Dr. Ramses
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Item#:5144
Clearance Level 4: Clearance
Containment Class: euclid
Secondary Class: {$secondary-class}
Disruption Class: #/amida
Social media post displaying behavior symptomatic of the long-term effects of SCP-5144
Special Containment Procedures: The ruins surrounding SCP-5144-1 are to be closed off to the general public under the pretense of an ongoing archeological survey, with misinformation disseminated to downplay the area's religious significance.
The Valentia Protocol must be enacted on an annual basis with low-level memetic agents to be placed within advertising across all known forms of media. Individuals deemed necessary to facilitate containment of SCP-5144 are to be monitored through subdermal tracking devices and have a plainclothes security detail follow them in public without their knowledge.
Ethics Committee approval of joint regime-change operations in [REDACTED] with the United States Intelligence Community is currently pending. By O5 order, no further proposals involving Project PNEUMA will be considered following the 12/04/2020 incident.
Description: SCP-5144 is the designation assigned to the collective consciousness of an essophysical entity that has permeated itself throughout our planet and potentially beyond. SCP-5144's existence is believed to have resulted in the evolutionary development and proliferation of mankind throughout history, and many other species to a lesser extent. The entity has limited control over the collective human psyche and has been worshipped by various ancient civilizations as a deity associated with love, fertility, and occasionally warfare.
After a failed neutralization attempt by occultists with ties to the Global Occult Coalition in 1953, it began inflicting deleterious effects on the collective human unconsciousness most clearly observable in secular societies. Symptoms include declining marriage and birth rates, increasing divorce and abortion rates, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, suicidal tendencies, and family breakdowns. Continued degradation is likely to gradually result in an IK-Class Collapse of Global Civilization Scenario in conjunction with an EK-class Loss of Consciousness Scenario if left unchecked.
SCP-5144 was brought to the Foundation's attention during a 1965 investigation into what is now designated SCP-5144-1 following a series of ritualistic suicides among archaeologists and conflict with a local Serpent's Hand cell. SCP-5144-1 is a Bronze Age shaft tomb located within the ruins of [REDACTED] near the Dead Sea, measuring an estimated 1.8m deep. The tomb exhibits a cognitohazardous effect on any sapient beings within a 183m radius on a level consistent with that of Class IX emotokinetics. Affected individuals suffer an extreme form of SCP-5144's negative effects that often results in suicide, and any organic matter that enters the tomb begins to decompose at an accelerated rate.
Document 5144-A:
Interviewed: Serpent's Hand operative Farouk Kazim
Interviewer: Researcher Johnathan Williams
Foreword: Subject is a citizen of the neighboring country of Egypt, records indicate he was reported missing five years ago. During medical examination prior to interview, the interviewed displayed signs of moderate malnutrition and several self-inflicted scars on the forearms and back. Following capture subject was placed in a straitjacket in response to attempts to take his own life.
<Begin Log>
Williams: Please state your name for the record.
Farouk: …Farouk Kazim.
Williams: Thank you. Care to explain what happened?
<Two minutes elapse>
Williams: I'd like to remind you that it's in your best interest to cooperate unless you'd prefer to spend the remainder of your life in a striped jumpsuit.
<Five minutes elapse>
Williams: Seventeen men are dead, Kazim, with the vast majority of casualties being your own. You're the only one left. What were you hoping to accomplish?
Farouk: …I hope for nothing anymore.
Williams: You wouldn't strangle a man to death with a garrote without some sort of goal in mind. What was it? Why is this graveyard so important?
Farouk: It's the only place she can rest.
Williams: By she you mean…?
Farouk: It doesn't matter. None of this matters. Four thousand years ago a city stood there once. In a single night, it was gone. That will be us all soon.
Interviewed: Serpent's Hand operative Farouk Kazim
Interviewer: Researcher Williams
Foreword: Prior to the interview, Mr. Kazim was administered experimental emotional blockers to counteract SCP-5144-1's effects and ensure cooperation. After inquiring about the current date, he immediately began vomiting into a nearby wastebin and sobbing profusely for several minutes once receiving his answer.
<Begin Log>
Farouk: I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Inshallah, forgive me.
Williams: It's all right, Mr. Kazim. Please, sit down.
Farouk: No, it is not "all right". You don't know what it's like, the constant pain we all lived in. Friends, family, even the passage of time lost all meaning to us. She could have commanded me to give her my firstborn and I would have felt nothing.
Williams: Farouk, when we met last week you seemed like a different person entirely. How did it get this bad?
Farouk: It was a pilgrimage of sorts for some of us, every ten years we would visit Ishtar and pay tribute.
Williams: The Sumerian goddess?
Farouk: It's had a lot of names, that was just the one we used for it. It didn't seem to have a preference. It was playful yet wise, like an older sibling, and would teach us how to improve our sorcery or handle the women in our lives. And by Allah, it had the voice of an angel.
Williams: You said, "tribute". What did it ask for in exchange for this?
