(Redirected from SCP Foundation Treaty Port)
"SCP Foundation Treaty Port" and "SCP Foundation Port" redirect here. For other uses, see SCP Foundation Port (disambiguation). Not to be confused with the Foundation's Free Port classification. For different cities named East Berlin or other uses, East Berlin (disambiguation).
SCP Foundation Treaty Port
SCP Foundation Vertragshafen
1924–1990
Motto: Sichern, Eindämmen, Schützen
("Secure, Contain, Protect")
Location of East Berlin (dark green) in East
Germany (light green)
| Capital and largest city |
East Berlin (city-state) |
| Official languages | German English (de facto) |
| Religion | 64.1% Protestant (Lutheran, Reformed, United) 32.4% Roman Catholic 0.9% Jewish 2.6% Other |
| Demonym | German |
| Government | Federal semi-presidential republic (1918—1933) SCP Foundation rule (De facto) (1933—1990) |
| Legislature | Bicameral |
| • Upper House | Reichsrat (de facto) |
| • Lower House | Reichstag |
| Population | 96,142,000 (1990) |
| Currency | 1919–23 "Papiermark" (ℳ) 1923–24 Rentenmark (RM) 1924–90 Reichsmark (ℛℳ) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Calling code | +49 |
| ISO 3166 code | OB |
| Internet TLD | .ob, .scp |
East Berlin, officially the SCP Foundation Treaty Port, was a country, specifically a city-state and treaty port, made up of the eastern half of Berlin. Initially granted to the SCP Foundation by the Treaty of Versailles in 1921, it lasted until German reunification alongside surrounding East Germany and West Germany in 1990. During its existence, it was entirely dominated by the Foundation, who initially claimed it to be a concession, then as their integral territory, and eventually a sovereign state. The city was considered by some to be de jure part of East Germany and was claimed by the state as its capital, but the Foundation's grip on the territory required them to instead center all actual government administratitive functions in Weimar. It was commonly nicknamed Little Germany or Third Germany.
In 1918, sensing Germany’s approaching loss at the hands of the Entente Powers in World War I, Emperor Wilhelm II authorized several unprecedented actions: the severing of ties with all foreign and international paranatural enforcement organizations, the theft of any of their anomalies in their territory, and the subsequent extensive use of paranormal weaponry on the field in conventional warfare. While anomalous conflict had been running parallel to WWI through the Sixth Occult War, this was the first point that both wars truly melded into one. Germany’s actions rapidly deteriorated any previous regard for international law preventing the use of anomalous assets in combat, shattering the Veil Protocol and reinvigorating the war. After the defeat of the Central Powers in 1921, the victorious Entente took control of Germany and, after distributing some of its land, decided to divide what remained of Germany proper into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in the west, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the east, and the international zone of West Berlin.
The Treaty of Versailles, considered to be the only European member of the so-called "unequal treaties", granted the Entente and their allies various treaty ports (in this context, cities effectively under their administration as concessions) in both German states. The Foundation received the most coveted prize: what remained of Berlin outside of the international zone. As the Foundation made use of its possession and the economic boon it granted the organization to assist in re-establishing order in the newly-public anomalous world, it was unable to counter the rising prevalence of Mekhanite extremism in Greece, nor the power grab of longstanding paranormal institutions in France. The two totalitarian European nations joined with the Empire of Japan, East Asia’s dominant power in both mundane and anomalous affairs, to create what would become the Axis Powers. France began using more than its explicitly allotted authority in the Weimar Republic, eventually invading it in 1939, triggering World War II. Wishing to counter what it felt was an unacceptable amount of influence from anomalous organizations in conventional affairs, the Foundation aligned itself (and East Berlin by extension) into the newly-formed Allied Powers. After the Allied victory in WWII, East Berlin emerged as the undisputed capital of the anomalous world.
Creating laws which would attract anomalous commerce, the country enticed numerous anomalous organizations to establish what would be considered their legal headquarters within the territory, most notable among them being the SCP Foundation and Global Occult Coalition. Corporate entities with a significant stake in the anomalous world, such as Doctor Wondertainment, Marshall, Carter, and Dark Limited, and the Walt Disney Company, were also headquartered within the country at its peak. Various regional and state-specific anomalous organizations also possessed diplomatic missions within the republic, enabling communication and political dealings. The height of the state's influence is generally considered the point at which the anomalous world was the most united in history, especially after the fall of the Veil Protocol in 1943. However, political issues and competition would eventually fracture the anomalous world into being divided amongst several regional Esoteric Capitals, leaving East Berlin weakened by the time the Foundation freed it in 1990.
Name and Symbols
Terminology
The SCP Foundation officially designated the city as the SCP Foundation Treaty Port, though occasionally entertained usage of the unofficial term "East Berlin" within its documentation. In the Foundation's colloquial vernacular, far more commonly accepted in its files, it was often simply called the "Treaty Port". The German Democratic Republic officially called it Berlin, capital of the GDR. East Berlin was by far the most common referential term in English, with the German Ost-Berlin also used.
Due to its status in international law, the treaty port was assigned a ISO 3166 alpha-2 code: OB (based on Ost-Berlin). The Internet TLD .ob was set aside for it in turn. The country was reunified with Germany before it could ever make use of the TLD, similarly to East Germany and its dedicated .dd TLD. As such, government websites in the territory primarily used the Foundation's .scp domain.
