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An SPC based on SCP-1258. CYAN ABYSS, or Sharkics, were first mentioned in SPC-140.
I owe a lot to MrWrong and
sirpudding for helping me change this into its current form. The first few drafts were different, to say the least. The Laundry Files, by Charles Stross, was also an inspiration as supernatural spy fiction.
A big complaint about previous articles in the SPC format was that they simply didn't do enough. They were, in a word, often too derivative of the SCPs on which they were based. My own work, SPC-1981, is certainly guilty of this, and I highly plan on revisiting it.
This was an attempt to avoid that from the get-go. When I first started writing this piece, I knew that I wanted to include a certain level of oceanic political intrigue. From there on, the worldbuilding crystallized. Thanks to sirpudding for a lot of useful advice on this stage.
More (possibly) coming later!
Should the UN at the end of the last addendum be NU?
The idea of the Centre teaching dolphins how to karate sharks is great… but the SPC fails to live up to the premise. Rather than embracing the absurdity of it all, or having reality destroy the plan in amusing ways, you take the plunge into some world-building that I frankly don't find interesting. The interview log was a highlight for me in how it balances the grimdarkness and silliness to be both funny and sincerely dark, but it couldn't save the article.
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I get where you're coming from on all counts. The piece is long and goes really heavily into the worldbuilding of the SPC, though I personally intended to let the report act as a straight man to the inherent absurdity of the concept. I think the world itself is absurd enough to simply be described.
I would like to explain my choice to go down such a worldbuilding heavy route, for the record. Unlike the Foundation, the Centre has very little widely accepted background. My other attempt, at SPC-1981, is kind of… shallow. It didn't have enough differentiation within the SPC and was too similar to the SCP. The original version of this SPC had the dolphins rebelling, attacking Japan, and then coming back when they realized how f**d up the world was. It was fun to write, but predictable, and I'm not sure I could've done much with the antics of dolphins without falling into a rut.
Since CYAN ABYSS had already been established in SPC-140 as the predominant oceanic civilization, using them would help create a more cohesive Centreverse and give the Centre a target to actually deploy militarized punching dolphins against.
Ultimately, I hope to strike a better balance between worldbuilding and absurdity in future SPCs.
I personally intended to let the report act as a straight man to the inherent absurdity of the concept
You say that, yet the interview log manages to be as absurd as the rest of the piece, even if it manages to be darker at the same. It didn't feel so much a straight man as much as a contextualization, if that makes sense.
Unlike the Foundation, the Centre has very little widely accepted background
I understand that you want to create this world for the SPC, but there's no need to go all out with an article exclusively for world-building. After all, how many SCPs are about nothing but world-building?
Unlike the Foundation, the Centre has very little widely accepted background.
The Foundation has our world build off of. The Centre has an alternate history version of the Foundationverse, which due to "no canon", happens to be much looser than our world. It's simply inevitable that the main Foundationverse has a more solid consensus reality.
My other attempt, at SPC-1981, is kind of… shallow. It didn't have enough differentiation within the SPC and was too similar to the SCP.
And that's fine. Personally, I found SCP-1981 to be a hilarious and innovative way to SPCify SCP-1981. Sometimes, an article is a very funny but very protracted joke.
Since CYAN ABYSS had already been established in SPC-140 as the predominant oceanic civilization, using them would help create a more cohesive Centreverse
Sorry, but I think you went
…
overboard.
In all seriousness, the excessive worldbuilding not only detracted from the article, but seeing how crazy the world was made me feel detached from it. I could go more for "Ronald Reagan is a movie director" and "MC&D/C faced a coup" than "The GOC and UN have switched places" and "Boating is no longer a thing because of the Sharkic empire".
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Noting that I have removed all attribute tags from the page. GoI formats only need the 'goi-format' tag and the tags of relevant GoIs (and Other Tags, if relevant). Attirbute tags are reserved for SCPs.
Ah, sorry. Didn't realize.
If I could, doctor, I would punch each and every one of them in their sharp stupid snouts.
You and me both, brother.
This was a hoot and a holler from start to finish. :D The new SPC articles are the most consistently entertaining writing on this site right now. God, and I love everything from Cipangu to Goryeo to Vail Code.
I do have to ask: there's a BotCG, but the GOC isn't GCO? What about MD&C? Tunderwainment?
Well, the GOC isn't the paranormal branch of the UN in this 'verse. The NU is the paranormal branch of the GOC.
MC&D, originally MC&S in this verse, as established in SPC-2000, is now only M&D, with Mr. Shark having been ousted.
According to Wikipedia, orcas are the order Cetacea.
Sharks are of the superorder Selachimorpha.
And whales are mammals. Sharks are fish.
Sharks are fish.
"Fish" is paraphyletic. You are as closely related to a salmon as a dogfish is. Either all vertebrates are fish or none are, cladistically.
You can say that sharks are cartilaginous fishes though.
Orcas are definitely mammals with placental live births, endothermy, hair, and milk. They share a recent commonly ancestors with all other cetaceans, and are reasonably closely related to the hippopotamus.
