Wormwood

NOTICE: ACTIVE INVESTIGATION IN PROGRESS

The following file concerns an anomaly currently under investigation. Any information presented here may be incorrect, inaccurate or purely speculative.

Item #: SCP-4008
Level 2/4008

Object Class: Pending
Classified

The supposed location of Site-183

Special Containment Procedures: Research into the specific nature of SCP-4008 is ongoing. As such, standard protocols for dealing with potential memetic hazards, infohazards, temporal alterations and spatial warping are to be observed. Additionally, Class-3 data integrity checks are to be performed on information relating to Foundation sites hourly until the nature of SCP-4008 is understood.

All stored information pertaining to Site-183, its assigned personnel, and any anomalies contained there is currently being verified under MERKATOR-Class data security protocols.

Description: SCP-4008 designates an anomaly surrounding the existence or non-existence of Site-183. While full documentation for Site-183, its assigned personnel, and the anomalies contained there exists within Foundation records, no evidence of the Site can be found at its supposed location and no interviewed Foundation personnel have any memory of the Site or its staff.

Photos included in the documentation indicate several structures visible on the surface in the area occupied by the site, none of which are currently present. The only notable feature of the area is the lack of any signs of current life; no animal life exists in the area and dead trees serve as the only evidence of plant life. Satellite imagery is inconclusive due to standard counter-surveillance measures - only a possibly advanced rate of desertification is evidenced, though it should be noted that the area surrounding the location is historically barren.

According to documentation, Site-183 was primarily responsible for the research and containment of anomalous historical artifacts and documents. Supposedly contained on-site were 64 anomalous objects, including four with SCP-designation (all fully documented in Foundation databases), all of which remain unaccounted for.

The primary avenues of investigation are:

The alteration of Foundation records, by a currently undocumented anomaly and/or group hostile to Foundation interests.

A memetic or anti-memetic anomaly that has removed or suppressed all memory of Site-183 and anything related to it.

Spatial displacement or some other alteration to reality that has partially removed Site-183 from existence.

Temporal anomalies are considered a low probability due to the remaining evidence of its existence, though instances of Incomplete Causal Revision have been documented in the past, so it cannot be entirely discounted.

Investigations are ongoing.

Update 4008.01

A number of solid masses were detected below the supposed location of Site-183 via a modified seismic survey array, at depths of between 300m and 700m.1 Excavation operations are currently underway.

Update 4008.02

Excavation teams working at the supposed location of Site-183 reached the first significant mass; it appears to be the shattered and collapsed remains of a portion of standard site living quarters. Rubble and other wreckage appearing to be from a Foundation site was also found dispersed throughout the surrounding strata. The remains of a personal journal were found inside the rubble; the surviving sections are transcribed below.

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… a theory that there is some common link between… [UNINTELLIGIBLE] …lantis, El Dorado and [ILLEGIBLE]2 are obvious and fairly disparate examples, but there are a great many others, especially in less publically(sic) available… [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

I'm increasingly convinced that there is some common factor between some of these events, especially in the are… [UNINTELLIGIBLE] … patterns are far too consistent to be random. Some singular root cause, or a reoccurring… [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

… pretty sure they had some method of completely… [UNINTELLIGIBLE]… so difficult to say due to their history being all over the place. Sometimes still hard to believe they even existed at all, despite all evidence to the contrary. Maybe their entire existence is… [UNINTELLIGIBLE]… else can worry about that.

Decided I'm formally going to submit a proposal to investigate my… [UNINTELLIGIBLE]… a link here, though I'm still not sure what it could be. I've got a few thoughts on where we should start looking, so hopefully Alami3 will give me… [UNINTELLIGIBLE] … can't wait to get out there!

The rest of the journal is illegible due to damage caused by fire and debris impact.

Following these discoveries, the existence of Site-183 is no longer in question. Investigations are to refocus their efforts accordingly. Excavation of the location is ongoing.

