SCP-ES-305

Item #: SCP-ES-305

Object Class: Thaumiel

Special Containment Procedures: Calypso Protocol has been established to define the Libraries assigned to the Scholar during Atman Events. Each path assigned to a Scholar must contain a minimum of 3 Libraries and a maximum of 7 Libraries.

As part of this protocol, a pool of 15 aspiring Scholars and an equal number of instances of SCP-ES-305-B are to be maintained in response to emergency situations.

Interaction with SCP-ES-305 is prohibited, except in the event an Atman Event fails. In this situation, a Scholar and their SCP-ES-305-B instance will be assigned to complete the event.

The sub-instances of SCP-ES-305-A must be nourished parenterally, and their health condition must be monitored at least once a day. The neutralization of SCP-ES-305-A sub-instances is prohibited, and in the event of the death of a sub-instance, they are to be replaced as soon as possible.

The staff in charge of the Libraries is responsible for disseminating the "Touch of the Jellyfish" narrative as an explanation of the effects of exposure to SCP-ES-305.

Description: SCP-ES-305 is a siphonophore¹ organism with hybrid characteristics of Physalia physalis (Portuguese man o' war) and Turritopsis dohrnii (Immortal jellyfish) measuring 30 meters in length under normal conditions. The tentacles of SCP-ES-305 are similar in appearance and function to P. physalis, being able to elongate the length of its tentacles to envelop subjects larger than the entity.². The umbrella of SCP-ES-305 has a diameter of 10 meters and is similar in appearance to T. dohrnii and in its interior there are polyps not consistent with organs of siphonophores nor of the sub-instances of SCP-ES-305-A.

SCP-ES-305 does not require sustenance, since it acquires nutrients through the subinstances of SCP-ES-305-A, and can ingest and excrete zooplankton and small animals. The ingestion of these organisms does not have beneficial or harmful effects on the entity. SCP-ES-305 reproduces by the expulsion of a gonozooid from its gonophore³ with its associated nectophore⁴. Unlike non-anomalous cnidarians, SCP-ES-305 can spawn male or female instances of SCP-ES-305-B. The gonozooid will swim to the nearest shore, transforming into an SCP-ES-305-B instance. Gonozooid expulsion cycles occur when SCP-ES-305 detects the possible presence of population centers.

SCP-ES-305-B instances are physically identical to the corresponding SCP-ES-305-A instance. SCP-ES-305-B possesses no memory of its SCP-ES-305-A intance and its personality corresponds to an identical version of its SCP-ES-305-A instance.⁵. The SCP-ES-305-B instance will address the population center and initiate an Atman Event. After the Atman Event, SCP-ES-305 will perform transdifferentiation.⁶, renewing and incorporating new DNA strands into its genetic code.

Samples collected non-invasively from SCP-ES-305 are not anomalous per se, although they contain DNA corresponding to subinstances of SCP-ES-305-A and subjects affected by Atman Events in a direct proportion. Different samples possess the same genetic code. Tests performed on the samples give identical results to their non-anomalous counterparts.

SCP-ES-305 can store water and other liquids in its body through buccal aspiration, with a maximum volume of approximately 262000 liters. SCP-ES-305 expels non-microscopic organisms during aspiration.

SCP-ES-305 is not hostile in the presence of humans, but the approach to the anomaly causes alterations in the central nervous system, producing organic lesions and tumor formations, resulting in symptoms such as headaches and cognitive alterations. The consequences of this effect are colloquially called "The Touch of the Jellyfish" by the civilian population.

SCP-ES-305-A corresponds to a set of 250000 human subjects between 15 and 21 years old, housed in a total of 10 subterranean Foundation facilities. Deep REM sleep was induced in the subinstances of SCP-ES-305-A through the presence of a variant of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense⁷ in their organism in combination with the use of sedatives. Each sub-instance carries a helmet connected to a projector. If a sub-instance of SCP-ES-305-A receives damage, the damage will be reflected in SCP-ES-305. It is unknown whether SCP-ES-305 can die through this method.

Addendum 1: Atman Events

An Atman Event starts when an instance of SCP-ES-305-B is discovered by the civilian population and taken to the nearest settlement. SCP-ES-305-B will be attended by the citizens and they will try to cure "The Touch of the Jellyfish" without success. SCP-ES-305-B will try to gain the trust and appreciation of the local people by performing multiple activities for the benefit of the community. SCP-ES-305-B will approach an aspiring Scholar⁸ and will offer their collaboration. The aspiring Scholar will visit a series of Libraries designated according to Calypso Protocol, thus gaining the knowledge necessary to defeat SCP-ES-305.

