Special Containment Procedures: All media, historical records, or similar documents related to SCP-7000 are to be examined for veracity. All organizations and individuals investigating SCP-7000's existence are to be kept under surveillance by Mobile Task Force Upsilon-7 ("Treasure Boaters"). Intervention is to be taken at the discretion of MTF Upsilon-7 when reports or investigations connect separate instances or when reports or investigations focus on SCP-7000-8.
MTF Upsilon-7 is to maintain real-time observation of SCP-7000-8 at all times via aerial or long-distance reconnaissance. All personal interaction between SCP-7000-8 and any other human is to be prevented.
Physical containment of SCP-7000 is not to be attempted at this time. The probability manipulative effects of SCP-7000 make physical containment impossible with current levels of technology. All attempts to apprehend instances SCP-7000-1 through SCP-7000-7 have failed in a variety of circumstances - inattentiveness of personnel, equipment failure, structural degradation of containment facilities, and other occurrences. These instances have not been observed or recorded to directly harm any Foundation personnel; however, failed containment attempts have caused multiple injuries.
Attempts to apprehend SCP-7000-8 have resulted in the deaths of 30 members of Foundation personnel. See logs CN-21:\SCP-7000\8\Recovery\.
Description: SCP-7000 is the collective designation of 8 immortal humanoids, sub-designated SCP-7000-1 through SCP-7000-8, the various anomalous effects exhibited by the instances, and the trigger-phrases provided by the instances. These trigger-phrases have been sub-designated SCP-7000-A incrementally in order of discovery. For a full listing of trigger phrases, see document CN-21:\SCP-7000\A\Overview.
SCP-7000 instances -1 through -7 are believed to create anomalous events by manipulation of probability. The instances do not need to be physically present to create these events - assuming a person in possession of a trigger-phrase is present. Research seems to suggest that the trigger-phrases themselves are not sufficient to elicit the probabilistic effects, but that genuine belief in the philosophy represented by the phrases is required instead. Attempts to quantify the required level of belief have been unsuccessful; however, research efforts in Akiva radiation are ongoing.
SCP-7000-8 may also exhibit probabilistic effects; however, this has not been confirmed. Directly observed effects of SCP-7000-8 have been limited to the spread of fatal infectious diseases. A full listing of these diseases can be found in CN-21:\SCP-7000\8\Anomalous-Effects\. The transmission of said infections is anomalous in nature, and personal protective equipment has proven ineffective to prevent infection. SCP-7000-8 does not exhibit the symptoms of any disease.
Historic records and interviews suggest that SCP-7000-8 possesses the ability to grant immortality to those of its choosing. It is unclear whether this granting of immortality makes the individual an instance of SCP-7000 or if only already existing instances have been given immortality.
Addenda:
The following entries have been selected from the journals and personal audio recordings of Junior Researcher Lawrence Ngai of Site CN-21. The majority of these documents were retrieved from Researcher Ngai's personal quarters. However, the final journal - numbered 197 - was found in a napsack outside of Site-PT5. The attached bookplate identified the journal as belonging to Researcher Ngai. Although Researcher Ngai has not been recovered, Foundation research has confirmed the authenticity of the documents.
These entries have been abridged and curated to provide an overview of SCP-7000. The full text of each journal can be accessed at CN-21:\SCP-7000\Primary Documents\.
Jun 3, 1964
All my childhood, I heard of the Heavenly King Mahākāla. It was one of the few things the Japanese left behind from occupation and the native Chinese could agree upon in the Walled City. Some of the oldest told us tales of having met Mahākāla (or Daikokuten to the Japanese); they claimed he visited the enclave regularly in his journeys and that he alone was responsible for the demons not entering the walls, for the success of businesses, and the prevalence of food even during the Three Years and Eight Months.
I thought myself an intelligent child and naively dismissed these stories, but as I grew I saw the way the city folded in on itself. And I knew that there were things beyond my understanding.
I was in my mid-teens the first time I met him. My family was starving and I cursed the foolish old women venerating Mahākāla. I traveled to the communal water pump, but I was so weak that I couldn’t manage to pump the water, and I collapsed crying. A voice beside me asked what had happened to make me cry so. Clearing my tears, I saw a handsome man dressed head to toe in silk brocade. I managed to croak a few words about my mother and sister dying. He pumped the water with no effort, filled my buckets, and I assume we returned to my family’s rooms. The entire rest of that day was an indistinct blur, but I still recall a poem from my dream.
My only door some pieces of crossed wood,
Within it, I can rest and enjoy.
I drink the water wimpling from the spring;
Nor hunger can my peace destroy.1
We were awoken the next morning by a pigeon trapped and fluttering in the room. My mother quickly caught it, and we had meat for the first time in weeks. Every day we’d find that a small animal had become trapped in our room or that edible mushrooms had sprouted from the humid walls.
I am certain that Mahākāla saved our lives, and I’ve devoted my life since then to finding him.
Aug 17, 1972
My position within the Foundation has been fortuitous. Their documentation of myth and lore is extensive, and I’ve been able to narrow down the locations of Mahākāla. It seems that he only appears around Eastern China, the Philippines, and New Guinea. But I’ve also found others matching his type of events - I guess I should call them anomalies in respect to my new position; they don’t match his description, and it looks like they’re also limited in a geographic area. Is this a coincidence, or are they related to other humanoid anomalies?
By all accounts, he travels on foot, and the newspaper clipping service has given me evidence to believe he's near Yangjian. I have personal leave coming soon. I think I might be able to find him; he can't have traveled very far.
SCP-7000-1
Aliases: Mahākāla, Daikokuten, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Guardian of the East
Earliest Date of Documentation: 1st Century BCE
Region: Eastern Octant
Found this in a book of collated myth in Site-CN-21. Matches my memory of him and the rabbit is consistent with other myths.
