| “ | With this, our blood, it is the Hanged King’s. | ” |
–Alinda, in script deviation during The Hanged King's Tragedy, Incident Report SCP-701-19██-1 | ||
The Hanged King is an entity who rules the city-state of Alagadda; which although once located on Earth, now exists in a separate dimension. While human, the king ruled as a tyrant, eventually causing his subjects to rise up against him and execute him by hanging on a hill outside Alagadda. Several days after his death and later burial, the people of Alagadda were driven to madness and either killed themselves or each other. The king then rose from his grave and returned to the Palace of Alagadda, where he impaled himself upon a throne of blades in the palace's basement.
Alagadda then was removed from Earth into a separate dimension, accessible only by Janus Gates. The subjects returned as inhuman creatures wearing masquerade masks and the city became a place of lust. The king remained upon the throne in the dungeon, ruling through the entity known as the Ambassador of Alagadda.
The SCP Foundation became knowledgeable of the Hanged King through renditions of The Hanged King's Tragedy overtaken by the Ambassador. The existence of Alagadda's regent was substantiated to them through the Wandsman of Kul-Manas, and the the King of Alagadda was classified as SCP-2264-5.
Description[]
| “ | A god shaped hole. The barren desolation of a fallen and failed creation. You see the light of long dead stars. Your existence is nothing but an echo of a dying god's screams. The unseen converges. Surrounds you. And it tightens like a noose. | ” |
–Agent Alexander Papadopoulos describes what he saw beneath the Hanged King's veil, In the Court of Alagadda | ||
Biography[]
Rebellion in Alagadda[]
| “ | There comes the King and his crowd, His subjects turned against him, taking his crown. The cheering comes with flames of hate, Burning and raging, bring the palace down. | ” |
–Excerpt from a poem about the king's fate, And so the Crows Laughed | ||
The human male king of the city-state of Alagadda ruled as a corrupt tyrant, suppressing and exploiting his subjects and locking his opponents in the dungeons of his grand palace, where he indulged in base pleasures. In his dungeon, he kept tomes and displayed symbology that resembled the markings of the ancient gods down in the abyss, including a silver chalice of blood and the skeleton of lion that had formerly been his pet, marked with carvings unpleasant to look upon.[3]
Due to his oppressive reign, the citizens of Alagadda eventually rebelled against the king, setting the palace on fire and slaughtering those loyal to the king, including his court jester. Only the wisest citizens such as the scholars and artists avoided joining the rebellion, fleeing instead, as they knew the content of the palace dungeon and feared what it might mean about their ruler. The king attempted to hide in the dungeon protected by his guards, but the once young and healthy soldiers had been affected by the anomalous practices of the king, and stood to weak to defend themselves, quickly being cut down by the mob.[3]
The hanged king is hung[]
| “ | Upon the old tree the King was hanged, His former subjects silently watch. The chains are rusted and the rope is long, Strangles and tightens squeezing the breath out. | ” |
–Excerpt from a poem about the king's fate, And so the Crows Laughed | ||
Once the king was captured by his subjects he was dragged through the palace and stripped of his crown and robes, which were replaced by rags and the very chains he had used to bind his opponents in the dungeon. As this happened, the king attempted to speak, but his jaw was broken by the mob. The king was then forced to crawl through the streets of Alagadda, where he was pelted with filthy things and kicked by children, surrounded by cheering subjects including both the oppressed and his former allies. As he crawled he mumbled unholy words that frightened the mob, causing them to scream and yell louder so as not to hear him.[3]
The mob debated executing the king formally at the gallows, but decided instead that he would die forgotten and nameless, dragging him to an empty and desolate hill just outside the city where they hung him from a tree. As the king hung, still in chains, he struggled as any would with a noose around their neck, but uttered unholy words that came from places of dark before laughing continuously until he drew his last breath. Frightened by what they had seen the mob fell silent, leaving the hill as quickly as possible once the king was dead. The mob hoped to leave the king hanging so crows and maggots would ravage his body, but while crows circled his corpse issuing caws like laughter, they never landed, and so eventually citizens dug the kings a shallow grave and buried him in it, not wanting to look upon him any longer.[3]
The return of the king[]
| “ | Half-alive when he is buried, Half-dead when he escapes. Coming back to reclaim his kingdom, With blood and rage and horrors from beyond. | ” |
–Excerpt from a poem about the king's fate, And so the Crows Laughed | ||
The day after the king was killed and buried, a homeless man heard strange noises emanating from his grave and reported that he saw crows gathering around the site as though waiting for something to happen. The rest of the citizens of Alagadda ignored the reports of the ramblings of a madman and continued to indulge themselves using the riches they had stolen from the palace, trying to forget the king. On the second day the river that ran through Alagadda turned red and began to smell of human blood. Many of the citizens fell ill, bleeding while lying trembling on the floor as though bound by heavy chains. Those who had stolen from the palace were especially afflicted, becoming incredibly weak and then dying.[3]
Three days after king's death, the subjects' illness lifted and they were able to stand again; however, all became suicidal and slit their throats or tore off their own faces. The city's streets ran with the blood of the deceased and poured into the red river as all animals bar the crows fled from the city. As Alagadda was gripped with madness, the king clawed his way out of his grave. Having refused to accept death and bargained with souls he did and did not possess, he emerging as something neither living, dead or human. Still wearing his chains and rags he returned to Alagadda, slowly making his way through the carnage in the streets to the ruins of his palace. The he passed the mask of his favorite jester, but ignored it and continued to the dungeon.[3]
The king sits upon his throne[]
