Draft: Black Book
rating: 0+x

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX is to be kept in a small locked safe at all times, in a room guarded by an armed guard who has never committed murder. Due to the danger posed by instances of SCP-XXXX-1, no personnel may access SCP-XXXX while it is in the safe.

The safe and room that SCP-XXXX is contained in are built adjacent to a private living cell, which must at all times contain one (1) D-class personnel convicted of mass murder (Currently D-████). No other D-class personnel are allowed within 500 meters of SCP-XXXX. All personnel working with SCP-XXXX, or whose schedule frequently brings them within a 500 meter radius of it, are to be screened for past actions or tendencies reflecting a disregard for morality.

Description: SCP-XXXX is a book bound in a deep black material that seems to resemble skin. However, superficial analysis of this material has shown that it does not match the skin of any know life form. DNA analysis of the 'skin' is not possible, as both the binding and the pages are indestructible.

SCP-XXXX's primary anomalous effects manifest when an individual (henceforth referred to as 'the subject') opens the book and begins to read it. The anomalous effect progresses in three stages.

Stage 1 begins after five minutes of reading. While in Stage 1, the subject's personality will worsen. Individuals observing a subject in Stage 1 has described the subject as being "rude" or "meaner" than they usually are. The subject will tend to care less about the lives of lesser beings, with 100% of tested subjects being willing to kill any invertebrate, regardless of how they would have felt about such an action before having read the book. During this stage, the subject can stop reading the book at any time, and is generally willing to do so in order to participate in tests. However, attempts to remove the book from the subject's possession are met with resistance, and the subject will express a strong desire to keep the book and to continue reading it. If the book is successfully taken from the subject, they will continue to attempt to regain possession of it, expressing a strong dislike for anyone involved in the removal of the book. The subject will also sometimes threaten physical violence. Use of amnestics has proven effective in ending these effects.