SCP-2436
rating: +107+x

Item #: SCP-2436

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: An area of four square kilometers around the projected location of SCP-2436-1 is to be designated Site 431 and fenced off. Civilians who enter the area are to be removed with a minimum of force. Site 431 is to be staffed at all times by no less than three researchers and two guards, all of whom are to be fluent in Icelandic and experienced with the raising of livestock. Researchers assigned to Site 431 are to be trained in the handle and care of rare books. Ordinary operation of the farm located at Site 431 is to continue at all times, and any living, adult heirs of Hjörtur Ármannsson, legal owner of the farm prior to the establishment of Site 431, are to receive equal shares of a monthly stipend consisting of one half of the farm's net profits.

At no time is any significant alteration to the main Site 431 structure to be made, and any damages which occur are to be repaired immediately. Interpretation of what constitutes a major alteration to the structure is to be left to the discretion of the director of Site 431.

Former SCP-2436-2 instances are to be housed in a standard security locker in the cellar of the main Site 431 structure. Active SCP-2436-2 instances are to be accessible to all site research personnel, and kept on the ground floor of the main Site 431 structure at all times. Access to former SCP-2436-2 instances is to be by approval of the site director only.

The tunnel which leads to SCP-2436-1 is not to be entered or interacted with without prior approval from the site director. Individuals who enter the tunnel housing SCP-2436-1 are to be transported off-site and interviewed. If the individual is found to have become an SCP-2436-3 instance, they are to be administered amnestics and released. Otherwise, they are to be released immediately. Any Foundation personnel assigned to Site-431 and known to be susceptible to becoming an SCP-2436-3 instance are to be immediately reassigned to another location. Any signs of unprecedented activity by SCP-2436-1 are to be reported immediately to Regional Director Vigdís Vilhjálmsdóttir.

Full adherence to the laws of the Republic of Iceland is to be maintained by all Site 431 personnel whenever possible.

Description: SCP-2436-1 is a presumed humanoid of unknown appearance located 11 kilometers north of the village of ███████████████████, Skaftárhreppur, in the Republic of Iceland. SCP-2436-1 was discovered by Foundation agents on 1973-01-27, shortly following the ███████ eruption, when an abnormal number of visitors to the farm that Site 431 is now located on were detected. The reason for this visitation has not been clearly established, but investigation of the property revealed multiple anomalous effects were present.

Most immediately noticeable, there is a roughly circular tunnel 1.4 meters in diameter at its mouth located near the center of the property, into which no Foundation operative was immediately able to penetrate. Initial attempts to explore the tunnel invariably resulted in agents quickly becoming lost and returning to the entrance without ever discovering an opposite end to the tunnel, despite the tunnel appearing to be almost entirely straight. Prior to the discovery of the object currently classified as SCP-2436-1, assumed to be housed within and responsible for the anomalous properties of the tunnel, the tunnel itself was initially classified as SCP-2436-1.

Interviews of the residents of the farm revealed a number of superstitious beliefs regarding SCP-2436-1, most prominently a belief that there was a fairy, troll, elf, or member of the huldufólk1 living inside the tunnel, and that it controlled access to the deeper extents of the tunnel. Interviews also revealed that residents credited this entity with the success of the farm over the course of several generations, with most residents readily supplying anecdotes of unusual good fortune occurring on the farm.

While residents were initially willing to answer the questions of Foundation agents and host them within the farmhouse, all were adamant that nobody outside of the family of Hjörtur Ármannsson be permitted to enter the cellar of the house. Foundation agents initially agreed to this, but took the opportunity to investigate the cellar as soon as the house was fully vacant of all residents.

In the cellar of the farmhouse, Foundation agents discovered a storage chest containing 26 handwritten journals dating from the apparent establishment of the farm in 1787 to the then-present year. A 27th journal was found on a writing desk, vibrating open to a blank entry dated to the current day. When the object, currently designated SCP-2436-2, was approached by a Foundation agent, text appeared on the opened page, stating, "I will be notifying the residents of your intrusion."

The Foundation agents investigating the site then departed to avoid confrontation. Upon receiving reports of their findings, the Foundation applied all necessary pressures to obtain legal ownership of the property now designated Site 431, and to acquire all 26 journals understood to be former SCP-2436-2 instances. The active SCP-2436-2 instance was not recovered, and is assumed to have been taken by one of Site 431's former residents, but it has not been discerned who took it or where it has been relocated to.

Attempts to locate the SCP-2436-2 instance active at the time of the discovery of SCP-2436 are ongoing. It is not known if SCP-2436-2 instances are capable of being used to communicate with SCP-2436-1 when removed from the area of Site-431. The active SCP-2436-2 instance under Foundation control has never demonstrated this ability, but the nature of the object makes conclusive findings on this matter an impossibility.

