SCP-727 Hephaestus's Forge

SCP Explained - Story & Animation

SCP-727 resembles a smithy of ancient Greek design. The item's walls and ceiling are covered with masses of chains made from a material similar to iron. SCP-727's nature makes these chains' length impossible to measure. When a human being enters SCP-727, the chains along the walls and ceiling become active and forcefully ensnare the subject. Once the chains have full control of a single human subject, they manipulate it like a puppet, forcing it to craft a series of objects of diverse nature and exceptional quality.  LIKE & SUBSCRIBE to SCP Explained - Story & Animation  Follow us on Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scpexplainedofficial  Join our Discord, share your SCP art, submit video feedback, chat with other fans...: https://discord.gg/scpexplained  Please let us know in the comments which SCP's we should cover next   Narrated by https://www.youtube.com/c/hitherehunter  Content relating to the SCP Foundation, including the SCP Foundation logo, is licensed under Creative Commons Sharealike 3.0 and all concepts originate from http://www.scp-wiki.net and its authors.   SCP-727 Hephaestus's Forge (SCP Animation) is based on "SCP-727" by Shebleha: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-727  #scpexplained #scp #animation

Transcript

00:00In the 4th century BC, news of the blacksmith's death spread across the small village of Kome,

00:06on the Greek Tenos Island, like a disease.

00:09The blacksmith hadn't been well-liked among the townsfolk.

00:12He was a strange and twisted man, physically.

00:15His gnarled limbs and strange features always scared the children who happened to run into him.

00:21So reviled was he among the townsfolk that he was forced to live in a lonely shack several miles down

00:26the road.

00:27But hated or not, one thing was known.

00:30The town always needed a blacksmith.

00:33One could not do without such a thing.

00:36What if invaders from the east sailed forth to the island's shores on their mighty boats?

00:40The people of Kome could not be without weapons and armor.

00:43And the blacksmith, who'd done his work for the town for the past seven decades, was superlative at that.

00:50Kome's warriors were some of the finest in all of Greece, at least as far as their equipment was concerned.

00:55It was clear that they needed a new town blacksmith.

00:59But who ever dare pick up that mantle knowing what it meant?

01:03Instead of causing strife among the people, they made a town lottery.

01:08Every healthy, able-bodied young man had to pick a piece of parchment from the bowl to see who would

01:13be taking up this important, yet hated, duty.

01:16Because being a blacksmith on the island of Tenos meant a very different thing to what it did everywhere else.

01:23When a young man was selected, he broke down in tears, begging for them to draw again, for it to

01:29be anyone but him.

01:30But the die had already been cast, and two of the town sentries decided that they would march him out

01:36to the town forge, personally, to make sure he took up the duty.

01:40If, in the last minutes, he attempted to abscond, they would put him to the sword there and then, and

01:46there would be another draw.

01:48Someone, after all, had to be the town blacksmith here.

01:51The two sentries dragged him to the smithy in the hills, where he saw the light of the forge inside,

01:57glowing between the pillars.

01:58He gulped and walked up, the two men standing and watching behind him.

02:02There was no point in running.

02:04He knew, even if he had attempted, they'd fire an arrow through his legs and toss his body into the

02:09forge all the same.

02:11With a soon-to-be-hanged man's dismayed calm, he walked into the forge and prepared for pain.

02:17His eyes had barely even adjusted to the dark when it happened.

02:20The only illumination in here being the fire of the forge itself.

02:24Chain shot out of the walls, squeezing his arms like metal pythons with bone-breaking force.

02:30He shrieked in terrible agony and went limp, knowing from the legends that the chains would do the rest.

02:36And now, it was time to work.

02:39What would it be worth to you to make something beautiful?

02:42What would you be willing to give up?

02:44To sacrifice?

02:46Your comfort?

02:47Your standing in your community?

02:48The integrity of your very body?

02:51These are the challenging questions posed by SCP-727, known as Hephaestus's Forge.

02:58It's a smithy in the ancient Greek style, tucked away in some isolated mountains.

03:03The Foundation has managed to keep away the curious with the excuse that the area is dangerous and structurally unstable.

03:09And that's at least half true.

03:12The structure is indeed incredibly dangerous, but not because of any kind of instability.

03:17Walking into SCP-727 guarantees pain at best and death at worst.

03:23So why does the Foundation occasionally send D-Class personnel into the Forge?

03:28Because, in their eyes at least, it's worth it for what they get in return.

03:32If you were somehow able to enter this anomaly without activating it, you'd likely first get struck with the sight

03:39of the many long metal chains hanging from the walls.

03:42Once you notice that, you'd likely turn to see the tools.

