Evolution Helmet
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RPC-520 awaiting tusk removal before being returned to containment.
Registered Phenomena Code: 520
Object Class: Alpha-Red
Hazard Types: Aggression Hazard, Organic Hazard, Transmutation Hazard, Mind-Control Hazard, Mind-Regression Hazard
Containment Protocols: RPC-520 is to be stored in a standard Alpha-class containment chamber within the Alpha Sector of Site-095's Standard Containment Wing. Testing of RPC-520 should only be conducted with the approval of Site-095's directorial staff. As RPC-520 is dormant without intervention, no other containment procedures are required.
Should an RPC-520-A instance breach during testing, nutrient deprivation by isolation is the most effective method of termination. After the instance is terminated, RPC-520 is to be returned to its chamber and no further testing is to occur unless re-approved. Any residual materials such as tusk structures should be removed from RPC-520 before returning it to its containment chamber.
Description: RPC-520 appears to be the skull of a Monodon monoceros1. The only notable physical difference between RPC-520 and an ordinary narwhal skull is the absence of any tusks whilst dormant, though the original tusks of RPC-520 may have been removed at some point in the object's past rather than being absent as an initial condition.
RPC-520's anomalous properties manifest when placed upon a human head. When a subject wears RPC-520, the subject is designated as an RPC-520-A instance. Upon wearing RPC-520, the subject will begin to progress through several stages of transmutation over the course of an average of five minutes:
- Stage 1: After adorning RPC-520, the skin and bone protecting the subject's brain will be torn off and moved into cavities within RPC-520. Subjects experiencing this process show signs of distress and extreme levels of pain. However, this is likely not an anomalous trait of RPC-520 and rather a side-effect of the physical trauma inflicted by RPC-520. At this point, the subject will be unable to remove RPC-520, though it may be removed by others. However, removal results in the subject's expiration due to the damage inflicted by RPC-520 being fatal without RPC-520 present. After this material is removed, the subject's brain is moved into RPC-520, which usually results in the subject falling into an unconscious state, beginning the next stage.
- Stage 2: Once this subject falls unconscious, the subject's facial regions will begin to contort, with keratin breaking the subject's skin and beginning to grow towards the cavities usually filled by tusks. This growth continues until the keratin creates tusk-like structures, usually measuring a meter in length. Though narwhals usually only possess a single tusk of considerable length, all RPC-520-A transmutations have resulted in the formation of two tusks of equal or similar length. At this point, it becomes very difficult to remove RPC-520, due to the tusks originating from the subject rather than RPC-520 itself. The material used in the creation of the tusks does not appear to be drawn from the subject, nor is it drawn from RPC-520, so it is not known where this material originates. When these tusks finish forming, the final stage of transmutation begins.
- Stage 3: After the formation of tusks, the subjects skin pigmentation will begin to shift, until it matches that of a narwhal's. The subject will then experience extreme levels of muscular hypertrophy, usually gaining approximately 45 kilograms of muscular tissue. When this process completes, the subject becomes conscious and has fully transformed into an instance of RPC-520-A.
Instances of RPC-520-A are highly aggressive, though they lack the usual traits of human intelligence such as problem-solving skills or the ability to make use of tools. RPC-520-A instances possess considerable strength, which they utilize to their full extent when attacking. RPC-520-A instances are also capable of using their tusks as weapons. RPC-520-A instances possess a high metabolism, requiring constant sustenance to prevent expiration. As such, most RPC-520-A instances’ aggression can be attributed to as "hunting", needing to eat constantly to survive. An instance of RPC-520-A will expire under the following conditions:
- The RPC-520-A instance goes an average of 30 minutes without sustenance, though several instances have survived longer.
- RPC-520 is removed from the RPC-520-A instance. This results in instant termination, but first requires the removal of the RPC-520-A instance's tusks which is a difficult task to accomplish whilst the instance is unrestrained.
- The RPC-520-A instance undergoes considerable physical damage. While RPC-520-A instances are durable, they possess no regenerative properties and are vulnerable to blood loss or extreme physical trauma.
Of these methods, nutrient deprivation by isolation is the easiest method to achieve neutralization. It is currently the recommended method should an instance breach during testing, though the risk of this is low under the current Containment Protocols.
Addendum-520-A: RPC-520 was recovered during Operation Whale Watch, initially conducted after an intercepted broadcast revealed the coordinates of a Cetace's Kin gathering. When confronted, one kinsmen adorned RPC-520 whilst the other kinsmen scattered. The resulting RPC-520-A instance possessed several qualities not documented during RPC-520's testing. Among these was a 10 second transmutation time, and higher cognitive abilities allowing tool use. It is unknown why this transmutation was different from all other documented transmutations, but it may be linked to the same phenomenon that allows kin members to observe RPC-625 without any negative effects and highly variable response to RPC-350. This theory is further supported by the similar origins in all three anomalies, all being utilized by Cetace's Kin before containment. Further research is pending.
Document-520-B:
The following is a word on the nature of RPC-520 and its possible relation to other anomalies.
Cetace's Kin is a mysterious organization. We know little about them, other than their obsession with whales and the fact we don't know a lot else. We don't know when they were founded; when we first detected them in 1983 messing with 350, they were already established. We don't know how they recruit. We still haven't translated their godforsaken language outside of some numbers, some insults and the word "whale". We don't know why they distribute RPC-625, or how they made whale carvings turn people into Lovecraftian bombs, and we don't even know if there's more of these narwhal skulls out there. Though I have a sneaking feeling that there are.
What really irks me is that we don't know how they get these things. Is someone providing them with it? Are they finding it at the bottom of the sea? Is their god making it for them? There's no evidence to suggest their god is real, or ever was, but assuming its non-existence really does leave a lot of holes. Personally, it's very obvious that our universe was not created by some whale god as they claim, but still, there's got to be something pulling the strings.
I do believe there's more RPC-520 out there, and if the Kin members really can exert a higher control over RPC-520-A, then I suggest we start looking soon. Or maybe just find out what the Kin is up to in general so we can do something about them; Site-095's starting to get sent a lot of their toys, and I know Site-732 doesn't exactly adore looking after RPC-575. Whether it starts with narwhal skulls or whatever other weird whale things that shows up next, we've got to look into these people eventually. If there really is something out there with the ability to even imitate a god, I have a feeling something bad is coming if we don't.
~ Dr. Bellmore, Site-095 Director of Anomaly Containment