SCP-213-FR
rating: +15+x

Item #: SCP-213-FR

Threat Level: Yellow

Object Class: Euclid Supposedly Neutralized

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-213-FR is to be kept in an automated containment area. The instructions must be regularly reviewed to ensure that the number of tales archived is optimal.

The book must be placed on a sufficiently sensitive scale to detect the appearance of each new page created (pages weigh approximately 12.4 grams each) so that the overall change in weight can be transcribed in the form of a readable graph in the Site-██ database. The data must be verified manually and in person by the research team once per week.

The "reading" device of SCP-213-FR consists of a mechanical arm calibrated to turn the pages of the currently visible tales with a turning interval of about fifteen minutes per page. The arm will be accompanied by a camera positioned above the manuscript which is to be triggered every minute to create an visual archive of the stories.

Only researchers assigned to the project are authorised to enter SCP-213-FR's containment space, and are only permitted to carry out measurements and analyses of the anomalous object. The latter is not necessary if the employee is provided with an exceptional authorisation by the Site Director. The project manager will be provided with various, flexible human resources, including experts from the Departments of Old and Living Languages, Fictive Literature, Anomalous Wildlife and Flora, as well as any field investigator with the information and skills needed to discover the link between our reality and the dimension described by SCP-213-FR.

Update 20/05/2017: As a result of the Ribera Incident, the special containment procedures of SCP-213-FR have been updated.

SCP-213-FR must be placed in a storage locker for "Safe" objects on Site-██; monthly verification must be carried out for any changes in the situation. Otherwise SCP-213-FR must no longer be accessible to Foundation employees for any reason whatsoever, except in exceptional procedures.

Description: SCP-213-FR is a very large bound manuscript, titled "The Vagabonds of the Dark Forest: Fears of Our Childhood". The back cover characterises it as a "children's story book, to be read in the evening before going to sleep". Each tale represents a story on one or more illustrated pages, always depicting a child trapped in an anomalous forest, whose location remains unknown. Tales are evolutionary, these alterations having been identified as a printout, current or previously completed, of the protagonists' adventures as they evolve within the environment. The size of the manuscript seems to adapt in such a way that it can contain an indefinite number of tales, taking into account those that appear regularly at the end of the book.

The SCP-213-FR-P entities are the protagonists of the different tales of SCP-213-FR, supposedly human and always aged from 3 to 17 years old. Their countries and epochs of origin are extremely varied, as SCP-213-FR is seemingly capable of neglecting constraints and limitations, both temporal and physical. A certain number of siblings seem to be involved, but are always limited to two individuals. Some protagonist first names alongside other information correspond to missing person notices filed in various police stations around the world, sometimes several decades before the associated tale was written.

The way in which SCP-213-FR-P would be transported to the Dark Forest has yet to be discovered, but the hypothesis favoured by the research team theorises that the extra-dimensional nature of the location where the narrative takes place is responsible, which limits the possibilities for research and experimentation.

Each protagonist is assigned one or more pages, recounting in their native language the notable events of their stay within the dimension, until they die or find their way out. Depending on the outcome of the story, the pages concerned will be modified accordingly: the death of the protagonist will generally result in an unreadable page, complicating the archiving of the different narratives contained in SCP-213-FR. However, it has been established that the average length of a story is approximately 4 pages: compared to the total number of pages contained in the book [16 245 356 as of the 17/05/2017 update], this value makes it possible to establish that the number of tales and subsequently, protagonists, is around at least four million. SCP-213-FR generally contains about thirty active tales, constantly renewing those that have ended.

It is not known what happens to the SCP-213-FR-P at that time, as they are not likely to be brought back into our dimension once their tales are over. The probability of success for a protagonist was estimated to 9.31%; this figure tends to include mainly groups of SCP-213-FR-P working together to survive. Therefore, the protagonists of certain active tales will sometimes meet, brought together without any prior input thanks to the hazards of their wanderings; in 80% of cases, a framework of mutual cooperation is set up in order to increase their chances of survival, as opposed to 14% of voluntary and definitive, yet peaceful, separation after a more or less brief contact, and 6% of the percentage representing violent or lethal encounters for one or the other of the protagonists (including attempted theft, murder, rape and cannibalism). In these cases, most of the associated stories will share identical passages of text.

The environment described by SCP-213-FR is similar to that of a temperate forest, where most of the local plant or animal species would have been under the effect of a growth factor giving them a larger size than their non-anomalous equivalent. The atmosphere there would be "heavier, darker and more frightening than all the horrors of the world"1. Approximate mapping of the forest in question is available from the Archives Department.

The ecosystem is home to several anomalous, or otherwise endemic to the dimension, species and entities, most of which are hostile to SCP-213-FR-P. The list of known or partially identified species and their designation within SCP-213-FR is as follows:





Update 20/05/2017: Following the Ribera Incident, the description of SCP-213-FR has been updated.

SCP-213-FR is a very large bound manuscript, titled "The Fugitives of the Dark Forest: We have no more childhood", which the back cover characterises as "a book of philosophical and horrific reflection, to be read in order to be frightened".

It contains a total of five pages, each written in the form of a very short set of sentences referred to as "Dark Thought", with an illustration and the mention "The End" at the bottom of the page. Each of the Dark Thoughts is assigned to one of the endemic species of the Dark Forest, and to its complete and irremediable extinction. The texts are reproduced below:





Ribera Incident: Course of action and consequences:

On Saturday, May 20,2017, Researcher Ribera, assigned to the project and known for regularly giving moral and ethical speeches about the existence of SCP-213-FR, was observed by surveillance cameras going into the containment space of SCP-213-FR. For some unknown reason, the surveillance system focused on the interior of the containment space then experienced a local malfunction. When the malfunction was corrected and a visual was restored, the Researcher Ribera had disappeared from the room in question; however, the outside cameras did not observe her leaving the room by the only exit available.

A few minutes after the alert was given at the Site-██ level, all the pages contained in SCP-213-FR began to emit a consistent heat and low intensity light. The anomalous event eventually resulted in the complete incineration of the contents of SCP-213-FR, which was reduced to ash without damaging the binder.

In the debris of the ancient tales were discovered five new pages, each entitled "Dark Thought" and dealing with the fate of the Dark Forest. It would seem that the latter was destroyed by a particularly virulent fire, of criminal origin, as the Researcher Ribera was no stranger to its outbreak.

Since the destruction of this object made it impossible to study it further, Researcher Ribera was submitted to a symbolic loss of office and the subsidies granted to her family in the event of an incident were reviewed. The measures for monitoring and access to inanimate SCP objects have also been modified to ensure that such an event does not recur, and psychological examination and maintenance will now be mandatory for all staff members who are morally reluctant to perform their duties.

It would be deplorable if a disaster of this magnitude were to reoccur. We are scientists and researchers, not philanthropists. Morality is not our primary goal. - O5-█

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