03:46Woodworking, stoneworking, metallurgy, sculpting.

03:50A variety of tools for seemingly every physical art, from ancient to modern.

03:55Every task under the broad umbrella of crafting could conceivably be accomplished here.

04:00And of course, in the center of it all, a glowing hot forge that has been burning away now for

04:06thousands of years on end.

04:08But if you actually realistically entered this anomaly, I can assure you that you'd be having a lot less leisurely

04:14experience than this.

04:16For anyone who steps inside the forge, the chains will seem to immediately come to life and seize them around

04:23the body and limbs.

04:24This process has been described by survivors, and trust me when I say they are very much not all survivors,

04:31as excruciatingly painful.

04:33No matter the size or strength of the person, or if they were wearing some kind of armor that was

04:38intended to protect their limbs,

04:40they would feel the pain nonetheless.

04:42And just like everyone else that the forge selected, the experience would leave them physically disabled and disfigured.

04:49In exchange for this toll, though, the chains of the forge would work their body like an oversized marionette,

04:55moving their digits and limbs around the forge until they'd successfully crafted an incredible item.

05:01This item can be any number of things, from a supremely useful tool to a piece of clothing,

05:07with some anomalous effect to a work of art to a superlative weapon.

05:11This item will leave the forge with a temporary forger once it has been completed,

05:16and many of these items, created in the modern day, have been immediately put into use by the SCP Foundation.

05:23But of course, it gets a little more complicated than that.

05:27Only one person may ever enter the forge at one time, if they want a chance at surviving their experience,

05:33albeit disabled and in terrible pain.

05:36If multiple people enter the forge at once, the chains will only select one person to be ensnared,

05:41and act as the new craftsperson.

05:43As for the others, the chains will immediately wrap around their necks,

05:46and either strangle them to death in short order, or simply snap their spines.

05:51Neither is a pleasant way to go.

05:53Of course, actually surviving the experience, and going on with the rest of your life,

05:57isn't exactly a basket full of roses, either.

06:00Obviously, you already know that you'll be disabled and disfigured by the experience.

06:04But in a cruel twist of fate, the forge also has psychological effects on you, and others around you.

06:11In terms of the effects on the subject, the person, regardless of their levels of confidence and self-esteem

06:17before stepping into the forge, will be upset and disgusted by their own appearance in the aftermath.

06:23And they won't be alone in this sentiment, either.

06:26Regardless of the actual severity of the disability, or the nature of your friends and community before the incident,

06:32you'll be treated like a disgusting freak in the aftermath.

06:35You will be ostracized by your community.

06:38Left out in the cold, so to speak.

06:40While the people around you may enjoy the fruits of your labor,

06:43if the object you produced inside the forge was useful to them,

06:46they will no longer enjoy your presence.

06:49The cruel thing is,

06:50when the process begins inside the forge,

06:54you won't be allowed any sleep, food, or water until the process ends.

06:58If you happen to fall unconscious,

07:01the chains will just toss you out of the forge,

07:03and you'll still be pained, disabled, self-hating, and isolated.

07:07You just won't have anything to show for it.

07:10For all you scholars of ancient Greek mythology,

07:12or fans of the Percy Jackson books,

07:14your ears likely pricked up immediately when you heard the codename for this one,

07:19Hephaestus's Forge.

07:21That's right.

07:22It takes the namesake for Hephaestus,

07:24the ancient Greek god of fire,

07:26smiths, craftsmen, metalworking, stonemasonry, and sculpture.

07:30An impressive resume, even for a god.

07:32He was the son of Hera,

07:35matriarch of the pantheon and wife of the philandering thunder god Zeus,

07:39and was cast down from Mount Olympus at birth.

07:41He's often depicted as having some kind of physical disability or deformity

07:45that he compensates for with his superlative skills at seemingly every kind of crafting.

07:51Still, despite his skills, because of his imperfections,

07:54he was still considered an outcast among the pantheon.

07:58Clearly, there are parallels here.

08:01If you step into the forge,

08:02you'll be given for a brief period the legendary skills of Hephaestus,

08:05but you cannot have the skills of the forge god without also understanding his pain.

08:11You'll be tortured and disfigured by the process,

08:14and forever spend the rest of your life as an outcast just like him.

08:17You will come to know exactly how lonely it is to be Hephaestus,

08:21and in that way, perhaps Hephaestus himself will be less alone.

08:26But one of the aspects of this mythic forge that the Foundation finds most interesting

08:30is some of its more long-term projects.

08:33These are larger constructions that would, in theory,

08:37take days on end to build, even with the incredible powers of the forge.

08:41The problem is, the more truly ambitious projects have always failed

08:45as a result of the subject dying from the injuries and the sheer physical strain

08:49of being a puppet of SCP-727.

