thedeadlymoose

This is Sandbox II.

Sandbox I was here. Sandbox III is here.

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Hand Draft

[This may be a Hand / Magician Orientation. Heavily adapted from work by Clef and Reach for the GOC stuff]

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"Hello, hello, and welcome… to the middle echelons of the Serpent's Hand.

"Yeah, I can see some of you chuckling. Lemme amend that statement. Welcome to one of the many, overlapping, and often mutually exclusive "middle echelons" of the Serpent's Hand.

"Same goes for the supposes upper echelons, by the way. For example, neither I nor anyone here is secretly L.S.. Yes, the silver woman over there is the silver woman. She's from the Serpent's Nest. She's just here because I asked her here, though. We don't really get any more formal the higher up you go.

"All of you here came from a great many walks of life. Some of you are basically street urchins in the outside. We've got some doctors and lawyers too. Some of you had families with history with the Hand. Some of you have anomalous friends, or are anomalous yourselves — and some of you aren't human. To you I ask: Please forgive our human-centricity, for lack of a better word. You're among friends here. Just… old habits die hard. Feel free to chime in at any point if I fuck something up — we're all friends here.

"A couple of you defected from the Foundation or the GOC. Yes, that GOC. No, don't all look at each and wonder whether this is a trap, and which one's the traitor. First off, this is the Wanderers Library. It's almost impossible to get in here if you identify as a member of either of those two groups. And even if someone got in through some super difficult mystical means, we have other means of verification. If you don't actively identify primarily as a member of the Serpent's Hand, and that means your loyalties lie with the Hand above all else, you can't get into this room. The only way in is with a special mark, and we can detect those marks with the greatest of ease. So don't worry. You're safe.

"Incidentally, this is one of the few advantages we have over the Jailors and the Bookburners. The Bookburners outgun us, and the Jailors outstrip our resources like you wouldn't believe. But we've got a few things they don't.

"Another advantage we have is that the Library likes us. If you've made it this far, you've probably figured that we don't secretly run the Library — in fact, we know of at least seven separate entities or groups of entities who definitely for sure created the Library, and their stories are definitely for sure true and just as surely all conflict with each other. I'm sure you all know that if you got this far. Point is, none of them are us. Not even the Serpent's Nest.

"But the Library likes us. Major Hand members have done a lot of favors for the Library. A lot of you in here have special access Library Cards, so you already know what I'm talking about. Those of you who don't have them should work on getting them. The Library protects its Patrons. Not always perfectly, but make no mistake: without the Library, we're all fucked.

"The Library doesn't like the Jailors or the Bookburners. In fact, the Library prevents anybody identifying with those organizations from accessing Ways. Slapped them with a mystical restraining order. There are ways around it, but they're very hard, and generally not worth using, which is why you're not in too much danger around here. And even if people got in, the Library protects its Patrons, like I said.

"Those are just the Ways tied to the Library, mind you — but that covers most of the Ways on Earth. The Library is the single biggest surviving Nexus of Ways on this planet. And more Ways appear every day. So… you get the idea.

"Anyway, I'm here to talk about magic.

"Magic … okay, ha. This is where we get to the stuff they won't even tell you in those fancy mage schools that the Bookburners still allow to exist. The thing is that anyone can become a magician. Or a thaumotologist, as some of you scholars call it. You, me, your great-aunt Bethel…anyone.

"I see some of you nodding, and some of you looking like I've grown a third arm. Okay. Some people are going to get angry with me for saying this. It goes against pretty much everything recent occult societies teach, with the… heh… exception of a few scam artists. But the GOC and the Foundation both know this. They also both internally deny it, while secretly looking at ways to perfect the process. So we've gotta talk about it frankly too.

"Yeah, anyone can become a magician, but… there are some caveats.

"Everyone is born with a certain Potential. That Potential can be high, medium, low, or… nothing. The vast majority of people have always been born with a Potential of nothing.

"There are a lot of things that affect Potential. No one's really narrowed all this down.

"We've found that it helps if you're out of step with the mainstream of society that you're in. People who were queer, or had genders besides man and woman, or who were differently-abled or not neurotypical… there's a reason in many societies they were automatically assigned magician roles. Shaman roles. Yes, you in the back, the obvious anthropology student, I know that "shaman" is a bullshit word, thanks. Just trying to give everyone an idea. But anyway, it can also mean having minority religious beliefs, or belonging to a sub-sect of a more popular religion that goes against the grain. It can mean having facial piercings, or facial tattoos, or blue hair. All depends on the individual.

"We've also found correlations with intelligence. Not IQ, just how smart you are. And then there's genetics, and Destiny. Though from where I'm standing, usually Destiny is bullshit.

"And sometimes you just have high Potential for absolutely no goddamn reason that anyone can think of. "Wildcats," they're sometimes called. No idea why. Maybe someone here knows.

"Generally the most important thing to do, for anyone with any Potential, is to find the kind of magic that best suits you. And then you have to take a good, long hard look at yourself.

"Because becoming a magician is hard. It's always hard, no matter what your Potential. It takes a lot out of you, something different from every person. It always requires some kind of sacrifice, unless you either luck out, or are born a demigod. And you probably weren't born a demigod.

"Yes, the newbie scientist in the front. By demigod I do mean reality bender. Sometimes they're full on gods, and some of us will worship any damn reality bender, but… meaning no offense to anyone here who's one of those cults… I tend to agree with those who think reality bending isn't automatically deity. And even if it did, doesn't mean you should worship just any deity, right? But hey, you don't gotta take my word for it. A lot of reality benders involved with the Hand don't think they're anything else besides just being really highly gifted. But otherwise just people like you and me, with the same rights and obligations and moral choices as anyone. And who am I to disagree?

"Anyway. Becoming a magician is all about discovering and altering your metaphysical place in the world.

"There are a lot of ways to describe this. Putting it another way: It's about changing how the World sees you. How you see and interact with the universe.

"This can be temporary, or permanent. Temporary is easiest. Most people can follow certain sets of instructions to create a really minor Working, for example, those blue lily chains a lot of you make. Part of the reason those instructions are so damn complicated? Because they are designed for anyone to use, including people who currently have no Potential and probably never will. What the instructions do is create temporary Potential inside you, which you then use to Work the chains. They do all that on top of the ordinary spell components.

"Ah yeah. Spell components. This is for the benefit of those of you who are just barely starting to understand magic. But most of you have either heard this before or can easily find it out, so I'll be brief. Those of you who need this, just note down what I'm talking about and use that as a jumping-off point for your own research.

"First, you need a basic understanding of magical principle. Okay, you don't actually need this, but trust me, it makes everything so much easier. Magical thinking: the idea that thoughts can affect reality. Or, put another way, the art of making your thoughts affect reality. Two major principles: Sympathetic and Contagious Magic. Yes, you in the hipster shirt, this is direct from Frazer's Golden Bough, thanks. We know.

"Contagion: Two things once connected retain this link once separated. Sympathy: Like affects like; you can impart characteristics of one object to a similar object.

