SCP-XXXX: The Prometheus Virus

SCP-XXXX: The Prometheus Virus

RuinQueenofOblivion 20 May 2020 21:04

Seeking Greenlights: Yes

Page Type: SCP Article

Genre (Optional): Drama, Mystery.

Page Layout (Optional): Fake Containment Procedures, fake Description, fake discovery, fake testing logs, Containment Procedures, Description, Discovery, Addendum.

+ show block

Elevator Pitch: The Prometheus Virus is a Memetic Virus that officially, has only infected a small portion of the human population. On the surface it reduces infected humans to a primitive state, making them far more animalistic, losing their language skills and intelligence. There is nothing left of the human that once was, and there is no apparent way to cure or reverse it.

However, the truth is much grimmer, the Prometheus Virus is in fact a virus that has infected every human being on the planet going back to the earliest days of civilization. The virus itself seems to be a spark of civilization, having brought humanity out of their more primitive forms and slowly giving rise to civilization and new technology. While the Foundation has found a way to cure it, but the cost would lead to the collapse of human civilization.

But the real threat of the virus is not the effects, but what might happen if others find out. Containment is impossible, so the focus is on containing knowledge of the virus, with concerns over some of the GOIs learning about it, and which ones may already know about it.

Central Narrative: The article for the Prometheus Virus is split between two parts. The first part is the official story put forward by the 05 Council talking about the first version of the virus listed above, which most people who read it believe is the true nature of the Prometheus Virus. However the second part, which is classified by the O5 Council, tells the true nature of the virus.

Ultimately, the narrative is about the discovery and research into the virus before the cure is developed. The Foundation carries out tests on their agents and a random selection of the population, only to find that it's far more widespread than originally believed. It delves into the risks of what may happen if word get's out, and finally ending on the decision to classify records and create a cover story.

Hook/Attention-Grabber: A memetic virus that has infected the entire population of the planet is interesting enough, but we also have the idea of its true nature being classified. By connecting it to the rise of civilization and the idea of forbidden knowledge, it can make for an interesting story.

Additional Notes:

Last edited on 23 May 2020 21:43 by RuinQueenofOblivion Show more

Re: SCP-XXXX: The Prometheus Virus

Naveil 20 May 2020 22:28

Heya, RuinQueenofOblivion! I logged our conversation on IRC.

IRC Logs

10:51 PM <Naveil> right, a couple of things
10:51 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Okay
10:51 PM <Naveil> while I do find the core concept neat, my main concern here is the formatting
10:52 PM <Naveil> which is how you're slowly going to lay out the article and reveal the truth
10:52 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Right
10:52 PM <Naveil> so, if I read correctly
10:52 PM <Naveil> you have two iterations of the page
10:52 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Right
10:52 PM <Naveil> one for the average folk, the other classified
10:52 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Right, that's the basic idea
10:53 PM <Naveil> cool beans
10:53 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Going to have to figure out exactly how to make that work still
10:53 PM <Naveil> now, there are a few concerns with this format
10:53 PM <Naveil> first and foremost, you have to make the first iteration interesting enough for the reader to move onto the second
10:53 PM <Naveil> either that, or
10:54 PM <Naveil> you make it brief so that the reader immediately moves on to the second
10:54 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Right
10:54 PM <Naveil> which, from the vibe I'm getting from your post, is the second
10:54 PM <Naveil> there… isn't really much to crit here necessarily. this is something you have to be careful with on your draft
10:55 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Yeah, I get that
10:55 PM <Naveil> but make the epiphany and payoff worth it
10:55 PM <Naveil> now, moving onto the actual thing
10:55 PM <Naveil> from what I understand, this virus, on the surface, affects a few people
10:56 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Yes, that's the official story
10:56 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Well, you know as in the one the average person will see
10:56 PM <Naveil> in reality, it's affecting everyone, with the aforementioned anomalous effect only reaching a few people
10:56 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> At the Foundation
10:56 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Basically the aforementioned anomalous effect is what happens when you're released from the virus
10:57 PM <Naveil> the one where humans are turned into their primitive states?
10:57 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Yeah
10:57 PM <Naveil> uh, that presents a problem
10:57 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Of course it does
10:57 PM <Naveil> why would the Foundation want to cure it at all then?
10:58 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Its a forbidden knowledge thing, the virus remaining active is projected to cause an apocalyptic event
10:58 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Its why its Cernnuros class
10:59 PM <Naveil> remind me what cernnuros is again?
11:00 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Its an anomaly that can be contained, but containment would have too high a price
11:00 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> In this case, containment would result in the collapse of society
11:00 PM <Naveil> the thing is, I'm not entirely sure why it's forbidden knowledge?
11:01 PM <Naveil> like, the thing I'm getting here is that this anomaly is good and removing it makes people dumb
11:01 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> I'm not very good at summarizing things in 400 words
11:01 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Well, yes technically it is good
11:01 PM <Naveil> so why would the Foundation want to remove it, or even project the idea that it's bad?
11:02 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> The virus also lead to technological developments, the basic idea is that all projections point towards the eventual development of something that would wipe out humanity
11:02 PM <Naveil> so basically, human nature classed as an anomaly?
11:03 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Essentially yes
11:03 PM <Naveil> and there are some belief boundaries that are sorta being crossed here as well
11:03 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Its meant to tie into a philosophical debate between the ideas of the social contract vs. the state of nature
11:04 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Not to mention, the Foundation can also use SCP-2000 if all else fails
11:04 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Though that doesn't remove the virus
11:04 PM <Naveil> that, in of itself is an interesting concept, but I don't think this idea facilitates the necessary boundaries to make that debate come to life?
11:04 PM <Naveil> like, on surface level, there's a ton of holes
11:05 PM <Naveil> for one, if a researcher found the SCP in, say, the human gene pool
11:05 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Well, I mean its only a 400 word summary, I can improve it in the draft proper
11:05 PM <Naveil> here's the thing though
11:06 PM <Naveil> if you can't summarize the entire thing in 400 words, it's either because you need to work on your summarizing skills or the SCP is too convoluted to work properly
11:06 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> I think its the former, I've never been good at summarizing
11:06 PM <Naveil> that's fair lol
11:07 PM <Naveil> but as I was saying
11:07 PM <Naveil> say this researcher found the virus living in every single human, and the absence of said virus made people turn into cave men
11:08 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Right
11:08 PM <Naveil> what would make this researcher think that it was a virus that needed to be cured? or an anomaly in the first place?
11:08 PM <Naveil> wouldn't they assume that it was a completely normal phenomenon in the human gene pool?
11:08 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Hmm… an interesting point…
11:08 PM <Naveil> I'm runnin out of time here so I'll just leave you with this
11:09 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> I think the idea was that it was identified as a virus before they realized how widespread it was
11:09 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> But okay
11:09 PM <Naveil> I really like the philosophy you're trying to present here
11:09 PM <Naveil> but the concept has too many holes for it to work properly
11:09 PM <Naveil> not saying that can't be fixed, but that's how I see it
11:09 PM <Naveil> so, take a step back here
11:10 PM <Naveil> because I feel like you're looking at this concept too superficially without noticing the nuances
11:10 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Fair…
11:10 PM <Naveil> it definetly has potential, but you need to flesh it out quite a bit
11:10 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> I may go ahead and play around with a Draft to see if that helps any, that's about all I can think of right now
11:11 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Thanks
11:11 PM <Naveil> feel free! sometimes a draft can help
11:11 PM <Naveil> good luck with your idea!
11:11 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Thanks, you did help a bit at least
11:12 PM <RuinQueenofOblivion> Oddly I can't help but wonder if the name is too on the nose, but I'll worry about that later

