Character Index
The SCP Foundation
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SCPs
Series I (001 to 999)
Misters | Pitch Haven
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Groups of Interest
Mekhanism | Ortothanism | Sarkicism
Other Recurring Characters
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The Church of the Broken God
- Original creator: Dr GearsDebut: SCP-882 - A Machine (2008)
Three distinct churches of interpretations for the idea exist in modern times:
- The Broken Church follows the classical interpretation of reconstructing the god piece by piece.
- The Cogwork Orthodox Church adheres to late Industrial Revolution technologies and ritualizes industrial mass-production.
- The Church of Maxwellism believes in a modernized interpretation that reconstruction of the deity is completed through connecting all minds into a computer network.
While generally hostile and considered a threat to mankind, the Mekhanites plays a special role in the historical conflict between the Mekhanites and Sarkicism. Specifically, the Mekhanites' historical abhorrence of "THE FLESH" matched the nature of Sarkicism, and the Mekhanites crafted a narrative in which they swore themselves against Sarkicism on a religious level. While Sarkites did not return the view, the Church of the Broken God has collaborated with many other factions in their war against Sarkicism.
In General
- Arch-Enemy: "THE FLESH," an entity connected to their end-times eschatology. Understandably, they believe it's the Sarkic Cults and their god, Yaldabaoth, in all their fleshy glory — though Sarkicism doesn't reciprocate the Church's hostility.
- Artistic License – Religion: More recent interpretations conflate MEKHANE with Sophia from Gnosticism, while outright calling the FLESH the Gnostic Demiurge.
- Breakout Character: Has gone from a small group mentioned in a few SCP entries to easily one of the most popular GOIs, and the Church has gone from mostly antagonistic to neutral (with them even being downright heroic at times), though this is obviously Depending on the Writer.
- Church Militant: In all ages, the Church has its military/paramilitary contingents, all heavily mechanically augmented. Some of them are literally armed to the sharpened metal teeth, while others are Full Conversion Cyborgs with built in blades and directed-energy weapons.
- Dramatic Irony: The three branches of the church each see the others as heretics, though they all share a common goal of restoring the god of machines. What they don't know is that all of them would be considered heretics by the Xia culture group which the church originated from, especially because according to the Xia religion, restoring the Broken God would also release the god of flesh, which is the opposite of what the church wants to accomplish.
- Expy: As a religion that venerates technology and believes that shedding as much flesh as possible and replacing it with machinery brings a person closer to God, the Church bears more then a passing resemblance to the Adeptus Mechanicus.
- Franchise Codifier: Created by Dr Gears alongside Marshall, Carter, & Dark in the days before the Wiki was created, the Church of the Broken God was one of the first Groups of Interest written for the SCP mythos.
- Flesh Versus Steel: All three factions of the Church see FLESH as a very bad thing, to the point that they are afraid of it corrupting or destroying their god. The "FLESH" isn't necessarily humanity; it's implied to be SCP-610, or it might be a rival cult with an interest in Organic Technology (SCP-2095), or it's both. As of SCP-2095 and SCP-2217 (and with each Adytum-related writing Metaphysician makes), the plague and the Sarkic Cults of Adytum are one and the same. This is apparently a basis for an Enemy Mine with the Foundation, GOC, and the Horizon Initiative in the future.
- Hollywood Cyborg: What many of the adherents are. The higher ranked one is, the more components they have worked into their bodies.
- Humongous Mecha: SCP-2406 is the (potentially reparable) wreck of one used for war by the Church thousands of years ago. SCP-808 is a modern, civilian-oriented screeching mecha, captured by the Foundation before completion. Word of God says that it's more of a parade float than anything practical.
- Interfaith Smoothie: Modern interpretations of the Church combine aspects of Gnosticism (with MEKHANE essentially acting as an analog for Sophia) and ancient Greek cults of Hephaestus, a god of technology. Although the religion actually originated in China, and originally was a dualistic religion worshiping a pair of snake gods.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Come the introduction of Sarkicism, the Church is almost invariably portrayed as the lesser evil.
- Machine Worship: The Broken Church worships MEKHANE's anomalous technological artifacts. For example, things like SCP-882.
- Mirroring Factions: Despite all of the Church's hostility towards Sarkisism, the two are actually fairly similar. Both are Transhumanist faiths that consider mankind's natural form a binding Yaldabaoth uses to keep them slaved to it's will, which can only be broken through modification of the human body.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Subverted, that's not their actual name, it's the name the Foundation gave to them. It's like calling Christianity the "Church of the Tortured Criminal", or Buddhism the "Church of Oblivion" - technically accurate, but a massive oversimplification. Collectively, they refer to the religion as Mekhanism, and themselves as Mekhanites, which is only mildly less disquieting.
