Once more I'm diving into the mystery that is The Foundation, as we analyse those 20 or so stories that make up the mythos of the first SCP. I quite enjoyed my dive into the spookness of the SCP Foundation last time and am eager to dive into the individual entries down the line; until then however I feel it's important not to rush the several alternate SCP-001 entries too quickly, as within likely holds the key to many of the larger mysteries down the line. (I'll be damned if that flaming Angel doesn't show up in at least one other entry.) Also, it might have come to your attention that at the rate I am going I will literally never finish this blog series. That is accurate, but I don't bemoan this fact; I enjoy the concept of a constant even if it isn't directly related to a game. (However, just to cover my back: I can think of at least 3 games based off of SCP lore and Control is technically a reimagination of the whole concept. There, no one can complain now.)
Dr. Mann's proposal for what SCP-001 might be will sound quite familiar to those who are veterans of the videogame SCP world. It's simply a gravel path in the backwoods of nowhere that doesn't seem to conform to the conventional laws of reality. That is to say, should one travel down this circular path in a counter clockwise direction they would find their path slowly rise in a uphill fashion, before they found themselves back where they started. So in a way this is a much more sedate version of SCP-078. (the endless staircase) It isn't anything world changing, just an anomaly. Of course, this iteration of the tale uses this a jumping off point for everything in a rather tidy fashion. You see, the fellow you came across this anomaly was a scientist who ended up roping other geniuses in to figure out exactly what was happening here, leading to them unravelling reality more and more and creating more outlandish tools to do so (which in turn became SCPs)
Similar to Johnathon ball's proposal for SCP-001, this story creates a linear narrative to the world of SCP wherein there is a single definable cause for the creation of these strange cryptids. By Mann's cannon, everything SCP has ever 'found' was first created by those original researchers in an effort to better understand the break in reality that they stumbled across. Every now and then they'd accidentally make something incredibly dangerous, leading to new SCPs being put together in order to contain these ones. The reason this story bares such resemblance to SCP-078 is because that staircase was created by these folk in an attempt to recreate this original phenomenon. At the very least this proposal explains how these SCPs have suddenly started showing up in increasing numbers at the turn of the 19th century (although if I remember right there are some ancient Sumerian artefacts that don't fit this explanation quite so nicely.) Either way, I like this explanation rather fun for no more reason than it establishes consequence and pathos in a traditional 'horror' way. (These scientists were so preoccupied with if they could they never stopped to think about whether or not they should.)
Dr Mackenzie's proposal is much more high Science fantasy then I anticipated and even had shades of 'His Dark Materials' to it, although I appreciate the attempt to categorise and explain the unexplainable. (Once again, this story took full advantage of the number 1 slot for the SCP's) In this cannon, SCP-001 is a futuristic containment unit alongside a key to open it, these two items are kept under the highest guard due to the third part of SCP-001; a collection of ageless papers belonging to the man who served as the administrator (and presumably the founder) of SCP. Unfortunately, these many pages aren't preserved on the website in their entirety, but this Dr Mackenzie was kind enough to pick out enough key excerpts in order to catch the general drift of things.
Basically, the administrator for this canon is a trans-dimensional traveller who hailed from a parallel Earth that was infinitely more advanced than our own. (Probably the most advanced in existence.) Unfortunately, as is often the case with unregulated consumption, this ended up leading to the self imposed downfall of that entire universe due to the creation of something called Corruption. (With a capital 'C', so you know it's important!) So what, it's Fern Gully meets FF7, why should I care? Well, apparently this Corruption has started to seed into the multiverse and break the veil between realities, causing things from other dimensions to appear in worlds wherein their existence makes no sense. (I.e. handily explaining the existence of the SCPs. That's nice.) This administraor thus has jumped to our world, (and likely countless others in between) with a box full of all his planet's knowledge for how to stop the Corruption; research he needs to complete before this threat wipes out all existence. (You might even call it an; 'Crisis on Infinite Earths'. Someone call the CW) So yeah, very dramatic and cut from the same cloth as the whole 'burning Angel' thing, but I can sort of dig it. I both like and dislike the way it quantifies the world of SCP, even more so than Mann's proposal, but I don't think it's especially bad or a waste of time. Put me done for an 'ambivalent'.
