Black Queen Gnosis.
Black Queen Erasmus reporting.
It’s ya boi, Al.
Alison- I mean, Black Queen Ariadne here.
Baseline
An island shaped like a fractal. Duh. To clarify on Gnosis’ point, the coastline of the island is shaped like the Mandelbrot set. The island itself has properties of self similarity. I’ve seen it, plantlife and geographic locations appear again only smaller the closer you get to the coast. Oh, also you get smaller as you move to the coastline too. Of course, in actuality, one can never reach the coastline, as the self-similar properties as well as the apparent shrinking anomaly prevent full exploration.Are we sure about this? Seems like the anomalous properties would give way around the planck length. You do know what anomalous means, right? Exploration smaller than the Planck length is unlikely, but theoretically possible. In many timelines, the anomaly is compounded by further anomalies, usually related to identity or recurrence. The island seems to be anchored to reality on its eastern shore, and this is where individuals may enter and leave the island.
Prerequisites
Islands and fractals. BOOM! Done. …that could not be further from the truth. Is it redundant to say that we need the formation of Earth and more specifically the pacific ocean? Perhaps a little, but it is absolutely correct to say so. While we’re here, the development of Earth’s tectonic plates is fairly important. Development of various plant and animal life, including but not limited to: various species of trees, insects, small mammals, grass, and other shrubbery. But that’s not really a pre-req now, is it? It’s just stuff usually found on the island. It helps sell the self-similar anomaly, and we have yet to find an occurrence of the anomaly without those parts. Ohhhhh. My b, boo. Carry on. Additionally, the world has to be stable enough to support an infinite anomaly. This may be a silly question, but is the entity known as Nobody a fixture in all of these timelines? By my research, no, although he is a fixture in approximately 87% of timelines. Why do you ask? No reason… just thought I might be onto something.
Utility
It’s been said that by reaching the coastline one can achieve total enlightenment of the self. While coastal exploration remains a futile task, the island can still reveal much about the people who explore it. The anomalous properties make it a good emergency hideout. It’s also a good way to dispose of enemies, letting them get lost in their own mind. Do you take anything seriously? Jeez, I’m just trying to express some of the utility. It’s not like this island has much utility to begin with. It can provide a glimpse into the past and the future. That has to be of value to us.
Vulnerability
Okay, you’re gonna think I’m joking, but hear me out: what if we just nuke it? Do you take anything seriously, Al? Incredibly, Al’s point is valid. To our knowledge, wholesale destruction of the island neutralizes the anomaly. Suck it. However, we should try to think of more tenable vulnerabilities, should the need to stop the anomaly ever come up. What if the nuke behaved like anything else coming closer to the center of the island? We don’t want to create a never-ending explosion there. Ok, fair. I don’t know about vulnerability, but traveling in a group can be somewhat effective in slowing down the worst of the anomalies. It’s believed that partial destruction of the coastline can also neutralize the anomaly.
Instance: Timeline Z-273:
Oh hey, it’s my timeline! Oh God. Chill out, E. I’ll be “professional” or whatever. Well you’re not off to a great start. Ugh, fine. Check this out:
The fractal island is extant in Timeline Z-273, with no notable derivations from the baseline. There’s something of a conflict between the SCP Foundation and the UIU over who truly possesses the island. UIU claims it’s under their jurisdiction as one of the various islands claimed in the U.S. Guano Islands Act of 1862, but they can’t seem to find the appropriate documentation that proves this. Accordingly, the Foundation has planned to build Site-67 on the island, plans that will likely never come to fruition. Because of the conflict? Because of the anomaly. It’s impossible to predict how building structures on the island will affect it, causing people to get lost in endless hallways or possibly anchoring the anomaly to non-anomalous states. Exactly. That might be worth investigating as possible vulnerability. Oh, Ariadne, I got something real interesting for you here: current intel from this timeline’s GOC suggests that it might be the hideout of an antimemetic entity named “Nobody.” Nobody’s usually there. Whoa, who the hell was that? I thought we were the only four writing this entry. We should be the only four able to. Many go there, hoping to find the answers but Nobody ever comes back. What does that mean? Al, perhaps you should just continue your report for now. Um, yeah. Okay. I once went to the island myself. No sign of Nobody. But things change really quickly with that guy, and I didn’t probe much further than the dock. Sorry, Ari. No, I get it. It’s easy to get lost.
Instance: Timeline H-501:
Extant. Believed to be at least partially responsible for the collapse of the SCP Foundation in this timeline. Whoa, seriously? How did that happen? They tried building Site-001 there without realizing the anomalous properties. Then they tried again. Two O5 councils wiped off the face of the earth, along with several dozen of the highest ranking Foundation employees. They had no chance. The Foundation still exists, but it’s much weaker. Most of their resources are dedicated to figuring out this anomaly and if there’s any way to bring back the missing people. It’s believed there were multiple secondary anomalies that both ruined the Foundation while also helping with self-containment. Perhaps these are similar to the ones our Little Sister Ariadne encountered.
