SCP-6736: Enter the Salamancers

Written by Rhys Tanner and Dr A Fungus does not match any existing user name, with proofreading by Monsoon Season and friends.

-.-- . ... / -.-- . ... / .-.. --- ...- . / .... . .-.. .--. .. -. --. / .... .- - . . --.. / .- -. -.. / ... .- .-.. --- -. --..-- / -- .- -.- . / .. ... .-.. .- -. -.. / .... .- .--. .--. -.-- --..-- / -- .- -.- . / ..-. --- ..- -. -.. .- - .. --- -. / .... .- .--. .--. -.--

by Rhys Tanner and A Fungus

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

Containment Class: euclid

Secondary Class: {$secondary-class}

Disruption Class: keneq

Risk Class: caution

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.

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.

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.

+ Addendum- SCP-6736-Aleph

- Addendum- SCP-6736-Aleph

SCP-6736-Aleph is the designation for thaumatological effects associated with the Hyrcanian Pictography. Wild specimens of SCP-6736 are able to create syntactically unique pictograms using a combination of the Hyrcanian Pictography and collective ritual, such as music and dance, from a very young age. These rituals can radically alter the local weather and ecology of the area in which they are performed. Wild specimens will instinctively draw pictograms using whatever medium is available, including soil, tree resin, algae, foliage, mucus and writing utensils. Hycranian Pictography tends to appear more often in the environment during important stages of SCP-6736's life cycle, such as breeding season or after forest fires.

Individual glyphs do not, in and of themselves, manifest thaumatological effects; rather, SCP-6736 uses the symbols to communicate concepts to each other, causing the thaumatological effects to activate as SCP-6736 performs other tasks. Because of this, a symbol's effect changes in proportion to the frequency of its use, fluctuating in "power" as SCP-6736 creates or erases it from its surroundings. The effects manifested are categorized below by memetic class.

Memetic Class
Glyphs
Description

Garden

Invokes the Earth and instincts.

Cloud

Invokes water and survival.

Caspian

Invokes the sky and socializing.

Ctesiphon

Invokes fire and birth.

Cathay

Invokes wisdom and history.

Carthage

Invokes salt and death.

Yerevan

Invokes humanity and the artificial.

The following passages are cited from Authors of the Earth by Dr. Yasya Najafabadi, PhD in Historical Linguistics, published internally in 2006:

So, when did the Hyrcanians develop their script? A simple question with a complicated answer. We must first take into account that the script is not, in any sense, developed. Logographies as typified by Chinese characters utilize both precise calligraphy and an established lexicon to disseminate meaning. For Hyrcanians, these are only suggestions. The set of glyphs used throughout this text cover over 95% of known lexical items, but the number of potential glyphs is functionally infinite. We speculate that SCP-6736's "vocabulary" has grown and shrunk many times throughout history …

… Suppose you have written a note card and a highly intricate message, or heard a spoken message that you will not hear again. You might resort to the use of shorthand and abbreviation to condense such information. Writing exists to not only assign a reproducible value to phonetic information, but also to maintain that value across generations as phonetics change. Many people believe, incorrectly, that the Hycranian script functions in the same way. But human historical precedent would disagree.

Languages change as their speakers do. For writing systems developed for oral traditions, radical shifts in meaning are an inevitability. But for Hyrcanians, the phonemic value7 of their voice has no bearing on the words written, and symbols can be made, changed or unmade on a whim. So, where is meaning derived? As far as we can tell, cultural value, context, and not much else …

… If we know that the myths associated with salamanders have reflected Aleph-class events since at least Pliny the Elder, then it's easy to claim Hyrcanian was established nearly two millennia ago. But, this is not the complete picture either. Do we go back further, make connections between their writing and our proto-writing, our hieroglyphs? It will serve us better to start with something concrete: our oldest preserved Hyrcanian glyphs shortly predate the Sassanian Empire, and this period is more bountiful in evidence than any others before 1700 …

… The most unique aspect of Hyrcanian is that it does not exist to transmit information to the future. The fundamental motivation of all physical mediums developed by humanity, to outlast our ephemeral use of language, is a notion which Hyrcanian pictograms reject. Hyrcanians have preserved their gift not through reason, but through instinct. While our language survives to tell us what has happened, Hyrcanian tells its speakers what is happening.

