The history and it's interpretations of Grand Karcist Ion from the SCP Foundation.
(Note: Due to the lack of canon in the universe of the SCP Foundation, there are several versions of Grand Karcist Ion. They are described below.)
Common[]
Origin[]
Ion as a slave.
Ion's beginnings were humble, he was conceived by a Daeva Matriarch and a concubine father circa 1800 BCE, but because he was born a male half-blood he became a lowly slave under the rule of the oppressive Daeva civilization. It was unknown what type of slave Ion was turned into, but given to his intellect he may have served as a servant to an alchemist or priestess. Eventually, as Ion suffered over his horrible treatment he secretly escaped his owner and fled from the Empire with some food and water.
Roaming aimlessly through unknown land, Yaldabaoth and his Archons influenced Ion and guided him through the path they made for him as they had some unknown plans for him. As Ion surrendered himself to them and accepted their offer of giving him great powers, the beings put Ion through a dream-like and painful apotheosis. Despite the difficult experience, Ion was able to endure it and go through this, and after it was finally over Ion saw that he was given great power over flesh and disease.
Occult War[]
With his newfound powers granted by Yaldabaoth, Ion returned to save his fellow slaves and promising wealth, freedom, and power, he began garnering a rapidly growing following, with Nadox, Lovataar, Orok and Saarn being his most loyal and powerful followers, which eventually led to them overthrowing the Daeva that had enslaved and mistreated his people for so long. He and his followers soon created their own kingdom out of remnants of the Daeva city-states, with the city of Adytum as its capital. Eventually, Ion's new-formed religion and empire began spreading their beliefs throughout the world, with Ion visiting most of Asia, including Japan and Korea, and even Africa and the Americas.
Ion's ascension.
As Ion and his new empire continued to rapidly expand their territory through conquest, they were halted by a coalition of ancient civilization including the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Minoans and the Mekhanites. Fearful of the terrible powers Ion and his followers utilized, the alliance fought a brutal and destructive war against Ion which eventually ended after millions of casualties when Robert Bumaro banished Adytum and Ion from this mortal plane.
Unbeknownst to their enemies, Ion had foreseen his demise and tasked each of his Klavigar and their respective disciples with important missions which would pave way for their return. Ion tasked Orok with creating the most powerful army to have ever existed but to do so in secret, Lovataar with studying the roots of life and find a way to better spread their Flesh, Saarn with studying life itself and to find a way to not only consume the Flesh but also the Soul, and Nadox with spreading his sacred word after his departure. Following Ion's defeat, his broken followers fled to avoid persecution. There have been conflicting claims on how Ion was defeated:
So the Beasts Shall Plague the Land No More[]
During the latest war, Ion and his army were able to slowly get the upper hand as their enemies kept falling. As he marched towards the enemy army, he was approached by an injured Bumaro who sought to end the conflict. Thinking he had the upper hand, Ion initially mocked Bumaro over his state and belief before trying to infect him with his flesh, but Bumaro acted fast and infected Ion's arm with his God's Ichor. Then Bumaro transformed himself, becoming more of a match for Ion. He began repeatedly attacking Ion with his wrist-blade as the latter wasted all of his flesh and bone weapons on him.
Ion tried to summon his Archon and monsters to deter Bumaro, but the prophet slayed all of them. He then cornered the Grand Karcist and nailed his hammer through Ion's torso. Ion began laughing, but Bumaro soon decapitated him and infected his still living head with his virus, putting an end to the war.
Sic Semper Tyrannis[]
As the Mekhanite Empire slowly crumbled, the Sarkites stole several of their scriptures talking about the Broken God's Heart and after analyzing the writings Ion decided to find the Heart and corrupt it. He sent Orok to go look for it, while Lovataar became somewhat concerned.
Orok brought both the heart and its handler Bumaro to Ion in Kythera. After healing Bumaro for him to properly witness what he was about to do Ion began using his power to try to corrupt the heart, but instead it retaliated against him and soon the heart began destroying all of the surrounding Sarkites. As Ion was being covered by the eruption of a nearby volcano Bumaro revealed that the scriptures had been manipulated to trick him into a trap and taunted the Grand Karcist, telling him that he will be imprisoned underneath forever while his faithful slowly died off.
