Secure. Contain. Protect.
These three simple words comprise both the initials of the SCP Foundation, as well as the Foundation's steadfast motto.
But what is the SCP foundation?
This video will continue under the assumption that this is the first time you have ever heard of SCP, and are about to enter a world of the strange, shadowy and unusual.
By the end of this video, you should have a decent grasp of the basic concepts that make up the Foundation.
To begin with, the SCP Foundation and universe are primarily associated with a single website: the SCP Wiki.
Rather than having lore spread across movies, books or video games, the website is driven by community submissions.
Practically anyone can write and add to the SCP universe, assuming their writing is up to snuff, and because of this, there is no official canon.
Another way to look at this is that everything is canon, as any submission to the lore is equally valid or invalid, depending on your perspective.
But there are a number of concepts that are generally accepted by the community, and that's mostly what this video will be based on.
For a simple example, the SCP Foundation is most often presented as a shadowy organisation, that works outside of the public awareness, in order to keep things secret and safe.
However, if an author wishes to change this perspective, and present the Foundation as a very open and public group, they could do so.
Whether or not such a perspective will be accepted by part of the community is a different matter, but overall, canonicity is a fluid and often debated topic within the SCP community.
So, as mentioned, the SCP Foundation is a well funded and staffed organisation that generally works outside of public awareness, and operates with or without the approval or support of local governments.
The Foundation often recruits the finest scientists, researchers, engineers and military agents that they can find, employing them to perform stressful and generally dangerous tasks.
These tasks are of course related to the Foundation's motto that I mentioned at the start: "Secure, Contain and Protect."
Within the universe that the Foundation operates in, which is most often presented as our own universe, there are a massive number of strange, paranormal and anomalous things.
These things, which bend or break the natural order of things as most people know it, can vary wildly in concept, form, hostility, usefulness and danger.
Without getting into too many details at this point, these anomalous entities can range from immortal killing machines to a six-sided dice that occasionally lands on a seven.
Some can be used to greatly benefit the Foundation, such as pills that can cure any disease, while others continually threaten both the Foundation and all life on Earth, such as massive eldritch entities, for which the Foundation has no idea how to contain.
Each of these entities, or at least the ones known to the Foundation, are given an entry on the website.
These entries, known as "Special Containment Procedures", or SCPs, generally follow a similar format, and contain information written and catalogued by researchers working for the Foundation.
Each SCP is given a number, and at the time of this video, there are nearly 4,000 SCPs logged in the system.
Next, each SCP is assigned an Object Class, which is a somewhat broad indicator of how easily an SCP is contained or how reliably it can be contained.
There are 4 main Object Classes used across the Foundation, although occasionally others will prop up.
Safe class SCPs are those that are most easily contained, with little to no chance of a containment breach occurring.
It's important to note that Safe can apply to SCPs that are harmless or beneficial, but also to SCPs that are incredibly dangerous, but easy for the foundation to contain and protect.
A key that can open any lock it touches and a cooperative individual that can manipulate reality are both safe SCPs
One step higher is the Euclid object class, signifying the broadest classification of SCPs, or containment is more complicated and or less reliable than safe SCPs.
Many autonomous or living SCPs are classified as euclid due to their inherent unpredictability.
A red disk that can transport someone to an alternate dimension, a humanoid that kills all plant life around him and an orb that continuously expands the interior of any building its placed in are all euclid class SCPs
Keter SCPs are those that are excessively difficult to contain for one reason or another and often are incredibly dangerous to either the foundation or others, although that is not always the case.
An immortal reptile that hates all life, a highly infectious disease that takes over its host to spread itself and a cake that infinitely duplicates itself are all Keter class SCPs
Finally, there is Thaumiel, highly-classified SCPs that stand apart from the others generally due to their use to the foundation in locating or containing other SCPs.
Among the basic object classes, Thaumiels are the rarest, reserved for the most guarded secrets of the foundation and are generally more difficult to define than the others.
A facility capable of rebuilding humanity after an apocalypse and a machine capable of sending individuals into the future are both Thaumiel SCPs.
After the object class is listed the following information for each entry is generally the special containment procedures, meaning the steps and processes the foundation goes through in order to keep the entity contained.
