Adapting the SCP Universe

 I know it's a multiverse; leave me alone

Recently I spoke a little bit about the SCP presence within the world of indie games and mentioned how I thought it made for a ripe ground to grow from. Though the very nature of the internet horror story collection is open source, there's a huge and expansive universe of cryptids and curses with wildly imaginative hearts beating in them, just waiting to be adapted either into film or game, held back only by the non-profit clause of the SCP universe. Still for those of us too cowardly or talentless to make profit out of our work (like moi) there's a definite world of inspiration to be drawn from the world of the Secure Contain Protect foundation and I want to touch on just a few ideas I feel like could be explored in standalone game projects, either of an Indie level or slightly bigger.  And this is by no means exhaustive, I might add; the quality of SCP stories just lays out too many great story ideas to be covered over one blog. Perhaps even too many to be covered over a Hundred! 

First off is a SCP that has actually appeared in a game before, Containment Breach, but I think could be capable of so much if focused on for a standalone game. I'm talking about SCP-096; the creature known as 'Shy Guy'. The lanky, pale skinned monster with garishly oversized claws. It's quirk is that the creature hides it's face, and if anyone should break it's privacy and look at it, the creature will hunt them down and kill them. But when I say 'Hunt' I mean it in the fullest sense of the word. No manner of containment procedure can get in between 096 and a target, it's can slice through any metal, survive any damage done to it's body and obtains a supernatural knowledge of where the person who saw it's face is at all times. Whatsmore, you don't even have to look upon 096's face directly; doing so through satellite or even a picture is enough to doom you, so you can see the potential for a terrifying chase, based game here; right?

If there were a game adaptation I would probably make a few changes to the lore, such as the supernatural positioning. Perhaps if it had the sense of the general location of it's target the gameplay could become more of a cat and mouse affair, because just constantly running away from a creature that can break down any barrier would get very old fast. What I really forsee as being fun would be the amount of ways you could get creative trying to kill the thing, only to see it shrug everything off; very similar to the original terminator. That could be the objectives during the gameplay: get him trapped underneath a car, cause him to slip of a rainy rooftop during a chase, create a makeshift pipe-bomb and blow him up, and of course, melt him down in a steel-factory. (That last one might be a bit on-the-nose.) Only to learn, once all the chaos and attention inevitably brings the heel of law enforcement down upon and you're bought into the station to be booked, that nothing can stop the Shy-Guy from killing it's privacy back.

My next concept would be a much more ambitious idea, spurred by my fascination with Post-Apocalyptic style games that don't just adapt the typical 'Nuclear War' premise but do something interesting with it. (Like The Last of Us, Horizon or, specifically to this idea, 'I Am Alive'.) One of the most famous of the very many adaptations of SCP 001 is known as 'When Day Breaks', and tells of an alternate earth where some sort of anomalous change to the solar System's sun suddenly renders it's gaze fatal to all organics on the planet. Although 'Fatal' might not be the right world for it. The Sun develops the ability to melt down all those who bare it's brunt into a gelatinous blob of somehow sentient, and still very much alive, flesh that yearns to hunt down those who survived the event and drag them into the light so that their bodies can be fused into that grotesque Cronenberg-style whole. (Lovely, eh?)

What I see coming out of this is a Survival-style game, where exposure to the Sun is the big no-no threat of daily living. I don't mean an open-world survival game with thirst and hunger bars either, but a more directed story based survival game in the vein of Bioshock; where you have to scavenge for the bullets and tools to survive. Interactions with the 001-B mush people will be kept at a minimum for really intense horror moments and set pieces, with the bulk being other survivors gearing up to survive a world in the shadows. I could see a really intense, almost Last of Us esque tale about preserving in a world without hope. A place already destroyed. With Resident Evil style boss fights against ugly deformed metabolised monster men. A fairly straightforward premise but one with some legs to grown and expand on it, I think.