Following the initial assignment of Foundation personnel to Site 431 and the removal of all civilians from the area on 1973-02-05, the ground surrounding the main Site 431 structure in a radius of 20 meters shook violently for a period of five days. No damage to the structure was sustained. At the cessation of the shaking, a journal of similar size and composition to the 26 former SCP-2436-2 instances was found at the doorstep of the main Site 431 structure. Inside, a journal entry dated to 1973-02-10 was found, stating the following:

I was not familiar with your organization until the arrival of your spies some days ago. I am not impressed with what I understand to be its purpose. I am not impressed with what I understand to be the methods by which it functions. I am not pleased that your organization has displaced those that I have made a pact with. I do not intend to cooperate with your organization's objectives in this or any other place. I will advise that others do not cooperate with your organization. I will not tolerate interruption or disruption of my duties for the duration of your stay here. I would be well-pleased if you were to return legal ownership in the eyes of the Republic of Iceland to those I have previously approved.

19 days following the establishment of Site 431, after several attempts to explore the tunnel housing SCP-2436-1 resulted in failure, Researcher Jóna Steinsdóttir underwent an unauthorized expedition into the tunnel while off-duty, apparently prompted by a message in SCP-2436-2 directed specifically to her, which she blotted out in ink prior to leaving the main Site-431 structure. Researcher Jóna Steinsdóttir evidently successfully navigated the tunnel and reached SCP-2436-1, whereupon either direct contact or verbal conversation with the object caused Researcher Jóna to believe that it was imperative that Site 431 be abandoned and Foundation containment of SCP-2436 discontinued. Following her return to the surface, Researcher Jóna attempted several acts of covert sabotage of Site 431, including the destruction of Foundation firearms, equipment, and food and medical supplies. Researcher Jóna's sabotage attempts did not include any activities that could have directly caused damage to the main Site 431 structure, or to the health of any Foundation personnel.

Three hours after her return to the surface, Researcher Jóna was apprehended and, following an analysis of her behavior, was designated as the first known SCP-2436-3 instance. An interview followed, which, in combination with the collection of former SCP-2436-2 instances located at Site 431, contributed most of the information we have about the motives and habits of SCP-2436-1.

Following this interview, an attempt to alter the memories of Researcher Jóna through the use of proto-amnestics in order to forget her encounter with SCP-2436-1 proved successful in curtailing her desire to circumvent containment. Following this, Researcher Jóna's classification as an SCP-2436-3 instance was suspended. Forty minutes following the reversion in Researcher Jóna's classification, a new message was found in SCP-2436-2, as follows:

I can see clearly that I was correct in assuming the worst of your organization. You plunder and destroy what is not yours to take. You have no respect for the natural rights of others; only for your own control. You have no respect for your stated purpose.

Following the reception of this message, the main Site 431 structure experienced tremors for a period of one hour. No damage to the structure was sustained.

Experimentation and observation over the course of SCP-2436's containment has shown that susceptibility to becoming an SCP-2436-3 instance correlates strongly with high levels of empathy and low levels of loyalty to the Foundation, where applicable. Correspondingly, civilians and nonviolent D-Class personnel who enter Site-431, in particular but not exclusively those who interact with the active SCP-2436-2 instance housed there, are at significantly more risk of becoming SCP-2436-3 instances than traditionally employed Foundation personnel.

Notably, though SCP-2436-3 instances demonstrate an ability to destroy materials as if by crushing them with great force, this ability has never been directly observed, and does not appear to correspond to any increase in the physical strength or other abilities of SCP-2436-3 instances. This ability is completely non-evident in all former SCP-2436-3 instances.

Addendum 1: SCP-2436-2 instances represent a significant wealth of knowledge regarding the nature and intentions of SCP-2436-1, both in regards to their composition and to the text written within them. All known former SCP-2436-2 instances are 18.3x13.1x2.6cm in dimension, 81 pages in length and bound with horse leather. The active SCP-2436-2 instance located at Site 431 appears to be bound in wolf leather but is otherwise identical to previous instances. All subsequent SCP-2436-2 instances appear to be based on the first known SCP-2436-2 instance, a journal originally owned by Bjartur Eiríksson.2

The first SCP-2436-2 instance appears to have been used for some time preceding the establishment of the farm and the first 23 pages are filled with the owner's thoughts regarding agriculture, religion, then-contemporary politics, and his personal life. Partway through the 24th page, text written in a different handwriting begins to appear. Subsequently to this, most text written in the original handwriting appears to be directed at SCP-2436-1, which SCP-2436-1 inconsistently responds to.

Included below are several notable excerpts from both former SCP-2436-2 instances and the active SCP-2436-2 instance.

Addendum 2: SCP-2436-1's exact location underground is difficult to ascertain. Use of sonar and other imaging technologies invariably results in pictures of completely solid ground throughout the projected area of the tunnel SCP-2436-1 inhabits. Additionally, because personnel sent to investigate the tunnel invariably return to the surface either claiming to have found the tunnel impossible to navigate, or having become SCP-2436-3 instances, attempts to explore the tunnel manually have been halted indefinitely. Following experiment series B, attempts to explore the tunnel through use of drones, or to penetrate the tunnel from another location have been halted indefinitely.

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