Kingdom of Alagadda

## Description:

The Kingdom of Alagadda, also sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of the Hanged, is a large Hinterland separated from the Material Realm. Led by the Hanged King, a powerful Undead reality-manipulator, and his agent, the Ambassador of Alagadda, alongside the rest of the Court, the Kingdom of Alagadda is a "feudal" city-state inhabited almost solely by Undead; the Undead inhabitants of the city worship the Hanged King, who feeds off their power in order to maintain his pseudo-divinity and level of power, although none of it is enough to break the chains that bind him to his throne. The Hinterland consists of the city of Alagadda and some sections of surrounding countryside.

The Hinterland came to the JPCU's attention thanks to the SCP Foundation, who informed the JPCU of Alagadda's existence and the various anomalies associated with it. The JPCU has undertaken no expeditions into Alagadda following the Foundation's several failed experiments.

### Physical Description & Attributes:

The Kingdom of Alagadda is said to consist of three (3) primary geographical features: the walled city of Alagadda, the Red River of blood that runs alongside/through the city, and the misty countryside that surrounds the walled necropolis. In its entirety, the Hinterland is estimated to be approximately circular with a diameter of around six (6) miles, although this number is unconfirmed and unsubstantiated.

The Hinterland's climate is supernatural, and produced presumably by the Hanged King or his Ambassador; the Hinterland is kept between fifty (50) and sixty (60) degrees Fahrenheit at all times. The atmosphere of the Hinterland is identical to that of Earth, despite the other anomalous traits observed within the Hinterland with regards to its climate and weather. Weather patterns appear to occur on certain days and according to the Hanged King's will; normal precipitation does not occur within the Hinterland, and instead it rains blood. Thick fog and mist is known to roll throughout the city, obscuring view; this mist is known to possess Magical properties, able to interfere with spellcasting and induce hallucinations and sanity loss in those who stand within it.

The Kingdom of Alagadda is designated as a Locked Hinterland only because of the singular known stable entrance (*Note: Janus Gate, as they are called by the SCP Foundation*) located within the Martin Tower of the Tower of London, created by Lord Henry Percy in the seventeenth (17th) Century; this entrance was used by Percy and his friend, Christopher Marlowe, to access the Hinterland, where the Ambassador of Alagadda influenced Marlowe to write the *Hanged King's Tragedy*, a 5-act Caroline-era play (SCP-701) (*Note: JPCU access to the Martin Tower is restricted by the Foundation*). This is the only known permanent entrance to the Hinterland, which raises concerns within the JPCU as to the Hinterland's true classification. In reality, entrance to Alagadda is possible only through special teleportation Magic, invitation by the Hanged King or his Ambassador, or access to the Hinterland through the portal created during a performance of the *Hanged King's Tragedy*.

#### The City of Alagadda:

The city itself, which makes up a majority (~85%) of the Hinterland's space, is a large urban sprawl surrounded by a high stone wall approximately fifty (50) feet tall and ten (10) feet thick.

##### The City Itself:

The city exhibits architecture similar to Renaissance-era central Europe, although no recognizable European language is spoken within the Hinterland. The city is always enraptured in some debauchery; orgies and parties occur in the streets, executions and macabre performances inhabit the plazas and parks. The city's inhabitants, all of whom are Undead, participate in these gruesome and debased acts ad infinitum throughout the city. Among the various locations within the city itself sits the tree upon which the Hanged King was hanged; this tree has grown to massive proportions since the city's separation from the Material Realm, and has become twisted and gnarled by the Hinterland's corruption. Criminals, traitors, visitors, and random Undead inhabitants are hanged from the tall branches of the tree on a regular basis.

##### The Palace of Alagadda:

The Hanged King's castle sits at the northernmost tip of the city and backs up against the city's walls. The palace is massive and is itself a spatio-temporal anomaly with more rooms within its interior than should be possible; this feature is desired by groups like Marshall, Carter & Dark Ltd. for its storage and anomalous potential. The Hanged King sits atop his throne, chained down and pinned to the seat by the rusted Magic nails; there, he wastes away, unable to move or speak, interacting with his subjects via the Ambassador and other members of his Court. The Hanged King is attended by small, "impish-looking" creatures, some of whom seem to comfort the Hanged King while others tighten and reinforce his restraints, indicating the creatures' allegiance to the Ambassador of Alagadda (Nyarlathotep); these creatures are believed to either be Servitors of the Outer Gods or be aided by Servitors in keeping the Hanged King docile and incapacitated.

##### The Carnival:

The city's largest park is home to a permanent tent city, almost all of which is used by the Undead inhabitants of the city to put on their horrific performances and plays. They read forbidden literature, conduct torture and hold orgies on stage, they perform dangerous stage acts and mundane magic, torture and perform with animals (both mundane, mutated, otherworldly, and eldritch), etc. All of the inhabitants, regardless of if they are performing or not, wear masquerade masks that hide their decayed visages.

#### The Red River:

The Hinterland contains the Red River, a large river of blood that runs through and alongside the city. This river was turned to blood during the execution and partial resurrection of the Hanged King, and led to the supernatural disease which wiped out the city's inhabitants prior to their collective reanimation. The river's source is believed to be the Sanguine Sea, which exists in the form of portals at opposite ends of the Hinterland, which allows the river to continue flowing perpetually despite no longer being connected to the Material Realm; this connection to Vampires and the Sanguine Sea has led JPCU researchers to propose the hypothesis that the Hanged King may be a Vampire Lord of some kind.