Deep in the hills of Lingnan, a girl lived with her mother - a widow. They were poor but happy. They farmed a small field next to their home and trapped small game when they could. The widow raised her daughter to treat everyone she met with respect and to work hard each day. And so, even after the widow died in the young woman's twentieth year, she carried on determinedly.
In the spring of her twenty-fifth year, she was tilling her fields and saw a well-dressed merchant struggling under the weight of a trunk. She hailed the merchant and asked him to come to her home, sit, and have a drink of water. She apologized that she didn't have the means to cook him a meal. He told her not to worry and produced some of his own packed food for them to share. They chatted for nearly an hour before the merchant declared that he must be off if he were to reach his destination.
The young woman lifted the trunk and told him that she would carry it for him until they reached the near crossroad. It had been a long time since she had had company, and she was grateful.
As they walked, the merchant told her the story of Okuninushi and the rabbit. Of how the rabbit tricked the sharks. How Okuninushi healed the rabbit. And how the rabbit foretold that only Okuninushi would win the hand of the beautiful goddess Yagami-hime. When they had parted, she found that a single portion of the story remained crystal clear in her mind.
These eighty deities will certainly never gain Yagami-hime.
Although you carry their bags, you shall gain her.2
While she toiled through the Spring, she meditated on this line, and she realized that her mother would have enjoyed that story. And when Summer came around, as it always does, she found that the crops had grown bountifully. The rice stalks were so laden with grains that they dropped towards their pools. The melons grew so large and plentifully that she ate one each day, lest they burst upon the vine. And the cabbages grew faster than she could eat them. She ate well and prospered.
But not all things were happy. When her mother had died, she left her only treasure - a silver ring that the woman's father had smithed and hammered himself from flakes and small nuggets he had found in the hills. The woman wore the ring on a leather cord around her neck, so that it would always be close to her heart. One day in late autumn after tending her fields, the woman found that the leather cord had broken. She cursed herself for her recklessness and foolishness. She had seen it growing thin, and she had put off replacing it. She searched the fields for 3 days and nights before giving it up as lost.
The Winter was long and hard, but the woman had put aside preserved foods. She didn't need to worry about hunger or cold, but her sleep was disturbed by thoughts of the ring.
In the Spring, she pulled stones from the fields while searching the ground for the ring. Tilling, sewing, tending - all were done with one eye on the ground looking for the glint of silver. Spring passed and Summer followed.
One day in the heat of Summer while she walked her small field, she saw a white rabbit dart between the crops and disappear behind the melons. She ran forward to chase it off from eating her crops and stopped short when a flash of light caught her eye. There amid the melons was something shining. Dropping to hands and knees, she pushed the leaves aside. On a delicately curled vine hung a familiar ring of silver. The white rabbit watched her from the other side of the screen of leaves, twitched its ears, and ran off.
Date: Sep 3, 1972
Location: Enping, People's Republic of China
Interviewee: SCP-7000-1
Interviewer: Researcher Ngai
Notes: The following has been transcribed from an audio log with reference to Journal-14/197 and is representative sample of the complete interview.
Researcher Ngai: So are you the same person as Mahākāla? The records are unclear.
SCP-7000-1: I've been called by that name, does that make me that person? I could call you Mahākāla if you wish.
Researcher Ngai: That's - That's not what I'm asking, and I think you know that. There are legends that attribute to you the same powers and origin as Mahākāla. Are those true?
SCP-7000-1: All legends are true to some extent. If they say I'm Mahākāla, then I must be. But these names are just a way for our small minds to assign meaning to multitudes.
Researcher Ngai: So are you saying that you have even more identities?
SCP-7000-1: Identities? I don't know about that. But right now I am the Daikokuten who has met you. An hour ago, I was not. A century ago I was a different Daikokuten entirely. Names are like an early Winter snow - covering everything but gone at the first change.
Researcher Ngai: Yes, I guess names are somewhat ephemeral, but you still haven't answered my question.
SCP-7000-1: I've answered it as well as it can be answered. The problem lies with the question.
Researcher Ngai: Anyway. If you have power over both farmers and hunting demons, why? What do those have in common?
SCP-7000-1: I have no more power over those things than you. But what do they have in common? What worse demon than starvation stalks the land? Farmers toil each and every day to combat the demons of starvation. All tillers of the land are demon hunters.
Researcher Ngai: I guess that makes sense, but why not extend that even further? What about healing the sick, saving folks from poverty, or saving them from boredom?
SCP-7000-1: You asked about two things. It's the desire to link the individual that creates limits. Doctors heal the sick and fight the demons of disease. Righteous officials save the poor. And musicians exorcise the demons of boredom everywhere they go. We all have the power to take up these fights; the forces of evil wear many masks, but so does humanity. These are just names.
Researcher Ngai: I guess. So you're saying that you fight demons in all of your forms? And that's why the names don't matter?
SCP-7000-1: Any good done is fighting a demon of some nature. Ascribing power to me is worthless. Consider Ts'ui of Ch'iu Pu whom Li T'Ai-Po wrote of:
He is the best of officials since he does not care for gold.
He has planted many grains on the Eastern heights,
And he admonishes all the people to plow their fields early.3
SCP-7000-2
Aliases: Ebisu, Hiruko, Kotoshiro-nushi-no-kami
Earliest Date of Documentation: 14,000 BCE
Region: South-Western Octant
Could this be Ebisu? The traits seem to match up - especially protection of fishermen and the reeds.
In the time of the Maurya in Gujarat, a fisherman was fishing in his canoe on the Kalubhar River. In the distance, he saw an old man walking slowly toward him on the South bank of the river. The fisherman reeled in his line and began to row his canoe towards the shore, because while fish may give life, conversation could give life meaning. Once at the shore, he watched the old man come towards him and realized that this was the oldest man he had ever seen. When the old man had drawn close, the fisherman waved and called out to him. In a surprisingly strong and merry voice, the old man replied.