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.

+ Refuge Log

- Refuge Log

21/05/1954

Foreword: Agent Uysal, Agent Zhordania, and informant Alizadeh isolate two members of SCP-6736 for observation in a chamber exposed to the surrounding forest. Translated from Russian.

<Begin Log>

[Subjects are seen on video scrawling into the ground as footage begins.]

Zhordania: Containment log one. Objects are capable of pattern recognition of symbols instilled by trainers.

Alizadeh: … And this sign… This is the sign for 'salt'. And this one is 'gift'. They want salt. 'No'.

Uysal: No?

Alizadeh: No. They're just making the sign for 'no'. 'No give salt'. There's too much salt in the dirt.

Zhordania: There's no salt in the dirt, idiot.

Alizadeh: 'No salt human'. That one's 'human'.

[Subjects collaboratively scrawl 'danger', obscuring the 'human' glyph.]

Uysal: It's crossing us out.

Zhordania: I think I get that one.

<End Log>

Afterword: 14 subjects of various ages were stored in an amphibious terrarium at nearby Site-71. Alizadeh was tentatively permitted to act as caretaker of the anomalies. Their antimemetic properties led to a gradual containment failure, resulting in a rapid growth of the SCP-6736 population at the site.

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.

+ SCP-6736 Site Log 104

- SCP-6736 Site Log 104

01/06/1955

<Begin Log>

[Personnel are filming what appears to be an empty terrarium. They have difficulty finding SCP-6736 until Agent Zhordania trips over an older specimen.]

Zhordania: What the hell is this? Why is it outside?

Alizadeh: Summer storm, Zhordania.

[Zhordania appears to be the first agent capable of perceiving the multitude of specimens.]

Zhordania: What the hell have you done, Alizadeh? [pointing] Uysal, look at this.

Uysal: What … oh God, how many of these things are there?

<End Log>

Afterword: While originally reported as an exponential reproductive phenomenon, the cause of the containment breach was eventually blamed on the team's failure to account for antimemetic hazards. Rigorous search for and containment of SCP-6736 specimens was subsequently undertaken at Site-71.

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.

+ Class-Ctesiphon Event 06

- Hide

26/07/1975

Description: A high-magnitude Class-Ctesiphon event occurred in Golestan National Park, Iran. GoI-4302 organized the event by relocating various broods to a centralized location within the surrounding forest. Using the glyphs for "fire", "tree", and "storm", GoI-4302 created a forest fire over an area of approximately 16km2. Within this forest fire was a clutch of approximately 10,000 eggs belonging to SCP-6736, which were protected from the intense heat. Approximately 6,000 hatchlings were believed to have been released by this Class-Ctesiphon event.

Conclusion: Foundation agents tasked with controlling the population of SCP-6736 immediately identified the forest fire as a result of anomaly, and successfully terminated over 2,000 instances spawned from event.

+ Class-Caspian Event 02

- Hide

01/05/1984

Description: in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran established a prohibition on both Foundation activity and the activity of GoI-4302. Public displays of the Children of Fire's Zoroastrian beliefs were criminalized, resulting in the group's clandestine activity increasing and millenarian philosophy becoming more radical. Incorporation of psychotropic substances into religious ceremonies, including the administration of substances to SCP-6736 instances, became a practice of the sect. Glyphs for "know", "sky", "horizon", and "king" were scrawled throughout a compound in Ajan Sangarli, Iran. The resulting Class-Caspian event was a memetic hazard affecting members of GoI-4302 and SCP-6736. Subjects experienced visions described as apocalyptic, perceiving the return of a Shah9 who would serve as a world leader in league with the "Spenta Mainyu"10 in a battle against the "Angra Mainyu".11

Conclusion: Activity discovered retroactively following first Class-Carthage Event.

