Welcome. I am Charon.aic, an artificially intelligent construct that manages the Foundation database. How may I assist you today?
Hello, Charon.
Hello, O5-13. What can I get for you today, ma'am?
I'd like to see the file for SCP-001, if that is alright.
I'll need to run the verification phrase by you first.
Does the Black Moon Howl?
No louder than I do.
Item #: SCP-001
Object Class: Cenotaph
Special Containment Procedures: Containment of SCP-001 is mandated through the Foundation Oath.
Description: SCP-001, henceforth known as the Foundation, is the world's largest necromantic cabal. It is dedicated to the containment of anomalous phenomenon and the preservation of consensus reality. As the Foundation is inherently anomalous, it must be contained by itself as any other anomaly would be, in order to preserve its own goals.
SCP-001-A, henceforth known as the Administrator, is an apex-tier divinity with broadly overarching dominion over life and death. The Administrator is the sponsor of the Foundation, and directed its founding in 1900. The Administrator does not greatly interfere in the common operations of the Foundation, instead deferring leadership tasks to SCP-001-B. Upon the destruction or loss of a SCP-001-B member, the Administrator is responsible for the selection of a new member.
SCP-001-B, henceforth known as the O5 Council, is the directing board of the Foundation, with a membership of thirteen. Members of the O5 Council are commonly sophont undead and/or highly skilled necromancers, although there have been uncommon exceptions in the past.
All individuals employed by the Foundation are undead, of varying degrees of sapience. Most researchers have current intelligence approximately equal to their intelligence while they were alive, slightly varied as appropriate. Security and Mobile Task Force personnel are typically of greatly reduced intelligence, although still sentient. D-Class have all neurological matter removed prior to reanimation, and are incapable of autonomous thought.
All individuals employed by the Foundation are bound by the Foundation Oath, which is self-enforcing.
Thank you very much.
Could you please show me my recruitment, next?
Of course. Right away.
On June 13th, 1988, O5-13 was compromised and terminated. As O5-13 had died as a result of infohazard exposure, they could not be reanimated with any higher brain function. As such, the Council seat of O5-13 remained empty.
The Administrator immediately began a recruitment search for a new member of the O5 Council, and quickly found a replacement. As per usual, the remainder of the O5 Council convened upon the location of the replacement in order to initiate and hire the new member.
The following events were recorded by multiple Foundation invisible/incorporeal spectral observers. These agents were called from their regular monitoring positions in nearby towns and police departments to observe the proceedings.
A limousine with no corporeal driver pulls up to the front of a residential home. Eight members of the O5 Council exit from the limousine, which then pulls away.
The Council walks up to the front door of the residential home and gather in front of it. O5-1 rings the doorbell. The resident answers soon after.
Resident: It's awfully late, what— Well, this is unusual company, but I suppose you only come at night.
O5-1: We represent a powerful agency that wants to recruit you. You would do well to let us in, ma'am. Lest there be unpleasant consequences.
O5-6: It'll only be a few minutes of your time, or the rest of it. But the difference will be your choice.
The resident stands aside and leaves the door open. O5-2 lingers out front.
O5-2: You will need to invite me inside.
Resident: So you are what I first guessed you to be. Only as a guardian, and with a promise of non-aggression.
O5-2: I can see why you were chosen. I swear that no harm shall come to you from our Council, from me or from my peers.
Resident: Welcome into my hearth and home, Count Dracula.
O5-2 bows and follows the other members of the Council into the house.
O5-1 enters a bathroom without turning on the lights. He removes a small candle and set of matches from his pocket, and lights the candle, holding it in front of his face.
O5-1: Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary.
O5-4 arrives behind O5-1.
O5-4: Ah, thank you. Has the meeting begun yet?
O5-1: No, in fact, you are the first to arrive after the rest of us.
The O5 Council gathers in the living room of the house with the resident. O5-8 removes a laptop from thons briefcase, and places it on a nearby table. The laptop flickers on, and O5-3 manifests through the screen.
O5-9 removes a mouse from his pocket and snaps its neck. He drops the body, but O5-7 shifts out of the corpse before it hits the floor.
O5-11 seeps into and through the house. A black, mucus-like fluid rushes around the building and out of the pipes, accelerating into the living room, where it collects itself into a humanoid body.
O5-2 and O5-6 complete a ritual circle on the floor with chalk and the appropriate ritual materials. They perform the traditional summoning, causing a gleaming white light to manifest in the air above the ritual circle.
The O5 Council takes their seats around the living room, with the resident in the middle of the circle, facing the white light. The Administrator speaks from the circle.
Administrator: Fear Not. Apologies for circumstance, origin all. Introductions unnatural/difficult — hard for several to arrive. Necessary to thank you for invitation into home and household: we are fearsome.
Thirdly comes the question of introductions. As you have likely gathered from what we are, magic and the paranormal — or as we term it, the anomalous — is real. But make no mistake about it, for it is not a simple and easily managed topic. It must be dealt with securely, and we are those who do so. We are the Foundation, and we guard the darkness.