That very classic SCP-173 could make it's own standalone game work too. Although I bet many out there would rightly argue that early Containment Breach concepts already were the 173 standalone! 173, for those that don't know, is the weeping angel style SCP that existed before that Doctor Who episode was made. Garish statures that cannot move when looked at, but travel at superfast speeds whenever you look away or blink. If they ever touch a human, that victim's neck is immediately broken sending a shock to their nervous system and killing them instantly. The only weakness I can think of is that SCP-173 cannot operate doors nor pass through walls; meaning that simply locking them in a room by themselves is good enough containment.

A standalone version of an SCP game would probably share many similarities to Containment Breach, with an interactive blinking system to gameify sneaking around a creature that attacks the sightless. What I would like is a more linear and focused experience that can take advantage of extreme encounters. I have less of a concept for this one and more a general idea, but when I consider the potential of a 173 standalone game my mind is immediately drawn to one of the stand-out moments of 'Joy of Creation'. (A moment which Security Breach might have shamelessly ripped off.) I'm talking about a moment wherein a room full of creatures who act very similarly to 173 are placed between the player and their destination, requiring the player to manage looking at multiple statues at once whilst stealing away a glance to work on opening a door at the same time. A tense trade-off of safety versus progression that places the tools of fear at the hands of the player. 173 could definitely rock a set piece like that.

Finally I want to propose something out of left field: What if there was an SCP TV show? Yes, there's certainly enough cryptids and monsters to contain an exploratory series going into the various discovered SCP's throughout the years and how they could be maintained, but what about the basic framing device for the entire show? Well I think I have just that. SCP-963 tells of a jewel that carries the soul of a slain personnel member called 'Doctor Bright' that has obtained a tenuous immortality by way of stealing the bodies of others who wear the neckless. That sounds to me like a perfectly interesting lead character in a series that revolves around the discovery and exploration of that version of SCP-001 which is the book that creates other SCPs everytime that it's read. Essentially an origin point for the entire SCP franchise in that every page creates a new anomaly. The mystery of unravelling the truth behind that tools power whilst containing the anomalies all across the world, perhaps told over the course of a century as the Foundation evolves into the international secretive unit it is in modern lore. I think that'd be a sick show.

Those are just some mild musings I've had on what can be done with some of the cool stories told in the SCP world, but there's of course endless applications for this innumerable and versatile tales. I just learnt that three new SCP-001 entries were just 'declassified' the other month, demonstrating just how endless a font of inspiration the SCP world can be if only someone has the skills and tools to go at it. Which is why I very much encourage the creatively inclined to take a look at some of the stories of SCP for inspiration and ideas for where their own dreams might take them; there's no telling what strange new worlds they can envision with these cool stories as a starting point. And if you're not a creative person; read the SCP entries anyway. They're super fun.

SCP in Gaming

 Secure. Contain. Propagate.

Horror in video games is a very natural fit when it comes to video game adaptations due to the very interactive nature of the medium which can, when properly utilised, magnify the horror on screen to vivid degrees. It also fits very well into the indie scene thanks to the fact that the inherently homebrew aesthetic makes for a nice substitute for the home brew 'video nasties' scene that was popular in horror movies during the early days of film ratings. You can really reach beyond the confines of what the player knows to be a game when you're just some sketchy program they downloaded off the web which Window Defenders tried to tell you to destroy, and some games really take advantage of this with some great meta Easter eggs here and there and others are a lot more traditional; but I think a healthy layer of jank helps every horror game to some degree.

And the home-brew approach to horror fits perfectly in line with the lauded SCP series, which is a collaborative collective of creepy and vaguely interconnected internet horror stories featuring a plethora of home-brew cryptids and bizarreries. I actually went through a phase in the past of trying to go through as many of the SCP stories as I could to rate the one's I liked, but after several weeks of being unable to get past the dozens of iterations of SCP 001; I just let that one sink into the abyss. It was fun at the time, however. (Maybe I'll pick it back up one day.) SCP has that sense of rough and homebrew despite the uniform aesthetic of the 'SCP Foundation' as it's backbone, as that's just a natural feeling you'll get from a story written by some many different and interesting minds. So you can see the parallel I'm drawing here, the real question is; how has SCP and gaming intersected over the years?

