Kasha Varnishkes

Enlil Shall Reward Your Deference

SCP-XXXX in its activated state.

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX is to be contained within a standard anomalous item locker at Site-64.

Description: SCP-XXXX is a small clay tablet. In its inactivated state, it is completely smooth save for a deep rectangular notch on one edge. Periodically, SCP-XXXX will enter its activated state, characterized by the spontaneous formation of inscribed Sumerian cuneiform writing upon its surface that remains for a period of several days before disappearing.

Messages that appear upon the surface of SCP-XXXX during periods of activation, when translated, generally consist of three parts:

• A task to be performed by the reader of the message.
• Information intended to be used by the reader of the message for financial or personal gain.
• The following phrase: “You shall be of a house of greatness. Your obedience shall be its foundation. Enlil¹ shall reward your deference.”

Discovery: In July 2015, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted a raid on the residence of Rufus Aldridge III, former chairman and CEO of Aldridge Industries,² after he and his company were found to possess ties to a major multinational drug cartel. SCP-XXXX, along with extensive documentation compiled by the Aldridge family and previous owners of SCP-XXXX, were found among his effects; upon discovery of SCP-XXXX's anomalous properties, undercover operatives within the FBI alerted the Foundation of its existence.

Addendum XXXX-1: A selection of messages (translated from their original Sumerian) produced by SCP-XXXX, compiled from documentation recovered alongside SCP-XXXX and from Foundation test logs.

Date	Instruction	Reward	Additional Notes
c. 2300 BCE	You shall be of a house of greatness. Your obedience shall be its foundation. Enlil shall reward your deference.	Two lists of dates spanning a period of approximately five years, one followed by the word "wet" and the other followed by the word "dry".	The Tigris River proceeded to flood on each date noted in the first list; a drought began within the Fertile Crescent on each date noted in the second list.
c. 625 CE
c. 1140	Find the young Arab scholar who speaks of strange numerals from the Far East. Offer him safe passage aboard your vessel to the Kingdom of Italy.
October 1352	Lay this tablet out in open air until further instructions are received.	A detailed account of several maritime trade routes
May 13th, 1760
August 7th, 1831	Harek engages in sexual relations with a donkey.	N/A	This instruction was not followed by the normal ending phrase. Its meaning remains unknown.
August 8th, 1831	Enlil apologizes for the inscrutability of its previous message. Such frivolities shall trouble you no longer.	A set of stock picks, all of which proved to be lucrative.
February 12th, 1939	Locate the men called Fermi and Szilard at their house of learning in the City of New York, and ensure that their finances are well-fixed.		Manhattan Project stuff
January 3, 1946	Enter the house of learning in the City of Philadelphia, and find the men who have fashioned a brain of metal. Ensure that their creation makes use of only the second base.	The geographic coordinates of several large crude oil deposits within North America.	ENIAC, the first electronic general-purpose computer, was developed at the University of Pennsylvania in 1946, and was responsible for the popularization of base-2 computing.
March 22, 1994	intel USB port	Correct numbers for the U.S. Powerball Lottery of April 1994.
November 23, 2002	Offer up your monies and commodities to those men who have formed their Institute of Climate Truth. Ensure that its influence may spread far and wide, and that it may plant its roots in the highest councils of society.		The Climate Truth Institute (CTI) is a prominent American think tank and lobbyist group known for its denial of climate change science.
September 12, 2015	Lay this tablet out in open air until further instructions are received.	A set of stock picks, all of which proved to be lucrative.	Foundation personnel monitoring SCP-XXXX did not follow this instruction, and SCP-XXXX remained in its item locker.
November 30, 2015	Lay this tablet out in open air until further instructions are received.	A set of stock picks, all of which failed within the following financial quarter.	Again, Foundation personnel monitoring SCP-XXXX did not follow this instruction.
February 6th, 2016	Lay this tablet out in open air until further instructions are received.	N/A

Addendum XXXX-2: On May 9th, 2016, structural analysis of SCP-XXXX revealed the rectangular notch on the topmost edge of SCP-XXXX to be a crude imitation of a standard USB port fully functional USB Type-A connector port. Given recent events (see Addendum XXXX-4), it is probable that the original USB interface developed by Intel Corporation in 1994 is, in actuality, a crude imitation of the port located on SCP-XXXX.

