The devine fungi are an extensive group of pathenogenic fungi that only infect people who are affiliated with a religion. There is a species for every known religion on the planet, each is highly infectious with a few common characteristics, but many of them have unique symptoms. Although the fungi are pathenogenic, they can live freely in the environment but at a much slower rate, and they only live close to a person who's beliefs match up with its species. In some instances, it has been known to grow in religious texts. A person can contract the fungus by comming into contact with its spores. The incubation period varies, but it usually takes a month. Antifungal medication will not hinder the disease's progression. Once the first sign of infection occurs, the disease will spread very quickly. The main symtoms include: Fever, delirium, hallucinations involving their faith, fits of insanity, seizures and death. Each species has a distinct characteristic. For instance, the strain that infects Christians kill their hosts in approximately 3 days after first symtoms appear. They also expiriencr fits of rage that resemble stereotypical demonic possession (minus the levitation).
that only infect people who are affiliated with a religion. There is a species for every known religion on the planet
Even the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster? What about the new religions that spring up over the years?
and they only live close to a person who's beliefs match up with its species.
What about the people who are sort of religious, but don't spend time focused exclusively in any one dogma? I have friends who join in with their parents' religions (visiting Buddhist temples, etc.) but attend their own church worship as well.
The main symtoms include: Fever, delirium, hallucinations involving their faith, fits of insanity, seizures and death.
Kind of boring. The "it makes you crazy until dead" approach isn't particularly interesting on its own anymore, given how many times SCPs with that effect have been written. Take a look at the articles tagged with "compulsion". Furthermore, the SCP's effect forcing someone to do something tends to be a bit of a lame narrative, since things are more interesting if there's a struggle involved, and/or if the people instead do terrible things of their own volition rather than just "[some thing] made them do it".
For instance, the strain that infects Christians kill their hosts in approximately 3 days after first symtoms appear.
Why three? Why not six? According to the Bible, the world was created in six days (on the seventh, God rested). Alternatively, why not twelve, for the twelve tribes of Israel? Why not any other number?
They also expiriencr fits of rage that resemble stereotypical demonic possession (minus the levitation).
Isn't demonic possession viewed differently around the world? I'm pretty sure that Western demons are substantially different in approach from the Eastern equivalents (I mean, there's a Japanese yōkai that's a kid holding a tray of tofu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%8Dfu-koz%C5%8D)
Not too sure about this, overall. Why do these fungi affect only religious people, or people in general? What does the fungi gain from the preying on humans?
Also, if you really want this to work, you'll probably end up needing to do a lot of research on the religions you plan to portray, so you don't inadvertently write something in bad taste or offensive to the people who practice the religion(s).
It depends on the person's personal beliefs. If they simply attend church but do not believe in that religion then they will not be affected. Like any organism, it can adapt. The spores can survive in the environment, but usually cannot live without a suitable host nearby. However, it is possible for some to survive. Cults are difficult as they are constantly being created and dissolved. It would depend on if the cult came into contact with the fungus. They do have an ability to cross over if a cult has ties to the mushroom's religious species. The hallucination all have to do with their religion as well, making people think they are talking ton their diety. It is not known why the fungus only grows on people with faith, but it is highly contagious among groups of practitioners. I think this idea could also work as a virus or bacteria. I can also edit the symptoms too. I could redact the specific religious symtoms to avoid offending anyone.
It is not known why the fungus only grows on people with faith, but it is highly contagious among groups of practitioners.
But why? Until there's some sort of bigger picture going on, I for one am not too interested in reading further. The "just because" explanation just leaves me hanging and kind of incredulous here. (Also the whole "religious people are fundamentally different from non-religious people, to the point where this fungus doesn't care about non-religious people" bit seems like it might come off as abrasive.)
Also uh… why does this fungus target people anyway? Why not smaller animals?
What if I changed its concept? The pathogen is highly contagious among religious populations and causes some pretty severe symptoms. When someone's loved one is dying or their life is in danger, they prey. The increased religious activity causes the pathogen to thrive. Some people may even renounce their faith. If they do this, the disease cannot infect them, thus they are free from pathogen. The pathogen's goal is to completely destroy any religion on the planet causing anyone who does practice a religion to suffer a horrible death. I do not believe this would be as controversial.
Moved text to a reply
I don't know about this. As Zyn said above, we already have a lot of compulsion stuff. Compulsion for the sake of compulsion doesn't really work anymore. It might work if there was a reason for it (i.e. an interesting backstory or creating some sort of story with it). But yeah, as it stands it just feels like an X that does Y. I'd recommend reading some popular series 3 and 4 skips (some recent ones can be found here) to see how they use the medium to tell a story.
I'm also not sure if the religion thing will work. Personally, I feel like it's a very tight rope to walk and that if it's not handled correctly, people could get offended and downvote.
So yeah, overall I'm not sure if this will really work, sorry.
There is no compulsion. It just infects them. It does not make them want to spread the disease. It just happens to grow where they are.
I think you misunderstand. When I say "compulsion", I don't mean that it makes them want to spread the disease. I'm referring to the effects of the fungi. It makes you go crazy basically until you die. That's the compulsion I was referring to, and still like that doesn't really work on the site anymore.
I think this idea is very interesting, and I had a similar idea a while back, but it was a virus that could only infect Scientologists. I scrapped the idea after a bit but there's four things you need to consider for this scp based on the issues I had with my idea:
1: What's the difference between a 'belief' and a 'religion?'
2: Why can't a species that infects say Muslims infect Taoists, Zoroastrians, Sarkists, etc?
3: The standard 'Go psycho before dying' has been overdone. What makes this scp unique from the several others?
4: Finally, have these assorted plagues influenced religion in some way to their benefit? If so how?
I have a few questions because this could be interesting:
- Is it a literal fungus that feeds on religion? Like, could a person actually see it and hold it.
- Thematically, why is it attracted to the religious?
- Imagine if it magnified religious belief, or caused them to manifest behaviors they spiritually associate with evil.
- What if this could explain some religious cults?
I have some modifications in mind. I will probably write a few different drafts and choose the right one. Your interest has proven to me that I can mabye make this work if I play my cards right.