The first SCP game I ever became aware of, and arguably one of the grandfathers of video game indie horror in general, is 'SCP-087 B'. The game. It's name is in reference to the anomalous entity that stalks the halls of the famous SCP-087, otherwise known as the endless staircase. Essentially this anomaly plays out how it sounds, it is a building that, when entered alone, represents an endless descending staircase leading nowhere. If more than one person enters it becomes a small room without any stairs whatsoever. The trick with the staircase is that the further down someone goes the less likely it becomes they'll ever be able to return, and with no radio contact it's impossible to determine what dangers and horrors might have befallen them down in the utmost pits of hell. So you can imagine how making a game of that is going to be a bit interesting.

The game utilises that rather simple premise of going ever downwards to mix tensions and mystery along with the act of having the player move forward toward their own danger; playing on the fear of not wanting to move but having little choice. As you get deeper you'll face more and more dangers that threaten to kill and place you back at the start, all of which seem to play on the idea of things you'll never clearly see. A hole in the wall that will kill those who look into it, a charging shadowy figure with a ghost white mask that glares angrily out of the darkness, or the distorted gruff whine of some glowing creatures that periodically demands "Don't look at me!" A lot of horror games lose their edge the first time the player dies and faces the horror, by hiding that horror 'SCP-087 B' manages to stretch that moment for much longer.

In the more well known department, we have the absolute classic SCP game known as 'Containment Breach', which simulates about as many SCPs as the creators could find a gameplay angle for. Simulating the experience of a total breakdown down of security procedures that has led to just about every single anomalous entity breaking out of their holding at once and utterly destroying a facility. The player is a D-Class nobody who is just trying to survive in a building writhe with murderous entities more than happy to kill him in creative and horrifying ways, whilst all that the player character has to defend themselves is the ability to blink on command. This game really was a mastery of lore and gameplay implementation that served as a great crash course introduction to many of the most popular SCPs still recognised to this day.

Most famously you have 173, the weeping angel SCP who moves whenever it's not being directly looked at. But there's also the Shy Guy, 096, who will rip through any door in order to murder you if you look at his face. Even through a security monitor. A book of diseases that, should you read it, gives you every disease that you read. A bowl of sweets that instantly murder anyone foolish enough to take more than the sign allows. A wall-walking shadow man called 'Radical Larry' who teleports you to a deathly parkour route. A 19th Century Plague Doctor who goes around inflicting every ailment known to man by his mere touch in order to save the recipient from 'The Pestilence'. Just about any cool/scary SCP you can think of is wrapped up in this one indie swan song dedicated to the SCP brand.

And then there's Secret Laboratory; which is a asymmetric Multiplayer SCP game where you play as either a squishy human of various alignments or a deadly SCP of obvious alignment and then try to achieve whatever goal you need to do before the match ends. Typically that's either: try to stay alive or try to unalive all the humans, respectively. Rather than a competitive Multiplayer game, Secret Laboratory is more of a party game where you can take advantage of being a supremely overpowered anomalous entity in order to torment and harass your friends as they try and make it to an exit as desperately as they can. A very classic concept bought to surprisingly decent life by this game, albeit after a very long time.

The SCP font of lore marks a well of endless creativity to be drawn from, so I honestly find it quiet surprising there aren't more games baring it's brand. There are some extra titles around those I've listed, but these are really the notable ones unless you consider Containment Breach Multiplayer and Containment Breach Unity Remake as entries worthy of separate paragraphs. (I did not.) I suspect that might be due to the SCP licence which, I believe, forbids any project under the SCP name from monetising itself; but you'd still think they'd be some more crazed developers out there who just sporadically reads one of these incredible stories and just has to make a game about it; payment be damned. Still, when someone is in it to make an SCP game, it tends to be a very special and rich experience and if the consequence of that quality is scarcity, then I'd say the drought is worth it.

