Here is the full answer as to what the SCP Foundation is, a fictional organization with rather elaborate lored based in a wiki.

What Is the SCP Foundation?

The SCP Foundation is the one thing standing between mankind and annihilation. At least that’s the conclusion you might come to by reading the SCP Wiki. The foundation has taken on lizards, apocalyptic cakes, and much much more. But who are they? If you’re wondering just what the SCP Foundation is, here’s the answer.

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What You Need to Know About the SCP Foundation

The SCP Foundation, sometimes just referred to as the SCP, is a fictional organization that’s the subject of the SCP Wiki. The SCP Wiki is a collaborative work of fiction, based around the artifacts, creatures, and other phenomena that the SCP Foundation deals with.

What does SCP for? According to the wiki’s header, it’s “Secure, Contain, Protect” in reference to the entities and items they’ve captured. But there’s no confirmed concrete definition.

In-universe, this group is an independent organization that operates outside of the control of any government. Their role is to capture and contain things that could harm humanity, either individually or as a whole. There are multiple sites worldwide, though in some cases, they’re unable to capture and can only monitor.

Everything they’ve captured or observed is given a designation. SCP-682, for example, is the aforementioned lizard, which, aside from being pretty huge, hates humans and wants to kill them. It’s immobilized by keeping it immersed in acid, though it’s escaped on at least one occasion.

SCP-871 on the other hand, which is my favorite, is a selection of cakes. If not eaten, these cakes spawn a new cake, those spawn a new cake, and so on. If left unchecked, the whole planet could suffocate in cake.

If someone refers to the SCP, they mean the SCP Foundation. If they say “an SCP,” they mean one of the items or entities the SCP Foundation has contained. The quality of writing varies, but contributors have conjured up some fantastically imaginative nightmares.

If you want to get started exploring the SCP Wiki, check out the list of top rated pages. Or if you need more of the supernatural in your life, check out the The Backrooms movie.


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Chris McMullen
Chris McMullen is a freelance contributor at The Escapist and has been with the site since 2020. He returned to writing about games following several career changes, with his most recent stint lasting five-plus years. He hopes that, through his writing work, he settles the karmic debt he incurred by persuading his parents to buy a Mega CD. Outside of The Escapist, Chris covers news and more for GameSpew. He's also been published at such sites as VG247, Space, and more. His tastes run to horror, the post-apocalyptic, and beyond, though he'll tackle most things that aren't exclusively sports-based. At Escapist, he's covered such games as Infinite Craft, Lies of P, Starfield, and numerous other major titles.