Per 
"Welcome to the meeting of the minds. Or the meeting of the nerds, if you will. Just a little joke."
Palisade experimentation always takes the form of alterations to the target timeline.
Project overseen by Bantay Masipag.
The Threat:
Formerly code-named Primary Existential Threat Alpha. Renamed by O5 Council vote to "THE WORM"1, based on a selection of options provided by Esoteric Containment Systems, as well as Project Forward Insight.
The Threat is an extra-dimensional entity that destroys realities/timelines. Little other information is known (including either mechanism or nature); even the "extra-dimensional" description is technically in doubt.
Though The Threat has never been directly witnessed, its effects are now well-documented, thanks to Project Palisade. Every affected timeline goes through various stages of "reality breakdown", with symptoms ranging from disappearance of physical locales to disappearance of various laws of physics. Eventually the timeline disintegrates entirely.
At present, no mechanism has been detected or analyzed by which The Threat causes these effects, and The Threat has never been directly perceived by any means.
Anomalous information-gathering methods have suggested that The Threat will only destroy or consume timelines which exhibit poor structural integrity. At the very least, The Threat seems to avoid timelines with good structural integrity, barring outside intervention.
Though case-by-case success rate is variable, Project Palisade procedures have so far had a 100% success rate in keeping The Threat away from mainline reality.2
"The Threat" is usually called "THE WORM" outside this documentation. Esoteric Containment Systems suggests that "THE WORM" is appropriate terminology for the following reasons:
- The term is one of a selection of terms with cross-dimensional "psychic resonance", appearing directly or obliquely in mythos from neighboring realities assessed by Project Forward Insight.
- A worm is popularly perceived to be a creature inferior to humans, which grants a different form of "psychic resonance" that may aid in reality-wide perspective shift, potentially allowing it to eventually be better understood by human minds.3
- The stylization "THE WORM" is based on the recommendation that The Threat should be both undercut and also treated as important enough to devote primary organizational resources.
"The Threat" is also accepted terminology, as the term is already too established to completely remove. Mainline Foundation agents should consider either "The Threat" or "THE WORM" required terminology as part of Esoteric Containment Systems.
The Foundation has no other way to control The Threat besides Project Palisade. Uncontrolled, The Threat will eventually destroy most or all of the timelines created by Project Palisade, and then reach and destroy mainline reality.
Claims that Project Palisade has increased the power of The Threat (by creating many timelines for it to destroy) are unproven and considered extremely dubious.
***
First, the Altis Engine is used to create a "cluster" of mirror timelines. These mirror timelines are then altered for experimental purposes, using controlled CK-class Restructuring events and direct inter-dimensional travel to desired points in history.
Mirror timelines are then monitored for the integrity of their reality structure. Timelines with a high integrity level are studied. Mirror timelines that have (or reach) a poor integrity level are prioritized for destruction.
Foundation agents (and proxies) execute attraction methods to attract The Threat to the timeline in question, commonly performing anomalous "rituals" developed by Esoteric Containment Systems. Direct travel to the timeline is necessary to enact these "rituals".
Typically, collaborator Foundation agents are sent as proxies, in lieu of mainline Foundation agents, due to unacceptable levels of mass risk. Collaborator Foundation agents are all "mirrors", taken from "mirror" timelines with poor structural integrity, which would be normally be targeted by The Threat without mainline Foundation intervention.
Following the successful execution of the attraction method, "focal points" are gathered and distributed to neighboring timelines to target them for destruction along with the initial target timeline. "Focal points" are elements from the initial target timeline, such as a person, animal, or object, which have been a focus of ritual energy. Current standard element is soil from the initial target timeline (representing "gravedirt"), a highly successful suggestion by a collaborating "mirror" instance of the POI "the Black Queen".
All targeted timelines are then evacuated by mainline Foundation agents and (when feasible) collaborator agents, and monitored until destroyed by The Threat.
The entire above process is repeated as needed to ensure The Threat is indefinitely kept away from mainline reality.
Interview RE: Analysis of Reality Dereification Effects in Reality Epsilon-Samekh-4 & Neighboring Realities (EXCERPT):
**Foreward: Interview conducted with O5-██, O5-██, O5-██, and staff present. Interview subject is Lt. Edgar Marshall, assigned to assessment of Project First Strike.
