NorskDaedalus

Item #: SCP-5719
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures:
SCP-5719 is to be kept in a sealed room in Site-██ with no external monitoring of any form. At all times, a single member of personnel is to be left in the presence of SCP-5719 with strict instructions to not interact with SCP-5719 in any way, shape or form, and that doing such is cause for immediate termination of foundation employment. They are to be instructed on the nature of SCP-5719 at the start of their shift, and after six (6) hours guarding SCP-5719, they are to be removed and replaced with a new member of personnel. Under no circumstances is a member of personnel that has already spent a shift guarding SCP-5719 to be allowed to guard SCP-5719 again. However, any personnel who wish to guard SCP-5719 may request to do so and be assured a position at the earliest convenient time.

Should a member of personnel be found to have interacted with SCP-5719 during the course of their shift, they are to be given Class B amnestics and terminated from all foundation employment. Should a D-class personnel have been found to be in violation of SCP-5719 containment procedures, they are to be given amnestics but not otherwise discharged from duties.

Description:
SCP-5719 is a red and brass book, 1 foot tall, six inches thick, and eight inches wide, kept closed with a latch upon the front cover. The cover of SCP-5719 is made of a material resembling red velvet with brass trim. There is no lettering upon the spine or cover of SCP-5719, though looking at SCP-5719 is described as tempting, as though it contains all knowledge one could possibly ever desire.
Testing has revealed this impulse is not any form of compulsion, merely a memetic expression of SCP-5719's nature.

As discovered by Dr. ██████ following [DATA EXPUNGED] on ██-██-████, the true nature of SCP-5719 is a compendium of all knowledge in the entire multiverse. Any and all secrets can be found within its endless pages, though at a terrible price. Upon first opening the book, the answer to the question which the individual truly desires to know the most will be unveiled to them. This may be as simple as knowing the name of who the individual will come to find love with or as complicated as the true nature of SCP-055 or the method by which the Grand Unifying Theory will be proven or disproven. The more complex the information provided, the greater the toll SCP-5719 extracts from the reader.

This knowledge comes at a terrible price. The reader's mind and body become the conduit for all knowledge in the multiverse, tearing both asunder within mere moments of exposure to SCP-5719's contents in excruciating pain. Unless treated with amnestics within hours of exposure, this results in permanent insanity for the afflicted individual. Even before this threshold has been passed, speech becomes incoherent and inconsistent, and frequently is accompanied by delusions of omniscience. Minor testing has shown that the ramblings of those affected by SCP-5719 tend to be true, though often incomprehensible due to extensive incoherency of speech.

It is theorized that a mentally powerful enough individual might be capable of withstanding SCP-5719's negative effects to truly learn the secrets of the multiverse, however the Ethics Committee has forbidden such tests due to any individuals with mental fortitude strong enough to withstand SCP-5719's effects likely being similarly immune to the amnestics required to treat the insanity, and the SCP foundation does not have sufficient beings potentially capable of such a feat to warrant the risks involved with said tests.

[LEVEL-4 ACCESS ONLY]

Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures:
Instances of SCP-5719 are to be kept contained at Site-██. From the interior, Site-██ is to for all intents and purposes to resemble a normal SCP site, up to and including SCPs. Notable SCPs currently kept at Site-██ include SCP-███, SCP-████, SCP-████, and SCP-████. A perimeter is to be maintained around Site-██ at all times, not visible from inside Site-██. No individuals, including animals within Site-██ are permitted to leave without first undergoing Procedure 5719-A. Any noncompliant individuals, including animals, are to be immediately terminated.
SCP personnel are to regularly be sent into Site-██, taking with them books, other forms of media, academic journals, or even new SCPs.

If a new instance of SCP-5719 is discovered outside of Foundation containment, field agents and a researcher local to the area is to be deployed into the field. They are to set up an information front in accordance with Procedure 5719-B. Attendees to the information front are to be screened discreetly via Procedure 5719-A, and should an instance of SCP-5719 be discovered, it is to be detained and Class A amnestics are to be delivered to all witnesses. Procedure 5719-B is to continue until all instances of SCP-5719 are determined to be removed from the area.

Previously effective variants of Procedure 5719-B have included:
· Giving a presentation at a scientific conference
· Setting up a novel traveling exhibit in a museum
· Having a rare book with the reputation of containing mind-blowing, cutting edge information (the book need not be real, merely with the appropriate reputation) at a library
· Setting up a booth on the street claiming to have the secrets of the universe
· Picketing a street corner with signs about conspiracies and 'learning the truth!'
· Setting a false SCP book in containment with the reputation of granting all the secrets of the universe to the reader, at the cost of destroying the reader's mind and body (See SCP-5719-B)

Detained instances of SCP-5719 are to be informed of the existence of the Foundation and told that they have been specially chosen to join the Foundation as researchers, given a modified variant of Level 2 security clearance. They are then to be transported to Site-██ and released into the greater SCP-5719 population there without being informed that the entirety of Site-██'s staff are other instances of SCP-5719.