SCP-7354[]
Yaldabaoth, hellbent on destroying the world, manifested itself on the sky in the form of one of its gruesome avatars. Ion, determined to protect the world, shed his physical body and in his spiritual form fought the evil god for eleven days and nights. As Yaldabaoth was left unharmed by his attacks, Ion was forced to sacrifice himself in order to cast the dreaded god back into the void. Their remains would then led to the formation of SCP-7354, a pool of blood in Russia that generated flesh monsters and appeared to also act as a portal to Yaldabaoth's realm. In the ensuing years, the Mekhanites would spread propaganda that Ion had actually been defeated by Bumaro which came to overshadow the truth.
A Baptism of Fire[]
The Mekhanites took the war to Adytum itself where Ion and his loyal followers confronted them head on. However, while his army was battling the countless mechanized soldiers, Ion and three of his Klavigars were forced to clash with the three Mekhanite prophets Bumaro, Saint Hedwig and Legate Trunnion on their own. Nearing defeat, the living city of Adytum attempted to regroup all of the Sarkites to assist the Grand Karcist by recalling all of them through their mental link. Most of the Sarkites answered the call, except for those part of the Freemen who had grown disillusioned with the meaningless war being fought. Despite all their power, the Mekhanites proved to be victorious, with Ion banished and Adytum burned to the ground, leaving the Klavigars and the surviving Sarkites all alone.
Modern Times[]
In 1952, the Adytum's Wake sect lead by Cornelius P. Bodfel III attempted to summon Ion, but the ritual was interrupted by the Global Occult Coalition. Exactly what happened next is unknown, but what is known is that all present died, many from self-inflicted gunshot wounds, and the surrounding area was destroyed, forming the anomaly known as SCP-2480, a gateway for eldritch abominations to enter. Over the next few years, a man appeared to the SCP Foundation site director Simon Oswalt, proclaiming to be the Grand Karcist himself and turning Oswalt into a powerful Karcist who began forming a Sarkite army around SCP-2480, until a joint operation by the Foundation and the GOC successfully neutralized the threat. According to both Dr. Judith Low and Karcist Varis, the individual who met Oswalt was in actuality an impostor. The Serpent's Hand believed that the impostor was none other than an Archon trying to empower Yaldabaoth's forces.
Possible Endings[]
In Memoria, Adytum[]
As Sarkicism began rising once again, with the adherents of the faith disposing of various heads of influential states and groups of interest which was designated SCP-4273, Karcist Lucien Dutoit, Karcist Halyna Ieva, Karcist Yongsun Ban and Karcist Naman broke inside the site containing SCP-3911-1 and proceeded to use it as part of a summoning ritual. This ritual resulted in the manifestation of the four Klavigar before Ion himself manifested, having finally returned to Earth after having defeated the Archons. Following the incident, the Sarkites began planning the next steps in their plan of taking down their enemies and taking over the world.
1[]
As the entire world was slowly being destroyed, Ion and his forces kept fighting against the Mekhanites until the end. Near the the total eradication of the universe, the two opposing religions eventually died, with Ion and Bumaro holding each other in their arms while clutching at their weapons which they had used to pierce the other.
The Great Cult Escape[]
When numerous gods began attacking Earth, Ion remanifested himself on Earth and began helping some of the Sarkites during the chaos by guiding them while fighting various gods. While Ion was guiding his followers to Foundation Area-27 with help of a recent Sarkite convert Maria Demers, a swarm of SCP-5993 suddenly arrived and began consuming Ion, filling his body with honey which slowly killed him. Following his death, the Sarkites were able to escape the bees and safely arrive at Area-27 where Maria was gifted a necklace wrapped in Ion's cloth by Karcist Lu'xkkia.
An Assembly of Sarkics[]
As it turned out, Grand Karcist Ion had in fact been dead all this time, having perished with Adytum during the war against the Mekhanites. His Klavigars had come to terms with this and had no hope of him returning.
