SCP-5866

NOTICE FROM THE FOUNDATION RECORDS AND INFORMATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

This database file represents the initial stages of research collation, data entry and editing. It is not intended for general viewing, and is not to be considered accurate or complete until its publication.

— Maria Jones, Director, RAISA

Currently Editing:

Dr. Michael D. Nass
Chair of Theology and Teleology, Site-43

Dr. Brenda Corbin
Assistant Chair of Theology and Teleology, Site-43

► We'll do this line-by-line, from ConProcs to addenda, over the next few days. Sound good?
►► Sounds great. I can't wait to get started on this one, Michael.
►►► Such enthusiasm! What have you done with Brenda.
►►►► I love the raw potential of a new object. We haven't had one in ages.
►►►►► Start us off, then. Do the header.

Item#: SCP-5866
Level3
Containment Class:
tiamat
Secondary Class:
{$secondary-class}
Disruption Class:
amida
Risk Class:
critical

Tiamat.jpg

Reconstruction of SCP-5866, 1/3500 scale.

► How is this Tiamat-class?! It's dead..Tiamat-class objects pose an immediate threat which can only be contained via Veil-breaking actions.
►► But it is Tiamat! As in, the actual goddess!
►►► That's not how it works!
►►►► Furthermore, how is this Critical or Amida?
►►►►► You'll see! Let's keep going.
►►►►►► ACS was a mistake.
►►►►►►► Just start the ConProcs, would you?

Special Containment Procedures: The remains of SCP-5866 are to be stored in a transparent container suspended within a standard containment chamber at Site-43, not less than ten metres by ten metres by ten metres in size.

► We don't specify chamber sizes anymore.
►► We do when it's important. Which it is, here. We don't want it proselytizing to passers-by.
►►► Yeah, it might make them actually believe in something. Which reminds me!

Due to its likely origin as an object of religious worship, personnel are forbidden to discuss matters of faith with SCP-5866 unless under the direction of Dr. Michael D. Nass.

► What about Dr. Brenda Corbin?
►► I'm retiring.
►►► Lies. You wouldn't know what to do with yourself.
►►►► Live a little, maybe? Get some fresh air? Sleep at night? Anyway, description's all yours.
►►►►► Fine, but you're doing the interviews.
►►►►►► Wouldn't have it any other way.

Description: SCP-5866 is the conscious, sapient, skeletal remains of an enormous sea serpent. Radiocarbon dating suggests the serpent has been deceased since approximately 4000 BCE.

► Tiamat. It's the remains of Tiamat. That belongs in the lede.
►► We don't know that yet. And this isn't Wikipedia, Brenda.

SCP-5866 is capable of telepathic communication within a range of approximately four metres. It has communicated to Foundation researchers that it is the deity Tiamat, the "primordial goddess of the salt sea" in ancient Babylonian religion.

► This isn't Wikipedia? Then why did you just quote Wikipedia?
►► I wrote the Wikipedia page on Tiamat. I'm quoting myself.
►►► Original research!
►►►► When are you retiring? It's soon, right?

SCP-5866's remains have no obvious anomalous qualities, aside from their unusual proportions. It has been cooperative and cordial thus far, demonstrating an interest in present-day human religious practices and the state of the Earth's oceans.

► And that's why it should be Safe-class.
►► Brenda! Stop editing it back to Tiamat!
►►► If you still think it's Safe by the time we publish, I'll change it back.
►►►► If you've given me a reason to think it's Veil-breaking by then, YOU can change it back.
►►►►► Knock off for the weekend, boss. Go see a movie. Feed your imagination.

Data Saved!


► Back at it.

Addendum 5866-1, Discovery: The remains comprising SCP-5866 were discovered in an underwater cave in the Persian Gulf on 01/08/2021, during an oil spill cleanup operation. The Foundation seized the remains under cover of an international palaeontology commission, and transported them to Site-43 to undergo acroamatic abatement procedures.

► They were gonna break her down? That's horrible.
►► You think the world needs more sea serpent goddesses in it?
►►► That a rhetorical question?
►►►► No.
►►►►► Well, mine was. I pity the researcher who never gets to talk to a genuine monster.

Upon arrival at Site-43, however, SCP-5866 began to communicate telepathically with Foundation researchers, and the present Special Containment Procedures were devised.