| “ | And thus the Hanged King sits in his palace, His lords serve him with broken masks. But the chains bind him with pain and torment, And the crows of death shall forever watch. | ” |
–Excerpt from a poem about the king's fate, And so the Crows Laughed | ||
In the dungeon the king found a throne covered in sharp rusted spikes, which the rebels had mistaken for a torture device. As he sat upon it, the spikes pierced his flesh and caused great pain within his soul, causing him to tremble. After a moment of silence, the ruins of the palace began to tremble, burning again with the phantoms of the rebellion's flames. The red river began to boil and the lion's skeleton stood up and roared, after which the city-state was warped into a separate dimension from earth, becoming twisted and inhuman as it did so.[3]
Crows circled the city and sought out any of the citizens who were still alive, pecking at them until they bled out in horrifying forms. Bound to the seat permanently, the Hanged King was approached by the dead jester whose mask he had passed, who offered him the silver chalice of blood that had been kept in the dungeon. The king took the chalice, but due to the injured state of his trembling hands was unable to hold it and dropped it to the floor, where the blood spilt out.[3]
An endless carnival[]
| “ | The Hall of Mercurial Virtue blurred the line between the beautiful and grotesque. Pilgrims and emperors, gods and monsters; entities from all possible realities playing their role in the eternal masquerade. Driven by ambition as black as the stars above, most sought a boon from the Hanged King itself. | ” |
–Ickis the Wayward describes the endless carnival of Alagadda, A Wandsman in the Court of the Hanged King | ||
The dead throughout the city then rose as twisted inhuman creatures, concealing their faces permanently with masquerade masks and beginning to cheer and celebrate, acting as though the recent events in the city had all been a performance that had just come to an end. A continuous carnival began in the city streets,[3] and orgies became common throughout.[2] The Hanged King attempt to scream at this, but as his death had rendered him unable to make sound, he instead wept in silence.
The crows who had circled the city laughed one final time and flew away, although they would always continue to watch over the city.[3] Alagadda became accessible through a number of interdimensional entry points called Janus Gate, through which guests from various other dimensions could visit, often to join the carnival[2] and seek the boon of the Hanged King.[4] Those who had fled from the city during the rebellion began to suffer from nightmares showing its new form, and would wake terrified of what they had seen. Unable to forget their dreams, many of them created works of art, theatre or literature based around the Hanged King and his city, and those who viewed these pieces became accessible to the king.[3]
The tragedy is born[]
| “ | I beseech thee to burn that accurs'd Play and return it to Ashe. Thy Patron seeks to corrupt and defile: Whence He cometh, there are Things that simply should not be. The Ambassador shall exploit thee, as they did us. | ” |
–Henry Percy writes to Christopher Marlowe, begging that he destroy the Hanged King's Tragedy, In the Court of Alagadda | ||
At some point prior to his death on November 5th, 1632, 9th Earl of Northumberland Lord Henry Percy created a Janus Gate within his cell in the Martin Tower of the Tower of London in the city of London in the United Kingdom. Percy then showed his associate the playwright Christopher Marlowe the gate and allowed him to pass through into Alagadda. While in the city-state, Marlowe gained the entity known as the Ambassador of Alagadda as a patron,[2] a being of immense power who spoke for the hanged king.[4] The Ambassador then influenced Marlowe to write the play known as The Hanged King's Tragedy, which involved references to Alagadda.[2]
When Percy learned of the plays existence, he wrote to Marlowe pleading with him to destroy the play and warning of the Ambassador's corrupting influence; however, on the day that Percy sent the letter Marlowe was murdered under mysterious circumstances.[2] Any performance of the play potentially manifests the Hanged King on stage during the first act, where he will usually drift at stage left on the edges of the scene and not be acknowledged by any actors involved. Should the king manifest in the first act, he will then continue to do so throughout the rest of the play, becoming more and more prominent and sometimes even interacting with actors, who act as though he is an expected part of the play. During the play fifth and final act he will then become the scene's focus, with all of the actors involved in the play killing each other or themselves as he watches. Those in the audience of the performance will then become extremely violent and attack one another as the Hanged King stands on stage.[1]
Further visitors to the king's court[]
| “ | Instead of a face, I beheld a visage of nihility - a god shaped hole. All was void. | ” |
–Ickis the Wayward describes the Hanged King, A Wandsman in the Court of the Hanged King | ||
The travel-writer known as the "Wandsman of Kul-Manas", Ickis the Wayward, visited Alagadda via the Janus Gates from his homeworld. During Ickis' first visit to the city-state he became lost within the palace and found himself passing from the carnival iteration of the city-state to the desert one by accident. There he found his way to the king's throne in the dungeon, and the Hanged King formed before him, screaming with anguish. The entity writhed under its bindings to the throne and tried to lunge at the Ambassador of Alagadda, who stood nearby. With the pairs faces nearly touching, the Ambassador remained unperturbed and removed the king's veil, revealing what lay beneath to Ickis. The writer's next recollection was awaking in the Wanderer's Library, where he began to record his experiences in Alagadda.[4]
In the 20th century, the SCP Foundation became knowledgeable of the Hanged King through mentions in the fifth act of The Hanged King's Tragedy, which they had designated SCP-701.[1] The King wasn't assigned an SCP designation until Dr. Calixto Narváez' exploration of Alagadda and interview with Ickis, after which he was classified as SCP-2264-5. When Mobile Task Force Psi-9 "Abyss Gazers" was deployed for an expedition to assess the Hanged King's power, only one agent found audience with the Hanged King, brought before him by the Ambassador. The Ambassador used the bound ruler to torture the agent, unveiling his face to anguish the mortal with what lay beneath.[2]