SCP-2418

Description

SCP-2418 is an ancient nilometer³, located in the basement level of a house in El Sheikh Ebada, a small town in southern Egypt. SCP-2418 was originally constructed in the 13th century BCE by the pharaoh Ramesses II as a part of a temple to Isis and Osiris; the most recent phase of construction dates to circa 130 AD, when the Roman city of Antinopolis was founded at the site of the older temple complex.

SCP-2418's anomalous properties manifest when two individuals enter the water at the bottom and one of those individuals dies of asphyxiation; these individuals must be married or otherwise in a romantic relationship, close relatives (siblings or a parent and child), or close friends. The surviving individual will experience a powerful rejuvenating effect; the effects of aging will be reversed significantly, and chronic diseases—sometimes including genetic or congenital conditions—will be cured. The strength of the rejuvenating effect seems to scale proportionally with the strength of the relationship between the individuals, and inversely with the age of the deceased; in no recorded cases has an individual been rejuvenated to an apparent age of less than twenty-five.

SCP-2418 was acquired in 2011 as a part of Operation Harpocrates, a coordinated attack on Marshall, Carter & Dark assets in Egypt, during which the Foundation used a combination of physical raids, political upheaval and economic manipulation to effectively remove the presence of MC&D and associated groups from the country.

Recovered Document 2418-1: Cura Praetoria Sapientae Occulate Report
Latin, circa 130 CE. From the archives of the Vatican Office of Secrets and Prophecy. Trans. Giulia Mancini, 1987.

The Well of Rebirth
Of Antinoüs Osiris and of Isis, very useful and not at all dangerous.

A well in the city of Antinopolis, in the province of Egypt, used by the priests of the Egyptians to measure the rising and falling of the Nile. Located beneath the Great Temple of Antinoüs Osiris and particularly sacred to that hero. If a man should go into the well, and certain secret rituals be performed by the priests of the temple, the man shall be restored to youth and strength, and his illnesses and frailties shall vanish, as he is blessed by Antinoüs Osiris.

With the Emperor Publius Aelius Hadrianus Augustus having once more fallen ill, the Curator Arcanorum, Manius Curius Ater, was tasked with finding a cure for his ailments and went into Egypt to seek the aid of the priests there, who had always been greatly respected by the Emperor. In the town of Baesa, on the Upper Nile, he found a cult of priests whose order had been established by Ozymandias the Great, and to whom Alexander and the Ptolemies had gone for wisdom and for healing. And when the Emperor was informed of these miracles, he went up the Nile to this temple, and bathed in the waters; and his illness was cured.

And since, on the journey up the Nile, the Emperor's favorite Antinoüs had fallen into the river and drowned, after he had risen up into the heavens as a god, the Emperor paid for the temple and the well to be restored, and rededicated them to Antinoüs Osiris, and founded a city on the site, calling it Antinopolis in his beloved's honor. The care of the well was entrusted to the Curator Arcanorum, as he had been so serviceable to the Emperor and the Empire.

This well is currently under the care of Manius Curius Ater, Curator Arcanorum for Publius Aelius Hadrianus Augustus, and the priesthood of Antinoüs Osiris. The Emperor has forbidden use of the well, and none other than him are to enter it; the secret of the ritual is known only to the Emperor, to the priests, and to Curius Ater.

It is believed that some of the priesthood of the temple may not be loyal citizens of the Empire, as they are Egyptians and Syrians, many of them possibly sorcerers, and that they may have some connection with the subversive group of criminal sorcerers and witches known as the Forum Tenebris. Curius Ater has pledged to investigate this matter, but has not as of yet found any evidence of disloyalty or criminality among the priests.

Notably, the CPSO were apparently unaware of the exact method of activation; see Recovered Document 2418-3 for further information.

Recovered Document 2418-2: Tomb Inscription, Castel Sant'Angelo
Greek, circa 138 AD. Inscribed on a marble plaque inside the tomb of the Emperor Hadrian. Original inscription is in the Esoteric Collection of the Vatican Museum. Trans. Dietrich Von Grummet, 1965.

Antinoüs, most beautiful, most wise,
Forgive me, I beg of you, great god,
For placing your life's worth below my own.
Kings and Emperors may rise and fall,
One not much different from the other;
But great beauties are eternal, heavenly,
Each one unique, each one perfection.
And in my sickness and my hubris I,
A mortal man allowed to touch divinity,
Destroyed such beauty, just to save my life.
Forgive me, I beg of you, great god,
Antinoüs, most beautiful, most wise.

Recovered Document 2418-3: Marshall, Carter and Dark Item Log
See attached file: MCD-M4UDB/HF74T/JU2FA.ftml