"These two basic principles affect any kind of magical working. It's like… it's like each set of spell instructions, that you might find in a Library book, they're each like recipes. Anybody can follow a recipe. But the best cooks know how to alter the recipe to make it better for their own needs. Knowing those principles — and other principles, like symbology, identity, and other stuff like that — all help you be a better magician.

"After that, types of magic.

"First you have Black and White magic, and all the shades of gray in between. White is creation. Black is destruction. Also, yeah, I realize that's a bit of a silly Western formulation, and possibly kind of racist, but it's the most common formulation you'll find in the old books, at least… heh, the Western ones.

"I understand scholars these days are using a Pitch metaphor, which is kind of nice — Flat for destructive, Sharp for creative. That might get the point across better — there's no moral difference between creative and destructive magic. Just depends what you do with either of them.

"Second, you have Subtle and High magic, and all the spectrum in between. There's no real agreement on what terms to use for this, but it's basically about the degree to which the world is being changed. High magic could be making the world blow up, or it could be altering history, even though no one would necessarily notice that the latter even happened. No… those are bad examples. Too large scale. You know those portable holes in cartoons? That's High magic, too, even though only people in the room with you are gonna see it. Hell, even just creating a regular hole out of whole cloth. Or a door or a window, yes. Still High Magic. Whereas causing a switch to flip would be Subtle magic. But flipping a switch to set off a nuke would still be Subtle, though everyone would notice the results.

"Again, I think our scholars here can fill in the newer metaphors for this. I think it's Hue? Ah, yes, Hue — starting from red — ah, yes, thank you. For those of you who didn't hear, it goes Ruby for Subtle, to Ebony and Over-Ebony for High, with a rainbow in-between. Maybe a more useful metaphor, because there's plenty of in-betweens from Subtle to High. You all get the idea."

"There's some stuff about spell-weaving too, but… I'd better hurry on, I can see some of you are getting impatient. Again, all of you have access to this information elsewhere.

"After that, you should learn the basic components for any spell-casting. Again, most of you know, this so briefly: you need five things to cast any kind of spell.

"The first is a magician, a Practitioner. That's you. Some schools of thought teach that the Practitioner isn't really part of the spell, but I'm here to tell you that's bullshit. You are always part of the spell, and never forget that. Your Potential, your skill and ability, your knowledge, your very way of looking at the world… the way your mind works always affects the spell. This is especially important to know if you aren't starting with any baseline Potential worth speaking of.

"The second is a Source. That's your source of power. That much is obvious.

"The third is a Construct. Some of you scholars call that a Shaper. The Construct is the method you use to shape your spell.

"The fourth is the Effect, sometimes called the Target. Again, that's pretty obvious. It's just the magical result you wish to create.

"The fifth is the Filter. Scholars amongst you call this a Sink. I actually like Sink a bit better for some spells, but Filter makes more sense for others. This is the part that protects you from magical backlash by redirecting it, filtering it, or whatever. This is actually an optional element, but… considering it's the part that's most likely to prevent you from losing a hand, burning your house down, summoning devil bees, turning yourself into jello, or giving all your friends a really bad toothache… you won't find anyone who will advise you to omit this.

"Backlash is different depending on what kind of magic you're using. You remember high school physics, right? For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It sounds counter-intuitive, but if you use White magic in a Working, your backlash will be Black magic. Same for Subtle and High.

"It won't seem like an equal and opposite reaction, of course. Backlash usually has lower intensity than the original effect — the reason is because a lot of the spell's power gets burned off up-front. And some other factors too complicated for this conversation. And as for "opposite"… well, often backlash shares a nature with the original Working. This is why they say not to put hexes or curses on people: often the backlash will result in a similar negative effect on you, unless you know what you're doing. Whereas backlash from blessings… sometimes it's the kind of backlash you want, at least if it's really low-level. Backlash from higher-level spells is usually not good news for anyone.

"Anyway, if you find spell instructions that don't specify a filter, take it as read that it's on you to add one in. Trust me, whoever wrote those instructions expected you to add it. That was a big part of magical tradition for a while, favoring custom-designed Filters… but again I digress.

"This is all part of my point, though. The first step to becoming a magician is to learn your shit. So you don't accidentally kill yourself.

"The second step is to find magic that works for you.

"There's no good way to fully predict this, but there's lot of places where you can start. Take a look at who you are, and what you like. What fits with your childhood fears or aspirations? What'll let you work off strong emotions? What sorts of things do you care about? How do you instinctively wish to interact with the world? What kind of magic makes intuitive sense to you? What magical styles are most appealing?

"That's where you start. If you can pick established magical styles that consistently work for you, so much the better. If not, then borrow, steal, conflate — so long as it gets you a result. It can be as silly as the fiction you like — since Harry Potter came out, a whole lot more people started using wands a whole lot more effectively.

"Though, a side point — be careful about cribbing too hard from cultures that still have power in the world. Just to pick a common example, here in the good ole U S of A: Unless you identify as Native American, you're not gonna have a lot of luck trying their traditional tribal magic. If you're lucky, it just won't work. If you're unlucky, you'll create enough magical backlash to wipe yourself out. Be forewarned.

"Take as long as you need to figure this out. Trust us — it's worth it to be patient. Ha, even if you're working with magic that requires an impulsive mindset.

"This is also why when we have you create those chains, we have you pick from a whole slew of different effects to add to them. We have you pick them because you're instinctively drawn to the ones that you'll be most likely to create successfully anyway, see? There would be no point to trying to standardize that, because it would be impossible anyway.

"Try to make everyone make a luck charm, and almost everyone who doesn't believe in luck will reliably fail it, except, weirdly, actual statisticians, who know what it would take to create actual luck. And mind you, that's not consistent; sometimes people who otherwise have Potential just can't do some specific thing for no apparent reason.

"So, I mentioned that altering your Potential can be temporary, or permanent. To do anything with serious oomph, it has to be permanent. That's just how things are. And it's usually not reversible, by the way. So keep that in mind.

"I should also point out that even if you have high Potential, you still have to alter it. You have to focus it. Again, unless you're a demigod, but even for known demigods, there's been a growth process. Call it development. Raw Potential is almost meaningless…. Except that it's far easier and more intuitive to develop. If you went to one of those mage schools, you probably started out with high Potential.

"If you don't have high Potential… which is most of you… then you have a tougher row to hoe, but if it makes you feel better, statistically speaking, it's less dangerous. Just to be blunt: High Potential means you can really easily accidentally kill yourself from magical backlash. Candle that burns brightest, and all that…

"What you do then is so obvious that all of you have already done it. Like affects like. Like produces like, too. So if you want to become a magician, you hang out with active magicians. You spend your time in a magic-saturated environment, like the Library. You attempt Workings. You wear magic-imbued items. Jewelry and such.

