SCP-ES-167
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SCP-ES-167

Electron microscopy photograph of SCP-ES-167-A.

Item: SCP-ES-167

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: Mobile Task Force Beta-7 ("Maz Hatters") is in charge of the containment of SCP-ES-167 using cryogenic or radioactive weaponry in case its neutralization is required. Sightings of SCP-ES-167 should be taken out of the media and if necessary a local disinformation and amnestization campaign will be carried out.

Description: SCP-ES-167 are populations of entities with a virion-based level of organization. Individually, each virion - SCP-ES-167-A - has spicules with the capacity to modify into a variety of forms, thus allowing its union with other virions in order to assemble more complex entities.1. Its nucleic acid has a spherical ccDNA-type genome.2, with an octagonal capsid and an envelope resistant to physical and chemical damage. SCP-ES-167-A is only capable of infecting sexually reproducing diploid organisms.

In the environment, SCP-ES-167-A can remain for long periods of time, up to three decades, without the need to infect an organism. Infections caused by SCP-ES-167-A follow the process of lysogeny3, partially infecting most of the host organs without generating any symptoms. The infection can be sustained in this manner and causes activation from the ccDNAs of the infected organism, generally leading to the appearance of modifications to increase their fitness, such as the generation of progeny by ontokinetic processes or the appearance of structures or hunting methods to extend the spread of SCP-ES-167-A.

During this period, SCP-ES-167-A will incorporate part of the host ccDNA into its own genome, this process depends on the size of the organism, taking 1 hour to complete in the case of Drosophila melanogaster, and 2-3 days in the case of mammals such as Panthera leo. Once the lysogenic cycle is over, the lytic cycle begins.4, initially attacking the central nervous system, killing the host. SCP-ES-167-A will then begin to assemble to form a new complete organism with morphological characteristics similar to the host, although coarser, characterized by smooth structures, as well as the lack of some sensory organs, generally those related to picking up vibrations such as the ears, with only the mouth being almost always present.

SCP-ES-167-A generally infects and replaces a population or group of organisms, or by its own infection process by generating that its hosts can reproduce by anomalous means, thus causing the appearance of SCP-ES-167. These populations will behave differently depending on the population it replaces in the trophic pyramid, in the case of primary producers will create structures similar to fruits with viral load, with appealing characteristics for consumption5. While in the case of consumers (primary, secondary and tertiary), they will have an active behavior for the propagation of SCP-ES-167-A.

SCP-ES-167 usually behaves similarly to the population replaced in the first replacement cycle -called base population- but SCP-ES-167-A will continue to aggregate elements from the genome of each host as it continues to infect more organisms and repeat its life cycle, adding morphological and behavioral characteristics to SCP-ES-167 populations. Eventually SCP-ES-167 will reach a critical mutational point of instability - populations of SCP-ES-167 with characteristics of up to 20 species have been observed - causing the non-viability of its genome to reproduce, causing its disappearance from the ecosystem and only retaining the original SCP-ES-167-A genome, restarting the process from a base population.

The first case of an infection due to SCP-ES-167-A in humans was documented in 2014, in an ecological research group in the Congo Forest, this being the base population, named as SCP-ES-167-56. It was observed that individuals retained some cognitive abilities, capturing animals and plants for SCP-ES-167-A inoculation, however, populations derived from SCP-ES-167-56 were losing their cognitive abilities, retaining only bipedal morphology.

Update from 06/24/2018: An event was recorded where 50% of all SCP-ES-167 populations started a global migration process towards a specific point in the South Pacific Ocean, in the Tonga Trench. An operation was deployed to cull the different instances of SCP-ES-167, with a success rate of 90%. The remaining 10% were followed up during the removal attempts and were lost track of due to their swimming speed and depth. Subsequent investigations found no remains of SCP-ES-167, but a seabed survey using seismic waves detected a large object buried 4 km below the trench, and an excavation project was carried out to recover material from this object. In the analysis of this material, SCP-ES-167-A was found, although of a larger size compared to other instances of SCP-ES-167-A, thus being named SCP-ES-167-B. In the analysis of its genome, the presence of 15897 species has been found so far, theoretical calculations indicate that this represents less than 0.1% of the genomic sequence of SCP-ES-167-B.

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