#### The Countryside:

The rolling hills of the countryside that surround the city of Alagadda are barren of living plants; twisted Undead trees and grasses dot the misty landscape. The countryside only extends for approximately five hundred (500) yards before hitting the Hinterland's boundary; those who are exiled from the Hinterland are sent out to the countryside, where they walk out and eventually hit the Hinterland's border, at which point the person is teleported to a random place on Earth.

### Flora & Fauna:

As the *Hanged King's Tragedy* states, the animals fled the city of Alagadda during the Hanged King's three (3) days of death as he was hanged; notably, only the crows and ravens of the city remained behind, which has led JPCU researchers to implicate Yaldabaoth and the Queen of Ravens in Alagadda's machinations. This connection to The Unbeheld through the Queen of Ravens alongside the connection to the Sanguine Sea implies a great many pieces of an unseen and mysterious puzzle that converges in Alagadda (Note: The JPCU has requested SCP Foundation support in conducting additional expeditions into Alagadda, but no requests have been accepted as of the time of writing).

Nothing except the crows and ravens live within the Hinterland; all other inhabitants are Undead, almost all of whom wear masquerade masks and costumes to cover their horrific visages. These inhabitants all act as if part of a massive carnival (see above) and appear not to understand their Undead natures; these inhabitants perform for all eternity, and will torture and kill living visitors to the Hinterland if they are not protected by the Hanged King's blessings, making intruders a part of their inhumane performances. The only creatures within the Hinterland that do not wear masquerade masks are the Hanged King and the Ambassador of Alagadda.

### Religious Significance:

The cultists of Sarkicism that worship Yaldabaoth and the Scarlet King are also known to revere and worship the Hanged King for his connection to and servitude under the Scarlet King; Nyarlathotep's interest and influence in the Hanged King's subservience to the Scarlet King is unknown.

## History:

According to records obtained from within Alagadda and the clues provided by the anomalous *Hanged King's Tragedy*, the Kingdom of Alagadda previously existed during the Sixteenth (16th) and Seventeenth (17th) Centuries as an independent Italian city-state located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The city exists on no records gathered from the time, and no corresponding geographical location has been found; JPCU researchers believe that the Ambassador of Alagadda sought to erase evidence of the city's worldly origins using his reality-manipulating abilities.

### Corruption & Chaos:

The Kingdom of Alagadda was initially a city-state operating under the corrupt and tyrannical rule of its king and his wife; notably, the city advertised no state religion, likely a consequence of the city-state's reputation as being led by a tyrant king who practiced ancient, dark Magic and communed with entities like Yaldabaoth and The Stranger. The kingdom fell into ruin after the king's wife passed away, an even which drove the king into a depression. Taking the recent death as an opportunity, the entity later known as the Ambassador of Alagadda arrived in the Kingdom and explained to the grieving king that he could become a god and bring his wife back from the dead if the kingdom's citizenry worshipped him as their god. The Ambassador managed to convince the king of this plan on behalf of Nyarlathotep, who wanted to turn the Kingdom of Alagadda into a mocking satire of Hastur and his court in Carcosa. After having the Ambassador convince the populace of their king's divinity, the Ambassador conducted a ritual with the king involving the sacrifice of the king's son, during which occasion the Ambassador seemed to betray the king; the populace hanged their king in the city square, looted and robbed his palace, and laid waste to the city.

After two (2) days of remaining deceased, however, the king was able to raise from the dead and exact his revenge on the populace which had slain him. The city's river turned to blood. The citizens of the city fell ill, many of whom died of The Red Death's Vampiric blood-sapping disease, and madness spread through the survivors like wildfire; the robbers of the palace suffered most and none survived.

On the third (3rd) day, The Red Death lifted but madness spread in its stead. The people became suicidal and insane and all animals except crows and insects fled the city. The plantlife rotted into a state of Undeath, and the Hanged King made his way to his palace. Seated on a throne of rusted spikes, the King groaned in agony but continued with the ritual anyway; the blood river boiled and the palace quaked with the force. The crows attacked surviving citizens, killing the last of the city's population. A silver chalice of blood, provided to him by his now-Undead Jester of Alagadda, was taken into the trembling hands of the Hanged King and accidentally dropped, preventing the completion of the resurrection ceremony. The spilt blood caused the deceased citizenry to raise from their graves as intelligent Undead, the crowds engaging in wanton violence and orgies upon one another in a carnival of debauchery and barbarism.

### Separation from Reality:

At some point during the Kingdom's later history, the Kingdom, now led by the Ambassador of Alagadda in the Hanged King's stead, declared a powerful entity (SCP-3812) to be a threat to the Kingdom's continued existence. Attempting to destroy the entity, the Kingdom was instead forced from the Material Realm by SCP-3812 and formed into a Hinterland. The Ambassador then erased the city's origins and evidence of existence from the Material Realm and struck bargains with [REDACTED], The Stranger, and the Queen of Ravens to allow the Kingdom to serve as a nexus for their combined efforts.

### Modern Operations:

In more recent times, a number of organizations have sought out the Kigndom of Alagadda, including the Scarlet King, the Fourth Reich, and Marshall, Carter & Dark Ltd. The SCP Foundation has made multiple expeditions into the Kingdom, all of which resulted in tragedy; as such, the Foundation has banned all other organizations (including MIS, CBPA, JPCU, etc.) from conducting expeditions into the Hinterland.