 Item Number – SCP-140 Object Class – Keter Special Containment Procedures – SCP-140 must never be brought closer than 15 meters to any source of standard ink, human blood, or other fluids suitable for writing. Any contamination by blood or ink must be reported immediately. Any remaining copies of SCP-140 created during the initial printing must be found and destroyed as soon as possible. Only SCP-140 is to be preserved for purposes of study, early warning, and cataloging and recording possible SCPs derived from its subject matter. SCP-140 is contained at Site-76 in a sealed vault containing a single desk. At this time, no research is to be carried out upon the original SCP-140. Researchers are to read from prepared copies not bearing the signature of its author, which lack its properties. In the event of approved research, SCP-140 may not be removed from the vault and readers may not be in contact with it for longer than nine hours. Access requires written approval from the head researcher for the explicit purposes of testing. An armed guard stationed outside the vault will meet any attempted theft with deadly force. Should any personnel begin displaying obsession with SCP-140 or signs of possible mimetic contamination, they are to be issued a Class A amnesiac, false memories implanted as necessary and transferred to another project. Transferred personnel must be monitored for signs of relapse. Description SCP-140 is a modern hard copy book with an unremarkable black binding and an unknown number of white pages. The book jacket is missing, but the title, A Chronicle of the Davos, is clearly legible. The inside cover is signed by the author, whose name is indecipherable. The text is copyrighted 19… careful examination reveals there are far more pages between the bindings than could be contained within them. Readers admit to feelings of paranoia, unease, and occasional nausea while reading SCP-140, although this may be related to the subject material. Nonetheless, readers almost universally describe SCP-140 as fascinating and express continued interest, despite its frequently unsettling content. One in 15 readers describes SCP-140 as having a faint odor of dried blood. SCP-140 is a detailed account of an ancient civilization originating in what is now South Central Siberia, identified as the Davaites. Although, like all cultures, the Davaites evolved and changed over time. They appear to have exhibited unusual continuity. Universal fixtures of the Davaite culture in all periods includes militarism, conquest, ancestor worship, urban centers ruling over large slave populations, gruesome human sacrifice, and the practice of apparently efficacious thaumaturgic rituals. A variety of relics and creatures produced by the Davaite culture would be abnormal or dangerous enough, if the account is to be believed, to qualify for containment in their own right. If SCP-140 comes into contact with any fluids suitable for writing, including human blood, the account of the Davaites civilization's history expands. Human blood appears the most potent of possible writing substances, but in any case the amount of new material does not correspond proportionally to the fluids introduced. Although these new segments sometimes include new descriptions of rituals or cultural traits or illustrations of previously covered material, they more frequently include new, more recent accounts of information, chronicling the continued history of the Davaites civilization or descriptions of new individuals and artifacts. Formerly decisive defeats become setbacks. New persons and events are inserted. Human archaeologists have discovered corresponding new artifacts and traces of the Davaites civilization in applicable locations and strata, in some cases found in dig sites that had already been thoroughly explored. Although at times the Davaites were a collection of city-states, they appear to have consistently returned to imperialism under a theocratic aristocracy, the Deva, practitioners of cannibalism, and thaumaturgy. Though initially foundation researchers believed the Deva to have been a hereditary class recycling the names of noteworthy individuals, evidence, and the events of them, now suggest that the Deva possessed preternatural longevity as a result of data expunged. Several researchers, notably Professor Rowe, have concluded that Deva were so divergent from modern humans as to be a separate subspecies, a conclusion supported by graphic representations within SCP-140 and Data Expunged. SCP-140 is remarkably detailed by the standards of a primary source, seeming closer to a biography than a historic text. It includes lurid descriptions of sacrificial rites, battlefield descriptions, daily life, and the life stories of various noteworthy individuals, including quotes and dates of birth. Several distinct individuals have been identified, including the individual presently termed SCP-140A, of which only one are accounted for by recorded deaths. Foundation archaeologists have discovered several sites containing ruins consistent with the supposed Deva culture in various locations across Siberia, Northern Iran, and Mongolia. Artifacts and traces of intercultural conflict and contact have been discovered as far west as the Carpathian Mountains, and as far east as Northern Pakistan and China. These include SCP-140A, Addendum 140A. SCP-140 was originally found in the office of a deceased historian. The previous owner was discovered in his office at the University, having expired from self-inflicted lacerations on both wrists. There were no traces of their blood in the office. The subject's colleagues claimed during interviews they discovered a note in faded ink in their handwriting next to SCP-140. All witnesses were administered Class A amnesiacs and false memories implanted. The note read, I have to know, I'm sorry. All texts within 15 meters, except several books relating to the history of the region, were blank. The remaining books now included accounts of supposed interaction between the David civilization and the subject cultures, or applicable discussions of David history and culture. These texts were confiscated. All printed forms and media were blank. All pens, printers, and ink cartridges were empty. Addendum 140B Although SCP-140 was published during the 20th century, the tone of the book suggests it is a recounting of events, individuals, and practices, experienced first hand by SCP-140's unknown author. Foundation investigators have tracked SCP-140's publication to the data expunged, printing house and a batch of several copies self-published by a wealthy individual, hereby termed SCP-140A. SCP-140A's signature on the contract matches the strange signature inside SCP-140. More than 40 of the copies produced in this batch were apparently leached of all ink by the remaining copies. To date, Foundation agents have recovered and destroyed the majority of the remainder, but some remain at large. Two expansion events have been reported during periods when SCP-140 had never been exposed to fluids of any sort, or removed from its vault. An investigation and manhunt for the author of SCP-140 is ongoing. Item 140C Through study of SCP-140 and other contained objects related to the Dayvite civilization, Foundation researchers have concluded that, transposed to the modern era, the resurgence of a hostile Dayvite civilization in history more recent than in CE would constitute a grave and even possibly retroactive threat to the Foundation and modern civilization as we know it. Even best case projections of Dayvite resurgence in the modern day suggest a CK-class restructuring of modern society and a worldwide conflict with a projected death toll of at least expunged and an end to the Foundation's secrecy. Addendum 140D's journal found on his home PC indicates that upon his initial reading of SCP-140 it ended with the almost utter destruction of the Dayvite civilization and the genocide of all known Dayvite in 200 BCE by the forces of Chinese general Kin Kai. As a result of subsequent containment breaches, including those detailed in the journal, copious quantities of new material have been added, describing survivors regrouping and migrating to another region of central Siberia, rebuilding their empire steadily and continuing to advance culturally and technologically. At present, the empire is described as having finally been crushed by Genghis Khan during the early period of his conquests, although the fates of many important persons in several cities remain ambiguous. Foundation archaeologists will be dispatched for investigation and research. Addendum 140E After an incident at an undisclosed dig site resulting in countless casualties, all Foundation archaeologists excavating sites of suspected Dayvite artifacts or ruins are to be accompanied by a fully armed security team. SCP-141 has been neutralized. SCP-142 remains at large. All other anomalous contacts and artifacts were destroyed when the dig site was struck by a cruise missile. Agent R received a commendation and was treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. Dr. R received a posthumous commendation for courage. An investigation into the possible involvement of SCP-140A or their agents in these events is ongoing. Lesson complete. If you missed the previous orientation, go watch SCP-139, All Eyes on Lucian, right now, or for the complete course, watch this playlist.