+ Class-Carthage Event 01

- Hide

04/08/1985

Description: The group of individuals and SCP-6736 affected by SCP-6736-Caspian-02 trekked to the city of Aralsk, Kazakhstan. Approximately 5,000 instances of SCP-6736 were compelled by memetic hazard to scrawl the symbols for "salt/danger", "ritual", "sandstorm", and "king". Interviews of GoI-4302 members involved suggest that this was an attempt to prevent or delay the arrival of the Angra Mainyu.

At approximately 12:00 local time, an anomalous sandstorm began to develop in the region, affecting an area of nearly 2,500km2. The storm persisted for several days and resulted in over nine hundred casualties. A profound ecological collapse would later affect the surrounding farmland, degrading the corridor from the Aral Sea to the Caspian Sea into a massive salt flat.

Conclusion: Attempts to reverse environmental damage are ongoing, but are hindered by both a lack of cooperation with Foundation personnel and existing hydropower and irrigation installations draining the Aral Sea further.

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

+ GRU Division "P" Memorandum

- Hide Memorandum

OSI "SCYTHIAN" | DIVISION "P" DEPARTMENT II

APPROVED 13.XI.1985 | PRINTOUT NR: 3

SIGNED .................. S

DEPARTMENT HEAD III-P-9-GRU

RESPONSIBLE PERSONNEL: Neftaly Gorogod, Stepan Tyulkin

DETAIL: OSI "SCYTHIAN" is the designation of a previously poorly understood species of salamander. It is now understood that this species is intelligent and capable of dramatically restructuring the chemical composition of the environment in which it resides. These changes are performed using the following mechanisms:

"SCYTHIANS" establish a thaumic conduit through runic scripture

This runic scripture can generate undirected masses of salt, water, fire, and organic matter

Strength of effects is contingent on numbers of runes amassed

These actions have had a disastrous effect on the regions of the Union inhabited by "SCYTHIANS". It is well-established that Western powers have conspired against the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics by releasing waves of "SCYTHIANS" into the environment where there were previously few or none present. In doing so, they have compromised the water reserves of the Union and rendered barren the once-fertile land in the Caspian belt.

PROPOSED USES:

(i) Agricultural Improvements: REJECTED - A reliable way to enforce the creation of runes associated with rain or environmental recovery is not currently available.

(ii) Weaponization: REJECTED - Members of "SCYTHIAN" are not capable of directing their magic outside of their area of habitation.

(iii) Relocation: APPROVED - One breeding population of "SCYTHIANS" will be preserved for potential future use.

PROJECT:

OSI "SCYTHIANS" are an existential threat to the continued survival of the Union. In less than two years, "SCYTHIAN" numbers may result in mass crop die-off. Project "RASHIDUN", a culling of all "SCYTHIANS" in the Caspian Sea region, including within the nation of Iran, is to be implemented.

Long Live the Soviet Union.

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.

+ Hatess Entry 0058: SCP-6736 Appeal, Day 0 Field Study

- Hide Entry

Foreword: Representative Hatess is accompanying a pair of Lambda-40 agents (Lim Chung-Ho and Navarro Ruiz) during a routine perimeter survey of Site-90.

<Begin Log>

Chung-Ho: … and that one there is "shelter."

Hatess: Thank you, agent Chung-Ho, but I have a copy of the glossaries. I'm cataloging what I see. You should be too.

Ruiz: [to Chung-Ho] Not getting paid hourly, remember. We got another acre to do. [to Hatess] I hope you're finding Site-90 to your liking, representative.

Hatess: Too hot, too wet. Not your fault, though. This is the asset's natural home, correct? They survive best here? Weren't relocated?

Ruiz: That's correct. Our terrariums match the Hycranian climate as closely as possible, and SCP-6736 reacts favorably to them.

