The O5 Council. O5 Command. The Overseers. Overwatch.
These are the people who have ultimate control over the Foundation.
Each O5 member knows almost everything there is to know about the Foundation and its activities. Between them all, they know every single secret that the Foundation holds.
Most Foundation personnel spend their entire careers without seeing them. Members below Clearance Level 2 don't even know they exist. Most people outside the Foundation have never heard of them, or don't think they are real.
Most everyone is afraid of them. An O5 walks into a room, and everyone pisses their pants. That's what happens when you hold supreme power over one of the scariest organizations in world history.
O5-1: "The Founder".
Male. European descent. American origin. Verified post-human lifespan; 3400+ years of age. Appears to be in his mid 50s.
The original founder of the Foundation, began creating the organization to prepare for his eventual mental decline. Although able to be killed, will always reform. His body is unable to decay and if a majority of his body is left in the same location, it will remerge and he will be resurrected.
O5-2: "The Praetor".
Female. European descent. Puerto Rican origin. Appears to in her mid 20s. Actual age unknown.
O5-2 is [DATA EXPUNGED].
O5-3: "The Kid", or "The All-seeing Eye".
[DATA EXPUNGED].
O5-4: "The Ambassador".
[DATA EXPUNGED].
O5-5: "Blackbird".
[DATA EXPUNGED].
O5-6: "Cowboy", or "The American".
[DATA EXPUNGED].
O5-7: "Green".
[DATA EXPUNGED].
O5-8: "The Newbie", or "The Lesser".
[DATA EXPUNGED].
O5-9: "The Outsider", or "The Ordinary."
[DATA EXPUNGED].
O5-10: "The Anchor".
Male. African/European descent. American origin. Appears to be mid-40s. Tends to wear grey striped suits.
O5-10 plays the role of archivist and record-keeper. He acts as custodian of the records of previous iterations of the planet and associated timelines.
These records show how many times Earth (or the timeline associated with Earth) has been severely damaged and "reset", and how many "resets" the Foundation has allowed, or stopped. Additionally, O5-10's records include the full number of K-Class events that the Foundation has ever been aware of (including some information passed from prior timelines). Most of the O5 Council does not have access to this information, and only O5-10 has access to all of it.
O5-10 inherited his role from a prior O5-10, and therefore has been an O5 Council member for several years. However, he has only recently become publicly active within the Foundation. He has "adopted" a number of newer researchers, and taken special interest in SCP-2000 and similar SCP items related to major K-Class scenarios.
"The Anchor" may have access to the Wanderer's Library, and be capable of "magic", learned from Library books.
O5-10 has a hand selected mobile task force designated MTF Alpha-Ω "Zero Day," that operate under his command alone, headquartered in SCP-2000.
O5-11: "The Mailman".
[DATA EXPUNGED].
O5-12: "The Accountant".
[DATA EXPUNGED].
O5-13: "The Tiebreaker".
O5-13 does not exist. Everyone outside the O5 Council is told he exists, and memos are created under O5-13's name, but O5-13 exists only as a tiebreaker vote.
O5-13's vote is rotated between each O5 Council member, starting at 1, and passed up a number each time a tiebreaker vote is required and used.
Holding O5-13's vote is required to access a few selected databases. This knowledge may be attached to O5-13's vote (and wiped from the holder's memory when the vote is passed on), or it may simply comprise access to 13's unique databases.
O5-13: "The Administrator".
Male. European descent. American origin. Verified post-human lifespan. Appears 50+. No unusual appearance.
Technically not an actual overseer as he does not hold a vote, but he attends O5 Council meetings, and acts as the public face of the Overseers, interacting with Foundation staff in place of them.
O5 Command possesses their own Mobile Task Force, MTF Alpha-01, the Red Right Hand. They alternately act as the Foundation researcher's best friend and an outright medieval inquisition, complete with 'disappearing' people who the O5s disfavor.
Besides MTF-Alpha-01, each O5 has their own personal staff and security. Usually O5 personal staff have Level 5 ("Thaumiel") access to Foundation archives (though they still need to be added to Special Access Programs, and do not have the "blanket" access that O5s do). Some of the O5's personal staff and secretaries are among the most powerful people in the Foundation.
O5 Council members sometimes fixate on certain Foundation researchers. Many of the most well-known Foundation doctors and agents have been under the eye of one or more O5 members, willingly or not. This does not always end well for those favored in this way.
Factotum
According to some reports, the personal staff of the O5 Council are known as the Factotum. These Foundation operatives are selected for absolute loyalty, and act as personal assistants, bodyguards and decoys. Many encounters with an "O5" are actually mediated by a Factotum, dressed and disguised to perfectly resemble their assigned Council Member.
Reports ascribe some of these staff certain anomalous abilities, and the O5 Command reportedly approves this anomalous alteration to allow them to act as better decoys or bodyguards, directly circumventing official Foundation procedure. This makes it almost impossible to tell a decoy apart from the real thing.
Of course, if they want to mislead, there's no reason to make this a perfect resemblance. For all we know, every one of the O5s described in this dossier are mere decoys, and the real O5 Council remains unknown.
