In my quest to perceive the nature of godhood, the void, and eldritchian beings, in addition to the main and extended Cthulhu Mythos texts, I and many others have also relied on pop culture and art as their Call, for research purposes, and to achieve magical means of interacting with the pantheon.
As my eldritch “strain” is more mental based, and I myself have an interest in discovering what makes the world around me tick, I have had a fascinating time exploring concepts relating to voidal/cosmic/temporal nonhumanity within pop culture, specifically the SCP universe.
What constitutes a god, and what effects this creature may have on its own psyche as well as those of others, is what I will explore in today’s essay, through the cloudy, unreliable lens of SCP 3812– “A Voice Behind Me”. This reality bending SCP expresses strong symptoms of schizophrenia and mental disturbances to its core psyche, and my theory as to why this is and how it has worsened, will come later.
To be brief, the SCP in question has the ability to manipulate this universe’s entire reality, as well as every reality perceivable to the SCP Foundation. To see why, we will need to consult both the writings of Dr. Kari Yamamari and of Dr. Scranton himself, as both contain key elements on the assumed nature of both reality bending and reality itself.
The main theory of the nature of reality in this universe (again, with regards to the Foundation) involves both Hume levels and the analogy of “levels” of the layers of reality.
Firstly, Hume fields are used to measure levels of temporal and reality disturbances. They are essentially particles that measure the amount that reality is anchored to a location, similar to photons being a form of light or dark matter as an expression of matter that could be, and yet is not perceivable. Of course, the theory, measurement, and use of Hume field metrics in order to secure, contain, and study reality bending anomalies was primarily pioneered by Dr. Robert Scranton. This technology allows the Foundation to more accurately observe reality anomalies and create reality anchors, again technology pioneering by Scranton.
Earth’s Hume field is used as a metric by the Foundation when they assess for temporal and spatial anomalies, though space and voids have lower Hume levels than Earth itself, as spiritual or energetic phenomena might have varying Hume fields.
“Layers” of reality, of narrative, is the second concept which is crucial to understanding SCP 3812 and reality bending anomalies. The basic concept of narrative is to imagine reality itself as a narrative, like creating a comic book or a movie.
“Scranton hypothesized that there might be higher and lower dimensions of reality, different levels of manipulation in the grand construction of the universe. The difference between manipulating a rock with your hands and manipulating a rock with an atom bomb. He called the thing being manipulated the “narrative”, and suggested that the narratives were stacked on top of either other, each creating the narrative of the narrative below it, and so on, until you reached some sort of dead space below them all.”
Humanity has full access to exploit all 3 dimensions to the extent that it is scientifically or metaphysically possible, but what of something that exists in a dimension above ours, and therefore has access to everything in our dimension. Enter the theory of insanity.
△△△△
A Theory As to Insanity Among the Gods and Its Origin:
Dr. Scranton:
“I have often hypothesized on the nature of the echelon, if it even exists, and about whether it would be possible for an entity to see other realities above them or below them. We are currently able to manipulate our own reality, albeit in crude and imperfect ways, and our ability to travel through space is limited at best. It is likely that the only entity capable of ascending through this hypothetical echelon would be one that, by virtue of its very nature, must supersede anything that supersedes it. Such an entity would, as the end result of the logic of its creation, be forced to supersede itself, spiraling ever upwards through the tiers of reality, unable to break free from the bonds of its nature. Perhaps this entity may even someday supersede its creator, and become a host unto itself, the pinnacle above all other pinnacles. A tower that, as a part of its design, must be higher than every other tower, including itself.
Such an entity obviously cannot exist, as any ascension to a higher plane of reality without changes to the entity’s psychology would no doubt break the being’s cognition, making it more similar to an ascending stone than any sentient creature. Once the entity surpassed its own creator, it would have nothing but itself to rely on to prepare it for the sheer scope of narrative it would be exposed to, and would be wholly unable to even begin to comprehend what it would experience. But what an experience that would be!”