Description:
SCP-5719 is a race of corvid-like shapechanging humanoids. However, they are rarely seen in this 'unmasked' form, instead preferring to remain in one of their 'masks.' Testing has revealed that SCP-5719 can have up to 19 masks, and these masks can be of any sapient creature.
The exact process by which SCP-5719 creates a new mask is unknown, but involves extensive observation of the creature type in question. At some point, SCP-5719 instances reach a critical point of information regarding their target and become capable of wearing a new mask of the target species. The mask is fixed in appearance, and there are generally some commonalities between masks if the two species bear passing resemblances to one another, such as shared eye and skin color. Once SCP-5719 is in a mask, it is completely and utterly biologically and genetically indistinguishable from any other creature of its mask species. Scranton Reality Anchors prevent SCP-5719 from changing masks or unmasking, but otherwise have no effect upon SCP-5719

This transformation however includes no instincts or base knowledge of how their form works, meaning SCP-5719 generally act unusual for a creature for their species. Other than Procedure 5719-A, there is no known way to force a living instance of SCP-5719 to change their mask or transform into their unmasked form, though they do revert upon death.
Furthermore, this transformation seems to generally be limited to creatures of approximately the same mass as SCP-5719, and they are generally incapable of transforming into creatures whose biology is anomalous. There are recorded exceptions to both of these guidelines, however.

SCP-5719 has an eidetic memory and is immune to all amnestic treatments yet devised.
SCP-5719 possess low level telepathic capabilities. The extent of these abilities are unknown, but personnel have reported waking up following a visit to Site-██ with portions of their memory missing.
Instances of SCP-5719 seem to have a limited hive mind of sorts. While individual SCP-5719 instances remain fiercely independent, they share information through unknown means. Questioning of instances of SCP-5719 have revealed this is through the use of something known as an 'InfoHoard,' though what an InfoHoard is or how it functions is yet unknown.
SCP-5719 is exceedingly fragile when unmasked, and blows which would barely inconvenience a human have proven lethal to SCP-5719. When masked, they are as hardy as any other of the species they are mimicking.

Behavior:
SCP-5719 has seemingly only two instincts. The first is an intense desire to 'blend in' and possesses powerful instincts to mimic what those around them are doing. However, they have no actual comprehension of the purpose of the actions undertaken by those around them, and thus may undertake odd, out of place actions or actions which have no hope of accomplishing their ostensible goal.
Examples include writing nonsensical reports, speaking gibberish into a paper-mâché cellphone, walking up and down stairs endlessly, walking into the edge of a wall repeatedly, chopping pencils like carrots, and attempting to drive a parked car. In one observation session, Dr. J███████ remarked that they reminded him of badly-programmed video game AI or extras in the background of a movie.
Even considering this limitation, SCP-5719 is nonetheless an outstanding mimic, and when presented with a situation for which it has adequate preparation for, can be almost indistinguishable from normal behavior.

SCP-5719 dislike crowded areas. They begin showing signs of mild discomfort when another sapient being enters an area around them with a radius 2 meters of them. This discomfort causes no harm to SCP-5719 and seems to be purely psychological in nature. This discomfort scales with quantity of individuals within 2 meters and their proximity to SCP-5719.

The second instinct observed throughout the SCP-5719 population is that to accumulate knowledge and return it to their 'InfoHoards.' When questioned on this instinct, the SCP-5719 being interrogated professed confusion when asked why it felt such a drive to collect and share information. To it, the concept of not doing so was unthinkable, and that the preservation of knowledge was the highest possible goal in existence.
It readily shared any and all information it claimed to have within its InfoHoards with Foundation personnel. When asked about information it did not possess, namely the address of Dr. R███████ it demonstrated significant distress and requested it be allowed to find out. When denied, it broke containment and attempted to flee into the wider world. This caught all individuals present off-guard and it managed to fully escape the Site it was being interrogated at. However, it returned the following day and presented its findings to Dr. J██████. It then allowed itself to be returned to containment with no further protest.

There appears to be some level of information suppression within SCP-5719, as any information of 'sufficient danger' is automatically encrypted when brought to an InfoHoard, locking the information away. Topics which are 'sufficiently dangerous' include:
· Nuclear weapons
· Codes for nuclear weapons
· Biological weapons
· Memetic weapons
· [DATA EXPUNGED] (Note from Dr. ████████: How the hell did they learn about this?)

Notably absent from SCP-5719's set of instincts is any level of self-preservation, and it will freely undertake utterly suicidal missions in the hopes of obtaining even a shred of new information it might be capable of sharing with its InfoHoard.
Any and all self-preservation instincts displayed by SCP-5719 are simply due to the understanding that if it is dead, it cannot collect and return information. Even when encountered individually, they take tremendous risks in hopes of learning even the barest scraps of information. When in groups, such as in Site-██, they become nearly suicidal in their efforts to provide any possible information to their kin in their death.

