I know that I've briefly gone over the SCP before, but let me elaborate once again because I'm a self-centred narcissist who loves the sound of his own... typing? The SCP (Secure Contain Protect) Foundation is an open source community led project to create a catalogue of fictional original cryptic mythologies from the perspective of a secret government organisation tasked with overseeing them all. Think Control but... actually it's literally the exact same premise as Control. (I'm fairly certain that Remedy took some heavy inspiration from the SCP.) This project manifests itself as a website full to the brim of stories and entries cataloguing all of this crazy, interesting stories, most of which with an enticing horror edge to them.
Over the years the whole SCP collection of stories has proven incredibly influential to Internet creepypasta culture as well as potentially influencing some actual big budget productions. (Even if not directly.) It serves as a testament to the power of creativity and the wonder of imagination, and I'm embarrassed to say that I've never sat down and spent a significant time on their website just looking at the pages worth of free creepy stories that are there for anyone to read. Don't me wrong, I've played the games, so I'm not a complete novice to the sort of world SCP conjures. On my old laptop I downloaded and went as far as I could into SCP-087 (Which wasn't very far because I'm a total coward) and I've started 'Containment Breach' several different times on several different computers. (Again, Coward) But I wanted to take a look back at the abundance of source material that these games spawned from and talk about my thoughts regarding each entry.
Of course, there's so many SCP entries available that it would unreasonable (and actually impossible) to look through them all in one blog, so I decided to start another series. (Because I love those. Saves me from having to be creative too often.) This is, however, one which you can join along with due to how easy it is to just type SCP into Google and come across the website dedicated to outdoor living essentials for the garden. Wait a minute... Oh, you'll want the result under that. The wiki itself is very cohesively laid out (Which just about every other Wiki in existence could learn from) so it's easy to take a look at these stories from where they started all the way in series I. There are a variety of SCP entities ranging from the benign to the deadly to those that will instantly teleport to steal you into their pocket dimension the second that you learn their name, so I think this will be a very interesting group of tales to shift through, especially as we try to imagine what they might be capable of in the middle world, but without further ado let's start at the beginning with SCP-001.
The significance of SCP-001 is obvious with it being the very first entry, and this it makes sense that the first ever SCP should have been met with some revisions over the years. This is doubly as important to acknowledge due to the fact that the SCP mythology upholds several different 'canons' that run separate to and interconnect to each other, making it impossible to establish a single progenitor SCP that'll suitable cater to them all. As such the Foundation have come up with a decent solution, (a solution I like to call "The Daggerfall conclusion") make them all canon. Upon visiting the page you'll be met with the knowledge that SCP-001 is so classified that several conflicting entries have been established alongside the true one so that a definitive can never be established. Which, acknowledging the multiple universes that this series juggles, could be interpreted as meaning all of these entries are true whilst none of them are true. (The truth is up to you.)
The first story relating to SCP-001 is perhaps my favourite due to it being just so straightforwards and non complicated, something you'll come to appreciate the more you dig into SCP. I also like the fact that it takes advantage of it's position as progenitor to provide a origin tale of sorts, which is always kinda cool. Identified only as Jonathan Ball's Proposal, this version of SCP-001 is considered to be the single most dangerous SCP in existence although the manner in which that danger manifests is deliciously abstract. You see this SCP-001 is a sheet of papers with a single stable in one corner, headed with a cover sheet entitled "Confidential Reports on Special Items- Classified". This is the sheet that appeared on some redacted individual's desk one day with no clue of how it came to be.
Inside this unnamed individual read a report on a most curious entity known as 'The Living Room', (which would later come to be known as SCP-002) something they found incredulous until they started receiving phone calls informing them of it's very real existence. When addressing the papers again, however, they found an entirely different report on Biological motherboard (SCP-003) and so on and so forth. Everytime these papers are opened they detail a brand new SCP in varying degrees of detail for the folk of the foundation to hunt down and contain. But here comes the interesting twist; in this iteration of the canon, no SCP has ever been discovered without first being read about in SCP-001. Now, this could mean either that SCP-001 acts as a warning device for soon to manifest anomalous entries or, more likely, that this set of papers is the catalyst which spawns such SCPs into the world.