Update 4008.03

Sections of the site consistent with the remains of standard containment cells, along with the undetonated on-site nuclear failsafe device, were excavated at approximately 500m below the surface. No signs of the documented anomalous objects supposed to be contained at Site-183 were found; MTFs Phi-7 ("Skip Tracers") and Zeta-5 ("Thief Takers") have been tasked with their recovery under a separate initiative.

Update 4008.04

The partially intact central server unit for the site was found approximately 550m below the surface. The unit has suffered significant impact damage, rendering it inoperable, but data recovery technicians believe some data may be salvageable. The process is ongoing.

Update 4008.05

Data recovery operations on the Site-183 server core have yielded a series of audio logs (significantly corrupted due to damage to the server unit) submitted by Dr. Daniel Roberts, a historian and archaeologist assigned to Site-183. The intact sections are transcribed below; some logs were completely unrecoverable.

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This is Dr. Daniel Roberts, field log, Site Alpha day one. We've arrived at the first site. It's strange; the area is pretty arid already, but there's a definite drop off in plant life as we approached the centre of the area we're investigating. Like the ground just can't support life around here.

There's nothing obvious on the surface, but that was expected. [DATA CORRUPTION] is all very exciting. It's no Atlantis, but we might be about to discover a [DATA CORRUPTION]

Site Alpha day 20. Pretty sure if there was anything here we would have found some small evidence of it by now, even just [DATA CORRUPTION] there's nothing. I know we have a month for each site, but I'm about ready to call it here. We'll give it another day and then it's time to move on.

Site Beta day three. Everything is set up at the new location and things are progressing as expected. No discoveries yet, besides a similar pattern of sparse vegetation observed at Site Alpha. No expectations this time. We just do the work until we find something.

[DATA CORRUPTION] Beta day… 25? No, 26. Site Beta is a bust. We're wrapping up and moving on tomorrow. The team is beginning to get a little frustrated. The sad reality of this work is that after nearly two months of nothing, it just starts to get boring.

I guess there are a few possibilities. One, [DATA CORRUPTION] was total, and there's nothing left to find. Two, our equipment just isn't good enough to find anything that's here. Or three, my theory was completely wrong. There was never anything here, nor at any of the other locations.

I'll hold off on thinking about that one too much.

Site Gamma day two. We've found something! We don't know what yet, but it's definitely solid, and we found it almost straight away. The odds of us just randomly happening across the single thing buried here are pretty low, so the area must be [DATA CORRUPTION]

[DATA CORRUPTION] day four. We've fully uncovered the structure we found. It's a mess, obviously, but this is more than just natural deterioration. The entire surrounding area was filled with stray rubble. It almost looks like something smashed through the top of the building and then dragged the remains under ground. I've never seen anything like it.

We found a lot of the usual stuff; clay fragments and pieces of worked metal. Some skeletons, too. We've got some forensics people on the way to see if we can determine an exact cause of death, but at least one of them is pretty obvious; something punched a big hole right through their chest. Pretty sure we've found what we were looking for.

Site Gamma, day 14. We've made some truly remarkable discoveries here. There definitely used [DATA CORRUPTION] anomalous objects in some capacity. We managed to hone in on a few low-level anomalies using the Kant arrays. Small stuff, a glowing stone inside the remains of a lantern, a quill that produces its own ink, that sort of thing.

We know that in the distant past the use of anomalies like this was far more common, but only in the upper classes of society. Royalty, and the rich. There's nothing about these structures that suggests they were anything more than simple houses, or maybe a trading outpost. Certainly not a royal mansion, at any rate. They've been packed up and shipped back for analysis none the less.

We're still trying to get a feel for what [DATA CORRUPTION] thing we do know is that it was utterly destroyed, down to the last building, and that it happened fast. Every single structure we've found has been obliterated, sometimes groups of buildings smashed into a single ruined mass. And almost every building had skeletal remains. The weirdest part though, is how uneven it all is. It's not all at the same depth below the surface, there's been a 20 meter or more depth difference betw[DATA CORRUPTION] an area, an almost perfectly circular area in what we guess would have been the centre of the city, nearly 100 meters across, where there's just nothing.