After visiting the designated Libraries, SCP-ES-305-B and the Scholar will head to the nearest ocean region to confront SCP-ES-305. The Scholar will start giving instructions to SCP-ES-305-B, which causes it to undergo bodily and psychic modifications.⁹, after which SCP-ES-305-B begins to fight SCP-ES-305.

Invariably from the outcome, SCP-ES-305-B dies from the battle. If SCP-ES-305 is sufficiently wounded, it will extend its tentacles avoiding as much as possible the interference of any living subject. The polyps will begin to pierce SCP-ES-305's umbrella, after which they will begin to mold, forming structures and a path in a 2 km^{2^2} area around the Scholar. The Scholar will move inward toward the umbrella, their progress often being halted due to migraines and other symptoms of physical discomfort.

At the far end of the umbrella is a throne-like structure to which is fused a humanoid figure. The Scholar will approach the figure and decapitate it. The Scholar will then prostrate himself before the throne and the tentacles will retract into the throne, piercing and absorbing the Scholar's nervous system. Subsequently, the corpse of the Scholar is compressed by the tentacles.

The corpse of SCP-ES-305-B loses its anomalous properties and is buried in the cemetery of its place of first appearance. Subsequently, civilians will perform ceremonies centering on the Scholar and SCP-ES-305-B in celebration of SCP-ES-305-B's banishment.

Context prior to SCP-ES-305:

SCP-ES-305 was devised in the wake of the 2066 solar storm. Multiple solar flares were predicted to occur during 2065 and the first half of 2066. Due to the magnitude of the future solar storm, the Foundation began to move its facilities and communications networks underground. This transition was initiated in October 2049 and completed in February 2063, with 85% of the sites successfully relocated underground.

The solar storm occurred on 05/09/2066, and the amount of coronal mass ejected was estimated to be 20 times greater than the 2012 solar storm. Because of its total impact with the Earth, all artificial satellites stopped functioning, eventually impacting against the Earth's surface. It is estimated that power grids on the surface were disabled for 75 to 100 years due to severe disturbances in the magnetosphere.

Initial theorization on SCP-ES-305:

Theorizing about SCP-ES-305 began in the 2030s, in the context of creating artificial, self-sustaining collective minds. Unlike its current appearance, SCP-ES-305 was not conceived with a physical form. Early sketches were reminiscent in design of AICs, but with several differences. The first was its location, the Site-49 mainframe, as opposed to the standard portable AICs. The second was the indivisibility of the individual components, preventing the safeguarding of individual components in the event of a mainframe malfunction. The third was a slow level of information search and decision making due to checking each individual component on every action. The fourth was the difficulty of expanding the collective mind for reasons identical to the previous point. Both technologies had the disadvantage of not being able to generate an exact copy of the individual component used in problem solving.

In the late 2030s and 2040s, the Foundation was inclined toward the use of psionics in the creation of SCP-ES-305. The goal was to create an organism adapted to live in an environment of rising temperatures and dwindling sources of sustenance, using the psionic matrix concept¹⁰. In search of the ideal candidate for the matrix, humans were ruled out as a candidate and genetic matches possessing at least 50% of the architecture of the human genome were sought. Of the matched organisms, mammals were ruled out due to difficulties in mental storage and nutrition.

SCP-ES-305 candidates:

The first theoretically viable candidate was the Drosophila melanogaster (Fruit fly). With an initial swarm of 10,000 specimens, SCP-ES-305 was to be released in areas of high humidity and in low-resource population centers. Each specimen had a modified reproductive method thanks to the matrix, which consisted of the introduction of the corresponding gamete into a human of the opposite sex to the specimen. The gamete would travel through the bloodstream to the brain, entering the hippocampus¹¹.

Once inside, cell division occurs until an egg is formed at an interval of 230 minutes. The egg will continue to form until the larva emerges. The larva will begin to bite the hippocampus, causing destructive alterations in the subject's behavior until its premature death. After the death of the subject, the larva would pupate and develop into an adult within 5 days. The adult specimen would contain the genome and memories of the deceased, integrating into the matrix.

