SCP-5146 / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page SCP-5146.

author post

daviiid 06 Nov 2020 01:03

[…] The more accurate the map, the more it resembles the territory. The most accurate map possible would be the territory, and thus would be perfectly accurate and perfectly useless. The tale is the map that is the territory.

- Neil Gaiman, American Gods

In late 2007, the people of Bikini Atoll lost a lawsuit against the U.S. Government for its refusal to pay reparations for their displacement due to American nuclear testing on their land. This is about that, sort of. More broadly, it's about homesickness, and immigration, and not having somewhere to return to- but it's also under 500 words long, so I'd rather not get too far ahead of myself there.

This piece took about three hours from start to finish, and was written on impulse in a single sitting. Thanks for reading!

Edit: It seems some key elements of the anomaly aren't quite as clear to some readers as I would have hoped they'd be- if you're one if them, hopefully my replies to the earlier comments in the discussion will clear some of that up for you!

Last edited on 06 Nov 2020 10:11 by daviiid Show more

+1

(account deleted) 06 Nov 2020 02:07

At first I thought I was too dumb to get this but then I really really liked it

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I'll be crossing you in style, someday!

Re: +1

Elunerazim 06 Nov 2020 02:31

I'm still too dumb to get this but I still really really liked it.

Re: +1

daviiid 06 Nov 2020 10:04

Well, I'm really really really glad you enjoyed it anyway! I think it's my bad on not explaining this one clearly enough- hopefully my updated author post and replies to other comments in the discussion will make how it works a little bit clearer.

Re: +1

(account deleted) 07 Nov 2020 02:23

I don't think it's not explained clearly enough, I just needed to think about it a little to get it! But that's just me.

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I'll be crossing you in style, someday!

Re: +1

daviiid 06 Nov 2020 10:03

Thank you! I'm really really glad you liked it!

Edit: Wow these are nesting strangely for some reason, if I'm the one that did that I sincerely apologize. o7Z

Last edited on 06 Nov 2020 10:08 by daviiid Show more

AnEndlessUsername 06 Nov 2020 04:03

+ Some squabbles

The continued presence of SCP-5146 within the area of the Pacific Islands Territory is to be verified bimonthly via standard checks of the Foundation's routinely updated mapping satellite footage.

• I don't think "the" is used properly in this sentence. I can tell by context that it refers to "the area that it is in", but I think "its" would work better here.

The continued presence of SCP-5146 within its area of the Pacific Islands Territory is to be verified bimonthly via standard checks of the Foundation's routinely updated mapping satellite footage.

• Also, bimonthly is ambiguous, meaning twice a month or every two months. I think an organization like the SCPF would avoid using it for this reason.

These aren't a big deal, just some things that caught my eye.

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Overall, It's a short article that I think doesn't give me enough to chew on. I appreciate enjoyment form just the general atmosphere that something like this gives off, but I think atmosphere isn't mutually exclusive with actually leaving a lasting impression with a thorough exploration of either the anomaly or the story. It's incredible close, but unfortunately I don't no-vote. -1

daviiid 06 Nov 2020 09:51

Thanks for the grammar check!
I'm sorry to hear there isn't enough meat on this one for you. It's intentionally very short and rather ambiguous because I wanted to write something that carried itself more on concept and atmosphere, something that would be more a jumping-off point for the reader's own thoughts than a cut-and-dry narrative. I do see I may have gone a little too far in my efforts though, so that one's on me. Thanks for the read regardless!

WizzBlizz 06 Nov 2020 08:12

SCP-5146 was brought to the Foundation's attention during a routine database comparison of satellite footage collected during the months of December 2007 and February 2008, when the object was recorded within waters that had been previously designated as unoccupied. Due to the presence of mature vegetation visible on its surface and the lack of seismic or volcanic activity in the area during that time period, the object was issued a provisory designation

Are we still talking about the map here? Or is this the island on the map?

daviiid 06 Nov 2020 09:56

The island is the map, and the map is the island. The quote I've stuck up at the start of my author post actually explains the idea pretty well- It's a play on the concept of map-territory relation, where in this case what makes the object anomalous is the fact that it is a map so ideally capturing the thing it was supposed to represent that it has become the territory itself. As this isn't something that's actually possible to do in real life and constitutes something of a paradox, therein lies the anomaly.

Sirslash47 06 Nov 2020 08:21

You are confusing me by the following sentences (might just be my interpretation skills tbh):

• "The continued presence of SCP-5146 within the area of the Pacific Islands Territory-"
• SCP-5146 is a 1:1 scale map of an unnamed stony island-

Despite you stating that it is a map, I feel really confused. Additionally with the manmade structures and vegetation you mention I don't get if the object is an island or a map now. Perhaps it comes because they would indeed have the same description.

Since the nature of the object is confusing to me, the discovery etc. also don't make 100% sense as a result. The only thing I can imagine now is either the Foundation found an island and just labeled it as an anomalous object, or that it is a floating map on the sea with vegetation, manmade structures etc.
(Not to be disrespectful but when I read an SCP, I try to imagine it and this was stuck in my head.)

I like what you are going for and the extra details you added like the migratory birds but I will probably need to reread this later. For now this sadly is a -1.

Last edited on 06 Nov 2020 08:21 by Sirslash47 Show more

daviiid 06 Nov 2020 10:02

Hey, thanks for the read! Sorry to hear this one confused you, from the feedback I'm getting I think I may not have been quite clear enough about this one. Hopefully my replies to the comments above yours will clear things up a little, but either way- you're actually pretty much right on both counts, and the fact that it's both is what makes it anomalous. It's a map so ideal that it is an island, essentially, which makes it very much useless as a map regardless of how good of an island it is. The anomaly here lies in the nature of the object itself, which is why it's written the way it is- the Foundation knows what it is, but it's not something that should be able to exist.
Either way, thank you for taking the time to read and I hope this makes things clearer!

Sirslash47 06 Nov 2020 12:52

Thanks, I thought about that option too but I didn't know if that was right. Thanks for clarifying and also props on the speed in which you answered.

I read it again and changed my rating.

Koshet Starr 08 Dec 2020 21:58

It took me a bit to realize the implications of a 1:1 scale map of an island. I was going to downvote until I took a minute to re-read after thinking "This has got to have more to it I know I'm missing something." My mistake, with that in consideration I quite enjoyed it.
+1

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For more info contact Dr. Starr via private message.

daviiid 08 Dec 2020 22:55

Thank you! I'm glad you managed to get it and ended up enjoying the article.

Looking through the Young and <30

Nils Severin 20 Feb 2021 09:58

This article carries a lot of potential, with a really enjoyable concept. The structure of the article works really well and I was intrigued while reading it. However, it is still hard to catch the point, not because the point needs to be explicitly stated, it don't, but because the coherence of the article is pretty badly setup. What carries superb weight in this article is the Description, which as of now carries some contradictions such as: "…. is a 1:1 map" in combination with "displays no other anomalous properties and is geologically similar to the islands present in the area". First of all, isn't this a part of the anomaly? Why is it important from the get-go to state that there are no other anomalous properties? And also, I can't really conclude if the map is a map or if the map is the territory or both. Is the island just a fabric? No, because then it wouldn't be geologically different from other islands. The author surely has a clear picture in his head of how they see the object, but the reader needs to obtain this view as well at the end of the article somehow. This can be done by removing some distractions, rather than removing the mystery.

With that said, I believe this article carries something really great and that it can be massively improved.

+1