08:52In these instances, the forge seems to abandon the construction forever unfinished.

08:58Even though they're not usable by the Foundation, though,

09:01doesn't mean that the Foundation didn't find them absolutely fascinating.

09:05The following are a few examples of these kinds of creations.

09:08One was a huge humanoid metal construct, standing at over 10 meters tall,

09:13with beautifully molded limbs that had a large number of articulated joints.

09:18Researchers on SCP-727 have nicknamed this construction Talos,

09:23after the mythic bronze warrior, an automaton whose only weakness

09:26was a single red vein surging down its leg.

09:29The site director was disappointed by the news of this construction falling through,

09:33as having a huge metal robot this size likely would have been an asset to the Foundation

09:38in containing larger anomalies.

09:40After being studied and researchers determining that it's inert,

09:44they decided to still put it to good use by having it stand as a statue in the site's lobby.

09:50Next was a grand chariot, crafted from an unknown metal,

09:53incapable of withstanding temperatures well above 6,000 degrees Celsius.

09:58Naturally, the history nerds working on this project were quickly able to ascertain

10:01the true purpose of this chariot.

10:03It would have been a chariot for the god Helios,

10:06the god of oaths and sight.

10:08As part of his duties, he would ride a flaming chariot across the sky,

10:12dragging the sun to create the transitions between day and night.

10:16Thankfully, given that we have gravity here,

10:18this chariot not working is no great loss.

10:21There was also a fine helmet made of pure silver,

10:24covered in intricate engravings and bearing a pair of small wings.

10:28It was during the construction of the wings that the subject here

10:31unfortunately keeled over and died from the stress.

10:33We have no idea what anomalous effect the helmet would have had if it was finished.

10:38But again, our expertise in the world of ancient Greek myth comes in clutch.

10:42Clearly, this helmet was intended as a gift for Hermes,

10:45the messenger god, known as Mercury to the Romans.

10:49And hey, here's a fun fact from SCP Explained

10:51that you can share with your friends next time you see a hospital.

10:54Hermes had a famous staff called the Caduceus.

10:57It's a long staff with two snakes curling around it and two wings at the top.

11:01You might have seen it used as a symbol on the side of hospitals.

11:05But that's actually wrong.

11:07What they should have been using is a plain staff with a single snake curling around it.

11:12That's the rod of a Slepius, the legendary ancient Greek healer.

11:16The Caduceus would have been a better symbol for a post office,

11:19seeing as Hermes was the god of messages.

11:22Anyway, moving on.

11:23The next of the failed creations is probably the most enigmatic.

11:26It was a large piece of unknown metal that has proven to be almost completely indestructible.

11:32And the subject making it was killed as a result of having to be next to the furnace,

11:36smelting it for over 65 grueling hours.

11:39Researchers have since spent weeks trying to identify the exact chemical composition of the metal.

11:45They believed that if they could reliably recreate it,

11:48it would likely be a huge asset in beefing up containment procedures

11:51for some of the Foundation's most destructive Keter-class anomalies.

11:54So far, that research has borne no fruit.

11:58But even more fruitless was the forge's attempts to create a huge metal door and frame.

12:03The subject being forced to make it passed away while halfway through work

12:07on the extremely complex locking mechanism,

12:09one which didn't match any known human design in all of history.

12:14This is another case of a gift that seems to have no specific recipient within the Greek pantheon.

12:19But if you'll allow for crossovers with the Romans,

12:22it could serve as a tribute to Janus, the god whose name gave us January.

12:27The two-headed god of gates, boundaries, passages, paths, and doorways.

12:32Perhaps, all things considered, it's best that this door was never finished.

12:37It's not like we had any way of knowing who or what would end up walking through it.

12:42The only other complex project that SCP-727 never finished was an exquisite clay sculpture of a woman.

12:48It seemed to us that the most likely parallel here is Galatea,

12:52a beautiful female statue created by the sculptor Pygmalion,

12:56who was then brought to life by Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

13:00And perhaps, in a sense, this clay sculpture was somehow alive too,

13:04because the second it was in a state where it accurately resembled a woman,

13:07the forge abruptly strangled the subject it was using to sculpt her with its chains.

13:13And if this clay, Galatea, truly was alive,

13:16the forge considered her unconscious,

13:18because it grabbed her with its chains and threw her out,

13:21causing her to shatter onto the ground.

13:23Talk about having an unhealthy sense of perfectionism.

13:26Now check out SCP-1730, What Happened to Site-13, the full story compilation,

13:32or Insane SCP-001 Fight, Gate Guardian vs. Scarlet King, for more.

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