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A tree on Namejs island being harvested for resin.
Item #: SCP-3504
Object Class: Safe
Containment Procedures: Any information or imagery in regards to Namejs Island is to be censored. Outpost Wallace has been established on Namejs Island for research and observation, with two additional lookout posts around the island's perimeter (see map). Assigned personnel wishing to construct their own living quarters may do so in the southeast village with permission from the outpost captain. Regular boat patrols of the island are to be maintained, with the cover story that the island is a missile testing facility.
Resin produced by the trees found on Namejs Island is to be examined for anomalous properties. Resin judged likely to possess the qualities of SCP-3504 is to be stored for testing. When testing, personnel are not to consume more than 12 ounces of SCP-3504 in a 24 hour period for risk of information overload. Testing personnel reporting dizziness or confusion after testing are to be brought to the medical bay.
Description: SCP-3504 is the resin produced by certain spruce trees native to Namejs Island, which can store and transfer basic concepts. Specifically, the resin produced contains the memories, experiences and emotions of the Patiesian1 people who lived on the island in the 14th century. These memories can be passed on to humans via ingestion.
The island is a 170 km2 land mass located in the Baltic Sea, and has only recently been discovered2 despite evidence of its existence for more than seven centuries. It supports a substantial variety of flora and fauna, and most areas of the island are relatively diverse, save for its coastline, which is populated almost entirely by Norwegian Spruce Trees and their resin, which have formed tens of thousands of tall resin shards around the border. While most shards are non-anomalous, a small percentage, identifiable by a slight luminescence, are instances of SCP-3504.
A loaf of bread made using resources found on the island following test T-3504-508.
Examples of information gathered from ingested resin include songs, dances, poems, and phrases, commonly paired with the cultural connotation and the typical emotional response associated with a given experience. Continual ingestion may also grant a subject the basics of a skillset to execute tasks recieved, such as the creation of certain foods or clothing items. Notably, all supplies to create these items can all be found naturally occurring on the island itself, with no need for outside resources. Information is not limited to one particular piece of resin, and the same information may be ingested repeatedly.
People who ingest the resin itself report a feeling of euphoria in addition to the gathered information, with some comparing the feeling to certain stimulating recreational drugs. Over-ingestion, particularly in single sittings, can lead to states of delirium, overstimulation and catatonia, leading to strict sanctions on ingestion testing.
Abbreviated Test Log, T-3503:
| Information Gathered | Researcher Comments |
|---|---|
| The taste of a beverage typically drank during celebratory ceremonies, and the ingredients to create it. When asked to demonstrate this knowledge, Researcher Kulkarni listed the ingredients for “Balzams”, an alcoholic beverage made of flowers and berries, known for its potency. | “If I’m being honest, I feel a little drunk just thinking about it; this is a strong drink.” - Dr. Kulkarni "I've been fermenting this stuff all Summer - we'll be having a, uh, a testing night at my hours on the 3rd. You wanna come?" - Intern Ozols |
| The instructions for constructing a suitable living space out of resin and other materials found naturally on the island. | “For immersion purposes, Schrader and myself have requested to use these techniques to create temporary living quarters on the island.” - Dr. Kulkarni "It's more than a little bit wonderful - when I picked up the materials today, I knew how to do it, not just in theory, but as if I'd been doing it all my life." - Dr. Bērziņš |
| A poem in regards to a demigod called “The Bear Slayer”. It is known for its strength and its diligence to protect its country. There are many similarities to the Latvian demigod of the same name. | “There are plenty of mentions involving invaders trying to kill The Bear Slayer, so my guess is this poem was made to potentially rebel in a subtle way from some sort of invader.” - Dr. Schrader |