Site Gamma, day 30. This is our last day at Site Gamma. Unfortunate, as we've only scratched the surface of what must be buried here, but we have a schedule to maintain and Site Delta awaits. I'm not too concerned, we're far enough away from civilisation that it's unlikely anyone will stumble across our dig site, and I'm sure we'll be allowed to return after the initial project is complete to continue the dig. Still, we'll set up a security grid to keep an eye on things.

This entire dig has been- I mean, I've never seen anything quite like it. New discoveries almost every day, a whole [DATA CORRUPTION] must have been survivors. People outside of the city who knew about it, who would have noticed its destruction and written about it. Maybe we'll find more answers at Delta.

Note: logs concerning Site Delta omitted; analysis of the recovered data suggests nothing was discovered at the location and the audio recordings primarily document Dr. Roberts' frustration at this fact.

Site Epsilon, day 17. We actually found something. We're still uncovering it, and it shows the same pattern of destruction we found at Gamma [DATA CORRUPTION] must be smaller than what we found at Gamma, much smaller. Maybe a small town, but my guess would be a military outpost of some kind.

Site Epsilon day 19. I'm almost positive this was a military camp or fortification. We've found too many weapons and scraps of armour for it to be a civilian settlement. Uncovered a destroyed blacksmith's forge yesterday. Lots of human remains as with Gamma. No children, though. Now that we know where we're looking, we've found more structural remains - it's big for a military outpost, but still smaller than a town would be.

[DATA CORRUPTION] forward post to ward against Daevite incursion. They would have had a clear view for miles here, no chance of an army approaching unseen. They clearly didn't need an army, though.

Site Epsilon, day 21. We found a Daeva. The remains of one, I [DATA CORRUPTION]ttendants, maybe? Or maybe the Daeva was a prisoner, but I don't think that was the case. I've seen photos of Daeva skeletons before, they're clearly distinct from humans, but to actually see one myself. It's… uncomfortable to look at. Like something in the back of my brain is screaming at me to run. I don't know if this is some uncanny valley effect, or if there's some lingering anomalous phenomena at work. In any event, it'll be shipped back for analysis like everything else.

It had some documents on its body. Maybe they were in [DATA CORRUPTION] in near-perfect condition; they're clearly anomalous themselves, to have survived so long. I'm going to work on the translations once we stop digging for the night.

Site Epsilon, day 29. Wrapping up at Site Epsilon; not much else [DATA CORRUPTION]lation of the Daevite document we found has been much more illuminating. It indicates that the Daeva we found was leading a small group whose goal was to infiltrate and destroy the outpost using an unnamed weapon or magic. It's unclear whether it was a suicide mission or if something went wrong [DATA CORRUPTION] the location of a supposed Daevite outpost hidden in the mountains.

I'm eager to get back to Site Gamma and resume our work there, but if we're right about the location of the Daevite outpost, it's remote enough that it might still be there after all this time. We've been granted permission to investigate; we leave tomorrow.

Field log, Dr. Daniel Roberts. It took a couple of days, but we found the Daevite outpost. Aerial recon drones helped [DATA CORRUPTION] trove beyond anything we could have hoped for. There must be dozens of minor anomalous artifacts here, preserved documents, art, examples of Daevite weaponry. This stuff will keep the people in Cultural Research busy for years!

Most importantly though, I think we've [DATA CORRUPTION] of like a seed, or a nut, but big enough to fill your palm and it seems to be encased in a translucent crystalline material. It was clearly given a place of reverence in the structure, and was secured inside a sealed case along with a number of documents. The seeds themselves… looking at them hurt. Caused me physical pain, like needles stabbing through my eye and into my mind. Even thinking about them, trying to picture their shape is unpleasant. They're wrong somehow. There's something in them that…

[A period of silence.]

I've decided to head back to Site-183 and research everything we've found here. The rest of the team can return to Site Gamma and continue the dig without me; since the entire purpose of the project was to determine if and how these cities were destroyed, I'm sure Director Alami will agree.

Photo from the dig site worked by the recovered Site-183 personnel, theorized to be Site Gamma mentioned in Dr. Roberts' audio logs.

