SCP-3668

SCP-3668 ("Provenance") is an indestructible Pictish shield that summons instances of SCP-3668-1 who defend the wielder of 3668 against physical harm until they are safe from danger. The shield exchanged hands across the centuries, eventually ending up in the possession of the SCP Foundation at Foundation Command-02 and is used during Potomac Briefings as demonstration of the anomalous.
==History==
===Origin ===
The exact date of origin for SCP-3668 is unknown, though it is estimated to be between 1200 BCE and 800 BCE, given the style of the shield. Additionally, it is unknown how or by whom 3668 was created, but it is believed to be a unique item due to it not corresponding with any anomalous periods in Scotland.Entry Page: 3668
===Pictish possession===
The first appearance of SCP-3668 historically was 325 BCE, being mentioned by Pytheas of Massalia, a Greek geographer and explorer, in τὰ περὶ τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ (Things about the Ocean). This document described a journey to northwestern Europe; though no surviving copy exists, an excerpt was recorded by the Praetorian Office of Secret Wisdom that spoke of Pytheas meeting with native Picts and encountering an ornate shield with properties identical to SCP-3668.
During the Roman invasion of Scotland, a Pictish warrior wielded SCP-3668 against the legionnaires of Legio XX Valeria Victrix. Though he was protected by SCP-3668-1 instances, his fellow warriors were not, and he surrendered; the shield then entered the possession of the Legio.
===Roman possession===
Legio XX infrequently used SCP-3668 in combat until Gnaeus Julius Agricola ended his campaign in England, and Agricola took direct possession of 3668. It is believed that when Agricola was recalled to Rome in 85, he offered the shield as a gift to Emperor Domitian; this is unconfirmed, though is determined by the Department of History to be the most likely location during this time.
It entered the possession of the Praetorian Office of Secret Wisdom regardless of the circumstances, which briefly sought to discover its origins and uncovered the connection to Pytheas in the process. Additionally, the Praetorian Office tested the properties of 3668 and was briefly considered for the Emperor's defense. Their possession of SCP-3668 lasted until the Praetorian Guard's dissolution in 312, and a former Praetorian took possession of the shield and fled to parts unknown.
===Vatican possession===
Before 807, the Vatican Holy Office for Secrets and Prophecies, the Vatican City's normalcy agency, obtained SCP-3668, though the circumstances to its acquisition are unclear. There was a concerted effort to learn about 3668, discovering the Praetorian Office's notes on the shield; unlike the Praetorian Office, the Holy Office deemed 3668 unholy instead of considering military use. By 1096, records indicated the shield was no longer in the possession of the Vatican, though it seems that it was returned to the Vatican in 1104, being placed in the Vatican Secret Archive. Records do not state where SCP-3668 was located within these gaps.
===French possession===
After Rome was annexed by the First French Empire in 1809, SCP-3668 was discovered in the Secret Archive and presented to Napoleon as a gift after its anomalous effects were discovered. He began using the shield, but considered it more of a novelty than a weapon or tool, and thus never brought it into battle, and it was ultimately kept with Napoleon's other personal effects. 
When Napoleon was exiled to Elba, the Estate noir confiscated Napoleon's collection and discovered SCP-3668 among them, using it throughout the Fourth Occult War. In 1852, the HM Foundation for the Study of Curiosities and Phantasmagoria learned that the Estate possessed SCP-3668, and demanded its return due to 3668's Scottish origins. The Estate refused, creating a point of contention that lasted for forty-eight years.
=== Foundation possession ===
After the Forbidden City Convention, Estate noir and the HMFSCP were among twelve groups that combined to form the SCP Foundation. Partisan elements of Estate noir opposed this union, and destroyed many of their records in the Champimont Incident, including that of 3668. As such, most records concerning 3668 originate from the Vatican Holy Office.
===Insurgency possession===
In the Foundation Civil War, the Triad obtained SCP-3668, which passed over to the Chaos Insurgency after the Triad's defeat. Scattered reports surfaced of the Insurgency using the shield in battle, though recontainment was never considered a high priority by the SCP Foundation. The upper limits of SCP-3668 was discovered in 1938, when an Insurgent was directly targeted by a rocket artillery unit and was unharmed due to the SCP-3668-1 instances shielding him.
===Private collector possession===
The Insurgency was defeated in the Seventh Occult War, with many of their objects being confiscated by the Foundation and the Allied Occult Coalition. A former member sold SCP-3668 through Ottaviano de' Medici, a sales representative for Marshall, Carter & Dark, Ltd., to a private collector named Normand Iveries for USD$15,000 ($242,150 today). Iveries died in 1976, and it eventually fell into the possession of Esma'il Kashani.
===ORIA possession===
Kashani was executed by the Office for the Reclamation of Islamic Artifacts three months after his apprehension for terrorism against the state, and SCP-3668 was obtained by ORIA. As part of an exchange of anomalous objects in 1991, ORIA offered the shield. This deal was accepted, with the shield entering Foundation custody, where it remains today.
===Foundation possession and containment===
SCP-3668 was placed into a standard Safe-class object locker, though a 1995 routine determined that it would be useful for the Potomac Briefings: briefings given to newly elected US Presidents about the anomalous world and the SCP Foundation. These qualities include its non-dangerous properties, its easy activation, inertion when not used, lack of secondary properties, and provenance through history. It is currently contained at Foundation Command-02, in Washington, D.C., U.S.
==Attributes==
==Containment procedures==
==External link==
*https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3668
==Meta==
===Appearances===
*Entry Page: 3668 - 21 June 2018
==References==
Category:Objects
Category:Weapons
Category:Armor
Category:Shields
Category:SCPs
Category:Safe