SCP-2098
rating: +176+x

Item #: SCP-2098

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: All containment efforts are directed towards surveillance of Prime Susceptibility Communities and rapid mobilization of venue disruption teams upon confirmation of a SCP-2098 Phase 2 event.

Site-23's two dedicated PSC-2098 monitoring team members are to maintain media oversight of yet-unaffected Prime Susceptibility Communities as their sole function. GenStat Team 88-Bartleby is to maintain the ongoing global media search procedures for SCP-2098 activity outside of Prime Susceptibility Communities at a Priority 3 in their duty cycle (to be altered as necessary by site management, RAISA, or O5 mandate).

Containment teams stationed in active SCP-2098 communities are to monitor and maintain an accurate record of all instances of "Saint Simon's Day" and intervene to prevent virulent behaviors in any SCP-2098 vectors. SCP-2098-Red vectors should be taken into custody under the guise of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and remanded to Site-23 for analysis and disposal. Containment teams are to use standard hearing protection when attempting to contain any potential SCP-2098-Red vector.

Local monitoring teams are to be stationed in any community affected by a SCP-2098 event, regardless of whether or not disruption was successful. Expanded local mass media surveillance (to include delivery methods such as skywriting, smartphone-based advertising, and faith-based community outreach) should continue indefinitely until further research determines the long-term effects of event exposure on community susceptibility.

Sanctioned venue disruption can range from simply renting the facility/space in question to making it permanently uninhabitable in extreme cases. Venue disruption has proven effective in preventing 100% of SCP-2098 events detected before Phase 3 begins. This requires a minimum of resources or long-term intervention in most cases. All available notifications (banners, flyers, posters, pamphlets, videotapes, etc.) of an SCP-2098 event are to be collected following its conclusion regardless of its success or failure.

Description: SCP-2098 is most easily understood as a "virulent holiday". SCP-2098 is the cumulative reference for a series of anomalous phenomena and behaviors which overwrite existing human perception of a calendar date (or dates) with the belief that the date in question is a holiday designated "Saint Simon's Day". In practice, SCP-2098 behaves in a manner roughly analogous to a pathogen, infecting human perception of the calendar date through self-replicating SCP-2098 events. These events alter human perception of the date to varying degrees in order to sustain existing perceptive anomalies and/or propagate further events. It is theorized that without intervention, 100% of the human population would perceive and "celebrate" Saint Simon's Day every calendar day within twenty-six (26) years, resulting in an XB-Class Perceptive Restructuring Scenario.

To date, all communities experiencing an SCP-2098 event have been located in American-held states and territories which do not observe Daylight Savings Time, and have been in existence as distinct civic entities no earlier than January 1st, 1969. Communities meeting these criteria are designated Prime Susceptibility Communities. There is currently no evidence of an SCP-2098 event occurring prior to 1969, though research is ongoing to determine if the SCP-2098 effect is new and unique only to this geographic/legislative region, or if it exists/has existed with differing parameters elsewhere. Though events have thus far only taken place in this limited range, SCP-2098-Red vectors can easily transmit infection to communities and individuals outside this zone. Due to Foundation intervention, no documented infection has yet taken root outside of a Prime Susceptibility Community.

SCP-2098 phenomena proceed along a currently predictable course:

Phase 1 - SCP-2098 will begin to manifest in a target community through altered signage/advertising for a local gathering. This will invariably include some iteration of the phrase "Saint Simon". Targeted events are always community-wide in scope with no formal invitation required (such as a race, festival, fair, or parade). SCP-2098 will progressively co-opt such a community event over the course of two to thirty days (see list of previous instances).

At this phase, only a single media outlet may be affected, and the naming convention may not yet be consistent or logical.

Phase 2 - 48 hours before the event date, all promotional materials for the event will alter to include a consistent iteration of "Saint Simon" in their title. In addition, the venue will be consistent across these materials, and they will specify a duration of 12pm to 4pm without exception. Widespread perceptive anomalies will first manifest in the affected community during Phase 2, with 100% of residents possessing accurate but unsourced knowledge of the event date, duration, venue, and name. There appears to be no accompanying compulsion to attend the event despite this knowledge. Unless the venue is rendered unavailable, the scheduled community gathering will take place in accordance with the time and date indicated on the SCP-2098-altered media. Venue disruption is the only currently proven means of preventing an SCP-2098 event.

Phase 3 - At 12:01:01 PM on the confirmed date, an SCP-2098 event will enter Phase 3. All persons within the designated community event boundaries will cease voluntary movement for precisely sixteen minutes and sixteen seconds (ending 12:17:17 PM local time). Non-human life is not affected by SCP-2098 events. If observed at a range closer than 15 meters during this time, the observer will enter the event boundaries and be affected accordingly.

Although close-range medical tests are not possible, viewing from minimum safe distance indicates that 2098-affected individuals continue to respirate and blink normally for the duration of the stasis. Mild to moderate physical interaction from a non-human entity or outside force will break this stasis, causing the affected individual(s) to fall prone and collapse into a fully unconscious state that will last until the cessation of the event at 12:17:17 PM local time.

Phase 4 - At 12:17:17 PM local time, the event enters Phase 4. All affected individuals will leave stasis (including those who may have been rendered unconscious and prone due to outside forces) and return to their homes by whatever means they arrived at the venue. While affected individuals will not violently resist attempts to interfere with their return to their homes, should one individual affected by SCP-2098 be detained, the remaining affected subjects will come to their aid and attempt to remove whatever persons or obstacles are preventing the individual from returning to their home.

Phase 5 - The final phase of an SCP-2098 event transitions the affected populace into two distinct vector classes (Green and Red) within 6 hours of return to their homes. If prevented from returning to their homes, vector classes manifest within 1-2 hours, making community inventory and maintenance far more practical if the populace is permitted to return to their homes during Phase 4. This is current SOP for non-disrupted events.

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