Secondary Class:
esoteric
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-5883-1-A, SCP-5883-1-B, and SCP-5883-1-C are to remain in their rural residences in Foundation Reliquary Containment Area-43 (FRCA-43) in Hubei Province, People's Republic of China. Area security is to focus on the protection of all SCP-5883-1. Their disciples are allowed autonomy over maintenance of the Area, more specifically the monastery, and are encouraged to approach Foundation personnel via the designated Foundation liaison, Abbot Bai. The Foundation is to fulfil any requests submitted that preclude monastery maintenance and requests for tools and ingredients necessary for the continued production of SCP-5883-2.
Knowledge of SCP-5883-2 is to remain confined within FRCA-43, with the following procedures in place to be enforced at all times to prevent threats to security and secrecy:
- SCP-5883-1-A, 1-B, and 1-C must remain physically secure at all times, ensuring no bodily harm is inflicted upon them whatsoever. Any pilgrims to the monastery must be approved by the Area Security Director and be accompanied by a security officer or disciple at all times.
- The ingredients constituting SCP-5883-2 are to remain as accessible as possible to the sect, ensuring the continued vitality of all three SCP-5883-1 instances.
- Foundation web crawlers are to scour internet sources for any mention of SCP-5883-2's existence, permitting speculation of a mythical version of SCP-5883-2 as described in Taoist alchemical texts, and removing any factual information on SCP-5883-2.
Should any SCP-5883-1 instances perish, inevitably resulting in a containment breach, Procedure Meng Po is to be enacted in the following manner:
- All remaining SCP-5883-1 instances are to be sealed within the sanctuary of the temple and security forces are to surround the monastery complex. Disciples are to be assisted in the completion of any rituals as requested.
- Once SCP-5883-1 assumes their secondary properties and pursues recontainment of SCP-5883-3, Foundation assets are to redirect vulnerable civilian populations away from SCP-5883-3's trajectory to minimize loss of human life.
- Upon restoration of containment of SCP-5883-3 by SCP-5883-1, MTF Omega 44, "Hell's Elixir", is to commence amnestic administration to all populations that were made aware of the containment breach event, and provide a cover story explaining how the Chinese government had a hand in the effects of the disaster, as the international community will find such culpability plausible.
Due to the progressive weakening of SCP-5883-1's abilities to contain SCP-5883-3 after each containment breach, continued sustenance of SCP-5883-1 is to remain a high priority.
Description: SCP-5883is the collective designation for three anomalies contained within Foundation Reliquary Containment Area-43, Labelled SCP-5883-1, SCP-5883-2 and SCP-5883-3 respectively.
SCP-5883-1 is the designation for three surviving human individuals residing over a Taoist sect based in the Chinese province of Hubei. Formerly, eight individuals resided over this sect, but five of them have since perished, as recorded in Addendum I.
SCP-5883-1-A, 1-B and 1-C are notable due to their possession of perpetual cell integrity and individual minor reality bending abilities. All three instances are physically healthy and, despite being each approximately 4,000 years old, vary in perceived age. All instances are fluent in Hakka Chinese, Cebuano, Middle Mongolic, Japanese and variants of Archaic Chinese.
All SCP-5883-1 instances are practitioners of Taoist Folk Magic and claim to have mastered Taoist anatomical alchemy. SCP-5883-1 instances are amiable to the Foundation and cooperate with most requests, barring those that impinge on their authority over their disciples. Secondary anomalous properties do not manifest until SCP-5883-3 breaches containment.
SCP-5883-1's self-described purpose is to contain SCP-5883-3. If any SCP-5883-1 instances perish, SCP-5883-3 will activate and breach containment. SCP-5883-1's active awareness of SCP-5883-3's existence and daily rituals performed by them contribute to the continuous containment of SCP-5883-3 though the prevention of consciousness being restored in SCP-5883-3.
SCP-5883-1-A is a male of Austronesian decent who appears to be in his early forties. Among those who maintain close contact with him, he is known to wear blue of any shade often. His properties center around healing, demonstrated on many occasions when he healed minor wounds within seconds of contact, mended broken bones promptly after setting them back in place, and restored sight to a blinded individual. All personnel are to identify 1-A as "Master Lim" whenever addressing him directly or referring to him.
