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Item #: SCP-3970

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-3970 is to be kept within the main internal courtyard within Site-73, due to its nature SCP-3970 is to be kept in an open air environment at all times. Although the object may be moved to a properly ventilated interior if circumstances dictate it necessary. A cleaning crew will inspect the base of SCP-3970 Bi-weekly and clean if necessary. Access to the courtyard is available for all personnel leisure. However, personnel are reminded that SCP-3970 is an anomalous object and interaction is prohibited.

Description: SCP-3970 is a steel flagpole approximately 9.14 meters tall and approximately 0.07 meters in diameter.

SCP-3970's primary purpose is as a predicative device. As the Flag, (hereby known as SCP-3970-1) flys on SCP-3970, SCP-3970-1 will burn at a seemingly random interval, this will continue until there is nothing left of SCP-3970-1 besides ash. The longest burn time is recorded at five-thousand-six-hundred and thirty-five (5635) days.

After SCP-3970-1 is completely burnt, the country, or organization it represents will have ceased to exist throughout various means. The instance of SCP-3970-1 currently flying cannot be removed, and a new flag cannot be added.

Over the period of an hour after this event SCP-3970 will be left without an instance of SCP-3970-1 flying on it. After a period of minimum- Thirty(30) miniutes to two(2) hours. A new instance of SCP-3970-1 will appear from within SCP-3970 and the cycle will start again.

Level 4 Personnel and above should view File-3970-4 for additional information of SCP-3970's recovery.

Below is a list of instances of SCP-3970-1 that have appeared.

SCP-3970-1 Instance	Date Appeared	Time Burnt	Final Date
SCP-3970-1-1-Austria	██/██/191█	████ days	10/31/1918
SCP-3970-1-2-Germany	10/31/1918	9 days	11/9/1918
SCP-3970-1-3-Ottoman	11/9/1918	1453 days	11/1/1922
SCP-3970-1-4-Russian	11/1/1922	173 days	4/23/1923
SCP-3970-1-5-[REDACTED]	4/23/1923	███ days	██/██/████
SCP-3970-1-6-Ethiopia	██/█/████	████ days	5/5/1936
SCP-3970-1-7-Austria	5/5/1936	311 days	3/12/1937
SCP-3970-1-8-Czechoslovakia	3/12/1937	733 days	3/15/1939
SCP-3970-1-9-Poland	3/15/1939	196 days	9/27/1939
SCP-3970-1-10-France	9/27/1939	463 days	6/22/1940
SCP-3970-1-11-[REDACTED]	6/22/1940	███ days	██/██/████
SCP-3970-1-12-Germany	██/██/████	████ days	5/7/1945
SCP-3970-1-13-Japan	5/7/1945	118 days	9/2/1945
SCP-3970-1-14-[REDACTED]	9/2/1945	█ days	█/█/████
SCP-3970-1-15-South Vietnam	█/█/████	████ days	4/30/1975
SCP-3970-1-16-East Germany	4/30/1975	5635 days	10/3/1990
SCP-3970-1-17-USSR	10/3/1990	454 days	12/31/1991
SCP-3970-1-18-Czechoslovakia	12/31/1991	365 days	12/31/1992
SCP-3970-1-19-Afghanistan	12/31/1993	3266 days	12/9/2001
SCP-3970-1-20-[REDACTED]	12/9/2001	█ days	██/█/████
SCP-3970-1-21-ISIL	██/█/████	ongoing	ongoing

+ File-3970-4 [LEVEL 4 ACCESS REQUIRED]

SCP-3970 appeared on █/██/1913 in the main courtyard of site 73, preliminary testing gave little results, besides that SCP-3970-1 can be removed and put out if needed. The removed instance of SCP-3970-1 will not re-light unless reattached onto SCP-3970. Current debate rages among senior researchers on weather SCP-3970 predicts nation collapse, or if it causes it.

SCP-3970-1 has been replaced numerous times by the foundation, the most famous time being on 7/28/1914 when researchers replaced SCP-3970-1-1 with a white flag of peace, which quickly burned over the course of an hour. The researchers would later learn that Austria had declared war on Serbia.

the four most important times that SCP-3970 has been influenced by the foundation are as follows

1. SCP-3970-1-5: on 4/23/1923 a flag with the Foundation insignia appeared on SCP-3970, for approximately 300 days the flag of the foundation was suspended on SCP-3970, slowly burning. It was removed and the fire stamped out during the Cahos Insurgency attack of 23'
2. SCP-3970-1-11: on 6/22/1940, shortly after the fall of France to Germany, the flag of the United Kingdom flew on SCP-3970 for 100 days during the battle of Britain. It was then decided by O5-7 to stamp out the flag and store it alongside the foundation flag, as the United Kingdom was at the time a major strategic partner of the foundation. SCP-3970-1-11 was then replaced with SCP-3970-1-12, the only time the foundation has placed a flag to burn outside of testing
3. SCP-3970-1-14: on 9/2/1945 the flag of the United States appeared on SCP-3970, despite the flags extremely slow burn compared to other SCP-3970-1 instances, it was decided unanimously to remove and store the United States flag alongside the foundation, and United Kingdom flag.
4. SCP-3970-1-20: on 12/9/2001 the foundation flag was once again found flying on SCP-3970, it was quickly decided to remove the fast burning flag, despite no apparent danger to the foundation being present. It should be noted that this event corresponds roughly to the events detailed in SCP-2935

A collection of national flags shall be kept in the workers shed within the site courtyard should O5-Command ever deem it necessary to attempt to alter fate. It is important to recognize however that there is no evidence to support the idea that SCP-3970 destroys nations. It is only known that when a flag is burnt a nation dies, and when a flag doesn't burn, the nation doesn't die. Thus it is in the interest of the current administration that the instance of SCP-3970-1 be changed out if needed.