Within Site-██, SCP-5719 have developed something resembling a normal human society, with staff habitation built within the containment zone. The buildings constructed are unilaterally unfit and unsafe for personnel visitation. SCP-5719, while excellent at mimicking the appearance of mostly normal buildings, have no ability to properly perform any task which requires forethought, practice, or planning. This includes carpentry and architecture and their constructions, if not made of cardboard or other unsuitable building materials, often prove incapable of supporting even their own weight. Thus, collapses within SCP-5719 created buildings are immensely common, usually resulting in the deaths of several SCP-5719 instances, oftentimes the builders mid-construction. Collapsed buildings are usually rapidly put back to a semblance of normalcy within hours, though remain ruined on the interior.
Within Site-██, SCP-5719 has successfully created a full facsimile of a normal SCP site, including a site director, researchers, guards, and even D-class personnel. Some instances of SCP-5719 have even been observed within SCP containment as anomalies, locked behind containment procedures which would be laughably simple to breech if it desired. This has gone as far as an instance of SCP-5719 in a mask of SCP-████ killing another SCP-5719 instance whose mask was that of a D-class personnel sent into its chamber for 'testing purposes.'
Tests of SCPs within Site-██ by SCP-5719 tend to be either quite brilliant or utterly idiotic, usually more of the latter than the former. When dealing with a dangerous anomaly, the default response tends to be to simply throw D-Class personnel at the anomaly in question with no apparent motive nor purpose behind their tests. Nonetheless, they have managed occasional breakthroughs in the nature of various anomalies, including SCP-████, SCP-███, and SCP-████ which had eluded Foundation staff for years. It is therefore advised that any anomalies for whom a containment breach would not result in catastrophe have at least some amount of time spent within Site-██ in the care of SCP-5719.

SCP-5719 has two primary methods of procreation.
When two instances of SCP-5719 mate, they lay a large egg which subsequently hatches into a flock of 19-81 fully grown crows. These crows spend the next 18 months observing sapient creatures, be it mature instances of SCP-5719 or humans before they adopt their first mask, shapeshifting into their target species and beginning life as a mature instance of SCP-5719.
When an instance of SCP-5719 mates with another member of their mask's species, the resulting child is, while perhaps unusual in many respects, a normal, non-anomalous member of that species. However, their children, designated SCP-5719-A, frequently are not.
While indistinguishable from the rest of their species for at minimum of the entirety of their childhood, at some point after an instance of SCP-5719-A reaches puberty, they crack open like an egg, releasing a flock of 19-81 adult crows, similar to an SCP-5719 egg. However, these crows need only a few days instead of 18 months to mature, with one of their masks being the original SCP-5719-A. All instances of SCP-5719 born in this way have all the memories of the original SCP-5719A and all believe themselves to be the true SCP-5719-A.
Once the SCP-5719A flock reaches maturity, one or more of the instances returns and attempts to resume normal life as SCP-5719-A.

It was through this conflict which caused the SCP Foundation to become aware of SCP-5719, when Dr. K██████ went missing for three days, and four individuals, all of whom were, according to all known tests, Dr. K█████ checked into work on the fourth day. The ensuing fallout revealed the first instances of SCP-5719 and further inquiries into the matter have revealed that many low-level Foundation personnel, in addition to some higher-level staff including Dr. █████, were instances of SCP-5719, whose odd behaviors had previously been dismissed as stress.

Following an instance of SCP-5719 reaching maturity and transforming from an adult crow into a mask, they appear to lose the capability of transforming into non-sapient creatures. Prior to reaching maturity, however, SCP-5719 is capable of transforming into a number of animals, including various types of corvids, octopuses, horses, dogs, pigs, and parrots.

SCP-5719 have a maximum natural lifespan of 10 years, but there have been no recorded instances of SCP-5719 living longer than 8 years, as the most frequent cause of death among SCP-5719 are highly preventable accidents.

Procedure 5719-A:
As mentioned, SCP-5719 experiences discomfort when within 2 meters of another sapient creature. This distress scales with proximity and quantity of creatures within this range, particularly if the creatures are a species which does not match their current mask. At the most extreme levels of this discomfort, SCP-5719 begins undergoing involuntary shapeshifting, usually to their unmasked form.
In order to screen an individual via Procedure 5719-A, a group of personnel numbering from 12-50 individuals are to crowd around the suspected individual. If fewer individuals are present, they are to each be given instructions to perform an activity unique among the other participants in Procedure 5719-A (ex. reading, speaking to one another, eating, drinking, juggling). This is to continue for a time period of at least two (2) minutes and not exceeding ten (10) minutes.

SCP-5719-B:
SCP-5719-B is intended as a flytrap for any instances of SCP-5719 who have successfully infiltrated the Foundation and against all odds evaded detection. The promise of omniscience in a single book has proven to be too great of a temptation for SCP-5719 on nearly every occasion, and they inevitably peer inside the book, exposing themselves to a cognitohazard designed to immobilize them for six (6) hours, until the next shift is able to discover them and detain them. Should the detained individual be determined to be an instance of SCP-5719, it is to be assigned a 'position' at Site-██, as described in containment procedures.