Item #: SCP-XXXX
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: A copy of SCP-XXXX-A is to be kept on a USB drive located in a standard containment locker in Site-15. Testing of SCP-XXXX-A may occur only with written approval from, and subject to guidelines provided by, the Records and Information Security Administration (RAISA). Foundation webcrawlers are to monitor information security-related blogs and the social media accounts of security researchers for mentions of the string "EntropyLock" or any reports of malware resembling SCP-XXXX-A.
A copy of SCP-XXXX-B is to be kept on a USB drive located in a standard containment locker in Site-15. SCP-XXXX-B shall be removed from this containment locker only during testing of SCP-XXXX-A.
SCP-XXXX-C instances shall undergo standard information review/redaction processes when discovered. Instances that have been deemed or rendered acceptable for release are to be stored in a dedicated subdirectory on the Site-15 general network share. Access to the subdirectory shall be restricted to Foundation personnel of level 3 or above, or to level 2 personnel who have been certified for research into multiversal anomalies.
SCP-XXXX-D is to be monitored by embedded Foundation operatives. Should any software with behavior similar or identical to that of SCP-XXXX-A attempt to connect, Mobile Task Force Mu-4 ("Debuggers") shall be dispatched to the physical location corresponding to the origin address for purposes of investigation and/or containment. The routing tables for Site-15 network infrastructure devices shall be configured to route any packets with a destination address of SCP-XXXX-D to a RAISA network monitoring system unless otherwise required for testing purposes.
Description: SCP-XXXX is the collective designation for an anomalous malware application called "EntropyLock", and certain files produced by it.
SCP-XXXX-A is the designation for the malware application proper. SCP-XXXX-A is a Windows application that functions similarly to non-anomalous ransomware in its operation; however, when it attempts to encrypt files that contain certain binary strings, these files will become instances of SCP-XXXX-C upon decryption. (See Document XXXX-3 for a full list of strings known to trigger the creation of SCP-XXXX-C instances.) While still encrypted by SCP-XXXX-A, files meeting any of the above conditions will display no anomalous properties.
Reverse engineering of SCP-XXXX-A has shown that it utilizes a non-standard cryptosystem when encrypting and decrypting files. This cryptosystem appears to utilize a form of asymmetric cryptography much like RSA, but the mathematics involved appear fundamentally self-contradictory. Attempts to analyze the cryptosystem itself have met with minimal success.
SCP-XXXX-A will shut down prior to encrypting any files if it determines that it is being run on a computer system physically located within the borders of the Russian Federation, or if the system language is set to Russian.
SCP-XXXX-B is the designation for the command and control server utilized by SCP-XXXX-A to retrieve decryption keys once it confirms remittance of the ransom payment. It is not considered to be anomalous.
SCP-XXXX-C is the designation for files that have been encrypted and subsequently decrypted by the SCP-XXXX-A cryptosystem and contained any of the binary strings listed in Document XXXX-3 prior to encryption. SCP-XXXX-C instances are anomalously altered variations on the original file, the contents of which bear a thematic resemblance to the original in nearly all situations. At least 60% of SCP-XXXX-C instances are believed to contain data originating from an alternate universe or universes.
Entry Number |
Original File |
Decrypted File |
1 |
A text file. Contents were the word "BASELINE" repeated 100 times, followed by a known trigger string. |
All appearances of "BASELINE" in the file were replaced with "ETALONON". |
3 |
A publicity photo of SCP-2425, taken prior to containment. |
A photo of a bookstore shelf containing multiple copies of SCP-1425. |
7 |
An animated GIF of a dragonfly. |
An animated GIF of a komodo dragon (V. komodoensis) eating a fly of an unidentified species. It is believed from the relative sizes of the two that either the komodo dragon is anomalously small, or the fly is anomalously large. |
8 |
A ZIP file containing the ROM dump of Pokémon Gold Version for the Nintendo Game Boy. |
Contents were replaced with a ROM dump of "Pokémon Z" for the Nintendo 3DS. No game by that name was ever released. Despite the increased size of the new contents, the size of the ZIP file itself was unchanged. |
9 |
An animated GIF of a dragonfly, concatenated with a ZIP file containing the ROM dump of Pokémon Gold Version for the Nintendo Game Boy. |
An animated GIF consisting of screenshots from Pokémon Gold Version, in which a Dragonite uses the move Fly in battle. Notably, although the ROM dump was from the US release, all wording visible in the screenshots was in Mandarin Chinese; in addition, the ZIP file could not be recovered from the decrypted version. |
14 |
A copy of the documentation for SCP-XXXX. |
Documentation instead described SCP-2405, although the designation number had not been changed from XXXX. |
19 |
A PDF copy of the complete works of William Shakespeare. |
Contents were unchanged, save that the works were instead attributed to Christopher Marlowe. |
25 |
A list of steps taken by a user of SCP-1898-A to build a tesseract. |
A document purporting to be instructions for constructing a tesseract with ordinary household materials. As the required materials included a rod of beryllium-8, an unstable isotope with a half-life of 0.0819 femtoseconds, researchers have been unable to test the validity of these instructions. |
26 |
A digital copy of the SCP-1257 episode "The Senior Trip". |
Contents were replaced with a Sliders episode depicting an alternate Earth in which the dominant religion venerated Hollywood film stars as living gods. Episode is inconsistent with any that were aired during the show's run. |
27 |
A digital copy of the Sliders episode from entry 26, with the metadata modified to include a known trigger string. |
Contents were replaced with the Sliders episode "Easy Slider". Episode contents were indistinguishable from original airing. |
The full SCP-XXXX-C instance log is available from the SCP-XXXX research lead upon request.
