Special Containment Procedures: SCP-650 is to be stored ina 
lockable room at least 4 meters by 4 meters, with comfortable 
lighting. It must remain under constant surveillance by no less than 
three (3) personnel. Observers are to position themselves so that 
the SCP and at least one additional observer are in their line of sight 
at all times. 


Observation via remote methods such as security cameras is 
permissible, so long as concentration is not broken at any time. This 
method should only be used in case of emergency, however, due to 
the possibility of accidental loss of sight. 


Description: SCP-650 is a black statue of a stylized humanoid 
167cm tall. The statue does not possess hands or facial features: 
the limbs taper off into rounded points and the head is a smooth 
surface all around. The default posture while under observation has 
the statue reaching upwards, head tilted as if facing the sky. 
Composition of the statue is currently undetermined; materials 
testing has yielded inconclusive and contradictory results. 


If the statue is not being observed, it will relocate itself to a point 
immediately behind whomever is in the containment site and 
assume a threatening posture. No noise is made during this 
relocation process, so the precise method of locomotion is as of yet 
unknown. The relocation point and posture are typically close 
enough to induce an automatic fight-or-flight response in the 
observer once they turn around and see it. 


However, it should be noted that the SCP has not yet shown any 
signs of active aggression or hostility. Based on trial responses that 
varied the amount of time between breaking and re-establishing line- 


Transcript of a lecture given by Professor 
Conclusion, Q and A 


"And we're back for the last session of this seminar. We're almost 
done. | just have a few more things to say, and then we'll be able to 
break for the night. 


"| do want to address one thing that | was asked over dinner... 
namely, now that Unified Thaumatology exists, can it be considered 
a grand unifying theory for the paranormal? 


"We would like that to be the case... but sadly, the answer is 'No.' 
Unified Thaumatology does provide a strong basis for the study of 
magic: we believe that it may also have implications into other fields. 
But there are places dealing with the paranormal where the theory 
starts to break down. 


"Two very large examples are Type Green Reality Benders and 
Type Black or Ex Machina Divinities. Remember what | said before, 
that every thaumatological working has a source and causes a 
backlash. Type Greens violate both of those rules: they are able to 
alter reality without a Source, and their alterations do not cause 
backlash. There are a lot of theories as to why this may be: one 
theory is that the backlash is shunted into a parallel reality... 
perhaps as a paranormal phenomenon for them to deal with? 
Another theory is that the backlash is absorbed into the Type 
Green's own consciousness. Perhaps that explains why so many go 
insane. Unfortunately, we don't have the answer to that. It's one field 
that the Institute is devoting many resources to study. Progress is, 
by necessity slow, as is any study revolving around Type Greens. 
It's hard to collect useful data when that data could be manipulated 
by your test subject. 


"Type Blacks and Ex Machinas... they're even stranger. Their 
effects are similar to thaumatology and reality bending, but they 
don't seem to obey any of the thaumatological laws we've 


encountered. There are no bursts of Aspect Radiation caused by 
their abilities. They can't even be detected through Aetheric 
Resonance Imaging. In fact, the code word designation for a demi- 
divinity, ‘Type Black,' comes because many of them simply don't 
have aetheric auras... sorry, EVE patterns... at all. We have no idea 
what these things are... except that they are very powerful, and in 
many cases, hostile to humanity. 


"Then there are the many threats you might face that have nothing 
to do with Aspect Radiation. Anomalies in space-time. Cryptids. Mad 
cyborgs. Telepaths. The truth is, the more we learn, the more we 
realize that the world is a stranger and more terrifying place than we 
did before we began our study. For each answer we find, two more 
questions are raised. 


"But that's the nature of scientific inquiry, after all. 


"If there is a point to this seminar, however, | hope it is this: that you 
came away from here with a basic understanding of what 
thaumatology is and what it is that thaumaturges do. Part of the fear 
and power of magic was that it was so mysterious. By peeling away 
some of that mystery, it is our goal to arm you with the strongest 
weapon you will need if you ever come up against a thaumatological 
threat: the knowledge that you, as a non-thaumaturge, are not 
helpless. A student of mine once gave me a novel with a line | 
enjoyed greatly: 'No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife in the 
back can seriously cramp their style.’ 


"| will now be taking questions." 


Can Sharp and Flat can be tied to sex with 
protection, or in vitro fertilization? 


