Item #: SCP-4698

Object Class: Thaumiel

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-4698-1 is to be contained using standard humanoid containment protocols and chamber specifications, with the following deviations: SCP-4698-1 is to be fed a meat-only diet, has full access to the site as long as it is accompanied by a staff member with at least Level-2 clearance, and is to have therapy sessions increased to three times weekly. Aside from removals from containment for combat, SCP-4698-1 is to give a sermon, written by Veldt consultants, twice weekly to both strengthen its abilities and to boost general morale.

Description: SCP-4698 is an ongoing suppression project meant to stem the growth of the Verdant entity through actively reconstructing the deity known as Cernunnos with a mythology that supports Veldt archetypes.

Primary to this project is the entity designated as SCP-4698-1, formerly known as Foundation Agent Virgil Everett Miller. SCP-4698-1 had previously been held captive by the Verdant after being assumed killed in action by one of the entities in SCP-28891.

SCP-4698-1 possesses several modifications to its physiology - the growth of wood-based antlers from its skull, a colony of moss on its back integrated into its circulatory and respiratory system, and pointed cartilage in its ears. SCP-4698-1 also displays the ability to influence growth and development of certain varieties of cells at will. Chlorophyll production increases threefold in plant life within 10 miles of SCP-4698-1, and animal fertility rates rise also. Animals exposed to SCP-4698-1 show no fear response whatsoever. SCP-4698-1 did not show these anomalous properties before capture by the Verdant; evidence corroborates its claims that its abilities were latent and made emergent by the Verdant through a variety of methods. These methods included exposure to druidic thaumaturgy, intentional infliction of trauma, and genesis of a gospel depicting SCP-4698-1 as a nature and fertility god.

SCP-4698-1 was recovered after a subdivision of MTF Epsilon-27 (Rangers and Druids), partnered with a team of Veldt entities, were engaged in combat with Verdant-produced anomalies while attempting to cut back plant growth in the Pacific Northwest rainforest. After defeating the opposition, the Foundation's team discovered a large war camp. SCP-4698-1 was found in one of the tents, and recognized Agent Ives as its former team member.

The Foundation has begun a multi-step counterconditioning project - referred to as the CONTROLLED SCOURGING - that, if successful, should align SCP-4698-1's key traits with the Veldt.

CONTROLLED SCOURGING protocol has included the following methods:

Pavlovian and Skinner-style conditioning using positive punishment and negative reinforcement in response to symbols and imagery aligned with the Verdant.

Surgical operations to replace the colony of moss on SCP-4698-1's back with a colony of lichen2.

Daily thaumaturgic rituals invoking the blessings and attributes of Veldt deities such as SCP-2547-1 and SCP-3807.

Change in diet and clothing regiment to be entirely animal product-based, including a headpiece fashioned from and made to resemble a deer skull.

Construction of a ritual staff, set of scale-mail armor, and ceremonial dagger made out of bone and bronze for SCP-4698-1 to wear.

SCP-4698-1 has been exceptionally cooperative with both devising and following containment protocols, even to the detriment of its emotional and physical health.

Attached are relevant journal entries of SCP-4698-1, which it has asked to keep for its emotional health. The journals begin partway into the conversion process.

July 12

So, I guess I'll start this off: I officially have scurvy. It's definitely the meat-only diet they're putting me on. Apparently, if my teeth fall out, they're going to put in wolf teeth to replace them. Or maybe bear, I don't remember exactly. So, that'll be fun.

I'm not entirely sure what to write in here, but having it makes me feel better.

The rest of the page contained a detailed sketch of a human skull with antlers growing from it. When SCP-4698-1 was asked why it chose to draw this, it replied "Boredom and curiosity."

July 14

Today was shot to shit, to be frank. They did the Skinner shit, where they expose you to a stimulus and then hurt you to create an aversion. They did this before on me with electric shocks, which sure as hell aren't great, but it's not like I haven't had worse pain. Today was worse. I thought it was gonna be the shocks again. Nope. It was fucking nauseating. Literally. They got me sick and bombarded me with all this Verdant shit - pictures of overgrowth, and they made sure I didn't throw up, because that would provide relief.