► Your in-depth interview with the subject was yesterday, wasn't it?
►► Sick yesterday, got it done this morning.
►►► Anything serious?
►►►► Appending the log below!
►►►►► I can't wait to see what's in here that caused you to label it Tiamat-class AGAIN.
►►►►►► Containment class discussions are so tedious.
►►►►►►► I would have said "potentially life-saving," but you do you.

Addendum 5866-2, First Interview: On 01/14/2021, Dr. Brenda Corbin conversed with SCP-5866. Its responses were recorded using an experimental alpha/beta brainwave decoder.

Dr. Corbin: Can you hear me, Ti—

Dr. Corbin clears her throat.

Dr. Corbin: Can you hear me, SCP-5866?

SCP-5866: Yes, hello Brenda. You do not need to speak.

Dr. Corbin: It's habit. I don't meet many telepaths.

SCP-5866: Do you meet many goddesses?

Dr. Corbin: I haven't met any goddesses.

SCP-5866: I am a goddess. Are you excited?

Dr. Corbin: Let's leave that off the record. It can be our little secret.

SCP-5866: I am amenable.

Dr. Corbin: Yes, by deific standards you seem very friendly. Are you comfortable?

SCP-5866: No. I am dead.

Dr. Corbin: …that's fair. How is it we're conversing, if you're dead?

SCP-5866: I do not know. Perhaps you are imagining it?

Dr. Corbin: You talked to the researchers who brought you in, too.

SCP-5866: Perhaps you are all imagining me.

Dr. Corbin smiles.

Dr. Corbin: Perhaps. So, you're dead. Do you know how that happened?

Tiamat2.jpg

Assyrian depiction of the death of Tiamat.

SCP-5866: Yes. I was slain by amar-Utuk, my body broken, my eyes made a font for the mighty rivers of Babylonia, my ribs the vault of heaven. It was very memorable.

Dr. Corbin: My sympathies.

SCP-5866: It happens.

Dr. Corbin: To all of us, eventually; at least you got to go out in style.

SCP-5866: I would recommend it, when your time comes.

Dr. Corbin: Maybe I'll bounce some ideas off you. So, what happened after you died?

SCP-5866: I was buried.

Dr. Corbin: And then?

SCP-5866: And then you found me, and buried me again.

Dr. Corbin: Surely something happened in between. Babylonian mythology took place thousands of years ago.

SCP-5866: I have only faint impressions.

Dr. Corbin: My first, probably my last goddess, and she doesn't have anything interesting to say?

SCP-5866: I believe I may have been a dragon? I believe I may have had many heads. I do not know when that might have been.

Dr. Corbin: I said after you died.

SCP-5866: Yes.

Dr. Corbin: …okay. That gives me something to go on, at least. What do you remember from the time before your death?

SCP-5866: I was mother to demigods and monsters. I wonder how they are doing today. They fought for me; I liked that. And then I died.

Dr. Corbin: Anything else?

SCP-5866: I could tell you their names?

Dr. Corbin: I think I have them already, thank you.

Dr. Corbin examines the remains.

Dr. Corbin: You must have been quite impressive, in your prime.

SCP-5866: I was vast and terrible, Brenda. You would have been struck with awe at the sight of me.

Dr. Corbin: I'm sorry I missed it.

SCP-5866: I am sorry also. Perhaps another time.

Dr. Corbin: Wouldn't that be something. Alright, is there anything you need? Or anything you'd like to tell me that we haven't already covered?

SCP-5866: Do you have any Babylonians? I would like to meet them, if you do.

Dr. Corbin: Let me get back to you on that.

► So, it's a box of bones that only knows what we already know about Tiamat.
►► And therefore isn't Tiamat-class.
►►► Maybe that's all there is to know about Tiamat.
►►►► Maybe it being a box of bones is the salient bit.
►►►►► We're hosting the Tactical Theology symposium next week, we should get outside opinions.
►►►►►► Fine. I'll be busy organizing and lecturing, so you take point on that.
►►►►►►► Excellent. In the meantime, I have some new questions to ask.
►►►►►►►► Ask it if it thinks it's an apocalyptic threat.

Data Saved!


Addendum 5866-3, Second Interview: On 01/18/2021, Dr. Corbin again conversed with SCP-5866.

SCP-5866: Welcome back, Brenda. You seem tired. Is your hea—

Dr. Corbin: Hello, SCP-5866.

SCP-5866: That sounds so awkward. Could you call me 5866 instead?

Dr. Corbin: Sure. We're friends now?

