Topological formula of SCP-476-FR-0.
Item #: SCP-476-FR
Threat Level: Green ●
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: The instances of SCP-476-FR must be kept in pure form in numbered pill boxes stored in a locked safe located in Site-Aleph. Access to said safe requires the approval of the head researcher in charge of SCP-476-FR, currently Dr. Minakami.
The handling of instances of SCP-476-FR must only be carried out using syringes to avoid any accidental skin exposure. Researchers handling the instances of SCP-476-FR of trying to synthesize new ones must either carry out their experiments in a secured glove box or wear a Hazmat suit in case where using one is unavoidable.
When testing instances of SCP-476-FR which could at first glance present a risk, the use of laboratory animals must be prioritised. The use of all medical supplies and apparatuses needed to ensure the survival of test subjects, particularly in order to cool them down, is allowed. Synthesis tests must not be carried out simultaneously with in vivo tests (see Incident 476-FR-1).
Instances of SCP-476-FR-A currently in possession of the Foundation must be stored and cultivated at Bio-Site-Shin. Wild instances of SCP-476-FR-A found outside the Foundation cultivation areas must be systematically destroyed, especially those found in areas which could be under the control of GoI-571-20 (the Polish Anomalous Mushroom Picking Association).
Civilian research which could potentially lead to the discovery of an instance of SCP-476-FR must be stopped or redirected when possible; in the eventual case where this would not be possible, a front company of the Foundation must contact the laboratory to make their research confidential and change their research aims.
03/09/2019 update: Research on SCP-476-FR involving transition metals (d-block elements), especially Column 9 elements (Co, Rh, Ir), is henceforth forbidden (see Incident 476-FR-2).
Description: SCP-476-FR is a group of molecules derived from SCP-476-FR-0, which has the IUPAC name 7,8,10,11-tetraethyl-2,4-dioxaspiro[5,5]undecane. The structure of this molecule resembles that of a schematic representation of a human (see figure above). All instances of SCP-476-FR share part or the whole structure of SCP-476-FR-0, with various groups or substituents as well as other structure modifications1. As of ██/██/20██, 78 instances with anomalous effects have been discovered.
At the macroscopic scale, pure instances generally appear as a white, odourless powder and are solid at room temperature and pressure, with a melting point usually ranging between 150 and 180 °C and a boiling point ranging between 305 and 340 °C. The instances are also abnormally stable, even with structure modifications that would usually make them unstable (e.g. charges, protonation or deprotonation2, constrained rings, steric hindrance3) and do not exhibit any sign of thermal degradation. The instances show no direct toxicity, although the anomalous effects of some of them may be harmful for the subject and the living beings nearby.
The main anomalous effect of the instances of SCP-476-FR is triggered when they enter the blood circulation of a tetrapod (mammals, reptiles, birds and amphibians) by ingestion, injection or skin permeation: the subject undergoes an alteration of its bodily structure to match the structure of the injected SCP-476-FR instance. The transformation takes a few minutes to several hours depending on the number and the extent of the changes to make4 and starts to reverse after one day5. This process lasts the same duration as the initial transformation.
During the transformation, the subject also undergoes a significant warmup, and its internal temperature increases beyond 50 °C without causing any cellular death as such a rise in temperature should. It is theorised that the instances of SCP-476-FR increase the heat tolerance of the cells. However, the usual cooling mechanisms of subjects, such as sudation, remain active. It must also be noted that the transformation requires a large amount of energy from the subject and slows down if the subject is underfed or not fed at all during the process. The transformation still happens in full, except if the subject dies of starvation.