Delegation
Although O5 Command holds tightly to its power over the Foundation, they do delegate many tasks. The exact command structure of the Foundation is unclear, but references have been made to the body known variously as the Site Directors’ Council, the Site Directors' Executive Committee of the Whole or the O4 Council (not to be confused with the O4 Command in charge of Lockdown Procedures). This organisation is assembled for matters requiring a broader perspective, or considered too minor for the O5 Council yet too significant or far reaching for any individual to decide. Under certain circumstances, this body may even have the power to depose and appoint O5 Council members, and it seems designed to ensure that the Foundation can continue functioning in the event that anything happens to the O5 Council.
Regional branches of the SCP Foundation have their own equivalent bodies with full clearance for all anomalies under their regional jurisdiction, acting as an O5 equivalent for most intents and purposes, although still subordinate to the O5 Council. This includes the German Directors Council (known as the O4 Council), the Superintendence of the Italian Branch (The S5), and the Lusophone Board of Directors (The CL5).
Further substantive reports on O5 Command subordinates may be entered here.
Further Intelligence On O5 Command
Appointing new O5s is rare to the point of being legendary, at least publicly. Rumors persist — potentially true — that some or all of the O5 Council members are inhuman or possess supernatural powers. Rumors also persist that they are unkillable, but this is at least partially untrue, given that several are known to be deceased.
As far as I can tell (and I may be wrong), all O5 Council members are human in origin, even if altered after the fact. A minority of the O5 Council may have anomalous abilities or traits, if reports are to be believed (in particular reports on O5-1 and O5-2), but none of the O5 Council are reality benders, and most of them are simply human… but humans with access to the Water of Life, and power beyond imagining. Far, far, far too much power.
The O5s rarely intervene in the day-to-day processes of the Foundation, or the containment of SCP objects. They tend to keep an eye on Keter-Class objects, and practically micromanage Thaumiels and Apollyons.
But sometimes — rarely — they'll jump into an apparently random Euclid- or Safe-Class object's documentation, and make some summary judgment with or without explanation. After all, no explanation is required of them.
O5 Council members are officially barred from coming into contact with any anomalous entities. This is, naturally, not strictly true in practice. At minimum, all O5 Council members of sufficient tenure have access to SCP-006, a "fountain of youth", and likely to other means of prolonging their lifespan as well. And that aside, O5s tend to be able to bend rules, even their own rules.
Some reports suggest that O5s regularly switch numbers with each other, either ad hoc or on a standardized basis. They make common use of body doubles and other security and disinformation techniques.
The Meeting Place of the O5 Council is frequently referred to as Protected Site-001, and one or more O5 Council Members may reside there most or all of the time. Alternative reports have described this headquarters as Building T-01 or O5 Command instead. Some reports claim that at least one O5 is in space at all times.
One particularly interesting report indicates that O5 Command members all wear an article of clothing and/or fetish object as a symbol of their office, with this totem being passed on to their successors. Possibly fashioned from the corpse of the most powerful reality bender to ever live, each object can completely stabilize reality around an O5 member. (Unclear how long this lasts, or if it is a permanent low-level effect.) Also said to grant additional abilities; precisely what these are remains unclear, as does the truth of this report.
Another set of reports claim that a number of humanoid SCPs are family members of O5 Council members. It is possible that fictional anomalous documentation was drawn up for them to justify keeping them under the best protection possible. There are also claims that some O5s have gone as far as to actually anomalously alter their family members to permanently justify Foundation protection via containment.
The O5 Council appears to choose their own members should a seat become vacant, although under certain circumstances they may become accountable to the Senior staff of the Foundation.
The exact relationship between O5 Command and the Foundation's Ethics Committee is unclear. I used to think that the Committee either didn't exist or just rubber-stamped the Council's decisions, but some reports suggest that the Ethics Committee has the power to overrule or even depose the Council. Who's really in charge here?
There are a few reports of an unofficial "O5-0", a former associate of the original O5 Council Members who left the Foundation due to ideological differences. Much like the official members of the Overwatch Council, I've encountered multiple contradictory descriptions of this "O5-0" - sorry, that seems to be a trend. They certainly sound like they'd be an interesting person to meet, if I ever get the opportunity…
One source bears notable mention: the reports, sources, and personas collectively referred to as "The Swallowed Tail". Please be warned before looking into this report: we acquired access to this documentation through the heart of the Chaos Insurgency, and they seem to have gotten most of their intel from a journal written by a Global Occult Coalition agent that later defected to the Foundation. If you're unfamiliar with the risks of Insurgency dealings, avoid looking at this, if you value your own life.
We initially thought this report to be Foundation disinformation (perhaps even targeted at me/us, the creator/creators of this dossier), but when we became aware of greater context, we realized we could draw zero conclusions.
Is there a multiversal thread issue here that we're not aware of? A disconnection followed by an unknown bridge? An undescribed resonance? Something so obvious, too close to ourselves that we cannot see it? Something Outside, and dangerous?
I/We really have to look into this.
If you don't know what you're doing, remember this: there are many worlds, and there are as many ends of the world. Some things you're better off not knowing. The number of these things may or may not be zero. Help, or don't.