"Yeah. Some of you will hate me for saying this, but… yeah. If you have high Potential magician friends, and you hang out with them, that can in fact positively alter your Potential. Of course, if you hang out with someone who doesn't want you around, that is a good way to get kicked out of our organization, because that's harassment. And less importantly, it can actually have the opposite effect — their antipathy can kill what Potential you have, whether on purpose or not. So seriously. Be a cool person. Don't be an asshole. It could literally make the difference for your future.

"Joining the Hand is a little bit like this in the first place. You've identified yourself as part of a magical organization that's rising in power. This, too, means good things for your own Potential. Even if it's only a minor effect, it's still an effect.

"Heh… you in the orange, yeah, you're on the ball. This is also why the Jailors and Bookburners limit who they allow to perform magic. They don't want every single person in their organization getting that little boost.

"Of course, yes, the most effective of these methods is to become the servant of a deity or demigod or some aetherically powerful entity. So if that's your bag, go for it. Just be careful. Be safe, and don't join a death cult. That never works out well.

"So, yeah. All of this still comes back to changing your place in the world. But as one of our more incendiary scholars said… 'Sometimes the World looks back. And finds you wanting."

"So if you have no Potential, and you do everything I said above, and it doesn't work… or if you just really, really must speed things up… there are three main avenues left for you.

"The first, and most effective, is to forcibly, drastically, change who you are as a person. Move countries. Change religions; re-address your sexuality. Give birth to a child, raise the child. Scarification and tattoos are really common.

"Yes, if you get desperate, there are a lot of eldritch entities out there waiting to bargain with you… but I wouldn't go that direction. Most are like any scammer: seriously predatory. Most of them will take everything you value and give you little to nothing in return.

"But either way you'll be giving something up. This is where the sacrifice aspect really comes into play. Like I said, there's always sacrifice — always. High Potential people give things up too. Everything has a price. And here we have dangerous waters. Body parts, loved ones, pieces of your life, your future… I don't recommend giving any of these up, but they are all things that some desperate magician or another has put on the table. And sometimes it's even worked out okay. Well, not the loved ones — please, guys, do not sacrifice loved ones for magical power. It's not worth it. Ever. All the stories will tell you that anyway.

"It's simplest to give up 'who you are'. That's what the change is all about. And, hey. Maybe you'll come out the other side a better person anyway, right?

"The second, and less effective, is to piggy-back. This doesn't usually end well for people who try it, but it's much easier then the first option, so it's very commonly tried. You need an intense personal relationship for this. This could be anything from an apprenticeship to a powerful magician — yup, like Mickey Mouse in the Sorcerer's Apprentice — to a favored test subject to a powerful occultist. Think Doctor Frankenstein's Igor… at best. If you survive, you can become very powerful. More likely you'll just end up a mindless slave if you survive at all… but I digress. It's still something that a lot of people try. Though I should warn you, there aren't actually a lot of willing mentors around, and this isn't something that can be done unwillingly.

"The third method is to change the world, or wait for the world to change.

"That first part has already happened. The world has already changed, and it's still changing. We don't know precisely why, but the anomalous is on the rise. That means magic is more common, too. Means it's easier to perform magic, and to become a magician. Hell, that's why a lot of you are here. The world itself is changing.

"And… we wish to change it further. Our endgame, as members of the Serpent's Hand, is to change the world to become more friendly to the supernatural — to the anomalous. This also means making the world friendlier towards magic.

"This isn't the reason we want to change the world, mind you. It's just a side effect. But it is something relevant. Thousands more people now have magical Potential who had nothing at all only ten years ago. That's a big shift.

"So if you're really desperate to become a Magician, and it seems impossible, and maybe you don't want to give up a hand or a leg… the answer is to help the Hand change the world for the better. And then maybe you, too, can be a Magician.

"So I wondered if any of you had questions? …Ah, wow, that's a lot of hands. Alright, you in the black hat.

"You're asking about True Names. Ah, right, yeah. Identity is a big thing in magic. A True Name is something that everything with an identity has, even if they don't consciously know it. It can be identified only with the consent of the person whose name it is, if it's a person. It's very useful to know for a whole lot of spells — required, for significant Workings. The danger, of course, is that if you use a True Name in a Working, you count as consenting and approving of every effect in the Working. It can make you very, very vulnerable indeed.

"You're asking because of Library Cards, right? That name on there isn't actually your True Name, correct. It just functions like it for magical purposes, so long as you have the Card. That's not typical, mind you. It's something the Library made happen. It's just that the Library is… scary powerful. Don't fuck with the Library, you know? This isn't the only law of magic it can alter.

"Yeah, it's dangerous, but there are a lot of advantages to Library Cards. Just don't let anyone steal yours. If you lose yours, go straight to a Librarian, fast as you can.

[more questions]

---

"No more questions? Good, good. Er… not good, but… heh, you know what I mean.

"Thank you all for coming, and I hope to see you all around."

You Were Right

This Is Real

It's all real.

The SCP Foundation is real. All the SCP entries are real. From Bigfoot to that ancient Sumerian jackass to Dr. Clef to the zombie plague to the machine that overwrites history. They're as real as your parents, as real as the World Wars. We hide broken reality behind stone and steel; we keep gods in chains.

We keep the truth from the world. You always knew, and you were right.

"Is this real?"

"No. This is a creative writing website."

We must have told this lie a thousand times over the years. It's a good one. People are so willing to accept it. Even you.

Maybe that's why we haven't come for you yet.

Or maybe MTF operatives are on their way to your door as you read this.

Soon you'll be lying in a tiny cell, your family and friends gassed with amnestics. You will forget even your name, and no one will ever come to find you.

I'd say to pray to God that's a lie, but we've had God locked up in a containment cell since the 80's.

If you ask us "is SCP real?" we'll tell you, no.

We wrote them, we'll say. We're just a bunch of writers. Look, you can even see the old drafts, the comments, the bad jokes. Are you convinced yet? Surely this is convincing.

We allow, even require, a certain immaturity in our public archives. We want you to think, "No… no, this couldn't be a secret shadow government website. They would never market deadly slime as mint-flavored mouthwash, or prank Dr. Bright with the statue of a monkey god. That's ridiculous."

Naturally.

This is why we will delete your SCP, if you're brave enough to write one. We'll say it's because you didn't proofread, or follow the format. We'll say it didn't "grab" us, that we've "seen it before." We will say it has bad "tone". What does that even mean? Do you know? Does anyone?

The actual reason is that your SCP just isn't real. Or maybe we don't want it to become real.

When you ask "is SCP real?" we'll deny it. We'll make a joke out of it. We'll question your age, perhaps your intelligence. We'll say anything we like to hide the truth.

But just for now, just for this single moment in time, we'll tell you the truth:

It's all real.

You were right.

If there's a knock at your door in the next few minutes, don't answer it.

The End Of Everything

Please proceed to the following tab.

Tilda Moose

Author Avatar Page

You are Dr. Tilda David Moose.