| The words for “rye”, “wheat” and “bread”. Appears to be a derivative from modern-day Latvian. Along with the words, Researcher Kulkarni gained knowledge regarding many different uses for them. | “Apparently, they really liked grains in this society. Their bread was darker than soot and they spread butter all over it, and despite all that, they seemed to enjoy it. Must have been a staple in their diet despite an abundance of other nutritional resources on the island.” - Dr. Kulkarni "Sunny and I spent the afternoon baking bread for the Song Festival - I worried I'd be bored out of my mind, but it ended up being really nice!" - Intern Bridge |
| A folk dance involving a large group of people holding hands and moving clockwise and counterclockwise in a circle. Typically performed during weddings or holidays. | “I tried to do this on my own, got a lot of laughs from the others. This needs lots of people, you know? It's mesmerising, hectic, wonderful.” - Dr. Schrader |
| The technique for proper and efficient resin harvesting, and images of various symbols carved out of the harvested material. Symbols are apparently religious in nature. | “I think we might have a basis as to how these people might have done this ritual. Seems like the stuff was already a huge part of their society in the first place.” - Dr. Kulkarni |
| How to sew and dye traditional clothing from materials found on the island. Researcher Schrader was asked to display their newfound knowledge, and, over the course of 36 hours, successfully created a dress dyed with various patterns and a pair of slippers using materials only found on the island. | “Yes, I’m wearing these now.” - Dr. Schrader |
| The phrases “We are a family.”, “It’s time for dinner.”, “I wish to go hunting.”, “Help.” and “I don’t want this.” in the language previously discovered. | “I don’t know why these specific phrases were recorded, but the word ‘Help’… It's unpleasant to speak. My stomach drops. Does that make any sense?” - Dr. Kulkarni |
| A religious hymn involving fruitful harvests, protection of the family, and a prosperous future. | “It seems to have a unique property about it. It evokes joy, desperation, determination… It's a lot to process.” - Dr. Kulkarni "Yeah, Ish had us sing this last week while we were planting crops, printed out lyrics and stuff. Dork. There's a lot more to it than I got from the words alone! I see why he was so insistent." - Dr. Zamelis |
| A religious burial ceremony, and the process in preparing it. | “No comment.” - Dr. Kulkarni |
| A poem about Namejs Island, and its “great gifts within”. Describes the island as merciful and kind, even going so far as personifying it towards the end. | “This feels significant; this feels like a message that was supposed to be found. I’m going to work with Kulkarni to see if we can’t extrapolate anything from this.” - Dr. Schrader |
On 25/9/2015, research heads Ishvi Schrader and Sunitha Kulkarni were not present at the 9am village meeting. When their huts were found empty, Outpost Captain Suresh Kulkarni was contacted at Outpost Wallace and a search party was assembled. At 4am, 26/9/15, Sunitha Kulkarni was found semi-conscious in the Southwestern river3, clothes and hair drenched in sap. Found in her satchel was a letter, a camcorder and a braided amber ring. Of the two tapes found with the camcorder, one was found to be recoverable.
Following her discovery, Dr. Sunitha Kulkarni was brought to Outpost Wallace's medical bay to recover. Once she was deemed fit, she was brought for interview with Suresh Kulkarni5.
Addendum:
The second tape found in Dr. Kulkarni's satchel, previously deemed unrecoverable, contained some viable footage. Review of the viable footage verified the majority of Dr. Kulkarni's report in the above interview - however, a major discrepancy was found at the end, showing Dr. Kulkarni choosing to stay along with Dr. Schrader until Dr. Schrader tasked her with delivery of the letter to his mother. Dr. Kulkarni’s involvement with SCP-3504 has been discontinued permanently due to the withholding of information. Outpost Captain Suresh Kulkarni has declined to comment on the matter in any official capacity.
Well, considering that it’s the Baltics, it was likely one of two things: Russians or Christianity
Do either of those sound compelling? The latter could be really good
Christianity wiping out the religion and the folk heroes and all the people that this culture once worshipped, now nearly forgotten
Yeah, totally! It’s thematically resonant, and lets is thread through indications early on when we talk about the “discovery” of the island
We introduce researchers who ingest this resin a lot, to immerse themselves in the culture of the island - what they think is a dead culture
—-
So, having set up the shit that was killing their culture, now we do something cool - we introduce concepts of hiding, of safety, of great and deep sleep, and we tie in specific imagery that’s associated with those.
There’s a great cave system or grotto that extends under the island, and the people still live there, covered in resin.