SCP: Searching the Archives. Part 1d

Fury from the deep

The spoopy archives of the SCP call to me once more to plunder their depths in search of some juicy nugget of truth. So I return once more to have a look over yet another selection of proposals that could be the description of the ever illustrious SCP-001, a designation as eminent as it is vague. Of course, this means that once again I'll be entering the murky waters of alternate dimensions and straight conflictions as each one of these tales exist co-currently and separately from one another; think about the most confusing canon you know and multiply that my one hundred. But at the end of the day these are all just make-believe scary stories anyway, so nothing really matters. (Or are they...)

First comes Tanhony's Proposal, and it is presented in a style that I positively love! The chat log presentation that jumps between the perspectives of 2 AI's is simply so engaging and useful for controlling perspective, something this particular author understands how to perfectly utilise. But literary analysis is not the point of this blog, what about the SCP itself? This version of SCP-001 is quite interesting in that his existence is more divorced from the Science-fiction aspects of the SCP lore and more in tune with the fantastical. it is an 84 year old man who, through unclear methods, has been fused with the concept of death. This essentially means that anything you do to this man has some effect on how death effects the rest of the general world. It's unclear just to what extent this could be used for, but we get a hint of it in how the O5 council have abused it. By imbuing this man with a selective prosopagnosia, thus making him unable to recognise the faces of any of the 13 council members which seems to have ensured the council's immortality for as long as he lives. This incarnation does pose that classical quandary of morals and hubris, alongside making us question the act of playing god. Although I was surprised that this tale lacked the typical 'monkey's paw'-esque twist that SCP stories typically showcase. Is that for the better or worse of the story? Who knows. It really comes down to personal preference. Overall, though, a compelling entry told in a very cool manner.

I'll be honest, I really wasn't a fan of Wrong's Proposal. The presentation aside, I found this whole iteration of SCP-001 to be incredibly dense and I feel that may be due to this version of SCP-001 being conceived retroactively. (I don't know that for sure, but that's just the feeling I get.) SCP-001 is essentially an event wherein the reality of the world was altered from this steampunk-esque war torn hellscape on the verge of total mutual annihilation to the world we live in now. (Never really a fan of an SCP being an event rather than an object; it sort of robs the urgency from the position.) This iteration did, however, provide a helpful description of who the O5 council is, which is nice because up until now I've been guessing. Essentially, there were thirteen organisations that were created by folk who remembered the world before SCP-001, or rather they were controlled by leaders who did. Somehow they all ended up coming together to form The Foundation, and that's how I met your mother. (Or how SCP started, whatever.) Although, to be honest, I'm not even all that happy with this lore nugget as it completely removes the classically shadowy figure of The Administrator, who I've grown quite fond of lately. (You know, despite his wildy fluctuating personality, backstory and drives.) So Wrong's Proposal is surely not the one for me, I'm afraid.

We go back to form, however, with WJS' Proposal for SCP-001. This one is another fascinating iteration of the SCP as it is itself not an anomalous entity but a set of guidelines for determining what the Foundation labels as abnormality. Essentially it's a collection of documents that present a list of ideas and concepts that we know to be natural to this reality, be that physics, the laws of gravitation, basic chemistry and the like, and uses that as a baseline to determine what new occurrences throughout the world are natural progressions of what we know and which need to be secured and contained by The Foundation.

