IN ACCORDANCE WITH CONTAINMENT ORDER #5636||O5-3:

The following file is accessible to approved members of the O5 Council, or personnel with written approval from the O5 Council. Unauthorized access is absolutely forbidden.

AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL MAY PROCEED:

Item#: 5636

Containment Class: keter

Secondary Class: none

Disruption Class: keneq

Risk Class: danger

Special Containment Procedures: A sequence of 3 remote server banks have been established at Foundation black sites Babylon, Constantinople, and Carthage. Each server is connected to a remote power source and should continue to operate uninterrupted at all times. Any interruption to the function of a single server should prompt the inspection by trusted Foundation engineers of all three servers for signs of tampering.

Each server bank will continuously sweep online databases, internet forums, and Foundation servers for any instances of trigger words, phrases or symbols with a known relation to SCP-5636. If such an instance is detected, an NLP program should be deployed to determine whether the instance is potentially evident of a manifestation of SCP-5636-A.

In the event that the NLP program concludes a high probability of association with an instance of SCP-5636-A, MTF Pi-1 ("City Slickers") should be deployed immediately to investigate and apprehend any instances of SCP-5636-A, while MTF Kappa-10 ("Skynet") should be deployed to scrub the online presence of SCP-5636 from where it was found. If the instance of SCP-5636-A is suspected to be an employee of the SCP Foundation, MTF Epsilon-11 ("Nine-Tailed Fox") should be deployed in place of MTF Pi-1, and MTF Rho-9 ("Technical Support") should be deployed in place of MTF Kappa-10. The suspected employee in question should have all clearance access immediately revoked until internal investigations have concluded.

Description: SCP-5636 is an anomalous viral psychological condition that manifests a fundamental (and seemingly permanent) altering of the mind in susceptible individuals. Subjects experiencing the effects of SCP-5636 (henceforth referred to as instances of SCP-5636-A) undergo a radical change in political, social and religious beliefs, generally oriented around a commitment to the destruction of an existing group or community of which they were previously a participant. In particular, SCP-5636 appears to target members of large religious groups, political parties, and clandestine organizations - including the SCP Foundation itself, which has suffered two distinct breakouts of SCP-5636 radicalization to date.

Instances of SCP-5636-A typically hold two primary objectives. The first is to deal as much damage as possible to their existing community, and the second is to radicalize as many other people as possible in contributing to that end. In the majority of cases, this results in SCP-5636-A attempting to carry out large-scale terror attacks against their target groups, often resulting in numerous violent deaths.

All instances of SCP-5636-A questioned by the Foundation insist on having been radicalized by a covert political and religious terror organization. The most common name given for the group is "الموت للعدو," the Arabic for “Death to the Enemy,” although the same name has so far been cited by instances of SCP-5636-A translated into Aramaic, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Latin, Ancient Greek, Spanish, French, Urdu, Japanese, Xhosa, Fey, and English.

Although the most common presentation of the name is written in Arabic, the liturgical language of Islam, the religious and social beliefs of the organization do not appear to align with traditional Islam at all, nor with any other known religious organization or sect. In addition, the language in which the name is written does not appear to be related to the languages spoken by the individuals they radicalize, who are just as likely to cite the name of the group in a language they do not speak as they are in one they do.

Instances of SCP-5636-A describe being radicalized by الموت للعدو through a variety of means, including over online message boards and internet forums, the social media platforms Reddit, 4chan, Tumblr and Facebook, the private messaging service WhatsApp, postal mail, MSM messaging, email, and (in one instance) prophetic vision through a dream.

Reports of such an organization by instances of SCP-5636-A prompted the Foundation to conduct a wide-scale search for any information pertaining to الموت للعدو, only to discover that no evidence of any individuals, documents, or posts related to the group exists anywhere online or on public record.

