Item #: SCP-8199
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: Subjects affected by SCP-8199 should be administered Class-B amnestics. In case amnestic treatment fails to eliminate the memories and compulsions associated with the phenomenon, a Foundation agent will be assigned to monitor the subject and intervene if necessary.
Description: SCP-8199 is a phenomenon that mainly affects teenagers and young adults. SCP-8199 initially manifests in the REM phase of sleep through lucid dreaming. The specific content of the dream varies for each subject with the following common elements found:
- Favorite fiction tropes consumed by the subject
- Inferiority complex on the subject's part
- Presence of a mentor
- Purpose unachievable by conventional methods
Upon awakening, the subject will begin to perform actions focused on the attainment of their purpose. The steps taken to achieve the purpose are a set of actions referred to by the subject as goals. These goals are everyday tasks perceived under the perspective of their preferred tropes. The specific content of the goals varies for each subject, but they always begin in environments that are familiar to the subject. If the subject perceives a third party's intention to intervene or sabotage the pursuit of a goal, they will react violently, assaulting the subject by non-anomalous means. The outcome of the confrontation, even though it depends partially on the physical capabilities of the subject, concludes in a defeat of the subject in most cases.
After achieving a goal, the subject will be apathetic, drowsy, and irritable, avoiding new activities or concluding other ongoing activities.
If an individual from their close environment, such as a friend or family member, tries to discuss the rationality of the goal or the motivation for the behavior, the subject will ignore their reasoning and walk away, ending the conversation. The severity of the symptoms associated with the phenomenon increases proportionally to the number of goals achieved by the subject, temporarily subsiding by performing tasks related to the achievement of a new goal.
After achieving an undetermined number of goals, the affected subject will receive a final goal, the objective of which is to find a subject that they identify as their mentor and whose existence was evidenced in the initial dream associated with SCP-8199. This goal is always performed by the subject alone and ends in passing through a portal to the location of the mentor. If the mentor in the dream had died as an instigator for the goal, the subject would leave a memento on their grave. When the subject enters the portal, they disappear from the reference reality and cannot be retrieved.
Discovery: SCP-8199 was discovered following a series of apparently unrelated Extranormal Events around the world between 2002 and 2004. The first Extranormal Events documented the emergence of the portal that would later be associated with the last goal of SCP-8199. Interviews of the social circles of the missing persons revealed that they suffered from low self-esteem, lack of role models, lack of concentration, few or no friendships, and no future prospects. Months previous their disappearance, the subjects began to exhibit erratic behavior, seeking to justify the completion of seemingly everyday tasks with out-of-the-ordinary reasoning. The missing subjects were drowsy and apathetic after completing the respective tasks, and aggressive when they were prevented from completing them. The matching of elements between the missing people was the basis for establishing the SCP-8199 file.
Abridged List of Subjects Affected by SCP-8199:
| Subject Designation | Description of the Goal | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| SCP-8199-4 | Prepare 400 hamburgers in 8 non-consecutive hours on the same day. The hamburger meat must be medium rare. For every 8 burgers, the inside of the burger should contain no animal products except hamburger meat. The top bun must have an odd amount of sesame seeds and bear the subject's signature ketchup. | Approval of the application for admission to Ristorante Meraviglia, owned by Chef Alessandro Giovanni. The venue only accepts subjects between 18 and 25 years old due to a policy of providing "avant-garde cuisine". |
| SCP-8199-11 | Burn 100 newspapers to create a portal where the subject will find themselves at their mentor's grave. On each newspaper, the subject will cut out the first letter of 1 random title and write down a number from 1 to 100 at random on the back of each clipping. When finished, the subject will light a bonfire with the newspapers, take the first clipping, close their eyes, and try to guess the number, and so on and so forth until the last clipping. If 50% of the numbers are correct, the portal will open and the subject will disappear from the baseline reality. | Attaining the position of "Grand Psychic" after the death of their mentor Conrad Weber. Before his death, Conrad Weber left an encrypted message detailing the position of enemy fortresses to be conquered, the number of troops, and army routines. |
| SCP-8199-42 | Feeding on stray animals and tree fruits in the city where the subject resides. The subject must make their tools before hunting and gathering their food. Materials may be obtained by illicit means, but not in an aggressive way. At dusk, the subject must seek shelter and cease their tasks until dawn. | Finding the subject's alleged father. The subject believes that their current biological father is their mother's second partner, who met a figure known as "Reinhart, the First Pilgrim." The subject argues that Reinhart met their mother 14 years ago and they were destined to meet each other. The subject's mother was unable to accompany him due to her mortality, so he ordered her to care for their son until they discovered their lineage. As a last act to protect his partner and the subject, Reinhart persuaded the subject's current biological father to lend his appearance to hide them from "the dark horsemen." |
Update: During the 2010s and 2020s, the elements of SCP-8199 began to change. SCP-8199 dreams began to include characters and settings from existing intellectual properties, with an emphasis on the presence of superheroes in the modern day, the spirit cultivation subgenre of xianxia fiction, and the isekai genre in Japanese fiction and its equivalents in neighboring countries. Another figure has been noted that sometimes replaces the mentor, called the "love interest". The love interest will be of the subject's preferred sexual orientation and will focus their goals on them.
The minimum age range of SCP-8199 has been decreased to include pre-teens between 9 and 12 years old. The content used in the dreams consists of fictional characters created by streamers, characters appearing in free-to-play mobile games, characters from viral YouTube videos, and rarely, characters from Western animation. More often than not, these dreams will lack a mentor and the goals given are more erratic. Also, SCP-8199's effect often disappears before reaching the final goal, preventing underage subjects to disappear from the baseline reality.