The fisherman hoisted his canoe on his shoulder and moved to meet the old man and introduce himself. The old man laughed and said that he would return the courtesy, but in such old age, he had forgotten his name. Unfazed, the fisherman called him simply Ojiisan and asked the old man where he was headed. The old man responded that he was headed to a town to the northwest - across the river and back the way he had come. The nearest ford was nearly 6 miles distant, so the fisherman offered to ferry the old man across the river and save him the dozen miles.
The old man happily accepted, and after he had been helped into the canoe, began to entertain the fisherman with jokes and stories. The fisherman was so happy to have the company, that instead of simply ferrying the old man across the river, he paddled them both miles to the west. Eventually, they came to waters too rough to allow safe navigation in the canoe. And so the fisherman maneuvered them to the North shore, where the old man could safely depart. In saying their farewells, the fisherman apologized for not being able to take him further, but he needed to catch the day's dinner and return to his family. The old man thanked him for saving him days in his journey and offered him the wisdom of his long life. It was a single simple phrase:
The Bodhisattva is that which has crossed the sea of suffering and arrived at the other shore.4
In the intervening years, the fisherman often thought of this phrase and used it as the keystone of his outlook on life.
Many years later, the fisherman's sons had grown and moved to a fishing village on the shore. The fisherman - his wife having passed - joined them in the village. Together, they all fished the shores and had plenty of success.
However, one day they were out fishing and were set upon by a sudden storm. The sky turned black and the sea tossed the boat about. The winds and waves broke the masts and swept the oars away. The storm raged so strongly that one of his sons was nearly swept over. In desperation, they climbed belowdecks with the fish. The fisherman followed, and his sons were amazed by his calmness. He shared with them, again, the wisdom the old man had given to him, and he urged that they simply allow whatever might happen to happen. No matter how they might struggle, they could never fight the storm or the seas.
The storm raged for hours into the night, and the sons noticed that water was entering the hull through small gaps in the boards. But they bade their father's advice and calmed themselves. They may sink, but struggling would not prevent that. Instead, they began to share stories of their lives and tell jokes until each of the men had fallen asleep there in the hold, surrounded by the fish.
All of them were shocked when they awoke. They were still in the boat, and the waves had subsided. They climbed abovedeck to survey the damage and determine how they might make it home. However, they were met with the most amazing of sights above. The boat was resting gently against the piers of their home village - safely returned. All around, mats of reeds piled and filled the holes in the hull.
Date: Oct 14, 1975
Location: Itampolo, Madagascar
Interviewee: SCP-7000-2
Interviewer: Researcher Ngai
Notes: The following has been transcribed from an audio log with reference to Journal-22/197 and is representative sample of the complete interview.
Researcher Ngai: How old are you?
SCP-7000-2 stoops to pick up a handful of sand and holds it out to P.
SCP-7000-2: How old is this shore? Is it the age of the oldest grain of sand? The youngest? Is it as old as the first wave that crashed upon it or the latest?
Researcher Ngai: I-, I'm not sure I-
SCP-7000-2: Age is the self. It's the idea that we are born, and that we, as a grain of sand on the shore, were born when the wave deposited us. But look closely-
-2 plucks a small object from the sand in his hand.
SCP-7000-2: Each grain was a life before it washed up here. See the shells? These shells are built from pieces of other lives. Asking how old I am is as pointless as asking how old the waves are.
SCP-7000-2: Child, meditate upon this.
At the beginning of remote antiquity,
Who was there to transmit the tale?
When above and below had not yet taken shape,
By what means could they be examined?5
SCP-7000-3
Aliases: Vaiśravaṇa, Bishamonten, Kubera, Tamonten
Earliest Date of Documentation: 1st Century CE
Region: Northern Octant
This might be a dead end, but the deity Vaiśravaṇa is supposed to protect government officials. And there's another of those phrases. Maybe there's a connection?
In the 1930s in the United States, a mayor of a major city came to prominence by exposing corruption among the city's departments. Organized crime was rampant and the mayor had identified that they were often protected by corruption. His crusade emptied the upper levels of the police force, save a lieutenant of whom he had suspicions, but there was never any evidence to allow him to prove his suspicions.
One night, the mayor awoke to the screams of his family. His bedroom was filled with smoke, and he immediately realized that his home was on fire. He managed to rush his family from the house, and they huddled together on the sidewalk. Numerous neighbors called for fire response, but it took nearly an hour for the fire department to travel the two blocks to the home. Once there, the mayor saw that they simply sat on the fire engine smoking. He confronted them loudly, and they responded that they were working as fast as they could. But being so short-handed due to his purge of corrupt members, they were sorely understaffed and exhausted. And so he watched as they joked and laughed, while his house burned to ash.
The next morning, in a hotel room they had rented for the night, he was awoken by a loud knocking on the door. It was the Lieutenant. He told the mayor he was there to investigate the suspected arson of his home. The mayor was relieved, but quickly realized that the questions were pointed at why he would have burned his own home! Furious, he told the Lieutenant to leave.
That day every newspaper ran the headline "MAYOR TORCHES HOME IN INSURANCE SCHEME". The mayor began losing support and became more and more paranoid. He knew that this was retaliation for his crusade for justice, but he kept up regardless. Months passed with little progress until he returned to the hotel room one horrific day.
He found his wife and children dead, covered in blood on the room's bed. An axe lay on the floor. He yelled for help and turned to run. Before he could even leave the room, the Lieutenant had appeared in the doorway - gun drawn. The mayor was handcuffed and thrown into the city's worst jail. The court hearings took years, and he was offered repeatedly a sentence of only 20 years if he confessed his crimes. Again and again, he refused.
One day he received a visit from an immaculately handsome man. The man told the now ex-mayor how he admired him, that he had remained so strong and upright in the face of such despair. They spoke for a short time, and the man told him that he was reminded of a favorite piece of poetry.
The mandate of Heaven shifts from side to side;
Whom does it punish, whom protect?
