SCP-1348
rating: +458+x

Item #: SCP-1348

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: Due to the impossibility of transport, SCP-1348 is contained on-site at the Site 87 Archaeological Containment Unit, 81 kilometers southeast of El Taebah, Syria, in the Jabal al-Druze mountains. Compartmentalized containment duties are assigned to C-1348-A ("Team A") and C-1348-B ("Team B"). With the exception of biweekly containment review meetings between Site Director Binyamin Kahn and Team B Director █████ ██████, communications between Teams A and B are to occur only in Conference Room 2a. To minimize the risk of cross-contamination, all inter-team communications related to ritual standards and performances must be conducted via a staff member belonging to Y-chromosomal haplotype CMH-6.

Containment Team A shall be comprised of Foundation employees recommended by Class 4 site supervisory personnel, subject to disqualification for the following reasons:

  • Present membership in a religious faith.
  • Prior exposure to a registered memetic agent.
  • Fluency in Amharic, Ge'ez, Aramaic, or any Southern Semitic language.
  • Prior exposure to transmissions from SCP-████.

Team A duties include providing ritual supplies necessary to perform SCP-1348-02, monitoring Team B and civilian celebrants for compliance, selecting celebrants for participation in ritual containment, providing updated protocols for daily performances of SCP-1348-02, monitoring members of Team B during furloughs from the containment area, and developing and executing Protocol 228-MELECHAH. At no time shall personnel involved in 228-MELECHAH be exposed to recordings or transcripts of SCP-1348-02, enter SCP-1348-03, or be permitted to view the remains of SCP-1348-01-E.

Candidates for Containment Team B shall be selected from individuals matrilineally descended from Druze, Mandean, and Mizrahi Jewish populations. Membership in Y-chromosomal haplotype CMH-6 is strictly disqualifying. Due to practical difficulties in locating suitable candidates in Foundation employment, Class Omega civilian celebrants with appropriate genealogy may be substituted for Foundation personnel with approval of the Site Director. At dawn, noon, and dusk, selected celebrants are to perform SCP-1348-02 according to present ritual protocols.

At all times, ritual celebrants are to behave according to the prescribed ritual purity codes specified in documents 742-KITAB and 983-RASA'IL, as well as additional protocols instituted by Team A. To the extent that such purity codes conflict by mandating the forbidden or forbidding the mandatory, celebrants may register individual ethical preferences with the Site Director. To avoid inadvertent ingestion of ritually impure substances, celebrants belonging to Team B are to receive parenteral nutrition only, delivered under ritual supervision by Director █████ ██████. Due to ongoing risk of memetic transference, performance of SCP-1348-02 is authorized only when necessary for the containment of SCP-1348-03.

Members of Team B and civilian celebrants are permitted to exit the inner containment area, contact family members, or access classified Foundation documents only upon written permission from the Site Director. Violation of central containment protocols constitutes grounds for immediate implementation of Protocol 228-MELECHAH and transfer of primary containment responsibilities to the 228-MELECHAH team.

Description: SCP-1348 is a modified cave complex located 81 kilometers from El Taebah, Syria, in the Jabal al-Druze mountains. Upon initial discovery by IAEA monitors on 03/06/2006, the complex was believed to house a Syrian reactor. Subsequent Israeli air strikes on the site resulted in the discovery of three unknown chambers. Per intergovernmental compact with the Israeli and Syrian governments, Foundation agents responded, containing SCP-1348-01, 02, and 03 and constructing the Site 87 Containment Unit.

1348-2.jpg

DETAIL: SCP-1348-03, interior chamber bas-relief.

SCP-1348-01-E is an anomalous humanoid originally observed performing the ritual practice now designated as SCP-1348-02 inside the SCP-1348 ritual complex. On ██/██/████, three weeks after initial containment, the subject entered status epilepticus and died. During containment, subject produced three utterances in an unknown Southern Semitic language, but otherwise made no attempts to communicate with Foundation staff. Food, water, and bedding were declined. Intravenous nutrition proved impossible. Subject otherwise exhibited no anomalous behavior. For autopsy results, consult Document SCP-1348-SMR-9.

SCP-1348-02 is a ritual practice of unknown provenance. Spoken portions of SCP-1348-02 are performed in an unknown Southern Semitic language. When adequately performed by individuals meeting unclear ritual criteria, SCP-1348-02 prevents full retraction of the veil surrounding SCP-1348-03, an obligatory precursor event in scenarios XK-734, XK-918, and XK-337. At present, details of the religious faith underlying SCP-1348-02, ritual criteria necessary for adequate participation in SCP-1348-02, and the causal mechanism connecting SCP-1348-02 with the retraction of the veil are speculative or unknown.

When performed by appropriate celebrants, adequate performances of SCP-1348-02 are memetically virulent, inducing suggestibility, religious mania, and desire to perform the ritual practice in 38% of exposures. Repeated exposure results in ritually-themed obsessive compulsion. The memetic transmission rate of SCP-1348-02 appears to increase as successive revisions approach the ideal state. For unknown reasons, members of haplotype CMH-6 appear to be immune to the adverse effects of this memetic transference. While present transcripts and recordings of SCP-1348-02 are not believed to be virulent, existing containment guidelines require certified Foundation linguists to minimize active exposure to full ritual recordings.

SCP-1348-03 is the central chamber of the SCP-1348 complex. Due to high neutron flux, the chamber was originally believed to be a storage site for high-grade radioactive waste or an unshielded reactor core. Initial investigation of the chamber by remote drone revealed an elaborate rectangular chamber, decorated in a proto-Semitic style. Repeated motifs include rams, serpents, slaughtered bulls, wounded lions, hawks, and depictions of ritual practices similar to SCP-1348-02. In the center of the room is a raised platform with a 9 meter radius, surrounded by cylindrical sheath constructed of beryllium bronze. At dawn, noon, and dusk, the sheath retracts, causing neutron flux inside SCP-1348-03 to increase to lethal levels. Performance of SCP-1348-02 appears to provide celebrants with substantial protection against radiation poisoning, and results in complete closure of the outer sheath.

Attempts to view the area within the sheath, except by celebrants during performances of SCP-1348-02, have been unsuccessful. Celebrants, including Foundation staff, are unable or unwilling to disclose the inner region's contents. For certified information concerning the veiled region of SCP-1348-03, Class 4 staff may consult Document SCP-1348-SMR-11.

Addenda:

O5 ACCESS REQUIRED: FINAL INCIDENT REVIEW, SCP-1348-ICL-8

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