Grant Request for Utilization of Electro-thaumic 
Computers... — How do you deal with a growing demand for 
exorcisms? Prometheus Labs has the answer: build a better 
exorcist. Written by GreenWolf 

Grant Request for Genetically Engineering Low-cost 
Organic Automatons... — "Slave" is such an outdated term. 
We prefer the name All-Natural Automatons'M, Written by A 
Random Day 


Burst (1992-1998) 


The fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War causes the 
paratech bubble to burst. An anomalous black market begins to 
emerge as old Soviet paratech stocks are lost and looted. The 
decline and eventual dissolution of Prometheus Labs in 1998 sends 
further ripples through the already reeling paratech market. The 
downsizing of national paranormal agencies and the emergence of 
new mass communications technologies puts the integrity of the Veil 
in question for the first time in decades. 


Grant Request for the Construction of an Interstellar 
Science Vessel — Prometheus Labs has always dreamed 
big, and there's nothing around bigger than space. So the 
logical conclusion is to build a starship powered by a black 
hole. Written by GreenWolf 

The Bard of Ambrose — After years of work, Prometheus 


Labs has finally succeeded in creating an artificial intelligence 
capable of thinking like a person. The only problem is that it 
thinks it doesn't think at all. Written by GreenWolf 

T Minus — Witness the PL-76 Shiva: the power of a god, bent 
to the will of an artificial mind that questions the meaning of its 
own existence. The Foundation is going to steal it. Written by 
A Random Day 


Repercussions (1998-— ) 


The emergence of several smaller companies from the remnants of 
Prometheus Labs leads to increased competition within the paratech 
industry, driving a period of technological advancement and 
economic recovery. The paratech black market continues to expand 
as Prometheus Labs paratech lost during the breakup falls into 
criminal hands. Normalcy preservation organizations fight to 
maintain the weakening Veil as they adapt to the chaotic landscape 
of the new millennium. 


SCP-2897 - The Bard of Analytics — What do you do with 
an Al capable of thinking that it doesn't think at all? The 
Department of Analytics thinks it has the answer. Written by 
GreenWolf 

SCP-2820 - Vaishnavastra — The Lord makes his presence 
known in many forms - including an Al-controlled death ray. 
Written by A Random Day 

Moonlighting — Building an android for an art show is clearly 
the best way to get back at your dad. Written by A Random 
Day 

SCP-2176 - Ghostlight™ — It's a lightbulb. Filled with 
ghosts. It's a ghostlight. Written by GreenWolf 

SCP-2308 - Futures Trading — As it turns out, time travel 
isn't a safe investment strategy after all. Written by GreenWolf 
UIU File: 2014-014 — There's a big gentle shark who 
only wants to get away and a bunch of crazy technocultists 
who want to get metaphysical with it. Written by 9Volt and 
LordStonefish 

The Analog Kid — What's the difference between a hivemind 
and two-way telepathy? Is there a difference? The answer 
may lie inside an abandoned machine shop in Three 


SCP-736: The lapetus Anomaly 


Item #: SCP-736 
Object Class: Keter 


Special Containment Procedures: Direct observation of SCP-736 
is to be coordinated through Foundation intelligence assets in the 
European Space Agency, National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration, China National Space Administration, and Russian 
Federal Space Agency. The next mission for close observation of 
SCP-736 is scheduled for 2022, and is designed to be a clandestine 
science objective for the European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy 
Moon Explorer project. Ground-based telescope observation of 
lapetus and the Saturnian system is to be maintained at all times. 


All major astrophysics research centers and universities are to be 
monitored by the Foundation Office of Celestial Anomalies for 
awareness of SCP-736. During SCP-736 events, internet traffic is to 
be monitored for reports of irregularities in lapetus' orbit. In cases 
where non-Foundation researchers have identified SCP-736, 
amnestics and information suppression protocols are authorized to 
prevent widespread knowledge in the scientific community. 


Description: SCP-736 is an anomaly affecting the Saturnian moon 
lapetus. For brief periods generally lasting several days, lapetus' 
orbit is spontaneously altered by measures of eccentricity, orbital 
period, or both. The orbit of lapetus returns to its documented state 
after these spontaneous changes. Models of temporary orbits 
almost entirely consist of lapetus undergoing orbital decay, and in 
most scenarios is projected to collide with Saturn (and, depending 
on the projection, other Saturnian moons) at some point within the 
next 150-300 years. These projected orbits are all in direct violation 
of mathematical models and both classical and relativistic physical 
principles, which do not predict a decay in the orbit of lapetus due to 
tidal effects or gravitational radiation. 