Of course, due to the importance of such documents it is imperative that no one be allowed to edit it and thus only the O5 Council are permitted to know of it's existence, let alone confer with it. I positively adore this iteration as it opens and closes this brilliant logical quandary that I'd never even considered; in a world that evolves everyday how can you accurately determine what isn't meant to be there? I mean sure there's the obvious; when a blue alien starts shooting radiation out of it's eyes you can be sure its probably not a local, but what about the more subtle anomalies, like those that alter people's perception of what's real? By providing this SCP as a control through which to test all else, the author has provided an almost Socrateian solution that I just can't stop fawning over. It's genius. Simply sublime. (Bonus points for the extra document that I somehow remembered the password to access. I'm not 100% what I was supposed to learn from it, but I like the interactivity on the page. Super cool.)

Kalinin's Proposal for SCP-001 is- a lot. I don't just mean conceptually either, there is a lot of material to read through and not all of it is exactly pertinent, some of it is just stories. Never the less I did and this is what I got out of it; SCP-001 of this reality is weird. From what I can tell, SCP-001 appears to be some unknowable, yet intelligent, primordial entity that has some sort of vendetta against the inhabitants of Earth. This thing lacks a snappy name like 'The Scarlet King', but seems to be just as preeminent, with the power to alter our very reality as we know it should it so wish. For a while the Foundation managed to inhibit whatever powers SCP-001 might hold with the use of another SCP, but in late 2016 that no longer became tenable and all the world had to bear witness to what SCP-001 had in store.

To be brutally honest, I was very confused by much of what I read in this entry, and bear in mind that I've scanned through a great many SCP-001 suggestions by this point! I think the reason this all got to me so much was due to the vastly shifting tone that documented the fallout of this SCP-001, which was so distinct that it felt penned from vastly different authors. Of the many attached documents to this proposal, we learn both that SCP-001 has the ability to slightly alter other SCPs to be slightly more malignant (or slightly less so, there's no definitive pattern there) and that it has the desire to reshape all of humanity to it's divine subservience. (At least that's what I think the whole 'Planet of Hands' thing was about.) After going through everything, I'm afraid that I'm left without a clear picture of where the author was really going with this SCP and that seems like a big shame, as I feel they did have an interesting idea in there somewhere. That being said, the documents themselves are exceptionally well written and the last story (Casa de Jacinta), although almost completely out-of-sequence in my mind, is particularly evocative and strange. I won't say I particularly enjoyed this interpretation, but it wasn't bad either. Just a bit too vague for my tastes.

You know, I had a lot more SCP-001's planned for today but that last one literally drained my soul to read through. Not because it was bad, just so predominately depressing that I really don't feel like looking at another for the next 6 days at least. That being said, I did enjoy today's SCP-001 Proposals and was kind of struck by how many of them seemed to predominately feature the shadowy O5 Council. (Literally, all the stories today had them in chief positions.) Of course, I just provide a brief glance and my opinions on these proposals; there is so much more to each on them on the SCP website itself, (Especially Kalinin's Proposal. If you can decipher anymore about that proposal then I'd be grateful if you could decode it to me.) so I certainly recommend you look it up for yourself. As for me, I'm uncharacteristically busy so I have to wrap this up early, but next week should be interesting as we get to the bottom of the last of the SCP-001 proposals. (I hope, at least. If there's another 8 document long one like with Kalinin's Proposal, I may have to extend this series once more.)

SCP: Searching the Archives. Part 1c

The Faceless ones

I'm in a totally spoopy mood today fella-rinoes, and thus I'm back into the dark archives of The Foundation to uncover the mystery of what exactly the mythical SCP-001 could possibly be. If you've been keeping track these past few blogs you'll know that the potential options are getting ever more weird as we go forth, however I'm saving one of my personal favourites for this particular scoop. Before I dive into this I feel it's worth repeating, due to the various canons of SCP technically all of these entries are canonical as confusing as that sounds. (Refer to your copies of 'Warp in the West' for reference.) Also, again I recommend that anyone who is interested should take a look at the raw stories for themselves for free over on the SCP website, because that's literally half of the fun right there!