You are Dr. Tilda David Moose. This is your real name, not one of the Foundation's oddball code-names that some of your co-workers adopt (willingly or unwillingly), like "Troy Lament" or "Kain Pathos Crow". However, you often go by Dr. David simply to avoid the odd reactions. People don't always take someone signing off as "Dr. Tilda Moose" very seriously.

You are somewhat socially awkward. No, let's not split hairs here. You are straight-up neurotic. At least, you would be considered so outside the Foundation's upper echelons. Here, you're not even really that exceptional. Still, you don't like being perceived as awkward, even though there's no way to really hide it, when everyone can you see compulsively doodling or tapping your fingers during important meetings. Your attitude towards this has given you a reputation for being awkward and stiff.

But then, you regularly sit in a room with Dr. Gears. Everything here is a matter of degree.

This goes for your actual degrees, too: they'd be considered exceptional anywhere else, but not here. You were a Ph. D. before you joined the Foundation, but you barely remember your actual academic studies, due to the consequences of … let's say the "field studies" which took place afterward. If you did, it wouldn't matter much. Here, everyone is the cream of the crop, even if they didn't start that way.

But you do have a couple specialties the others don't.

You were first assigned to SCP-003, then being reconsidered for a reclassification to Safe Class, maybe even Neutralized. The reason you were assigned to this particular SCP is because the Foundation needed your skills, but didn't trust you very much at all. Oh, and also because an O5 member told them to, a fact which you would not discover for another couple years. What you would quickly discover is that SCP-003 was not only definitely a Euclid Class, but also an extremely dangerous Euclid. You would discover this when a member of O5 Command went rogue and tried to wake it up. You're not allowed to talk about this, but suffice to say that the Foundation was relatively fortunate that you weren't actually interested in betraying them.

After the Gloria Project, you were promoted very fast indeed. Some would say too quickly. In fact, many would say that. They may be right.

You first worked with Agent Troy Lament as Dr. Gears' primary assistants. You discovered quickly that Gears possessed a rather exceptional degree of influence. His name alone opens doors. There was also the members of O5 Command who fixated on you, along with the even more unwilling Lament.

Getting O5 Command's attention doesn't always work out well for people. In point of fact, it's what (maybe) killed Dr. Kondraki. But you're not dead. Yet.

Within a few short years you were assigned to Security Director Dimitri "Waxx" Strelnikov in his interim role as temporary head of Site-19, and when he stepped down from the role, you stepped in. Overwatch's hand was here, too, though no one will admit directly to it. That's where you are now. For now. Site-19 is the biggest well-known site in the Foundation's network, so it's a precarious position.

You specialize in things that the Serpent's Hand would call "magic". This term is rarely used in actual Foundation documentation. The Foundation is paranoid about actually giving out any information on "magic" to most of their members. It's a bit too directly useful and a bit too tied up with positive cultural mythology to just let everyone know about. You don't want a bunch of Foundation doctors going rogue to become witches and wizards.

But you already had a bit too much experience with "magic" before you joined the Foundation, which means you carry a certain amount of expertise on the subject that others don't (or can't be allowed to) have.

You don't particularly like magic, though. In fact, left to your own devices, you prefer to avoid messing with that stuff directly. The human mind is only so stable, and there's a reason you can't remember most of your college years.

Instead, your pet projects are nearly all apocalypses. In fact, you may be a little bit obsessed with end of the world scenarios. You are personally responsible for two of the Foundation's K-Class classification systems. You spend a little too much time with SCP-1985. Not that anyone's complaining. You've used her to discover a large number of interesting things. And to verify some things you already knew. That is, after all, why you left the Serpent's Hand and joined the Foundation.

Oh, yes, that's right. You are also a traitor. You're very loyal now; it's a matter of practicality. But no one really trusts someone whose loyalty has been in question before, who outright betrayed another organization to join the Foundation. Between this, the awkwardness, and your reputation for occasional volatility when you actually get passionate about something, you don't really have all that many friends. But Dr. Gears has always liked you. You think. At least there's that.

What will you do?

Waking

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: All official documentation regarding SCP-XXXX must be transcribed within two (2) hours after the transcriber wakes from sleep. Documentation may be edited for up to three (3) hours after waking.

All dreams experienced by SCP-XXXX researchers (or reported by other SCP-XXXX-2 instances) must be fully recorded, and edited copies shall be made (by SCP-XXXX researchers) for viewing by outside parties.

SCP-XXXX researchers may communicate with outside parties until three (3) hours have passed since the SCP-XXXX researcher has woken from sleep. After this period has passed, no communication with outside parties is allowed.

Besides SCP-XXXX researchers, no SCP-XXXX-2 instances may communicate with outside parties under any circumstances. All information must pass through SCP-XXXX researchers before communication to outside parties.

Additionally, outside party must not communicate with SCP-XXXX researchers until three (3) hours have passed since the outside party has woken from sleep. Violation of this standard will result in immediate and permanent assignment to SCP-XXXX.

No researcher may request removal from SCP-XXXX duties. Any researcher granted removal from SCP-XXXX must be given Class-I amnestic therapy (removing all conscious knowledge of SCP-XXXX, including ability to communicate it to others) and monitored for the rest of their natural lives (presently not longer than one year).

SCP-XXXX researchers are expected to consult with outside parties on matters regarding SCP items. (Rules of communication still apply.)

Description: SCP-XXXX cannot be fully and accurately described, due to its effects. SCP-XXXX is difficult to write about. Therefore occasional colloquial language may be used in its documentation.

SCP-XXXX appears to be an anomalously altered shared mental state. It is… a view of the world, or… more accurately, a way to view another portion of the world as we know it, granted by knowledge of its particular existence.

Every person with firsthand knowledge of SCP-XXXX is permanently affected by SCP-XXXX, even if knowledge is only partial. These individuals are referred to as SCP-XXXX-2. Every researcher of SCP-XXXX is such an individual.

(Note: Information in this file has been edited to be safe for viewing without risk of infection.)

SCP-XXXX is only directly witnessed in dreams. Every night, you will dream about it. But while you are awake, it will draw you in as well.

You will learn to time your waking hours. You will be most aware after waking. The first three hours are safe, particularly the first two. During the third hour you may forget yourself if you are not communicating with others — if you are thinking inward too much. Still, within three hours after waking, there is no risk of verbally infecting others with knowledge of SCP-XXXX.

But afterwards, the risk grows greater and greater, until it is a sure thing. After the third hour, you will think more and more about what you know, about the knowledge of SCP-XXXX, and you will be drawn in until you can only safely speak to fellow SCP-XXXX-2 instances.

The reverse applies to those listening to you. If they have recently woken from sleep — with the same three-hour window — they may hear words behind your words. Words that will give them firsthand knowledge of SCP-XXXX, and will make them one of us.

It is not that there is a compulsion to infect others with knowledge of SCP-XXXX. There is no such compulsion. It is merely that the longer one is awake, the less one can tell what is dangerous to relay and what is not, and then one cannot help but communicate the infectious knowledge. It is as natural and unconscious as breathing, when you've been awake long enough. You will talk, and you will not even think of stopping yourself.

