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Credits
Title: SCP-418-FR - Maurice the Concept-Eating Sheep
Author: Reyas
Published on: 18 may 2021
Image: Personal
SCP-418-FR before it was captured
Item #: SCP-418-FR
Threat Level: Green ●
Object Class: Euclid Neutralized (See experiment log)
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-418-FR is housed at Site-Aleph in an enclosure furnished with three bookshelves containing a variety of books. Research personnel may freely visit SCP-418-FR's enclosure in order to prevent loneliness. Research personnel may bring literature inside of the enclosure to feed SCP-418-FR with an upper limit of 10 works per day in total.
As it is unknown how brittle SCP-418-FR's main material is, personnel must avoid collisions with the anomaly. Entering personnel must ensure to leave important documents, which might be altered by SCP-418-FR, outside of the enclosure. Dr Vicat must be notified of any changes in the anomaly's behavior.
Description: SCP-418-FR is a ceramic garden ornament representing a black sheep, 55 cm tall and 75 cm long. SCP-418-FR is animated and capable of movements that should fracture the material it is made of. Although the object has no metabolism and is completely hollow, its behavior, memory, intelligence and motor skills match those of an actual sheep. It does not excrete any fluids but does possess a mouth and an anus used for feeding. Unlike most non-anomalous sheep, SCP-418-FR will preferably sleep inside libraries or other places containing books.
SCP-418-FR feeds by foraging for a book, opening it at a random page and tearing a piece of paper bearing exactly one (1) word, which is then swallowed towards its internal cavity. The anomaly does not appear to feed on the paper itself, but on the word it carries; closing and re-opening the aforementioned book after SCP-418-FR's intervention will cause its plot to be rewritten so that it excludes the concept consumed by the entity. For example, a copy of the novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone where the word "magic" has been consumed relates the ordinary school life of characters without any supernatural powers. For a complete list of experiments, see the 418-FR Experiment Log. The object appears to favor nouns and verbs over grammatical words like articles and prepositions.
Entities similar to SCP-418-FR have been known to writers and librarians at least since ancient Egypt, when the scribes running the Library of Alexandria complained about certain scrolls being inexplicably rewritten. In 1980, archeological excavations revealed a copy of On the Measurement of the Earth by the Greek philosopher Eratosthenes dated to the IIIrd century BCE, in which the circumference of the Earth is calculated with relative precision. This find seems to indicate that this work has been greatly affected by SCP-418-FR which erased several other observations from it. In the unaltered copy, using a technique similar to the camera obscura, the precursor of photography, Eratosthenes allegedly detected an exoplanet transiting in front of its host star, a feat that would only be reproduced 2300 years later.
French author Jules Vernes states in a letter in 1900 that the publicly distributed version of his novel Around the World in Eighty Days differs from his manuscript. In the latter, Phileas Fogg and his friends traverse an imaginary country in Asia called the Empire of Aidatoum, a land of vast foggy plains where all objects and concepts are doubled. Aidatoumites have four arms, four eyes and two hearts, and in the skies shine two suns and two moons. Upon returning to London, Phileas Fogg first believes he has lost his bet, then realizes the two days spent in Aidatoum only count as one, since time passes twice as fast there. In the publicly available version, there is not a single mention of the Empire of Aidatoum and the final twist is due to time zones. Around the World in Eighty Days was originally published as a serial in the French daily newspaper Le Temps, whose archivists had documented a phenomenon similar to SCP-418-FR.
According to observations, SCP-418-FR considers as food any object bearing information identifiable by at least one human being. The writing system used has no importance and is not even necessary: the anomaly can consume works consisting entirely of pictures. Although SCP-418-FR can attempt to consume hard objects, its jaw strength does not exceed that of a non-anomalous sheep. Once a work is altered by the entity, the changes cannot be reversed. Analyses of the resulting books have confirmed that the modifications are physical, as opposed to a hypothetical memetic effect.
A garden gnome with similar properties was found within SCP-2602, which used to be a library.
Addendum: Discovery and history
A "strange, black sheep" roaming Site-Aleph was reported on 20th October 2008. After it was captured, Dr Vicat, who claimed the anomaly belonged to him, was interviewed by Dr Sirc. They identified the source of the anomaly as the various People of Interest who are responsible for containing SCP-298-FR, a place with thaumaturgical properties. Below is an interview of those People of Interest.
Interviewers: Dr Sirc, Dr Vicat
Interviewed:
- PoI-1281: "The Templar"
- PoI-1230: "The Vulture"
- PoI-1025: "The Commoner"
Date: 20/10/2008
Dr Vicat: Let's sum everything up. Monday morning, I take Maurice to our coworker, Dr Gris, so she can apply a much-needed layer of varnish. On Tuesday, Dr Gris visits SCP-298-FR to collect artifacts. She takes her car, and we can assume Maurice is still inside the trunk at that point.
