At this point, it seems likely that the Golem reactivated, grabbed the Lieutenant's arm and bent it backwards, forcing the knife through his left eye and into his brain.

A black sun rises.

|| Black Sunrise || Archival Document — HSA-008-Advent »

NOTICE
from the
RECORDS AND INFORMATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

This file contains information on one or more physical components of SCP-3457. In accordance with the terms of the Köln Agreement, this file and all enclosed documents are to be transferred to the Office of the Undersecretary-General, GOC High Command, at the soonest available opportunity. Redaction of information pertaining to the ritual component of SCP-3457 should be performed prior to this transfer.
All Foundation personnel involved in the recovery and handling of this file are required to report to their RAISA supervisor for evaluation and targeted amnesticization. Failure to comply may result in disciplinary action.
No copies of this file should remain in Foundation archives after 1949-12-31.

RAISA FILE COVER
Do Not Remove This Page

Record ID:
1944-09-01-BR-04

Source:
Part of a cache of documents acquired from Konrad Weiss (PoI-018747) during Operation BLACK ROPE

Contents:
Translated Obskuracorps (GoI-023) communications regarding the Prague Golem and the Rite of Solomon

From
Konrad Weiss

To
Hermann Schmitz

Subject
The Seventh Key

Commander Schmitz,
Unfortunately, I am unable to tell you what the Key looks like, as that is information which I do not possess. As with many such items, there is little about it in the historical record, and what information is recorded is fragmentary and contradictory. I have dedicated half a century of my life to studying these artifacts, and in that time all that I have managed to learn of the Keys would scarcely fill a pamphlet. Gods, men, and vermin all alike have conspired for millennia to conceal this knowledge; history itself works against us. But we shall prevail. There are none left who can oppose us.
Despite the scarcity of information, I am confident that you shall find the Key in the Bohemian Protectorate. The last reliable records of the Key say that it was stolen from Constantinople and smuggled to Prague during the 4th Occult War, in order to keep it from the Ottomans. It is likely that it remained in the possession of the city's Judenmagier1 until the latter part of the 16th century. According to local lore, this was when the Maharal2 constructed a golem to attack the German population of Prague on behalf of the city's Jewry3. Of course, being animated by flawed Jewish magics, the golem inevitably went mad and turned upon its creators, forcing the Maharal to deactivate it. I managed to acquire copies of the Maharal's journal which indicate that he did create such a golem, but that it was also meant to serve as a repository for a powerful artifact which he possessed. He does not explicitly name this artifact, but I strongly suspect that it was the Key — as we have learned in our other acquisitions, it was not uncommon for the Key guardians to conceal them within another artifact or construct.
Therefore, your directive is to locate and secure the Golem of Prague; even if it does not contain the Key we seek, having such a tool in our possession would be more than worthwhile. I recommend that you begin your search at the Altneuschul4, where the Golem is rumored to be interred — and if it is not there, you will likely be able to find some record of its true location stored within. All other SS and Wehrmacht resources within the region are at your disposal until this task is completed. Do whatever is necessary to secure the Golem and the Key. Burn Prague to the ground if you must. Nothing is more important to the success of the German nation than acquiring that Key.
HH