The void being the silent, dark potential and tapestry of our universe, an expression of dark matter, with Matter (the visible universe/reality) underneath, both forming their own narratives of creation and destruction, is the concept we have at hand here. A being which is in part the void or matter itself, which supersedes our reality, might then deal with the emotional and mental ramifications of being a lonely, ever present being which cannot undo itself except by the powers of one above, beyond, or deeper within themselves or their spacial and temporal reality.
SCP 3812 is clearly mentally disturbed. Given Scranton’s hypothesis that an entity that ascends the tapestries of reality would need to undergo changes to their psychology, might it be that SCP 3812 previously may have been a latent reality bender whose mental illness either worsened or appeared upon it ascending to a higher plane of being after death?
Extrapolating this to Scranton’s modern idea of a god, we have entities that have undergone mental change, either positive or negative, upon moving to higher or different planes of reality. A entity that has to bend to the rules of its new reality, a host of new experiences, and the fact that it can alter reality at a whim, as the writer does with the written narrative. A being who exists in these higher planes has power, knowledge, wisdom, and the strife and the pain to show for it, and they may also have the madness, either from the natural breaking of their mind or because of the grim reality that they can never die.
The modern god is a being which is not an ascending stone, who has modifications to survive the physical and mental ramifications of being in a higher and/or different plane, which thrives from their knowledge, their current of power, and their ability to bend the essence of time and space to their Will.
The god that is an ascending creature who has wrangled their horns of madness and the unfeeling creature of suicidal darkness, for whatever period of being this may encompass, is a thing to be feared. A being which knows itself and everything below it may have more than the faint shadow of insanity and the dim light of higher planes to guide it, is something which walks with power, however insanely enlightened it may be.
△△△△
Implications Regarding Theories of Sharding:
So now we have the entity called a god, who exists on a plane beyond or “above” our reality. Given the effects that SCP 3812 has on reality itself, even given its madness, beings known as gods coming into our universe can have disatrous effects on reality. Tales and mythology of gods from the beginning of written record include gods walking on the Earth in human form, gods creating offspring with humans, or humans granted/blessed with divine currents given to us by our deities.
A more modern interpretation of that age old mythology lies behind the idea of sharding, in which a god imparts part of their essence or soul (a “shard”) into a being (a “godshard”), whom in some ways may be regarded as a modern demigod. This being may unknowingly be the eyes, ears, the presence– the conduit– of a deity, especially after one awakens to their energetic heritage.
Still, we have the question of why. As mentioned previously, a god that knows all and is above all may become bored of its existence. It may want to collect energy and followers to expand its current and power. It may want to help humanity. It may want to hurt humanity. It may fuck with us just because it wants to.
Given that the pure presence of a higher dimensional creature can effect reality to an intense and severe extent, it may be given that one that holds at least some intrinsic power over our narrative– a god– may want to be careful with how they wield this power. As a a god, a writer who has the power to craft worlds with impact on its very core, how would one handle this dilemma? They may fold realities, but this can have dangerous consequences. They could speak into the ears and minds of men, but given how finicky spiritual and mental power are to perceive, this may fall on deaf ears.
How else to induct one into your being for more control over them? Perhaps the god may step into the shoes of their characters and live in their world, and here we have sharding. A being which has access to the blueprints of this dimension and who understands themselves and what is below them, who may exist in multiple planes, realities, universes, and forms, might logically have the ability to split their presence at Will and disseminate this among humanity directly. Thus we have sharding.
The concept of a god inhabiting man, especially in the 21st century, may be a queer concept, but humanity’s sense of time never orders when the gods step foot upon our world. Scientifically, in theory there is nothing to stop or measure such a creature yet devised, and energetically, there is little that can be done about it without injuring the “godshard” in question. Despite this seeming disadvantage for those of who the gods may seek to control, godshards also have a unique access and experience. Given that the anyone’s soul (already an individual) is already capable of apotheosis/ascension in theory, someone’s soul who has gone through the regular karmic/energetic wash and as a godshard, also contains the shard of a deity that can alter the fabric of energy and reality, may have a certain key look into knowledge and experiences that are never supposed to be known by ordinary beings.
△△△△
This concludes today’s essay.
– Elrod
References:
https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3812
https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/and-this-one-explains-humes