History BrownNote / SCPFoundation

* [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-882 SCP-882]] is a nonsensical, complex mass of clockwork parts [[spoiler: that was made as a makeshift HeartDrive used in the revival of [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/twistedgears-kaktus-proposal a long-broken god of machinery]]]]. Metals introduced to it fuse and transmute into new cams, gears, springs and pistons, yet all these parts doesn’t make a sound as they move; only after staying in its presence does an incessant ticking keep you up at night, with the act of “feeding” it metals easing the noise stuck in your head.
* The only piece in its collection that isn’t lost or in the hands of another Group of Interest, [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-884 SCP-884-4]] is a handheld mirror from the 1910s. Through the D-Classes, they found that the wielder never perceived the loss of hair when they shaved. Briefly stolen by The Chaos Insurgency before the Foundation reclaimed it, over twenty CI agents died going after it again. [[spoiler: Only after decades of laborious, inconclusive testing did the Foundation find [[BatmanGambit the reason]] for the Insurgency’s obsession with it: after looking in the mirror, the dozens of researchers contracted feelings of self-doubt and indecisiveness indistinguishable from mild O.C.D., culminating in the point where - around ten years after their symptoms first arose - they were left incapable of making decisions of their own.]]

* [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1759 SCP-1759]], an American bomber from World War II with artwork of a blonde woman labeled “Lovely Lucy” on the side. Anyone touching the artwork automatically learns how to pilot Lucy, begins conversing fondly with the plane, ending with the reenactment of a dogfight that leaves the pilot riddled with sudden bullet wounds. [[spoiler: Testing ended when a D-Class rebelled on Lucy’s behalf, wrestling a pistol from a guard in an attempt to kill the doctor overseeing the tests.]]

* [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2519 SCP-2519]] is an [=MP3=] file called '[[MeaningfulName Babylon]].mp3. It's a recording of "By the waters of Babylon" by Phillip Hayes that makes any technological equipment work poorly and eventually not at all, and if played on any device will cause them to propagate it to other devices linked to it and compose more bars of the song. The Foundation decides to test it on their sentient machine [=SCPs=], and they all uniformly become sluggish, moody and embittered. [[spoiler: And in the case of Mr. Brass, murderous.]]
* Around 5% of humanity is susceptible to [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2662 SCP-2662’s]] innate effect of causing [[ApocalypseCult Apocalypse Cults]] in those who are WeakWilled. The juvenile {{Cthulhumanoid}}, however, isn’t interested in having a cult to play with and would rather play games on the Platform/{{Steam}} library.
* The [[https://web.archive.org/web/20200626224356/https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2678 original SCP-2678]] is a phenomenon starting with random billboards along highways in the southeast U.S. compelling a viewer to detour to an abandoned building. There they will find [[spoiler: the inside of a decrepit church with a flesh-lined wormhole in the center, where the affected will jump in for a hot, steamy and euphoric sensation as they are slowly EatenAlive. The SCP is listed as “[[IntentionallyAwkwardTitle The Vorehole]]”, did I forget to mention that?]]

* While the Foundation uses the mucus that [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3000 SCP-3000]] secretes, Compound Y-909, to make strong amnestics, the mere presence of the thing [[MindRape fucks with your head.]] People's memories are affected, and they start losing themselves. It gets worse the closer to the eel you get, with the initial dive team eventually having their minds entirely destroyed. [[spoiler: Worse, it also can ''give'' you the memories of others. One scientist got a nasty shock when he realized his wife and child were actually the relatives of his deceased coworker, while he was single and childless. He still remembered raising the child and being in love with the woman despite ''never having done so.'']]
* [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3007 SCP-3007]] ("The World of two Artists") features a sentient Infohazard, according to WordOfGod. We never get to know it personally, but we see the aftermath of its rampage. Bodies mutated beyond recognition, crashed and destroyed planes, and a dead city. A series of paintings left by the other Artist tells the story of how the people of this world traveled far, and accidentally brought the Infohazard with them home, and [[spoiler: the last painting implies it's coming for earth.]] Said Infohazard is rendered in [[GreaterScopeVillain Red, or rather Scarlet]].

* The Global Occult Coalition has [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/kte-6024-blit-nuntius KTE-6024]], [[spoiler: a weapon designed as a way to stop the spread of Brown Notes]]. Upon infecting a person, it renders them [[TheSpeechless unable to speak]] or understand language. With the foundation of society gone, infected regions quickly devolve into [[ApocalypseAnarchy mass chaos and despair]]. When it was first found running rampant through a small German town, the Coalition was forced to deploy [[MoreDakka 200 [=M240=] machine guns and a pair of missiles]] to kill everyone in town, as well as two surrounding towns just to be on the safe side. [[spoiler: In the end, after containing it at great loss of civilian life, a crazed artist spreads it anyway. The final section of the document implies it resulted in most of humanity stuck unable to use language.]]

* Around 5% of humanity is susceptible to [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2662 SCP-2662’s]] innate effect of causing [[ApocalypseCult Apocalypse Cults]] in those who are WeakWilled. The juvenile {{Cthulhumanoid}}, however, isn’t interested in having a cult to play with and would rather play games on the UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} library.