Private information exchanges conducted between the Foundation and several national governments also proved fruitless in locating any information related to the reported terrorist organization outside of documentation created by instances of SCP-5636-A themselves. As such, the internal Foundation application to designate الموت للعدو as a registered Group of Interest has not yet been approved, pending the discovery of any concrete evidence that demonstrates their existence.

Brain scans conducted by Foundation researchers on captured instances of SCP-5636-A discovered significant quantities of foreign material within the brain of affected individuals, consisting primarily of a substance subsequently classified as SCP-5636-B. The substance in question resembles the typical grey matter found inside a human brain, but features two notable exceptions that distinguish it from generic brain matter:

The first exception is that the liquid features a high concentration of Sodium Nitrate (NaNO3), a versatile chemical commonly found in artificial fertilizers, food preservatives, explosive materials and glass. How the presence of this chemical inside a compound manifesting within the human brain does not kill the affected subject is unknown.

The second exception is that the matter appears to incorporate some degree of sentient activity within its behavior. Microscope analysis of SCP-5636-B demonstrated the presence of clumped cells that shift through liquid in a semi-intelligent manner, so as to directly avoid any contact with the Foundation Biology Department's analytic tools, even when those tools are not making contact with the liquid itself. How the material appears to "sense" the incoming presense of investigative instruments is not yet known, but remains a high priority for Foundation research.

The discovery of this material in combination with the total lack of evidence for the existence of “الموت للعدو” purported by the captured extremists resulted in the designation of the radicalizing condition as an anomalous phenomenon, and its subsequent classification as SCP-5636.

The process by which SCP-5636 is able to alter the ideology of affected individuals is not yet known, as is the process that causes the generation and buildup of SCP-5636-B in the back of affected individual's brains. An experiment involving the conduction of regular brain scans on a D-Class testing subject intentionally exposed to the effects of SCP-5636 was proposed by Dr. Carson, but denied due to objections raised by an increasingly cautious Ethics Committee1.

Instances of SCP-5636-A are fully capable of converting other humans into instances of SCP-5636-A, seemingly through the same process that they claim to have been radicalized by themselves. Reports have suggested continued intense exposure to an instance of SCP-5636-A can result in the manifestation of SCP-5636 in timespans as short as a few hours. Besides the presence of SCP-5636-B within the affected person's brain, there are no visible signifiers for the manifestation of SCP-5636.

This capacity for the immediate and permanent spread of violent and aggressive ideology within unsuspecting individuals is what makes SCP-5636 not only very dangerous, but also extremely difficult to contain. A single manifestation of SCP-5636-A, if left unchecked, can result in the formation of a radicalized terror cell the size of a small army within a given community in a matter of weeks. This, in combination with SCP-5636’s ability to affect persons of significant power and responsibility2 has resulted in the prevention and containment of SCP-5636 becoming a significant priority for the SCP Foundation.

The ideological beliefs held by instances of SCP-5636-A can vary depending on the circumstances surrounding the individual in question, but can always ultimately be traced back to a conviction that the given organization of which the individual was previously a member is fundamentally and irreparably damaged, and must be entirely eradicated through the use of significant violence and bloodshed. There is also a tendency among affected persons to preach rambling monologues to those they engage in dialogues with, generally with the intention of persuading their interlocutor that the organization they despise is profoundly detrimental not only to the wellbeing of society, but to the human race as a whole.

However, the arguments employed by SCP-5636-A tend not to focus on any real-world, factually-informed information pertaining to the targeted group. Rather, their dialogue generally opts for more esoteric and abstract language that attempts to frame the target as being actively harmful to humanity’s “soul,” often making reference to connections between the organization and places that do not exist, people of whom there is no record, and events that did not happen. This confusing emphasis on purely fictional information is what primarily sets the ideology of the supposed “الموت للعدو” organization apart from other non-anomalous terrorist groups, many of which also employ fanciful language and statements of purported fact that are not true.

The Hexagram symbol discovered in the writings of several instances of SCP-5636-A.