[Hatess wipes a sheen of rainwater from their jacket. They grimace and shake their hand.]

Chung-Ho: Come on, Hatess. They've got rain where you're from, surely.

Hatess: [Deadpan] Nope. It rains blood where I come from. Blood and guts. [to Ruiz] Suppose there's not a … drier population, is there?

Ruiz: Not anymore. During the 20th century they reached as far as the Aral Sea. Their habitat is a fraction of what it once was. Or so the director tells me.

Hatess: I'm not interested in the Aral Sea, mister Ruiz, I'm interested in the lizards.

Chung-Ho: [Interjecting] Amphibians, ma'am.

Hatess: The Committee handles taxonomies, dear. Lizards are lizards.

[Hatess turns to agent Chung-Ho and bares their teeth, peeling back the skin of their jaw to reveal their molars.]

Hatess: And I'm not a ma'am.

[The team continues in silence. Agent Chung-Ho refuses to speak for the remainder of the survey.]

[Hatess stops as the team reaches a clearing. They inspect the tree line, then turn to agent Ruiz.]

Hatess: They're here, aren't they? Seven or eight of them.

Ruiz: Uh …

[Ruiz checks his tablet. Seven members of SCP-6736 are detectable in the clearing.]

Ruiz: … seven, yes. Are you able to see them, representative Hatess?

Hatess: Smell. [sniffling] Reeks of pepper.

[Hatess steps into the center of the clearing and claps their hands twice.]

Hatess: Alright, darlings. Roll call.

[SCP-6736-044 ("Dudley") approaches Hatess. He sits up on his hind legs, waving a stick with his forelimbs. Hatess crouches down to meet him at eye level and smirks.]

Hatess: Hello, little fella.

Dudley: .... . .-.. .-.. --- / .... . .-.. .-.. --- / -. . .-- / .... . .-.. .-.. ---

HELLO HELLO NEW HELLO

[Dudley begins drawing a circle in the dirt. He creates a series of pictograms, then offers the stick to Hatess.]

Dudley: -- .- -.- . / - .-. .- -.. . / ..-. --- ..- -. -.. .- - .. --- -. / .... ..- -- .- -. --..-- / .... . .-.. .-.. --- / -.-- . ...

MAKE TRADE FOUNDATION HUMAN, HELLO YES

Ruiz: Dudley, this is representative Hatess. They're here to make friends.

Dudley: -.-- . ... / -.-- . ... / -- .- -.- . / ..-. .-. .. . -. -.. / .... .- - . . --..

YES YES MAKE FRIEND HATEEZ [sic]

Hatess: This is the bonding behavior Hammond discussed, I assume.

[Ruiz nods. Hatess takes the stick from Dudley and draws the glyph for "Foundation", followed by "yes", "human" and a spiral symbol of their own design. They return the stick.]

Hatess: Alright, Dudley, draw me like one of your French Sarkites.

[Hatess and Dudley collaborate on their pictogram for several minutes.]

Dudley: ...- . .-. -.-- / ..-. .-. .. . -. -.. -.-.-- / .... .- - . . --.. / ..-. .-. .. . -. -.. / -.. ..- -.. .-.. . -.-- / --. .-. . .- - .-.. -.-- / -.-- . ... / -.-- . ... / -.-- . ...

VERY FRIEND! HATEEZ [sic] FRIEND DUDLEY GREATLY YES YES YES

[Dudley waddles repeatedly in circles. Hatess stands and takes a series of notes.]

Hatess: You said there was an outpost past the clearing?

Ruiz: That's correct.

Hatess: I'll be collaborating with my liaison back at the site, then. Your service is appreciated, gentlemen.

[Hatess swivels and exits the clearing. They scowl at Chung-Ho as they pass, making a point to bump into him. After a short delay, Ruiz rejoins Chung-ho and the two resume their survey.]

Ruiz: You really fucked that up.

