Dark

rating: 0+x

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Keter


darkness2.png

SCP-XXXX


Special Containment Procedures: Approximately 36% of the darkness on Earth is SCP-XXXX. Previous efforts by the Department of Miscommunications have set a precedent for worldwide dissemination campaigns. Such precedent is to be referenced for all materials fabricated herein.


Description: SCP-XXXX exists as an extant component of ordinary darkness. While much of the makeup of darkness is derived from an absence of light, the portion that is SCP-XXXX would be more accurately described as "negative light".

As its brightness decreases, non-anomalous darkness asymptotically approaches 0.001890 kiloFluorens per meter squared (kF/m2), the approximate brightness of "Pitch Black". However, darkness with a high enough concentration of SCP-XXXX can extend far below this, shattering what was once thought to be the lower limit of the light scale.


Brightness (kF/m2) Scale Degree Notes
>1 Light Most surfaces are visible and unambiguous. The only thing short of obfuscation that hinders vision at this light level is distance.
0.999999-0.001891 Dark Surfaces begin to lose vibrancy and become desaturated. As the brightness decreases, smaller details and textures begin to fade into the background. Cameras stop being able to pick up an image at around ~0.005 kF/m2.
0.001890 Pitch Black Total absence of light on the visible spectrum. This is the cutoff for detection with the naked eye.
0 True Black Total absence of all light. True Black is described as "cold" and "quiet" by observers. Light traveling through True Blackness experiences no decrease in luminosity as it does so; on a spherical planet that is entirely True Black, shining a flashlight ahead of oneself would illuminate the flashlight-holder's posterior.
-0.001890 Nanoblack Below zero kiloFluorens, light particles begin to exhibit strange behaviors. At this value, organic lifeforms, including humans, emit a faint but noticeable glow, which is immediately swallowed up by the increasingly oppressive darkness. It can be easy to experience minor auditory illusions of distance as depth perception vanishes with the light.
-0.068584 Haever-Bandon Black Studies in REM sleep cycles posit that the "color" we see when we are asleep is approximately equivalent to Haver-Bandon Black, a conclusion which was also met by Greek philosopher Haeveritres in 376 BC1, much to the ridicule of his contemporaries. Areas unlit at Haver-Bandon Black absorb around 10,000x as much visible light as Nanoblack. This has been known to lead to sensory deprivation, █ ███ ██ ███████ ███ █████, or permanent mental dissociation, whichever comes first.
-0.887641 Bandon Black Bandon-Black is the theoretical lower limit of the updated Fluoren scale. Total, crushing loss of bodily sensation. All surfaces less reflective than bone ambiguate at this level.
-1 Maw Have you ever melted?

Dissemination Campaign

It's hard to describe sensory deprivation. I think that's somewhat by design.

Since I get Sophie on the weekends, she and I've been playing this computer game together, Minecraft. The damn thing's been stuck in my head since we got here. I'm just bein' paranoid but it's hard not to think about how… well, the darker it is, the more monsters there are.

Begin Log


████-12-23 14:02:58 -0500
AXON BODY 3 X6038RFZ12

Body-worn camera footage - P.O. Hester

P.O. Hester: There's a… uh, phenomenon, I've noticed that seems to happen to everyone at some point, where you're in your room, and it doesn't have to be night but the curtains are at least drawn, and you're doing something… and out of the corner of your eye, you notice that… one of the corners in your room is… too dark. Darker than it feels like it should be. And you start to wonder "Well, what could be in there that's making it that dark? I certainly didn't put anything there that would do that, so there must be something I don't know about." And that sentiment continues to creep in until you can't take it anymore, and then you start doing something crazy. You start talking to it. Not to yourself, no, that would really be crazy. To it, the darkness itself.

<6 second pause>

P.O. Hester: I… I've been… well, I don't know… it… helps. Or at least feels like it helps. Something about filling the emptiness with sound. Course, that's an illusion, too; blind man still listens to the opera.

P.O. Hester: Erm, you guys can't hear me, can you?

Laugh track

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Later identified as 7-year old Jamie Franklin and 1-year old Emelia Franklin, both residents.