SCP-3285

creative comas

Connected to: SCP-3185

Design on the label of SCP-3285.

Special Containment Procedures

SCP-3285 is stored in a standard high-value containment locker in Site 73, and can be obtained with the approval of the current project head. Testing on any subjects other than D-Class requires the approval of the Site Director.

Following Incident 3285/007, testing on any subjects who have worked as intellectual property attorneys is now forbidden.

Description

SCP-3285 is an orange plastic medicine bottle containing between five and twenty-five orange pills (hereafter SCP-3285-A)¹ labeled "creative comas"; the logo appears to be a slightly altered version of the Creative Commons logo. One side of the label depicts the illustration pictured above, and the reverse side contains the following text:

creative comas

ENTERTAINMENT & EDUCATION DIVISION - Public Domain Protection Service²
CCC COMPLIANT - A-P INDIVIDUALS DO NOT USE UNLESS MANDATED

When an instance of SCP-3285-A is consumed by a subject, it will initially display properties similar to non-anomalous sleeping pills; subjects typically lose consciousness within an hour of SCP-3285-A consumption. Afterwards, however, they will display symptoms consistent with a persistent vegetative state for between forty-eight and seventy-two hours; MRI scans conducted during SCP-3285 effect periods show no brain activity that would indicate the subject retains awareness.

Despite the medically verified status of subjects affected by SCP-3285-A, all nonetheless report having extremely vivid dreams that they can afterwards recall with near-eidetic clarity. All dreams begin with a visible white title card on black background covering the subject's entire perception, always consisting of the words "The Free Story of __". The contents of a given dream vary, but all make use of intellectual property that is in the public domain³ or licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0/3.0.

Subjects affected by SCP-3285-A do not require sustenance to survive, and will awaken at the conclusion of an SCP-3285-A episode without displaying any expected negative physical side effects such as dehydration, malnourishment, or muscle atrophy. Long-term effects of SCP-3285-A exposure vary, but usually consist of the subject expressing a greater desire to pursue altruistic or intellectual endeavors (see test log). No negative effects have been noted from repeated SCP-3285-A testing, and all subjects react to repeated uses of SCP-3285-A in the same manner as their first usage, albeit with a different dream experienced per each instance of SCP-3285-A.

SCP-3285-A Test Log

The following is a record of SCP-3285-A instances, as reported by test subjects.