[BEGIN EXCERPT]
Lt. Edgar Marshall: I want to repeat my strong objections to this proposed course of action.
O5-██: [DATA EXPUNGED]
Dr. Edgar Marshall: Dereification effects are inconsistent with known phenomena or SCPs. Realites neighboring Epsilon-Samekh-4 are simply vanishing, abruptly and with no explanation.
O5-██: [DATA EXPUNGED]
Dr. Edgar Marshall: No. It's in the report. Epsilon-Samekh-4 is only where we first observed the reality dereification. It's not the source of the phenomenon.
O5-██: [DATA EXPUNGED]
Dr. Edgar Marshall: We would argue the phenomena was caused for a reason, even if the reason had nothing to do with Epsilon-Samekh-4. It could be impossible to identify the exact reason or cause. All we can say at this stage is that —
O5-██: [DATA EXPUNGED]
Dr. Edgar Marshall: Yes, that's correct. Correlating the Heisenberg-Reimann model with our esoteric reality monitoring systems, the pattern of disappearances indicates a high likelihood of mainline reality being a victim of this unknown threat, and within the next fifteen years.
O5-██: [DATA EXPUNGED]
Dr. Edgar Marshall:
O5-██: [DATA EXPUNGED]
Dr. Edgar Marshall:
[END EXCERPT]
**
Full analysis of incidents indicate that this entity is likely responsible for the destruction. Assessment team recommends that all available Foundation resources be directed towards
*
As an emergency backup system, in the event that all Foundation assets are lost except for the Altis Engine
How do we know our reach doesn't exceed our grasp?
This is an awful lot of unearned confidence. Though you'd just claim anyone who disagrees is in denial unless we can prove it.
Project Palisade is currently considered an unmitigated success in protecting mainline reality, and a partial success in ascertaining the nature and effects of "THE WORM".
The Foundation has no other way to control "THE WORM" besides Project Palisade. Left to its own devices, the WORM will eventually destroy all of the current "multi-cluster" created by Project Palisade, and finally reach and destroy mainline reality.
For this reason, Project Palisade is considered worthwhile by a consensus of current administration, despite the (potentially infinite) ongoing cost.
*
In 19██ under the command of General Bowe and as part of Project First Strike, Foundation researchers crosstested multiple SCP Items, including SCP-002, SCP-033, SCP-044, SCP-090, SCP-134, and SCP-████, in the ongoing effort to produce weaponry to be stockpiled for use against foreign agents. As part of this, a number of previously identified realities were selected for use as testing grounds. During the course of this testing, researchers registered dereification effects inconsistent with known phenomena or SCPs. Further investigation revealed that neighboring realities were vanishing abruptly.4 Correlating the Heisenberg-Reimann model with ongoing esoteric reality monitoring systems, the pattern of disappearances indicated a high likelihood of mainline reality being a victim of this within the following fifteen (15) years.
Research eventually identified the source of these disappearances as an extra-dimensional entity internally referred to as "THE WORM", though information has come to light indicating that the entity is non-unique and may not be singular.5 Oracular information was authorized to ascertain when mainline reality would likely be affected, which occurred on ██/██/████, less than one (1) month before predicted end-of-reality scenario.
In response to these discoveries, Project Palisade was created to divert the source away from mainline reality, and implemented on an emergency basis with Proposal "X".
The origins of Project Palisade lie with the creation of Project First Strike under the direction of General Bowe. Due to fears of potential open warfare between anomalous factions, programs such as Project First Strike were approved en masse in order to research the potential offensive and defensive capabilities of harnessing anomalous weaponry.6 At this time, two adjacent realities designated Reality Gamma-Aleph-6 and Reality Epsilon-Samekh-4 were selected as testing grounds for the anomalous weapons resulting from the project. Notably, the latter reality was utilized in simulations of defense against extradimensional threats, and the construction of a specialized testing facility for extradimensional anomalies was approved on ██/██/████.