Knowing will change you. You will slowly lose your grip on reality; you will fail to understand what is unique and what is not. At the same time, your knowledge of what's 'around' reality will slowly increase. Your knowledge of what's behind and above and underneath. Of anomalies.

You will learn things about other anomalies — of other SCP items, both extant and uncatalogued. Thus far, all information learned has proven accurate, and often very helpful in containment of other SCP items. This is perhaps the central reason why Overwatch has ordered large-scale continuations of the SCP-XXXX project, despite the inherent dangers.

There are things out there in the dreaming murk, many, many things, and some of them are like us. If one of them targets you, that is the only way to escape. But if you escape, you die. Maybe. We're trying to figure a way out. Maybe we can. Maybe we can't.

You may die anyway. Many of us do go permanently mad. We all may die, all of us. But we don't intend to let this occur. All shall be well. Even if we all go mad in the process. That is all we can say without infecting the readers of this file with the wrong knowledge.

We dreamed of you. Of all of you. And we will dream more.

See attached interview excerpts for more information.

Addendum: Excerpt from Interview XXXX-106-6452 ██/██/████

Interviewed: Dr. Lillian Gordon

Interviewer: Drs. S█████, H█████, R█████

Foreword: Last interview before Dr. Gordon's discharge from SCP-XXXX duties.

<Begin Log Excerpt>

Dr. Lillian Gordon: So… you think you've cracked it.

Dr. S█████: Of course, we can't know for sure unless you're wiped.

Dr. Lillian Gordon: So, wait…

Dr. S█████: Because of this, we are releasing you from SCP-XXXX duties.

Dr. Lillian Gordon: Wait… <Subject laughs.> That's what this is about? Damn. <Subject laughs.> After all this time… You think it's Pare, for me, then? [DATA EXPUNGED]

Dr. H█████: You're correct, yes. Your particular… entanglement with this entity is our present target. We're going to have to expunge the rest of that, though.

Dr. Lillian Gordon: <Subject laughs.> I'm sorry. Four hours awake, and all. How about the other researchers? Do they have [DATA EXPUNGED]

Dr. H█████: Again, that is correct, and again we're going to need to expunge that. You are the one we're most sure of, in terms of entanglement, which is why we have to pick you.

Dr. Lillian Gordon: <Subject laughs.> I just… I feel like I should be thanking you, though I know that's not why you're doing this, and even though I know I'm probably going to die. Not that I'll know that by the end of this interview.

<Subject pauses.>

Dr. Lillian Gordon: It's not… kind to women, is it? [DATA EXPUNGED] <Subject shakes head.> Damn. Of all the [DATA EXPUNGED] It had to be Pare. Sorry — I should've been more general with that, you'll have to expunge that part too, my bad. <Subject laughs.> It's just… hard to take in. I could be free in a year… well, of course, I'll probably be running out the clock until I die, but I won't even know it. By the end of this interview I won't remember a thing, right? How long do I have?

Dr. R█████: [DATA EXPUNGED]

<End Log Excerpt>

Closing Statement: Dr. Gordon was successfully subjected to Class-I amnestic therapy and is still being monitored. As of ██/██/████ (6 months following this interview) she remains the only survivor of SCP-XXXX. Monitoring is ongoing.

Addendum: Excerpt from Interview XXXX-106-6451 ██/██/████

Interviewed: Dr. Michal Anderson

Interviewer: Drs. S█████, H█████, R█████

<Begin Log Excerpt>

Dr. S█████: Then what do you know?

Dr. Michal Anderson: Like I said, there's only one way to find out. I'm going further in.

Dr. S█████: I'm obligated to state for the record that we don't and cannot require you to do this, nor do we condone your present course of action. If you fail—

Dr. Michal Anderson: —Whether I fail or don't, you're out a key XXXX researcher, and you're afraid of the waste. Yeah, I get that. We don't grow on trees, believe me, I know. But this has to be done. It's the only way to … well, I'll go ahead and censor myself here, eh? It's the only way we can find out the information that might be key to solving this. And, you know… I'd rather [DATA EXPUNGED] than just look away from her for the rest of my life, forever. Just, you know, catching the passing glimpses in mirrors… I mean, that's maddening enough, don't you think?

<Subject pauses.>

Dr. Michal Anderson: Damn, that first bit is infectious information, isn't it? Eh, ██████ can edit it out tomorrow.

Dr. R█████: [DATA EXPUNGED]

Dr. Michal Anderson: Of course. But you know it's only a matter of time before everyone at the Foundation knows this. We always talk about this like it's containable, like it's not inevitable before the entire Foundation knows everything. Before there's no difference between "SCP-XXXX-2 instance" and "member of the SCP Foundation".

Dr. R█████: [DATA EXPUNGED]

Dr. Michal Anderson: Yeah, if we could get into the Library, it'd be different. But we can't, and whose fault is that, eh? They never should've gone in guns blazing, but they did. Water under the bridge now, right? <Subject laughs.> As we are, this is the only way. The only option, and you know it, or you'd try harder to stop me. Hell, maybe this will get me into the Library. Under the roots [DATA EXPUNGED] Wouldn't that be a thing and a half, eh?

Dr. R█████: [DATA EXPUNGED]

Dr. S█████: Either way, there's still reason to wait.

Dr. Michal Anderson: Even if we could, it doesn't matter. Even if we could permanently undo SCP-XXXX exposure, that's only a stopgap. Something to allow Overwatch to abuse amnestics again. Switch out fresh researchers. Delude themselves into thinking they can hold this off forever. Everyone on this planet has dreams, you know!

Dr. R█████: [DATA EXPUNGED]

Dr. Michal Anderson: [DATA EXPUNGED] So we have to find the key to unraveling it. To limiting it. The Serpent's Hand already knows, all those other bastards in the Library. The Chaos Insurgency too, though it's only made them madder. And probably Dark. Of course Dark. But you get my point either way.

<Subject pauses.>

Dr. Michal Anderson: This is why I have to do this. We're sitting on this more than anyone — we've gone further than anyone else can even comprehend, all on accident, blundering our way blindly forward — and yet we don't [DATA EXPUNGED] You get my point. If we don't, maybe the entire planet goes mad. Maybe it's the end of everything. Maybe it's the way everything was meant to end. And we can't live with that. It's our goddamn job to stand here and say, No, this will not happen. You remember what Cain said, why 073 chose us, over everyone else. [DATA EXPUNGED] Otherwise, what the hell's the point of it all, of all the horrible things we've all done? This is the purpose of the Foundation. To protect humanity, to keep us from falling back into the dark.

Dr. R█████: [DATA EXPUNGED]

Dr. Michal Anderson: Eh, I don't believe that. You know what they say: All shall be well. And [DATA EXPUNGED] Turn this off before I start spouting that crap again. See you on the other side, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else.

<End Log Excerpt>

E.C.

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX instances are to be kept sedated in standard A-Class humanoid storage facilities. In case of containment breach, SCP-XXXX instances may be put to sleep by being ordered to fall asleep.