—-
Considering the personality of many Baltic people, they’d likely be paranoid, or even hostile to suddenly see strangers showing up to their land. They’d likely try to force them off the island entirely. (From personal experience, the unofficial Latvian motto is “Just Leave Us Alone)
But then you have the researchers that ingested the resin realizing that they actually want to become a part of this, and they willingly submit to being coated or something like that This is exactly the direction I was thinking about here! NICE
(You’re considering making this a deity? I’m open to it, but I don’t want it to be too… I don’t know, retconning of an existing religion)
It’s more about how the villagers see the island, how they interpret the anomalous shit in it.
Ohhhhhhhhhhh okay, gotcha. So a deity specific to the islanders. Yeah
—-
The researchers, with more knowledge now about the island and what happened, go in search of the island’s entrance - we entrench this in the oral history they’ve learned, ideas about the island’s belly, how the god that is the island swallows up the people in their times of need to protect them from angry new gods
When they get down there, they’re met with great hostility, but they’re able to communicate in the island’s language and they know the customs - how to tap the ground in greeting, saying their name and then waiting for the others to address them, shit like that. A SONG WOULD BE SICK
I’d personally like to have one of the researchers pick up a song at some point, like, during some sort of ceremony or whatever, the researcher just KNOWS the words (Also Baltics fuckin love singing, each of the countries have their own specific song festival)
What would be the point where a researcher fully commits and says “Yes, I want to be fully immersed, coat me in resin, I’m becoming one of you”?
Would there be like, a specific shard that these people are trying to keep safe that they’ll only allow people who they completely trust to ingest? And what would that shard be? The horrors that the Crusades caused on the Baltics nations? The journey that these people had to make to the island? A moment of pure, unaltered happiness that they needed to keep in order to feel some joy in a moment of depression? The latter feels viable. This should be a euphoric/transcendant moment, right? Joining with the island god, becoming immortal and endless.
Would it be a moment that happened ON the island, or before the people were forced to move there? Or should they have always been there and that’s where this culture developed? Actually, I think I have an idea for what the moment could be
It’s a chorus of all the people on the island, just singing. Because song is such a critical part of Baltic culture, that recording the entire population of an island singing together in unison would likely be a memory people would want to keep forever. Let’s not even make it a shard, then. Just have them sing together. And at this moment, when the researcher realizes they too are singing along, they realize that they can’t leave, that they really, REALLY want to stay This feels really potent, right? It feels like a plot to a movie, almost in a good way, I mean It’s just like, this is the feeling I wanted to get across when making a Latvian skip, and this is the feeling I’m getting brainstorming with you now \o/
So, ok, how do we get across this moment?
Should we just play it out? Write out the ending, and see if it has the impact that we think it’s supposed to have? Sure
What sort of format should this be in? An observation log? (Rad idea that might not be possible right now: Audio recording) I’m thinking table of knowledge gained from ingesting shards -> Exploration log with the (two or three?) researchers using their knowledge of the island to find the cave and then heading in -> Maybe an interview with one of the researchers where he explains why the other one decided to stay? YES
That’s honestly the perfect way to end this, not an interview with an instance, but with the person who decided to let their fellow researcher stay with them. They could have very well stopped him, sedated him and dragged him back, but he willingly let him go, and now he has to explain why. Or they, rather, because we don’t know the gender of these researchers yet.
OK - do you want to tackle one section while I try another?
You’re the master of dialogue, and I’ve got personal history with the culture. I’ll do the table, you do the Exploration log, and we see if we can’t combine these two to make the final interview together. Sound good? Sure. Should we type this here or in our respective sandboxes? I think here works best - we’ll be able to see as it progresses. Smart. We’ll do formatting once we copy/paste into the sandbox.
—-
[Lacplesis cannot fight them without his sword and shield, and when the weaver runs to help her she is killed instantly. He calls out to the island for a third and final time to ask for its help, and the island rises from the sand in the form of a man and fights alongside Lacplesis. They fight off half the invaders, but Lacplesis is struck down and the island knows it can’t fight the rest of the men. He begins to swell and swell until he’s big enough to swallow up the islanders whole, all the while the bears and knights are attacking him viciously. With the villagers dead, he finally lays down to rest, and great trees burst from his wounds and sap covers his surface. The invaders settle on the island, but cannot get the sap off their bodies and clothes, and return home years later. The island remains sleeping.
