SCP Foundation

The R. H. Commission on Unusual Cargo

Authorized by the Board of Regents of said Commission

Manifest 803

Curator: Dr. Johan Walborough Dr. Charlotte Trenton

Edward, after his encounter in Remarque 3.

Storage Instructions:

The Cargo must be kept in a container aboard a navire de commerce¹, and is to be treated with courtesy and comfort if possible. The Cargo should be supplied food, water, and books as is reasonable. The Cargo may request a leave upon a deserted island once every three months and may be left alone for several days there. He must remain within sight of the ship at all times.

The Cargo's room aboard the navire should is private; no crew are to enter the room. Should the Cargo be injured or sick, a medical doctor may offer his aid, but afterward said doctor should be confined to be certain the Cargo has not manifested its unusual abilities upon them. (See Remarque 1)

Should any member of the crew be found to have succumbed to the Cargo's nature, they are to be decommissioned and buried at sea.

Cargo Description:

The Cargo is a young man named Edward, aged 17 years, with blond hair and eyes of deep green. His skin is pale and dotted with freckles. His blood is the flavor of wine in the summer, with notes of raspberry jam and the nectar of apricot. He would be in good health were it not for numerous scars upon his face, hands, and body; they are the record of his past life before being secured by the Commission.

The unusual effect of the Cargo lies in his blood. When tasted by any man, it turns to sweet, intoxicating liquor, which burns the heart to have more. It swells to the very soul, lightening the mind with a music of flavor; O that I were not a man of science, that I would culture this wine and sell it, for it would make me a rich man indeed; but nay, for then I would have to bear that I had parted from it, when it is but my ardent desire to spend all of my days with this wine beside me. Oh Christ in Heaven let ye please fill up my glass with this

Manifest Remarque 1

June 29, 1672

Notably in this instance, The Cargo's effects appear to affect only those of the male sex. The addiction to the taste of the blood does not appear to diminish over time.

Further, since this Manifest suggests unpermitted testing of the Cargo by my predecessor, Dr. Walborough, I have been assigned as curator of this Cargo.

I append the following to the Storage Instructions:

The navire in question should be peculiar in its crew, that they be primarily women; that any men aboard not be permitted below the Main deck; any discovered there are to be shot on sight.

C. T.

Manifest Remarque 2

July 7, 1672

By Edward's recollection, he was born a bastard of a German aristocrat in autumn of 1655, and was given up to the streets of Versailles as a vagrant. He was hired by a bookbinder's shop to clean and file quills, and subsequently apprenticed as a bookbinder as a boy.

Before his apprenticeship had completed, Edward was involved in an altercation with his master, the details of which Edward chooses not to reveal, though as he describes this event he tends to twiddle his scarred fingers and I suspect an errant paper cut may have led to whatever causes him this distress.

At age 12, the master sold Edward's apprenticeship to an Egyptian merchant named {scratched out}.² Edward refuses to divulge what happened afterward. I suspect the transaction was not a willing one.

C. T.

Manifest Remarque 3

September 3, 1672

Edward requested leave as is allowed by this Manifest. I was surprised, as he has not requested such a leave for over a year. When I asked him about this, Edward confided to me that his previous excursions tended to be "accompanied" by Dr. Walborough.

I am disgusted.

Manifest Remarque 3, Continued.

Our vessel, after resupplying, returned to the island and discovered another vessel already there; a group of armed mercenaries, sailing under an Egyptian traders flag, which had somehow tracked our ship, boarded the island and taken Edward captive. Several members of the foreign crew had beaten him until he bled, and drops of his blood were being served in small sherry glasses.

Commission agents engaged them with sword and pistol, and outnumbered even as we were, we had but two casualties and several injuries. The Egyptian trading ship was searched and its assets seized.

Edward, while shaken and understandably upset, was returned to the ship relatively uninjured. He later identified his captors as privateers in the employ of the man he had been sold to years before; this person is counted among the dead and his name is stricken from Commission records.

Storage instructions have been likewise updated.

C. T.

Foundation Historian's Note: While not specifically labeled as a remarque, the following is attached at the end of the file. It is written in Dr. Walborough's handwriting, on the back of the letter reassigning him from this Cargo.