Instance: Timeline T-6722:
Believed to be still extant despite EK-Class Scenario corrupting timeline. EK-Class? End of Human Consciousness Scenario. Deadly meme that turned humans into vegetables. Eeeeew. Unfortunately, the danger of the memetic entity is still too strong to obtain reliable information from this timeline. Some in the library have theorized the meme originated from the island. There is no evidence to support this theory at the time of writing, and it doesn't match up with any other iterations of the island. Remember this, Ariadne. He's going to tell you about it. What the hell does that mean? It means we're tightening catalogue restrictions in the future.
Instance: Timeline E-140:
I've been to this timeline. I visited the island here once, accompanied by a mysterious stranger in a grey suit. What?! Way to bury the lead on that, G! Yes, I do believe I traveled there with the entity Nobody. I felt it was not appropriate to mention it previously, and I apologize for whatever frustration that may have caused you. You didn’t tell her because you couldn’t save them. How are you accessing this catalogue? Have we been compromised? I believe it’s just one of our Little Sisters. What did she mean by that? During our exploration, we got involved with a group of as-of-yet unidentified hostiles. Shots were fired, among other things. I was able to escape. The stranger was not. You left them there to die. I came back but it was too late. I did what I had to to ensure my own survival, I hope you can understand that. You don’t owe any of us an explanation. I do understand. I’m sorry you experienced that, but it wasn’t your fault. And it’s not like that Nobody is the same as… the one from my timeline. Well, what distinguishes that Nobody from others? I’m not sure. It’s hard to explain.
Instance: Timeline C-095:
Apparently fictional in this timeline. Appeared in a special comic from Super Comics Publications, where two unnamed protagonists (a woman dressed in black and a man in a grey suit) explored the island and discussed mathematical properties of fractals. Wait, that’s us. Me and Nobody. Trapped on the island. Possibly. You might be reading too much into it. But you’re the one who brought it up. It seems no matter how many times we go there, Nobody comes with us. It appears another little sister has joined us. Where are they coming from? Wait, but I went by myself. Nobody was— or, wasn’t— with me. How did you get to the island? Hopped a ride from a private boat. So you took yourself out there? No, the owner of the boat sailed me out. Didn’t learn much about them, we didn't talk much. They wore, like, normal clothing. Real nondescript and son of a bitch that was Nobody, wasn’t it? So this has happened before? Or it could happen again? Who’s to say it’s not happening now? Can anybody just edit this thing with no regard for coherency? Or decency? What the hell is going on? It's important to listen to all of our Little Sisters' contributions, no matter how scattered they may seem in the future.
Instance: Timeline L-99:
I know that one, it’s mine. It’s my timeline.
…you ok there, Ari? You haven’t typed anything for like five minutes. Sorry. I’m just not sure where to start. Start with the basics. Right. The island is still there. It’s, um… like the baseline… Why don’t you tell us about the knowledge others have of it? Right, right. Yes. Classified SCP-8249 by the Foundation, existence known to the GOC and possibly UIU. Extreme anomalous properties of self-similarity exhibited. Making organic life self-similar. Showing you a thousand different versions of who you are, who you were, and who you could be. Tantalizing hallucinations of things you’ve always wanted but have been too scared to admit to. Ari? Tell them what happened. They can handle it. As I’ve alluded to, I went there once. I mean, you know this. Gnosis was the one who recommended going there as part of my quest to find my fath— I mean, Dr. Gears. Did you find him? Well, that's the thing, I don't remember. How can you not remember? I don't know. In my timeline the island… messes with your mind. Completely. You start seeing and remembering things that haven't happened, or haven't happened yet. It's very hard to explain. Start from the beginning. I commandeered a Foundation owned vessel. It was supposed to be empty, but… Nobody was there. He was working with the Foundation, or he was supposed to before I came along. We teamed up, and he proved to be a useful partner to have. But I know he's keeping things from me and I don't know why. Why did you phrase that in the present tense? Does he think I can't handle it? Or is betraying me? She's starting to realize that all of this is yet to come. He was seeing some weird stuff, and things got really bad and then… we escaped? How did we escape? What's happening? She's not responding. Is she gonna be alright? I was hearing some weird stuff too. I think we gotta just let her tire herself out. She'll get to this point eventually. Why does my leg hurt? I don't remember hurting it… Before she goes, I just found out something interesting. It appears that the current incarnation of Nobody in timeline L-99 is
You'll be okay. Trust Nobody.
Where did you go?
I didn't mean to…
This island will fragment the personality of anyone who enters it to bring out the original motive.
Am I alone now?
This island will fragment the personality of anyone who enters it.
I'm never going to make it back, am I?
This island will fragment the personality of anyone.
Am I going to fractalize?
Anyone.
I'm all alone.
No you're not, kid. I'm still here, and we're gonna get out of this.
Together.