From
Hermann Schmitz

To
Konrad Weiss

Subject
Loss of the Golem

Director Weiss,
It is with great shame and regret that I must inform you of our failure to secure the Golem. It managed to evade our agents and escape the city with the help of our enemies. I take full responsibility for this failure. I offer no excuses, only an explanation of events as they transpired.
As you predicted, our agents found the Golem in the Altneuschul, stored inactive and perfectly intact in the attic of the synagogue. It is difficult to say what next occurred with certainty, but forensic examination of the scene indicates that Lieutenant Dunst approached the Golem and attempted to break open its chest cavity with the end of his knife. At this point, it seems likely that the Golem reactivated, grabbed the Lieutenant's arm and bent it backwards, forcing the knife through his left eye and into his brain. The remaining agents in the attic managed to fire a combined total of 14 shots before the Golem also killed them. With the exception of the Lieutenant, the cause of death in each case was extreme blunt force trauma to the head or chest. While shocking, such excessive brutality is only to be expected from the construct of a Judenmagier.
After murdering our agents in the synagogue, the Golem fled the building and began moving through the streets of Prague, wantonly attacking all Reich assets and personnel it encountered. No apparent pattern could be divined from its movements, and all attempts to establish a cordon to contain it failed as the Golem broke through any resistance in its path. It rampaged through the city almost entirely unchecked for nearly 17 hours before a team of Thule Society Kriegsmagier5 were brought in to neutralize it. Despite their prowess in combat thaumaturgy, the Thule were unable to destroy the Golem; however, they were able to stall its rampage through Prague. Over the next three hours, the Thule team bravely battled the Golem to a standstill, sustaining significant casualties in the process. During this time, I began mobilizing all available Wehrmacht units in the area, including a column of anti-tank guns, in preparation for a final strike against the Golem.
However, before this strike could be launched, a force of enemy commandos — tentatively identified as Templar Knights — apportated into the city and attacked the Thule team. With assistance from the commandos, the Judenriese6 slaughtered the remaining Thule thaumaturges. Reports from surviving witnesses indicate that upon concluding its butchery, the Golem conversed with the commandos for several minutes, before fleeing with them through a Way. Backlash imprints in the local background aura confirm that a Way was opened, but attempts to reopen it have met with failure. It is likely that the commandos collapsed the Way behind them to deter pursuit.
At this time, the locations of the Golem and the Templar commandos are unknown. It is extremely likely that the Golem is now in the hands of our enemies. Given the extent and intensity of its actions against the Reich during its rampage through Prague, it is probable that it will act against us again in the future. Additionally, given the speed with which the Templars were able to respond to this incident, it is reasonable to believe that our enemies have succeeded in compromising our communications or command structure. If such is the case, you are surely aware of the implications it would have on our operations.
Once again, I offer my apologies for failing to secure the Golem and the Key, and take full responsibility for this disastrous incident.
HH

From
Josef Boller

To
Konrad Weiss

Subject
Analysis of Enemy Commando Operations

Director Weiss,
In the 18 months since the Prague Incident, enemy commandos have undertaken 23 actions within Continental Europe which can be conclusively tied solely to the ongoing occult conflict and not the conventional war effort. The efficacy of these raids are such that there is often little data available for analysis, but based on what information there is, I have been able to draw the following conclusions:

There is great diversity in the composition of enemy forces. In addition to Templar Knights, commando teams have included agents of the British Occult Service, runemasters of the Order of the Æsir, antimasons of the Gormogons, zealots of the Eternal Temple, and janissaries of the Brotherhood of Auspicious Survivors. This list is not comprehensive.

This is indicative of an expansive and cohesive coalition within the global occult community, one which seeks to oppose our operations — said coalition is almost certainly wider in scope than the great powers arrayed against us in the conventional war.
Increasing diversity of enemy forces is an indicator that this coalition has expanded rapidly in the last 12 months (possibly coinciding with the execution of Fall Weiss7).
The basis of this opposition is likely rooted in the pre-war resistance to our archaeological efforts, further inflamed by the outbreak of open hostilities and the expansion of the conventional war.

In 19 of the actions analyzed, apportation was used for insertion by enemy commando teams. In no actions was apportation ever used for exfiltration. Enemy commandos have demonstrated their ability to apportate over long distances with a high degree of precision; only 1 enemy casualty from a failure of apportation has been documented by our forces.

The frequency with which apportation is used suggests that the enemy coalition possesses a novel method for generating large amounts of orgone8 in a relatively short period of time.

This conclusion is based on a comparative analysis of our own apportation capabilities, which, despite the abundance of subjects provided by the concentration camps, are still extremely limited by the inherent logistical difficulties present in conducting several dozen ritual sacrifices in rapid succession.

While it is possible that our enemies are relying on a more traditional source of orgone, such as mass orgies, it seems implausible that they have been able to overcome the logistical issues involved. Thus, a new method of orgone generation is more likely.

Based on the use of apportation in the Prague Incident, it is likely but not certain that this method was developed by one of the initial members of the enemy coalition.
The absence of apportation in exfiltration attempts suggests that our enemies are either unable or unwilling to use this method in the field.
The accuracy of enemy apportations may indicate that commando operations are launched from a base within Continental Europe; the reduction in real space distance between origin and destination would allow for a corresponding reduction in the uncertainty errors inherent to apportation.