I hope this phase doesn't last long.

August 1

So, they decided to test my abilities today. It… I don't know whether to say it ended badly, or if it was a flying success. I guess it's both, if you look at it a certain way.

I know you're reading this, or you will be, so let me just say this: I've seen a lot of shit, okay? I saw Thayer and Reed get eaten alive by an antlion the size of a building. I saw the remains of a Wendigo attack on a little logging town up in Canada. I've seen a tree that compelled pregnant women to rip their babies out of their wombs. This shouldn't phase me. But it did.

It wasn't the fact that the pigs turned to bone and petrified, or that the deer ate each other alive, or anything like that. I've seen that shit before. Was it pretty? No. But there was something that just - I don't know.

I figured out why it's bothering me so much. It's like - look. This is how they explained it to me when I was in 2889’s weird dimension, being turned into whatever I am now. Each animal is aligned with either the Verdant or the Veldt. Some are more aligned or are aligned more strongly with their path side direction than others. Humans aren't aligned with either, but they can be. They have untapped potential, energy, aura, thaumaturgic capabilities - whatever you want to call it. They can go to either side. And this whole project is taking my potential, which has been pledged to the Verdant, and directing it to the Veldt. And for the first time, I felt myself shift. And it felt so wrong. I thought it would be like a fluid transition, a flow from one to the other, but it was like - rubbing your hand the wrong way on sandpaper. Something in me is attached, doesn't want to let go. And today, we tore part of it out.

August 26

They finally let me go out into the field today. I was accompanied by this agent, Meyers, their platoon, and this kid, Dmitri, who served as our guide and Veldt mage or whatever. Smarmy little prick. He did save my ass from this giant goat-thing though, so I guess I should be grateful.

Guns don’t really work on these things because a lot of them are plant-animal fusion creatures, or they have multiple brains/heads/whatever - it’s just not effective. What we do have is flamethrowers and a ton of sarin gas and white phosphorus. I felt kind of bad - these are just animals that have been warped by forces far beyond their understanding. They don’t really know what they’re doing. But you can’t afford to feel bad in the middle of it, and so I was there, killing the roots of the tree-deer and throwing IEDs like everybody else.

But the more important thing is that we saw him today. Cernunnos, Pan, whatever you want to call him. The guy who we're all supposed to take down to restore the balance. The guy whose second hand I was supposed to be. Or maybe be absorbed into. I'm not certain, they weren't exactly clear when they were making me into Cernunnos' weapon.

I don't know how I'm supposed to fight him. He was huge, redwood tree huge. And he moved with this grace that nothing that big should ever move with. He looked at me, and I was just - I felt hollow. Like a speck.

Why did they choose me? Even if I was supposed to be fighting on his side, I’m just some guy from Georgia who dropped out of college and got disowned by his family when they caught him in bed with his football teammate. How am I supposed to be powerful? Why me? Why does this whole thing center around me somehow? Because I’m not egotistical, it really does. I can feel the balance shifting when I enter combat, I see the way the Veldt warriors look at me, and I know they’re all expecting so much of me, and honestly? The shit that I did today, they’re probably right. I’m a fucking god. But why the fuck would you make me into one?

A drawing of the Pan/Cernunnos entity took up the next page.

October 23

They told me that if it hadn't been for them capturing me, Pan wouldn't have woken up. My potential for magic was so off the charts that whoever found me and converted me first would basically send the other flying and wake their primal deity. If they hadn’t gotten me, the Verdant wouldn't have had its power surge, and that it’s basically all my fault.

This is all my fault.

It’s my fault it’s my FUCKING FAULT

The next few pages of the journal were torn out.

October 25

They brought in Coyote today. There was a while where they had me pray to him every day, until I gained enough power in my own right, but I didn't think he actually heard. Apparently, they told him what was going on. He knew what they were doing to me from the beginning. It might even have been his idea. He wasn't wearing the jacket - he was wearing this beautiful beaded - wasn't quite a poncho, but the beads were all made of the knuckle bones of his prey, he told me. It made this noise like rain when it moved.