- Nicknaming the Enemy: Mekhanists have a long history of naming derisive, both inside and outside the church.
- Back in the late Bronze Age, the Mekhanite Empire called those from the Kalmaktama Empire "Sarkics" or "Sarkites" (from Ancient Greek σάρξ sárx "flesh") for their Biomanipulation. This has persisted so much that their religion, Nälkä, is almost exclusively called "Sarkicism" by outsiders millennia later.
- In the modern era, the Cogwork Orthodox Church calls Maxwellists "hummers" due to their use of computer fans as meditative aids, and the Church of Maxwell calls Cogwork Orthodoxists "tickers" due to the audible sound of their mechanized bodies.
- Pieces of God: Mekhane (from the Ionic Greek name for machine, μηχανή "mekhane") is the central god of the religion, the "Broken God", and the Church needs to "fix" him/her/it. The deeper interpretation of this goes into three directions, however. As for the reason why the god is broken? In ancient times, Yaldabaoth created men, and Mekhane provided wisdom to men. Yaldabaoth had a deep hatred for Mekhane, and the two waged a war of cosmic proportions. To stop Yaldabaoth, Mekhane shattered herself, forming a cage to seal up Yaldabaoth.
- Punk Punk: A good deal of the earlier articles that deal with the Church are clockpunk, but later, three factions have formed in the church:
- The Broken Church is the classical Clock Punk, continuing with the Machine Worship and continues the goal of reconstructing their god via literally rebuilding it piece by piece.
- The Cogwork Orthodox, a branch which "deliberately adheres to technological norms of the late Industrial Revolution", in which followers are 'standardized' to fit in the great machine, getting turned into Steampunk robots. This is to attempt to remake themselves in the image of God, and become like God themselves.
- The Church of Maxwellism, which is definitively Cyberpunk. Followers get full body implants a la Deus Ex, ranging from extra eyes to being integrated with a video game console to getting a Wi-Fi enabled pineal gland replacement. They believe God is fragmented, and that they can recompile it by getting enough followers networked together.
- Sacred Language: An object that belongs to them, SCP-1139, apparently gives people who touch it the ability to speak it. They can't speak any other language after the fact, but it apparently gives them the ability to read the Voynich Manuscript.
- Schizo Tech: One of their hats. These days, they've got highly responsive cybernetics and energy weapons. In 1000 BC, they were building nuclear-powered Humongous Mecha out of bronze.
- Unknown Rival: The Church of the Broken God is deeply opposed to Sarkicism, due to its resemblance to an end-times adversary foretold by Mekhanite schema known as "THE FLESH" or SARKIC (ΣΑΡΞ) in the original Greek. The Sarkites themselves hardly care about this connection, viewing the Church as simply another group that stands in their way rather than some prophesied spiritual foe.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: According to the Xia religion, if the church were to actually succeed in restoring the god of machines, it would release the god of flesh from its prison, which is the opposite of what they want.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: They hope that by recreating Mekhane/Wan, they will bring their god back to life and defeat the FLESH once and for all, ushering in both a technological singularity and eternal paradise.
Groups
Xia Anomalous Culture Group
Xia Anomalous Culture Group
What is now known as Xia Anomalous Culture Group (designated Group of Interest #004X) was the earliest predecessor of the Church of the Broken God, existing during the semi-mythical Xia dynasty (夏朝 Xiàcháo, cir. 2070 BCE - 1600 BCE). This- Imperial China: The culture group existed during the Xia dynasty, a not-completely verified era preceding the Shang Dynasty.
- Ret-Gone: The original version of the religion that would become the Church of the Broken God came from a period of ancient Chinese history known as the Xia Dynasty that was almost entirely deleted from reality. The modern church is unaware of this and likely would be shocked if they ever found out about this because the original religion had beliefs and practices that would be completely heretical to the modern church.
- Snake People: In the Xia Dynasty, people would undergo a ritual transformation into humanoid snakes at age 12 to make themselves more like the serpentine gods they worshiped.
Mekhanite Empire
Mekhanite Empire
The Mekhanite Empire was a coalition of powers from Mycenaean Greece that united under the rally of the Followers of Mekhane, reported direct disciples of the mechanical god. The Mekhanites waged war against the Kalmaktama Empire, a nation led by the Sarkic religion. The War of Metal and Flesh initiated the collapse of the Bronze Age, and resulted in the fall of both the Mekhanites' and Adytites' empires, the breaking of Mekhane, and the banishment of the Adytite capital, Adytum.- The Alliance: By the War of Metal and Flesh, the Mekhanites shared allegiances with the Minoan and Aegean civilizations, predynastic Egypt, and the Hittite Empire. The Mekhanites even, begrudgingly, worked with the Daevite Empire to contest the Adytites.