Kate McTririss's proposal for what exactly SCP-001 could be is what I will charitable describe as a rollercoaster, but it was one of my favourites. Essentially, this SCP is originally an inoffensive science-themed album that, upon being mentioned in any body of work, will immediately end up being referred to first. Yep, so that means if this album were to end up on a list of the Billboard top 100, it would be referred to as number one even if the author intended it to be number 98 like this album likely deserved. Of course, another funny little break away of this effect is that the moment it get's entered into the SCP database it's effects kick in once again, so this item immediately becomes SCP-001. (That's a nice touch, I will admit.) However, that is only the icing on the cake. For reasons unknown, the database entry for SCP-001 inherited a much more terrifying effect to it, wherein anything typed in it will immediately become true. (Now that's the sort of reality warping consequence that I expect from my SCPs!) Of course, once this is discovered, the lead researcher on this project does what any responsible foundation scientist with moral accountability would do; she grants herself immortal powers over the cosmos and disappears in her ascent to godhood. I love the twist that this little version of 001 had, to be both silly and fantastical in the same moment. I've also yet to see an SCP that makes the article itself the offending cryptid, so double points for ascending my expectations.

The next proposal that I decided to look at, S. D. Locke's, was very different in that it was composed entirely in the shape of a first person story that I would encourage the reader to see for themselves. The SCP itself, however, is what's of concern to me. Perhaps one of the most famous 001 iterations, this SCP 001 is the title given to the sun after an anomalous event which causes it's sunlight to turn any organic being it touches into a gelatinous pool of viscous liquid. These beings (dubbed SCP-001-A) are, crucially, not dead, but in fact seem to be semi sentient. SCP-001-A forms are known for melding into one another to from a monstrous cacophony of beings and seems to long to 'combine' itself with anyone lucky enough to avoid the melting light of SCP-001. The whole thing actually has shades of The Thing to it, or more so that story from a while back which shifted perspectives to one that favoured the monster itself. The only problem with this SCP in my eyes is due to it's nature, this isn't one of those stories that possibly could (in some twisted version of reality) be true, which is one my favourite draws about creepypastas. (Unless there's another reason we're all in quarantine right now) So this story loses some of it's immersive appeal, but then that's likely why the author chose this more traditionally constructed form of storytelling.

We step away from the explicitly science fiction and back into Abrahamic religion with spikebrennan's proposal for SCP-001 which I've taken to refer to as: God's Blindspot. (And so have a lot of other people now I think about it. I'm not special.) Essentially this started as the discovery of a Inn in the Sinai desert within which no traces of a force entitled Akiva Radiation is present or can exist. Somehow that revelation expanded to the realisation that human death will not occur on these grounds for as long as anyone is present here. Death can still occur from excessive trauma (as The Foundation discovered through their usual brand of unethical experimentation) but folk there will not age and disease will not fell. (Until they leave, of course.) The article in question goes to tie this into many religious connotation about a place untouched by God's omnipotence, but in a much more tactile sense this made the spot ideal as the headquarters of the O5 council. (Because term limits are for babies.) Of course, this couldn't be an 001 entry without one origin story, so through a failed attempt at recreating the blindspot, the researchers who discovered 001 ended up summoning the entities that The Foundation now seeks to contain to this day. (Great going, guys.) This story is fine enough to me, with it's classical 'you are the cause of your suffering' stance, but I'm getting a little sick of how many origin stories for The Foundation lie in these entries. Not explicitly a criticism of this story, I know, but still a nagging thought.