Update 4008.06

A group of Foundation personnel matching the identities of a number of Site-183 staff made contact with Site-147 at approximately 10:00+07:00 this morning. According to their statements, they were working at an archaeological dig site when approximately eight days ago they began to realise they had no memory of why they were working there or who assigned them to do so4.

They were forced to make a significant portion of the journey to Site-147, the nearest site to their location, on foot following the failure of their only available vehicle. All available communication equipment was nonfunctional; analysis revealed standard security measures were failing verification checks due to their non-responsive source site, Site-183.

The members of the team appear to have no memory of Site-183, any of the work they did there or any of the personnel they encountered during their time there.

A team was dispatched to the dig site to confirm their claims; the ruins of a large, partially unearthed and almost totally destroyed city were present, with evidence of recent activity.

Update 4008.07

The following document, written by Dr. Daniel Roberts, was recovered from the Site-183 server unit. Partial data corruption is present.

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Request For Investigation Into Potential Anomalous Activity

Premise

Throughout history, the concept of mythical or disappearing cities is a recurring one. While [DATA CORRUPTION] indeed been proven to exist (primarily through the activities of the Foundation or, rarely, other Groups of Interest), a great many of them remain relegated to the realms of myth and hearsay. While it would be folly to [DATA CORRUPTION] one particular group of cities that I believe can be tied to a singular source; those known to have been close to the historical borders of the Daevite Empire.

[DATA CORRUPTION]

Evidence

While hard evidence for the existence of any of these cities is virtually non-existent (or they would have been almost certainly discovered by civilian archaeologists), there are a number of common threads between each of the cities in question that lend credibility to the idea that they did exist at one point, before being suddenly displaced or removed by a single common force.

Each of the supposed cities have a fairly [DATA CORRUPTED] in question is never mentioned again in historical record. Stories of a "lost city" typically develop in the area at a later date, overwhelming the potential of any remaining factual records.

The theoretical locations for all of these cities are unusually barren when compared to the surrounding areas, making the development of a [DATA CORRUPTION]

A number of events in the regions surrounding these cities seem to coincide with, and could be explained by, the sudden disappearance of a major city in the ar[DATA CORRUPTION] deficit in a specific resource such as iron or wheat; notable economical issues as trade in the region becomes significantly and unexplainably disrupted.

The areas in question have a known history of conflict with the Daevite Empire, or occupy areas which are known to have later been settled by the Daevite Empire. The use of anomalous artifacts by the Daeva is well documented and the Empire is known for its militarism and imperialistic nature.

I have identified three sites which match the criteria laid out above, plus an additional two that match two or three of the four. Of these sites, only one of them has any presence in public records; the others have either already been censored or were noted during unrelated discoveries by Foundation personnel.

Proposal

I would like to run a series of investigations and excavations at the sites I have identified for the purposes of discovering evidence of the existence of these cities and, should that evidence be found, clues as to the cause of their destruction. The resources and technology available to the Foundation provide us a significant advantage over civilian efforts in fields such as this, and the information we might uncover could give us an improved understanding of Daevite methods of conquest.

The primary requirements for this project are as follows:

A team of between 12 and 16 archaeologists, historians and engineers, for a period of one month per dig site.

Sufficient standard issue field supplies and equipment to last the duration.

Equipment developed for detecting buried masses, including seismic survey arrays, ground topography analysers, and Kant sensor arrays for detecting potentially buried anomalies.

The potential for increased time and resources should any significant discoveries be made.

It is my sincere belief that the completion of this project will yield useful data in understanding a known anomalous civilisation, and has the potential for uncovering lost pieces of human history and how our ancestors understood and dealt with anomalous phenomena [DATA CORRUPTION]ntainment of whatever method the Daeva used to destroy these cities in the first place.

Dr Daniel Roberts.

Update 4008.08

The following document describing an object matching the recovered artifact in Dr. Robert's audio logs was recovered intact from the Site-183 server unit.

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Steven, here's what I've got for the documentation so far.