Foundation technology was utilized in an attempt to interface with SCP-XXXX via its port. Approximately 23,000 digital files were recovered, suggesting that despite SCP-XXXX's apparent lack of traditional electronic components, it is capable of data storage.

The vast majority of the recovered files (approximately 96 percent) consist of source code and executable files, written in what appears to be a low-level programming language; it is dissimilar to any language currently used in modern computing, and its keywords are not derived from any known human language. The code in these files has not yet been deciphered to any useful extent.

Numerous unencrypted text files were also found among the items recovered from SCP-XXXX. While the contents of these files also could not be identified as belonging to any known human language, upon detailed linguistic analysis, certain morphemes and grammatical structures were noted to bear marked similarity to those utilized in SCP-███, SCP-████-A, and SCP-████.³ By considering the language used in the above anomalies to be a proto-language to the language used by SCP-XXXX, Foundation linguists were able to, via comparative analysis, translate these text files to a suitable degree of accuracy. Furthermore, a comprehensive reevaluation of SCP-XXXX's files following this discovery found comments within many of its code files, unencrypted and written in the same language as the translated text.

Addendum XXXX-3: A selection of translated comments found in source code and executable files recovered from the data stores of SCP-XXXX.

>> ACCESS DATA

// okay this new function is either going to increase text printing speed by 30% or make this tablet explode in a sad little ball of fire… lets find out which!!! ~altair

// I'm not going to even bother refactoring this. If Enlil's going to cut our dental, they can sit here and parse through our useless junk code. ~Harek

// this whole thing is broken as of an hour ago and ive got a sneaking suspicion that its because of the 400 lines written by yours truly that a certain somebody just deleted… harek are you reading this? this is directed at you ~altair

// Altair, it was broken before. Your code was cluttering everything up and making this entire file impossible to read - seriously, what do you have against using variables? I took it out for a second so I can get a better look at what's going wrong here. It's all saved in a previous version of this file. ~Harek

// put it back ~altair

// I'm busy right now. Go find it in the version control system, it's the most recently saved item. It'll take you thirty seconds. ~Harek

// heres a fun set of unit tests to make sure the message parsing functions are working properly!!! harek this is what i think of your version control system ~altair

// Firstly, that was rude, untrue, and uncalled for. Secondly, I'm assuming you only meant to send that out to our prototype tablet here in the lab? ~Harek

// yeah why ~altair

// You made those unit tests global. Literally every Enlil tablet in operation just received your stupid test message. That's, what, 25,000 donkey jokes? ~Harek

Addendum XXXX-4: A selection of full translated text files recovered from the data stores of SCP-XXXX.

>> ACCESS DATA - LEVEL 4 CLEARANCE REQUIRED

snowdeer part 1

SCP-XXXX upon initial containment.

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX is to be kept within a standard containment locker at Storage Site-64. No interaction with SCP-XXXX is permitted unless authorized by Level 4/XXXX personnel. All personnel whose interaction with SCP-XXXX exceeds thirty seconds are to be administered a Class-A amnestic and monitored for the onset of symptoms typical of depression and/or schizophrenia.

Description: SCP-XXXX is a brown leather jacket. Upon wearing SCP-XXXX (specifically, upon the interior layer of SCP-XXXX coming into contact with skin), an individual will experience auditory, visual, and tactile hallucinations, accompanied by an overarching feeling of euphoria. Symptoms will gradually increase upon prolonged exposure to SCP-XXXX.

Though symptoms vary from individual to individual, several criteria common to all individuals' experiences have been established following extended testing:

• Hallucinations resemble a boreal forest entirely devoid of manmade structures, with a layer of snow covering the forest floor. The area exhibits a day/night cycle typical of northern latitudes. Perceived position within this forest may be static or dynamic, but remains within an area approximately two kilometers in diameter.