SCP-5883-1-B is a female of Chinese decent who appears to be in her late thirties. According to disciples, her properties revolve around the alteration of weather conditions. On several occasions she has demonstrated the ability to manifest rainstorms during days with no expected precipitation, changing the intensity of wind fronts, having once reduced a 120 km/h cyclone to a 65 km/h tropical storm before landfall; as well as inducing a flood in 1938 as per request of the incumbent government to halt the advance of Japanese invasion forces into China. All personnel are to refer to 1-B as "Master Ying" whenever addressing her directly or mentioning her.
SCP-5883-1-C in various forms
SCP-5883-1-C is an individual who always appears to be in their late sixties, but does not appear as a specific sex or ethnicity consistently. 1C's anomalous abilities consist of personal alteration including changing their physical form to various animals of natural and mythical origin, the ability to alter their sex at will, the ability to mimic death to the point of being indistinguishable from actual corpses, and being capable to alter the molecular vibration of their body to the point of intangibility. Personnel are to refer to SCP-5883-1-C as "Master Liang" whenever addressing them directly or mentioning them.
While disciples of SCP-5883-1 possess unnaturally long ages, they do not have indefinitely long lives and most have been recorded to pass away of old age. To date, Abbot Bai is the only disciple who has lived past the age of 170.
SCP-5883-2 is a substance produced by SCP-5883-1 and their disciples consisting of liquid mercury, raw iron ore, sap and oil from the plant Artemisia absinthium, Prunus persica wood, mud, sun-dried clay, sulfur, burning cotton sheets, natural ice, and consecrated water. This substance remains non-anomalous until a ritual is performed by SCP-5883-1. Afterward, SCP-5883-2 is consumed by all SCP-5883-1 individuals, as well as all disciples. Expected health complications from consumption do not arise in any of the disciples or SCP-5883-1 instances.
Testing of SCP-5883-2 has proved fatal, with 100% of non-sect individuals perishing shortly after consumption. It is unknown whether these fatalities were products of the anomalous properties of SCP-5883-2, anomalous properties of SCP-5883-1 instances also extended to their disciples, or a possible negation of anomalous properties when SCP-5883-2 is consumed by non-sect individuals, or a combination of the above reasons.
SCP-5883-3 is the designation for a corpse interred within the monastery. Sect records estimate the age of the corpse to be approximately 9,000 years old. In its current state, SCP-5883-3's anomalous properties consist of resistance to damage, however no attempts to destroy SCP-5883-3 have been made, as testing loosens SCP-5883-1's control over SCP-5883-3 and thus would cause an activation event.
Upon activation of SCP-5883-3, additional anomalous properties manifest. SCP-5883-3 in its active state becomes sentient, capable of aviation and consumption of weakened lifeforms though incitement of violent phenomena in many different forms such as mass starvation, disease and mass death.
After SCP-5883-3 breaches containment, SCP-5883-1 instances will begin the containment process by performing a ritual in private, after which they gain their secondary anomalous properties. Upon assumption of secondary effects, SCP-5883-1 gain the ability to aviate for indefinite amounts of time, emit increased amounts of light energy from their bodies, produce vocalizations consisting of multiple simultaneous unidentified voices, and increase in physical resilience. Following the assumption of these abilities, SCP-5883-1 will pursue SCP-5883-3 until contact is made and SCP-5883-1 collectively overpowers SCP-5883-3, forcing a return to a dormant state. SCP-5883-3 will always cause mass damage to human life and infrastructure before it is recontained.
Each containment breach further weakens future containment efforts due to the decreased amount of SCP-5883-1 instances left alive afterward.
Five major historical catastrophes can be attributed to the deaths of these five SCP-5883-1 instances:
- Bubonic Plague, initiated in 1234 by the death of an SCP-5883-1 during the Mongol conquest of China. This particular catastrophe endured for 120 years due to SCP-5883-3 eluding containment though concealment within the turbulent conditions present during the development of the Yuan Dynasty as well as SCP-5883-3 attempting to spread the bubonic plague before consumption.
