The details of their beliefs are unimportant.



SCP-8798: The Old Country

Author: Tufto. More of their work can be found here.

Item #: SCP-8798

Object Class: Thaumiel

Special Containment Procedures:

The entrance to SCP-8798 is to be guarded at all times from internal and external interlopers. Guards are to be stationed at SCP-8798's rim, but not inside SCP-8798 itself beyond the Upper Caverns. Fourteen staircases currently connect the Upper Caverns to the lower districts; no personnel except for D-Class residents are to enter the lower districts without the express permission of the Administrator or one of the surviving members of the O5 Council. The sole exception to this is MTF-245, "That Which Descends".

MTF-245 is to be composed of 100-150 agents trained in espionage, political agitation and strikebreaking tactics. As the number of eligible candidates decreases, plans for recruitment of D-Class personnel to the taskforce are currently under review. The two current strategies proposed are A) an offer of a light source, and B) widespread religious inculcation of the populace into believing that the Foundation's role is messianic in nature. The latter is favoured as more reliable.

MTF-245's exact orders are not to be released to general review.

For their own safety, no non-D-Class personnel may leave the area around SCP-8798 or its designated farmland, except to receive SCP-8798-1 and deliver it onwards. SCP-8798-1 is to be extracted at a rate of 17,000 kg per quarter. Food and water is to be delivered into the lower districts by the existing winch system, contingent on delivery to the surface via that same system of SCP-8798-1.

Should the quantity of SCP-8798-1 extracted be lower than 14,000 kg in any given quarter, it will not provide enough power. This is designated an unacceptable outcome, and the following measures are to be taken, in order, until the situation is rectified:

An armed incursion by MTF-562, "That Which Remains", to force a short-term, rapid increase in production or to collect any hoarded SCP-8798-1.

Negotiation with D-Class personnel to increase production. A store of food and other goods has been set aside to provide incentives for this eventuality, and production currently outstrips the goods provided by 240%, allowing negotiatiors considerable leeway.

The removal of up to 30% of the D-Class population as a compliance strategy. This is highly discouraged, as it will necessitate a significant per-person increase in production among the remaining population; it is not currently known if this is feasible owing to the constraints of the human body.

The extermination of remaining D-Class personnel and the use of Foundation personnel other than D-Class to extract SCP-8798-1. This is highly discouraged by the Ethics Committee, and will have to undergo review by them, the Administrator and the surviving members of the O5 Council.

This outcome is considered unlikely, however, as the present political conditions and mental deterioration of D-Class personnel are not conducive to a decrease in production. Reports of SCP-8798-1 consumption by D-Class personnel remain unverified, but such a practice has been theorised as helping to maintain the current production quota.

According to data gathered by MTF-245, the current status of SCP-8798-2 outbreaks is as follows:

The Upper Caverns are not at risk.

The Central Warrens are at limited risk. The population is large, but the exits are inaccessible and the air is only partially conducive to permanent habitation.

The Eastern Warrens1 are at low risk, but limited habitation makes this a useful target for diverting outbreaks without a significant decrease in the rate of extraction.

The Western Warrens are at high risk, with seven outbreaks and three deaths reported in the last quarter.

The Southern Depths2 have been rendered uninhabitable but do contain several vital extraction points, with many D-Class personnel working temporary shifts here. SCP-8798-2 has not operated in this area for several months, but dead instances have been reportedly observed by D-Class personnel.3

The Southern Warrens are at high risk, with sixteen outbreaks and twenty deaths reported in the last quarter.

In the event that SCP-8798-1 does not provide enough power, the Nagasaki Protocol will come into effect. SCP-8798 will be filled with concrete following the extraction of any non-D-Class personnel4. Any surviving personnel involved with SCP-8798 will be amnesticised. In this scenario, it is imperative that any surviving humans do not rediscover SCP-8798-1.

An internal portion of SCP-8798. Note the unusual presence of light.

Description: [DATA EXPUNGED]

Footnotes

1. Official Foundation nomenclature; most personnel informally designate this area as the Heavenly Ladder. This is a discouraged practice and observed instances should result in a reprimand.

2. Official Foundation nomenclature; most non-D-Class personnel informally use its old designation as the Arrival Point, while D-Class personnel refer to it as the Old Country. These are discouraged practices and observed instances should result in a reprimand.

3. It should be noted that most D-Class personnel within SCP-8798 hold a religious veneration for the Southern Depths and the SCP-8798-2 corpses found therein. The details of their beliefs are unimportant, but any proposals for diverting outbreaks to this region must take the social ramifications on extraction into account.

4. Extraction of D-Class personnel was proposed but vetoed at the insistence of the Ethics Committee. Although the D-Class represent 89% of the surviving human population, they are not considered eligible for reclamation due to overexposure to SCP-8798-1.