SCP-4689 / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page SCP-4689.

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In which Ihp decides to write Flash Fiction.

(account deleted) 12 Sep 2019 19:28

I had this idea at work the other night, after randomly remembering a sign I used to see all the time when I went to the zoo as a kid. It's a kind of depressing thought, and this originally had a depressing ending, but then I decided "You know what? We need a win once in a while."

Thanks to TheMightyMcB, Weryllium, DrAkimoto, and Ellie3, among others, for critting this.

Image taken from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lion_waiting_in_Namibia.jpg licensed under CC 2.0 Generic.

peppermint_legos 12 Sep 2019 19:57

It's suitably weird and executed well, but the ending doesn't really sit well with me.

The Ethics Committee is expected to debate the issue of whether or not the preservation of endangered species falls under the Foundation's purview in early 2020

I would never for a second believe that the Ethics Committee would entertain this agenda item. It's not The Foundation's place to preserve endangered species, and if that were to change, I'd want it to cause more of a stir than this. But as it is, I just can't suspend disbelief to consider that storyline because it's so far removed from The Foundation's mission.

Last edited on 12 Sep 2019 19:57 by peppermint_legos Show more

bibliolatry 01 Oct 2019 23:39

The foundation owes a really huge tax for all of the awful shit they do, even beyond just preserving normalcy; is it really that out there that they wouldn't object to using some of their infinite resources to improve the world?

TheMightyMcB 12 Sep 2019 19:58

Coming back to this after reading a preliminary draft, and wow, this is damn excellent Ihp! Leaps and bounds better than the version I saw in chat, and a fine skip in its own right. Easy +1.

+1

gee0765 12 Sep 2019 20:49

I really like this, it's very interesting and pretty unlike anything I've seen before. However, I'd recommend sticking a [[footnoteblock]] before the RAISA notice, as the footnote seems to have come from the future with the actual article, so should not be below the present-day message.

A Random Day 13 Sep 2019 03:02

This one doesn’t work for me because the “sad premise” doesn’t fall under the Foundation’s modus operandi; there are numerous cases of animals being presumed extinct in the wild until some small population or specimen is located, most notably the coelacanth. Even if lions have been extinct long enough for people to not recognize them in the future, it simply doesn’t make sense for the Foundation to pretend that they’re anomalous. And without that, the entire article falls apart.

Nathanoraptor13 15 Oct 2019 19:03

Reading this again, I came to the conclusion that the lions ended up in the future via anomalous means; the fact there appears to be a big time-travel component in the story (given the end note) seemed to support this.

The idea of a conservationist messing around with time travel to give endangered species a second chance in the future is just too interesting to ignore; it's like that show Prehistoric Park in reverse.

DrLevy 13 Sep 2019 09:23

Like everyone else, I just don't believe the Ethics Committee would actually give a toss about having preserving endangered species be a mission of the Foundation. Their sole purpose is to contain anomalous items and/or keep them isolated from the rest of the world. It's a promising concept, but the final note kind of spoils it for me. No vote for now.

aismallard 14 Sep 2019 23:43

Yeah I liked the piece, but the Ethics Committee stuff, both in the document and in the notice, really felt out of place. I don't think the piece would be hurt at all if they were cut. (Maybe have the lions die out due to the aforementioned advanced age).

MrNomas 17 Sep 2019 13:04

They would be interested in who wrote the note and how they sent it back. They might consider saving the lions to stop that person from obtaining that information. Just a thought.

Nathanoraptor13 30 Sep 2019 13:05

The lion has been depicted in culture for over 30,000 years; it's one of the best-known animals on the planet. It's odd that they just got forgotten about after a century; there's an implication that every piece of film, art and literature that ever depicted or referred to lions is gone.

So, the implication could be that there was some sort of event, which not only led to the mass extinction of a good portion of animals on Earth, but also erased the majority of human culture.

Or lions as a species have some sort of anomalous quality; after all, it seems a little odd that one of the most-depicted animals on Earth, culturally, just got forgotten about after a century.

So, the Foundation is either averting an possibly anomalous-induced environmental apocalypse or protecting an anomalous species. Part of their remit is to protect anomalies, not just contain them.

Aceofmoxes 19 Sep 2019 16:46

Will Disney even let children forget about lions?

Sam2AirMissile 19 Sep 2019 20:00

Same with what everyone else is saying, the Ethics Committee message about helping endangered animals feels slightly out of place, however it could be improved by mentioning some SCP-200-esqe procedures to prevent extinctions caused specifically by anomalies, or ways to bring species back after an anomalous event (like the future article)

Still a +1, seeing the future EC make that kinda decision is a realistic, if not saddening, outcome

al90 22 Sep 2019 21:06

So this is just regular lions that are considered anomalous in the future because they were believed to have been extinct? Unless there's something I'm missing, that just doesn't at all work for me, so I have to downvote.

Nathanoraptor13 30 Sep 2019 12:54

I'm guessing the implication is that lions as a species had some sort of anomalous quality to imprint themselves on the human subconscious that went when the last one died.

The fact that nobody knew what they were in their freaking former homeland, but were only recognized as such when people heard about them/saw images of them supports that theory.

Nathanoraptor13 30 Sep 2019 12:52

I love this skip.

However, I feel it would work better with a more obscure, but still endangered, animal, rather than one of the best-known animals on Earth. The lion has been depicted in culture for over 30,000 years.

Is the implication that every piece of film, art and literature that ever depicted or referred to lions disappeared with them, to the point where only the Foundation knows what they are?

Or… was the implication that Panthera leo as a species was anomalous? That they had some sort of ability to imprint themselves on the human subconscious that went when the last one died?

Either implication is unsettling - either there was some sort of event, which not only led to the mass extinction of a good portion of animals on Earth, but also erased the majority of human culture, or that an entire species is inherently anomalous.

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