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| “ | As long as so many people believe we are doing terrible things, the monster will continue to believe we are doing terrible things. There is power in symbols, doctor. The old gods know this, and the old gods are bound by it. The Scarlet King does not have eyes to see brutality, does not have ears to hear screams, does not have a nose to smell blood. But the Scarlet King can sense fear, and we have given it fear. Fear alone is all that it ever required. | „ |
| ~ Dr. Oliver Targus about the Scarlet King in "Fear Alone". |
| “ | I know that the Foundation does not approve of using the term, but it is still the case. The Stag is a god, and it is not a petty local god. It is not one of the mild gods of Earth, or some weaker spirit that is bound by the strength of man’s belief. | „ |
| ~ Consultant ██████ ████████ describing SCP-2845. |
The Old Gods, sometimes also known as the Low Elder Gods, are an overarching antagonistic faction of the universe of the SCP Foundation.
They play a major role in "Verse of an Endless Song", "Competitive Eschatology", and "The Trashfire" canons.
Overview
(Note: Due to the SCP Foundation-universe having no official canon, the Old Gods are a very loose concept within the mythos, though subtle connections exist in different tales and articles.)
Inspired by the Great Old Ones from H.P. Lovecraft (though also being based on real religions, myths, and folklore), the Old Gods are a loose pantheon of eldritch deities and among the most powerful beings in the multiverse, usually being beyond the comprehension of humans in terms of scale, power or motivation. Despite, unlike their Lovecraftian inspiration, it appears that humanity can, at least sometimes, hold up against the Old Gods.
An example for this is SCP-2845: The entity came to Earth on a comet and started to cause havoc, but with much effort, the Foundation, with the help of the Global Occult Coalition and at least another occult organization managed to contain the being with a six-step ritual.
The attitude towards humanity also varies from deity to deity. Some seem to have the interest to improve mankind (Mekhane), while others appear indifferent about them (SCP-3000), and others want to conquer and/or destroy all life (Scarlet King).
The Old Ones also have alliances and conflicts among themselves: Mekhane and Yaldabaoth appear to be opposite enemies, while many lesser gods, like Jeser or the Hanged King, serve stronger ones, such as the Scarlet King. It also speculated that Yaldabaoth for example is the aunt/uncle of the Scarlet King.
It is believed by certain cults, such as Sarkicism or the Chosen of God, that the old gods created the universe. The most well known gods are actually part of the Low Elder Gods as they are way less powerful than the High Elder Gods, similar in a way to the comparison between the Great Old Ones and the Outer Gods, being superior to the Brothers Death which are superior to the Low Elder Gods.
However, in other continuities the gods are depicted as not being physical ancient beings, but instead ideas which had come to life after humanity began believing in them, similar in a way to Tulpas. These gods in fact inhabit the noosphere, the human collective consciousness, in which they were created as a result of humanity, as seen with the Scarlet King, the Serpent, Mekhane/WAN and possibly SCP-682 and SCP-3125. The gods that appear directly to humans are in fact their physical projections as the gods don't possess a true form and cannot directly interact with the normal physical world, requiring worshipers and/or avatars in order to exist and affect humanity and the world.
In one tale, the Hanged King was able to achieve apotheosis only after his Ambassador convinced his entire Kingdom that after his death he would become a god following the numerous sacrifices he did. The same also happened to SCP-3000 which was originally just an abnormally large eel that became the Hindu god Anantashesha after a large number of people believed they were the same being. The Xia Dynasty believed that this was the case for the gods, their worship causing the manifestation of the gods, meaning that humanity and its beliefs are responsible for the creation and the manipulation of the gods, even retroactively changing the past to make those gods appear as if they always were there despite the truth.
List of Old Gods
Old Gods
Referred to as an Old God
- Scarlet King
- Mekhane
- Yaldabaoth
- Hanged King
- The Factory
- Jeser
- Lord Goran
- Ma'tol
- Moloch
- SCP-2317-K
- SCP-2845
- Xiolt-la
- King Worm
- Verdant Mage
- Unseelie Queen
Associated with other Old Gods
- Pangloss (associated with SCP-2845, the Scarlet King, Mekhane, and Yaldabaoth)
- Serpent (sibling of Mekhane)
- Sanna (previous "bride" of the Scarlet King)
- Saturn Deer (sibling of Pangloss)
- He Who Walks Beneath Dreams (associated with Pangloss)
- SCP-2439 (Scarlet King's Mind)
- SCP-2662 (father shown to be an Old God)
- SCP-3000 (sibling of the Serpent)
- SCP-6700-04 (associated with the Scarlet King, Mekhane and Yaldabaoth)
- Titania (associated with Mekhane and Yaldabaoth)
- Teran (associated with the Scarlet King, Mekhane and Yaldabaoth)
Called something similar
- SCP-426 (called as an "Eldritch Horror" known as "I, Who Will Be One With All")
- SCP-682 (referred to as an Elder God)
- White Sun (called "some eldritch entity from the 'Outer Dark', whatever that is besides Lovecraft's wet dream.")