The project did not go beyond theorization due to the volatility of the matrix, fluctuating rapidly in number of specimens. The hatching of thousands of D. melanogaster would involve a greater expenditure of energy in the subjects of the matrix in the continuous integration of new specimens. In the case of the death of thousands of specimens, energy would be expended in the recreation of the specimens accompanied by the sensation of pain in the affected subjects. Other factors include a negative association to D. melanogaster and the absence of a unifying element in the matrix.

Several tests were conducted with a variety of organisms, including plants and fungi. The most successful test took place in 2044, with Malus domestica (Apples) as a matrix. The M. domestica matrixes possessed a lifespan between 100 and 150 years, due to the Atkinson Effect¹².

The apples produced by the matrix contained the genetic code and memories of the psions involved in the matrix. Ingestion of these apples by D-class subjects failed due to overstimulation caused by the information received. In contrast, the psionic personnel experienced no adverse effects, acquiring the memories of the subjects participating in the matrix. Different stimuli associated with the participating individuals were used to obtain the associated memories. In both tests, the resulting DNA was the combination of the subject and the apple from the array.

Testing with M. domestica was discontinued in 2045. The reasons given consisted of the difficulty of cross-pollination caused by the death of overstimulated animals, rising temperatures on the planet causing early dehydration of psions, susceptibility to logging in a post-collapse society, fires in dry environments, and repeat arrays. For the first point it was proposed to use non-intelligent arrays of D. melanogaster and anthophiles to pollinate arrays of M. domestica but was rejected due to high costs of supply, space, and user habitation.

The last organism proposed as a matrix was Turritopsis dohrnii. Unlike the previous candidates, the matrix would consist of a single organism consisting of a Scholar, the sub-instances of SCP-ES-305-A, reproductive apparatus, and tentacles.

Prior to the creation of the matrix components, it was necessary to gather the necessary matter for the creation of psionic currents. For this purpose, it was necessary to attract psi¹³ using marketing campaigns in collaboration with major companies, film studios, and awareness campaigns in collaboration with governments.

Psi obtained passively by consuming content akin to environmentalism, pseudo-religious guilt, climate change theory and jellyfish are extracted from the noosphere¹⁴ and attracted utilizing a Psycoreceptor¹⁵. The Psycoreceptor directs psi to Psionic Deionization and Condensation Dampeners¹⁶ to create a mass of reactive psi¹⁷.

In parallel, the Foundation would begin soliciting volunteers for use as sub-instances of SCP-ES-305-A, using Cover #254 (State Grant) and #309 (Internship). SCP-ES-305-A sub-instances are taken to a subterranean stadium with a capacity of 25,000 and directed to their respective seats. They are then fitted with a Psycoamplifier Visor¹⁸ and were instructed to think of the concepts of jellyfish, humanity, conservation and memory. When a sub-instance of SCP-ES-305-A successfully formed a psionic current with the psi mass, it would be given intravenously an injection of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense with the ability to induce permanent REM sleep in the subjects. This procedure would be supplemented with sedatives, accelerating the process.

Creation of the Scholar component:

Site-94 would initiate the creation of the Scholar. The first Scholar would be chosen from among the Foundation's psion staff with 70 points on the Milgram Obedience Test, loyalty to the Foundation's mission, no emotional ties outside the Foundation, and basic knowledge of carnomancy. The Scholar would mold the loaded psi masses into the components of SCP-ES-305. The first component would be the umbrella, which would contain the Scholar and the polyps. The polyps would be formed from the flesh of the Scholar modified by carnomancy and psionics.

At the beginning, the first Scholar will make cuts in his arms. With blood and muscle tissue the Scholar, through his psionic abilities, will mold, extend and harden the tissue expelled from the wounds, up to an extension of 2 km². Once the area was occupied, the Scholar would create indentations of varying depths in the higher structures. Finally, the Scholar would form a throne with the remaining organic matter and fold the structure into polyps.

The replacement of a Scholar would occur through the completion of Atman Events. During the early post-collapse years, the Foundation would rehabilitate abandoned buildings into structures dubbed Libraries. The Libraries would be staffed by Foundation personnel and would contain books on psionics, carnomancy and thaumaturgy. Inside the books are illustrations with memetic agents to induce the Foundation's mission subliminally. Continued reading by the future Scholar allows their brain to be more susceptible to SCP-ES-305 in their encounter.