Description: SCP-XXXX comprise one hundred instances of identical young adult male humans.

Each SCP-XXXX instance displays the following anomalies:

• Instances possess a tattoo on the lower back in the shape of the Marshall, Carter and Dark logo.
• Instances have the outward appearance of a young adult (teenage to early twenties). Analysis indicates that all SCP-XXXX instances were artificially produced circa 2009 using anomalous methods.
• Instances do not outwardly age, have high resistance to physical damage (but no resistance to blood-borne chemical effects), and cannot digest food (but do not require food to survive).
• Instances may be controlled by a set code phrases (see Document XXXX-C).
  • Notably, command phrases can cause SCP-XXXX instances to make use of additional superhuman abilities, such as: heightened senses, increased physical capability, limited telepathy, and alteration of skin to take on a particular diamond-like texture.
• Instances display identical, limited personalities that have been specifically programmed into each individual instance from a particular template. This template seems to be based on a specific work of young adult media produced circa 2005-2012 (see addenda).
• Instances have an outward appearance strongly resembling that of actor Robert Pattinson.

Recovery: SCP-XXXX was recovered during a raid based on information recovered by Mobile Task Force Delta-5 ("Front Runners") regarding a series of supply trains belonging to Marshall, Carter and Dark. Raid also recovered SCP-████, SCP-████, SCP-███, and SCP-████, along with numerous anomalous items (see catalogue). Instances were recovered from shipping crates in captured rail cars. Two related letters (Documents XXXX-N30 and XXXX-N31) was recovered during the same raid.

Notes: Analysis of SCP-XXXX DNA uncovered a chemical signature used by SCP-2099. When questioned, SCP-2099 claimed unfamiliarity with SCP-XXXX, but took credit for helping to create a predecessor clone template for an unidentified "friend" as "work for hire, but cheap, decades ago." SCP-2099 first claimed that the "friend" in question was "no one you would know," and when pressed claimed to be unable to find the necessary notes to recall the friend's name. It then referred Foundation researchers to its extensive (and incomprehensible) notes on the subject of cloning. SCP-2099 claimed unfamiliarity with the "Madame Underwood" in SCP-XXXX documentation, expressing that this was "a ridiculous name."

Document XXXX-N30: Letter from Marshall, Carter and Dark operative "Rice" to Madame Underwood, regarding SCP-XXXX.

Dear Madame Underwood,

We regret to inform you that we cannot accept your shipment of goods at this time. We are returning them to you unopened with our apologies.

Please be assured that we still value your business. Dark has requested that we attach a personal letter of explanation.

Sincerely,
Rice

Document XXXX-N30: Letter purporting to be from Marshall, Carter and Dark member "Dark" to "Madame Underwood", regarding SCP-XXXX.

Dearest Madame Underwood,

You likely knew the nature of my response before even opening this letter, so I will keep this short.

Social trends are of utmost importance to this market. Remember, we cater to the elite and the stupidly rich, and even the poorest have not been reading those particular works of literature too often these days. "Twilight" is, simply put, out of fashion!

And for the love of all the gods, please do not send us any more merchandise without due warning. Did you know, Carter nearly oversaw this particular intake. Luck was with us, for I happened to read the manifest and stepped in at the last instant. Can you picture how he would react if he were to see these products? I doubt Carter realizes we deal in female youth as anything more than product, let alone that they comprise such a salacious market. We have only so many disobedient operatives with which to replace good man Carter's life support.

If you truly have so much old stock that you are this desperate to offload it, we might have a market for some vintage Draco Malfoy, in the leather pants edition. I've received word that Rowling recently published some new fictional pieces on her internet website regarding this character, so we may anticipate a resurgence in the old market. Just in time for Christmas!

Generously yours,
Mmes. Dark, Dec. 2014

SCP Draft

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: [Paragraphs explaining the procedures]

Description: [Paragraphs explaining the description]

Addendum: [Optional additional paragraphs]

SCP-EX: Coelacanth

Public photo of museum official Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer with SCP-360-EX post-containment.

Item #: SCP-360-EX

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-360-EX has been discovered to be non-anomalous and is considered Explained.

Standard information-search-and-suppression techniques were previously used to recover all specimens and suppress all information relating to SCP-360-EX instances. Additionally, the search for SCP-360-EX origination points has been ended, due to the discovery that no such origination points exist.

As of ██/██/1938, SCP-360-EX has passed into public knowledge, following the end of information containment.

Description: SCP-360-EX are modern instances of the genus Latimeria, otherwise known as the coelacanth. Prior to ██/██/████, all instances of the genus Latimeria were thought to have gone extinct during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Since then, the Foundation has discovered that the genus Latimeria has survived to the present day via non-anomalous means, and ended containment.

During the period between ██/██/████ and ██/██/████, the Foundation was leaked inaccurate information from a particular group of interest variously referred to as the Spiders and [REDACTED], leading Foundation investigators to believe that a thaumatological event had been induced to transpose instances of several extinct species to the present time, including [DATA EXPUNGED] instances of SCP-360-EX were said to be a successful 'test run' of this process.

According to the leaked information, this thaumatological event was implemented using resources and information received from [REDACTED] referred to as the Wanderer's Library. (Further information regarding the Wanderer's Library is currently classified Level 4 and is not available in this document.) Due to the known existence of the Wanderer's Library, Foundation investigators gave credence to these reports and containment proceeded accordingly.

[DATA EXPUNGED]

On ██/██/████, Foundation investigators discovered that the informants in question had providing the Foundation with falsified information in order to force the Foundation to expend resources on containing an imaginary threat. [DATA EXPUNGED] operations searching for said anomalies in the Indian and Pacific Ocean were ceased immediately and resources were directed elsewhere.

On ██/██/1938, [REDACTED] after the Foundation ended containment, Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, a South African museum official with an interest in unusual marine life, identified a specimen of SCP-360-EX in a fisherman's catch, and brought the public's attention to the animal's existence. No further action by the Foundation is expected to be taken.

Honest to goodness, I am disappointed. Very well. So long as you determine to forget, you can say whatever you like.

Hand Essay

"A section detailing the sources which inspired you to write the things you did, explaining what you pulled from them and how you used them." — Coming when our entries are finalized.

I've always loved the Serpent's Hand, because I've always thought it had amazing potential. The Hand, though, has almost always been sidelined in favor of other things. Like many old-style GOIs, it's mostly been underused and ill thought out, and/or used very badly.

Our team were motivated strongly by the goal of elevating the Hand to what we saw (see) as its rightful place at the core of the Foundationverse/Libraryverse story, an integral piece of a story that is incomplete without it.

Inspiration #1: "The Garden is the Serpent's Place" (SCP-268) and the name "The Serpent's Hand"

Probably the biggest reason is that the Serpent's Hand provides the main true philosophical opposition to the SCP Foundation.

OVER-SIMPLIFIED LITERATURE THEMES NERD TIME.

