Altered Item

**Altered Items** are ordinary objects which have been acted upon by paranatural forces during Altered World Events, resulting in the development of unique and sometimes dangerous properties. They are distinguished from Objects of Power in that they lack an inherent connection to the Board, or the ability for parautilitarians to bind to them and wield their abilities. Altered Items are studied and contained by the Federal Bureau of Control in the Panopticon, in the Containment Sector, as well as in other areas of the Oldest House.

The term "Altered Item" is modern FBC terminology. Prior to the death of Director Theodore Ash, Sr. in 1964, the FBC employed the term "Possessed Object" instead, which reflected the organization's origins in occultism.

## Nature

Altered Items are ordinary objects acted upon by paranatural forces during Altered World Events, resulting in these items being infused with unpredictable energies (i.e. resonance). Like Objects of Power, Altered Items represent archetypes in the human collective unconscious - symbols and imagery given psychological significance through daily rituals, culture, and urban legends. The inception of Altered Items is in their representation of these archetypes. Because of this, there is a clear connection between the forces affecting Altered Items and the human mind. It is possible that the archetypes in the human collective unconscious determine the nature and perhaps the behavior of Altered Items.

In Layman's terms, an altered item is an item that has been touched by the Astral Plane dimension which connects reality to the collective unconscious. As a result of the break in the space time continuum, these items become changed as they are infused with thoughts from the collective unconscious causing it be shaped by whatever thoughts flow into it while also giving it the ability to alter reality to some degree. While some of the abilities these objects develop are random & without meaning such as a carnival game hammer causing a leprosy like disease to whoever touches it, others are clearly influenced by people's thoughts, feelings and perceptions of an item. One altered item, a movie camera, causes reality to warped into that of a dramatic action movie, while a train car involved in a horrible fatal crash seems to have taken on the emotions, memory & trauma of the victims of the crash, constantly replaying the events over and over again.

While they are not necessarily sentient, Altered Items do seem develop an odd form of a personality that takes shape in what can only be described as inherent "programming" or fixations that compel them to cause certain events to occur repeatedly.These behaviors cannot be controlled, but many Altered Items appear to be influenced or "tamed" through certain ritualistic processes similar to totem worship, as the Altered Items are used to being "worshiped" by humanity. The Federal Bureau of Control gathers Altered Items discovered in Altered World Events and contains them in the Panopticon and elsewhere in shrine-like cells, adapting to their needs and volatile natures.

Many Altered Items also appear to develop "likes" & "dislikes", for example a certain action or trying to forcefully control an item might cause it's power's to act more violently & maliciously then normal. A Fridge Altered item notably required it be looked at constantly or it would cause pain even death to all around it.

The connection between Altered Items and their inferred archetypal origins is not clear. Based on their nature, it is possible that the paranatural properties of Altered Items always correlate to the archetypes they represent. While their distinction from Objects of Power lies largely in the fact that Altered Items are not connected to the Board, they can be influenced or controlled by other paranatural entities, such as the Hiss or Former. Altered Items also cannot be bound by parautilitarians to wield their special abilities. Theodore Ash, Jr. theorized that Altered Items become Objects of Power when a connection is created by the Board.

## Classification

Altered Items, like Objects of Power, are classified into five known categories, designated by the letters at the end of their IDs. Altered Item IDs follow the template "AI##-?E," with "##" being the number of the Altered Item (based on its chronological date of acquisition relative to other AIs), and "?E" being one of the five known AI/OoP categories: KE, PE, UE, AE, and BE. Of these categories, by far the most AIs fall under the KE category. The meaning of these designations is not known. General observations are as follows:

* **KE-class** Altered Items all possess a direct physical effect, whether on themselves or on their surroundings. 14 Altered Items and 6 Objects of Power are listed as KE-class.
* **PE-class** Altered Items all possess a psychological or psychic effect on living beings, such as hypnosis or mood alteration. 3 Altered Items and 1 Object of Power are listed as PE-class.
* **UE-class** Altered Items vary in their effects, with no clear similarities. 4 Altered Items and 2 Objects of Power are listed as UE.
* Two **AE-class** Altered Items exist.
	+ The Holiday Memories Tree (AI14-AE) possesses the ability to repeat what is spoken to it.
	+ The Rubber Duck (AI52-AE) possesses the abilities to quack and to travel short distances surprisingly fast.
* Only one **BE-class** Altered Item exists (Game Hammer, AI5-BE), which possesses the ability to spread an unidentified pathogen. As its Altered Item file was from farther back in the Bureau's history, the terminology in it is outdated, and it is possible the BE classification is antiquated and no longer in use or is a classification that rarely occurs.

## List of Altered Items

32 Altered Items make appearances or are mentioned in *Control*, for a total of 41 if Objects of Power are included. The exact amount possessed by the FBC is not known. However, the highest known item number is AI85, belonging to a cowboy boot recovered in 2017. Note that the cowboy boot has a higher item number than the two Altered Items found after it in 2019, the Burrough Tractor and the Typewritten Page with designations AI82 and AI83, respectively.

## Trivia

The formatting for Altered Item containment files is directly inspired by the SCP Foundation, a fictional organization also responsible for containing objects which defy the laws of reality. The formatting, particularly the "containment procedures" followed by a description of the object in question, is extremely similar to the formatting of the SCP Foundation's SCP files.

## Gallery

The roulette table at Luck & Probability was presumably meant to be an Altered Item, but a connected case file did not make it into the released version of the game

 Miscellaneous