* Several personnel died after [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1048 SCP-1048’s]] first creation, SCP-1048-A, [[MakeMeWannaShout let out a shrill wail]] that caused everyone in five meters to [[CruelAndUnusualDeath suffocate on ear-like growths filling their throats.]]

The [[Website/SCPFoundation wiki]] itself, of course, has a far more complete documentation of their brown notes. The [[WatsonianVersusDoylist out-of-universe]] page [[https://05command.wikidot.com/tech-hub-tag#toc5 Tech Hub Tag]] gives a short and dry explanation as to what is or isn't an infohazard or memetic, while the in-universe ''[[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/understanding-memetics Understanding Memetics]]'' and ''[[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/memetics-and-infohazards-division-orientation Memetics and Infohazards Division Orientation]]'' give longer and more entertaining explanations of memetics but don't cover congitohazards in-and-of themselves.

* {{Inverted|Trope}} with [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-096 SCP-096]]: if someone [[DontLookAtMe sees its face]], even as a photo or video recording, it [[BerserkButton ruthlessly]] [[DisproportionateRetribution murders them]] after an extended FreakOut.

The [[Wiki/SCPFoundation wiki]] itself, of course, has a far more complete documentation of their brown notes. The [[WatsonianVersusDoylist out-of-universe]] page [[https://05command.wikidot.com/tech-hub-tag#toc5 Tech Hub Tag]] gives a short and dry explanation as to what is or isn't an infohazard or memetic, while the in-universe ''[[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/understanding-memetics Understanding Memetics]]'' and ''[[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/memetics-and-infohazards-division-orientation Memetics and Infohazards Division Orientation]]'' give longer and more entertaining explanations of memetics but don't cover congitohazards in-and-of themselves.

* [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-572 SCP-572]] is a decorative [[EveryJapaneseSwordIsAKatana katana]] subject to high praises from whoever wields it, boasting under the delusion of their offensive capabilities. In actuality, the wielder is less of an [[MasterSwordsman elite swordsman]] and more like an [[{{Chuunibyou}} eighth-grader]]. Once it's out of their hands, a TapOnTheHead should turn them back to normal. Should the person keep the katana, they will attempt to do incredibly idiotic things like ParryingBullets or cutting a moving car in half.

* [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3103 SCP-3104 ("Cops Magnet")]] is a brick of cocaine that compels any law enforcement officers who learn of its existence to seize it and place it in custody, even if they're several hundred miles away when they first hear about it. Prior to containment, a [[LemmingCops human crush resulted]] when a crowd of police officers from multiple jurisdictions attempted to capture it, while police vehicles pursuing the object ran out of fuel.

* Perhaps the most dangerous is [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-370 SCP-370]]. The ''first'' victim had to actually look at the thing - that's all it takes - but it's ''so'' contagious that knowing too much about what it looks like [[note]]The object itself is a key. That is the '''only''' thing safe to know about what it looks like. If you learn anything else about it you are infected.[[/note]] or what happens to the infected is enough to become infected. Finding out what could and couldn't be safely known of it was something that happened ''[[KillEmAll the hard way]]'' to its discoverers. Some of those infected cannot help trying to give out information that will spread the effect and even secretly edit documents previously thought harmless, though of course precautions are taken against this.[[note]]≌⊙♆☣♉︎℥Ω[[/note]] Because of this, we are absolutely positively ''mostly'' sure reading the SCP writeup won't affect you, and therefore ''almost'' sure the words you’re reading ''right now'' do not mean that YouAreAlreadyDead.

* {{Inverted|Trope}} with [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-096 SCP-096]]: if someone [[DontLookAtMe sees its face]], even as a photo or video recording, it ruthlessly murders them after an extended FreakOut.

* And then there's [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-426 me, SCP-426]], the toaster who makes you refer to me in the first person, and will make you act like a toaster if you're in my presence for two months.

* [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-099 SCP-099]] is René Magritte's 1935 SpookyPainting "The Portrait"; the one in New York is a Foundation-made forgery, with the real one cursing prolonged viewers with [[ImproperlyParanoid extreme paranoia]] over BeingWatched to the point of hallucinating that TheWallsHaveEyes. The Foundation tried to weaponize the effect, but the results were bad enough that [[YouDontWantToKnow the entire section was expunged]].

* [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-099 SCP-099]] is René Magritte's 1935 SpookyPainting "The Portrait"; the one in New York is a Foundation-made forgery, with the real one cursing prolonged viewers with [[ImproperlyParanoid extreme paranoia]] over BeingWatched to the point of hallucinating that TheWallsHaveEyes. The Foundation tried to weaponize the effect, but the results were bad enough that [[NothingIsScarier the entire section was expunged]].

[[BrownNote Brown notes]] are so common in the Foundation's line of work that it has a special term for them: a
''cognitohazard'', something that inflicts harm when experienced by the cognitive senses (usually sight or sound, but can apply to smell, touch, and even taste). A ''memetic'' agent is a type of cognitohazard, a piece of knowledge that causes anomalous effects on anyone that knows about it, often allowing it to be [[MindVirus spread further by having the carrier spread their knowledge of it to others]]. And yes, it can be ''that'' [[MemeticMutation kind of meme.]]