Well, yes. But in practice, the procreative act is most effective when 
done for the purposes of procreation between two persons. | 
suppose if | had to list them on a sliding scale, it would probably be 
in-vitro, masturbation, nonprocreative sex, procreative sex, with 
childbirth somewhere near the top as well. Then again, there are 
also acts of sex that tend strongly towards Flat. | won't go into 
details here. I'm sure you can think of them. 


Why use blood? Couldn't you just get some jugs of 
milk at a supermarket if you need EVE? 


You could, but the longer that a bodily fluid is separate from the 
body, the less effective it becomes. Same with dead bodies... at 
some point, a dead body or jug of milk ceases to be a living thing 
and just becomes... a thing. Although | suppose that breast milk for 
lactating persons could work in a pinch... blood is simply more 
universal. And there's a bit more dignity in cutting your thumb with a 
secespita than in the alternatives. 


Have there been any attempts to utilize type greens 
in the same way that type blues are employed? Or 
has it always been recognized as too dangerous to 
consider? 


| cannot speak for the Coalition on that, but yes, there have been 
attempts to utilize Type Greens. They have invariably failed, due to 
the tendency of Type Greens towards megalomania, and the 
difficulty in taking them down if they break control.. Although rumor 
has it that there have been one or two successful cases. The two 
most common suspects are D.C. al Fine and the Cornwall Hero. 


Is the Coalition squeamish about using anomalous 
means to combat parathreats? 


That depends on your definition of anomalous. The official position 
of the Global Occult Coalition is that Type Blue thaumatology falls 
under the realm of "tangential technology,” not anomalous 
parathreat. Those of us employed by the Coaltion have sworn the 
same oaths as the rest of you. We are still human. We still want to 
protect humanity. And we do so with all the talents at our disposal. 


The eventual goal of thaumatological research, after all, is to 
incorporate magic theory into our modern understanding of physics. 
Once that is done, won't the concept of "magic" have been finally 
destroyed? 


There are ways to eliminate parathreats aside from a bullet. 


If the Coalition had to look at itself as a parathreat, 


what threat level would it be at? What would it take 
for it to grow a threat level? 


If the member organizations of the Coalition were to turn against the 
best interests of humanity, it would result in an immediate failure of 
all missions, probably requiring a Pizzicato Level Response. The 
Coalition exists, however, to prevent such events from occuring. 


It is, however, interesting to contemplate what might happen to the 
Coalition if its major rivals were eliminated or incorporated into its 
ranks. Absolute Power corrupts absolutely, after all. 


Perhaps it is best that no one organization controls all the power in 
the paranormal world. 


Where is the point at which thaumatology becomes 
inefficient and impractical when compared with 
technology, even 0+ technology? | mean... I'm 
thinking about the previous example involving a bus 
ride and/or a massive orgy, it is clearly impractical. 
Does magic require more effort than what it's worth 
for important material changes? 


In many cases, yes. For instance, it's easier to build a rifle using a 
factory than a working. It's also much more useful to take a cab 
downtown than it is to apport there. 


Where thaumaturgy excels is when you need to do the impossible. 
For instance: you need to get a Strike Team from Michigan to 
Siberia... in one hour. Thaumaturgy. You need to get into a person's 
files and erase their identity? Thaumaturgy. 


Speaking of which, that does remind me of a case where 
thaumaturgy proved to be 100% more effective than anything that 
normal technology could do: | oversaw an identity reassignment to a 
young trans woman joining the Coalition. | don't care how good of a 
surgeon you are, you'll never perform a sex reassignment good 
enough to result in a fertile adult human female. 


Is information gathering easier and cleaner than 
reality bending? I heard of a Type Blue agent using a 


subject's hair to determine their relative position 
within an unmapped forest area. Can that have a 
backlash, or does it have less negative 
consequences? 


In many ways, every thaumatological spell is a form of scrying: 
remember that it all comes down to the observer effect, and how 
hard you observe. Locating individuals is a common spell, and in 
most cases, the backlash is easily manageable through shunts and 
sinks. It's a fairly low-Intensity application, for one: remember that 
backlash occurs proportionate to the original spell. If the original 
spell only used a small amount of energy, the backlash is usually 
negligible. 


That is, of course, assuming that we're doing looking cross-or 
upstream... sorry. Into the present or past. Downstream scrying... 
that is to say, predicting the future... is much harder, like riding a 
mountain bike uphill as opposed to laterally or downhill. In fact, the 
most effective downstream scrying working to date is the Silicon 
Nornir... and they require two entire supercomputers calculating and 
scrying upon the present and past in order to drive a third cluster 
performing the future sight. 