Item #: unassigned

Object Class: pending

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-[#]-1 instances are to be stored in a vacuum-sealed storage case manufactured entirely from synthetic materials. Under no circumstances are instances of SCP-[#]-1 to come into contact with any medium suitable for growing plant life.

Description: SCP-[#] is a previously unidentified species of tree, believed to be developed by the now-extinct Daevite Empire as a weapon of mass destruction.

SCP-[#] grows from SCP-[#]-1, a roughly spherical seed superficially resembling the tiger nut5 and measuring approximately 7cm in diameter. SCP-[#]-1 is encased in a semi-translucent crystalline material estimated to be 0.5cm thick. SCP-[#]-1 possesses a mild cognitohazardous and infohazardous effect; looking directly at it causes a painful sensation described as having something sharp penetrate the viewer's eye and enter the brain. Following exposure in this way, consciously thinking about SCP-[#]-1 is sufficient to trigger the effect. The magnitude of these effects varies based on the individual.

When exposed to a medium capable of sustaining plant life, the seed will immediately begin to grow, developing at an incredibly advanced rate. The seed will develop into a fully grown instance of SCP-[#] in approximately five minutes, leeching significant quantities of minerals and water from the ground in the process. When fully grown, SCP-[#] measures between 1.2 and 1.5km tall, with a trunk diameter averaging approximately 70m. The roots of the tree grow outwards to a distance of approximately 3km from the trunk, and reach from approximately 50m above ground to over 900m below ground.6

Once fully grown, SCP-[#] produces an anti-memetic effect which causes all affected humans to lose any memories they possessed of anything within the area encompassed by the SCP-[#] instance. It is unknown precisely how this effect is achieved, but is believed to be caused by an anomalous alteration to the electromagnetic spectrum, causing visible light to temporarily become a vector for the transmission of an anti-meme. As a result, this effect has global reach almost instantly.

After approximately one hour, the SCP-[#] instance will rapidly begin to break down into gases and particulate matter. This process takes roughly 10 minutes, after which nothing of the instance will remain. The ground it displaced will collapse, functionally burying anything on the surface and leaving behind a region of barren and inhospitable land, with little to no evidence of any prior activity.

The primary source of information on this anomaly is a collection of documents recovered alongside a number of SCP-[#]-1 instances, and archaeological dig sites at which SCP-[#] is believed to have been used as a weapon in the past. As such, the veracity of the information above has yet to be confirmed. It is unknown how many times the Daevite Empire deployed SCP-[#]; research is ongoing.

Translated Documentation

Below are translated excerpts from the documents recovered with SCP-[#]-1.

Its roots, gnarled and hungry, tear the land and the weak bound to it. Its leaves, dripping with the blood of those it devours, rend the very sky itself, shattering the mind of man. The unworthy fall before us, their worthless homes and worthless lives erased from the great writing.

Even long dead as they were, the Night Children's remains resisted us. Thousands died that we might acquire the [Unknown name. Potentially a portmanteau of "seed" and "destruction"?], a blood sacrifice to assure our own ascension through the ages. We threw ourselves upon their lifeless weapons, our essence watering the ground to ensure victory, nourishing the roots from which our empire grows.

May those of the blood be carried into eternity by its branches. May our enemies forget they were ever there.

We've got some tests scheduled for tomorrow, so hopefully they will shed a bit more light on things. The current plan is to try and get samples of this outer shell material, and maybe from the actual seed inside too. We've got three of them, so even if one of them is destroyed during the tests we should be okay. - Daniel.

No instances of the seed objects mentioned in this document have been recovered. Restructuring of SCP-4008 documentation to account for new information is pending.

Footnotes

1. Documentation indicates that the lowest level of Site-183 was approximately 450m below the surface.

2. Unreadable due to poor handwriting, not due to damage to the document.

3. Records indicate that Dr. Khadija Alami was the Site Director for Site-183.

4. Site-183 was discovered to be missing approximately ten days ago.

5. Though not believed to be related

6. All measurements here are approximate due to the unconventional nature of Daevite units of measurements, from which these values are derived.