SCP-XXXX-D is the designation for the IPv4 address assigned to SCP-XXXX-B prior to containment. It is not considered to be anomalous.
History: SCP-XXXX was first encountered when it was uploaded to a Project Aristaeus honeypot server on 201█-██-██, ██:██ UTC. According to server logfiles, a remote attacker connected through what was later determined to be an open proxy located in Latvia and attempted to use the Aristaeus server to mail a PDF document containing SCP-XXXX-A to officials of the United States ██████████ █████ before disconnecting from the server. The attacker was eventually identified as █████ ████████████, a Russian national suspected of having FSB ties. Interrogation of ████████████ revealed that he created the SCP-XXXX-A cryptosystem due to a distrust of publicly known ones, but despite this had no knowledge of SCP-XXXX's anomalous properties nor any intent to create such. ████████████ was administered Class B amnestics and released from custody.
Addendum: Researcher's Note
Part of me wants to believe that what we're seeing is something like SCP-033, but there's no way that could get onto the Internet without doing the kind of damage we could never hope to contain. Nevertheless, "the square root of negative Theta Prime" is the only way I can think to describe what I'm seeing here. The level of mathematical incoherence that this would otherwise demonstrate…
Let me put it this way. The anomalous part of this skip has nothing to do with the multiversal output thing. The anomalous part is that it produces anything at all.
-██████ ███████, RAISA staff researcher
Item #: SCP-XXXX
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: Foundation personnel are to monitor public records and judicial proceedings for any mention of the "True Sobriety Association" or similarly named substance abuse support groups or programs. Any SCP-XXXX-A program discovered to be in operation is to be shut down immediately, and an information campaign propagated in that area to ensure widespread awareness of the shortcomings and weaknesses of twelve-step programs, as well as recommended alternatives. Any participants in an SCP-XXXX-A program who have not become SCP-XXXX-B instances are to be transferred to other substance abuse support groups or programs.
Should an SCP-XXXX-A program be used as court-ordered therapy, Foundation-affiliated legal organizations are to offer pro bono support on behalf of the accused, citing the religious content of SCP-XXXX-A materials as evidence of Establishment Clause violations.
Instances of SCP-XXXX-B are to be reviewed by Foundation psychologists, and if deemed suitable are to be reintegrated into the general population after being briefed on their condition. Amnestic administration is left to the judgement of the reviewing psychologist or psychologists. Participants deemed unsuitable for reintegration are to be housed in standard humanoid containment at Site-17 and reassessed on a semiannual basis.
Description: SCP-XXXX is the collective designation for an anomalous substance abuse support group and its membership, known to be in operation within the continental United States.
SCP-XXXX-A is the designation for the the support group proper, which refers to itself as the "True Sobriety Association". SCP-XXXX-A instances
Pamphlets and other materials recovered from contained SCP-XXXX-A instances refer to and/or quote a prayer from the Letter to the Daevites, which, when recited, is said to protect against the detrimental effects of alcohol intoxication. SCP-XXXX-A materials are otherwise largely indistinguishable from those of any other twelve-step program. No anomalous compulsion to to participate in or complete an SCP-XXXX-A program has been observed in any participants.
SCP-XXXX-B is the designation for individuals who have successfully completed an SCP-XXXX-A program. SCP-XXXX-B instances possess an anomalous form of agnosia that renders them unable to percieve, recognize, or comprehend alcoholic beverages or related concepts. MRI scans have shown no meaningful neurological differences between SCP-XXXX-B instances and the general public, nor any changes before and after completion of an SCP-XXXX-A program. SCP-XXXX-B instances are unaware of their condition, and have demonstrated an extraordinary capacity to rationalize or explain away any "gaps in perception" that are caused by said condition. SCP-XXXX-B instances will experience symptoms of alcohol intoxication if exposed, but will not recognize the symptoms as being such.