Sorry, Sir, | just wanted to thank you for a wonderful 
presentation and ask you... is there any chance 
whatsoever that religious groups built around 
certain miracles or portents are actually the 
inheritors of Type Green or Type Blue founders? Do 
we have evidence on the matter? 


Yes, there is a chance. Yes, we do have evidence. No, I'm not going 
to tell you who. 


I'm not sure | got that right a couple of hours back, 
sorry. Is a Type Red able to bend reality in any way? 


That depends on the type of Red we're talking about. Many of them 
simply have accelerated healing systems. Many others, however, 
especially Expanding Regenerators, are the result of out of control 
thaumaturgical powers. Remember that Type Red is an indication of 
effect, not source. 


For how long can Aspect Radiation related to a Blue 
event remain in the environment? 


Proportionate to the intensity, pitch, hue, and weave. In general, 
these three factors tend to increase Aspect Radiation duration: 
greater intensity, lower hue (that is, tending more towards Ruby then 
Ebony), and tighter weave. Pitch tends to degrade, over time, 
towards the center: it will usually swing back and forth for a bit, 
before slowly settling down, rather like a pendulum. 


Of the three, however, weave is the single most important aspect to 
determining ARAD longevity. There is a reason why the tightest 
level of Weave is called "Locked." 


If one part affects the whole, couldn't you use any 
object to change the nature of the entire universe? 


Yes. But it's a matter of inertia. Namely, that the universe shows a 
resistance to change. And the more you try to change, the more 
energy it requires, and the more difficult it becomes. For instance, it 
could be possible to change the gravitational constant of the 
universe using a grain of sand. We would need to devour the entire 
energy output of around one hundred thousand galaxies the size of 
the Milky Way to do so. 


What's the difference between a Type Black and a 
type Ex Machina? 


A Type Black is a human being that exhibits the characteristics of a 
Type Ex Machina. Ex Machinas tend to operate at a much higher 
level than Type Blacks. But functionally, in thaumatological terms, 
they're pretty much identical. 


Are there any types of thaumaturgical resources 
other than vital energy? 


There are, but EVE is the most efficient energy source we've found 
so far. And in many cases, what we thought were alternative energy 
sources to EVE turns out to be EVE in a different form... Ley Lines, 
for instance, were once thought to be an alternative energy conduit 
to EVE, before we came to realize that it was EVE pitched and hued 


in a combination we'd never seen before. 


The current cutting edge in EVE research is consolidating Elan Vital 
theory with the Grand Unified Theory. Exciting stuff. 


Has anyone ever tried to use thaumaturgy to deal 
with global issues like war and hunger? And if so, 
how come they never worked? 


They did. We called it the Cornwall Incident: a Type Black, in 
alliance with a large coven of Type Blue allies, attempted a massive 
magical working to end human pain and conflict. The end result 
threatened the end of the human spirit. 


You see, war and hunger all derive from dissatisfaction with your 
current status quo. When you are completely satisfied with your 
status quo, you have no motivation or desire to do... anything. 
Getting rid of war and hunger and pain required getting rid of 
jealousy... getting rid of identity. And there were some who felt that 
sacrifice worth it. 


If it weren't for the heroic actions of a few Global Occult Coalition, 
humanity as we know it would cease to exist. We still strive to end 
war and hunger... it is the goal of the United Nations, after all, to 
promote Peace on Earth. But we have to do it the long hard way. 
The short path is paved with good intentions. 


Whenever | imagine magic, | think of old guys in 
robes, holding staves and wands and stuff like that. 
Did you guys ever use any of that stuff? 


I've got my ceremonial robes, hat, and staff in my office. Interesting 
fact: the wizard's stave originates not only from the very practical 
walking stick, but also from the staff used to mark time in ancient 
shamanic rituals. Early thaumaturges also found them useful for 
inscribing circles: much easier to draw from a standing position than 
having to drop down to your knees. The idea of the magic wand, | 
think, probably originates from the practice of using live cuttings 
from trees in ceremonial practices. 


We use them about as often as modern scholars wear cap and 


gown, or use quill pens and inkwells. Some older institutes and GOC 
member organizations still require them: same with grimoires. On 
the other hand, | can get a much more precise pattern using lasers 
and mirrors, or even a high resolution LCD screen. The modern 
thaumatologist generally has less to do with old guys in robes 
carrying staves, and more to do with younger people in jeans, 
carrying laptop computers.