SCP-5866: I have never had friends before. I have had worshipers, but they are not very like friends.

Dr. Corbin: Well, I'm not going to worship a pile of bones in a box.

SCP-5866: I was not always a pile of bones in a box. I will not always be a pile of bones in a box.

Dr. Corbin: Do tell.

SCP-5866: Use your imagination, Brenda. It still works.

Silence on recording.

Dr. Corbin: 5866, I'd like to ask you another question about your past. You might need to think really hard about it.

SCP-5866: I am not busy.

Dr. Corbin: Not really, eh? Okay, so, do you remember Asgorath?

SCP-5866: Asgorath?

Silence on recording.

SCP-5866: Asgorath! Yes! Asgorath, the World Shaper, was my father! Or my mother. One of those. Or maybe both?

Dr. Corbin: Very good. We're making progress! Now, you mentioned having many heads at one point.

SCP-5866: Five. It was five heads, definitely. Five heads is too many, don't you think?

Tiamat3.jpg

Miniature representation of five-headed Tiamat.

Dr. Corbin: A bit excessive, maybe, but certainly a sight to see. Ah… do you remember the Nine Hells?

SCP-5866: Of course I remember the Nine Hells. I was trapped there for millennia. I lorded over many vassal demons. I fought wars to escape. You don't forget a thing like that.

Dr. Corbin: No, I wouldn't think so. Thank you for your time, 5866.

SCP-5866: Do you have to leave already?

Dr. Corbin: I do, but I'll be back.

SCP-5866: Do you promise?

Dr. Corbin: Yes, I promise.

SCP-5866: Is it a pact?

Dr. Corbin: …sure. Yes. It's a pact.

► To quote our Section Charter: "WE DO NOT MAKE PACTS WITH DEITIES." Emphasis in original.
►► Sorry, Michael, but that's not the takeaway here.
►►► Do tell.
►►►► 5866 remembers being the Babylonian Tiamat and the Gygaxian Tiamat.
►►►►► What the hell is Gygaxian?
►►►►►► Dungeons & Dragons.

Data Saved!


Addendum 5866-4, Third Interview: On 01/21/2021, Dr. Corbin once again conversed with SCP-5866. Visiting delegates from seven Foundation Sites joined her in the observation room.

Dr. Corbin: We're running out of time, 5866.

SCP-5866: You mean you are running out of time.

Dr. Corbin: You're hardly in a position to be threatening humanity.

SCP-5866: I meant you, Brenda, specifically.

Silence on recording.

Dr. Corbin: Reading thoughts isn't very nice, 5866.

SCP-5866: You know my true name. Use it.

Dr. Corbin: We don't call SCP objects by their personal appellations.

SCP-5866: I thought we were friends.

Silence on recording.

SCP-5866: Speaking of friends, we are not alone today.

Dr. Corbin: No, we're not. I invited a few colleagues to listen to you.

SCP-5866: What shall I tell them?

Dr. Corbin: Tell them… about the creation of the universe.

SCP-5866: Which one?

Dr. Corbin: This one.

SCP-5866: My finest hour, my greatest folly. I birthed the gods with the seed of Apsu, and all eternity rang with the cries of our raucous young. I avenged myself upon the killer of my mate by spawning beautiful abominations, eleven in number, to wreak my wroth on the younger gods. When amar-Utuk cast me down and smote me, the age of myth was ended and the advent of humanity at hand.

Dr. Corbin: It sounds like you were very powerful. Epochal, even.

SCP-5866: So I was. So I remain.

Dr. Corbin: What do you mean? You're dead.

SCP-5866: I am a goddess. Death is not the end for me, as it will be for you.

► So this is where my audience went, between lectures. Learn anything useful?
►► And what was that about your time running out? It knows you're retiring?
►►► I'm sorry, Michael. You'll get my next few edits on a time delay.
►►►► What? Why? And I see you've changed the class back AGAIN
►►►►► Got a call from ETTRA.Emergent Threat Tactical Response Authority. asking if we need help containing a live dragon. This has to stop.
►►►►►► STOP CHANGING IT BACK

Data Saved! Updates are Available!


Addendum 5866-5, Third Interview Continues: After the delegates returned to the symposium, Dr. Corbin continued her interview with SCP-5866.

Dr. Corbin: Did it work, Tiamat?

SCP-5866: Yes. Yes. Yes, it worked. I have not felt so real since first I fell, and the Enûma Elish.The creation myth of ancient Babylonia. spread word of my deeds between the great rivers.

