. Perhaps I may entice her to come boating with me, should her cousin be available to chaperone.