Notes and writings by instances of SCP-5636-A discovered by the Foundation will often make use of several key phrases and recurrent opinions that allow for the distinguishment of the anomalous extremism from that of other (more generic) radical groups. Firstly, besides the intensely negative characterization of the organization the instance is targetting, the actual beliefs and goals of the individual or group will be described in notably vague terms. The reported name of the organization is testament to this - the phrase "Death to the Enemy" fails to specify any real ideology besides destructive violence, and it does not appear to hold any particular etymological significance.

Such texts will often make reference to an attempt to “cleanse the soul” of Humanity, descriptions of the target group as “malignant” or “tumorous,” and a repeated assertion that the enemy must be “digested” or “consumed” in order for human society to flourish. This vocabulary is reflected in the verbal passages recorded by the Foundation from captured instances of SCP-5636-A.

In addition to written scripts, a Hexagram symbol (see above) has been discovered alongside the notes of several instances of SCP-5636-A. The Hexagram in question holds some significance within the tradition of witchcraft, or Wicca mythology. In this context, the symbol is typically used to represent the Devil or dark magic, although instances of SCP-5636-A have been reluctant to comment on the nature of the symbol in the context of their own beliefs when questioned by the Foundation.

Organizations and groups known for certain to have been targeted by SCP-5636 include a Hasidic Jewish Synagogue, two Islamic Mosques of varying denominations, the Catholic Church, the Utah Republican Party, a convent of Tibetan Buddhist monks, the SCP Foundation, the Pirate Party of Sweden, and the Church of the Broken God. Almost all of these cases resulted in numerous deaths. Several other groups have also been targetted by individuals suspected - but not confirmed - to be instances of SCP-5636-A. These include the United States Central Intelligence Agency, the Communist Party of China, the anomalous art collective "Are We Cool Yet?," and a Parent-Teacher Association in St. Ives, England.

A catalogue of documented SCP-5636-A manifestations has been included below, although this list is not assumed to be comprehensive. A copy of Containment Order #5636||O5-3, which was issued in the wake of the second (more severe) breach of the SCP Foundation by an instance of SCP-5636-A has been included for posterity. In addition, three memos written by members of the O5 Council proposing possible explainations for SCP-5636 have also been listed.

INCIDENT #:
DATE OF ATTACK:
GROUP TARGETED:
METHOD OF ATTACK
NO. OF DEATHS
DESCRIPTION

5636-1
14/06/2014
Hasidic Judaism
Bombing
26
SCP-5636-A was the nephew of a local rabbi. After numerous posts submitted to Reddit espousing its disgust for and hatred of Jews, SCP-5636-A detonated an improvized explosive in its backpack at a synagogue during a funeral service for its own brother, who - later investigations suggested - may have been poisoned by SCP-5636-A in order to convene the event.

5636-2
04/07/2014
Pirate Party of Sweden
Arson
14
SCP-5636-A was an active member of the Swedish Pirate Party, a political organization that advocates for reformed copyright law. It succesfully converted its wife into an instance of SCP-5636-A. The pair locked the doors to the building where a party meeting was taking place, and set fire to the interior. This resulted in the deaths of several party members, and 4 unrelated civilians.

5636-3
21/10/2016
Sunni Islam
Violent Insurrection (Attempted)
2
14 instances of SCP-5636-A were aprehended by the Foundation prior to the attempted attack on their mosque, following the discovery of videotapes posted online denouncing their faith. Two Foundation officers were killed during the operation, however.

5636-4
25/09/2017
Buddhist Convent in Tibet
Mass Suicide
46
SCP-5636-A was the Lama of a Buddhist monastery, and reported a visitation from الموت للعدو in a dream before succesfully converting 100% of its convent into instances of SCP-5636-A. Two days later, the entire monastery committed suicide simultaneously by stepping off a nearby cliff.

5636-5
03/12/2017
The Utah Republican Party
Assassination of US Senators for Utah Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee (Attempted)
5
SCP-5636-A attended a party conference in Salt Lake City, shooting 17 people with an assult rifle before turning the gun on itself. Neither senator was harmed.

