SCP-331

Item #: SCP-331

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: As SCP-331 does not appear to have any secondary anomalous properties, the object is to be contained in a standard Safe-class Safe Object containment locker. As of ██/██/2011, a security camera has been installed in SCP-331's container.

Description: SCP-331 is a set of six hand-bound volumes, all titled An Homily on the Language. The title page for each book is marked with an image of the emblem of the Order of the Holy Ghost, along with the word An underneath.

Each volume appears to consist of a single long essay, often followed by footnotes or additional, related essays. When read as a whole, they appear to be an ordered history of language usage and culture around the time that these books were written. However, individual volumes contain no such ordering; while they are assembled around a general date range, they are not ordered chronologically.

The first volume contains two essays: "An Universal Lingua Grammar" and "An Exposition and Defense of Etymology" (both dated 1402). The second volume consists almost entirely of a single essay titled "On the Consequences of Speechlessness", which appears to have been written in 1686.

The third volume contains a series of essays about the religious customs at different points in history; later essays within this volume include "A Compendium of Letters Sent from Jerusalem in AD33" and "The Halakha on Linguistic Honorifics". In addition, several essays in this volume contain annotations regarding historical events occurring during their composition. The fourth volume consists entirely of an 1855 treatise on linguistics titled [DATA EXPUNGED]. The fifth and sixth volumes contain one essay each—one is titled "On the Truthfulness of Tawdrīkūnā‘s Account", while the other is titled "A Memoir of Nabī Kidrūm al-Qumrī". The fifth thesis is dated 497 AH [12/18].

SCP-331 was discovered when [REDACTED] attempted to investigate SCP-331's anomalous properties. After attempting to open SCP-331 with a key found in his pocket, [REDACTED] fell unconscious after experiencing severe nausea and headaches; due to his injuries he was unable to open SCP-331 himself and was granted permission to contact agents for assistance. Agents arrived after 35 seconds and were able to recover SCP-331 from its container before it became damaged beyond repair.

Addendum: On ██/██/2011, during the testing of SCP-331, the object stopped displaying its anomalous properties for a short period of time. Agents responding to the anomaly were forced to take cover as a group of armed civilians attempted to prevent them from opening the container. The object appeared to display an in-universe table of contents and a list of unassembled essays; upon opening the container further it became clear that these essays were not present within SCP-331\'s container.

It is currently unknown how the essays could have been placed at such a location within the object. However, it is worth noting that the title of this volume was "An Homily on the Language". It is also worth noting that all of these essays appear to be written in a language different from that of the rest of SCP-331\'s content.