I must admit, I quite enjoyed this read. The idea of channelling an abstract concept, to somehow weaponize is very interesting.
However, either by a major fault of myself, or a minor fault on the side of the author, I understand the chain of events as such:
M+C+D send the SCP the anomaly -> Smith is assigned -> Smith gets annoyed at the project? Develops a way to channel abstract concepts via an object/objects -> Scales this up for the SCP (or rather the silver bowl) -> He starts integrating humans into the mechanism somehow? But only when they eat the copies of the SCP? -> O5 love the end results so continue project, even though it means lots of deaths of personnel / d-class. -> The mind warping girl SCP gets slotted in there at one point?
The bold sections is where the plot is lost to me. I have 2 working theories:
- The focci is a combination of the anchovies and the silver, making all silver around the world smell like anchovies??? Hence causing M+C+D to abandon such silver assets and holdings.
-The focci is the silver itself, causing the foundation to be able to reproduce silver in the same way the anchovies do? Hence getting a monopoly on silver?
If it is a combination of the 2, neither, or 1 / the other is frankly irrelevant at this point. The point I am making is that I personally could not figure out that final piece of the context of the article.
As it is impossible to know , without personal input from the Author, if I have missed something critical / obvious, or the article itself lacks clear context in this matter, I am not going to up-vote or down-vote the article.
This is because it would be unfair to down-vote the article under the assumption the article is missing something, if in fact it is my own failure. Also, it would be equally unfair to up-vote the article in terms of it's quality and the competition under the assumption I have missed something.