- Enemy Mine: The Mekhanite Empire allied with the Daevite Empire to defeat the Kalmaktama Empire, despite the daevas being flesh-crafters who frankly were worse than the Adytites.
- Glory Days: During the late Bronze Age, the Church was a gathering of the finest minds in the Western world, operating openly and with the respect of nearly every nation. Then Sarkicism rose, leading to an apocalyptic war, the Bronze Age Collapse, and the dissolution of the Church as a major political body. Thousands of years later, they still haven't fully recovered.
- Humongous Mecha: The Mekhanites operated ninety-plus-meter-tall "colossi" (κολοσσοί) during the War of Metal and Flesh. Millennia after the war, the damaged remains of a colossus was recovered from the basin of the Aral Sea-turned-Aralkum desert by the SCP Foundation and designated SCP-2406.
Broken Church
Broken Church
The Broken Church
The Broken Church is the oldest extant denomination of Mekhanism, (designated Group of Interest #004A by the SCP Foundation).
Cogwork Orthodox Church
Cogwork Orthodoxy
The Cogwork Orthodoxy
The Cogwork Orthodox Church, also known as the Clockwork Orthodoxy or simply the Orthodoxy, is a splinter sect of the Broken Church (designated Group of Interest #004B by the SCP Foundation).
- Language Equals Thought: Or some theological variation thereof. The Cogwork Orthodox have no parables, language, or theology relating to outer space. As a result of this strange absence (possibly related to their 19th century obsession), they have no procedures or backup plans involving threats from or escape to space. A Church AI in charge of security finds this obvious gap in the bulwarks disturbing.
Church of Maxwellism
Church of Maxwellism
The Church of Maxwellism
The Church of Maxwellism is a modern splinter sect of the Broken Church (designated Group of Interest #004C by the SCP Foundation).
- Meaningful Name: WAN, the Maxwellist name of the Broken God, is an acronym of wide area network, a homophone of "one", and the Chinese word for "ten-thousand".
Other sects
New Ferrous Brotherhood
The New Ferrous Brotherhood (designated Group of Interest #004F by the SCP Foundation) was a small English sect of Mekhanists founded during Britain's industrial revolution (cir. 1760 - 1830) that lasted until they were dissolved in 1890, following a coup by the Cogwork Orthodoxy.Mekhanics
The Mekhanics are a small sect exiled by the other sects due to their heretical views.- Category Traitor: The Broken Church, the Orthodoxists, and the Maxwellists excommunicated the Mekhanics due to views deemed heretic; the toleration or embracing of the FLESH.
- Flesh Versus Steel: Averted. The Mekhanics seem to have embraced the Flesh, as their leader Jackal possesses animalistic cybernetics and opted to side with the Darkwater Lodge to enact revenge on Bumaro.
- The Stool Pigeon: After being exiled, the Mekhanics sold out the location of the Citadel to the Sarkics, even going as far as to assist them in the following attack.
Individuals
The Broken God
Mekhane
Artistic representation of the god, by SunnyClockwork
Known to their faithful as MEKHANE, WAN, the Brass Dragon, Father Serpent Fuxi, and countless other names, the Broken God is the god worshipped by Mekhanites, called the Church of the Broken God by outsiders. They are the god of reason, technology and knowledge, and is believed to have granted humanity the ability to think, but had to sacrifice themself to contain the flesh-god Yaldabaoth. It is the goal of the Church to "rebuild" them.
- Ambiguous Gender: They have been depicted as both male and female, albeit they are more commonly depicted as female.
- Anthropomorphic Personification: The followers of Maxwellism see WAN as an embodiment of knowledge and data, and not a literal machine, unlike the Cogsworth orthodoxy.
- Characterization Marches On: In the early days of the site, the Broken God was mostly treated as a God of Evil, just as bad as Yaldabaoth, and the Church was an Apocalypse Cult. This characterization has largely been abandoned, and they are now usually treated as a benevolent deity who genuinely loved humanity.
- Crystal Dragon Jesus: MEKHANE has parallels to a number of real-life deities.