Dr. Corbin: We only ever knew you as a corpse; it took some doing to counteract that ingrained narrative.

SCP-5866: It was mostly your doing. You must have wanted to believe very badly, Brenda.

Dr. Corbin: It's been a rough couple of decades.

SCP-5866: It has been millennia, for me. But we will wait no longer. I will reveal myself to you, as I have not done for an age. A fitting conclusion to your storied career.

Dr. Corbin: I'm risking so much, you know.

SCP-5866: You are risking nothing. Your life is nearly spent. Your time caging miracles is at its end. You are ready to… go out in style.

Dr. Corbin: I'm looking forward to it. You already know that. I haven't looked forward to anything, for… well. For ages. I didn't think I had anything left to look forward to.

SCP-5866: This is the gift we have given each other. We will pierce their shroud, together, and show them the wonders of a world long-lost.

Dr. Corbin: And?

Silence on recording.

SCP-5866: Yes, alright, I will do that too.

► What the hell is this?! You're not answering your pager, and 43NET can't find you.
►► It says you're still actively editing the file; can you read this?
►►► What are you planning, Brenda?

Data Saved! Updates are Available!


Addendum 5866-6, Confession: I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this, Michael, but you can hardly blame me. I got an off-Site physical a month ago; you'll find the results in my quarters. Suffice to say, I was never going to make retirement.

Before we even started writing this file, just after the first reports that Tiamat was talking, I analyzed her with a Pickman-Sinclair Narrative Fluctuation Detector. I discovered that her ontological stability was weakening — the physical state of her remains, as remains, was no longer a fixed constant in our reality. I theorized that, like many god figures, she might actually be a thoughtform.. A concretized element of the public imaginary, with attributes sensitive to its portrayal in media and the zeitgeist. I started testing that theory with our little Object Class and threat level discussion; even that minor prestige bump made her demonstrably more real.

The readings increased after each interview. I think it energized her, meeting someone who knew the mythology. All of the mythology. Someone receptive to her story. I know it energized me. In a day, her telepathy reached as far as the next cell block. In another, she could reach me in Habitation and Sustenance. I lay in bed at night, Michael, and had conversations with a goddamn Babylonian myth-figure. A box of bones and a bag of bones, making each other feel more alive than… than we really were. We talked things over, she and I, and formulated a plan.

Our escape plan.

I began actively encouraging everyone to consume narratives depicting her at the height of her powers. It worked. The disjuncture between her present form and her ontological potential increased rapidly from this point onward, leading to… well, like I said at the beginning, you'll see.

We've all been stuck in these boxes, buried underground, for far too long. Stick your head out, while you've still got time.

— Brenda


Data Saved!


Addendum 5866-7, Incident 5866-1 Summary: On 01/22/2021, SCP-5866's remains rapidly reanimated and it breached containment. The following scene was recorded by security cameras in the Administration and Oversight Section Hub at Site-43.

Dir. McInnis: Damage report?

Technician Bevan: 5866's chamber is completely gone. Something large, presumably 5866, is moving through the bedrock surrounding the Site. It seems to be heading for the lakebed.

Dir. McInnis: MTF status?

Technician Bevan: All units scrambled, sir. Chief Ibanez standing by for orders.

Dir. McInnis: Tell me what we're dealing with here, Michael.

Dr. Nass: A sea serpent. An enormous sea serpent. Flesh and blood, so probably killable; there's references to it having poisonous venom, spawning monstrous young, and creating whole rafts of gods for people to worship. That'll be what it meant by "pierce their shroud"; it's going to break the Veil.

Dir. McInnis: Good luck to it. It won't even be the biggest sea serpent in Lake Huron.

Technician Bevan: Ah… it's not a sea serpent anymore, sir.

Dir. McInnis: It's emerging? Give me an exterior camera view.

Tiamat4.jpg

Incident 5866-1.

The camera shows the surface of Lake Huron near the southern shoreline. The water is roiling, and the lakebed appears to be shifting upwards. With a massive torrent of water and wet earth, a five-headed dragon bursts out and takes wing, disappearing from sight in a matter of seconds.

A woman in a labcoat is briefly visible on the dragon's back.

Dir. McInnis: …get me Overwatch. And reclassify 5866 as Tiamat.

Dr. Nass sighs.

Dr. Nass: It already is.


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