Item #: SCP-2547

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: Due to the nature of SCP-2547, effective containment is not possible at this time. Towns determined to be susceptible to SCP-2547 manifestation events are to be monitored via remote surveillance and evacuation of the population is to be attempted if deemed possible. Towns undergoing an event are to be dosed aerially with Class A amnestics at the end of the manifestation event.

Description: SCP-2547 is a pack of approximately 4000 different members of the family Canidae.1 Members of SCP-2547 do not need food or water. Any attempts to harm, kill or tranquilize a member of SCP-2547 will result in the rest of the group becoming hostile and aggressive. Members of SCP-2547 can be separated from the group and detained, but will disappear the instant they are no longer directly being observed and rejoin SCP-2547. DNA testing has revealed that members of SCP-2547 are genetically identical to human beings.

SCP-2547 only manifests in rural American towns. Affected states include Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California. The town must have a population of less than 3,000, as well as a reservoir and a church. Manifestations will occur only between June 1 and August 31. For the duration of the event, the local temperature will remain above 32 degrees Celsius, and all local precipitation will cease.

Footnotes: 1.) The latter appears to be a favorite of SCP-2547-1, and the highest recorded amounts of water were produced in exchange for such narratives, followed by the volumes produced in exchange for sexual favors.

Tiberian fiends are one of the many indigenous Earth species (humans aside) that have suffered some degree of Tiberium mutation. They typically stand about 5 feet tall at the shoulder, weigh around 400 pounds and have black or irridescent red skin. Their eyes glow an eerie green when struck by light at a certain angle, and their heads are elongated like a crocodile, their mouths full of sharp teeth. Their sheer size and strength suggests most were originally either canine or equine.

Like most other land-based Tiberium-mutated life forms, their muscular and skeletal systems are much denser, making them much more resilient and highly resistant to physical damage. They are also much faster and stronger, and can easily outrun a biped, with their immense strength enabling them to dismember and/or disembowel their target - often with a single swipe, though they most often attack from range. They are generally avoided by human populations, for good reason.

A Tiberian fiend's back is coated with a dense mat of pure Tiberium crystals, which serves two purposes. Firstly, it allows them to conceal themselves within a Tiberium field - only experienced soldiers can identify the telltale signs of a nesting fiend before it's too late. Secondly, the fiends can somehow launch shards of this Tiberium at enemies and prey via high-pressure ducts in their snouts. Though the shards are not very aerodynamic, they're sharp and dense, easily puncturing personal and even vehicular armour. Worse, as the shards can easily embed into the wounds they create, acute Tiberium poisoning is almost guaranteed. As a Tiberium-based lifeform, Tiberian fiends are almost impossible to harm with Tiberium-based weaponry; in most cases, it simply causes them to heal more quickly.

Whilst their teeth can rip and tear through even Tiberium-enhanced flesh and reinforced metal, fiends seem to prefer to attack from a distance.

Social structure
Those who have observed Tiberium fiends and lived to tell about it report that they have a social hierarchy similar to pack animals, such as wolves, often with a dominant Alpha pair and a number of lesser members subordinate to them. Though there is nothing to indicate the existence of Omega members, ones who diffuse tension through play or other means to prevent the packs from destroying themselves, those observed appear to stable and healthy.

Psychology
Tiberium fiends are extremely aggressive and territorial. They will attack anything that is not affiliated with their pack that comes into their territory the moment they become aware of it, regardless of whether the intrusion was intentional. In cases where the packs are threatened, they will face the threat head-on with the single-minded intent to kill or be killed in defense of the pack.

They are ambush predators, lying in wait for their prey and then pouncing on it at the last second. They lurk in and around Tiberium fields, the crystals on their backs enabling them to blend seamlessly with their environment and rendering them invisible to the untrained eye. They will also burrow into Tiberium fields, making it impossible to tell whether patches of the crystal are unoccupied until it's too late.

However, they are apparently intelligent enough to recognize acts of kindness, and the Forgotten have used this to great advantage in domesticating them to the point of being just aggressive enough to serve as watchdogs. They run in groups of four to eight with a member of the Forgotten who is the Alpha of a particular group. The fiends will not respond to the commands of anyone else and will go berserk if their trainer is killed.