SCP-364 / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page SCP-364.

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tombones 19 Mar 2010 15:45

I always get a little anxious when specific real-world events are attributed to Foundation activity, but in this case it seems like it could serve a useful purpose. Currently, though, it is not.

If you have two orbital satellites actively monitoring this anomaly at relatively close range, it seems like we should have more information about it than just the period of appearance and the quantity. I dig the concept, but without any hint as to just what kind of stuff is getting dumped (which, by extension, could suggest where it might be coming from), the execution isn't fully satisfying. See if you can expand upon it in that direction a little more- this one's got plenty of potential.

I do enjoy the idea of some nefarious cosmic polluter using a moon volcano as a landfill, though, so tentatively upvoted.

Last edited on 19 Mar 2010 15:50 by tombones Show more

Quikngruvn 19 Mar 2010 16:26

Part of the problem is that Io is awash in radiation and Jupiter's magnetic field, so any craft that tries to orbit Io would likely be short-lived. Thus, the probes would more likely orbit Europa, the next moon out, or Jupiter in an orbit that would sometimes have it pass between Io and Jupiter. That would have been pointed out in the paragraph I cut, so between this and suggestions from the chat, it looks like I'll need to put it in after all.

tombones 19 Mar 2010 16:47

Well, you clearly know more about this stuff than I do! Carry on.

Quikngruvn 19 Mar 2010 16:51

Heh. What did we ever do without Wikipedia?

Leicontis 19 Mar 2010 17:01

You could add a note about spectrographic analysis, even if the results are inconclusive or expunged, to show that the Foundation has at least tried to figure out what's being dumped.

RhettSarlin 19 Mar 2010 20:44

yeah. this is initially interesting but then doesnt deliver anything. there's a difference between expunging information on an SCP and providing nearly nothing, needs a bit more flavor to get people hooked. not voting yet.

tunedtoadeadchannel 20 Mar 2010 02:02

Seconding rhettsarlin, 'cept I voted.

SpoonOfEvil 19 Mar 2010 21:07

I don't know about this SCP. When you strip away all the real world references, it's basically just a strange thing that makes stuff… except on Io.

Quikngruvn 19 Mar 2010 22:25

I made some tweaks here and there addressing some of the concerns that have been brought up here and in the chat. Hopefully it's a bit better.

RhettSarlin 20 Mar 2010 06:30

a little better but still lacks a hook. a crapload of unknown matter appears mysteriously and is swiftly destroyed. something to keep away from public knowledge so uncomfortable questions dont get asked, but not any kind of apparent threat at this time.

the only real concern comes from humanity's advancing technology and the potential for people to one day not only know about this but to go and try to examine it. is this material dangerous in some way? if it did not get destroyed in the lava flow on the moon's surface or if it were disturbed in some way would it become a threat? if not then it seems most likely to be an example of wormholes in action, a scientific curiosity but something that's impossible to properly contain and mostly insignificant outside of throwing certain theories into chaos while advancing others.

downvoted for now as it currently exists because if i were the Foundation i wouldnt try to actively keep this secret yet. i'll check back if it changes though, and upvote if it improves enough. i do like the initial concept and the directions it could be taken.

Quikngruvn 22 Mar 2010 01:33

OK. Hopefully I've addressed some points that have been brought up, but I'm wary of putting much more in. Forced brevity and such. Anyway, I'm calling it updated and let's see what happens.

tombones 22 Mar 2010 16:37

I still like this one, and I think you've fleshed the concept out about as much as you can without the description becoming cumbersome. For me, the "hook" since first reading has been the suggestion of some kind of significant extraterrestrial incursion in our solar system, either deliberate or as some kind of displacement accident. The bit about unknown symbols being present on some of the material solidifies that interpretation. It's Safe, and should remain that way.

tunedtoadeadchannel 22 Mar 2010 16:40

Much better. Upvoted.

Kimura Okagawa 22 Mar 2010 17:02

The Foundation hijacked cooperated with NASA, and used the crashed Mars rovers as a cover-up… Genius. And the last sentence about SCP-364 potentially moving elsewhere definitely ups the creep, as well as that the material could be artificial…

One thing about the picture, though. It's helpful that the place of interest was circled, but the weird reflectiveness and indentations, especially that odd shape just right of center… Was this a picture of a jawbreaker? Because that's about the only thing that came to mind when I saw that.

Quikngruvn 26 Mar 2010 03:53

Heh. The black backwards C is the ginormous eruptive center Loki. Basically a massive volcanic depression filled with a lava lake. Sounds rather scenic….

The picture was taken by the Galileo probe. Io is a neat place, actually. Hellish, but neat.

And thank you, Kimura, and everyone who read, commented, and voted.

kendrakirai 31 May 2010 13:51

Wormholes as garbage disposals, actually what they'd likely be used for by a race with the ability to generate them. Anything you can't recycle, you toss into a wormhole with the exit point above a black hole, star, or volcanic planetoid to be recycled cosmically. You'd need a monsterous amount of mass to appreciably alter whatever it is you're dumping into, and it lets you access the same dumping ground from potentially anywhere in the universe.

Oh, they'd be used for travel too, of course, but that's old hat.

It's occurred to me as well, that maybe this drop point is the other side of one or more of the SCPs the foundation chucks things into from time to time to see where they go.

Aridorn 17 Jul 2012 21:01

That's kind of what I thought too, I was almost waiting for the "On (date), a Foundation tracking device was briefly registered on sensors above Io and then ended" or something, heh.

Inconsequential 26 Sep 2012 13:23

It is worth mentioning that all the volcanoes on on Io are in fact Cryovolcanoes and are only operating at a temperature of 17° Celsius while the surrounding temperatures are around -143°. Therefore the cryovolcanoes are incapable of incinerating anything that we are familiar with. Does that mean that the volcanoes are vastly increasing their temperatures during the material drops or that the material being dropped is particularly vulnerable to 17° temperatures?

Last edited on 26 Sep 2012 13:24 by Inconsequential Show more

Quikngruvn 07 Dec 2012 03:02

It is worth mentioning that all the volcanoes on on Io are in fact Cryovolcanoes….

Unless Wikipedia is outright lying, the volcanoes on Io are not cryovolcanoes, but "regular" hot volcanoes spewing either basalt, sulfur, or ultramafic silicates. Io's heat comes from tidal forces due to its proximity to Jupiter and the effects of Europa and Ganymede on Io's orbit. To be sure, most of the volcanic objects in the outer Solar System are cryovolcanic, but Io is the exception because of its unique situation.

BPN 24 Dec 2012 06:11

I really like this until the last two sentences. Those point are the creep factor for this. Having a researcher outright say them bothers me when I feel it really should be left up to the reader to figure out why it's scary/weird.

IshmaelTibbs 29 Aug 2013 20:55

Eh, normally i love the more scientific/real world scps, but this falls flat on me. There's just too much hidden for it to hook. No vote leaning towards downvote.

AndarielHalo 13 Jan 2014 17:09

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeit, I was thinking of making an SCP almost exactly like this, but got beat to it apparently. IshmaelTibbs is right though; it ends too abruptly and thus fails to hook. Needs substantial additions and/or rewrite

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