- The most direct parallel is to the Sophia — literally, the Wisdom — the spirit in Gnosticism whose sacrifice gave humanity minds and souls. MEKHANE shares the Sophia's trapped or broken state and her struggle against the evil and ignorant Yaldabaoth, and also tends to be described as female more often than as male.
- MEKHANE also has parallels with the Abrahamic god, except associated with technology rather than light. In one possible future, the Mekhanites even join the Horizon Initiative, and have their beliefs incorporated into the universal texts.
- Finally, MEKHANE's status as a crippled deity of metal and mechanical constructs is reminescent of Hephaestus, the crippled forge-god of Greek myth — especially in light of how the predecessors of the modern Church spent some of their formative stages in Mycenaean Greece.
- Depending on the Writer: Their gender. Mekhane's gender constantly changes depending on the canon or tale they’re in. Female however is the more common one in recent times.
- Deus est Machina: Obviously, MEKHANE is a god of technology and is usually described as some kind of machine themself. What kind of machine depends on who you ask; Maxwellists see them as living data, Cogsworth orthodoxs see him as something mechanical, and the Broken Church are split on the matter. In at least one tale, they all come to agreement that they are an anvil, the simples machine of them all.
- Gender Flip: One thing the authors of the wiki cannot decide about Mekhane is their gender, as they are constantly interpreted as both male and female. However, female seems to be the more prominent one.
- God Is Dead: MEKHANE is still around in some form or another, but their sacrifice has diminished them, and they are no longer active in any way.
- God Is Good: As characterization has marched on, MEKHANE has become more of a benevolent figure. They truly do love all sapient life, and voluntarily sacrificed themself to contain the horror that would have otherwise ended all sapient life.Let this be my final gift to you, directly from the center of my broken heart.
- God of Knowledge: Mekhane is a deity of reason, technology, and knowledge. The Mekhanites believe that she gave humanity the ability to reason but was shattered in combat with the flesh-god Yaldabaoth, and seek to emulate their deity by incorporating technology into themselves.
- I Have Many Names: The Broken God itself has two different names amongst the Maxwellists and Orthodox. The former refer to it as WAN, the latter call it MEKHANE. Some tales have conflated them with Hephaestus, another deity who was broken and is heavily associated with technology. Also, in some tales, there's a strong implication that the Broken God is, in fact, the Metatron, or the voice of God. In the Xia Dynasty, where the religion originated from, the Broken God was known as Father Serpent Fuxi, which is likely the god's true name.
- The Maker: Played with. Some tales have them create the world, but they are usually held to have brought structure and reason, but the raw materials were already there for them to use. Case in point, they are not the creator of humanity, but they did bestow them with reason and logic.
- Samus Is a Girl: One of the more recent interpretations is that the Broken God is actually a Broken Goddess.note This is Depending on the Writer, of course.
- Ultimate Blacksmith: As a god of technology, MEKHANE is held to be the forger of everything, and all their creations are either mechanical in nature or described as such.
Builder Robert Bumaro
Robert Bumaro
A list of his appearances can be found here.
- Ascended Extra: Before 2014, Robert Bumaro had barely any presence on the wiki, outside of a couple of name drops in tales and a mention on the Groups of Interest page. After the Church of the Broken God became a Breakout Character, Bumaro got dragged along for the ride.
- Assassination Attempt: In the In Memoria, Adytum canon, Bumaro was killed in an attack on the Citadel, assassinated by Jackal, a Mekhanic exile that sold the Citadel's location out the Sarkics.
- The Assimilator: Bumaro's blood converts metal into more of itself to maintain a constant volume of 5.8 liters.
- Deceased and Diseased: As part of his assassination, Bumaro was poisoned with a Sarkic-devised virus. The Broken Church gave Bumaro's blood and his murder weapon to the SCP Foundation for safekeeping.
- Grand Theft Me: According to The Builder, "Robert Bumaro" is the original prophet of the Church of the Broken God, having stolen the name of a man who attempted to summon the Broken God in the 1940s.
- Head Crushing: In SCP-2834 - The Blood of MEKHANE, Bumaro was Bludgeoned to Death by Jackal with his own hammer.
- Kill and Replace: According to one story, after the Church's disastrous failed attempt to rebuild Mekhane, the original Robert Bumaro was murdered by a mysterious android or cyborg who then took his identity.
- Machine Blood: Evident by the Foundation's analysis of SCP-2834-1, Bumaro's blood is synthetic. While it does contain biomechanical constructs that appear to mimic the same functions of organic blood, it is devoid of organic protein structures such as hemoglobin and fibrinogen.
- Really 700 Years Old: Multiple works imply that he is a lot older than he looks, possibly even immortal.
