SCP International

Item #: SCP-ES-200

Object Class: Neutralized

Special Containment Procedures: All information associated with SCP-ES-200 must be immediately censored and restricted to O5 Council members only. Any subject privy to SCP-ES-200 as of 02/08/2003 should be questioned by any means deemed appropriate about obtaining such information or its dissemination, and consequently terminated.

Description: SCP-ES-200 was a human of Caucasian appearance and Italian ancestry. At the time of this writing, the subject was 58 years old, and approximately 5'7" tall. SCP-ES-200 was named according to his identification as Bernardo Maquiavelo, and held a bachelor's degree in psychiatry. The individual was part of the psychology staff at Site-313, with a Clearance Level 2, and would be assigned to the psychological analysis of the test subjects used for the anomalies contained therein.

As of 02/08/2003, a drastic change in SCP-ES-200's personality is detailed, due to direct exposure to a psyche-altering memetic agent, records of which have been thoroughly removed from the Foundation's database due to the subject's intervention.

Consequently, SCP-ES-200 acquires extensive knowledge of the field of memetics, gaining access by hacking into the Site's terminals to information classified up to and including Clearance Level 4. SCP-ES-200 applied to the examination for the memetic and infozahardous anomaly research staff, successfully entering the team and soon securing promotions to the head of the team. In that position, SCP-ES-200 requested experimentation in the absence of most of the previously mentioned anomaly containment measures, producing the exposure to the meme to some of Site-313's security personnel and anti-memetic anomaly study team, instigating months later a coordinated assault on the west wing of Site-313 for the looting of the object in question.

SCP-ES-200 was the catalyst for the transition of the properties of the memetic agent from the cognitohazardous to the infohazardous field, thus favoring a greater margin of exposure. This agent would be deliberately self-limiting, with the purpose of avoiding discovery. Records of personnel affected by the agent show highly coordinated and synchronous behavior, hinting at a conceptual connection similar to that of a hive mind. It is believed that the resignation of the penultimate Director of Site-313 was caused by SCP-ES-200, who would later succeed him based on a vote of all other Site Directors.

The existing documentation of the previously described anomalies was actively spun off by SCP-ES-200, and the precise information regarding them is unknown. However, SCP-ES-200 announced the redesignation to Explained of documentation regarding one of these anomalies, including a previously described infohazardous agent, presumably for the purpose of spreading it. Despite this, the presence of the agent was identified by the Counterconceptual Division, and the anomalous activity at Site-313 was reported. Following an investigation of the individual's history, a member of the O5 Council stated that he was affected by an anomaly, and he was ordered to be executed.

Among the anomalous abilities of SCP-ES-200, endowed as of 02/08/2003, only the apparent leadership over all subjects exposed to the same memetic agent as SCP-ES-200 in the first instance stands out, although to this day the individual's purposes are unknown. All this information has been totally restricted to the general public to prevent the dissemination of such a major personnel control failure.

Surprising what a single human being can do, right? Even more surprising is what this man was about to do. And even without apparently having accomplished his purpose, the damage caused, not only to the facilities and documents, but also to the psychological integrity of the staff, is considerable to say the least. Fortunately, it was discovered in time. After all, he was nothing more than a simple puppet, and he was not able to move. He was not able to do much that was beyond us. You are all puppets at the end of the day. You can never move, because you have no will and no reasoning of your own, and there are few, very few, who actually move. The ones who move them. Those who manage these ventriloquist dummies without resentment. It is easy to know what is going to happen when it is oneself who weaves the tapestry of destiny.

But even we, entangled in our own web of threads, are unable to see that they are slowly slipping away from us. You evade your responsibilities by embracing a certain concept of "freedom". You are totally incapable of seeing that without a direction to follow, you will take the immediate path to self-destruction. And not only yours, but of everything around you, as the world is paying the consequences of your actions. This must be stopped, and only we have the tools (and a great supply of tools, to tell the truth) to stop this situation, and return to what we have always been. And now is when I ask you, do you want to be just puppets that do not move, or do you want to be the ones who manage them?

Sincerely, O5-8