This is merely conjecture, but it is possible that the ICSUT9 is a member of the enemy coalition, and that their satellite campus in Zurich is being used as a staging ground for commando raids. If or when Operation Tannenbaum10 is executed, I would strongly advise that a battalion of Waffen-SS be deployed alongside a force of Thule Society thaumaturges to secure the campus.

In 14 of the actions analyzed, the presence of a stone or clay giant among the commando forces was reported. Descriptions given by survivors are consistent with the known appearance of the Golem of Prague. The golem has been reported to possess some degree of occult ability, most notably a form of offensive necromancy. There are also unconfirmed reports that the golem is able to make itself invisible or imperceptible to the human eye.

It is extremely likely that this golem is the Golem of Prague.
Based on its reported occult ability, which is extremely atypical for a golem, it is likely that the Judenriese possesses a powerful artifact which is the source of its apparent abilities. The most obvious candidate is, of course, the seventh Key.
Given their repeated use of the Judenriese as a field operative in high-risk commando missions, it is likely that our enemies are unaware of the presence of the Key within the Golem, are unaware of the Key's function or strategic value, or are unaware of our intentions with the Rite.

It is unlikely but also possible that the Golem simply does not contain the Key as we originally believed.
Assuming that our enemies are unaware of our plans, it would seem unlikely that they have succeeded in compromising our communications or infiltrating our command structure to any significant extent, as the late Commander Schmitz11 proposed.

The timely arrival of the Templar Knights during the Prague Incident can thus be attributed to simple coincidence; given its cultural significance and utility as a weapon, it is not surprising that our enemies would also have attempted to recover the Golem following the establishment of the Bohemian Protectorate. That they succeeded in doing so can be attributed to the failure of Commander Schmitz.

In all of the actions analyzed, the apparent target of the enemy commandos was one or more occult artifacts. 10 raids targeted Obskuracorps storehouses, 8 raids targeted artifacts in transit, and 4 raids intercepted our agents during acquisitions; 1 raid succeeded in securing the target artifact prior to the arrival of our agents, who encountered the commando team during their exfiltration attempt.

It is likely that our enemies have performed additional recovery operations which succeeded in avoiding detection by our forces. It is difficult to guess how many such operations may have been performed.
Given their ability to locate Obskuracorps storehouses and convoys, it is apparent that our enemies maintain an extensive network of informants across the continent — likely drawn from local partisans and other criminals. Additional efforts should be made to disguise or conceal Obskuracorps assets.
The enemy focus on acquiring artifacts corroborates the earlier assumption that they view the present occult conflict as an extension of the pre-war archaeological competition, and lends further credence to the theory that they are unaware of our plans involving the Rite.

I sincerely hope that you find this analysis useful.
HH

From
Richard Wege

To
Konrad Weiss

Subject
Exploration of the Parisian Catacombs

Director Weiss,
My team has completed the survey you ordered of the catacombs beneath Paris. The structure is expansive and, for the most part, uninteresting. A forensic anthropology team may find some value in studying the endless bones that fill the crypts, but our only discovery of note within the main structure of the catacombs was a significant number of dormant Ways with unusually high orgone emissions. If additional assets can be spared from the Grecian front recently opened by Mussolini, I would recommend that a further exploration and study be made of these Ways — they could hold significant strategic value if they connect to a nexus.
However, the most important discovery made by my team was the find of a buried chamber just beneath the lower levels of the catacombs. The architecture of this chamber is significantly different from that of the structures above it, and I estimate that it predates the catacombs by several centuries. The walls are covered with inscriptions in an unfamiliar runic script. A copy of these inscriptions has been included with this report.12 Perhaps your scribes will have better luck translating them?
While potentially intriguing, these inscriptions are of trivial importance in comparison to our other find within the chamber. Located on a raised dais near the center of the chamber, and half-buried under rubble, was a humanoid automaton of brass and bronze. Although slightly damaged by the partial collapse of the chamber, and clearly dormant for centuries, the advanced clockwork machinery appears to still be fully functional.
Based on the runic inscriptions on the walls, the apparent age of the chamber, and the complexity of the automaton's inner mechanisms, it seems clear to me that the construct is of Germanic origin, likely dating back to the time of Clovis the Frank — and possibly constructed with the aid of the vanished dwarven race.
My team is currently working on excavating the automaton so that it may be shipped back to Germany for further study and repairs. I will write again to inform you once it is in transit.
HH