As they finish this tale, they arrive at the end of the cave and, amazingly, a perfect statue of Lacplesis sculpted of resin. After some celebration/excitement, Schrader bends down and pick up a large handful of liquid resin on the ground, where it lays in a pool around the statue. He tilts back his head and swallows, and after a moment of processing, stands and gives a traditional greeting and addresses the statue in perfect island tongue, saying “Hello, Lacplesis.” There’s a gasp from Kulkarni and the feed cuts off.] (Nice)
DEBRIEF: SUNILA & SURESH KULKARNI
EMPLOYEE DOCUMENTATION: SUNILA KULKARNI
Sunila Kulkarni was an enthusiastic, extremely bright young girl born to religious and preferential parents - although they preferred her, she often wished they would move their attentions to her brother, especially as her weakened immune system meant she was home bedsick often, and just wished to read in peace. At 10, she was given her first laptop during a hospital stay and her horizons opened hugely - initially interested in Entomology, she eventually realised it was a terrible idea for a kid terrified of bugs, and moved her thoughts to how humans work. Socially stunted from her indoor childhood, with mostly her brother for company, she flourished in college where she got to see people three or four days a week, and where she could apply herself and expand her mind. While she was in a number of romantic relationships during her college days, they never seemed to last, and she was made even more aware of how her chronic fatigue was going to impact her all her life.
At 22, she was employed with the Foundation through standard education channels on account of her outstanding achievement w/ particular consideration to her disability. She completed her Masters and Doctorate in-house, with her final degree focusing on Anomalous Anthropology, her thesis exploring the relationship between the anomalous and non-anomalous parts of communities and how to define the borders there. At 26, she was assigned to a team investigating an anomalous reality-bending community in rural Italy, and following excellent performance there and in particular the relevance of her research and documentation to the prevention of a major containment breach, she was reassigned to second-in-command of research into SCP-3504, later becoming co-head on Schrader’s request. With her brother as a social buffer, and the endearing irritation of Schrader, she found it easier to make friends on the site and loosen up, participating in research-by-immersion along with Schrader and falling in love with the rich culture painted by the resin.
EMPLOYEE DOCUMENTATION: SURESH KULKARNI
Childhood: Suresh’s parents typically preferred his twin sister, Sunila, but despite this innate jealousy, he couldn’t hold it against her. Suresh loved his sister very much, and genuinely cared for her, especially when she suffered from Polio in her early childhood. Suresh learned to be the rock between the two of them, preferring to push down his emotions in order to ensure that they could get through life together. As such, the religion that his parents so thoroughly practiced was lost on him; he didn’t see as much of a need to distract himself with it. Growing up, he only worshipped when asked, and even as an adult rarely does so without a prompt. His love of science came after his sister’s love, as he often shared any hobbies that she got into. While Sunila gained an interest in biology and medicine, Suresh found his share of enjoyment in computer science. For a time, Sunila and Suresh were separated as they went to different colleges, but despite everything they still kept in touch. Suresh’s lack of social experience meant he had few friends during his time at university, but the friends he had he stuck with through and through.
Suresh spent a total of 8 years in college in order to achieve his Master’s degree in Computer Science, and after being hired by the Foundation with recommendation from his sister, he finished his Doctorate in-house. While Suresh didn’t deal with anomalous entities personally, his computer science degree was put to work designing and maintaining systems to monitor and locate anomalies world-wide. His work allowed him to be promoted to the Site-XX Administrator at the age of 28. Suresh is known as a relatively cold and logical Administrator, unless his sister is involved. Even now, he still trusts her and relies on her for emotional support more than anyone else, and frequently requests debriefings after every expedition she goes on. Those who know him personally, such as Researcher Ishvi Schrader, say he’s practically scared to death whenever his sister says she’s going on an expedition, and worries that there might be a time where she doesn’t come back.