Duke Huan of Ch'i nine times convened his vassals,
Yet even he was murdered in the end.6
The mayor had wasted away in his cell but meditated closely on the words of the mysterious man. He knew their meaning; it's a meaning he had always held close. Righteousness is not a protection. It must be a work for its own sake.
After many years and much suffering, the mayor was sentenced to death by firing squad. He had accepted his fate, and he knew that this would be the outcome. He was taken to the yard for execution - hooded and hands bound. He repeated over and over to himself the phrase left to him. Fear threatened to take him when he heared the captain order the assembled men to fire, heard the crack of the gunpowder… And to his surprise, pain did not follow but the sounds of the men cursing. Still hooded, he was taken back to his cell.
He found out later from a guard that every rifle had backfired - some only destroying the guns, some destroying the hands of his would-be murderers. He rejoiced momentarily, but the execution was merely postponed. In another week, he was again blindfolded, and again, heard the order to fire, and then he was taken by death.
Date: Nov 12, 1975
Location: Saskatoon, Canada
Interviewee: SCP-7000-3
Interviewer: Researcher Ngai
Notes: The following has been transcribed from an audio log with reference to Journal-49/197 and is representative sample of the complete interview.
Researcher Ngai: As a god of fortune in battle, do you determine the outcomes?
SCP-7000-3: Only the men on the field determine the outcome of a battle - otherwise it isn't a battle.
Researcher Ngai: So then what does it mean for you to be a god of war? How does that make sense if you can't affect the outcome?
SCP-7000-3: Every person affects the outcome of every event. What does it mean to have victory? To avoid death? Then we all suffer defeat. No one avoids death.
Researcher Ngai: Surely you have. You must be nearly 2,000 years old.
SCP-7000-3: No one avoids death. Not the greatest generals. Not the Queen in the West. Not the gods themselves. Even in the streets of Agartha, people fear death.
Researcher Ngai: Agartha? A Queen in the West? What do you mean by that?
SCP-7000-3: You don't know Agartha? It's the capital of the World. And the Queen rules there, although I have not seen her on the throne in my life. There are always deaths, but not all mean an end to suffering. Remember this.
A little while ago, two sons died in battle.
He who remains has stolen a temporary lease of life;
The dead are finished forever.7
SCP-7000-3: It is fortunate to lose and fortunate to die, for both lead us to lessons and new lives.
Researcher Ngai: The capital of the World? How can there be a capital that no one has heard of?
SCP-7000-3: If you are a child, do you know that your brain rules the body?
Researcher Ngai: You're saying that we're all children.
SCP-7000-3: Like children in some ways, yes, we all are. Agartha is both the heart and the brain of the world. And the Queen rules it all.
Researcher Ngai: Who is this Queen? How did she come to rule?
SCP-7000-3: The same way that any ruler comes to be, through the Mandate of Heaven.
Researcher Ngai: The Mandate of Heaven? Do you mean she's ordained by god? Aren't you a god?
SCP-7000-3: There is no ordaining. You are so much like a child in so many ways. I can not explain how Agartha works to you any more than I could explain the inner workings of the brain to a child.
SCP-7000-4
Aliases: Benzaiten, Sarasvatī, Goddess of Eloquence
Earliest Date of Documentation: 15th Century BCE
Region: South-Eastern Octant
Another one of these in Australia - all with a woman. The reoccurence of a meditative phrase gave this one away. Maybe the phrase itself is a trigger?
A musician lived in a small shore town in Australia. He played guitar every chance he had and wrote songs to sing. However, every performance was met with lower and lower attendance. Those who did listen enjoyed his performances, but they soon forgot about him. He wasn't discouraged by this; his passion was to make music, and he would sing and play even if the rest of the world suddenly turned deaf.
One Summer afternoon, the musician was playing his guitar and singing a new song as he strolled through a park. He passed a crying woman on a bench as he walked. He continued along his path, playing his music, but his mind kept drifting back to the crying woman. And so, he circled back through the path until he found her once again. She was still there, her face streaked with tears, hands clasped tightly in her lap.
He sat at the other end of the bench and began talking to her gently. She told him that she was grieving the death of her father. It had been some time since he passed, but grief flows in tides. He offered to play her a song, and she said that she would like that. And so he played. After the first song, he played another and another. Before he knew it, night had fallen on the park. He offered to walk her home to ensure she got there safely, but she refused. She told him that with this much joy in her heart, she feared no danger.
Before they parted ways, she told him her father's favorite poem,
Even the gods
Cannot conceal their delight
For the eight
Kasuga Maiden dancers
On this joyous occasion8
He walked through the same park nearly every day with good weather, but he never again saw the woman. Instead, he saw more and more people in the park. He would stand and play for audiences of only a few people and then dozens. He enjoyed this attention, but he tried not to dwell on it. He knew that they weren't there because of him; they were there because the music brought them joy. He was only grateful that he was able to be the vessel for that joy.
One day a few months later, he was invited to play at a festival. He wrote a new song, especially for the festival. It was one about the father's poem - how even the mightiest can have their hearts touched with joy.
He never achieved international fame, but he was able to play music each day for the rest of his life.
Date: Apr 4, 1976
Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand
Interviewee: SCP-7000-4
Interviewer: Researcher Ngai
Notes: The following has been transcribed from an audio log with reference to Journal-53/197 and is representative sample of the complete interview.
Researcher Ngai: Where are you from? Sorry, let me rephrase that. Where were you born?
SCP-7000-4: In my mother's home, of course.
Researcher Ngai: I mean, what country? What nation?
SCP-7000-4: It was my father's kingdom.
Researcher Ngai: And where is that?
SCP-7000-4: Deep beneath the waters of Lake Manasarovar, my father was called the Dragon-King of Munetsuchi.
Researcher Ngai: Munetsuchi? That's supposedly the lake at the center of the world. How does your father rule a lake beneath a lake?
