🤔Titles and Ranks

A common misconception is that the Foundation is comprised entirely of Agents and Researchers. Behind every SCP object or entity in containment is a veritable army of personnel with vastly different roles and titles, all contributing different areas of expertise to keep the object secure.

• Researchers are scientists, best envisioned as the stereotypical egg-head in a lab coat. They have a variety of specializations from medicine and psychology to geology and physics; these are the personnel who perform experiments and try to figure out how a SCP works. There are also various rankings of researchers:

  • A Senior Researcher is a high-ranking researcher who has had many decades of experience and generally leads entire teams. Senior Researchers are the ones likely to be tasked with coordinating research and testing on one or more SCP objects and are few and far between.

  • A regular Researcher has several years and probably close to a decade of experience and is often assigned to a specific aspect of a SCP object to research; one Researcher might be responsible for figuring out why SCP-173 excretes organic waste, another might be trying to determine what it's made of and whether there's any anomalous materials in its construction, and a third might be trying to deduce how it can move only when no one is watching.

  • An Assistant Researcher or Junior Researcher is a low-level researcher that is either new to the job or otherwise does not have the experience yet to make serious judgments. They are generally team members and work with higher-level research staff that show them the ropes and order them around.

• Agents are Field Agents, one of two basic types of personnel who primarily operate outside of a Foundation facility:

  • The first type of Field Agent is essentially an undercover or embedded agent, working at a police station, hospital, or other anomalous activity hotspot where they can monitor events and notify their superiors of any suspicious activity. These personnel are often unarmed and not equipped to handle any serious anomalous activity; their job is to call for help as soon as something strange starts happening.

  • The second type of Field Agent is the investigator or detective, a person in a suit or other inconspicuous outfit whose job is to snoop around areas where strange things are suspected to be happening and determine whether the situation is one that the Foundation needs to intervene in. While they may carry some basic weapons, they are not soldiers either; their job is also to make a call for backup when such anomalies are confirmed.

• Containment Specialists are essentially analogous to engineers and technicians; their job at a Foundation site is to build and maintain the various cells, chambers, and cages that are needed to contain the various objects and entities held by the Foundation. These are not combat personnel; while some of them might be trained in and carry handguns for self-defense, the vast majority of containment specialists probably carry nothing more dangerous than a pipe wrench with them at any given time.

• Security Officers (Guards), Response Teams, and Mobile Task Forces

  • Guards are analogous to a street-patrol police officer; they handle plenty of day-to-day issues that don't involve firing guns or arresting people, such as handling car accident reports and directing traffic. The average street cop isn't necessarily trained or equipped to deal with a serious situation such as an armed robbery at a bank or an active shooter in a public building. Similarly, your regular Security Officer probably only has some basic equipment on him and isn't equipped or trained to deal with a breach of a hostile SCP entity or an attack by an outside enemy.

  • Response Teams or Tactical Teams are the equivalent of a SWAT Team officer; they have more sophisticated body armor and a variety of weapons and tools to deal with serious incidents. Similarly, it's the Response Teams at a site that are carrying the heavy weapons and can deal with a breach of SCP-682; the job of the Guard(s) in the area is to call for backup and help evacuate non-combatant personnel, not to go toe to toe with the rampaging lizard.

  • Mobile Task Forces are the equivalent of the FBI, CIA or National Guard; they are the experts from out of town who are called in when an extremely big event happens or if local law enforcement is unable to handle the situation. The general rule of thumb is that a Mobile Task Force isn't necessarily tied to any specific site, and they are called in where ever they are needed to deal with highly specific or dangerous situations.

  • Another analogy is that Guards are like Military Police (MPs) on a military base, Response Teams are actual combat infantry units, and Mobile Task Forces are special operations groups such as SEAL Teams or Delta Force.

  • Yet another analogy is that Guards are like nurses at a hospital, Response Teams are like a primary care or general practice doctor, and Mobile Task Forces are specialists and surgeons.

• O5 Council Members are the highest-ranking members of the Foundation, a council of 13 individuals that determine the long-term goals, projects, and strategies of the entire organization. A common mistake is mentioning an O5 Council Member in a situation where they logically would not be required. O5s are not going to be approving experiments on or making day-to-day decisions in the containment of a specific object or entity; that would be like requiring permission from the CEO of a major corporation every time you need to get into a specific filing cabinet.