Farouk: Before the Bookburners came, not much. All it asked was that we be good to the people in our lives and visit it when we could. When we returned five years ago, it barely spoke and demanded payments in blood and █████. Sounded like a cat being mutilated, but because of whatever they did to it we were too far gone to care. We'd bring it livestock, Bookburners, sometimes even each other. We could never find the ones responsible so we had to make do. Allah forgive me, the abnormal, degenerate things it made us do. I'll see those contorted faces every time I close my eyes for as long as I live.
Williams: Are you aware of the details of the encounter?
Farouk: Only that whatever it was had to have happened sometime after 1950, that's the last time my people were there before this. All it wanted was to spread happiness. All it has to offer now is despair, the ruins, they are merely a focal point. I have a son at home, I couldn't even care to remember his name because of them. I'll never see him again, will I?
Williams: …I believe we'll be able to work something out.
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THE GLOBAL OCCULT COALITION
From the Desk of the Assistant Director of Field Operations, Afghanistan Division
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Greetings, Foundation O5 Council.
As per my previous letter, the Global Occult Coalition's third mission states individual human beings shall be protected whenever possible, and as a result, we cannot in good faith arrest and turn over loyal sponsors of our organization to a rival agency for the crime of sympathizing with our cause. However, given the nature of the aforementioned Threat Entity (TE) and its potential effect on human nature as a whole, in keeping with GOC procedure of holding the survival of the human race against all threats paranormal, parascientific, and paratemporal as our highest mission, we will provide you with the names and locations of the individuals associated with this incident. They will not be alerted provided you agree that they will be treated humanely, and that going forward all of us act as though this conversation never happened. But to reiterate, the disappearance of such influential members of our community could potentially have dire unforeseen consequences.
Regards,
Assistant Director Oud
United Nations Global Occult Coalition
Preface: The following protocol was developed in conjunction with researchers from Site-74 and Site-76, as well as researchers stationed at Site-36 and several Serpent's Hand defectors. Adherence to this protocol is required for all personnel assigned to the listed sites, as well as all documented collaborators working from outside the Foundation.
Abstract: The 36-KAZIM VALENTIA PROTOCOL has been developed and implemented to create a strategy for the management of the deleterious effects of SCP-5144 on the collective human psyche.
Protocol Information: In order to facilitate communication with the entity designated as SCP-5144 in the hopes of ceasing its hostilities with mankind, the Valentia Protocol was developed as a more effective and humane alternative to the rites performed by its cultists in the past. In the place of a hierodule, the ritual is performed on a date where a significant portion of the human race is focused on the expression of love and affection; February 14th, Valentine's Day. The proliferation and spread of Valentine's Day throughout the global community since the late 20th century has been crucial to the success of this operation, and further expansion will be necessary in the near future. Below is a brief framework of the current iteration of the procedure and detailed information, as well as previous versions, can be found in the full Valentia brief:
- One individual subject with prior contact to SCP-5144 and experience with supportive psychotherapy is to be administered a score of emotional blockers, and equipped with a scalpel and an anesthetized human on a stretcher. The subject is then to be tethered to a post 3 meters from the entrance. Following 2/14/1970, goats are to be used in place of humans.
- At 3:00 am UTC+02:00, the subject is to remove the goat's heart and throw it into SCP-5144-1.
- Subject is to spend the next hour at minimum attempting to converse with the entity with MTF Xi-2 ("Out of the Shadows Come We, Darkly") on standby a significant distance away for precautionary measures.
| Country (year) |
Description |
Notes |
| Japan (1966) |
Extensive propaganda campaigns appeared successful in popularizing the custom of Valentine's Day following independent efforts in 1936 and 1958. White Day established by sleeper agents in the Japanese National Confectionery Industry Association in 1980s to increase effectiveness in response to sharp decline in birthrate. |
Experiment considered to be a failure as of 2020 despite best efforts of Foundation and Japanese government. |
| Sweden (1967) |
Holiday established under the name Alla hjärtans dag ("All Hearts' Day"). Celebrated by less than half of the country's population as of 2016. Despite the country having higher marriage rates than the EU average, most children are still born to unmarried parents, divorce remains fairly common, and the average age at which people marry continues to rise. Ethics Committee approval of stronger memetic advertising pending. |
Mixed results. |
| India (1992) |
Importation of Western media proved successful in loosening cultural view of public affection. Single parenthood rate stable over 40 year period, divorce rate of 1% due to societal pressures. |
Success |
| Russia (1993) |
In recent decades over 60% of marriages in Russia ended in official separation. One nationwide poll shows that about 40% of Russians cite spousal alcohol addiction as the reason for their breakup. |
Failure |
| Moldova (2009) |
Many households within the country are headed by women due to a divorce rate of nearly 50% with declining amounts of couples forming families, in addition to high levels of male migration out of the country. |
Failure. |
| Luxembourg (2010) |
In spite of Luxembourg having stricter requirements for divorce than most other Western nations, the country managed to have the highest divorce rate in the world as of 2017 while marriage rates continue to decline. |
Failure. |
| Belarus (2012) |
Belarus consistently maintains one of the highest divorce rates in the world, with many women seeking foreign partners for economic purposes. As a result, inbound sex tourism has been on the rise in the country in recent years. Marriage statistics in 2010 returned to the post-World War II level, when the population suffered a huge demographic blow, and declined even further in 2012 despite Foundation efforts. |
Failure. |
| United States (2014) |
[DATA EXPUNGED] |
Failure. Investigation into Hallmark Cards ongoing. |
| Ukraine (2015) |
Similarly to Russia, among the most widespread reasons cited for separation of couples is financial difficulties accompanied by alcohol addiction, ultimately leading to irreconcilable differences. |
Failure. |
| Romania (2016) |
Attempts to introduce Valentine's Day into the country had the fortunate side effect of Romanian nationalists reviving the traditional holiday of Dragobete occurring around the same time, making it doubly effective. Second-highest marriage rate in the European Union, low amount of divorces. |
Success |
Full records available upon request.