I love this sort of concept wherein the curiosity of the unknown is the very thing which puts the people of the world in danger, as it's creates this environment where all your sorrows are your own doing. (Perfect horror fodder) In this form of the Canon, the SCP administration have isolated and locked down these papers whilst they try to make up for the thousand SCPs that they've already inadvertently created, hopefully ensuring that no one else gets ahold of them and accidentally creates something dangerous enough to end all life on earth. (Although looking at some of the SCPs for the first 100, I'd say that ship's already sailed) Although the current SCP administration are only in power for a limited amount of time, and who's to say that the next admins would have the same scruples? Seeing as how the number of SCP tales now reaches up to 6000, I'm guessing that they didn't.
Now in order to understand Dr Clef's Proposal you need to wrap your head around one of the canon's because this SCP is essential to it. Essentially, one of SCP canon's takes things slightly away from the science fiction and into religious mythology, which is why this entry has so many references to Abrahamic faiths. This SCP-001 is best described as a flaming angel with a flaming sword who appears to guard what looks to be the gate to heaven. (Which is on Earth for some unknown reason.) This fella is very serious about his job, and will basically stop at nothing to ensure that these gates are defended, even if that means brutally killing anyone who approaches it without seeming to do anything at all.
Anyone who approaches within a 1km radius of this SCP-001 is considered a potential threat by the angel, and it will respond appropriately. To some that have been asked to approach it has merely psychically ordered them to leave and forget that they had ever been there, and to others who have launched weaponary at it from half a continent away, it has destroyed the weapon and killed all those involved with the attempted murder. (So there's certainly an escalation in scale.) Most interestingly, however, was one fellow who approached SCP-001 and was told to retreat and 'prepare'; and order which that fellow to found the SCP. This is an interesting enough story on the surface, but I personally feel it's just a tad too dramatic for the 'weird horror' vibe that SCP seems to thrive on. I mean, how am I supposed to reconcile a flaming Angel guarding Heaven as existing in the same universe as bowl of sweets which'll cut your hand off if you take too many. (We'll get to that one eventually.)
I do understand that the whole 'dramatic' angle is part of this particular branch of SCP, but it invites too many questions which can only be answered with "We'll, you've got to read this entry too". Now those sorts of rabbit holes are all well and good, but if there's no comprehensive starting point it can feel a little daunting, when I started reading at how they sent other SCPs at the 001, whom turned out to be Cain and Abel respectively, I was just completely turned off. Maybe once I know more about this particular branch of SCP I look upon this entry with new eyes, but right now it's just too much for me. The whole thing about a message from the future signalling the end of the world is pretty much the nail in that coffin. (It's works for an Anime, not so much for a creepypasta)
qntm's Proposal is a bit more abstract and weird, in keeping with the SCP that I know, but I'm unsure as to it's significance at number 001 as of yet. This SCP-001 is simple a onyx gemstone with a white pattern traced into it and golden filigree fractals that are ingrained to at an apparently impossibly microscopic level. It's history is primordial and it's mystery is palpable, as all this entry really reveals is that this is some sort of prison created to hold something called "Apakht". All of this sounds like a curious ground zero for another branch of SCP lore and I'm curious to see what becomes of it, as I'm sure we will down the line.
Lastly comes a story form of SCP-001 which appears to be from a fellow known as 05. This iteration of SCP-001 is... a lot. Told from a perspective which appears to be a top SCP researcher getting a surprise visit from the ancient Founder, we are treated to a story around the origins of something known as 'The Factory' and the means to which this man discovered there was more to his world than he originally thought. The story itself is well written and decent enough, it just throws so much at you that I don't know what to believe, I think it's an extension upon the flaming Angel mythos as that is mentioned briefly, (though dismissively) in the text. Once Faeries with iron allergies started showing up and beheading people, I was confused beyond all get out. I encourage you to go read this story for yourself and see what you get out of it, because for me it was kinda sensory overload and the reason why I cut this look into SCP-001 short.
Those are just a taste of the SCP-001 entries that currently exist and I do intend to get through them all, only once I've had a little time to process what I've read so far. it is quite fun to look through these stories, I'll admit; it's like role-playing detective across conflicting casefiles, finding your own truth hidden within them. (It's quite fun.) Over the next two blogs I hope to wrap up SCP-001's interpretations and get more into the meat of SCP, which should allow me to cover multiple entries per blog. (But there's no promises coming out of me yet.) Until then I'll keep my fingers crossed for more spooky entries, especially as I have feeling that soon we'll be touching upon The Scarlet King.
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