History:
Experiment Logs:
SCP-XXXX-B-2 expressed an interest in helping the Foundation to understand his condition. He was provided several audiovisual works and writing samples in which alcoholic beverages were prominently featured, and asked to describe the content of each as he understood it. The following is a representative sample of the descriptions provided; for access to the full list, please contact any researcher with XXXX-3 clearance or higher.
Work: The Simpsons, "Flaming Moe's"
Work type: Episode of television series
Description: "Homer was angry with Moe becaues Moe stole Homer's discovery that setting cough syrup on fire made it taste good."
Work: Michigan Radio, "The Founders breakfast stout baby has left the state"
Work type: Radio broadcast, news report
Description: "I think it had something to do with some business in Michigan violating a labeling law."
Work: TVTropes.org, "I Need A Freaking Drink"
Work type: Web site
Description: "Honestly, I don't remember any of it."
Item #: SCP-XXXX
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: One copy of SCP-XXXX is to be kept in a Type Paracelsus Special-Purpose Containment Vault at Provisional Containment Site-28. All other copies of SCP-XXXX are to be kept in a standard document containment locker at Site-76.
At least three (3) Scranton Reality Anchors are to be positioned outside the vault such that their collective areas of effect encompass the entirety of the vault. These anchors must be capable of an immediate shutdown if ordered by site security or the SCP-XXXX research lead.
Foundation staff with a security clearance at level 2 or above may utilize SCP-XXXX upon request, subject to approval from and guidelines provided by site security, the SCP-XXXX research lead, and Foundation psychiatric staff.
SCP-XXXX-B instances must remain within the containment vault for SCP-XXXX at all times. Should an SCP-XXXX-B instance attempt to breach containment, or fail to self-neutralize within three hours of instantiation, site security shall terminate said instance.
Description: SCP-XXXX is a paperback self-help book titled "Be Your Best Self", written by one "Maria Stuart". All known copies of SCP-XXXX were published by ███████████, a self-publishing company based in ███████████, Indiana, USA.
SCP-XXXX's "self-help" program instructs the reader to first write a short story (hereafter designated SCP-XXXX-A) about an idealized version of themselves, and to then perform a series of anomalous meditations upon the story and its protagonist. When these meditations are performed, SCP-XXXX will trigger a pataphysical shift that converts its reader into an instance of SCP-XXXX-B. SCP-XXXX-B instances are identical to the versions described in the corresponding instance of SCP-XXXX-A, although the presence of Scranton Reality Anchors in containment of SCP-XXXX has been shown to prevent the utilization of any anomalous abilities described in SCP-XXXX-A.
SCP-XXXX-B instances can self-neutralize at any time, effectively reverting to a non-anomalous state. Following self-neutralization, SCP-XXXX-B will invariably report increased levels of confidence, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction. This mental state has been shown to last for a minimum of three (3) months following usage of SCP-XXXX.
If an SCP-XXXX-B instance is allowed to exist for longer than approximately four hours, a pataphysical "bleed" will begin to occur as their narrative reality is imposed upon our own (hereafter referred to as a XXXX-Barthes event). This effect will spread outward from the instance at an exponentially increasing rate; if left unchecked, a XXXX-Barthes event will result in a CK-class reality restructuring scenario within 17 hours of XXXX-B instantiation. Scranton Reality Anchors are incapable of containing a XXXX-Barthes event; furthermore, they have been shown during testing to increase the rate at which it spreads. Termination of an SCP-XXXX-B instance has been shown to neutralize an associated XXXX-Barthes event, although it is currently unknown whether this would remain true in the event of a full CK scenario.
History: SCP-XXXX was discovered when Foundation monitoring systems detected abnormal Hume fluctuations in Molalla, Oregon, USA. Mobile Task Force Epsilon-6 ("Village Idiots") was deployed, and soon discovered ██ copies of SCP-XXXX in an otherwise empty apartment. The following handwritten note was found inside one of the copies:
There is power in stories, more than most people realize. Tell the world the right story, and it'll go along with it. Tell the world a story about a better version of it, and tell it the right way, and the world will become better. Tell the world a story about a better version of you, and you'll be better.
But I don't deserve to be better.
The things I've done to survive, the people I've betrayed for selfish gain, the evils I've worked as I unraveled the secrets of storytelling…there's no better world in which I'm still alive. My best self is the one that never existed.
I just hope that's not the case for you.
Local records confirmed that the apartment was being rented by Sergio Hogan, a college dropout who had recently been dismissed from a janitorial position with a business services contractor. Hogan was reported missing following recovery of SCP-XXXX, and remains missing as of 20██-██-██.