SCP-1138
Book of Letters
SCP-1138's current form, Friedrich Nietzsche's letters
Special Containment Procedures
SCP-1138 should be stored inside a safe in Dr. █████'s office in Sector-██. Personnel with Level 2 clearance or higher may access the object for research purposes with Dr. █████'s authorization. Personnel with strong philosophical convictions are to be denied access. Personnel should not dispute the object nor question the correctness of the information contained within.
Once monthly, a researcher studying philosophical concepts (either by duty of service or for personal education) should compose an article containing at least █ references to the object. At least ██ other personnel should familiarize themselves with this article; it must be archived afterward.
Description
SCP-1138 is perceived to be a book of philosophers' and/or writers' correspondence. Though the writing style always corresponds to a given author, the vast majority of letters are forgeries, with a few found to be genuine unsent drafts. The book's author changes based on the scientific and personal interests of the reader and its contents depend on reader's beliefs regarding the author's ideas. SCP-1138 always contains information that contradicts the reader's current beliefs (see addendum). In other words, the reader, thinking that a philosopher adhered to a specific opinion, will find letters expressing ideas that directly contradict his, her, or its beliefs, written out passionately and in great detail. If the reader has no concerns for philosophical concepts, SCP-1138 will contain letters from people the reader respects (up to his or her parents), criticizing his, her, or its life position.
Handling and reading the books has various effects. Readers who completely share the presumed author's views fall into a prolonged depression that they compare to being betrayed by a close friend. More open-minded individuals rejoice at first, sometimes lapsing into euphoria and stating that they "finally found the truth" before becoming absent-minded and unable to concentrate. This condition lasts for about a week. Professional researchers who have definite proof of the falsity of SCP-1138's information experience a strong desire to start a discussion. Should they start it, [DATA EXPUNGED] followed in 24 hours by an invariably lethal stroke. The theorized cause of this [DATA EXPUNGED].
Currently, there is no way of finding SCP-1138's "neutral" form. In the presence of humans and/or animals the book retains its previous appearance. Handling SCP-1138 with a remote-controlled robot led to the book transforming to a tome of Isaac Asimov's letters in which he gave proof that the Three Laws of Robotics should not be used in robot creation. First, adherence to the laws will lead to those laws being broken, hence they are useless. Second, robots are more perfect than humans and should not be restrained in their actions regarding humans. The attempt was stopped; the robot and the remote controller used in the experiment were examined. Examination showed [DATA EXPUNGED].
If there is no scientific article written about SCP-1138 in a month, the object disappears and reappears in the closest library or book store that can theoretically contain publications of letters. Therefore, if the book breaks containment, researchers assigned to SCP-1138 should monitor the news and investigate each and every "sensational breakthrough" in philosophy and history.
History: SCP-1138 attracted the Foundation's attention in 19██ when █████ ███████, the leader of the Communist Party of Hungary, released a harsh criticism of V.I. Lenin, claiming that he had found a collection of letters in which Lenin defined Marxism as a fallacious and harmful theory and proposed cooperation with the Capitalist West. Everybody who spoke against his criticism died in 24 hours, making the situation especially suspicious. █████ ████████'s house was searched; the only anomalous item found was a book that changed its appearance and contents when passed from one person to another.
Later, it was found that the object disappears if there isn't an article that references it written in a month. Employees responsible for SCP-1138 got lucky, as the book always reappeared in Sector ██ library and was easily found. There are no known cases of the book's appearance before it attracted the Foundation's attention.
The Prince (the book which inspired the term "Machiavellianism") is generally thought to have been political satire by scholars.
Dr. █████'s preliminary conclusion" id="">Addendum: Some of the most interesting instances of SCP-1138 are listed here:
- Marcus Tullius Cicero's letters in which he claims that every conflict should be resolved through brute force; the search for compromise based on laws and morality was deemed unnecessary. "Cedant arma togae" was claimed to be "a stupid joke."
- Niccolò Machiavelli's letters that explain negative economical, political and cultural consequences, should the medieval Italy become a united state. He also claims that a ruler should act within the law and ethics and never break these rules. Note that The Prince (the book which inspired the term "Machiavellianism") is generally thought to have been political satire by scholars.
- Blaise Pascal's letters, describing Christianity as "a faith most vile, false and abhorrent to human dignity."
- Friedrich Nietzsche's letters, claiming that Christianity and Buddhism are the reason for all humanity's achievements. He also harshly denounces some people's aspiration to "be themselves" and not belong to the social mass.
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky's letters in which he claims that a decent and happy life can only be achieved through denial of the existence of souls and a lack of compassion and beneficence.
- O5-█'s letters, in which he requests that all humanoid SCPs within Foundation custody either be released or terminated. In addition, he claims to have [DATA EXPUNGED]
Dr. █████'s preliminary conclusion Currently, we cannot determine if the object is sapient. Maybe it is sapient and creates information that contradicts our beliefs in order to provoke us to argue and become its victims. If that's the case, killing is a way of sustaining its life and the object's behavior is the way it hunts. Maybe the object is not sapient and simply re-translates thoughts from another reality in which philosophers and thinkers came to different ideas. Further study is necessary.