SCP-9375

"Who invented suffering?"

Item #: SCP-9375

Object Class: Neutralized

Special Containment Procedures: Any paleontological evidence of SCP-9375 or SCP-9375-B is to be confiscated and its discovery discredited. Confiscated evidence is to be kept in the paleontological wing of the closest available site for further study.

Description: SCP-9375 refers to a set of thaumaturgy-based mechanical entities that inhabited earth during the Ediacaran period, approximately 555 million years ago. While it is currently believed that there was a small population of SCP-9375, a disproportionately large amount of fossils have survived on account of various thaumaturgic enhancements to their durability.

SCP-9375 possessed a trapezoidal body of 80 centimetres in height, of side lengths 30 centimeters at base and 20 centimeters at top, similar in shape to a square-based cowbell. At each of the four wider corners a jointed limb used to walk on the seafloor was attached, while at the centre of each side of the base was a large bladed appendage. Fossils show four holes on the body, one at the center of each trapezoidal face. While early reconstructions assumed these holes to be eyes, it is now believed that these holes served to regulate internal pressure through unknown mechanisms. Their body is believed to have been composed of a mixture of various thaumaturgically conductive alloys, the vast majority of which could not have existed on Earth naturally at the time. It is theorised that SCP-9375's sensing and balancing were performed using glyphs and mechanisms that have decayed over time.

SCP-9375-B refers to an extinct aquatic animal, believed to have been the last common ancestor of all bilaterian life.¹ Remains indicate a vermiform body ranging from 1.5 millimeters to 7 centimeters in length possessing simple eyes and a basic nervous system, similar to basal Xenacoelomorpha. Between paleontological sites in the White Sea and in Ediacara Hills, 125 total fossils have been recovered. The number of fossils are attributed to SCP-9375-B's abundance on account of being the sole occupant of its ecological niche.

Most recovered fossils of SCP-9375-B appear to have been cut severely by SCP-9375. Damage indicates that SCP-9375 would patrol ocean floor regions in search of SCP-9375-B, which it would then slice in order to sever key neural pathways, employing minimal effort while ensuring lethality.

This behaviour is shown to have drastically reduced the population of SCP-9375-B, wiping out large populations of the species and the organisms dependent on it. This is evidenced by a substantial drop in biodiversity in the fossil record around the time SCP-9375 was active.

Evidence taken from surrounding materials indicates a major build-up of Akiva radiation occurred around this time,² believed to have been emitted by the fatally wounded SCP-9375-B. This radiation correlates strongly with several phenomena observed around a similar time:

• The mass diversification of SCP-9375-B into Bilateria.
• The rapid loss of function and collapse of instances of SCP-9375.
• Formation of pentagonal structures surrounding fossils of SCP-9375 and SCP-9375-B.
• The redevelopment of radial symmetry within deuterostome Bilateria.

Notably, alongside SCP-9375, fossils resembling five-pointed Asterozoa³ have been discovered, despite these fossils being substantially older than the earliest traces of such organisms in the fossil record.

Footnotes

1. Grouping that includes the vast majority of extant animal life including humans. The common ancestor of all bilaterian life is referred to in biology as "Urbilaterian".

2. A form of energy produced by sentient life when performing, attempting, or being made a party in spiritual or religious communication.

3. Commonly known as starfish and brittle stars.