Portlands. Written by GreenWolf 
* Apotheosis 


O 
O 


Avatara — After life is death. After death is rebirth. After 
rebirth is causing death. Written by A Random Day 
Grant Request for Investigating the Application of... 
— In 1988, Prometheus Labs unearthed the corpse of a 
god. This is what they planned to do with it. Written by 
GreenWolf 

SCP-2970 - Holy Misplacement — An immortal 
missionary, last survivor of a religion long lost to the 
ages, begs to be made whole. But how much does he 
truly know? Written by TyGently 


H@ Operation AZURE PEREGRINE — Mobile Task 
Force Tau-5 "Samsara" in action. Written by 
sifpudding. 


© The Lord of Endowments — The god of 


transhumanism. Written by sirpudding 


© Samsara — The Warrior seeks revenge. Tau-5 seeks 


humanity. Neither of them realize that they are pawns of 
a higher force seeking to become whole. Written by A 
Random Day and TyGently 


The Fountain of Lamneth — You wouldn't download a car, 


so why would you download Cthulhu? Written by Taffeta 


To Be Noir Not To Be — There are only two things | hate 


about this job. The plasma cannon cleanups and the fanfiction 
reading. Written by Taffeta 


Gs 


O 


The Unusual Suspects 


1. The Dedekind-Infinite Demographic — The 
Unusual Incidents Unit tackles a multiversal IP theft and 
the end of Samsara becomes the beginning of 
something much worse for the Foundation. Written by 
Taffeta 


Unusual Investigations — The Three Portlands Bomber 


Permanent Waves — A couple of UIU agents, a bomb, 


and a chain-smoker. Just an average week in Three 
Portlands. Written by GreenWolf 

© A Farewell to Kings — The chase is on as Agent 
Green and the UIU hunt down the individual responsible 
for planting the memetic bomb in Three Portlands. 
Written by GreenWolf 

© Moving Pictures — The UIU's hunt for the Three 
Portlands Bomber culminates in a climactic wizard duel 
ina museum of illegal art. Written by GreenWolf 


State of Being — Three years ago the Unusual Incidents Unit 
encountered a shark that ate concepts. It's November of 2017, 
and the investigation that this spurred is far from over. Written 
by 9Volt 


© 1. Abstract Naught 


Guns Pointed at the Head of God — In 1998, Prometheus 
Labs built a weapon to kill God. Twenty years later, it's 
become obsolete. This is the arms race of the new age. 
Written by A Random Day 


© 1. SCP-2664 

© 2.T Minus 

© 3.T Plus 

© 4. Deus Vulture 

© 5. Conqueror Worm 


Hypervelocity — An adrenaline junkie snorts demons like 
cocaine and robs a cursed bank. Written by A Random Day 
Terminal Velocity — A criminal mastermind snorts demons 
like cocaine and hijacks an interdimensional train. Written by 
A Random Day 

Mutable State — A story about a robot lady and the 
cryptofascist spinal-monster that hates her. Written by The 
Great Hippo. 

Under Control — A young medium finds himself at the 
intersection of geas, magic drugs, necromancy, and unethical 
business practices. Written by TyGently 

Comedown Machine — Murder. Taco Bell. Espionage. Art 
supplies. It would be one for the history books, if anyone could 


remember it. Written by TyGently 


© Prologue: A Confluence of Clandestine Conferences 
© 1: Slow Animals 

© 2: Automatic Stop 

© 3: The End Has No End 


Basic Points 


¢ Before writing anything for this canon, please talk to the other 
contributors about your idea, to ensure that what you want to 
write doesn't contradict established or planned continuity. 


© Most major Third Law contributors hang-out in 
#Apotheosis on SynIRC, the Third Law IRC channel. 
Feel free to hop in at any time for brainstorming and 
general discussion. 

© If you're not comfortable using IRC, you can also send a 
Wikidot PM to GreenWolf, the primary custodian of 
the canon's continuity. 


¢ While talking with other contributors and having them review 
your work prior to posting will likely catch most continuity 
errors, it is recommend that you read through and familiarize 
yourself with the entire body of work within this canon before 
you try writing for it. This includes all of the articles linked on 
the Home tab, plus the other tabs of this hub. 

¢ When posting a new Third Law article, make sure to do the 
following: 


© All pages that are part of this canon should have this 
hub page set as their parent, to allow for breadcrumbs 
navigation. 

© All pages that are part of this canon should be tagged 
with third-law. 

© Itis preferred that any articles written explicitly for this 
canon use the Third Law CSS theme, although this is 
not a hard requirement. You can do this by adding the 
following code to the top of your article. It will even work 


on the sandbox! 


[ [module CSS] ] 
@import url (/component:3lawtheme/code/1) ; 
[[/module] ] 


What We're Looking For 


Third Law has a wider scope than most canons, lacking an 
overarching narrative or a fixed setting. Instead, Third Law is defined 
by a single continuity, acommon tone, and a set of recurring 
themes; as a result, almost any story which fits these criteria is 
eligible for inclusion in this canon. 