Flag and emblem
The national flag of the SCP Foundation Republic was originally a position shared by the German black-red-gold tricolor, last used in the Weimar Era, and the traditional white-blue bicolor of Bavaria. However, as the black-red-gold tricolor was also initially shared with East Germany and West Germany, the Bavarian flag saw more use to represent it on the international stage. When East Germany updated its flag in 1959 to add its emblem onto the tricolor, the Foundation Republic followed soon after, making the German tricolor with the emblem the Foundation created for the republic the sole national flag.
The Foundation based the treaty port’s emblem on that of East Germany, offering an instance of communist-style heraldry outside of a socialist country, similarly to what would later be seen with many post-Soviet states. It featured the hammer and compass from the GDR’s emblem, though in an orange shade. The original intention of these symbols was to represent factory workers and the intelligentsia respectively, though it is commonly speculated by historians the Foundation did not intend to reflect this and simply wanted to utilize the GDR’s symbols. The tools were surrounded by a Foundation shield outline in a similar orange color with a brick-like pattern, charged with a German flag wrap on either side and a ribbon-like structure near the base. It has been postulated that the brick pattern on the shield was meant to match the socialist imagery and symbolize laborers, though the Foundation has never confirmed nor denied the thought.
Background
European balance of power
The modern European anomalous world and the existence of the Veil is thought to have been first formally attested to in the Treaty of Bavaria, the anomalous component of the Peace of Westphalia. The treaty established the idea that European nations had sovereignty over anomalies within their territory, but they should be hidden from the public and not be used for warfare. While there was no formal unifying authority over the anomalous at this point, the Papacy decreed that the people of Europe were not ready to accept the paranormal and would be quick to use it to engage in idolatry, with multiple Popes authoring papal bulls which formulated how the Roman Catholic Church felt the anomalous should be treated. Generally, the papacy felt that the anomalous should be hidden from the average civilian, but not destroyed, as, despite everything, they were still God’s creations. Every Catholic nation in Europe considered the word of the Pope to be their *de facto* position on the anomalous. This position was not one strictly limited to Catholicism, or even Christianity, with similar reasons being cited in several Islamic states to also restrict the anomalous, such as within the Ottoman Empire. Overall, regardless of creed or allegiance, nearly every European nation had some reason they did not want anomalies known publicly to their people, and it was in that shared interest some found opportunity.
After the Congress of Vienna defined Switzerland’s neutrality in 1815, some countries began to feel like the confederation was the only place where their anomalies could be adequately protected both physically and politically. While nearly every state had its own dedicated paranormal organization in line with their beliefs regarding the anomalous, the movements for balance between the European powers meant that many in various governments began calling for removal of anomalies from government possession altogether in order to prevent any foul play. To this end, the Red Contingency was founded by Swiss nobleman Fritz W. Castella de Berlens, commonly known as Fritz Williams, who made a name for himself fighting anomalous entities. The Contingency was the earliest incarnation of what would become the SCP Foundation, being the first modern officially-recognized international organization dedicated to preservation of the Veil alongside the containment and study of anomalies. The Contingency was relatively disconnected from Switzerland itself, operating wholly separately from its government. During the American Revolutionary War, Williams controversially supported the American Secure Containment Initiative, a breakaway organization from Her Majesty’s Foundation for the Secure Containment of the Paranormal (HMFSCP), and invited the relatively disorganized organization a chance to join the Contingency, which it gracefully accepted. However, as the organization was small and in its infancy, it was now almost completely dominated by the Americans.
Though still nominally one organization, this led to informal American and European sides of the Contingency to form, with the divide between them rapidly becoming clear. The European side of the Contingency did what the organization was arguably designed for initially: regulating and containing anomalies from European powers while preventing their use in warfare. However, the American side became more focused on the actual studies of the anomalous. This greatly interested Fritz Williams, who moved to America to oversee the American side of the organization, leaving British paraphysicist Aaron Siegel behind to lead the European side in his stead. Siegel had increasingly professed a desire to become part of the American division’s leadership, since, while he did have a considerable amount of ideological support for maintaining the stability of the European powers, his interest in the anomalous had always been more about the science, though Williams refused, believing he was better suited to the European division, believing that a British man trying to lead the group of Americans would only lead to resentment, especially so soon after the War of 1812. Siegel was enraged at the development of Williams leaving him behind, though initially remained optimistic that he could try to steer the European side of the Contingency closer to his vision. This gradually fell apart, however, as more and more resources began to be siphoned by the American side of the organization under Williams’ order, leaving little behind for Siegel to engage in anything beyond the organization’s political and containment aspects. At some point during this period, both Williams and Siegel drank from SCP-006, making them biologically immortal, though when exactly remains unclear.
In 1856, Siegel had had enough of perceived slights from Williams and defected from the organization with a small group of loyalists, who still operated under the name “Red Contingency”, believing it was their right to use it. Williams, having been far more engrossed in the science rather than political side of things for decades now, cared little about the name, changing the name of his organization to the SCP Foundation, marking what most consider to be the founding of the modern organization. Siegel’s Red Contingency began to engage in various proxy wars with the Foundation, though were outmatched in resources and personnel. However, in Williams’ rapid obsession with the anomalous sciences and his redevelopment of the American side of the former Contingency for doing so, he had unknowingly become wholly dependent on Siegel’s leadership of the European division for the organization’s political infrastructure, crippling its support in Europe and eventually voiding several treaties arguably fundamental to its current operations. As such, Siegel’s Red Contingency began to see some limited support from European powers in the face of its overwhelming inadequacy against the SCP Foundation, granting it resources and shelter while the Foundation did its best to pick up the shattered pieces of its once-integral place in international law.
Qing Anomalous Crisis
World War I
Scramble for Germany
History
Establishment
Interwar Era
World War II
Cold War
Decline
German Reunification