The observed structure-activity relationships evidenced so far include:
| Structure modification | Anomalous effect |
|---|---|
| Addition of alkyl groups6 on the rings | Appearance of additional, functional limbs |
| Addition of alkyl groups on the ethyl groups (the "arms") of the rings | Lengthening of the existing limbs and apparition of additional joints |
| Removal of alkyl groups | Atrophy or disappearance of the existing limbs |
| Protonation/deprotonation | Increase or decrease of the hairiness (or number of feathers or scales) on some parts of the body, production of an electric field |
| Addition of non-alkyl groups, oxidation of carbon atoms to form carbonyl groups (C=O) | Appearance of additional organs |
| Formation of double or triple bonds | Appearance or disappearance of bone patches or points, increase of the stiffness of the affected body part |
| Insertion of heteroatoms7 in the substituents or rings | Changes in the skin colour, changes in the size of the limbs according to the relative electronegativity of the heteroatom compared to carbon, production of an electric field (if any charges appear), appearance of additional organs |
| Insertion/substitution of radioactive isotopes | Increase of the radioactivity of the relevant body part, with a similar half-life and disintegration mode to that of the used isotope. The radioactivity ceases at the same time as the other effects. |
| Addition of polar groups8 able to form hydrogen bonds9 | Uncontrollable attraction of polar solvents10, including air moisture when the humidity level is high. |
| Addition or formation of aromatic rings11 | Formation of growths emitting odourful gases corresponding to the isolated aromatic group |
| Addition of electrophilic or nucleophilic groups12 | Possible reaction with another subject to which a matching instance has also been injected13 |
| Polymerisation | Generation of [REDACTED] |
| Addition of chromophore groups14 | Changes in the skin colour |
| Addition of photophore groups15 | Fluorescence or phosphorescence |
| Addition of pyrophore groups16 | Possibility of spontaneous autoignition |
| Addition of explosophore groups17 | [REDACTED] |
| Complexation of metallic atoms | [REDACTED] (see Incident 476-FR-2) |
When simultaneously injecting multiple instances, the transformations all happen at the same time, so that the effects of the different instances can add up or cancel out. The threshold concentration triggering the effects is about 5 µg per litre of blood, and the transformation speed increases with the concentration until around 100 µg/L, after which it stays constant.
Until now, the tests have shown that the injected instance of SCP-476-FR is distributed anomalously fast in the whole body, in both the cytoplasm and nucleus of all cells. The instance interacts with the DNA and histones to modify the expression of the genes, spectacularly accelerates the metabolism and/or induces a quick cell death depending on the effects. The compound is not metabolised and is eliminated without any modifications after about 24 hours, at the same time as the effects disappear.
If the subject has physical disabilities (such as an amputated limb, a removed organ…) and that one instance presenting contrary effects is injected, these limbs and/or organs will regenerate and will be functional during the duration of the effects. However, artificial modifications inside the body (such as protheses, stitches, medical apparatuses…) can be destroyed during the transformation and cause heavy internal damage, or potentially the death of the subject after the end of the effects. In the case of brain damage, the brain can be reconstructed and the innate abilities of the subject retrieved, but the lost memories are not recovered18.
The secondary anomalous effect of the instances is the formation of an unbreakable bond between an instance located in a container and the same instance injected in a subject. All modifications done on the instance in the container will be reflected on the injected instance, as well as its effects. In this case, the effects will appear with the usual duration (in 1 to 7 hours) but will begin to disappear as soon as the main effect of the injected instance disappears (23 to 25 hours after the injection) even if they did not fully manifest. This phenomenon has been discovered fortuitously (see Addendum 476-FR-1).
Discovery: SCP-476-FR has been discovered on 03/01/2014 in an abandoned laboratory of the Polish Anomalous Mushroom Picking Association (PAMPA) in the forest of ████████████ (more precisely, in the area of SCP-473-FR) in Poland after the inhabitants of the nearby villages have witnessed attacks of disfigured animals and animals afflicted by strange illnesses in the region.
SCP-476-FR was one of the few almost fully intact sets of samples. The documents found in the lab suggest that the compounds mainly come from a native species of anomalous mushroom, colloquially named "Slump of bodies" by the PAMPA and classified as SCP-476-FR-A by the SCP Foundation19 and that the PAMPA had started doing experiments shortly before the lab was abandoned following the resumption of the activity of SCP-473-FR. These experiments showed that the instances of SCP-476-FR can cause body modifications. Several instances had been purified and characterised, and some tests of the SCP-476-FR-1 to -5 instances had been carried out on mice. These first protocols have been reused by the first tests of the Foundation.
Some specimens of SCP-476-FR-A have also been retrieved in the area following the containment of SCP-476-FR. After this discovery, the Foundation has explored other areas where the PAMPA had found and cultivated them, and destroyed the remaining instances.