SCP-7000-4: There are worlds within worlds. Agartha lies beneath all and is filled with many kingdoms.
Researcher Ngai: Agartha!? That's the second time I've heard that. I was told it's the capital of the world. If your father was king there, was the Queen in the West his wife?
SCP-7000-4: Certainly not! My father was wise and powerful, but in Agartha, even kings must bow before the Mandate of Heaven. The Queen in The West is Queen in absolute; there are none who envy her position.
Researcher Ngai: None who envy -? It seems to me that she's Queen of the world. Why would they not envy her?
SCP-7000-4: You ask too many questions. Most answers lie in contemplation, not questioning. Go. Listen to the music. Cast your eyes on beauty. Meditate on this:
The traveler's heart is washed clean as in flowing water.
The echoes of the overtones join with the evening bell.
I am not conscious of the sunset behind the jade-gray hill,
Nor how many and dark are the Autumn clouds.9
SCP-7000-5
Aliases: Jurōjin, Zēngzhǎng Tiānwáng, Fukurokuju, Old Man of the South Pole
Earliest Date of Documentation: 1st Century CE
Region: Southern Octant
I've been seeing this one again and again, but it seems so damned implausible. I had been assuming they were essentially human. Immortal to be sure, but no one could survive in the cold like this. I may have to travel to one of the Research Stations to see if I can verify this.
Near the Maudheim Antarctic base, the research team was traveling back from an ice-boring location. Nearby, they could see a lone figure trudging through the snow and ice. They assumed that this was a researcher stranded after some accident, and they rushed to the figure's location. There they found a very small old man with a disproportionately tall head. He had only a staff, a traditional fan, and the clothes on his back with him. On the staff was tied a voluminous scroll.
They attempted to speak with him, but he was not communicative. He nodded or shook his head when needed, but did not speak. They attributed this to the severe cold, and they returned with him to the Maudheim base. They fed him a warm dinner and made up a cot for him to sleep. All through the night, they radioed out to other stations to find someone who might know him. They received no indication that he was missing from any base, and when they checked on him in the morning, he was gone. They ran to the door, certain that he had returned to the cold in some fit of insanity, but there was no sign of him. On the snow outside of the door was a feather and a note.
The note read:
A few gourd leaves that waved about
Cut down and boiled;
—the feast how spare!
But the good host his spirits takes,
Pours out a cup, and proves them rare.
A single rabbit on the mat,
Or baked, or roast:
—how small the feast!
But the good host his spirits takes,
And fills the cup of every guest.
A single rabbit on the mat,
Roasted or broiled:
—how poor the meal!
But the guests from the spirit vase
Fill their host's cup, and drink his weal.
A single rabbit on the mat,
Roasted or baked:
—no feast we think!
But from the spirit vase they take,
Both host and guests, and joyous drink.10
The strange old man was the topic of conversation in every Antarctic base that Winter; however, no one knew him. The researchers joked that he must have been an angel. Or an alien.
But one researcher read and re-read the note that he had left. The words resonated within her; that a small offer of hospitality could mean so much. She decided that it didn't matter who or what the old man was or where he had gone. What mattered was that they had given him a night of comfort.
The long Antarctic Winter passed and the researchers set sail to return home. One day on the long voyage, the researcher is sitting on the deck and thinking of the words the old man had left when she saw a crane alight on the stack of the ship. So distracted by the crane, she didn't brace herself as the ship crested a particularly large swell. The deck pitched beneath her, and she landed in the frigid water. Startled and disoriented, she gasped and filled her lungs with water. As she sank into darkness, she heard an impossibly loud call from the crane, and then there was nothingness.
She awoke nearly two full days later. The crew quickly realized she had fallen because of her scream, but she knew it had been the crane they heard. They pulled her from the water, but she had been unresponsive so they made course for the mainland. After rushing her to a hospital, she underwent a battery of testing. The doctors assured her that falling from that boat had saved her life, because while checking her brain for damage, they had discovered a massive blood clot. Had it moved at all, she would have died or been crippled for life.
Date: Jan 7, 1980
Location: Antarctica, near [Research Station-05]
Interviewee: SCP-7000-5
Interviewer: Researcher Ngai
Notes: The following has been transcribed from an audio log with reference to Journal-95/197 and is representative sample of the complete interview.
Researcher Ngai: Why do you choose to be somewhere so cold?
SCP-7000-5 does not respond.
Researcher Ngai: Why do you choose to be somewhere so cold?
SCP-7000-5 does not respond.
Researcher Ngai: Do you understand Chinese?
SCP-7000-5 nods.
Researcher Ngai: Are you unable to speak?
SCP-7000-5 shakes his head to indicate "no."
Researcher Ngai: So you're simply refusing to speak?
SCP-7000-5 nods.
Researcher Ngai: Do you know of a place called Agartha?
SCP-7000-5 nods.
Researcher Ngai: Will you let me ask you some questions about it?
SCP-7000-5 shakes his head to indicate "no", and hands Researcher Ngai a piece of parchment.
On the parchment is the following:
The Immortal waited,
Then mounted and rode the yellow crane.
But he who is the guest of the sea has no such desire,
Rather would he be followed by the white gulls.11
SCP-7000-6
Aliases: Hotei, Budai, Enkh Amaglan Khan
Earliest Date of Documentation: 10th Century CE
Region: North-Eastern Octant
Another with the jolly drunk. This has to be Hotei, and it seems like he keeps mainly around Tokyo. I just need to find a single man in a city of 26 million.
There was a principal of a school of hundreds. In his first year as principal, he declared his intention to have every child of his school from the first day to the last of their education to be healthy, happy, and successful in their education. He was mocked by his peers that such a goal was impossible. No matter the care taken by any educator, the ultimate fate of their students is outside of their control.