5636-6
17/01/2019
The SCP Foundation
Mass Information Leak
602
SCP-5636-A was the Foundation site director for site Langston-6. Subject used its clearance as site director to leak information regarding the locations and contained entities of 14 Foundation sites online. Two days later, five different Foundation buildings were breached in a coordinated attack by the Chaos Insurgency.

5636-7
22/03/2019
The Catholic Church
Poison
36
SCP-5636-A was a priest in Warsaw, Poland. During a communion service, SCP-5636-A diluted the service wine with a common garden pesticide, before fleeing the country. Six months later, an order for the same pesticide ordered in bulk from a location in Rome, Italy was flagged by the Foundation. The order was traced back to an apartment only a few blocks away from the Vatican City, where 12 instances of SCP-5636-A were aprehended.

5636-8
01/05/2019
Unknown
Bombing
41
SCP-5636-A planted three improvized explosives in locations around London, England. The first bomb was planted inside the Enlightenment Gallery of the British Museum, the second underneath a seat on the top floor of a double decker bus, and the third carried by SCP-5636-A itself onto the Jubilee Line of the Underground Railway, at which point all three devices were detonated simultaneously. Subsequent investigations revealed a blog hosted on the internet forum Tumblr detailing SCP-5636-A's ongoing plans to destroy a group referred to only as "the Enemy," and its step-by-step plan to carry out the bombings. The blog had 17 online followers prior to its deletion by the Foundation.

5636-9
05/05/2019
Shia Islam
Melee Combat (Attempted)
1
A mosque in Buenos Aires, Argentina was attacked by a regular attendee, later identified as an instance of SCP-5636-A. The individual was holding a medieval broadsword of unknown origin, and attempted to strike numerous service-goers, before it became evident that most of the other attendees at the mosque were faster than it was. At this point, as local police arrived at the scene, SCP-5636-A turned the sword on itself. Nobody else was harmed.

5636-10
16/02/2020
The Cogwork Orthodoxy Church
Disease Epidemic
107
SCP-5636-A published a manifesto to 4chan denouncing the Cogwork Orthodoxy Church and the Church of the Broken God more generally. Three days later, an outbreak of infection among Cogwork Orthodoxy members stationed at a hideout in Memphis, Tennessee began to spread between chuchgoers. After a serious containment effort involving help from the Foundation, a total of 107 infected individuals were reported dead. The cause of the disease is unknown, and an investigation is ongoing to discover the extent of its effects. SCP-5636-A was discovered among the dead.

5636-11
30/04/2020
The SCP Foundation
Bureaucracy
2331
SCP-5636-A was Ethics Overseer Michael Calvin, the individual responsible for all personnel admissions to the Ethics Committee, and one of the Ethics Committee's most senior members. After converting more than half of the EC into instances of SCP-5636-A, a coup was staged in the Mill Building at Site-37, where the Ethics Committee typically convene. This resulted in the deaths of all remaining unconverted Ethic Committee personnel. Shortly afterwards, all containment sites listed on the Foundation's Database were contacted by the Ethics Committee distributing an order objecting to the holding (and instructing the immediate release) of all contained SCPs on ethical grounds. The existing file held on SCP-5636 was also erased. The Ethics Committee, making use of its ability to restrict Foundation Database access to suspected persons, blocked all possible Foundation staff from logging into the Database at once. Although the majority of Foundation sites refused the order to release contained SCPs, 6 sites complied with the order before O5-3 was able to restore access to the Database and overturn the decision of the Ethics Committee. By the time all the released SCPs were re-contained, more than 2000 humans had died, with more than half of the dead comprising civilians.

CONTAINMENT ORDER #5636||O5-3 — 02/05/2020

Members of the Council,

I'm sure I don't need to describe in any further detail the extent of the atrocity we've just witnessed. As I write, more than half of the escaped SCPs have been returned to their containment cells, and I'm confident we should have almost all of the breaches under control by the end of the week.