These containment procedures of course vary wildly ranging from simply putting the safest SCPs in a drawer to lengthy procedures featuring strict rules and unique restrictions, to some SCPs that the foundation has no idea how to contain.
The containment procedures are listed before the description of the SCP, to emphasize the importance of containment above practically anything else as that is the fundamental purpose of the foundation.
Some SCPs are kept in the same location where they were found, isolated and quarantined due to certain circumstances, and others such as exceptionally cooperative humanoids might be allowed to freely roam a foundation facility from time to time.
Due to the unique nature of each individual SCP, each containment procedure is also unique and there is no standard set of rules
Following the containment procedures is generally the description of the SCP.
This description is usually written with a very technical and scientific tone, describing the appearance and anomalous nature of the SCP
Again this description section varies wildly ranging from a few concise sentences to many paragraphs of detailed information.
In addition to the description many SCP entries will also include information such as: Where and how the SCP was first located? Testing logs, exploratory logs for SCP locations, interviews and any other information deemed important
SCPs are often found by members of the general public, causing the foundation to come in and contain the anomaly and also wipe the memories of witnesses.
Sometimes only one or two agents of the foundation might be called in to retrieve an anomaly, but often a whole team of highly trained individuals will be necessary
These teams, known as Mobile Task Forces or MTFs, consist of ex-military or other trained combatants that are often sent in with minimal information about the anomaly and are, thus, forced to be prepared for anything.
Some MTFs will be assigned to constantly watch over certain SCPs in case of containment breach.
Once the SCP is secured and contained, researchers assigned to the project will often carry out a number of tests and attempt to gather as much data as they can.
Of course for many SCPs this is more dangerous than it is worth, so testing is generally limited.
Although there are rare occasions where the foundation will seek to destroy an SCP rather than contain it, this is not their primary directive and the idea is generally frowned upon
One of the primary ways that researchers test and interact with SCPs is through the use of D-class personnel
D-class individuals are used throughout the entire foundation and our personnel that have been deemed expendable
D-class are generally taken from prisons across the world, usually convicts guilty of violent crimes, but the Foundation goes through a large number of d-class and will sometimes take them from other sources.
For particularly negligent or heinous behavior, some foundation employees might be demoted to D-class.
D-class are often used for experiments and tests related to SCPs, serve as first explorers for some unknown locations or forced to carry out any activity that the foundation would rather not risk the minds or bodies of its employees on.
On the other end of the spectrum is the O5 Council.
The O5 Council is shrouded in mystery, believed to consist of 13 members and they oversee the entire foundation with access to practically all of its secrets.
Many rumors have spread about the O5s, including the rumor that they use their unlimited access to SCPs to maintain immortality.
Below the O5s, but still with the large amount of responsibility, are the site directors
The foundation operates a large number of facilities around the world
primarily functioning as prisons for SCPs and each one is overseen by a site director
these facilities vary in size with some just built around one or two SCPs
and others housing hundreds of anomalous items
There are of course other organizations besides the foundation that have taken an interest in anomalous objects
These groups of interest range from the mischievous to occasionally cooperative and the openly antagonistic
The chaos insurgency is a splinter group of the foundation that attempt to obtain as many SCPs as possible
The Church of the broken God is a religious organization seeking to resurrect a shattered deity
and the Global occult coalition is a counter organization of the foundation
dedicated to destroying SCPs and backed by the United Nations
There are a number of other organizations out there with some of them responsible for creating SCPs themselves
The foundation has worked with some of them on occasion and continually battles many others,
but each organization continues to operate largely in secrecy
That's a basic summary of the SCP foundation and the universe it exists in
At this point if you had never heard of SCP before this
You should be fully prepared to access the website and begin discovering all the different SCPs known to the foundation
While there are many arguments about the best place to start reading. Each SCP entry is generally meant to stand on its own.
In addition to each of the SCP entries
There are also a great number of tales on the site which feature much less technical writing
and provide unique perspectives on different scps or aspects of the SCP universe
The SCP foundation and the thousands of entries appeal to many people for many different reasons
But primarily the SCP universe is strange, unusual and unique.