S Andrew Swann, on the otherhand, opted to go for the exact other end of the spectrum for his proposal regarding SCP-001. Rather than attempt to define and wrap everything up in a neat little bow, Swann decided to throw so many 'redacted' blocks down that I honestly don't even know what it is I'm supposed to take from his article. The most coherent part of it all was the containment procedures which is so advanced that they need all three of the ranking SCP officers to input part of a three bit code in order to access it. They are also adamant that the leaking of SCP-001 would lead to a universe destroying event, so this is an interesting mix of dramatic and super mysterious. The only little bit of information were are given is through an addendum which seems to note that SCP-001 is several entities with indistinguishable cognitive patterns to humans, and yet they are said to be capable of ending all life in the universe. (Are they wizards? Sound like wizards to me...) The Foundation seem fairly certain that in the event of an emergency they could kill these wizards with the 'ol memetic virus, (They do appear human, afterall) but so far they've done nothing under fears that the known universe just might be incapable of existing without them. So what does any of this mean? I have literally no idea, and sometimes that's the strongest set-up for a horror universe. It keeps me guessing and doesn't neatly explain the founding of SCP and the impetus for their mission in one fell swoop. It's a story that keeps me scratching my head, and I rate it for that.
Scantron's Proposal is actually even more threadbare than that, to the point where I'm actually conflicted as to whether or not I've interpreted it right, but I'll go ahead regardless. (Not like I have a second opinion to bounce these off of.) In this canon SCP-001 is a simple highschool that one day was miraculously converted into a hightech military compound unbeknownst to anyone. All personal effects from the old school had vanished and the layout had been significantly altered, blocking off windows, moving classrooms and rending the auditorium completely inaccessible. Soon the grounds were evacuated and two military team were sent in, of which neither returned. From that point on SCP-001's grounds were filled, but their inhabitants seemed to be drone-like clones of the missing military personnel who were busy undergoing identifiable jobs. This game of wait and see is only really resolved once SCP-001 transmits a message detailing that they are 'the O5 council' and apologising for the missing men. (whilst asking for more resources) This should ring a bell for anyone as 'O5' is the designation given to the highest office of The Foundation; which I think implies that SCP-001 is the SCP foundation itself! Isn't that wild; an organisation dedicated to the capture and containment of mysterious anomalous entities that is itself anomalous. Provided I've read into that right, I like this original story, even if it does leave some unanswered questions such as; why does the SCP have this report about themselves to being with?Djoric-Dmatix's proposal is as dramatic as his name is, and I worry that comes at the cost of that typical 'mystique' which makes SCP so fun. His SCP are a collection of 36 individuals who seem to be varied folk across the world with unconscious powers and a goal to seek. Whenever these folk are within the proximity of an SCP they instantly render it docile (or make it stronger, the effect is unpredictable) and they seem capable of conversing with sentient SCP's as though they're old storied friends. (In this way the story is rather similar to the fiery Angel.) Of course, these aren't just extraordinary fellows out there sealing cursed artefacts, (else this would the newest season of Xiaolin Showdown. God I miss that show...) but they are actually harbingers with the power to rebirth our dying earth by making a wholly new one in it's place. (So human G.E.C.K's. Great.) I'm not sure what it is about this iteration of SCP that rubs me the wrong way, it just seems so contrived and filmic. I don't feel any of the desire to seek out the truth like I do with other SCP-001 offshoots, I just feel empty reading through this one. (Perhaps that's an expected consequence of reading so many of these.) Not a bad story, just not my cup of tea.
Finally, for this blog, we have Roget's Proposal which is quite the bit more interesting and unique than some of the others we've read through today. Sure, it's still about some uber-important project that protects the end of the world, but SCP-001 in this regard is realised as some primordial facility that perfectly contains a variety of the most power SCP's by matching them with their perfect counterparts. (There are some interesting SCP cancellations in this article that I recommend you browse through if you're curious.) In essence I suppose that makes this SCP some sort of natural progenitor to The Foundation, and it also maintains that allure of possibly being friend or foe, because it's unclear if this facility is also the origin of these potentially world ending entities. A nice and simple story that doesn't need to trip up over itself on details; a great cap-off for this batch.
That's all I can stomach so far for fear that my head might explode. (That memetic kill agent must be finally getting to me.) I know it's confusing looking through all of these alternate descriptions and specific definitions for what is essentially supposed to be the same item/persons; but I hope you're all reading along and enjoying it as much as I am. Now I've gone a couple of weeks I think that I'll comit to doing something creative, such as trying to marry all of these SCP-001 proposals into one mega amateur proposal once I'm done, just for giggles. But until then there's more investigations to conduct, all of which will have to wait until next week.
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