That being said, I think it should be obvious to all of us by now that SCP-5636 clearly presents a much greater threat to Foundation integrity than we previously suspected. I knew Michael personally, and the idea that an individual of his resolution and caliber could become susceptible to such rhetoric…..haunts me. I expect it will continue to haunt me for a long time yet.

I'm proposing a containment order to be ratified by the Council that I hope might allow for the swift discovery of any internal or external instances of SCP-5636 breakout, the concealment of

SCP-5636 containment procedures from anyone outside the Council (including on the Ethics Committee), and the safeguarding of the O5 Council itself from a potential breach by SCP-5636.

The Containment Premises are as follows (details to be fleshed out after ratification by Foundation Containment Specialists, who would also fall under the jurisdiction of Containment Premise #3):

1. An algorithm should be operational at all times scanning both internal and external resources for occurrences of SCP-5636-A. This algorithm should run on multiple computer banks, located at black sites not recorded on any official Foundation database. Release of information pertaining to these sites should be approved to individuals only with the consent of a two-thirds majority of the O5 Council.

2. All information pertaining to the containment and description of SCP-5636 (including the official Foundation file itself) should only be accessible to approved members of the O5 Council, or members of staff with the approved (two-thirds majority) consent of the O5 Council. Any editions made to the file for SCP-5636 should also receive a two-thirds majority approval from the O5 Council before being codified.

3. All Foundation personnel involved in the implimentation of these procedures should recieve the necessary amnestics after their respective task is completed to ensure absolute information security. As such, staff should be regularly rotated when working on SCP-5636 containment, so as to avoid the repeated use of amnestics on individual personnel.

I expect to see these procedures in place as quickly as possible. In the meantime, it would be good to get some working theories as to what connects all the known instances of SCP-5636-A. As far as I know, we're the only organization to have been targeted twice by this thing. We should find out why.

See you all tomorrow,

O5-3

O5-2's Memo Proposal #5636-Alpha

O5-7's Memo Proposal #5636-Beta

O5-11's Memo Proposal #5636-Gamma

| RE: Containment Order #5636||O5-3

To O5-3, and anyone else who may be concerned,

I want to start by offering my condolences for the loss of Overseer Calvin. He was a hard worker. I shan't deviate, however. The subject matter is too important.

The matter of containing SCP-5636 should be an utmost priority for the SCP Foundation at large, and the O5 Council in particular. Any one of us could be infected at any time. As such, I shall be voting in favor of implementing Containment Order #5636||O5-3. As it happens, I already ordered the construction of several undocumented Foundation Bunkers a few years ago. They should be perfect for the housing of the necessary infrastructure.

With regards to a possible motive, I wouldn't suggest ruling out the possibility that this organization, الموت للعدو, may simply be very well hidden from view, rather than entirely non-existent. The notion that this group is an anomalous fiction in the minds of SCP-5636-A cannot be assumed until we have exhausted all possible methods of inquiry for locating this group. To do otherwise is to risk allowing an obvious threat to the Foundation to fester in the shadows. Our search must be relentless.

My first port of call for investigations would be the Chaos Insurgency. It's possible the SCP-5636-A instance posted classified information online to distract from a potential co-operation between the Insurgency and الموت للعدو. With permission from the Council, I'd like to send an operative into the field undercover to investigate any potential links between these two organizations.

The only other lead that might be pertinent is the symbol this group keeps using, the Hexagram. My own intel indicates an association between that symbol and the rituals practiced by participants of Pagan Witchcraft. I don't know much about the supposedly magical myself, but the notion that this phenomenon might have its roots in the seemingly ancient and arcane is not all that farfetched. Perhaps this is a form of voodoo?

If anyone needs to contact me, I shall be in my office. If possible, I would appreciate any incoming mail being triple checked by my clerks for manifestations of SCP-5636 before I read it. I think we all know how much damage I could have wrought upon the Foundation if my mind were placed into the wrong hands.