Interviewed: Sami Kazim
Interviewer: Researcher Gladys Taylor
Foreword: Mr. Sami Kazim is the grandson of the individual partially responsible for the devisement of SCP-5144's containment procedures and has spent his secondary education studying psychology to continue the Protocol. As of the time of writing, he is currently in his final year at the University of ██████.
<Begin Log>
Taylor: How you doing tonight, Sam?
Sami: It doesn't matter. None of this matters.
Taylor: Pardon?
Sami: You heard me. 20 years I've been training to placate a supposedly talking corpse that can't even be bothered to respond to me. Ever since I was a kid I've been told this was my obligation and for what? Because my grandpa was in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Taylor: Honey, I understand your struggle. But you're not in it alone, we're all right here behind you and the others.
Sami: But why are we here? I appreciate you guys paying for my college and all but it's been 50 years and things have only gotten worse. For god's sake man, even my cousin's selling nudes to strangers on the Internet. You keep saying that the collapse we're all so worried about is further and further off, but every time I look out the window it's right around the corner.
Sami: Do you know what one of the last things my grandfather ever said to me was? He told me when he was under that thing's control they set a baby on fire once and cast it into the pit. He said the cries of fear and pain would stay with him for the rest of his life. A few days after that they found his body swinging from the rafters. I think he wanted me to know why he did it. I also think he was lying when he said it only happened once.
Taylor: What did you say to him then?
Sami: I was 12, I didn't really know what to say. I told him "I forgive you," I thought it was what he needed to hear. I guess he couldn't forgive himself. I know there was nothing I could've done, but sometimes I think if I had something more to say he'd still be here. I mean, what the hell do you say to someone after something like that?
Taylor: I wish I knew, kid. I wish I knew.
Sami: That's just it. My grandpa actually loved me, and I couldn't save him. My father believed in all this, and you couldn't save him-
Taylor: We don't know why your father chose to throw himself into 5144-1 but I promise you-
Sami: -And yet, I'm expected to reason with something that hates us and wants us all dead. You ask me to preach compassion to malice itself. <sighs> I suppose this is the part where you tell me, "It'll be all right, just trust in the plan" or something.
Taylor: Kid, I won't lie to you. It's not a foolproof plan, and the way things are going we'll likely see the collapse of global civilization early next century, if not sooner. Life doesn't have a deus ex machina to make everything hunky-dory in the end.
Sami: So we're just trapped in the belly of this horrible machine, and the machine is bleeding to death.
Taylor: Around here we have the expression, "God is a horror writer." We also gave Him a room and the number 343. Doing the impossible is sort of a regular routine around here, all it takes is a willingness to not go quietly into that good night. Way I see it you've got a choice, I can give you a literal blue pill and you can forget all this ever happened, be the good man doing nothing. Or, you can keep raging against the dark with the rest of us.
Sami: I'll think about it.
Taylor: That's all I ask.
Several months following this interview, Sami Kazim evaded Foundation surveillance and as of the time of writing has yet to be rediscovered.
Addendum 5144-1:
Interviewed: Sami Kazim
Interviewer: Researcher Taylor
Foreword: Mr. Kazim was rediscovered in a library in ████, Ohio on 2/13/2021.
<Begin Log>
Taylor: You're a difficult man to find, Sammy.
Sami: Heh, coming from you guys I guess that's saying something.
Taylor: At least you're in better spirits than the last time we met. But I suppose if you didn't want to be found we wouldn't be having this conversation, now would we?
Sami: Old trick my dad taught me, you just need to know how to walk along the wisdom. I could show you sometime if you want.
Taylor: I appreciate the offer but I don't think the Library patrons would be too happy to have me. What made you decide to come back?
Sami: I've been doing a lot of thinking, and reading, during my self-imposed exile. And I realized that me and this god have something in common; we hated ourselves. And you can't love others without loving yourself. It forgot how, and I never learned.
Taylor: So now you're ready to try and save the world, Fortune Cookie?
Sami: That's just it Gladys, I took on the weight of the world before and it crushed me. But I finally realized that I'm just one man. I can't take on the world's sins, all I can do is try to make things a little brighter for those around me. And like it or not, my grandfather called that thing family once so I can't turn my back on it.
Addendum 5144-2:
Upon returning from SCP-5144-1 on 2/14/2021 with an empty box of chocolates in hand, Mr. Kazim reportedly said "My God, she had the voice of an angel."
Per 
