Credits
Author: Alwaid
Translator: Mazdouk-Snoukza
Date of original publication: 6th December 2020
Image source: Wikimedia
A view of an instance of SCP-471-FR in feeding phase from the Foundation International Station. The entity is located above the bright storm cell in the top right-hand corner. Click on the arrow button to enlarge.
Item #: SCP-471-FR
Threat Level: Orange ●
Object Class: Keter
Special Containment Procedures: Due to their nature, the instances of SCP-471-FR are impossible to contain. However, their movements are easily predictable and are to be monitored and anticipated by Site-1271 personnel on the basis of the main storm systems as well as the Hume flows in the stratosphere, the mesosphere and the thermosphere.
Every machine composed of parts, whether it be metallic, electric or electronic (especially ships and planes), that could enter the influence area of an instance of SCP-471-FR while feeding is to be rerouted by MTF Phi-16 "The Broken Pots" on the pretext of exceptionally violent thunderstorms taking place. Should there be an impossibility of rerouting or a failure of this procedure, violent thunderstorms are to be blamed for the disappearance of or the damage caused to the said machines. Concerning the ships, these can be reached and rerouted by administering the crew Class-A amnestics. Regarding the planes, their communications are to be blocked and the crew is to be amnesticized.
Every non-autonomous Foundation device must keep a distance of at least 10km from instances of SCP-471-FR. This security distance is to be increased to 100km in the event of an entity moving towards and reaching at less than 50km from an aurora. On the other hand, the autonomous and remote-controlled devices that comprise no components of the aforementioned types may safely get nearer to the entities. This particularly concerns the Foundation drones deployed to alter the Hume levels in the atmosphere within the framework of the fight against the incursions of GoI-842 "Univers'Island Kingdom" in the terrestrial reality.
Description: SCP-471-FR refers to a species of ethereal jellyfish2 whose length ranges from a few kilometers to several dozens of kilometers and which lives in the upper layers of the terrestrial atmosphere. Its shape approximates the one of Cyanea capillata (lion's mane jellyfish). These entities are composed of Aethers, i.e. invisible and intangible elementary flows forming the thread of the universe. Notably, they are composed of Aeronous, Aqueous and Fulminous Aethers which are the Aethers connected to air, water, and electricity respectively.
Given their nature, the instances of SCP-471-FR are permanently intangible and most of the time invisible. The instances become partially visible when feeding on the Fulminous Aether that develops above the storm clouds as flashes of lightning appear. Then, a red flash lights up instances' tentacles and/or oral arms intermittently for a period ranging from a few milliseconds to several hundreds of milliseconds, giving rise to transient luminous events (TLE). These are commonly referred to as "sprites" or "red sprites". Their umbrella can rarely light up in red for 1 to 5 milliseconds above storm clouds as well, which is equivalent to TLE named "elves". The instances seem to interact with aurorae. (See Addendum 1)
The average height of the instances of SCP-471-FR while resting increases with age: their umbrella can reach a diameter of 40km, and their tentacles and oral arms can reach a length of 100km. Typically, the entities live in the mesosphere and the lower thermosphere at altitudes comprised between 40km (lower extremity of the oral arms) and 140km (summit of the umbrella). However, because of their Aetheric and insubstantial nature, their arms can quite rapidly increase in length and thus go from 50 to up to 150km in a few hours, notably during the feeding phases when the arms extend down to the summit of thunderstorm clouds. In some cases, when the storm occurs above the sea and the entity has reached its maximal height, the tentacles can extend within the storm cloud but these never reach the surface.
The instances of SCP-471-FR are sensitive to the Hume levels of the upper atmosphere and use the Hume flows as a means of transport, the flows providing them a prop. The entities propel themselves by contracting and relaxing their umbrella alternately like non-anomalous jellyfish. They can also move without any Hume flow but their speed is significantly lower. As of 2020, ██ existing instances of SCP-471-FR have been identified. These can be found in all latitudes although they are most of the time situated above continents located in tropical latitudes. These instances, despite living a largely solitary life, can gather together during large-scale thunderstorms such as cyclones or during very frequent storms like at Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela and at the Tiwi Islands, Australia. In those cases, an increase of luminous red flashes has been noticed in their umbrella, supposedly a means of communication between the entities or at least of signaling their presence to other individuals.
The instances of SCP-471-FR form from non-anomalous jellyfish: at the end of their life, these release small amounts of Aqueous Aether which mix with the atmospheric flows of Aeronous Aether. If the concentration of this mix exceeds a threshold in a 10km3 volume and if an instance of SCP-471-FR is located in the vicinity, this instance will get closer to the concentration area and surround it with its oral arms for ten hours; meanwhile, the Aethers will be mixing and structuring themselves into a jellyfish. At the end of this process, a juvenile instance of SCP-471-FR is formed, measuring 5km in height in average and having an umbrella of a diameter in the order of one kilometer. The mother entity and the daughter entity keep together until finding a thunderstorm cloud where they can feed on Fulminous Aether, after which they separate. The daughter entity then grows as it consumes the Aether as described above. Once it reaches its maximal size, the entity positions itself above an ocean where the weather is calm and stable, its tentacles gradually extending to eventually reach the surface of the water. Afterwards, the entity "discharges" its Aethers in a way to create numerous non-anomalous juvenile jellyfish of a random species (but adapted to the environment in question) for several hours. During this process, the entity disappears gradually by decomposing itself into its constituent Aethers: the Aeronous Aethers disperses in the atmosphere, the Aqueous Aethers returns into the ocean and the Fulminous Aether is totally used to form the non-anomalous jellyfish. The entire life cycle (the accumulation of the Aethers and the life of an instance of SCP-471-FR) takes 8 to 10 years to be fully completed, one entity forming and disappearing on a monthly basis.
