SCP Idea: single-sense predator.

Summary:

A creature that can only use one sense at a time, but the one it does use is extremely acute.

SCP Idea: single-sense predator.

Idontworkhere 19 Jan 2020 22:39

Basically, the creature can swap between hearing, sight, smell, and taste. (Touch is a given) The creature simply lacks the mental capacity to take in so much information because its senses are so strong, that it restricts itself to one.
For each of its "Forms" it behaves differently:

Sight: Aggressive, uses its acute vision to hone in on prey which is close by, using strikes from its claws and hindlegs to bring down its prey.

Hearing: When in close proximity to prey, but with vision obscured, basically the same as sight, but most often used in enclosed spaces.

Smell: Used from far away to track prey items for miles. The creature possesses a series of holes along its chest and back that take in smells when opened. It will run on all fours but stand upright in combat.

Taste: used occasionaly while tracking, but the creature must switch to taste to consume food. Highly efficient mouthparts allow for rapid consumption.

Re: SCP Idea: single-sense predator.

Zyn 20 Jan 2020 00:42

So… this has the same issues as your previous creature-with-specific-abilities concept, here: http://www.scp-wiki.net/forum/t-12930154/scp-idea:the-birdwatcher-greenlight-critique#post-4473667

What you have is pretty forgettable because it's predictable and has no bearing on the Foundation universe overall other than being yet another thing with superpower-like abilities that the Foundation locked up.

What will make this thing memorable to the audience given that we already have plenty of monsters, some with enhanced senses already, on the site? What "bigger picture" is present here to make this more distinguishable from generic video game or action/horror movie monsters?

Also, general note, the Five Aristotelian Senses are kind of limited so far as actual interaction/response to stimuli goes. Further reading here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense#Other_senses

Re: SCP Idea: single-sense predator.

Idontworkhere 20 Jan 2020 13:19

What if the creature has none of our own senses, but possesses five different senses which the foundation does not fully understand, due to it being from some sort of other realm, which it uses its abilities to detect portals to, so it can move in and out of our world. These other senses could be things like knowledge of where people want to go, what an object is made out of, whether or not something is edible, etc. Each time it breaches containment and escapes to another dimension, it gains a new set of senses when returning.

Last edited on 20 Jan 2020 13:24 by Idontworkhere Show more

Re: SCP Idea: single-sense predator.

Zyn 21 Jan 2020 04:34

Tweaking the powers and making it more powerful doesn't address the issue that this is still a generic monster with no backstory or in-universe worldbuilding to make it more than just yet another dangerous beast sorta thing.

These other senses could be things like knowledge of where people want to go, what an object is made out of, whether or not something is edible, etc.

Keep in mind that as the author, you know the entire story, but the Foundation needs to have discovered what it knows about the SCP object through observation and experimentation. You'll need to convince your reader that someone with no prior knowledge whatsoever of the anomaly managed to somehow figure out (not magically know!) all the information you've got in the article. How would the Foundation come to the conclusion that these are the senses that the monster has, as opposed to just looking at something and thinking about it?

Each time it breaches containment and escapes to another dimension, it gains a new set of senses when returning.

Why does it keep coming back, especially if the Foundation just keeps containing it again?

Re: SCP Idea: single-sense predator.

Idontworkhere 22 Jan 2020 01:46

The senses it gains will be 'revealed' by mission logs i.e:

"This is ▅▅▅▅▅, moving into position … Jesus!
What is it, major?
It- It's standing on the tower- it looks like it's waiting for me!"

This is a quick example of the "Knows where someone is going" thing. there will be multiple instances of the creature appearing at planned MTF destinations after a breach.

It keeps coming back because it's looking for something- either an SCP, or an uncontained anomaly. I'm leaning towards the latter.

Re: SCP Idea: single-sense predator.

Zyn 22 Jan 2020 03:46

It keeps coming back because it's looking for something- either an SCP, or an uncontained anomaly. I'm leaning towards the latter.

How would the Foundation learn this?

Also, it's still fundamentally a generic monster sort of thing, which is still a workability problem here.

Re: SCP Idea: single-sense predator.

Idontworkhere 22 Jan 2020 16:06

When it returns, it makes its way to a specific point (maybe something underwater) which is a way to bring more of its kind to this world (the foundation dosen't know this).
I'm hoping to circumvent the generic monster thing by using mission logs to explore the places it manifests in and how they are changed when it arrives, warping the surrounding terrain and carving messages into the earth. Also helping to add to the idea is the glimpses into its own world we get when a portal opens- a land of complete chaos, constantly changing, which would give rise to the sense changes.

Revised Concept

Idontworkhere 27 Jan 2020 16:43

The creature lacks a lot of development in sight, taste, sound, touch, and smell. This makes it very cautious and skittish, but aggressive in a 1:1 situation. The creature has the innate ability to seek out and enter dimensional portals to its 'homeworld.' These are single-use, and can only be seen by the creature. When the creature returns to this world, it brings with it ONE abnormal method of detection. These 'senses' vary, but here are a few examples:
Knowledge of a person's intended location
Thermal Radiation
Memory Consumption
Emotional state
Knowledge of air currents

It uses these to attempt escape and if successful makes its way towards a spot in the Sahara, where a little black box sits buried in the sand…
critiques appreciated.

Re: SCP Idea: single-sense predator.

cybersqyd 29 Jan 2020 14:31

[Noting a PM request to take a look]

So, Zyn already raised the big issue I have with this concept:

Tweaking the powers and making it more powerful doesn't address the issue that this is still a generic monster with no backstory or in-universe worldbuilding to make it more than just yet another dangerous beast sorta thing.