- Great Qing Famine, caused in 1907 by an episode of violence between rival gangs and the death of an SCP-5883-1 after being caught in the middle of a sudden gang battle, made exponentially deadlier by the intervention of government forces.
- Spanish Flu Epidemic, caused in 1917 by the death of an SCP-5883-1 as a result of a botched food burglary during a local famine.
Captured photograph of SCP-5883-1-C in 1976 displaying their secondary anomalous properties
- Great Chinese Famine, caused in 1959 by the killing of an SCP-5883-1 during a period of religious persecution by the Chinese government. This particular breach's effects were amplified by government mismanagement of agriculture, thus worsening the effects of this particular breach.
- Great Tangshan Earthquake, caused in 1976 by the accidental death of an SCP-5883-1 at the hands of government purges at the conclusion of the Cultural Revolution.
SCP-5883-3's preference for the spreading of famine to facilitate consumption has shown an expected preference for the consumption of weakened individuals over the consumption of the recently deceased, as it is hypothesized that life force, referred to colloquially as qi, in a weakened form contributes more to the development of SCP-5883-3's properties than qi believed to be ejected by the process of death.
Interview with Abbot Bai
Date: December 30, 2020
Interviewed: Bai Qiangda, Foundation liaison to Reliquary Containment Area-43 and curator of sect records.
Interviewer: Head Researcher Zhuang, director of Logistics and Research for Area-43.
Foreword: Interview conducted in Chinese, translated for convenience.
<Begin Log>
Zhuang: Please state your Chinese name, date of birth and Foundation ID number for the record.
Abt. Bai: Bai Qiangda, July 25 1850, 97919333
Zhuang: And what is your position within Area-43?
Abt. Bai: I am the abbot of the monastery and liaison to the Foundation.
Zhuang: Alright, let's get into the interview…
There is a short pause as Zhuang reads though the questionnaire.
Zhuang: So you claim to know the most about SCP-5883's history?
Abt. Bai: That's correct.
Zhuang: To the best of your knowledge, can you describe it to me?
Abt. Bai: Hmmm… Well I suppose it all started in the primordial beginning, really. But I assume you don't mean it that way. No one really cares about that level of technicality…
I suppose I don't have to tell you that the corpse started off like any other, as a living human 9,000 years ago. He was the chief of a Pengtoushan village and died of old age. As was custom, a shaman resurrected his corpse to bring it into a sacred cave where they believed he would be allowed to enter hell. Along the way, the shaman was killed somehow and the corpse was allowed to roam free in the wilderness.
Zhuang: It was that easy?
Abt. Bai: Yes, all it takes is a single undead being left unattended to create a demon god. That's why corpse wranglers always stay in groups of two or more when transporting the undead.
After a few thousand years of wandering the wilderness and building up it's power though consumption of small birds and preying on sleeping humans, it began to become more powerful, and more hungry for life and time.
Even then, he is still a creature, immortal or not. And even immortals cannot outlive the eternal Tao.
Abbot Bai stares pensively into the desk for a few minutes before Zhuang is prompted to resume questioning.
Zhuang: I apologize again abbot, but that didn't really answer the inquiry.
Abt. Bai: Oh yes, the origin. After a thousand or so years, Jiang Jiang had grown powerful enough to consume entire settlements within the space of a few hours. The gods decided they had watched long enough and decided to plan out Jiang Jiang's-
Zhuang: Jiang Jiang? Is that the name you call it?
Abt. Bai: We call him- I'm sorry, we call IT Jiang Jiang because Demon King is too grandiose and unnecessary and it isn't a title we need to respect anyway. I digress, around the Xia dynasty the gods decided to appoint eight shamans to become their earthly vessels to fight and defeat Jiang Jiang. This was mostly successful as it kept it from harming anyone, but didn't stop its aging and progressive development of power.
Two thousand years later they would reveal the divine secrets to the rest of the world by incarnating Daode Tianzun into Lao-tzu and sharing the knowledge of Tao to the rest of the world. Thus the disciples came to support the eight shamans, having been drawn to following the Tao and seeking the elixir of immortality as Jiang Jiang became stronger even in confinement. The disciples' cultivation and use of qi managed to completely halt Jiang Jiang's development, but this means they no longer possess the means to become immortal like the eight masters. They could still extend their lives, however, just like neighboring Taoist sects of their time…
That's why I'm proud to say I am the oldest disciple to have ever lived. I'm sitting at 170 and I'm getting old. My memory past the turn of the millennium is not what it used to be, but I'll live…
I'm sorry, my mind has been very full today and I'm afraid I cannot continue this for tonight.
