SCP-6736


rating: +43+x

by Rhys Tanner and Dr. Phil McClaw

Assigned Site


Site-90, Site-48

Site Director


Dr. Yasya Najafabadi, Dr. Naomi Silang

Research Head


Dr. Ezekiel Hammond

Assigned MTF


Λ-40 ('Sasan's Sorcerers')

Assigned Site


Site-90, Site-48

Site Director


Dr. Yasya Najafabadi, Dr. Naomi Silang

Research Head


Dr. Ezekiel Hammond

Assigned MTF


Λ-40 ('Sasan's Sorcerers')

Item#: SCP-6736
Level3
Containment Class:
euclid
Secondary Class:
{$secondary-class}
Disruption Class:
keneq
Risk Class:
caution

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SCP-6736-Carthage Event in progress at Site-90, 11/10/2002.


Special Containment Procedures: Site-901 contains the only wild breeding population of SCP-6736. Initiatives to expand this region to its previous natural range are ongoing. Mobile Task Force Lambda-40 ('Sasan's Sorcerers') will log meteorological and ecological data at every facility containing SCP-6736. Outside of Site-90, SCP-6736 is to be removed from a facility if the following conditions are present: an annual increase in precipitation in excess of 30% or a decrease of 5%; a 10% increase in local soil salinity; or a 30% increase in pollen count.

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An SCP-6736 adolescent participating in a socialization activity.

At least two incursions into Site-90 are to be made by MTF Lambda-40 per week. The task force is to document SCP-6736-Aleph instances present in the environment and neutralize all glyphs of class 'Cathay' and class 'Carthage'. Counter-glyphs of class 'Garden', class 'Cloud', and class 'Yerevan' are to be utilized during SCP-6736-Caspian, -Ctesiphon, and -Carthage events. SCP-6736-Aleph instances identified by the public are to be neutralized and a cover story implicating GoI-4302 ('Children of Fire') is to be distributed.

Per Reintegration Protocol #6736, instances of SCP-6736 housed at facilities outside Site-90 must be returned to Site-90 upon request. Instances in containment are to be housed together in 10m x 10m x 5m amphibious terrariums and always have materials available to enable written communication. Facilities currently authorized to house SCP-6736 include Site-17; Site-██; Site-28, Site-35; Site-48 (Variant Wing C); Site-██; Site-73; Zoological Facility-B34; Botanical Facility-Ш1; Facility-Λ9; Ethics Committee Baku Office; Tactical Theology ██████ Office.

Description: SCP-6736 is a population of the genus Eoscapherpeton in the family of giant salamanders. It is currently native to the Caspian Hyrcanian forest ecoregion, but was present in a much wider range encompassing Asia Minor, Central Asia, and South Asia until as recently as seventy years ago.2 SCP-6736 is similar in physiology to other species of giant salamander, with the exception of bioluminescent markings on their extremities and epidermal glands capable of secreting a sulfur-based toxin.3 SCP-6736 have indefinite lifespans in captivity and retain the ability to regenerate limbs and to undergo neoteny4 of the gills.

SCP-6736 instances are sapient, and develop cognition comparable to five-year-old human children5 if they are exposed to interactive social structures. Members of SCP-6736 are capable of recognizing human faces and personalities, and will socialize with human observers as equals if encountered.

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SCP-6736-032 ('Edna'), estimated age 59, housed at Variant Site-48.

Members of SCP-6736 communicate using a sophisticated combination of percussive noise, body language, gestures, vocalizations, drawing, and writing. They are able to communicate emotions and abstract concepts through an understanding of symbolism. With sufficient education they can comprehend arithmetic, multiple expressions of human language, and be trained to participate fluently in conversation using Morse code. SCP-6736's communication makes use of multiple politeness registers, with formal introductions usually involving the collaborative creation of a pictogram.6

Members of SCP-6736 exhibit a passive antimemetic effect, making them difficult to directly observe. Individuals struggle to perceive members of SCP-6736 as fixed objects in their environment, often losing track of them or failing to notice them entirely. This effect is cumulative, amplifying with each instance of SCP-6736 present in a given space. Large or tightly-packed groups exhibit such a strong effect that they can become visually undetectable. This effect is lessened significantly when instances interact with people they recognize.


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Two adult members of SCP-6736 adjusting to a Site-90 terrarium.

Addendum- Discovery: SCP-6736 was poorly studied prior to the 1950s. Because of the species' antimemetic properties, accurate population estimates are exceedingly difficult to collect, but environmental markers suggest a current population ranging anywhere between 12,000 and 100,000 individuals. Their anomalous abilities were discovered in 1954, when a captive member of SCP-6736 produced glyphs as part of a circus exhibition in Astara, Iran. Interrogation of the proprietors led the Foundation to GoI-4302 ('Children of Fire'), a millenarian sect of Zoroastrianism.

Further probing from an agent recruited from within GoI-4302 resulted in the discovery of a compound in Sorkhanhol Wildlife Refuge which contained at least 14 instances of SCP-6736. A mobile task force entered the facility and the instances were contained.

Informant Alizadeh conspired with members of GoI-4302 to expand the Site-71 containment area to four square acres, enough space for the now 104 specimens. Due to the antimemetic properties of the anomaly and the remote location of site, this change went undiscovered for over a year.


Addendum- History: Pre-Foundation sources about SCP-6736, SCP-6736-Aleph, and its effect on history do not stand up to rigorous academic scrutiny. Thus, an established history of SCP-6736 does not extend much further back than the 20th century. However, it is well-established that SCP-6736 was critically endangered by the mid-90s, primarily due to aggressive policies enacted against GoI-4302 by Iran and the Soviet Union.