In retrospect, I feel like I was being too harsh here, so I'll leave you with some parting words.

In general, I like the idea of what kind of philosophical debate you're trying to bring to the table. The way you've laid it out has potential. It's mainly the idea at it's core that falters.
As I mentioned heftily in our IRC conversation, the concept has far too many holes to function correctly. And, unfortunately, they can't really be fixed easily, since the problems are at the idea's core. I can't really see a reader's suspension of disbelief holding up.

Honestly, I would like to see an SCP that deals with the kind of philosophical debate you mentioned. The thing is, the idea you've presented to me doesn't really feel like it could facilitate that kind of narrative. You can try and fix it up, or you can try and create a new narrative. Either way, you can feel free to PM me or find me on IRC again to take another look. That's about all. Good luck!

Re: SCP-XXXX: The Prometheus Virus

RuinQueenofOblivion 23 May 2020 01:06

Okay, I think I figured out how to make it better.

Re: SCP-XXXX: The Prometheus Virus

MalyceGraves 23 May 2020 02:50

Summoned from #thecritters.

I'm going to include some of what I said in chat for your reference.

+ Stuff

Ok. First, something like this would have to be almost identical to the human bioflora in order to hide for as long as it had. However, this gives you an interesting method to tell the story. Since the human genome was sequenced, the Foundation has been trying desperately to contain the knowledge. They clamp down hard on every instance, and people are beginning to suspect.

If you take this route, I think you'll have a lot of solid tension, a bit of scientific justification for how it sits inside and hasn't been found yet. You dont' need to go into what it actually does. Leaving it ambiguous and allowing how terrified the o5s are at this thing getting tweaked speak for you aids in this, if done well.

I think the skip should be about the effort to contain the knowledge of the virus, not the virus itself.

The Sarkic cults wouldn't need this to justify their beliefs. The CotBG would see it as even more of a reason to shed the flesh entirely. The Sarkics wont care about it at all, actually. The Karcists likely already know about it.

This could be a very solid first skip.

Greenlight.

Re: SCP-XXXX: The Prometheus Virus

cybersqyd 23 May 2020 06:28

[placeholder; will update with crit uh, in a few hours, probably]

Re: SCP-XXXX: The Prometheus Virus

RockTeethMothEyes 25 May 2020 00:09

I feel like the general effects of the virus are a little vague, personally, but after having thought about it for a minute or two, I managed to put the connection between "Prometheus" and this sentence:

The virus itself seems to be a spark of civilization, having brought humanity out of their more primitive forms and slowly giving rise to civilization and new technology.

so the nomenclature is at least on point. That being said, I'm a bit conflicted because this does seem to be a bit absent in tension. The high level locks give a small bump, but then it's dependent on the contents of the next page to maintain that bump and escalation. I think MalyceGraves hits on that point well here. Making the conflict focused on the containment of knowledge would be a good place to start.

All-in-all, I'm not sure if this is exactly something I that I'd be jazzed about, but I think the concept is about as well fleshed as it can be. Consider this a greenlight so you can work on the execution of the concept.

Last edited on 25 May 2020 00:21 by RockTeethMothEyes Show more