Zhuang: That's alright abbot, we can stop.
<End Log>
Closing Statement: Information shared by abbot Bai corresponds to information contained within ancient annals of the sect
Interview with SCP-5883-1-A
Date: February 8, 2021
Interviewed: SCP-5883-1-A, referred to as 1-A for brevity
Interviewer: Head Researcher Zhuang
Foreword: Interview conducted in Chinese, translated for convenience.
<Begin Log>
Zhuang: Good morning Master Lim, we would like to ask about the rituals performed in order to contain SCP-5883-3.
1-A: Go ahead.
Zhuang: When one of your number perishes and -3 escapes, what exactly happens to trigger your secondary abilities?
1-A: The best I can describe it is as a dance of divine wrath, indignance over the death of a fellow immortal and the urgency of the situation. The gods do not require a special ritual as they would from other practitioners, and they enter us anyway. I cannot provide a firsthand account however, the best I can offer is what I have been told by observers.
Zhuang: That will not be necessary, but thank you Master Lim. Another question, besides Qiangda, did you have any other children? Maybe a partner?
1-A: Besides him, I have not had a child since the beginning of the Spanish rule.
Zhuang: And no partners besides his mother?
1-A: No.
Zhuang: Apologies if we made you uncomfortable.
1-A: No No, I need the memories. I haven't thought about her in years. I don't think about past disciples much. Sometimes it's too painful. I was foolish then, having a child with her when she was just 20.
Zhuang: Alright… About SCP-5883-2, we suspect that it is not lethal for members of the sect to consume -2 because being considered a part of the sect itself may in itself be anomalous, thus negating the lethal effects of the ingredients?
1-A: I don't think so. I think it has to do with cultivation itself, illustrated by the dynamics of rank. Disciples have lent most of their cultivation to containing the Chief, and we (SCP-5883-1) have reserved ours for staying alive and serving as vessels for the gods. Thus the elixir keeps us ageless, and extends the lives of the disciples. The very presence of cultivated power is what stops the lethal effects. We, the sect masters hold great cultivation and add power to the sect's lineage, and the disciples gain cultivation though practicing the sect's precepts.
However, I'm not so sure about that. I have found in my millennia of life, there are things far greater then how habit works. I'm sorry.
Zhuang: Thank you for that, Master Lim. I think we have gotten everything we were looking for.
<End Log>
Closing Statement: It is suspected SCP-5883-2's effects only activate when working along side properties transferred from SCP-5883-1 to disciples.
Excerpts From the Sect Annals
A Section of the Sect's Annals
And so, Master Ying came to the shore of the Lake of Heaven after 8 days and nights pursuing the phoenix of the South. Upon the shore, the Southern Phoenix drew the divine bagua and spanned its body so as to mark several trigrams.
Master Ying dismounted from her horse and approached the divine fowl. The phoenix curled its wings and bent forth for Master Ying's hand. With a fearful bow, Master Ying fell to the ground upon her face, her hand outstretched that it might intercept the divine touch of Zhurong. For a short while, Master Ying remained in that contemplative observance of the southern divinity.
Although her hair obscured the view of the being before her, there still remained a form before her.
At once, the phoenix burst into flames of the brightest vermillion reds and pearly whites and deepest blues. And as a zephyr before a forest, the flames subsided.
Master Ying looked into her hand, and among the ashes of the southern phoenix she found a garland of the finest pearls, inscribed with the divine trigrams of the bagua. Upon the darkening beach where the Master stood, the phoenix had left its mark. And among the symbols, the fowl of Zhurong left marks of three upon the trigrams of water, wind, thunder, and lake.
And so, it became the divine mandate for Master Ying to reside over the weather and floods of her land…
A Section of the Sect's Annals
Upon 8 days of abstinence from flesh, strong drink and carnal pleasure, Master Lim says that the gods find it favorable then to bestow upon the practitioner the privileges of possession.