However, in his first year his students excelled, absences dwindled to nearly zero, and the student body looked forward each day to attending classes. Again and again, year after year, his students were happy and healthy. The school rarely took home academic prizes, but its lowest scoring student was above national averages.
And when the time came for the youngest of his first classes to graduate, his peers realized with incredulity that each one of them was present. None had chosen to leave before high school, none had become seriously ill, and none had succumbed to accident. It was assumed that this was a fluke. Until another class graduated the same. And the next and next. And on for a decade.
Eventually, the rumor of this "blessed" school reached reporters, and they flocked to question the principal. He sat with a dozen reporters in the schoolyard and answered their questions. How he promoted learning, and how he greeted his students. Every minutia of daily life. Until he was asked what his guiding philosophy was.
He began to tell them a story. When he was a new teacher, years before he had become a principal, he struggled and struggled to control his class and to convey the information to them. He despaired in his failure and frequently drank to excess. One night, he met an impossibly jolly man in a small run-down bar. They talked and exchanged stories, and the teacher poured out his concerns. The jolly man listened and joked with him and asked him what he was before he was a teacher. The teacher responded that his parents had been farmers, and by extension, he was also a farmer.
The jolly man asked him what he would do with a field the size of the world, and he was flummoxed. He had no idea how to answer that question. They continued to drink and joke until the jolly man told him that they should both head towards their homes, but first, he had a poem for him.
If fields too large you seek to till,
The weeds will only rise more strongly.
To try to gain men far away
Will but your heart's distress prolong.12
The teacher dwelled on this phrase for the school year until he realized what he would do with a field the size of the world. Nothing. No one person could care for something so large.
He asked the reporters if they understood, and they all admitted that they did not. He told them that he couldn't till a field that large, he could only till his own. But if he taught the students to till their own field - taught them how to learn, together they could till the field the size of the world.
But the reporters were not convinced. How did this account for the health and fortune of his students?
The principal answered that it doesn't. All he could do was his best in what he can control, the rest is in the hands of the gods of fate.
Date: Oct 29, 1981
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Interviewee: SCP-7000-6
Interviewer: Researcher Ngai
Notes: The following has been transcribed from an audio log with reference to Journal-112/197 and is representative sample of the complete interview.
Researcher Ngai: A monk can drink in a bar?
SCP-7000-6: Alcohol is not a sin. Alcohol is a risk. It is taught that alcohol leads to a loss of heedfulness, but that is not true.
Researcher Ngai: How can that not be true?
SCP-7000-6: Intoxication removes the conscious safeguards one has built against their failings. Fear of intoxication shows a weakness in true Anattā. If you fear losing yourself, you fear your own enlightenment.
Researcher Ngai: So you're saying that you can drink because you've overcome all other weaknesses?
SCP-7000-6 laughs
SCP-7000-6: Certainly not! If I overcome all weakness, I will overcome the very tethers to this fleshly prison. No!
Researcher Ngai: But why then can you consume alcohol?
SCP-7000-6: Because all things are intoxicants. Food, drink, the mantras, the beauty of nature. They all weaken our sense of self. And that is where they think the danger lies! They think that their self is strong enough to overcome their desires. But self is desire! They are no different from a dog chasing its tail.
Researcher Ngai: So-
SCP-7000-6: Ask less, listen more. Vices and intoxication - they mean nothing when you give up strength. Not weakness! Desire for strength is the trouble!
Researcher Ngai: I think I understand. You're… surrendering to the alcohol?
SCP-7000-6: Near enough. Near enough.
Researcher Ngai: Was it giving up strength that made you immortal?
SCP-7000-6: Immortal! Where did you hear such a thing?
Researcher Ngai: You must be a thousand years old. Do you mean that you're not immortal?
SCP-7000-6: Are you immortal?
Researcher Ngai: Of course not! How could I be?
SCP-7000-6: You do not seem dead to me. Is that evidence that you can not die?
Researcher Ngai: But I am not ten times as long-lived as a normal man!
SCP-7000-6: Long-lived means nothing. Even Gautama himself died. We all die. Immortality is a selfish striving.
Researcher Ngai: So dying is the path to enlightenment? I can't accept that.
SCP-7000-6: There is no reward for enlightenment. And there is no one path.
Researcher Ngai: Okay. I can see that this is going to get us nowhere. Where do your powers come from? No, don't deny it. I've seen the effects that you and the others have had. You and Ebisu and Bishamonten and the others. Did these come from this Agartha place? From the Queen in the West?
SCP-7000-6: Oh ho ho! You have certainly found some marrow in this bone you are chewing. I do not have any powers. No, I do not. This is something you must understand. There are some in Agartha who are more than mortal, but I am simply a man. The Queen has given me what all royalty is entitled to. She has given me a mandate. "Wander the lands to the North-East until I call you back to me. You will know the signs." This has not contradicted my journey along the middle way, so I do not refuse. No. Royalty may reward when the whim strikes - the same punish, but it is our place to serve regardless.
Researcher Ngai: Am I to believe that you are just wandering from place to place because this Queen told you to?
SCP-7000-6: You may believe anything you wish. But all things flow down the hill. I have a small verse for you:
When I was young, I spent the white days lavishly.
I sang—I laughed—I boasted of my ruddy face.
I do not realize that now, suddenly, I am old.13
SCP-7000-7
Aliases: Kichijōten, Lakshmi, Shri, Katyayani, Europa
Earliest Date of Documentation: 10th Century CE
Region: North-Western Octant
I'm certain now that these clips of verse are the key to finding all of the records. If only we had these digitized.
In France, a young girl grew up an only child. No children lived near her, and her parents worked all day. Her childhood was defined by a persistent loneliness. To keep herself entertained, she played with dolls in the front yard of the house most every day. Of all of her dolls, she loved one most specifically of all. A beautiful porcelain and lace doll.