When SCP-ES-305 polyps pierce the umbrella, the resulting structure will be reminiscent of a pre-collapse city inhabited by the Scholar. The sub-instances of SCP-ES-305-A will act as citizens and illumination, causing the Scholar to fall into a trance and move to the center of the structure, thus ending an Atman Event. The sub-instances of SCP-ES-305-A possess no will or thoughts of their own, as long as they remain under the Scholar's supervision.

SCP-ES-305 Capacities:

The reproductive apparatus is gonochoric as a result of the assembly of SCP-ES-305-A subinstances. The function of the reproductive apparatus is the creation of clones of SCP-ES-305-A subinstances to initiate Atman Events, referred to as SCP-ES-305-B. As a common criterion, the disposition of the ejection of SCP-ES-305-B instances is in different territory than the corresponding SCP-ES-305-A instance.

SCP-ES-305 can collect more consciousnesses to add along with the sub-instances of SCP-ES-305-A. The method consists of SCP-ES-305's non-hostile approach to a human population, a location where SCP-ES-305's umbrella will begin to vibrate, attracting civilians to the nearest open area. SCP-ES-305 will begin to glow, rotating the polyps. Civilians will report hearing and seeing the subinstances of SCP-ES-305-A and its approach. At the end of this event, civilians will report suffering from headaches, language difficulties and memory problems, symptoms consistent with "The Touch of the Jellyfish". Upon the death of a civilian, their consciousness will be transferred to SCP-ES-305 through the removal from the corpse of abnormal neurological structures present in the brain.

The tentacles of SCP-ES-305 have a defensive function in the presence of harmful stimuli or hostile actions. SCP-ES-305 can elongate its tentacles to different lengths in the face of attack by marine predators and in Atman Events. SCP-ES-305 tentacles are capable of interacting with data storage devices through the transfer of an instance of SCP-ES-305-A to the chosen device. SCP-ES-305 stretches a tentacle to the device, pierces it, and obtains the information stored along with the transferred SCP-ES-305-A instance. AIC have not been successfully transferred, but information related to them has.

SCP-ES-305 Objective:

The current form of SCP-ES-305 is presumed to be temporary and transitory. The objective of SCP-ES-305 is the protection of humanity through the collection of knowledge and personnel. During the course of the objective, SCP-ES-305 will become an autopoietic entity¹⁹ self-evolving over the course of the current millennium. When SCP-ES-305 finds a biome suitable for humanity, it will scan the environment for possible threats. In case of its detection, SCP-ES-305 will proceed to neutralize the threats using psionic currents and its tentacles. If successful, SCP-ES-305 will introduce the tentacles into the surface and proceed to expel gonozooids, gradually populating the biome. Otherwise, SCP-ES-305 will withdraw in search of a less hostile biome, repeating the previous process.

Footnotes

1. Cnidarians formed by colonies.

2. The longest length recorded measured 610 meters, with an unknown maximum length.

3. A gonophore is the reproductive organ of hydrozoans. The gonozooid is the gonophore's gametophyte.

4. Locomotive organ of a siphonophore.

5. It has been observed that one instance of SCP-ES-305-B can act as another instance of SCP-ES-305-A other than its own, but the results have been inconclusive.

6. Transformation of a non-stem cell into another cell type..

7. Protozoa of the central eastern variant of sleeping sickness.

8. An aspiring Scholar is a subject between 15 and 18 years of age who undertakes a journey to banish SCP-ES-305.

9. The modifications caused depend on each SCP-ES-305-B and Scholar.

10. A psionic matrix is the physical manifestation of the confluence of psionic currents emitted by psions. Unlike a thought form, the matrix depends on the psions for its continued existence and action management..

11. By penetration in the case of sperm and by absorption in the case of an ovum.

12. The Atkinson Effect occurs in smaller caliber matrixes or manifestations, where the manifestation remains in its best physical condition without aging during the life of the psions.

13. In the context of psionics, psi (ψ) is the basic unit of psionic energy measurement. Successor to the magnitude "white" (ω), in 2033, updated for psionic phenomena manifested in the physical world.

14. The sphere of human thought.

15. A device possessing an antenna utilizing thaumaturgic runes in order to harness psi.

16. Because the psi picked up by the Psychoreceptors is in a plasma state, it must go from plasma to gas and from gas to liquid for processing in the physical world.

17. A mass of psi is a collection of psi in a liquid state used by psions to generate manifestations, whether of phenomena or objects.

18. Helmet that allows to amplify latent psionic abilities in untrained individuals.

19. Quality of a system to reproduce and maintain itself.