When an object or a living being passes by an instance of SCP-471-FR (at less than 5km from one of its body parts), the latter engages a self-defense mechanism consisting of flashes of lightning coming from the Fulminous Aether that forms it. This response increases in intensity as the object stays in the vicinity of the entity, especially if the object gets closer to or goes through it. Below are listed the effects seen as of now, with an approximate duration of the trigger of the effects for a 3km distance:
| Time of trigger | Effects (on objects) | Effects (on living beings) |
| From the entry in the area | Intensification of the local electric field, partial ionization of the air, formation of ozone | Feelings of tingling |
| After 2-4 minutes | Appearance of lightning without collision around the object | Involuntary muscular spasms, partial and temporary paralysis |
| After 6-8 minutes | Appearance of St. Elmo's fires from the tips of the object | Muscular tetany of one or several limbs, (first-degree) minor burns |
| After 10-15 minutes | Some short circuits within the object (if it comprises electric or electronic components) | (Second-degree or higher) serious burns due to electrocution |
| After 12-17 minutes | Generalized short circuits, complete electrical failure of the object (if it comprises electric or electronic components) | Electric shock and death by electrocution in ██% of cases |
It is of note that the protection usually provided by the metallic structures of planes and ships, which act like Faraday cages and stop the lightning from causing damage inside, does not apply here. The Aethers can go through material objects and manifest in as well as out the latter. In the past, this phenomenon coupled with the entities' sensibility to Humes prevented the Foundation from completing the atmospheric Hume levels control protocol designed to prevent passages between Earth and Univers'Island from forming. An alchemical protection can help reduce these effects but only for a few minutes and only by keeping a distance (of 3km or more) from the entities. The habitual effects recover their normal intensity afterwards. New drones equipped with Aethero-thaumic propellers and sensors are currently used for completing this protocol.
Circumstances of discovery: SCP-471-FR is a species native of the extra-dimensional reality home to the Univers'Island Kingdom. In this reality, the entities are significantly smaller (between 1 and 10 meters in length from the umbrella to the oral arms) and live in lower altitudes: the entities stay in altitudes comprised between one kilometer above and under the island of Univers'Island. The range of the self-defense mechanism is a 50-meter radius and the mechanism itself is far less efficient than in our reality. This is compensated for the fact they move by shoals of ten up to several hundreds of individuals. The Isleans3 refer to them as "volæthers".
Instances of SCP-471-FR came in 19██ on Earth when an Univers'Island expedition ship pursued by Foundation aircrafts within a thunderstorm cloud used a passage to their world of origin. This passage came on to a shoal of volæthers, which, attracted by the Aether from the storm, passed through it and came on Earth. The entities began to attack the Foundation aircrafts, forcing them to retreat quickly, causing major dysfunction to two of them which led to those sinking on the sea.
The Foundation Alchemists began then to study and follow these entities in order to elaborate containment procedures. However, due to the Aether flows being significantly less intense on Earth than in Univers'Island because of the Great Seal,4 the instances of SCP-471-FR gathered together and combined with each other to grow and absorb the Fulminous Aether in larger quantities. This also led to an increase of their altitude of distribution. This process lasted for approximately one year. The containment becoming thus impossible, the decision was taken to monitor them and to remove civilians from the entities as far as possible.
Addendum 1 - Incident 471-FR-89: In March 1989, a particularly violent geomagnetic storm due to a very intense solar activity hit Earth. During this, ██ instances were seen moving towards the poles, although no storm had been predicted in this part of the globe at that moment. The instances then got into position in order to follow the aurorae, whose intensity had been increased by the geomagnetic storm, and nearly all instances reached their maximal height in a ten of hours before keeping causing dysfunction to electric devices situated in a radius ranging from 10 to 100 kilometers around them for approximately six hours. The majority of the regions where they were located being polar or maritime, the event did not have any major consequence in most cases. Only a single entity situated near James Bay, Quebec caused substantial damage by provoking the breakdown of the power stations in the James Bay Project complex, leading to a generalized power outage on the Quebec electrical system for a period of nine hours.
The incident was concealed into a generalized power outage caused by the geomagnetic storm and the containment procedures were consequently adapted.
Addendum 2: Below are the conclusions of the Alchemy Department about SCP-471-FR
Department of Science - Alchemy Division
Conclusions
Our study showed that these creatures, Cnidarætheria gigantis or SCP-471-FR, are peaceable as long as nothing approaches and that in that case, the effects caused by the manifestation of Fulminous Aethers are gradual and little dangerous at the early stages. Its population seems to have balanced itself naturally and very fast, in a matter of two to three years. The entities are naturally very little visible and impossible to detect with the help of conventional devices. In the few cases when they are visible, it is only thanks to a phenomenon extremely close to a normal one, which is additionally yet to be discovered by normal science. Finally, civilians can encounter these creatures only during the phases of production of jellyfish (or the "death" of an entity) and the feeding phases of jellyfish nearing the end of life. Nevertheless, it is probable that the recent advancements in spaceflight and high-altitude flight are compromised by the existence of such entities.
It is surely possible to pull the rug out from under SCP-471-FR by absorbing the Aqueous Aethers liberated following the death of the aquatic creatures and thus prevent new entities from forming, although this would require much infrastructure as well as an astronomic amount of Aether storage devices. We could also "suck the Aethers up" from the entities but given their size, it would be quite a wager. Moreover, considering the relatively minimal danger they represent at this time, this seems to be an unnecessary profusion of means.
Therefore, we only advise to follow the entities in the event where their behavior changes and to remove the civilians from the area as much as possible. Let us leave them alone and they will return the sentiment.
—R. Diaghilev, Alchemist of the Seventh Circle
4th May 1958