GoI-4302 covertly maintained populations of SCP-6736 for an undetermined amount of time.8 Surveillance of the group was made difficult by concurrent political conflicts and opposition to Foundation activity in the region. SCP-6736-Aleph events related to GoI-4302 were thus responded to on a case-by-case basis.

The government of the Soviet Union would later respond with procedures to neutralize SCP-6736.

Despite SCP-6736's antimemetic properties, data indicates that the actions of GRU Division "P", and, to a lesser extent, the ORIA, were successful in reducing SCP-6736's population throughout their original habitat range. Outside of an estimated 2,000 specimens in Azerbaijan and 200 in Turkmenistan, SCP-6736 is now considered functionally extinct within the borders of the former Soviet Union.


Addendum- Reintegration Proposal:
Following multiple decades of continued observation and study, Site-90 concluded that SCP-6736 was of no apparent risk to Foundation personnel and declared it safely contained. Resident research head Ezekiel Hammond made an appeal to the Foundation Ethics Committee in October of the same year, citing that the species' capacity for intelligent thought were potential assets to future containment efforts and study of similar organisms. Also cited was a successful reversal of a Class-Carthage event's effect on soil salinity within Site-90, achieved by informing SCP-6736 of the event's negative effects and through the utilization of Cloud and Garden counter-glyphs.

From the Office of
Dr. Ezekiel Hammond, Site-90
10/10/2016

To the Office of the Ethics Committee

Regarding the protection of SCP-6736 under the Pseudohuman Civil Rights Act

Forward to: Ethics Committee members E-1 through E14; E-21; E-25; E-40; E-49

I, Site-90 head researcher Ezekiel Hammond, submit the following to the Ethics Committee:

  • SCP-6736 is an integral component of its local biosphere;
  • SCP-6736 has potential applications as a means of terraforming or environmental restoration;
  • SCP-6736's anomalous properties do not pose a risk to continued containment, or to the exposure of itself or other Foundation assets;
  • SCP-6736's anomalous properties are easily controlled and monitored, and they have the potential to positively impact Foundation site security and morale with their presence if accommodated;
  • SCP-6736 has repeatedly demonstrated a capacity for human or near-human intellect and properties of sapience as defined under the Pseudohuman Civil Rights Act:
    • Understanding of personhood, perception of self by other intelligent creatures and individual and group identity;
    • Distinct cultural traditions and values;
    • Ability to communicate fluently with humans (trained in use of Morse code);
    • Capacity for intelligent, peer-to-peer communication as defined in the 2016 edition of the Ngwane-Turei Accord;
    • Complex internal concepts of self such as empathy, altruism, and the creation and maintenance of multiple types of social bonds;
    • Command over basic forms of thaumaturgy and ritual

It is my professional opinion that SCP-6736 is a sapient, autonomous entity of minimal risk to itself or others, and is therefore eligible for a reintegration appeal. On behalf of my colleagues and myself, I submit the records of Site-90 from the years of 1998 to present for your consideration in this matter. We await your correspondence.

Regards,

Dr. Ezekiel Hammond


Reintegration Committee representative "Hatess" arrived at Site-90 shortly after they received Dr. Hammond's inquiry. Over the course of the next several months, they completed an exhaustive assessment of the site's internal records and resident staff, testing over one hundred of Site-90's SCP-6736 instances for cognitive ability, thaumatological properties and capacity for socialization.



SCP-6736 | Regarding Appeal for Reintegration, 10/10/2016


STATUS: APPROVED—PARTIAL EXEMPTION


Determination:

  • SCP-6736 Site-90 population scored, on average, above baseline in Reintegration Aptitude tests, meeting qualifications for a sapient population in accordance with Pseudohuman Civil Rights Act Polity Statute;
  • SCP-6736 Site-90 population exhibits persistent, positive impact on local biosphere;
  • Restoration of SCP-6736 to pre-decline habitat ranges conducive to Foundation reconciliation efforts with the states within the Caspian ecoregion;
  • SCP-6736 culture, thaumatological abilities, and non-hostile appearance may be beneficial to expedited containment of indigenous Ahnwari population;
  • SCP-6736 temperament suggests minimal likelihood of organized resistance in the event that relations decay

Recommendation:

The Committee determines that SCP-6736 is eligible for the Reintegration Protocol. Subject's properties make it a sapient species as defined by the Pseudohuman Civil Rights Act. Comprehensive diplomatic efforts between Foundation handlers and SCP-6736 are hereby authorized. Begin development of site accommodations, personnel orientation and social acclimatization of SCP-6736 to Foundation facilities pursuant to the objectives described above.

The following sites are APPROVED for initial trial phases of SCP-6736 reintegration procedure:

  • Site-48, Anthropoid
  • Site-48, Variant
  • Site-90

In the event of successful reintegration, additional trial phases are APPROVED for the following sites:

  • Site-17 (direct supervision only)
  • Site-21
  • Site-35
  • Site-73 (terrestrial applications only)
  • Site-48ψ, Terminus Ring, Substrate Quarter, Path of Totality hull surface sites ψ-Aleph, ψ-Tet, ψ-Samek, ψ-Qoph (direct supervision only)

If you believe an error has been made in this assessment, or if you have any further inquiries, please direct all subsequent correspondence to your assigned Reintegration Committee representative.


To commemorate the reintegration of SCP-6736, Variant Site-48 director Dr. Naomi Silang visited Site-90. She, Anthropoid Site-48 director Dr. Gianluca Ionas, Dr. Ezekiel Hammond and representative Hatess participated in a "life-sharing" ceremony with the elders of the SCP-6736 population.

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Site-90 "Life-sharing" ceremonial pictogram. Hatess's spiral signature and Ionas's star signature are visible on the right.

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