• Individual perceives their hallucinations as beautiful and objectively superior to modern civilization, and expounds upon them at length (often unprompted).

• Individual reports an improvement in mood that, upon prolonged exposure to SCP-XXXX, escalates to intense euphoria. Analysis of individual's brain activity during the period of exposure reveals drastically heightened dopamine release. This is linked to rapid, spontaneous generation of dopamine production sites within the hypothalamus, and of dopamine receptors on dendrites of the central nervous system.

• Following uninterrupted exposure to SCP-XXXX exceeding approximately five minutes in duration, individual suffers a grand mal seizure and enters a comatose state. Brainstem processes cease within several hours, resulting in individual's expiration.

+ Interview Log 1-24

Date: 1/24/201█

Interviewed: D-9113

Interviewer: Researcher Alvarez

Foreword: D-9113 maintained uninterrupted skin contact with SCP-XXXX throughout the
following interview.

<Begin Log, 11:38:41>

Researcher Alvarez: D-9113, please describe what you are currently experiencing.

D-9113: Well. Nothing's… really happening. It feels a little colder in here than it did when I first walked in, but I don't know, maybe you guys turned down the thermostat or something. Is that part of the test? I-

(D-9113 ceases speaking and slowly leans forward, gripping the arms of her chair. D-9113's pupils begin to notably dilate, and remain dilated for the duration of the interview.)

Researcher Alvarez: D-9113?

D-9113: …Oh. Oh, shiiit. Yeah, I'm starting to see some things.

Researcher Alvarez: What do you see?

D-9113: There's, um… there's this forest, yeah? Like, I'm at the top of this hill, I'm knee deep in snow, and below me there's trees going every which way, for miles and miles. And that's all there is. It's dark out here, but I can see it all super clearly, somehow. All the leaves. It's gorgeous.

Researcher Alvarez: Is there anything else of note?

D-9113: There's a lake, off to my right? It looks like it's all covered in ice. Mountains in the distance, can't make out much of them, though. God, I feel so fucking alive right now. I don't think anyone's ever been in this place, not before me. I'm the first. It feels like I was meant to be here, like there's this, this hole that I'm stepping into. That I'm filling up. The rivers are running- they're running so fast. I'm pulsating with them.

Researcher Alvarez: What do you mean by "the rivers"?

D-9113: The rivers. They go through me, and around me, and they whisper into me. I'm getting closer to the lake, now.

Researcher Alvarez: Why did you decide to walk towards the lake?

D-9113: Oh, I'm not walking towards the lake, no. That's just what the rivers say, and so they take me there. There's something good in the lake - really good. Important. It's been there for a long time.

Researcher Alvarez: I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I'm following. These rivers are near you, and you're following them down the hill to the lake?

D-9113: No - no, you don't understand. The rivers are there, and on me, and in me. They touch the trees, I touch the trees. They run through the snow, I run through the snow. Beautiful. I have to get down, down to the-

(D-9113 begins to seize violently, falling from her chair. Medical personnel are swiftly called in to assist, and the interview is terminated.)

<End Log, 11:43:05>

Closing Statement: D-9113 expired four hours after the conclusion of the interview. Over the next several months, several more skin-contact tests were conducted with SCP-XXXX, with exposure limited to shorter periods of time. In all tests where the period of exposure lasted less than four minutes, subjects remained physically and mentally stable upon removal of SCP-XXXX. All subjects gave similar interviews; of note is the fact that all subjects mentioned "rivers" in a similar context to that used by D-9113.

+ Interview Log 3-11

Date: 3/11/201█

Interviewed: D-4345

Interviewer: Researcher Alvarez

Foreword: [Small passage describing the interview]

<Begin Log, [optional time info]>

Researcher Alvarez: [speech]

D-4345: [speech]

<End Log, [optional time info]>

Closing Statement: [Small summary and passage on what transpired afterward]

+ Addendum XXXX.1

Phase-contrast analysis of a tissue sample taken from SCP-XXXX (40x magnification).