Addendum 1: Test logs of SCP-476-FR
| Test 476-FR-3 | ||
| Parameters | Structure of the instance | |
| Date | 15/01/2014 |  |
| Used instance (amount) | SCP-476-FR-3 (100 µg) | |
| Structure modifications compared to SCP-476-FR-0 | Addition of two CH2 groups between the "head" ring and the "body". | |
| Test subject | D-7998 | |
| Administration mode | Intravenous injection | |
| Results | ||
| Lengthening of the neck of the subject from 12 cm to 75 cm over 2 hours and 35 minutes, during which the subject reported an intense heat around his neck as well as a growing thirst sensation. The neck of the subject has four joints and can rotate by 720°. X-ray examinations show that the number of cervical vertebrae of the subject remained unchanged, while all bones, muscles and tendons have stretched. The subject has reported increasingly intense pain to his cervical vertebrae over a few hours and could hardly completely lay down on the bed which had grown too small for him. The transformation started to resorb about 23 hours and 15 minutes after the injection and had totally disappeared by 25 hours and 50 minutes. |
||
| Notes | ||
| The previous tests involved slight pilosity or skin colour changes, while this one is the first evidencing very spectacular transformations of the limbs. | ||
The very first tests were carried out on D-Class personnel using the PAMPA test protocols on mice; afterwards, animal testing resumed, with only a minority of the tests still carried out on D-Class personnel for some verifications.
| Test 476-FR-9 | ||
| Parameters | Structure of the instance | |
| Date | 25/01/2014 |  |
| Used instance (amount) | SCP-476-FR-9 (0,1 µg) | |
| Structure modifications compared to SCP-476-FR-0 | Substitution of the CH2 between the oxygen atoms of the "head" by a third oxygen, opening of the right side of the "body", double bond on the right "arm", amine group (-NH2) added on the right "elbow". | |
| Test subject | 3 lab mice | |
| Administration mode | Intravenous injection | |
| Results | ||
At the same time as the transformations, the subject suffered from migraine and extreme fever, leading to a rise in its internal temperature up to 48 °C. |
||
| Notes | ||
| The transformation was the most intricate observed until that point. The test showed that the greater the number of transformations, the longer they took to fully manifest. The internal temperature of the subject also rises higher, although without any apparent detrimental consequences. | ||
| Test 476-FR-14 | ||
| Parameters | Structure of the instance | |
| Date | 02/03/2014 |  |
| Used instance (amount) | SCP-476-FR-12 (0,1 µg) | |
| Structure modifications compared to SCP-476-FR-0 | Transformation of the spiran20 into two conjugated rings sharing a bond, affording a coumarin-like structure (fluorophore group). | |
| Test subject | 3 lab mice | |
| Administration mode | Intravenous injection | |
| Results | ||
Analyses have shown that the emitted gases have a structure close to that of coumarin, which also has a vanilla-like smell. Test subjects have been equipped with an adapted gas mask to avoid intoxication. |
||
| Notes | ||
| First test during which the injected instance has caused alterations which were harmful to subjects, if we omit the body modifications which can have been a source of discomfort in prior tests. | ||
| Test 476-FR-87 | ||
| Parameters | Structure of the instance | |
| Date | 03/09/2015 |  |
| Used instance (amount) | SCP-476-FR-38 (0,1 µg) | |
| Structure modifications compared to SCP-476-FR-0 | Transformation of the spiran into two cyclohexyl rings linked by a single C-C bond, addition of nitro groups (-NO2, explosophores) on the "hands" and substitution of the carbon atoms of the "flanks" by azo groups (=N+=N+=, also explosophores). | |
| Test subject | 3 lab mice | |
| Administration mode | Intravenous injection | |
| Results | ||
The mice seemed slightly hindered by the transformation of their forelegs but had an easier time finding their way using vision and smell due to the extra eyes and nostrils. |
||
| Notes | ||
| In this test, the subject was only slightly affected by the explosion (except the mass loss) and was "technically" immortal, omitting its size reduction which cannot be limitless. Any application of this phenomenon would seem highly hazardous. | ||
| Test 476-FR-129 | ||
| Parameters | Structure of the instance | |
| Date | 18/06/2017 |  |
| Used instance (amount) | Poly-SCP-476-FR-66 (0,1 µg) | |
| Structure modifications compared to SCP-476-FR-0 | Addition of an amine group (-NH2) and an aldehyde group (-CHO) on the "hands", then polymerisation (DP = 210, M = 65 415 g/mol, Ð = 1,20). | |
| Test subject | 1 lab mice | |
| Administration mode | Intravenous injection | |
| Results | ||
The temperature of the original body of the subject continuously rises during the transformation and approaches 80 °C 6 hours after the injection; the subject is not able to move as soon as the second mass forms. |
||
| Notes | ||
| This test is the first one to involve a polymer of SCP-476-FR. It had been guessed that the body of the subject would multiply, according to the previously discovered structure-activity relationships, although the exact details are astonishing. Tests using polymers with a much lower polymerisation degree are to be planned in order to better understand this phenomenon. | ||
Incident 476-FR-1: On 17/03/2016, a test of SCP-476-FR-24 was planned on mice, and Dr. ████ was simultaneously performing a synthesis of this same compound in order to obtain SCP-476-FR-49.
