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SCP-910: Dust, Embodied

Author: Pedantique

Author Page: Dr. Dentick's Personnel File

Heron & Hound Commentary Corner:

"A question, Egret."

"Yeah, Dhole?"

"Do you not worry over the Houndmaster's secrets?"

"Stop calling her that. Anyway, why would I worry about those? The Overseer trusts me."

"No more than the desert trusts the sun. What value is trust when you do tricks of your own accord? Would she not enlighten you otherwise? Would she not explain instead of demand?"

"Idiot. An overseer's secret isn't something like that. You don't whisper it to your friend to make them giggle. They bunch them up next to their hearts. They lock them there forever. That's what it takes to protect everyone."

"Distrust by a prettier name."

"Sure, but that's the world she distrusts. Not me. Never me."

"And when her secrets are worth more than your blood? When she cannot gird you against the future, or warn you of a fate? A simple exchange, that."

"Sure, I'll die. I'll die and be even more trustworthy. Graves don't leak.

SYSTEM NOTICE: Overseer-6, 5 items require your attention.

Item #: SCP-910

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: One instance of SCP-910 is to be stored within Site-01's Critical Information Storage Unit. Personnel with Level-4 Clearance and access to Project PEARBLOSSOM-11 may request supervised viewings of the CISU-held copy of SCP-910.

MTF Eta-82 ("Inkhounds") is to monitor rare book auctions and online marketplaces for instances of SCP-910. Sampling surveys of bookstores worldwide are to be conducted by Foundation AI OU-BIBLIOPHAGE, which is to further direct Foundation Internet trawlers in the detection and removal of all information pertaining to SCP-910.

All copies of SCP-910 are to be destroyed following retrieval and processing, except in the event that the Foundation-held archival copy has been damaged. In cases where peaceful acquisition of an instance has been deemed impossible, MTF Eta-82 is to ensure their destruction under 14-ULTRAVIOLET engagement parameters.

SYSTEM NOTICE: Overseer-6, 6 items require your attention.

Description: SCP-910 is an 156-page book titled Organizational Symbology: New Tools for the Oldest Craft, which describes methods to transform mundane organizations into anomalous entities for use in thaumaturgic rituals. Approximately 20 copies of SCP-910 have been printed yearly since 1955 by the Penn & Brooke Scribeworks (GoI-154). The author is listed as Erin Ahmadi, whose biographical summary describes as a thaumaturgist and amateur botanist living in Hell, Michigan. No other records of this individual have been located.

The body of SCP-910's text details the principle that groups of humans organized according to specific principles can fill roles in thaumaturgic rituals traditionally held by biological or mineral components. For example: An organization may fill the need for a physical circle that would otherwise be drawn in chalk or blood. Such a substitution is argued to greatly increase the efficacy of the augmented ritual. These organizations often exhibit anomalous effects in the course of routine operations, some of which are further documented within SCP-910.

Seven of the book's nine chapters depict different structures of organizations, outlining each through a combination of thaumaturgic jargon and elaborate metaphors. The presentation of ritual construction and execution throughout the book bears similarities to the theories of the Three River School, which emphasizes the need for balance of power across spell systems.

SHOW CHAPTER LIST

HIDE CHAPTER LIST

Chapter 1: Introduction to Organizational Symbology

Chapter 2: The Populace as Shifting Moon

Chapter 3: The Firm as Runed Circle

Chapter 4: The Lawkeepers as Burning Candle

Chapter 5: The Rebellion as Sacrificial Dagger

Chapter 6: The Imperial Edifice as Bound Goat

Chapter 7: The Church as Gray Ash

Chapter 8: The Learned as Twined Focus

Chapter 9: In Conclusion, the Future

Tests of SCP-910 have produced varied results. Organizations structured in accordance with chapters 3, 7 and 8 generated significant anomalous effects. Organizations structured in accordance with chapters 2 and 6 generated minor and inconsistent anomalous effects. The contents of chapters 4 and 5 produced no discernible results during testing. On average, the organizations generating the strongest anomalous effects produced the largest improvement in the results of related thaumaturgic rituals.

SYSTEM NOTICE: Overseer-6, 7 items require your attention.

Addendum 910-A (Text Samples):

VOCALIZE PROJECT PEARBLOSSOM-11 PASSPHRASE

"Corvid. Assailable. Octavian. Aubergine. Penumbra. Retinue. Effigy. Dissymmetry."

Chapter 1: Introduction to Organizational Symbology

It is the first impulse of the initiated to deny others a seat at the feast of power. Such is the impetus behind grand initiations, secret passphrases, and hidden libraries. We rightly believe that this knowledge should be kept from the grasp of the greedy and ignorant. However, such thinking lends itself to separation and stagnation. We convince ourselves that what we have is all that we need, and that any change only serves to dilute centuries of study. This is by no means correct.

How many of us take to phone lines instead of casting our voices through the quavering aether? How many of us drive cars every day instead of taking the time to conjure a proper portal? The world has changed, and accepting that is an important step toward a better future. In employing modern technology, we have already allowed for countless changes from the old ways, and prospered as a result. With this in mind, it should not be difficult to look past chalking out ritual circles on damp basement floors and instead move toward the neat lines of organizational charts laid out in boardrooms.

Chapter 5: The Rebellion as Sacrificial Dagger

… and the iron of the sea must further be enshrined in a house of barbs, itself built on a foundation of transgression and spite. The iron is to be wrought as a lion, coated with the dust of a generation's graves. Ornamented walls are to be erected around it, clad in old grudges and shared purpose.

Rites must be observed in the house of the iron omphalos. The blood of the father is to be spilled in equal parts with the blood of the mother. The water of the earth is to be cast into the void of the sky. Emptiness is to be matched with emptiness until naught but void hangs within seven walls. Emptiness within matched by emptiness without, a blade bared against all things.

To understand which ritual practices are most compatible with an organization arranged in this symbol, we turn to the characterization process outlined in…

Chapter 8: The Learned as Twined Focus

… but all flows must end, of course. The flow of water from peak to ocean. The flow of knowledge from book to mind. The flow of power from font to focus. To hold and focus the flow, a proper vessel must be constructed. A cup holds only so much, after all. A cauldron of any size will overflow in time. Seekers of the pinnacle must thus create a bowl with no bottom, following the path of Adeimanthos and accomplishing his feat anew.

To craft such a bowl, one will need at least two dozen hands for its shaping. 26 will do. To watch it fill, one will need at least two dozen eyes. 26 will do. And to drink from it? A single mouth will do. The focus does not divert, does not divide. Yes, one mouth will suffice to drink from that bottomless bowl, so long as it is lined with teeth of brass and silver.

SYSTEM NOTICE: Overseer-6, 8 items require your immediate attention.