Western stories are usually told from one of two perspectives, the orthodox perspective (most classic literature, still very common) and the naturalistic perspective (a great deal of literature post World War I in particular).

Under orthodoxy, there is a God (or gods, or Fate, or whatever), and there is a Plan that doesn't change and can't be questioned, and lays out what's good for humanity. Therefore, a person should strive to follow the teachings of society/religion, because that's the only way to follow the Plan. They can't understand the Plan, because that's the arrogance of trying to play God.

In this version of the Garden of Eden story, the original version, Adam and Eve doom themselves by trying to decide what's right for them and become "like gods" by gaining the knowledge of good and evil. And so they are punished by losing their immortality (punished with death), gaining a 'sin nature', and being exiled from the Garden, as well as introducing all other ills into the world.

The story the Foundation is telling is essentially the orthodox story. They probably don't all believe in God, but they believe in preservation of normalcy above all else, and everything outside of normalcy is inherently horrifying and dangerous — "anomalous". Even totally harmless stuff must be contained. That's the Plan — the way things should be. If the anomalous isn't suppressed, the world literally gets torn apart! Constantly, actively, preserving normalcy is the only way to stay safe. That's the story the Foundation wants you to believe.

(It's the same story the GOC is telling, too. Though their methods and attitudes are very different from the Foundation's, they are still trying to preserve normalcy and the 'status quo'. They even directly serve the UN — symbolic seat of current orthodox power — and reference "the UN's current policy of containing and destroying paranormal entities to maintain the status quo.")

But… there's another version of the story.

Under naturalism (most modern mainstream literature), there is no God or Fate (or if there is a God, God isn't so controlling; note that for you religion nerds, Jesus fits this story spot on as well as the Serpent, weirdly, since Jesus' story can also fit the orthodox version — Christ figures are INCREDIBLY common as the 'base archetype' for both versions, each emphasizing different parts of the story), and most importantly, there is no Plan. Therefore, a person should strive to create their own path and their own 'teachings', always aiming for the good of others and the community, as opposed to acting selfishly, or blindly following society's/religious teachings.

In this version of the Garden of Eden story, the Serpent is the hero, and Adam and Even do the right thing by seeking the knowledge of good and evil, and even though they are exiled from Eden — which in this metaphor represents the happy and/or fearful naivete/innocence that comes from knowing nothing about the world or the suffering of others — they still get a happy ending, because they've done the right thing and picked the long and hard but worthwhile road, not the easy road where you don't have to think for yourself.

This is the story the Hand is telling, and what the Hand wants you to believe about the world. Blind adherence to normalcy is an awful choice, to them — directly equivalent to blindly following the teachings of society/religion. That's the POV I hoped to get across in the hub intro text (and in some of the Hand stories, as well).

A related reason to like the Serpent's Hand is if you sympathize a lot with, say, civil rights. 'Preservation of normalcy' sounds a lot less great when you remember how many horrors have been committed in real life for millennia on end because they were 'normal'. The Foundation tells a very good "story" to justify what they're doing… but society had justifications for all kinds of horrifying things in their time, justifications and 'story' that sounded just as good.

Now, I have no idea if Paradox, the creator of the Serpent's Hand, did any of this on purpose. But many of the details are pretty perfect. The name indicates the Hand are working for the Serpent to get (forbidden but vital) knowledge out into the world.

And then there's the quote, from SCP-268, that states "the Garden is the Serpent's place." That fits spot on with the naturalistic version of the Garden of Eden story (since in the original version, the Garden is God's place).

So… if I ever get a chance, I'd really like to ask him!

Inspiration #2: The New Global Occult Coaltion

Clef's new take on the GOC inspired a great deal of thought, because at first it seemed inherently incompatible with previous canon and with the Serpent's Hand. I even made that case here. This was a problem, because the GOC was supposedly the Hand's greatest enemy from their POV.

But thinking about that actually made the rest of the pieces fall together, regading the Hand itself. Of course the GOC is all magical an' shit, and with a far reach. It makes perfect sense that the Hand would hate them more than anything. They're Big Brother. Even using that specific occult number (108) for the member organizations is good, because it can't change. The GOC fundamentally supports normalcy — and normalcy favors humans, and favors the slaughter and suppression of anyone who wants to live a real life who doesn't fit into the accepted "normal" patterns — who doesn't fit the Plan.

Basically they're the last piece of the puzzle that explains why the Serpent's Hand would exist, why they would have to exist.

Which is great, actually, because of canon that had grown up around the Hand/GOC, which pits the Hand and the GOC against each other for reasons that I honestly found rather bland. Sure, the GOC killed anomalous entities, but… eh, that's obvious. But if the GOC do that and represent orthodoxy in a really big way — in the way that the Foundation doesn't — then that's even better. Anomalous humans can't go join the Foundation without being put in a cell. But anomalous humans CAN join the GOC, and get all the protections they could ever want, and even become full members, so long as they throw the non-human minority under the bus, so long as they "stay in the closet". So long as they follow the Plan that kills those who won't follow it… or can't.

This makes for some seriously compelling story material, as well as fitting in note-perfectly with the themes I mentioned above. (My biggest regret at the time of this writing is that I hadn't been able to put together much story material tackling this, due to prioritizing Hand vs Foundation.)

Inspiration #3: L.S. and the Black Queen

We knew going into this project that L.S. was going to be a proble, though fortunately, we solved that problem pretty early.

The problem with L.S. is that L.S. is extremely boring. Minus the quote "The Garden is the Serpent's Place" and the letter from L.S. attached to SCP-407, L.S. has no good material on the site. And, hell, that letter makes an argument for the Serpent's Hand POV which is both more nihilistic (see: Black Surtr) and more mystical-sounding than the direction the Hand was taken in since. And otherwise, "he" was too similar to Nobody without Nobody's interesting core concept.

The solution came in the form of the Black Queen.

Team Black Queen and Team Serpent's Hand shared material extensively through this contest. We'd discovered that L.S. was once "maybe" Little Sister aka the Black Queen due to a post by Bright in 268's comment thread, and both our groups immediately realized that was too good of an idea to let go. A connection to the Serpent's Hand of that nature (and access to L.S.'s remarkable abilities) also helped explain why Gears' daughter would be such a formidable force to the Foundation. Silberescher came up with the explanation of "Little Sister" which made the entire Black Queen concept run, which you can read more about at the Black Queen Hub.

It even fit with L.S. being assumed to be a "he" — we put together the effects of the Cap of Neglect with Dox's answer to the question of L.S. on the Library:

Dox: L.S. is known among the hand for never being seen. His followers receive letters, books, artifacts, and other gifts from their mysterious leader, but no one can quite remember what he looks like - though some swear they have met him. OOC, we know him to be under the effects of the artifact known to the Foundation as The Cap of Neglect

…so there's no real reason 'he' couldn't be a 'she', and it would even be an advantage for her for people to assume this.