One day while she was playing, she saw a woman walking past the house. She was shocked to see another person and watched in silence as the woman walked from one corner of the yard, past the gate, and away. The girl shook off her stunned state, ran to the fence, and called out to the woman. The woman turned at the sound of her voice, and the girl was amazed by her beauty, but she mustered her courage despite this and asked if the woman would like to play together with her dolls. To the girl's continued amazement the woman agreed and joined her in the grass to play.
As she laid out her dolls, she handed her favorite doll to the woman. The woman refused because it was obvious how much the girl cherished it. But the girl insisted that the woman should play with it because it's beautiful like her. So the woman acquiesced.
They played, and while they played the woman asked the girl about herself. Eventually, the girl admitted to her loneliness and tells the woman that when she grows up she is going to have two children so that they'll never be lonely. As the sun begins to set, the woman hands back her doll and tells her that she must leave. Before she does, she shares a song with the girl.
Every woman is an embodiment of you.
You exist as little girls in their childhood,
As young women in their youth
And as elderly women in their old age.14
The girl grew up and fell in love. And just before they planned to have children, she fell very ill. After visiting doctors and much testing, it was discovered she had cancer of the ovaries. After surgeries, the cancer was removed, but she was told that she would never be able to conceive a child.
She fell into a great depression for a while but found solace in working with children in a nursery. Over the next years, she dwelled on the mysterious woman she had once played dolls with and the poem she had left her. She saw how she could see her past and her future in other women.
Almost 10 years after her cancer, she began to feel ill once more. She and her husband were terrified and sought out a doctor. After examination and testing, the doctor broke the news to them. She was pregnant with twins.
Date: Feb 1, 1982
Location: Bucharest, Romania
Interviewee: SCP-7000-7
Interviewer: Researcher Ngai
Notes: The following has been transcribed from an audio log with reference to Journal-138/197 and is representative sample of the complete interview.
Researcher Ngai: Are you the Queen in the West?
SCP-7000-7: When you discard the self, everyone is one.
Researcher Ngai: But are you the one who is the supposed ruler of Agartha?
SCP-7000-7: In the way that you are asking, I am not.
Researcher Ngai: I didn't think so, it doesn't line up. You're Lakshmi, right?
SCP-7000-7: The divine has as many faces as there are leaves on the trees.
Researcher Ngai: But you are one of those faces are you not?
SCP-7000-7: I've told you, that when you discard the self, everyone is one. You could be Lakshmi, yourself.
Researcher Ngai: Me? I'm not even a woman.
SCP-7000-7: That is the furthest thing from what stands in your way. You have questions, and those questions do have answers. But I must warn you that the answer you seek is not the answer you expect. There is more to be gained in genuine seeking than the finding of answers.
Researcher Ngai: You don't know what I'm seeking.
SCP-7000-7: I do, but my place is to wander and provide wisdom, not to interfere with you or others. I can give you this:
The young person who lifts the pearl door-screen is very beautiful. Moreover, she smiles.
She points to a Red Building in the distance—it is the home of the Flower Maiden.15
SCP-7000-7: I can do no more for you.
SCP-7000-8
Aliases: Xi Wangmu, Seiōbo, Virūpākṣa, Wusheng Laomu, Wujimu, Queen Mother of the West, The Tiger Queen
Earliest Date of Documentation: 15th Century BCE
Region: Western Octant
Date: Jun 27, 1982
Location: Xi'an, People's Republic of China
Interviewee: SCP-7000-2
Interviewer: Researcher Ngai
Notes: The following has been transcribed from Journal-194/197 and is a representative sample of the complete interview.
Researcher Ngai: Who is the Queen in the West? I've found the name Xi Wangmu. Is that her?
SCP-7000-2: That is one name of the Queen, yes. Child, I understand what answers you're looking for, and I must urge caution.
Researcher Ngai: You don't know.
A pause.
Researcher Ngai: Where is she? I have a theory about that actually. Maybe you can just confirm that. Looking at all of the stories, there seems to be a pattern for where you travel. Could you leave here? Could you return to the place of your birth?
SCP-7000-2: I will roam until the Queen gives us a sign to return to her city. I don't know that I will ever see the land of my birth ever again.
Researcher Ngai: Because you're stuck in one of the 8 directions, aren't you?
SCP-7000-2: We are all restrained by fate. There is no escaping the mandates handed down to us. Not for the most pathetic. Not even for the Queen.
Researcher Ngai: Okay. I'm confident then.
Researcher Ngai: It seems like each of you has met the Queen at least once. Can you tell me about that?
SCP-7000-2: I will not refuse to tell you this tale, but before I begin I ask that you keep this phrase and meditate upon it
Great Nature's laws all change defy,
Life runs its course and all must die.16
SCP-7000-2: It is from one of the great poets, and there is much to be found in such a simple statement.
SCP-7000-2: I was in the desert when I met the Great Mother. I had been wondering for a very long time, an impossibly long time, and I was sick and starving.
SCP-7000-2: I laid under a bush so that I might admire the beauty of the sands while I waited for death. I waited and waited. And then she appeared.
SCP-7000-2: I do not know how she arrived. I did not see her footprints, and I did not hear the crunch of the sand. I became aware of her because her shadow had fallen over me.
SCP-7000-2: She offered me a peach. It was and remains the single most pure piece of food I have ever seen. The temptation to snatch this last joy in life from her hand was immense. You can not understand it. But I refused, because she was young and beautiful and should keep her sustenance to make it to the other end of the desert. I was to die, and the peach would not save me. It would do nothing for me but give me a single sliver of false joy. No, I would die that day with or without the fruit and I could not take that joy with me.
SCP-7000-2: I was old and dying, so I offered her the last of my water. It was a meager few drops, but as I said - I was certain to die. We all die.
