 I was there. I was there when a man ripped through five steel doors and tore men in half with his bare hands. I was there when horrible things erupted from a plane in mid-flight and set the same world ablaze. I was there when the green made the dead dance and scream. I was there when the orders came through, when the orders were carried out, when they told us they needed to be carried out once a day, every day, for the rest of her life. I was there when the two best men I have ever known crumbled in an instant because they looked away and I stood there staring into that ridiculous, absurd face. That was the last time anything ever surprised me. When I woke up in an infirmary bed to be told that I had been promoted, I wasn't surprised. When they told me they had falsified my death and administered amnestics to the people who knew better, I wasn't surprised. When they brought me to command and I met the others, I wasn't surprised. Then they told me, as part of the O5 orientation, that they were going to explain to me what SCP-001 was, and I wasn't surprised. When I met the rest of the council, they told me that as per protocol, I would be given an introductory letter from the administrator. When I asked them where the administrator was, they simply told me, we don't know. I almost laughed. The O5s know everything, but they handed a letter to me and left the room. When I asked why they were leaving, they said for privacy. I blinked at them. At this point, I wondered whether this whole thing was a joke, so I sat down in the chair. They left for me and opened the piece of paper. You have questions, perhaps you don't even know what they all are or care what the answers are at this point, but you have them and you have many. If you open this letter expecting those answers, I'll tell you all the answers that I have, which is none. What is SCP-001? There isn't one. Was there a first anomalous object that was discovered? Of course. Was it important? Probably not. Confused? Good. At least you're still human. Now that's all we are, human beings. Human beings that thought we could reliably record the destruction of sanity. We were fools. We still are. The foundation is compromised. It's always been compromised and it always will be. Why? Oh, we thought that there was a linchpin, a reason for it all. And it's because we thought there was a why. There isn't one. This is the way things are. Nothing has changed. The universe hasn't broken down over time. This is how it's supposed to be. Personnel are told about SCP-001 because it comforts them. It helps to think that there is a why because that suggests that there is a solution, but there isn't. We do not repair. We secure. We contain. And we protect. I'm sure you must have wondered why the objects are not numbered chronologically in order of recovering. I'm sure you must have wondered why some objects have fully documented histories and others don't. I'm sure you must have wondered giving everything you know why this world even still exists. See? And I told you you had more questions than you thought. You don't even know how much of what we've documented is true anymore. It probably changes from day to day. There's no way of telling what is being affected by one anomaly, especially when there could be an infinite number that we haven't even discovered. Existence is an anomaly. So what do we expect you to do armed with this information or lack thereof? Whatever you can. We do not repair. We do not solve. We secure. We contain. And we protect. Congratulations on your promotion to Overseer. Good luck. The Administrator. I was there. When not caring was not good enough to protect me from the truth. I must have sat there for an hour before they came back for me. When they asked me how it was, all I said was, a little surprised. They looked at me and I heard the voice faintly. Welcome to Overwatch, Brian. The rest is history. If such a thing exists, there is one more thing though. The latter had a PS. Don't worry about it too much. What do you think is the truth is probably good enough anyway.