On 3/26/201█, a 1-cm square of SCP-XXXX's interior lining was removed and analyzed. Upon close examination, the interior lining of SCP-XXXX was found to enclose a thin layer of living epidermal tissue, containing a functional neural network. Though neurons found within the sample share many commonalities with those of Homo sapiens, several marked differences exist, namely:

• Increased fiber diameter
• Greatly increased percentage of multipolar neurons
• Greatly increased neuronal packing density
• Greatly increased humber of neurons

Though it is unclear how this tissue remains alive upon removal from its host organism, high concentrations of pyrogallic tannins⁴ were also found in the sample. It is hypothesized that generous application of this preservative during the initial creation of SCP-XXXX contributed to a diminished rate of cell death.

+ Addendum XXXX.2

All subjects appear to view the same landmarks upon exposure to SCP-XXXX; these landmarks appear to be spaced the same distance apart in all cases, and this allows for a scale map of the area contained within SCP-XXXX-induced hallucinations to be generated.

On 5/29/201█, analysis of Foundation satellite imagery revealed an uninhabited area ██ kilometers from Fort Yukon, Alaska, USA that bears 99.12% similarity to the map of the area generated by SCP-XXXX's hallucinations. Furthermore, visual hallucinations induced by SCP-XXXX contain a day/night cycle that corresponds to that of the Alaska Time Zone,⁵ lending additional credibility to the theory that hallucinations induced by SCP-XXXX are spatially and temporally linked to this location.

As of 6/7/201█, a team of Foundation agents have been dispatched to this location in order to determine the exact nature of the connection between it and SCP-XXXX.

snowdeer part 2

An instance of SCP-XXXX prior to containment.

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX-1 is to be kept within a standard containment locker at Storage Site-64. No interaction with SCP-XXXX-1 is permitted unless authorized by Level 4/XXXX personnel. All personnel whose interaction with SCP-XXXX-1 exceeds thirty seconds are to be administered a Class-A amnestic and monitored for the onset of symptoms typical of depression and/or schizophrenia.

SCP-XXXX-2 through SCP-XXXX-5 are to be contained at Biological Research Site-104; all instances currently in Foundation custody are to share a single containment area. While formal containment of remaining wild SCP-XXXX instances is not of high priority due to their relatively self-containing nature, BLUH. SCP-XXXX instances in containment are to be provided adequate roaming space and a herbivorous diet, including B1 and B3 vitamin supplements.

Description: SCP-XXXX is a population of approximately 70 deerlike individuals endemic to an unsettled area ██ kilometers northwest of Fort Yukon, Alaska, USA. Though the species of SCP-XXXX is as of yet unidentified, internal biology of instances of SCP-XXXX has been found consistent with other species of the Cervidae family, with the notable exception of the nervous system.

Instances of SCP-XXXX exhibit telepathic capabilities of varying range. Two concrete mechanisms of telepathic information transmission have been identified:

• Instances of SCP-XXXX possess highly specialized apocrine glands, which secrete a family of structurally related aerosolized hormones. These hormones are released in varying quantities and permutations,⁶ and each sequence of hormones is interpreted by any receiving individual(s) as a specific set of auditory, visual, and/or tactile sensory data. SCP-XXXX BLUH, and will also "pass along" hormonal messages intercepted from other instances by releasing the same sequence of hormones.

• Instances of SCP-XXXX are also capable of communication via skin contact. Their skin contains an extensive neural network, and upon skin contact with a receiving individual, this network will briefly extend towards the point of contact, creating temporary synapses through which nerve impulses can be passed from the "sending" instance to the "receiving" individual. This mechanism differs from hormonal communication in that while it also transmits auditory, visual, and tactile sensory data, it is capable of doing so in much greater quantities. Furthermore, this mechanism has also been shown to transmit information derived from the "sending" instance's long-term memory.