SCP-7000-2: She accepted the water and smiled at me. And such a smile! But she gave me the condition that I must allow her to stay by my side until my death. I agreed. I grew weaker and weaker while she talked with me. She told me of all the mysteries of the world. Of Agartha, of the Axis Mundi, and of Mount Kunlun. And as I felt death take me, she told me of herself. That she was The Queen in the West and The Great Mother but also Virūpākṣa of the Divine Eye and The Tiger Queen. I attempt to speak to her but am unable, and she tells me that I am to wander the lands to the Southwest of her throne until my death.
SCP-7000-2: As I drifted away, I felt confused at her words, but then the world had gone black.
SCP-7000-2: You may have guessed, but I awoke from that blackness. I do not know how long it had been, but I had been nearly buried by the sand. However! The same peach she had offered to me was there on the sand. As perfect as when I had last seen it. I was still tired and sick, but I knew then with certainty that I would not die until I had finished the task given to me. And so I offered her my meager prayer of thanks and at the peach.
Researcher Ngai: And this was how you gained immortality? Just by eating the peach?
SCP-7000-2: I gained no immortality. There is no immortality; this is a shadow that you chase.
Researcher Ngai: I understand. You aren't interested in helping me.
Date: Jul 25, 1982
Location: Guyana - near Kurupukari
Interviewee: SCP-7000-8
Interviewer: Researcher Ngai
Notes: The following has been transcribed from Journal-197/197. There does not appear to be an accompanying audio recording. It has been provided in full.
I don't know that I can finish this entry. They all misled me. She is no Queen and no Mother, she's a monster.
I found her in Guyana, right in line with my map, so I guess I was right about that. I told her how I had sought them all out. I had received each of their blessings, and she laughed! She laughed at me! I told her that I was here for a peach, my deserved reward. Only I had pieced together the secret in how long? Ebisu, -2, whatever had to be nearly 20,000 years old. And I was the first dammit.
She continued to laugh and handed me the peach from inside her robe, but as soon as I took it, I saw it was crawling with flies and worms. And then I noticed the teeth. Fangs like a great cat’s jammed into her mouth. The kind you'd need to eat a man. I turned and ran, but I've been unable to catch my breath. I thought I'd sit here to rest, but I've been - fuck it I can't think of another way to put it - I've been shitting myself. My limbs are weak and coughing has started. I don't know how much longer I can even hold this pen. You'll probably never see this but put that monster in a cell. She's a
[TRANSCRIPTIONIST'S NOTE: There are further markings, but nothing that has been able to be interpreted.]
[TRANSCRIPTIONIST'S NOTE: The following was written in handwriting wholly distinct from Researcher Ngai's.]
When August Heaven bestowed the mandate,
What warning was given?
One may receive control of all under heaven,
Until another is caused to replace one.17
1. SCP-7000-A-0001
Source: From The Contentment Of A Poor Recluse, commonly attributed to Confucius in the 6th century BCE.
2. SCP-7000-A-0701
Source: From the Kojiki, an 8th century CE collection of Japanese tales composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Genmei.
3. SCP-7000-A-0011
Source: From Two Poems Written as Parting Fits to Ts'ui of Ch'iu Pu by Li T'Ai-Po in the 8th century CE.
4. SCP-7000-A-0067
Source: From Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya traditionally attributed to an unnamed Sarvastividan monk in the 1st century CE.
5. SCP-7000-A-0304
Source: From Chu Ci by Qu Yuan and Song Yu in the 3rd century BCE.
6. SCP-7000-A-3049
Source: From Chu Ci by Qu Yuan and Song Yu in the 3rd century BCE.
7. SCP-7000-A-1004
Source: From The Recruiting Officers at the Village of the Stone Moat by Du Fu in the 8th century CE.
8. SCP-7000-A-2341
Source: From a twenty-poem sequence written to commemorate the visit of Retired Emperor Uda to the Kasuga Shrine written by Fujiwara no Tadafusa in 920 CE.
9. SCP-7000-A-1617
Source: From On Hearing The Buddhist Priest of Shu Play His Table-Lute by Li T'Ai-Po in the 8th century CE.
10. SCP-7000-A-0450
Source: From Hospitality by Confucius in the 6th century BCE.
11. SCP-7000-A-2231
Source: From River Chant by Li T'Ai-Po in the 8th century CE.
12. SCP-7000-A-0601
Source: From The Folly of Useless Effort within The Odes of Ts'e by Confucius in the 6th century BCE.
13. SCP-7000-A-2855
Source: From A Farewell Banquet To My Father's Young Brother Yün, The Imperial Librarian by Li T'Ai-Po in the 8th century CE.
14. SCP-7000-A-1283
Source: From the Sri Daivakrta Laksmi Stotram by an unknown author possibly as early as the 10th century BCE.
15. SCP-7000-A-3267
Source: From A Poem Given to a Beautiful Woman Encountered on a Field-Path by Li T'Ai-Po in the 8th century CE.
16. SCP-7000-A-3291
Source: From Chu Ci by Qu Yuan and Song Yu in the 3rd century BCE.
17. SCP-7000-A-3291
Source: From Chu Ci by Qu Yuan and Song Yu in the 3rd century BCE.
Cite this page as:
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Author: Tōshūsai Sharaku
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Filename: 019 Vaisravana (9228179228).jpg
Name: 019 Vaisravana
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Name: "Saraswati, the Hindu Culture - Goddess / Playing the Vina"
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Additional Notes: Identified in text as "SCP-7000-4"
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Name: God of Longevity: Jurōjin
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Filename: Hotei, the god of good fortune, one of the seven lucky gods, seated, facing front, next to his bottomless bag of goods on which a small child is sitting and who appears to be cleaning LCCN2009631908.jpg
Name: Hotei, the god of good fortune, one of the seven lucky gods, seated, facing front, next to his bottomless bag of goods on which a small child is sitting and who appears to be cleaning Hotei's left ear
Author: Katsushika, Hokusai
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Author: Unknown
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Additional Notes: Identified in text as "SCP-7000-7"
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Name: Famous Women (列女圖)
Author: Gai Qi (改琦)
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