Lily's proposal for SCP-001 is actually quite straightforward although haunting and with some pretty interesting connotations to it. This SCP-001 isn't actually an entity but rather a procedure that the staff are set to undergo in the event of a cessation of all life on the planet; or rather, in the leadup to one. (Pretty sure that's a violation of the SCP naming conventions, but I'll let it slide.) Essentially it's an edict that permits the laying off of all staff and the release of all non-violent SCP subjects into the wild. (I'm not sure why they don't just release the violent one's too. What's the worst havok they can cause in 24 hours.) That's right, SCP-001 is activated only 24 hours before all life on the planet ends from some mysterious force that also cause flowers to bloom all over the planet. Apparently, this particular phenomena was discovered through information provided by extra-universal Foundation's. (And there lies my favourite part of this story.) Whilst this SCP itself is rather fittingly mysterious and scary, I like the introduction this tale does of other universes, as suddenly it makes this 'multiple SCP-001s' thing a whole lot more palatable. So ultimately a short entry, but effective.

Okay, so here's when things start to get... shall we say wacky? If there is one entity that can be considered an 'antagonist' within the wider mythos of the SCP it would likely be the Scarlet King, but I'd be damned if I can explain exactly why. Or what he even is. I'm not sure if Tufto's proposal is the first time we've seen his mention, but it most certainly is not the last as his mysterious influence defines a lot of what the SCP go up against in their day-to-day. SCP-001 is the Scarlet King. In the most real sense, the Scarlet King is a primordial deity who is classically depicted as a ruler figure built of red and adorned with a crown. His worship is almost singularly devoted to slavery, violation, and just about everything that one would call 'uncivilised' in our world today, and his depictions are very close to what is widely considered to be the devil. So that's it then, the Scarlet King is the devil? Yes and no.

At this point I really, truly, have to say that you take in the entirety of Tufto's proposal on this SCP as it truly is something that has to be interpreted for oneself. For my case, I felt like I was reading one side of a larger story, and I'm sure I'll need to dedicate an entire blog with weeks of research towards a proper Scarlet King definer down the line. Much of what is said in the article appears to be contradictory, the body of the story seems to imply that the King is a metaphysical construct, or even a critique upon the today by a critique from the past, (this is what I'm talking about, circular logic) but he is defined rather definitely by The Foundation as transdimensional being. Much ado is made out of his relevance as an idea but his presence is tangible, his powers are real. The most important question regarding the Scarlet King is obvious; what is the Scarlet King? And I honestly don't know, but I am incredibly engrossed in unravelling that mystery.

That will have to wait, however, as there are plenty more SCP-001 proposals that I want to pick through before I dedicate myself to the study of one in particular. If there's one thing that this little series has highlighted it's the way that SCP, at it's best, is an almost impossibly intricate narrative told in a manner that wouldn't be possible without the internet and that's what makes it all just so special. I'm pretty glad that I decided to go on this journey and I'm curious about what I might learn as we delve ever deeper into these weird and twisted archives. It's a rabbit hole in which I intend to fully jump into, whilst never once considering how in the world I intend to get out again. Won't you join me?

SCP: Searching the Archives. Part 1b

The Myth Makers

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.

SCP: Searching the Archives. Part Ia

Mission to the Unknown

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.)

Either way, this makes the whole 'exploring the SCPs' task rather complicated, therefore I decided to take a fair glance at every entry to see which stood out to me the most. (Which ones were my favourite, so to be speak.) Not to throw any shade on the other stories at all, I just think that there are a few which are a lot more juicy and interesting to consider. But you can read all the stories and disagree with me if you wish, that is the beauty of multiple conflicting and collaborating canons. Also, diving into the stories of SCP-001 is such a chore that I honestly cannot cover all of them in one blog (Yes, there are that many files) so I'll call this entry Part 1a.

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.

The next proposal for SCP-001 is not really very interesting as far as I'm concerned so you'll forgive me if I brush past it. Known as Dr Gears' proposal, this SCP is just a blue lanky cyclops demon who creates miniblackholes with his mind and can teleport. pretty freaky stuff in it's own right but not really the sort of creature worthy of the number 001 slot in my opinion. I didn't really know what to make of this story and I didn't take much away from it, so I'll just swiftly move onto the much more interesting third iteration of SCP-001.

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.