His mother looked both ways, holding his hand tightly. A moment later, an out-of-control automobile careened through the intersection. It passed close to the boy and his mother, nearly killing them. Despite the scare, life went on. History continued.

His mother had bought a gift for the boy's father, and was carrying it with her. The boy ran ahead excitedly. A moment later, an out-of-control automobile struck the boy, killing him instantly. His father and mother mourned him, but life went on. History continued.

Before you start writing

• Read every story in the canon
• Read the rest of this contributor's guide information.

Major Changes in Groups of Interest

The Global Occult Coalition

In the absence of the Foundation, the Global Occult Coalition has taken over its role as the primary agency dealing with the paranormal. Many of the more dangerous SCP artifacts have been destroyed by the Global Occult Coalition. Many others, especially humanoids, have been recruited by the Coalition under their "Special Assets Directive."

The Serpent's Hand

Many other SCP objects and persons are now affiliated with the Serpent's Hand. In particular, a fictional character named "Fred" has been seen entering the texts of various books in the Wanderer's Library…

National Governments and Agencies

One major change from the original "Foundation" canon is that world governments and agencies now take a much more active role in dealing with the paranormal. The Unusual Incidents Unit of the FBI, for instance, has been revitalized and renewed after the fairly recent replacement of its director. The Hartle Anomaly is now the purview of NASA. And most recently, the U.S. Department of Defense's "Pandora's Box" program to weaponize the paranormal has come under fire in the Special Operations community after an incident in which an entire SEAL team lost their lives.

The Chaos Insurgency

As an off-shoot of the Foundation, this Group of Interest does not exist.

Major Changes to Key SCP Foundation characters.

• Dr. Clef never existed. Agent Ukelele never left the Global Occult Coalition, and now serves as a department head in its "Physics" (special operations) division.
• Charles Ogden Gears is the new head of the Unusual Incidents Unit. Along with his assistant Jack Dawkins, he works to turn the much-maligned UIU into a true player in the world of the paranormal.
• Lament is an engineer living in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Suggestions for writing in the Unfounded canon

• This isn't "Game Day" or "Broken Masquerade." This is a world that hews as close to the site's established tone and canon as possible in the absence of the Foundation itself. This isn't a place where the blatantly paranormal is openly known, or the world has fallen into chaos. Remember:the Foundation doesn't exist… but things are mostly the same.
• A story in the Unfounded canon is not just a story about a GOI aside from the Foundation. Whether it's a story about a certain GOI getting ahold of an SCP object, or a person from the SCP Foundation taking a new job in another GOI, there should at least be one element that could not exist in the standard canon.
• Please do not come up with more entries in the Interstitials (like "Taken From A Global Occult Coalition Casefile"). Rewriting an SCP object as a "GOC casefile" or a "Marshall, Carter, and Dark auction item" is the least interesting thing you could do with it. If you'd like to do a new Interstitial that covers a GOI that hasn't been covered yet, this might be acceptable, but you should probably run this idea by someone else first.
• You don't have to run your ideas by someone else who has already written for the Unfounded canon (especially Clef, Photosynthetic, Pig_catapult, or Fantem), but it may be a good idea, especially if it's your first time writing for it.

Story ideas for the Unfounded canon

• What if a different GOI owned [SCP OBJECT]? Or what if [SCP OBJECT] was still "in the wild"?
• What would [SCP PERSONNEL] do if they didn't work for the Foundation?
• How does the relationship between [GOI] and [GOI] change without the Foundation's influence?
• "This Hartle thing is heating up…"
• Dr Clef Sez: I'd personally like to see some stories about the Serpent's Hand and the Wanderer's Library.