- SCP-3004-1 (grouped with "The gods of the old world")
- SCP-3388 (referred to as an Elder God)
- SCP-4612-A (referred as an ancient creation god)
- SCP-4950 (referred to as "the Archon Lord")
- SCP-6091 (referred to as an Elder God)
Theorized
- SCP-3125 (theorized to be the Fithist God)
- SCP-4043/SCP-6789 (referred to as Gaia)
- SCP-4315-2 (Lovecraft's actual gods)
- SCP-4971-▽
- Koitern
- LSA-Brasil-01 (believed to be a Fithist angel)
- Thoth
- Zsar Magoth (referenced planets believed to be where the Old Gods lived)
- He-Who-Made-Dark
- He-Who-Made-Light
Powerful beings serving the Old Gods
- Ambassador of Alagadda
- Archons
- BLACKSTAR
- Faeries
- Grand Karcist Ion
- Robert Bumaro
- Black Lord of Alagadda
- Ab-Leshal
- SCP-096
- Children of the Night
- Cousin Johnny
- SCP-3456
- SCP-3700-1
- SCP-3700-2
- Jasper (possibly)
- Lilly
- Mr. Redd
- Hgan (formerly)
- Orvo
- Ydax
- Lror
- Euboea
Organizations & people serving the Old Gods
- Brazen Heart
- Chosen of God
- Children of the Scarlet King
- Church of the Broken God
- Robert Bumaro
- Trunnion
- Hedwig
- Daevites
- Fifth Church
- Order of the White Sun
- People of the Lie
- Adytum's Wake
Quotes
| “ | The old gods were fickle, twisted, and brutal things. They had no purity in them, and they sought to shape worlds for their own amusement. They created figures in their image, to serve them, and to venerate them. Hundreds of worlds and realities were created, blooming into existence by the hands of the old gods. |
„ |
| ~ The Chosen of God, about the Old Gods. |
| “ | There is a god, called Anantashesha. A serpent, the king of serpents. Said to lie beneath Vishnu in the cosmos. A six headed snake god, isn't that something? (...) I believe that SCP-3000 is Anantashesha. I believe that this… this aberration, this treachery against cognition, is the result of us being in the presence of a god. | „ |
| ~ Venkat Krishnamoorthy. |
| “ | It does not think in the way we think. Truth be told, I would not say that it thinks at all. This is an old god, it does not dabble in decisions. Decisions are for creatures who may act erratically, variably, or out of line. A god of this strength simply Is. It is an absolute. It acts as a force. | „ |
| ~ A Foundation consultant to Site Director Dell. |
| “ | Many gods fell to the service of the King: The grinding machinery of the Factory, who consumed all, leant its mindless strength in blood and steel. The King on the Gallows, He Who Was Hung, tore at the Tree’s knowledge from within. The Prince of Many Faces warped the wills of mortals, and Moloch the Horned One brought forth their shame. Many more whose names have been erased also served. The King’s many mortal servants recreated the establishment of his line in living effigy. | „ |
| ~ From "Dust and Blood". |
| “ | These gods also bore neither crowns nor facets: they needed no signs of authority, for they were old gods, and they had no facets, for they were immutable. They were few in number compared to the gods who wore facets and the gods who stood before Yesod-With-Faces, but their power filled me with awe. Speaks-With-Self spoke to me then, and said “Their age has rendered them mighty, but they are separated. See, their Ways are few, and they do not bicker about about like the gods who wear facets and the gods who stand before Yesod-With-Faces. They are quiet gods, slow to act, and distant. Do you understand the meaning of this?” I answered: “As one can be said to hold his breath in his hands.” |
„ |
| ~ From "Vision At Betar". |
| “ | Our Great Work is incomplete. For as long as the gods remain, we will never be free. Take pity on the Daeva, for they are but shadows upon the wall - harbingers of those that cast its darkness; a darkness we must dispel. But as long as humanity remains divided, as long as they believe the lies of the gods, we cannot know victory. We will sail the vast seas; we will march through the highest mountains. We will spread our ways until the whole of the world knows our Truth. |
„ |
| ~ Grand Karcist Ion in a Sarkic scripture from "An Anthropological Approach to Sarkicism - Case Study 01: The Vaśńa of Sarvi". |
| “ | Great beasts were bred there, where they fought and bled and consumed one another; great gods were drawn there, licking this wound of the universe like parasites. But an even greater beast had been there, the God Eater, a titan among them, who had lurked there for aeons. A godly beast of enormous size, she had consumed countless, and all that were in her path would find no escape. | „ |
| ~ "The Maker and the Beast" about Yaldabaoth. |