Subject Information	SCP-3285-A Title Instance	Summary	Effects of SCP-3285-A Exposure
D-37245, standard subject taken from normal pool of D-Class. Subject is a 26-year old female with high school education and criminal convictions related to motor vehicle theft.	The Free Story of Mark Twain's Stupidity	An extended dialogue between writers Mark Twain and William Shakespeare, apparently located in an afterlife resembling the traditional Western version of Heaven. Shakespeare angrily criticizes Twain for questioning the authorship of his plays, punctuating his outbursts with passages read out loud from Twain's Is Shakespeare Dead? (1909). Mark Twain responds with characteristic humor and wit, asking for Shakespeare to produce ready evidence of his authorship and defending his support of the Baconian theory. The story ends with Francis Bacon entering the scene and denouncing both Twain and Shakespeare as "silly dreaming children," saying that he considered the theatre a waste of time and would never have written plays. Shakespeare laughs at Twain's expense as the dream ends.	Subject expressed a strong desire to read novels and requested reading material from researchers, despite showing no great interest in literature prior to the test. No other long-term effects.
D-37245, same as previous experiment.	The Free Story of King Lear the Author	Adaptation of William Shakespeare's King Lear onto a modern setting, depicting Lear as a famous author who is in the terminal stages of pancreatic cancer. As he writes out the final version of his will, planning to divide his assets between his three daughters, he asks them what they plan to do with the rights to his works. Goneril and Regan proclaim their desire to sell the rights of film and television adaptations, whereas Cordelia expresses her desire to donate the rights to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Angered by her attempts to give away his legacy without financial gain, Lear disinherits Cordelia and divides the rights to his works between the other two sisters. After firing his literary agent Kent for expressing disapproval at his disownment of Cordelia, Lear slowly begins to lose his mind, and the other main characters die as in the original play. Story ends with Lear's reputation ruined as his family's scandals and his daughters' plots to kill one another are exposed; he dies without a direct heir, and Goneril's widower Albany inherits his fortune.	Subject expressed extreme distaste for the works of author George R.R. Martin, and displayed in-depth knowledge of his A Song of Ice and Fire series despite not having previously read it.
Junior Researcher Adams. After lack of negative side effects in previous tests, consumption of SCP-3285-A instances by Foundation personnel for research purposes was provisionally approved.	The Free Story of Lawrence the Preserver	A medieval fantasy epic featuring a fictionalized version of Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig as the primary protagonist. Story begins as an army of antagonists referred to as the Suppressors sack Lawrence's hometown, destroying the library that Lawrence had previously worked in as a scribe. Vowing to avenge "the ink and the blood," Lawrence raises an army of peasants and other lower-class citizens to remove the Suppressors from their land. Climax of the story takes place in a battlefield referred to as Extentia, as Lawrence does battle with and defeats the nameless leader of the Suppressors, suffering a mortal wound in the process. The Suppressors are driven from the land, and Lawrence is idolized and immortalized as "Lawrence the Preserver."	Researcher Adams expressed a desire to "contribute to humanity's collective knowledge." After being placed in on-site lodging, logs of Researcher Adams' computer indicated numerous visits to the Wikimedia Commons image website, followed by uploads of public domain images collected from elsewhere on the Internet to the site. Full recovery from SCP-3285-A's effects was successfully achieved following Class-B Amnestic treatment.
Andrew Garcia, Foundation legal counsel. Subject had previously worked for ████████████ as an intellectual property attorney, representing the company in court when it brought suit against competitors for trademark infringement. Test cleared by Site Director.	[REDACTED]	[REDACTED - SEE ADDENDUM]	[REDACTED]

+ 3285 Incident/007 [SITE DIRECTOR CLEARANCE REQUIRED]

- CLEARANCE ACCEPTED

Note: Information in the following log was obtained over the course of two weeks, as subject was initially unwilling to speak about the dream's contents.

Subject Information	SCP-3285-A Title Instance	Summary	Effects of SCP-3285-A Exposure
Andrew Garcia, Foundation legal counsel. Subject had previously worked for ████████████ as an intellectual property attorney, representing the company in court when it brought suit against competitors for trademark infringement. Test cleared by Site Director.	The Free Story of the Arrogant Lawyer	A mock trial of Andrew Garcia, taking place in a dilapidated court room filled with individuals the subject identified as his friends and relatives. A group of humanoid entities (whose face the subject was unable to recall) act as the judge, jury, and bailiff of the court room, all wearing uniformly black clothes save for a single public domain insignia, identical to the one seen in SCP-3185 letters. The "trial" begins with the entities reading law school papers and lawsuit notices the subject had previously written, afterwards discarding the papers in a firepit located in the center of the courtroom. As the papers burn, the courtroom audience repeatedly chants the word "SUPPRESS", and the subject experiences discomfort in his perceived skin. As each document is destroyed, the subject loses knowledge of the contents contained therein. The process repeats itself for what the subject perceives to be six hours. This is the only recorded SCP-3285-A instance that has both involved the subject directly in the dream and created a perceived physical stimulus during it.	Subject suffered partial amnesia, apparently losing all memories of work related to his previous profession; afterwards, subject suffered from long-term insomnia and night terrors. Additionally, subject expressed difficulty in recalling contents of public domain books such as Dracula after reading them. Amnestics ineffective in reversing symptoms. Containment procedures updated to prevent testing on intellectual property attorneys.