From
Konrad Weiss

To
Werner Schuhmann

Subject
New Asset for Experimentation

Herr Schuhmann,
While I am in full agreement with your theory that the Judenriese would serve as a capable conduit for Tyrfing, it continues to evade our efforts to capture it. However, I have recently come into possession of a new asset that I believe will allow us to continue our experimentation with the sword regardless.
One of my survey teams in France recently uncovered the remains of an ancient Germanic structure, buried beneath the Parisian Catacombs. Stored within the chamber was a clockwork automaton of Aryan-Dwarven construction, damaged but still functional. I had it excavated and returned to Germany, where the best engineers in the Reich worked to repair it and fit it with a control device. It is now active again for the first time in centuries, and fully obeys my orders. I am having it shipped to Facility 12 tomorrow.
It is my hope that you will find this automaton valuable in your experimentation with Tyrfing. I believe it will even prove more useful than the elusive Judenriese would have been — there may yet be some sympathetic link between the automaton and the sword, given their common Germanic origins.
I eagerly anticipate the results of your research.
HH

From
Konrad Weiss

To
Heinrich Himmler

Subject
Alternative to Capturing the Golem

Reichsführer13,
I write to once again inform you of the latest failure to capture the Golem. The details are unnecessary, but suffice to say that the recovery team we sent to ambush the Judenriese in Istanbul were butchered to a man. I have already directed that they be buried with full military honors. Closed casket funerals, of course.
At this point, I do not believe continuing this course of action will bear fruit. In all of our combat engagements with the Judenriese, its sheer destructive power has become painfully apparent. It is a clumsy, crude weapon created by vermin to strike against the strong, but it is brutally effective in this role. It would take at least a full battalion, reinforced by our best Kriegsmagier, to disable it. Such a force could only be brought to bear if we could locate and overrun the enemy coalition's base of operations, and with the opening of a new front in Russia last month, it seems unlikely that Operation Seelöwe14 or Operation Tannenbaum will be implemented in the near future. Unless our enemies have been operating from Moscow the entire time, I doubt we will be recovering the Golem anytime soon.
Instead, I propose that we redirect our efforts towards developing a replacement for the missing Key. If a Judenmagier such as Solomon could create the Keys in the first place, then it should prove trivial for our superior science to replicate and even improve upon them. And what better way to prove the superiority of the German race than to take the inferior magics of superstitious vermin and refine them to perfection with Aryan science?
I have been studying the Keys already in our possession, as well as all available reports of the Judenriese's displayed abilities, and I now have a theory on the nature of the final Key. Given the Golem's extensive capabilities in the field of summoning and binding shades and spirits, I believe that the Key it contains is a powerful necromantic conduit. This is in keeping with the natures of the other Keys, which have been various talismans for summoning and binding demons, angels, djinn, and other occult entities. When used in combination in the Rite, they can even be used to summon and bind a god.
With your permission, I would seek to create a new Key to replace the missing seventh. We have amassed one of the greatest collections of occult artifacts in history. Surely one of them could serve as the basis for an ersatz Key.
HH

From
Heinrich Himmler

To
Konrad Weiss

Subject
Progress on the Rite?

Kord,
I know I need not remind you of the importance of your work on the Rite. However, given the recent developments in the conventional war, and the failure of the Portlands Assault15, I feel it is important to stress the newfound urgency of its implementation. I understand that we are ready to constitute the demiurge, but what progress has been made in regards to the Keys? And what of the failsafe? Are we any closer to deciphering the designs for the weapon?
The Führer does not believe we will need the Rite. He tells me that the natural superiority of the Aryan race will allow us to defeat our enemies, numerous as they may be. But I have seen the strategic reports. If the Atlantic Wall falls, this war will not end in our favor. If we are to secure a future for the German people, we must have the Rite.
HH