The creature could perhaps be an interesting SCP in my opinion; but if you just list what the SCP can do, it will not be very interesting: you really need to consider what the context of the SCP is here.

It'd be worth thinking about the following things a little (bear in mind: answering all of them in the article would be unnecessary, but they're good things to consider to really help you make an idea more interesting):

• Why does the creature exist? Was it made? Did it evolve? Something else?
• Why does the creature only have access to one sense each time it comes through the portal?
• What does the creature want with the black box in the sahara? Is there something interesting in it? Are you wanting to try and create a mystery around it?
• How did the Foundation find it? How did they contain it? Does it present some challenges that make capturing it hard in an interesting way?
• Now that the Foundation does contain it, what do they do with it? Do they run experiments?
• How do you want to make a reader feel? Is the creature sympathetic? Scary? Are the Foundation sympathetic? Are they portrayed as cruel for what they do to the creature?

Re: SCP Idea: single-sense predator.

Idontworkhere 30 Jan 2020 11:57

To answer your questions:

-the creature comes from another world, one that is in constant change. This causes it to rapidly evolve when it is there, so it comes back different each time. It is part of a colonization hive mind.
-It does not have enough brainpower to handle more than one at a time- it can’t be overstimulated.
-The black box is a beacon to bring the rest of its kind to earth and take hold of the planet.
-It was captured on arrival to earth in the Mojave. When it crashed down, the foundation was notified of a creature moving inside the wreckage. The challenges it presents containment wise are that the foundation has no real way of understanding what sense it brings back each time, and whether or not containment procedures are adequate.
-The foundation attempts communication, as the creature is moderately intelligent.
-I want the article to start off with the creature being portrayed as cruel and violent, but over time realize that it is only attempting to full foil its purpose and that it is in fact very complex, intelligent, and emotional.

Re: SCP Idea: single-sense predator.

cybersqyd 30 Jan 2020 12:05

[+] Minor things

It does not have enough brainpower to handle more than one at a time- it can’t be overstimulated.
but over time realize … that it is in fact very complex, intelligent, and emotional.

These two things feel a little contradictory? Like surely if it's so complex and intelligent, it'd be able to handle filtering out senses to handle multiple senses at a time?

The black box is a beacon to bring the rest of its kind to earth and take hold of the planet.

Okay but why? What's so special about earth? If they can make portals and beacons, why don't they move it to a place that presents less resistance than earth does?

So, what do you actually want to do with the article? Like it's very clear you have an idea of how the SCP develops through it, but how are you wanting to convey this to a reader? How do you want to get them invested in the actual story here?

Like, have you thought about how you'll convey this e.g, journal notes vs interviews vs exploration logs/logs of an MTF team trying to deal with the creature?

Re: SCP Idea: single-sense predator.

Idontworkhere 30 Jan 2020 12:50

You are correct about the first thing- I'm really not too sure about the single-sense thing, but I need a limit on how powerful this thing is.

The reason the creatures are coming to earth is because they are farmers, and earth's massive biomass in the form of humans is a great source of livestock.

The article's Story resides in the addendums (addendii?) which are MTF mission logs, doctor notes, and deciphered carvings from the creature on the wall of its chamber and its limited speech.

Re: SCP Idea: single-sense predator.

cybersqyd 30 Jan 2020 13:03

The article's Story resides in the addendums (addendii?) which are MTF mission logs, doctor notes, and deciphered carvings from the creature on the wall of its chamber and its limited speech.

Okay but what are you actually wanting to do with these? At the moment, I have a rough idea that this is somehow about the Foundation growing to know the creature better but I don't really have a feel for where it's going or like, how you're going to get a reader invested in it.

Re: SCP Idea: single-sense predator.

Idontworkhere 30 Jan 2020 14:33

Here is a quick outline of the addendumulations.

1: Discovery. Log of the creature attacking researchers before being contained.
2: Research. Logs of the foundation thinking the creature has the ability to access human memories.
3: Breach. A breach from another scp causes it to escape and enter a portal.
4: Recovery. Sighted in a jungle, it now has the ability to detect the path and desired location of agents. This is in the form of an MTF log. The creature is not directly aggressive.
5: The creature begins to carve messages in its containment chamber.
6: File to update to humanoid containment procedures- DENIED.
7: Creature escapes and reappears in the Mojave with Electroreception.
8: Creature re-contained with no resistance.
9: Containment Log- creature draws a detailed map of the area where the cube is- MTF sent to secure the area.
10: Creature escapes via portal. Returns 10 months later with ability to read emotions. Escape attempts ceased.
11: Containment log- communication attempted
12: Containment log- Researchers discuss the creature's status as non-humanoid.
13: Creature slows activity and does not communicate.

Last edited on 30 Jan 2020 15:44 by Idontworkhere Show more

Re: SCP Idea: single-sense predator.

cybersqyd 31 Jan 2020 13:11

Okay well this is definitely a lot of addendums that you could include but from what you've got here, they don't feel purposeful? They aren't really telling a story or particularly going anywhere fun so much as just kinda, listing off a series of events that feel, kinda like very much the expected things to happen?

I'm really not convinced this idea is workable as a SCP; but you're free to like, reach out to other reviewers and get more opinions on this.

Re: SCP Idea: single-sense predator.

Idontworkhere 31 Jan 2020 16:25

The story I'm trying to tell is that the creature's containment procedures are unnaturally harsh due to its abilities, and because of that it is not considered humanoid. The ethics application was denied because of the fact the creature could not speak, and I basically want to tell a story where the foundation's rigid principles and guidelines prohibit the humane treatment of this creature.