<End Log>

+ Hatess Entry 0070: SCP-6736-90-032 ("Edna") Aptitude Evaluation

- Hide Entry

<Begin Log>

[Hatess sits across from Edna and Site-90 head researcher Ezekiel Hammond. The three are eating lunch: two sandwiches for Hammond and Hatess, and a plate of mealworms and fruit slices for Edna.]

[Hatess pores over their field notes. Edna slaps her tail obstinately and Hammond hands her a grapefruit, which she begins peeling.]

Hammond: Exceptional, aren't they? [to Edna] Hook your thumb in there, dear. That's it.

Edna: .. / -.-. .- -. / ..- ... . / -- -.-- / .... .- -. -.. ... / .... .- -- -- --- -. -..

I CAN USE MY HANDS HAMMOND

[Edna struggles with the grapefruit. Hammond opens his own field notes, sighing.]

Hatess: This one scored much higher than the others. I assume age correlates positively with intelligence?

Hammond: Edna has been living at Site-90 since 1988. Juveniles fully mature after about four years or so, so at her youngest she would have been around 32. But other specimens of similar age ranges demonstrate much lower intelligence, at least in regards to speech and mathematics. We speculate she's much older than that. Possibly 40 or 50.

[Hatess studies Hammond's notes. They sort a series of glyphs and write them out on a piece of paper.]

Hatess: And the "Cathay" glyphs are reserved for elders …

[Hatess passes the paper to Edna.]

Hatess: Got something to tell me, Edna?

[Edna slaps the table repeatedly with her hands, then pushes the paper away.]

Edna: ..- -. -.- .. -. -.. / - --- / .- ... -.- / .- / .-.. .- -.. -.-- / .... . .-. / .- --. .

UNKIND TO ASK A LADY HER AGE

[Hatess chuckles.]

Hatess: [to Hammond] You said they can change the power of these things.

Hammond: At the behest of a leader, yes. We believe that the power is tied to their collective belief rather than the symbols themselves. The symbols' strength is a consequence of that change, rather than the cause of it, if you follow.

Hatess: So not as easy as writing our own, then.

Hammond: I suppose you could, with control of an elder to relegate such things. But most of their actions are instinctual. They just create glyphs as they work. It's … not quite spontaneous, but very few of them create with discernable purpose. It's possible that influencing their emotional state would achieve what you're talking about.

Hatess: Hm. [To Edna] If you're done, little lady, I think we have a prior engagement. I want to see how well you can disappear.

Edna: .. / .-- --- ..- .-.. -.. / .-.. --- ...- . / - --- / -.. .. ... .- .--. .--. . .- .-. / .-. . .--. .-. . ... . -. - .- - .. ...- . / .... .- - . ... ... --..-- / -.. --- / -. --- - / ..-. --- .-.. .-.. --- .--

I WOULD LOVE TO DISAPPEAR REPRESENTATIVE HATESS, DO NOT FOLLOW

[Hatess stands, motioning for Hammond and Edna to join them.]

Hatess: Sorry, old-timer. My legs are longer than yours.

[Edna grumbles.]

<End Log>

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.

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

Footnotes

1. Encompassing multiple national parks and protected areas within the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forest ecoregion of Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan.

2. SCP-6736's largest population range during the Anthropocene epoch occurred during the 1950s.

3. This compound is mildly irritating to humans and irritating or life-threatening to small vertebrates.

4. Reemergence of traits from earlier stages of development in adulthood.

5. Most members of SCP-6736 do not reach a level of cognitive function past this point, but some may develop greater intelligence as they age.

6. These pictograms are referred to hereafter as Hyrcanian Pictography.

7. Amount of distinct sounds within a language. Hycranian uses a three-vowel system and multiple consonants to which there are no human analogs.

8. Members claim, without evidence, a direct descent of their sect from Shah Ardashir I.

9. Referring to a mythical pre-Islamic Shah, not Mohammad Reza Pahlavi or his descendants.

10. "Holy spirits/mentality"

11. "Destructive spirits/mentality"