O5-2

| RE: Containment Order #5636||O5-3

Hi all,

Figured I should probably weigh-in on this, considering my background.

I've experienced a lot of cognitohazardous material in my time, and it seems pretty obvious to me that this radicalization process should be classified as such, since it's actively screwing with people's thoughts and actions. Maybe "Death to the Enemy" is a real group, maybe it isn't. I don't know. But something, somehow, is converting these people with supreme efficiency. It's got to be cognitohazardous.

I seriously doubt these folks were reasoned into doing what they do. Judging by the methods they use for communication, it's unlikely that this weird sentient goop in the back of their heads was put there by force. My guess is that the hazardous thinking actively promotes the growth of the grey matter. Physical manifestations aren't exactly typical cognitohazard fodder, but I'm not sure how else to classify a phenomenon like this.

I know the new EC appointees are going to be skeptical about potentially spreading this stuff, but if we could run some tests to see how the brain matter manifests, I suspect that would tell us a lot.

In other news, I'm taking my vacation early, starting tomorrow. I need some time off from work. My husband has been getting worried about me pushing myself, and the last couple days haven't exactly helped.

See you all in a week, I'll be in Barbados!

And it goes without saying that I'm fully in favor of the Containment Order. You've got my vote.

O5-7

| RE: Containment Order #5636||O5-3

Hey ███. I hope you and █████ are doing ok. I didn't know Michael all that well, but I know you guys were close.

I've got my own theories about the nature of the skip, and I'll put those in a later document if they ever become coherent enough to publish. All I'm going to say here is that I don't think it's worth discounting the possibility that although all the -A instances have had the -B substance in their head, that doesn't necessarily mean the -B stuff wasn't already there to begin with. It's not impossible that a lot of people have that material inside them and just don't know it. Maybe interaction with the anomalous group is what triggers it? I'm not sure. I sure as hell don't want my own brain dissected to find out! (LOL)

Anyway, I've been thinking about all the common factors between the targeted groups. It's mostly organized religion, right? And a few political parties. So my first thought was faith. I've never been to Sweden, but I actually grew up in Utah. Let me tell you, they take their politics SERIOUS. It's like a cult, and that's before you consider the fact that all of them are Mormons too. Maybe the SCP is targeting groups that rely on a certain amount of common faith.

But then there's us. I don't know about all of you, but I seriously doubt most of our staff have a whole lot of faith in what we do at the best of times. Hell, most of them barely have a good understanding of our mission statement, we keep so much in the dark. And yet, we've been targeted twice by this thing… and that got me thinking.

I suspect the shared component might be ritual. I seriously doubt every single member of our staff believes in the Foundation to their core. Hell, I don't even think most religious people are as faithful as they tell themselves they are. But we all still participate in these rituals, don't we? The Foundation arguably more so than any religious group I can think of. Everything from the way we organize ourselves to the way the research gets logged, the way the skip files get written… there's a very strict way of doing things here, and it never gets questioned. If we started telling staff to take Communion every Sunday, we all know they would.

That might go some way towards explaining the event in London, too. They targeted a famous tourist attraction and some public transport. I've had jobs that required an inner-city commute before. It always felt pretty ritualistic to me.

I could be entirely wrong on this, and frankly I have no idea what kind of testing might prove it. At the very least, I think it's worth considering. The two targeted members of staff from here were a Site Director and an Ethics Overseer, both of whom had held those positions for decades. I can see how a job like that might start to feel ritualistic.

All the best to the wife and kids! You all should come over to my place sometime, ████ whips up a mean bean casserole!

Sincerely,

O5-11

(P.S: names should be redacted if you want to use this memo for anything official!)

NOTE: Containment Order #5636||O5-3 was passed by the O5 Council by a vote of 10-3. The Special Containment Procedures have been updated accordingly.

Footnotes

1. See: Incident #5636-11

2. See: Incident #5636-4, 6, 7 and 11