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WJS posted this idea and I asked if I could use that idea, he said yes, so I wrote a very rough draft for this idea. Draft is here, under the tab "Remember the Alamo, Lest the Alamo Remember You"
This is a very rough draft at the moment. I plan on adding a supplemental interview log and an interview with a participant. Hopefully WrongJohnSilver sees this.
back into civilization.
This isn't necessary, we know that's where they're most likely being released.
Participants have impossible knowledge of how the issued firearms work.
What do you mean by this? How is the knowledge impossible?
SCP-2571-A giving victims a cold stare
I'd say "assuming a hostile expression while maintaining eye contact."
Upon the death of an SCP-2571-A instance, subject will begin a period of rapid decomposition until reaching the approximate state of decay that a body deceased for 40 years would exhibit.
How long does this take, exactly?
and has never missed a shot.
That we know of. I'd change it to "has never been observed missing a shot."
Admittedly, I don't know much about the Alamo, but this seems more than vaguely disjointed and doesn't have a lot to tie it together. Why is Davy Crocker anomaly man having these effects on his victims? Is there something to do with his history? There should be more to this than just anomalously committed re-enacters who suffer a random yet horrible fate occasionally.
But that's all it seems to be atm.
My take on this idea was a John Wayne character stealing souls. Admittedly, it's not complete enough yet, but that was my idea for the "Lest The Alamo Remember You" part.
Davy Crocker
<Texas Drawl> Davy Crockett. </Texas Drawl>
@snipes88: As for the idea itself, might make it clearer that it's the John Wayne version that this is connected with rather than the actual historical figure Davy Crockett, who was a very different person. (Probably the best examples being that he was one of the "HELL no." votes on the Indian Removal Act, and while he is reputed to have either died in close combat or been captured and executed after surviving the same, he was leading a group of rifle sharpshooters for most of the siege, and might not even have had a revolver.)
Maybe you could even tie that in to the anomaly somehow; the contrast between the real man and the caricature of him that ignores most of what he was actually like.
Being from Texas and visiting the Alamo many times, may I just say I would absolutely love to see this take off.
As others have said, this is pretty disjointed right now, and full of plot holes. Why do these people do the reenactment? Is there normally a reenactment then IRL? Are they randomly drawn in? Is this a (*sigh*) mass compulsion effect? What does the rest of the major urban metropolis surrounding this annual event think of this?
Why the John Wayne figure? Is he supposed to represent the Alamo, and if not, then what? Is anything else about this western-movie like at all? I absolutely didn't get the soul-stealing thing you mentioned, so there cold hard stare description just read as random and pretty uninteresting.
There's not enough of a kernel of an idea here to snag me. You've got an incredibly improbable public event and a super-loosely-related movie reference. If there's some kind of underlying explanation or logic or mechanism here, it needs to be a lot more present, because I'm getting nothing. If there isn't, this needs more time on the drawing board.
Hey, Snipes.
In general, I agree with the above, but I think the version I'm reading is less disjointed, so that's good.
What I would suggest is to take a moment to contemplate the title that inspired you: "Remember the Alamo, Lest the Alamo Remember You."
How would the Alamo remember something/someone that happened long after the event occurred? How can an event even be capable of remembering? How does remembering the event prevent the event remembering you, and what would happen if it did remember?
The reenactment is a good place to start, but a simple "bunch of people show up and commit a massacre" isn't going to be particularly compelling on its own, nor would it be conducive to the suspension of disbelief, since it takes place in a well-known American city. You'll want to consider the details of what's happening. Why John Wayne? What does the reenactment accomplish? Can remembering the Alamo be made part of the containment procedures?
I was thinking the concept of the Alamo exists, and it wants to be remembered. Every single person who died in the Alamo becomes anomalous, entrapping them after death and congealing them into dirt, as their last thoughts and memories slowly fade and their last desire, to be remembered and live in the hearts of the people, is the only thing that remains.
Me and Gunpowder0 are working on it, but we currently accomplished:
Whole thing has been rewritten. Working on interviews and addenda and such.
Much thanks to Gunpowder0
and addendums and such.
/tiny butterfly scream IT'S ADDENDAAAAAAA
It's not ready.
The annual reenactment on thermal imagery is good, excellent even. Very evocative. As for John Wayne, though, what he has to do with the anomaly is not well explained at all. You talk about who remembers it, but still why that remembrance is needed isn't really shaping up.
But I think you're close. Are there real-world reenactments of the Alamo on its anniversary? Because I'm imagining this effect where people aren't caring about the Alamo as much anymore, and the phantom reenactment keeps going. It needs energy, and it can harvest it from living people showing their support for the Alamo. However, without reenactments from real people, it gathers the energy from whoever it can… sucking up ghosts from nearby graveyards, morgues, hospitals, etc. More souls to feed the Alamo, to be slaughtered again and again in its defense.
Maybe that's all it needs.
The John Wayne character was originally gonna steal souls, thus "remembering" those whodidn't, but we decided against that. He also exists because, well, texas. I actually don't know if there is an annual Alamo reenactment, I'll have to look in on that.
UPDATE: They have annual events at the Alamo on the anniversary of the Battle, so, yes, this could work.