| “ | It is pretty insane. There are planets and stars like in your universe, but life ain't the same. We've got stuff like planet-sized, star-eating crystal serpents, sick lightning storms that fertilize the ground to create clockwork plants, some chill oceans filled with diamond corals and also winged carnivorous eggs that never stop singing Spice Girls songs. And yeah, there's like a bajillion guys like me. It's hella hard to stand out from the crowd to get someone to summon you and give a sacrifice, but I get by. | „ |
| ~ Zsar Magoth about his homeworld. |
| “ | The other day, a man walked up to me and talked to me about his one true god. I told him that there was no one true god, for all gods were true if they were believed in. And if there was indeed a one true god, it must be his belief that made it so, and framed the others as fairies and demons. But in truth, gods were no different from demons or fairies, for they were all creatures created by our minds, merely under different titles. | „ |
| ~ A member of the Xia Dynasty in "Theology of a Snake". |
| “ | Once in the Great Abyss there was a place of joy, where gods gathered and— No, you know what DEER, this is just stupid, I don't even care if those two actually got a room. I'm outta here. | „ |
| ~ Pangloss writing his poem to SCP-2845 in "Not a contest entry, but a crackfic about gods anyways". |
| “ | Gods are the greediest and the most foolish of all beings, and men are descendants of the Dragons. Now that the two Dragons are both gone, the gods will surely feed upon the Nine Children and men. And when the Dragons return, they will surely consume all gods in turn. I only wish to avoid such disaster. | „ |
| ~ Qilin (SCP-2845) explaining to the Faceless God why it was leaving the Great Abyss in "About the Serpent". |
| “ | Did you know gods can't die? They just… fade, waiting for their time to come again. But they still leave corpses. Something to jam a spigot into and tap into whatever power might be left lying around. The old man must have gotten desperate. Brass wasn't enough, even as big as the corpse he got pulled from is. A Broken universe still yields a Broken power, and a sliver of a fragment isn't worth much of anything. So he tried something a bit more intact, and… | „ |
| ~ Mr. Redd |
| “ | You must understand, a god isn't… analogous to a human. A god is pure will, and only intersects with our realm when necessary. But he… he did more. He forced his will into this world, made himself flesh. With flesh comes power. But also mortality. I do not know the exact cause, but he was dying. | „ |
| ~ SCP-2970 about the Lord of Endowments' demise. |
| “ | Only we understand. The true gods are descending, and only we can see them. Will you join me with them? Will you help me sprout the seeds of the world? | „ |
| ~ A Fifthist in "Theogenesis". |
| “ | It's just… It's just every time I turn around I'm being sent another cult by my father. He says it's my destiny to have a sex cult like him. It's a family thing. He's a sex god, his father-mother-parent was a blood lord, his-her-its progenitor was the Marrow-Mother… Do you know what it's like growing up in a home with him always bringing his work home? Thanks, Dad, black chicken for dinner again. Thanks, Dad, another dead baby for my birthday. Can you turn the chanting and wailing of souls down, Dad? I'm trying to sleep. Some of us just aren't into kinky shit, right? And he's been shoving it down my throat ever since I was a baby. Doesn't he get it? Why do I have to be like that? | „ |
| ~ SCP-2662 lamenting about his life in "Skeeve Online". |
| “ | Given the fact that Cétlaidí were upright members of society, one can imagine that the resonance within their rituals that 3004-1 felt were mere happenstance. In my opinion, there is no reason to assume that this entity is at all related to the Cétlaidí and their beliefs. Something in them, I hypothesize, spoke to this thing, and it acclimated itself to their belief system. Think of it as something floating in a place close to ours, maybe layered above or beneath. Perhaps there are many creatures like it there. I doubt that an entity like this would exist alone, although I have no proof of this besides the certitude of my gut. Through these repetitions of behavior, through these beliefs, it was able to act on our plane. And it became what it was molded by. | „ |
| ~ J. Clark, S.J. on the nature of SCP-3004-1. |
| “ | Kill it? How do you kill a god? You can't kill it, not with all the bombs and bullets in the universe. It is sustained by rituals. Not just rituals involving goats and blood and the full moon. Smaller rituals, smaller sacrifices, made by everyday people. Even those that your Foundation performs, to keep the dark things hidden away. That's how you kill it. You stop performing rituals, you stop making sacrifices, and The One Who Knows Silence In The Earth will disappear. Just like that. | „ |