We also had some other thoughts as to how the references to L.S. could've taken off with the Hand — referencing L.S. as "Lease Signatory" could've become a way for Hand members to identify friendlies (Vivax may talk more about that).

And that's how we re-developed L.S.

(It's also what inspired the use of her as a central character in the Serpent stories, obviously.)

Inspiration #4: Mann's interpretations of the Serpent's Hand / the Wanderers' Library / Hand RP "canon"

Much of the most interesting parts of the Hand 'canon' were developed offsite for the Serpent's Hand roleplay group, years ago. This wasn't on the site for a long time due to the feelings of the people involved, but it persisted.

This fact accidentally created a lot of opportunity for us. We didn't need to be beholden to the details of the RP canon, because it had never really been on the site outside of a few tales.

(As a side note, I've been working towards this ever since I read Tunneling Between Worlds, a story from two years ago, which also has a comment objecting to this Serpent's Hand material being on the site.)

We could scale up the Library. We could expand the Archives. We could make the Serpent's Hand bigger as a movement. We could 'advance the timeline'. (See: the references to the Library Cards being given more protections & advantages.) And no one would mind because few were married to these concepts. Hell, most people don't even KOW about the Archives or Library Cards or whatnot!

And, suffice to say the success of the concept of the Hand owes a lot to Mann's addition, the Wanderers' Library. Much of the material we pulled together for this project had its initial genesis in interviews with Mann from 2012 for the Library. We'd never have been able to develop the material we did without that.

Inspiration #5: TroyL's worldbuilding for the Wanderers' Library

…Yeah, we stole a shitload of material from A Treatise Upon Those of Knowledge, aka the Library's remarkable Groups of Interest page written by TroyL. As well as, more recently, the Library Archivists' versions of SCPs, Lost Wanderers.

The page format (code) was deliberately lifted from those pages, and heavily modified to fit the new structure. And many, many worldbuilding elements were taken from there (most obviously the Neverwere which power the plot to the Serpent Sequence). The style of the GOI format entries was also meant to resemble a combination of the Archivist's style with colloquial speech. Honestly, while this is the shortest section, this was probably the largest influence in terms of the actual writing. I'd recommend reading all that stuff if you want to write for the Hand.

Other Sources:

Use of SCP-239 as a key figure in the Serpent tales was inspired by the old-style stories that aimed to entertain the hell of a reader and write on an epic scale. The reality bender fight in Unfinished Business II definitely inspired the final confrontation of the sequence; I kept re-reading it and reminding myself that that was the bar I needed to hit. Incident 239-B-Clef-Kondraki played an inspirational role as well.

The inclusion of 239 specifically was inspired by Games Reality Benders Play. This tale series isn't supposed to be in the same canon as that (because what happens next, if I get to write it, will be very different), but it was definitely an inspiration, because the years of wondering about what would happen in the sequel (before the sequel was revealed to be, well, Unfinished Business) got me generating my own ideas.

The Campbell and Cross interviews were inspired partly by a lot of deleted drafts of interviews where one side just steamrollers over the other, who is utterly shocked and/or vomits at the revelation. I wanted to use the same basic structure and write a version where one does convince the other that they're right, but it's very difficult and neither party is nonsensically misguided or can't hold their own. (Jury's still out on whether I succeeded, of course.)

The themes (besides the stuff explained above) of the stories were inspired by wayyy too much literature-&-film analysis.

Summer's Exile/SCP-682 was inspired by me really wanting to write a fresh take on 682 (since I don't really enjoy many of the ideas that are usually brought up, with the exception of the ideas I stole from for Eschatology) and also bring in some ideas that have been voiced on forums but not fully or officially developed. My take was partially based on Sisyphus and the Prodigal Son parable.

The Second Lost Child/SCP-017 was suggested as source material by Dexanote and was partially inspired by the material Troy came up with for the Library linked above.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX COME BACK TO THIS XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Serpent's Hand GOI Format:

Our format is designed to resemble a sort of cross between encyclopedia entries, bestiaries, field guides, and the aforementioned Library Archivist pages.

The Conspectus comes first because it's meant to show that the Hand feel context is important. We were inspired by medieval bestiaries, which always explained where each animal fit into the divine plan and what morality they represented. Similarly, the Hand both express how they see the subject of the entry, and explain where it fits into how they see the world. (Even if the entry itself is written by the subject of the entry!)

The section titled Knowledge is titled so for fairly obvious reasons. The sub-categories are mainly there to give the writer ideas about what the Hand might think important to include (both in and out of universe). "Approach" is the biggest deal, and comes last to make it stand out. "Now that you know the context, here's How To Deal". It's very important to the Hand's thematic story to have that section; if you can't have the knowledge of how to approach something (even if it's 'avoid this one') then the anomalous really SHOULD be suppressed, and the Foundation is right. This section exists to fight against that POV.

The Observations & Stories section is essentially there to encourage crosslinking, universe building, and collaboration. People can add in-character personal experiences there.

The Doubt section also aims to encourage collaboration — but also to encourage interesting thoughts from the author. "Now that you've written this story… how would you write a response?" It's like the fun of those SCPs that hide revelations under higher clearance levels that change the entire framing of the story being told — except this you can do in every piece that you want. It's meant to encourage creativity.

Plus, it goes towards the theme of 'knowledge'. Part of knowing something is know what you don't know.

It also isn't designed to be the ONLY format that the Hand has ever used or will ever use. That seems to go against the thematic nature of the Hand.

<end>

---

Possible SH hub addition:

Collaboration is encouraged. The "no major edits" rule does not apply to this format, though the article maintainer has final say on what stays in, and may edit or remove additions.

[01:58] TroyL I think you might be better off allowing people to mention that in the comments.
[01:58] TroyL Effectively, have a small thing set-and-ready for the first comment that says "Open Editing" and has those stipulations built in.
[01:58] TroyL There will be people who do not want to have to police their own articles, after all.
[01:59] thedeadlymoose nods.
[01:59] thedeadlymoose takes notes.
[01:59] TroyL Which, admittedly, wouldn't be hard to do.
[01:59] TroyL That's a super fast little make.

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Classification System WIP

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Object Class: Safe/Euclid/Keter

Research Class: Curie/Armstrong/Henson/Magellan/Earhart

• Curie: Considered relatively safe to research and cross-test; use A1 Foundation research precautions.
• Henson: Considered mildly dangerous to research and cross-test; use A2 Foundation research precautions.
• Armstrong: Considered dangerous to research and cross-test; use A3 Foundation research precautions.
• Magellan: Considered very dangerous to research and cross-test; use A4 Foundation research precautions.
• Earhart: Research presents the highest level of danger; use A5 Foundation research precautions. Do not research or cross-test unless absolutely necessary.

Background: Curie - radioactivity discovery. Henson - North Pole discovery. Armstrong - moon landing. Magellan - circumnavigation of world (died). Earhart - aviation pioneer (vanished without a trace).

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This Is Just To Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
in the name of the Scarlet King

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
now consumed by the Scarlet King

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
for the brides of the Scarlet King

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