When Dr. ████ started the synthesis, the anomalous effects of the injected SCP-476-FR-24 started to change to various effects partly resembling that of SCP-476-FR-49.
Analyses have shown that a part of the injected SCP-476-FR-24 molecules had transformed in SCP-476-FR-49 and in intermediate products of the reactions leading to SCP-476-FR-49; the proportions of the transformed molecules correspond to the conversion rates of the different reactions.
Note of Dr. ████: This would then mean that the instances of SCP-476-FR originating from the same container somehow remain "bound". This is both incredible and terrifying - this could have terrible consequences if two people or more perform experiments on the same compound, but at the same time, this could be useful from the fundamental point of view in order to study reactions, or in a more applied logic, to counter the abilities of Sarkites at long-range.
Incident 476-FR-2: On 03/09/2019, Dr. ████ was carrying out syntheses with SCP-476-FR-16 and organometallic compounds. When SCP-476-FR-16 made contact with one of the complexes, a strong explosion destroyed the glove box where the reaction was carried out and grievously injured Dr. ████ as well as two research assistants who were working nearby. The three injured personnel were immediately transferred to the nearest medical service. Despite the efforts of the medical team, they experienced anomalous effects similar to the effects of other instances of SCP-476-FR, particularly SCP-476-FR-16, but with a strong decrease of the body temperature instead of an increase. Their body stiffened, took on a grey-blue hue and a metallic aspect, while their EEGs and ECGs showed that they were in a deep coma-like state. The anomalous effects did not disappear after the usual one-day duration.
To this day, none of the three affected personnel have shown any sign of awakening.
The last readable notes found in the remains of the lab book of Dr. ████ (located on a lab bench behind him at the time of the explosion) can be found be below:
[UNREADABLE]riment SCP-476-FR-16/M46
[UNREADABLE]
Add 3,2 mg (0,01 mol) of SCP-476-FR-16 to [UNREADABLE] M46 complex (nitropenta[UNREADABLE] chloride).
From the results of the DFT calculations, [UNREADABLE] cobalt [UNREADABLE] stab[UNREADABLE]
Extract of the conclusions of the SCP-476-FR testing report (2014-2019)
Department of Sciences - Division of Chemistry
[…] after five years of research and more than 200 tests, we have been able to establish clear and accurate rules on the structure-activity relationships of the different instances, which have allowed the prediction of the effects of new instances and the design of new instances with desired properties. However, it may be possible that new effects will be shown in the next years, like those discovered during the Incident 476-FR-2, and the research must go on, particularly to achieve a finer tuning of the duration and a better accuracy of the effects.
The anomalous properties of the instances have been applied in various cases:
- First to temporarily heal the personnel which have been amputated; however, the secondary effects remain a significant drawback to their use;
- Second, to neutralise the anomalous abilities of the PoIs belonging to the Sarkic cults, either during MTF operations or on already contained PoIs, even if the effects take time to appear and that significant amounts have to be used;
- Third, to temporarily modify the body of agents during operations where these properties might be interesting.
However, these tests raise several issues, the most concerning being the use of instances by other GoIs: the PAMPA knew those properties and has sold anomalous mushrooms or derivative products in the past, so it would not be surprising that they would not do the same with SCP-476-FR-A. GoIs such as MC&D could sell them as recreational drugs or as poisons, or simply to disfigure opponents due to their havoc-wreaking potential. To this end, we must focus on preventing the discovery of the anomalous effects of the eventual remaining wild SCP-476-FR-A specimens and disrupting research which could lead to the discovery of SCP-476-FR instances.
We should also not forget that our own use is not devoid of any risks and could turn back against us through yet-unknown effects, just as what happened before. […]
[…] A more intriguing question is that, since the topological formula of SCP-476-FR-0 has a human-like structure, could there be other molecules with comparable effects on living beings having different body organisations? Among others, we could think of cyclopentane or star-shaped compounds for echinoderms (starfish). […]