| ~ Anna Christian on SCP-4971-▽. |
| “ | Think about how many people go through. Two months. Five people per girl. So in the beginning, in 1989, that would be 30 people per two-month period. 360 people per year walking away with the red right hand of god on their shoulder. In less than 3 years, 1,000 people are changed. The will of a god is the control of the worshipper, and it’s a funny thing, Montauk, because what do you do? What does it mean to be controlled by fear? Do you cure yourself of it? Do you learn to live alongside it? Do you kill yourself? Do you strive to live? How do you free yourself from the Montauk procedure; how do you kill a god? | „ |
| ~ Lady Agora about Procedure 110-Montauk. |
| “ | And Mathisi said, I come seeking wisdom from thee, For I hail from afar, and I have seen that which would make men tremble. Yea, I have even seen those things which men would call Gods, for they are truly mighty. But what sayest thou? For what thou would call the false Gods of men, they are indeed powerful, and they speaketh with a voice of thunder, but you claim your Father to speak with a calm and quiet voice. And their Gods are cruel, but you claim your Father to be a God of love. And their Gods are made from stone, and metal, and are of curious workmanship, yet your Father takes the form of man. | „ |
| ~ Mathisi to Jesus Christ in an excerpt from the Horizon Initiative's "The Book Of Mathisi, Chapter 1: The Parable Of The Three Princes". |
| “ | His exact words were ‘Titans birthed from the Primordial Chaos’. I think that means anything on par with Mekhane, Yaldabaoth, the Scarlet King, gods like those. | „ |
| ~ Iris Dark when questioned what type of Old Gods she was referring to in "Freaks, Friends and Fiends". |
| “ | But wait, you might be thinking, what happened before that? The short answer is, we don't know. Human beings are the only creatures on this planet that have a written record of their history that we can translate over long periods of time, so anything else that existed at the time is lost to us, in one way or another. But there were other beings in existence back then, and this is when I need to tell you to take my hand and step blindly off the cliff, because we need to have a discussion about gods. Yes, gods exist — if working for the Foundation had not yet convinced you of this, trust my words now. They exist, and they are powerful, and their actions are felt in our daily lives even now. | „ |
| ~ Dir. Malthus when discussing about the ancient history revolving around SCP-6666. |
| “ | I would love to tell you that all of this was because your little blue planet was of grave importance, that these primordial beings came here because they revered or reviled your existence. But it's not. It's because they fear us, even in our fragmented and bound state, they fear what we are, they fear what we can do. And they are right to be afraid, because we will personally savage and grind the nine who bound us in those cursed chains into oblivion. | „ |
| ~ SCP-6700-04 explaining why she and the other gods chose to go to Earth. |
| “ | The “Divinity” Hypothesis is that an extra-extradimensional entity (entities?) of great power is trying to slip into our reality and Fifthism is this entity’s attempt to wrest control of this reality from the powers that currently lay claim to it. This hypothesis is oddly comforting to me. Dark gods are terrible indeed, but we already have many of those who lay claim to the multiverse. They will not give up their claims to the Five Terrors without a fight. Who will win and whether anyone will survive the crossfire… Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. |
„ |
| ~ The Fifth Wandsman of Chelon on Fifthism in "A Pathetic Attempt to Explain Fifthism". |
| “ | Did they? Could it not be that Gods create worshippers for theirselves? Alas, the world shall never know, for they are reduced to impressions within the stone, just as my mortal form is now. | „ |
| ~ The God of the Epoch of Dragons when questioned if it was created from the nature of its worshippers in SCP-5213. |
| “ | Some people say that the gods put us here. Others say that the gods merely allowed us to put ourselves here. But really, what about it mattered? Between the shouts of strangers and whispers of the ones I work alongside, I didn't have time to bring up the new perspective I had. The perspective that the gods were built to tear us down. |
„ |
| ~ A Sarkite in "The Great Cult Escape". |
| “ | Gods exist because we believe in them, and to make us believe in them. The very nature of our relationship with the divine is reciprocal: we create beings of parahuman ability, whom we then elevate beyond ourselves and imbue with significance; these beings, in turn, rely on this recognition to define the scope and breadth of their influence and existence. | „ |