Around you sits the ruling body of the Foundation. They are twelve in number. Until yesterday, they were thirteen. The position must be filled.
Resident: What of your graven nature?
O5-1: The magic that animates us binds us in service. It ensures our loyalty, our unity, our logistics. A million can only keep a secret if all of them are dead.
Resident: Ah. You could never hope to hold a place both in front of and behind the Veil, so you remain entirely behind it.
Administrator: You understand us well. Such is the nature by which I chose you. The thirteenth seat cannot sit empty; it must be filled, and you the holder. The thirteenth seat is that of The Outsider, the one who knows little of our operations.
Resident: I am no outsider to the nature of the pale.
Administrator: You know far less than you would think.
Resident: Always more, I take it. Is this a true choice? How do you take this back if I refuse? You've lifted the Veil too far.
O5-8: I can eat the memories out of your brain. It is a clean process and will cause you no discomfort or harm. You'll simply remember this as a night where you let the time get away from you, and forget we ever visited.
O5-5: We tend to have my kin do the work, but Eight is the foremost expert in the field. Nobody can do it cleaner or easier.
O5-5 waves a hand in the air. The lights dim, and the spectral observers become visible around the room. There are fifteen watching the proceedings. The spectral observers are only visible for a second, before the lights return to their previous levels.
Resident: Ah, I should have suspected no less of you all.
O5-1: So what of the offer? Do you accept it?
Resident: I know little of what you are, or the truth to which you speak. And yet, the power is more than obvious. You are all living legends, and putting all else aside, I would be a fool to reject you. It is a culmination of my dreams.
Administrator: Then kneel before me.
The resident rises from her chair and kneels in front of the Administrator.
Administrator: Do you swear to protect the world, both natural and unnatural, for the rest of your days?
Resident: I do.
Administrator: Do you swear to uphold the Foundation Oath, as long as you live?
Resident: I do.
Administrator: Do you swear to die in the darkness?
Resident: I do.
The light of the Administrator becomes blinding, even to the spectral observers. When it fades, the resident bears stigmata upon her wrists.
Administrator: Then rise, O5-13.
O5-13 rises to her feet. The rest of the Council bows.
O5-13 has served on the Council since her inception above, with noted honors. Novel containment paradigms and directives proposed by O5-13 have proven extremely effective, reducing budgetary concerns and decreasing risk of containment breaches. Although O5-13 is currently alive, she is being considered for continued employment as a sophont undead following her natural death.
Ah, of course. The Foundation Oath. I swore it soon after that, didn't I. Pull it up. If we're on a trip down memory lane, best to see walk down the path I took.
A strong point.
The first version of the Oath was sworn by the Administrator and the founding members of the O5 Council in 1900, in response to a rapidly increasing number of anomalous phenomena and groups which sought to use them. The Administrator was particularly motivated to respond to these phenomena and contacted multiple prominent members of the occult community to discuss a solution.
The following document is the most recent iteration of the Foundation Oath, upheld in 17 Aug 2026 17:33, following the annual Alexander Island Summit at Site-01.
The Overseer Council and the Administrator hereby proclaim:
As the frequency by which anomalous entities and organisms rises, the likelihood of humanity's continued longevity rapidly decreases. Anomalous phenomena violate the principles of consensus reality, and cannot be controlled or handled easily. If unchecked, they will quickly lead to the extinction of humanity.
The world must be secured, contained and protected from the anomalous.
But the anomalous is not wrong. Just because it does not fit into the consensus of normalcy does not mean it should be stamped out at all costs — it has value of itself. Should the outside world have their way, we shall find ourselves without a source of wonder and amazement that enrichens life. It has a place in the way things are, and it is not our place to change this.
The anomalous must be secured, contained and protected from the world.
Seeing the obvious need for an agency to prevent this, we hereby swear ourselves to the Foundation, a group which will be devoted to the continued preservation of baseline normalcy and humanity. We shall act as guardians of humanity. This is the price we pay for our living ignorance, and we gladly act again in the service of our descendants.
We swear that we shall obey the Foundation and its objectives with our every dying breath. No harm shall be allowed to come to it under our eternal watch. It is our solemn duty to stand behind the curtain, so that the play can continue as it always has.
To this end, we shall regulate our behaviors. No harm shall come to mortals from our hands, and we will find alternative means of maintaining ourselves. All progeny we raise from the dead will be bound by this Oath in their very animating magic. This Oath will be their deathblood.
Should we ever violate any of these precepts, let us go to our final rest, never to be roused again.
We remain dead in the dark, so that they may live in the light.
The Foundation Oath is inherently self-regulating and upholding, as it is used in all animating rituals used to create Foundation employees. As the violation of any principles of the Oath instantly terminates a Foundation employee, it cannot be substantially broken. To this end, the Foundation is inherently self-containing and bound to serve the good of humanity.
If I make a request for the next file?
You may.
Choose something of your own. Something that relates to my career, and everything I've down for the Foundation. Go ahead.
Oh! I wasn't expecting that Hmm. Let me have a minute to think.
…
I think I've found something good, ma'am.