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SCP-001 Proposal Overview

Sep 3, 2025

Overview

The SCP Foundation's "SCP-001" slot is uniquely occupied by multiple proposals rather than a single anomaly, each offering a different explanation for the foundation's origins or the nature of anomalies, with no official selection to maintain secrecy and creative flexibility.

Structure of SCP-001

  • SCP-001 is not a singular entity; over two dozen proposals exist instead.
  • Both in-universe and out-of-universe reasons exist for this structure, focusing on security and creative significance.
  • No decision is expected on a single official SCP-001, maintaining the site's mystery and flexibility.
  • Proposals range from origin stories to unrelated ideas, reflecting diverse themes.

Notable SCP-001 Proposals

The Gate Guardian (Dr. Clef)

  • Features a giant humanoid guarding a gate near historical rivers, destroying anything that approaches.
  • Observers receive telepathic commands; the Foundation's founder was ordered to "prepare."
  • No entity, including other SCPs, could approach it; future transmission hints at a possible apocalypse.
  • Entity is under constant surveillance but uncontainable.

The Database (Andrew Swann)

  • Suggests the SCP universe is subject to the whims of its authors, creating a meta explanation.
  • Records and reality change unpredictably, with memetic agents set up to protect secrecy.
  • Proposal is controversial for its meta-narrative approach.

When Day Breaks (SD Locke)

  • Reimagines SCP-001 as the Sun, whose light liquefies all life into a living mass.
  • Survivors struggle in a post-apocalyptic world; anomalous properties are nullified by the Sun.
  • Ends with the implication that all life will be subsumed by this phenomenon.

The Spiral Path (Dr. Mann)

  • Describes a perpetual uphill path leading to scientific discoveries and the founding of the SCP Foundation.
  • Founders originally aimed to use anomalies to improve the world, inadvertently creating new ones.
  • Some anomalies emerged from experimentation, others appeared without explanation.

Sheaf of Papers (Jonathan Ball)

  • Involves a stack of papers that cause new SCPs to be discovered after reading them.
  • Leaves ambiguous whether the papers cause or merely predict new anomalies’ appearance.

36 (Jorik and Dmatix)

  • Introduces 36 individuals who nullify anomalies; the effect increases when they’re together.
  • Their deaths trigger catastrophic anomalous events, followed by presumed reincarnation.
  • If all 36 unite, anomalies would end globally.

Additional SCP-001 Proposals and Notes

  • Dr. Gears: Prototype dangerous anomaly, the first reported by the Foundation.
  • Kate McTiernan: Gains reality-altering abilities, becoming god-like.
  • Broken God: Church faction's failed attempt to reconstruct their deity, causing disaster.
  • Bright’s Factory: Mysterious factory continually produces new SCPs for unknown reasons.
  • Some proposals explore foundation origins, others simply present powerful or significant SCPs.
  • The first SCP ever written was SCP-173, not an SCP-001 proposal.

Creative and Narrative Flexibility

  • Multiple contradictory proposals reflect the SCP universe’s embrace of divergent interpretations.
  • Readers are encouraged to decide personally which proposals fit their own interpretations.
  • Canonical truth is known only to the fictional O5 Council in-universe.