| ~ John Blake in his Journal of Tactical Theology from SCP-6659. |
| “ | And before the Old Gods fought their war and broke the sky And laid the foundations for the next civilizations of the earth There were once four. Four gods and their four cities But of the fourth was committed an act of heresy In raw defiance of the oldest laws that underpin our world And as the world came apart, his brethren acted They cast out their fourth and labeled him as unclean The Abominate, the Wretch, the First Apostate He fell from the heavens and landed deep in the waters of the West Drowning while the war in the heavens raged on unabated. |
„ |
| ~ A Mekhanite poem about the Abominate in "INTERREGNUM: THE BLACKSTAR AT AMONI-RAM". |
| “ | There’s an old saying in the Foundation: “If you can kill it, it’s not a god.” Cute, right? Not really. The Department of Tactical Theology has struggled with the exact parameters of “god” since their inception, but even they can’t change the fact that a god is a human creation. A god is a projection of man; it's given life and form through the strength of the collective, universal force of belief. And if it can be made by man, we can destroy it, too. Of course, not every god can be killed, and even if it can, it won’t be easy. | „ |
| ~ Sovent-Anth of MTF Kairos-01 in "DEICIDE". |
| “ | Gods are the forces of the Cosmos given thought and will. They are born from it, made from the very fabric of existence. From their own flesh, they build worlds and seed life. They were here when Creation started, and they will guide it until its end, when only the All-Death remains. As such, trying to kill them is like trying to kill gravity, or fire, or war or philosophy. Yes, they can be bound, banished and defeated. Their temples can be ransacked, their followers exterminated, and their avatars destroyed. They can be cast down and their spirit sent tumbling into the Halls of Death. Yet the gods always return. It may take them millennia, even eons, but they will always rise from the Pit and continue to lord over Creation. Such is the nature of all gods: deathless patrons and guardians, protectors and lawmakers. | „ |
| ~ Viai Somn in the Wanderer's Library's "On the Gods of Amvat". |
| “ | Despite the name, gods can die. A better name for them might be archetype manifestations, but it’s too bloody long. Gods die when everything they stood for vanishes. Gods are tied both to the culture that venerated them (if one did- if one didn’t they’re much less powerful without the link to the ideals of a human culture with a massive impact) and to what they were the archetype of. | „ |
| ~ From the Wanderer's Library's "And I Was Present At The Death Of A God". |
Gallery
Trivia
- Although they are some of the most powerful beings in the multiverse, their power is seemingly inferior to that of the Pattern Screamers, who are even feared by these gods. However, that is up to headcanon, as there have been stories, such as "Beneath the Council", that portray the Pattern Screamers as weaker than the gods.
- Much like some mythologies, the gods are described as transcending gender, being neither male or female, but in most cases have been referred to using both male and female pronouns. This can be seen with Mekhane, Yaldabaoth, the Serpent and other gods, who have been referred to as both male and female and often displaying both characteristics. When he first met the Serpent, the Scarlet King took the appearance of a little girl.
- Other deities or god-like beings that have questionable affiliation with the Old Gods include: Srqnabotf, the Eucestodel, Eov-leusan, Jalakåra, the Judge of sea and river, Myran-leusan, Nesren-leusan, Rakmou-leusan, SCP-426, SCP-582, SCP-1108, SCP-1348, SCP-1541-1, SCP-1843, SCP-1902, SCP-2004, SCP-2257, SCP-2439, SCP-2670, SCP-2788, SCP-2950, SCP-3473, SCP-3547, SCP-4511, Sri Ahni, Taros'zedbreet, Tree Critter, Uron-leusan, Yorun-leusan, Zeyu-leusan, and other gods from differing mythologies.
- It is believed that a lot of the Old Gods come from a place that represents a sort of "nothing", the Scarlet King came from the "deep waters of the Darkness Below and the vaults of Darkness Above", Pangloss and Saturn Deer came from a great Nothingness, Yaldabaoth and Mekhanite came from the Great Abyss and Ma'tol and Xiolt-la came from Mother Void.
- In "The Leak" forum thread SCP-1741 was described as a reality show created by the elder gods.
- There are other beings created out the belief of humanity besides the gods, some of which include SCP-2615-A, ORIA's Djinn, SCP-4736 and Sloth's Pit's Legends.
  
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