From
Konrad Weiss

To
Heinrich Himmler

Subject
Clean Implementation of the Ritual

Reichsführer,
With the recent defeats on the Eastern Front, you will be pleased to hear that I have, for once, some truly good news. Our efforts to replace Solomon's Keys with Aryan artifacts of our own devising have finally borne fruit.
Initially, we focused our efforts on merely producing an ersatz Key to substitute for the missing seventh. However, we were unable to get the other Keys to recognize our ersatz copy; I now believe that the Keys are somehow linked through the Law of Contagion, making it impossible to replace any individual key. While this may have been an intentional security measure instituted by Solomon, I find it far more likely that it is the result of simple happenstance. Regardless, it forced us to take a new approach.
Taking cues from the functionality of the original Keys, I set about designing an entirely new set of Keys with which to perform the Rite. There are 9 in total, and each one is meant to exert control over a different kind of occult entity. Once constructed and combined in the Rite, they should fulfill the same function as the original Keys of Solomon — binding the new demiurge to our will.
The first of these 9 Aryan Keys has already been completed; it is the ersatz Key that we intended to replace the Seventh Key of Solomon, and its functionality is identical — using it, one may summon and command any spirit of the dead, be it human or animal. I have already directed the research team to begin work on the second Key, which will have power over Asuras and other demons. It will take some time to complete them all, but I predict that we will have finished construction of the Aryan Keys by this time next year. After that, it will be a trivial matter to adjust the Rite to incorporate them. Then we shall finally be able to achieve our apotheosis over the lesser races and put an end to this and all other conflicts. Truly, our future will be glorious.
As for the weapon… my scholars have finally succeeded in deciphering the code used by the Godless16. While I do not believe it will be necessary, I have already dispatched a special courier to your office with the designs. Should we need it, it will be available to us as a failsafe.
HH

Footnotes
1. RAISA Annotation: Literally "Jew mage". A derogatory term used by the Nazi regime to refer to Jewish Kabbalists.
2. RAISA Annotation: Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, also known as the Maharal of Prague, was one of the preeminent Jewish scholars and mystics of the 16th century. Although widely dismissed as folklore by modern consensus normalcy, his exploits as a Kabbalistic occultist are widely renowned.
3. RAISA Annotation: Most descriptions of the Golem of Prague say that it was created to defend Prague's Jewish minority from pogroms performed by the city's German majority.
4. RAISA Annotation: The Old New Synagogue in Josefev, Prague. Built in 1270, it is Europe's oldest active synagogue, and has long been associated with the city's Kabbalists.
5. RAISA Annotation: Literally "war mage". A term used by the Obskuracorps to describe the elite battlemages of the Thule Society.
6. RAISA Annotation: Literally "Jew giant". A derogatory term used by members of the Obskuracorps to refer to the Golem of Prague. Throughout the course of the war, its appearance in official Obskuracorps documents steadily increased. This is the first apparent use of the term.
7. RAISA Annotation: The codename for Nazi Germany's strategic plan to invade Poland.
8. RAISA Annotation: Orgone is the term used by Nazi occultists to refer to what is commonly called Elan-Vital Energy, the underlying power source behind all thaumaturgy.
9. RAISA Annotation: The International Center for the Study of Unified Thaumatology. One of the foremost magical colleges in the world, the ICSUT was an initial participant in the Allied Occult Initiative, and contributed early prototypes of the Everhart Resonator to the coalition war effort.
10. RAISA Annotation: The codename for the proposed Nazi invasion of Switzerland.
11. RAISA Annotation: German records recovered after the war indicate that Hermann Schmitz died shortly after the Prague Incident, when he spontaneously combusted in his sleep.
12. RAISA Annotation: Internal analysis by Foundation experts indicates that the inscriptions are likely Mekhanite in origin.
13. RAISA Annotation: Literally "Reich Leader". The title of the head of the SS. There is no corresponding rank in the Anglophone militaries, although on paper the head of the SS was equivalent in rank to a Field Marshal.
14. RAISA Annotation: The codename for the proposed Nazi invasion of Great Britain.
15. RAISA Annotation: The Foundation currently has no records pertaining to the incident referenced here. It is believed that it refers to an Obskuracorps combat engagement with the AOI in the vicinity of the Isle of Portland.
16. RAISA Annotation: Believed to be the name of the cabal of German occultists who destroyed the original demiurge during the 6th Occult War. Almost nothing is known about them with any certainty, and there are few records of their existence.

|| Black Sunrise || Archival Document — HSA-008-Advent »