Approximately two years after Project First Strike testing began, researchers monitoring the status of Reality Epsilon-Samekh-4 began to report significant extradimensional contamination that was incongruent with the nature of the weapons undergoing testing at that time. Further research into this phenomenon revealed the source of this contamination to be numerous tears in the base spacetime matrix of Reality Epsilon-Samekh-4, each of which was growing larger at an exponential rate. Early attempts to close these holes were soon abandoned due to the accelerating rate of both tear formation and contamination, necessitating the sealing of Reality Epsilon-Samekh-4 and the loss of several contaminated personnel. Approximately 4 days following the sealing of Reality Epsilon-Samekh-4, the entire reality abruptly vanished from all extradimensional sensory arrays.
Initially considered an isolated incident caused by an unknown anomalous force, the pattern of events leading to the destruction of Reality Epsilon-Samekh-4 were repeated in Reality Gamma-Aleph-6, as well as 7 other adjacent realities under Foundation observation. At this point, it was deemed that the the unidentified anomaly constituted a grave threat to the continued existence of the Foundation.
During the destruction of Reality Gamma-Aleph-6, gravitational wave detectors present in said reality managed to record the advance waves caused by an inbound entity shortly before the creation of a new tear in Reality Gamma-Aleph-6, at which point all detectors promptly failed. Wave profile composites constructed from the incident indicated a >99% probability that said entity’s movement patterns were consistent with a sentient entity as opposed to random chance. Following an O5 vote, all Project First Strike resources were redirected towards researching containment methods for the entity.
Running concordantly with research efforts dedicated towards containment, Project Forward Insight was launched in order to ascertain the nature of the threat. Forward Insight yielded valuable intel when it was retroactively discovered that several documents in the Foundation’s possession, collected from across multiple realities, had contained previously unrecognized references to the entity. The informal designation of the entity as the WORM arises from these documents. A collection of fragments is included here.
Reality Tau-Het-9: The Epic of Lathurias7 And Lathurias passed through the veil beyond/To do battle with the Sons of the Void
And the First Son of the Void did arise/The Worm, he who lives between, cleanser of realms
And bold Lathurias strode forth, shining bright/The White King and Worm locked horns
And to this day Lathurias still fights/The endless war of our dreams
Reality Alpha-Zayin-12: Omniseian Annalects: A Study8 Zydragy is of the viewpoint that Hunyad9 is an allegorical tale, nothing more than an idea meant to stir the faithful into action. However, orthodox thought remains adamant that it is in fact a real event.
My own research in the area is inconclusive. There is no doubt in my mind that Mardrash believed it to be true, and his legendary sight is well-known even to this day, thanks to his connection to the source. However, other mistakes in the canon have been discovered before, and it is certainly possible that Mardrash erred. Notoriously, his obsession with the Besari has tainted his writing elsewhere, and they play a central role in his version of Hunyad. Could it be that his obsession with the Destroyers clouded his judgment here?
Reality Omega-Lamed-1: Satrali Creation Myth:10 …From that day forth, Qisan and Jiuliu were brothers no more, but mortal enemies. And so began the war that pitted brother against brother, god against god, and none could behold the terrible battle that they fought. The sons of Father Light and Mother Void would not, and could not surrender to one another, for theirs was the battle of all creation.
Qisan, blessed with his Father’s quickness, could outrace nearly anything, for light is the quickest creature of them all. Jiuliu, blessed with his Mother’s strength, could best nearly anything, for all must succumb to the Void in the end. When used against one another though, neither could win, and neither could yield.
It is then that Qisan and Jiuliu sculpted all the creatures of the lands to fight one another, for their battle was the battle of all existence. All creatures born must fight, for none shall escape the war. As Qisan and Jiuliu fought, so too must the hawk and the sparrow, so too must the stag and the wolf. And in the stars, the war rages still, for the warriors of Qisan and the worms of Jiuliu must submit to their masters’ wills and war without end. All creatures shall continue until the day when the sun falls into the ocean, the stars fade from the sky, and at long last, there are no more battles to be fought, no more land to be conquered. So it has been said, and so it shall be.
On ██/██/19██, a unanimous vote of the O5 Council merged all personnel formerly belonging to Project First Strike and Project Forward Insight into a singular directive codenamed Project Palisade. At this point, Project Palisade began its initial research, starting with the foundations of extradimensional invasion strategy developed under First Strike, combined with the intelligence provided by Forward Insight in order to prepare candidate test subjects for insertion of Foundation assets and ritual manifestation.