When an instance of SCP-XXXX attempts to communicate, hormonally or neurally, with an individual who is not part of SCP-XXXX, the individual's nervous system will undergo morphological adaptation⁷ in order to become compatible with signals transmitted by SCP-XXXX. After a certain threshold is reached, the human nervous system is no longer able to sustain these changes, and will begin to degrade (leading, in all observed cases, to a grand mal seizure and subsequent expiration after approximately four minutes of sustained contact with an instance of SCP-XXXX or its hormones).

Prior to the discovery of the true nature of SCP-XXXX, SCP-XXXX was formerly the classification given to a leather jacket created using the skin of an instance of SCP-XXXX. While the jacket does not secrete hormones, it otherwise exhibits anomalous properties typical of instances of SCP-XXXX, and has thus been redesignated as SCP-XXXX-1.

Discovery: Following investigation into the specific hallucinations induced by SCP-XXXX-1, On 6/9/201█, Foundation field personnel dispatched to this location encountered several instances of SCP-XXXX.

+ Addendum XXXX.1

oh boy we got some Testing Logs

Date:

+ Addendum XXXX.2 - Report of Head Researcher Darlene Alvarez

Over the time we've been running tests on SCP-XXXX, both the jacket and the live instances, we've used fourteen D-class subjects. Nine of them have, at some point prior to their assignment to SCP-XXXX, been administered an amnestic of some sort. That isn't anything out of the ordinary - we're running on a limited supply of D-class personnel here, and if we can use amnestics to keep them useful for longer, that's a win-win situation all around.

But here's the thing. When we couldn't initially identify what exactly the buildup was on the MRIs we took of XXXX-2 and XXXX-3, we reached out to a couple other departments to see if they could make heads or tails of it. The boys down at Site-151 got back to us fairly quickly, and they gave us some scans to look over and told us that it was amnestic residue. As in, when we administer an amnestic to somebody, it stimulates a certain kind of amyloid plaque buildup in their brain, to a very minuscule degree. Not enough to mess with your nervous function, and not enough to cause a blip on any traditional medical radars, but enough that someone specifically trained to look for it will recognize its shape and know that it's there.

My team and I didn't see the connection at first, because the human scans they showed us didn't really bear resemblance to our XXXX scans, at least not when viewed from a distance. The dark bits on their scans were barely noticeable, while the dark bits on ours were nearly everywhere you looked. But under high-power magnification, the shape is unmistakeable.

We've been working under the assumption that when XXXX tries to communicate with a neural network that's less sophisticated, like a human's, it starts modifying the network to be more like its own. But this leads us to the conclusion that communication is more of a two-way street.

Every time we try to make contact, skin-to-skin, with XXXX, it doesn't just send us its thoughts, modify our brains… we're doing the same exact thing to it in return.

And we just accidentally amnesticized one of the most sophisticated neural networks known to date.

+ Addendum XXXX.3

extended logs (in a table prolly) of contained instances fuckin alzheimer's-ing
sections of table shld be Date, Physical State, Emotional State (as determined by d-class performing skin test),

+ Addendum XXXX.4

oh Fuck it Spread To The Wild SNow Deers

(Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tan_leather_jacket.jpg + https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WILDLIFE-_5.jpg + https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pyramidal_hippocampal_neuron_40x.jpg +
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_Umma_Louvre_AO5677.jpg)

Footnotes

1. The chief deity of the Mesopotamian pantheon.

2. A multinational family-owned corporation, founded in 1871 and currently valued at $41.2 billion USD. Its subsidiaries are primarily involved in commodities trading and finance.

3. All of which were originally found to be of extraterrestrial origin.

4. A preservative commonly used in the tanning of animal hide.

5. UTC-09:00.

6. Twenty-three unique hormones have been identified. Each may be released alone, or in tandem with up to twelve additional hormones.

7. Including but not limited to rapid, spontaneous generation of dopamine production sites within the hypothalamus, and of dopamine receptors on dendrites of the central nervous system.