The altar of the seven stars is to be paced 8 times clockwise so as to build immediate rapport of eligibility with the ones the practitioner wishes to embody.
Upon completion of the pace, the seven lamps of the sacred dipper are to be extinguished, and the smoke of the grand flame about the altar is to be snuffed out.
It is then in that sheet of smoke that the gods will reveal their decision. If the gods see fit to continue the ceremony, the practitioner will feel a violent coldness pierce their body, and will immediately lose consciousness.
From there, Master Lim says, the gods will work though the body of the practitioner until they finish their work. It is then the body will fall limp, and after a few days in the care of a healer, the practitioner's mortal consciousness will return to the body, and the work of the gods as intended for him will be completed. They will heal the sick, give sight to the blind, and do the opposite upon the wicked. Even after they leave his body, this ability will remain with the practitioner.
However, should the gods refuse the ceremony, the practitioner will see blue smoke in great plumes rising from the cold wicks of the seven lamps, a sure sign of the gods that he is not unfit, but rather, not needed for their will. Blue is the color of divine favor. Should white smoke emit from the seven lamps, the gods have judged the practitioner unfit for their possession.
A Section of the Sect's Annals
Master Liang said: The essence of the ego tethers the most, the realization of self. For who can he be, who clings to ego yet does not cling also to reality?
For I say, to release the ego and human shame is to release also the fetter of reality!
She who can pass though a wall of solid baked cob can surely pass though the great tribulation of reality, for without ego she does not limit herself to her own self-perception, as lofty as many may be.
For as a yeast will puff up a bread and give it more weight and size, so does pride, like a yeast, puff up what is solid and prevent self mastery of reality's fluidity.
A Section of the Sect's Annals
And thus, the Bai Ze spoke unto the Yellow Emperor, saying:
The Jiangshi gains more power the longer it is left alive.
The White Haired Jiangshi is the youngest and weakest of the undead. It lives only at night, and is deathly afraid of loud noises, feeding only on silent animals such as seeping humans or rodents. It can be killed with fire, exposure to the divine light of the sun, being cut with a peachwood sword, being subdued physically and having jujube seeds hammered into its posterior pressure points, or driven away with the crowing of a rooster or being shown their reflection in a mirror.
After several years of feeding on small animals and sleeping humans, the Jiangshi loses its white hairs and instead grows black hairs, thus attaining the status of Black Haired Jiangshi. It is no longer afraid of loud noises, but is still able to be killed with fire, sunlight, peachwood weapons, jujube seeds, or driven away with the crow of a rooster or the sight of a mirror.
When the Jiangshi is around a century old, it will shed its black hairs and be able to hop several ri in a single bound. It is then called a Hopping Jiangshi, and now cannot be killed with jujube seeds, or driven away with mirrors. It becomes more vicious, being able to consume large animals, such as mountain lions, horses, cattle and occasionally other Jiangshi should they cross paths. Hopping Jiangshi continue to only feed on humans during their sleep. At this stage, they are no longer afraid of the crow of a rooster.
When a hopping Jiangshi reaches a millennium of existence, it will have developed in several aspects. Upon crossing the 1,000 year threshold, the Jiangshi will have developed the ability to fly, and will no longer hop from place to place. They will no longer be vulnerable to the light of the sun, nor the heat of a fire. When a Flying Jiangshi appears, there is naught that can harm it short of the divine power of a god combined with the masterful cultivation of a human immortal.
And when the Jiangshi becomes 5,000 years old, it is a god. It will have consumed entire civilizations, drained life from entire forests so that is becomes a desert, and spread pestilences, scourges and plagues of wrath, only to feed its own hunger for life. It can be subdued indefinitely but it cannot be stopped.
Upon hearing this, the Yellow Emperor wept and said to the Bai Ze,
How must I stop this scourge from befalling humanity?
The Bai Ze bowed its head in serenity.
Your Majesty, even the scourge of lava must submit to the all-encompassing eminence of the sea. The power of gods and man can hold him down for the rest of eternity, but the only true liberation from such evil would be the absolute end of all things.
Per 