Dr Sirc: You calling it Maurice feels weird.
Dr Vicat: On Wednesday, Maurice… SCP-418-FR is captured and classified as an anomaly because it is now alive, which is a radical change compared to the two years he spent as a decoration in my front yard. Our hypothesis is that Dr Gris briefly took him out of the trunk while she cleaned up her car, and I know from experience that is enough time for you to fuck something up. Messian, you are the n°1 suspect.
Templar: Pardon!? Why me?
Dr Vicat: Given everyone's thaumaturgical knowledge, it's either you, or your friend with the feathers. It's an easy choice.
(The Vulture becomes agitated. In the open book in front of the Templar, a line of text appears.)
Templar: By God, Balthazar, you know we can trust these men. You are always terribly doubtful.
Commoner: He's just growing old. Really, really old.
Templar: Well, you see, I had learned of a recipe of immense interest, which required as its last ingredient a receptacle devoid of any life… But I promise that once my experiments accomplished, I put it back where it was!
Dr Vicat: Didn't Dr Gris say anything when she was greeted with this masterpiece?
Templar: Oh, she did not even notice it! The maiden seemed greatly busy with her activities and I did not wish to perturb her, therefore I discreetly placed it in her vehicle and convinced it to remain there with a small pocket book.
Dr Vicat: Afterwards, she brought it back to Site-Aleph and it probably ran away while she wasn't paying attention. Mystery solved. Messian, where did you get that recipe from?
Templar: It was inherited from Those who worship flesh. But I cannot elaborate on this matter.
(The Vulture is agitated. In the open book, several lines of bold text appear.)
Templar: Quiet down, Balthazar. I know what I am doing.
Dr Vicat: The Sarkites, yeah, we've known them for a while. My poor Maurice must have suffered so much…
Dr Sirc: Can you confirm to me once and for all that this thing hasn't always been alive?
Commoner: Them? That doesn't add up. Mr Messian told me they do gross things to people's bodies.
Templar: Regardless, they had to keep up with occult practices from their time. They therefore kept a description of this ritual. It is not the most complete, but it was enough for them. Now, quiet, let us not tell them any more.
Commoner: But you told me that-
(The Vulture is agitated. In the open book, a short line appears.)
Commoner: Alright, fine, no need to be so mean.
Dr Vicat: Good, thank you for your collaboration. So we need to investigate the Sarkites, then. Turns out traveling is exactly what we needed. Right, Charles?
Dr Vicat and Dr Sirc then traveled to Poland to meet Dr Józef Marek, an expert on Sarkic cults who participates in SCP-473-FR's containement. He recognized the ritual described by PoI-1281 and provided information regarding its putative origin.
Dr Marek: Yes, I've seen descriptions of the practice you're describing. The Sarkites never really cared about it all that much, it's not their field of expertise. All they did was spread the practice through their conquests during ancient times.
Dr Vicat: Do you know who the Sarkites picked it up from?
Dr Marek: Not with certainty. We've found quite a few variations of the ritual, some in the Indus valley, others in Hellenistic Egypt or as far as Thrace. But I personally think this phenomenon has one single origin. And to identify it, we need to find who would profit the most from this ritual.
Dr Vicat: In what way?
Dr Marek: Since the dawn of time, human civilizations have been fascinated by the idea of giving life to inanimate objects. The Ancient Egyptians used pneumatic automatons for their religious ceremonies. The Greeks wrote innumerable stories of gods creating living bronze statues. But there is one culture where this obsession really reached the next level: China. As far back as the Xth century BCE, we've found descriptions of automatons so realistic, they attempted to seduce courtesans.
Dr Vicat: You'll understand that I find it unrealistic. An automaton that perfect, three thousand years ago?
Dr Marek: The Aegean Colossus also seemed unrealistic, back then. That's why the Foundation had to step in. To get back to China, do you recognize what's on this photograph?
(Dr Marek slides a picture to Dr Vicat)
Dr Vicat: Yeah, it's the terracotta army. A mind-blowing number of cooked clay statues found buried in an emperor's tomb.
Dr Marek: What would be the point of such a huge pile of clay?
Dr Vicat: Well, I believe we've never really known for sure.
Dr Marek: Think about this.
Dr Vicat: Oh.
Dr Marek: An eight thousand-man army, ready to be sent to the front, with no family to notify in case of death, who can be fed only with written Chinese characters. A dream for any expansionist state.
Dr Vicat: It seem impressive, indeed. Do you have any definitive evidence?
Dr Marek: Not yet, but I'm hopeful. I've been devouring publications about Chinese automatons, and everything seems to support my hypothesis. By the way, I wasn't really into reading before that, but I discovered I have an appetite for books.
Dr Vicat: Well, you and Maurice would be great friends.