SCP-001 (Metaphysician/Karpin Proposal)[]
As it turned, Adytum was transported to a pocket dimension that acted as a graveyard for realities that were destroyed by Yaldabaoth and the Archons. Ion was in fact successful in his ascension, but seeing the poor people were stranded in this reality plagued by the Archons he left behind a copy of his consciousness to guide them and lead them away from the malevolent Old Gods. This echo of Ion took form of a massive mist of spores that would surround those who were trapped in this realm and help them survive by mutating their bodies and slowly showing them the truth.
On December 1st of 2014, Mobile Task Force Psi-13 agent Margot Kennedy ended up in this world after her attempt to assassinate Vivian Durant-Croÿ during her ascension to status as a Karcist, and seeing how helpless she was "Ion" sought to help, but not before knowing he could trust her. Over the course of days, the spores slowly mutated Kennedy's body, healing her injuries, taking away her need for sustenance and granting her Immortality. Ion soon attempted to speak to her through the wind of spores, at first speaking his original language before learning to speak English. Kennedy was unsure of what to make of the disembodied voice, believing it to be either a sinister entity or a figment of her imagination due to her slipping sanity. She also began experiencing dreams of Ion's life when she slept, which was also done by this echo of Ion in order to make her understand he wasn't her enemy.
He spoke to her from time to time, trying to guide her through this harsh environment and warn her from incoming dangers, and as she became increasingly more desperate to survive Kennedy eventually accepted his help. Ion explained to her what was happening around her and the truth of this world, telling her how most of the monsters she encountered were humans who had been corrupted by the Archons. Soon Kennedy became a target of one of the Archons still residing here, causing its worshipers to chase after her, forcing her to kill a few of them. Ion was dismayed at their deaths, despite serving an Archon, as their new forms allowed them to free themselves from the chains of the gods. When she asked him to elaborate on this matter, Ion showed Kennedy how the Old Gods were a threat to humanity and the world. As she wandered into the ruins of Adytum, Ion began speaking to her telepathically as he noticed that she had a device in one of her eyes which was recording everything for the organization she was serving. During her exploration, Ion told her the events around his empire's end and of his followers, and after she found herself in an underground organic tunnel Ion taught Kennedy how to manipulate her flesh.
He explained to her that all of humanity descended from Yaldabaoth, before expressing regret on how his let down his people. Kennedy, having grown close to Ion, assured him that it wasn't his fault, but she then revealed to him the existence of the Neo-Sarkites who used his teachings to commit terrible crimes and deliberately served the Archons. She asked him how to stop Yaldabaoth and the Archons, and Ion responded that they needed to unite humanity in the battle against the Old Gods, also revealing that one of the Archons already laid sleeping on Earth and there were other portals out of this reality. From this experience, Kennedy fully embraced the ways of the Nälkä and thanks to Ion's guidance she found a village inhabited by Sarkites who managed to resist the Archons' corruption. As she began living in this village, Kennedy at last found a portal back home, but refused to go back, having figured that the Foundation would just contain her. Instead she sent her recording device through it with a message for the Foundation, telling them that they needed to unite forces with the Proto-Sarkites in order to takedown the evil Old Gods and bring peace upon reality.
ROUNDERHOUSE's Bone Proposal[]
Iūn was born to a slave couple that were brought to the land that would become China when the Daevites attempted to colonize the surrounding land and expand their empire outside of Mamjul and Korar. At some point, Iūn came across the body of the god Yaldaboth after she had crash landed years ago following her battle with her fellow old gods. Against Yaldaboth's will, Iūn used the god to gain his powers over flesh and get back at his oppressors.
Iūn's empire continued their war against Daevites and eventually learned about the Mekhanites and their city of Amoni-Ram. Wanting the Mekhanites' power and secrets for their own both the Nälkites and Daevites attacked Amoni-Ram, but were met with an unbreakable resistance. The Mekhanites sent their Golden Legion to strike directly at Adytum, though they apparently were unsuccessful. During the chaos, the Black Moon's Three-Prong Army led by its own prophet the BLACKSTAR attacked all of the three empires and made quick work of both the Mekhanites and the Daevites. The same fate befell on Iūn and his own empire, as the Three-Prong Army wiped Adytum which caused the Nälka to be forgotten until the modern day.