Continuity 


While a full overview of Third Law's expansive continuity would be 
too long to cover here, the following are the basic tenets of the 
canon's worldbuilding which form the foundation of the continuity. If 
an article contradicts a point listed here, it is fundamentally 
incompatible with Third Law. 


¢ The universe is ultimately comprehensible. While there are 
many things that exist which defy the conventional 
understanding of physics, the universe is fundamentally 
ordered and logical, and all anomalous phenomena may 
eventually be understood, given time and effort. This is most 
evident in the fields of parascience — thaumatology, 
metaphysics, psionics, etc... — which have succeeded in 
providing theoretical frameworks for many anomalous 
phenomena, even if they remain separate from conventional 
physics. This is a more optimistic take on the Foundationverse 
than is usual, and it means that works which take a more 
pessimistic stance — works that can usually be classed as 
cosmic horror — are likely to be incompatible with Third Law. 

¢ Paratech is common. This serves as a corollary to the first 
point. Rigorous parascience has allowed for the extensive 
development of paratechnologies, which are widely used on 


both sides of the Veil. Many consumer products contain 
technology that is paranormal in nature or derived from 
paranormal phenomena, although the truth of this may only be 
known to a few. In an expanding anomalous world, normalcy 
preservation agencies like the Foundation increasingly rely on 
paratech to uphold the Veil, despite potential ideological 
reservations. 

The Veil is present but weakening. The existence of the 
anomalous, including entire fields of parascience, is 
concealed from the majority of the world by normalcy 
preservation agencies and national governments, in an effort 
known as the Veil. This largely takes the form of suppression 
of information relating to anomalous phenomena, although 
agencies such as the Foundation may take a more proactive 
role in attempting to contain anomalous objects. The Veil is 
not absolute — most people have at least a vague awareness 
of the existence of things unexplained by science, although 
few individuals would admit to such if pressed. Indeed, entire 
cities and communities exist on the other side of the Veil, 
populated entirely by people aware of the anomalous and the 
efforts to conceal it. Peaking in strength in the middle of the 
20th century — shortly after the 7th Occult War — the Veil has 
been steadily deteriorating since the end of the Cold War, 
despite the best efforts of normalcy preservation agencies. 
Normalcy is defined by consensus. Anomalous phenomena 
are an inherent part of the universe, and are only deemed 
"abnormal" by the consensus of those who uphold the Veil. 
Many thoroughly understood fields of parascience are kept 
behind the Veil, while many mysterious phenomena have 
been publicly documented by conventional science. The 
decision on what is and is not anomalous is often due more to 
politics than science. 

Artificial Intelligence is exceedingly rare. Due to the 
extreme potential danger posed by the possible development 
of machine thaumaturgy, all research into general Al is heavily 
restricted by normalcy preservation agencies. As of 2020, the 
only general Al in existence are the GOC's Silicon Nornir, the 
Foundation's SCP-2897, and a small number of uncontained 
Bardeen-derivatives. 

There is no Heaven. There are various empirically 


observable phenomena which can be considered "souls", and 
it is possible for consciousness to persist after death, 
independent of a body, but cessation of consciousness is 
final. If there is an afterlife, no one's found it yet. 


Tone 


Third Law is best described as science fiction in an urban fantasy 
world, a combination which gives rise to its own unique tone. The 
world is full of fantastical wonders and horrors, but through human 
ingenuity and capability, they can ultimately be understood, and 
even harnessed. Yes, there are monsters and demons and even 
worse things from Outside, but humans can and will fight them. 
Thus, the overall tone of the canon is one of optimistic stubbornness 
in the face of a universe that is terrifyingly vast and unknown. 


This one is a bit hard to quantify, so you don't get bullet points. 
Sorry. 


Themes 


If the tone of Third Law is one of scientific optimism, then the 
themes are those of scientific consequences. Stories and articles 
within Third Law should try to explore the effects — both direct and 
indirect — of parascience on the world at large. This can range from 
technical documentation of a paratech project to a slice-of-life tale 
about a day in an anomalous enclave. Another potential avenue is to 
take the various frameworks of parascience to their logical 
conclusions, examining edge cases in a framework or looking at 
how different paranormal phenomena interact. 


Some specific points: 


¢ Knowledge is power. This is important enough that we made 
it the subtitle of the entire canon, and it's the in-universe motto 
of both Prometheus Labs and the Foundation's Department of 
Analytics. Every organization in the Foundationverse is 
ultimately working to increase their own knowledge — of the 
anomalous, of each other, of everything — because 
knowledge gives you the power to alter the world, sometimes 


extremely literally. 

« Actions have consequences. Usually unintended. The long- 
term effects of any individual action are numerous and 
unpredictable, and even the best intentions can go horribly 
awry. Try to keep this in mind. 

¢ Magic is just another form of science. This ties back into