Item #: SCP-444
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: Instances of SCP-444 identified outside Foundation custody are to be isolated or destroyed with extreme prejudice. The Foundation's instances of SCP-444 are to be kept under Type A Hazardous documentation protocols. Translators are to have no more than 12 hours weekly access to SCP-444 and must undergo weekly linguistics and psychological examinations. Individuals compromised by SCP-444 are to be isolated and prevented from making vocalisations and are to be terminated unless they are required for testing protocols. Rapid Response Task Force Omicron-11, AKA "Burke's Boys", is to be used wherever possible due to the deaf nature of its members.
Description: SCP-444 is a linguistically-conveyed memetic virus. SCP-444 takes the form of a valid and coherent, if limited, language. Individuals exposed to SCP-444 assimilate it and lose their ability to use or learn other languages, although they typically retain their ability to understand previously understood languages. Written examples of SCP-444 require extended contact but verbal exposure has effect after only a few sentences. The mechanism for this change is still unknown.
SCP-444's written form has a unique alphabet of geometric shapes read in a radiating pattern from the centre.
Systematic examination of SCP-444, primarily in Experiments 444-7, 444-13 and 444-17, reveals that it lacks the ability to express several concepts including:
In addition, over an extended period the lack of the ability to express these concepts appears to alter human behaviour. Subjects infected with SCP-444 become more docile and compliant as well as more concerned with procreation and childcare. Re-examination of the data from Experiment 444-17, gathered from MRIs, live electrode examination and dissections of infected brains, confirms that SCP-444 causes significant alterations to human brain structure, chemically severing [REDACTED] of the brain. This, not the reduced vocabulary, is believed to cause the altered mentality of the infected.
The primary area of Foundation research into SCP-444 currently is to isolate the source. SCP-444 is to be considered a hostile invasive weapon. Since 19██, ██0 instances of SCP-444 exposure have been recorded, typically among migratory workers or the underclass in depressed urban areas.