The whole thing was fucking embarrassing.

It's like having someone who you went on one date with brought in to visit you in the hospital.

Not that I - I'm not a fucking furry. I don't want to sleep with him. But I liked him, when I met him, in spite of myself. I kept thinking about him. Especially when I was taken by 2889. I've seen more skips than I can count, and he's the one that stuck. God knows why.

I'm not sure why they chose to bring him in. They could have brought in Ives or Hessen, actual people who are, you know, my friends.

He told me that if it hadn't been me, it would have been another century, another millennium even, before someone with my "gifts" was born, but it would always have happened. That the Verdant would get too greedy and convert someone to their side and the Veldt would lash back, or vice versa, and it would descend into war. It's happened before, when we were barely out of our cavemen years, and it will happen again.

That should have made me feel worse, that humanity is kind of just doomed to this forever, but at least I know I wasn’t solely responsible. That kind of lifted the weight.

I asked him what the equivalent of Pan was, on the Veldt’s side. He shrugged, said I wouldn’t know them. Apparently there’s no record of their religion anywhere - it was a Verdant scorched earth tactic, and it fucking worked. They’ve been dead for a long time now. Coyote, Set, the others, all of them are just filling in the leadership role, but none of them have the power that Pan does. Coyote described it as being that they’re all fragments of one concept, whereas Pan is many concepts rolled up into one. Hessen would get this better than I do.

He also told me how brave I was, that not many mortals could go through what I did in 2889 and come out even a fraction as sane as I did. I told him this was worse, that it felt like everything I'd ever known was getting chipped away one piece at a time, that I didn't know how much longer I could hold out.

He didn't say anything, but just gathered me up in his arms and held me. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I might have cried a little bit.

A portrait-style drawing of 2547-1.

I hope I see him again soon.

October 30

Claws. I have grown claws. They're kind of extensions of my fingernails, but they curve and end in a point. The scientists are pretty fucking pleased with themselves over this. They took a test of my DNA today, when they saw what happened overnight, and apparently there's all sorts of shit in there. Gyrfalcon, snow leopard, wolf, mountain goat, rattlesnake, even a fucking mushroom species or two. I don't know exactly what I am, but it sure as hell isn't human anymore.

A self-portrait of a young man, assumed to be SCP-4698-1 without its physical deviations. Due to the decrease in quality from previous drawings, it is hard to tell the exact nature of the drawing's subject. SCP-4698-1 refused to answer when asked about the drawing.

November 2

I am Virgil Everett Miller.

I am Virgil Everett Miller.

I am Virgil Everett Miller.

[LOG REDACTED FOR BREVITY]

I am Virgil Everett Miller who the fuck even cares. I don't know anymore.

November 3

They've got me on an antidepressant now. Which is great. Medicating a demigod is always great to do. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

I just hope it helps.

November 12

I took out an entire Verdant war camp today. I wanted to throw up afterwards. Not because of what I did, which was pretty grisly, but because of how wrong it felt. At the end of it I nearly collapsed and the polar bears who were guarding me had to carry me back to camp on their backs. I should thank them when I get the chance. They're good soldiers, the bears. We use them as cavalry. The Veldt followers ride them into battle. I'm not going to lie, it's one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

I think I'm doing the thing my therapist talks about where I talk about something else to deflect from what I actually need to talk about it. But this is my journal, and I can write whatever I want in it.

Maybe I'll come back to it later.

I guess I'm ready now. Ready as I can be. I want - I don't know what I want. You know how when you're a kid and you want to go home but you're already home, so it doesn't make any sense, and your parents have no idea what to do with you? Yeah. That. I guess I just want to be human again okay again normal again Verdant again happy again.

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Footnotes

1. now known to be aligned with the Verdant

2. more commonly found in Veldt-aligned areas and a common component in Veldt thaumaturgy