The Magnus Archives - The Magnus Protocol 44 - Back to Basic

Episode Date: July 24, 2025

CAT3RAC2175-26031987-12062024prescience (computing) -/- equilibriumIncident Elements:·   psychological manipulation·   abuse·   imprisonment·   implied sexual coersionNote: This episode features a significant amount of German language. Translation is available in the transcript.Transcripts available at https://rustyquill.com/transcripts/the-magnus-protocol/You can find a complete list of our Kickstarter backers https://rustyquill.com/the-magnus-protocol-supporter-wall/Created by Jonathan Sims and Alexander J Newall  Directed by Alexander J NewallWritten by Alexander J NewallScript Edited with additional material by Jonathan SimsExecutive Producers April Sumner, Alexander J Newall, Jonathan Sims, Dani McDonough, Linn Ci, and Samantha F.G. Hamilton Associate Producers Jordan L. Hawk, Taylor Michaels, Nicole Perlman, Cetius d’Raven, and Megan Nice Produced by April SumnerFeaturing (in order of appearance) Billie Hindle as Alice DyerRobert Vernon as Heinrich UnheilmichClaudia Woodhouse as Klara VogelAnusia Battersby as Gwen BouchardSarah Lambie as Lena KelleyDialogue Editor – Lowri Ann DaviesSound Designer – Tessa VroomMastering Editor - Catherine RinellaMusic by Sam Jones (orchestral mix by Jake Jackson) Art by April Sumner  SFX from Soundly and Additional SFX Voices by Sebastian Hutter and Katarina Ebneter Freesound: TSP-Talk, dbspin, kiefspoon, kyles, rodinvoil, vancer, Yuval, toefur, blaukreuz, delaxgray, LiMati, DeqstersLab, Voltrod, ahill86, fthrll, giddster, Gilgiuliani, waweee, SpliceSound, Kinoton, sidequestingCheck out our merchandise available at https://www.redbubble.com/people/RustyQuill/shop and https://www.teepublic.com/stores/rusty-quillSupport Rusty Quill by purchasing from our Affiliates;DriveThruRPG – DriveThruRPG.comJoin our community:WEBSITE: rustyquill.comFACEBOOK: facebook.com/therustyquillX: @therustyquillEMAIL: [e-mail] The Magnus Protocol is a derivative product of the Magnus Archives, created by Rusty Quill Ltd. and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share alike 4.0 International Licence.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi there, Anusha Battersby here, voice of Wen in The Magnus Protocol. Today I am here to advertise Thirst, a new story recently launched from the talented team behind the Penumbra podcast on the RQ network. Thirst is a horror-satire podcast about exploitative entertainment in a crumbling world. In a future America somehow even worse than the present. Four couples must survive a dangerous reality TV competition designed by a sadistic host and a cheerfully violent algorithm. Outside, sea levels are rising and the temperature is climbing. Inside, tensions quickly reach their boiling point. Ridiculous and

horrifying. Thirst asks how much the residents of this crumbling empire are willing to trade away for a chance at wealth and safety. Get hooked on Thirst by searching for the Penumbra podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts or go to www.thepenumbrapodcast.com or www.rustyquill.com for more information. The Magnus Protocol I'm sorry. You see this? People cannot even eat or drink without a screen now. Uh huh. This cafe house, which deserves the strongest mocha-fuck, lost its esprit. The children would queue outside for the cocoa. Now? Now it is just all smartphones and bad coffee and french fries. Only Americans call them french fries.

You see, who can keep up? Decide for Giedvien Flug. Uh-huh. I am uncomfortable. You didn't have to come with me. I am being helpful. What exactly do you think is going to happen? She must be what, at least 70 by now?

You do not think the old can be dangerous. You're different. You're... Hmm? Special. Thank you, Shen. But you are mistaken. The Statsi and I, we were similar in many ways.

We both relied on fear and knew how to wield it. It's not the same. That's true. I usually spared the children. Is that them? Yes. You sure? I am sure. Clara Vogel... Shhh!

Mrs Vogel? My name is Alice Dyer. I'm with the OIAR and... Wie hast du mich gefunden? Er... My name is Alice Dyer. I'm with the OIAR and... How did you find me? She wishes to know how you found her. Oh, well, your name was listed in some records I found with the help of my... ...experienced colleague here. We could smell your sins. Good day. I know your sins. Good day.

I know your voice. What's she saying? And I know you, Clara. Er, sorry. Who are you? Did you forget Heinrich, Clara? Excuse me. Look, I'm sorry. Excuse me, I don't want to be all tourist about it, but Heinrich said you spoke English and my translation app isn't keeping up. Can we,

you know... Who are you to travel with him? What? Oh, okay. She was one of yours then, I take it. I told you, I am helping. What do you want, English? Okay, well, I'm looking for someone. Someone I think you may have kept an eye on back when you were at, when you were younger.

Anyway, he was a computer guy, big into alchemy tattoos. Schweitzer. So you know who I'm talking about? Yes. I've watched him work. So do you know where I can find him or...? No. Oh. Spielchenklauff.

I do not know where he is. If I did, I would go and kill him myself. Why? What did he do to you? Nothing you would understand. Right, shall we just get down to it then, yeah? You don't like me. I get it. Honestly, the feeling is mutual. But you know something about Klaus Schweitzer and I need to hear it. I was going to offer you money, but I'm not really feeling that now, so let's try this instead. You tell me what I want to know or I tell everyone your ecstasy and

then we see how people react. Ha! And then what? They beat an old woman to death? These fat lazy children have no stomach for such work. Your threats do not frighten me, English. She calls the boys who shout at her and girls who nod. She reads her books, pays it back home until everyone hides. Oh poor Clara, old and stale, no child wants to play with her. And if no laughing child is clear anymore, Heinrich, what did you tell her? We have a ghost. I will talk. Christ, Heinrich, what did you tell her? Just remembering old times. Uh-huh.

So, Clara, tell me everything you know about Klaus Schweitzer. The first time I saw Klaus Schweitzer, I was watching Schwarzwohn? A squad? Yeah, in Prenzlauer Berg. They thought they were punks, radicals, would-be anarchists. He was easy to see. His skin was covered in tattoos, strange diagrams on his arms, his chest, even his face. They reminded me of my grandmother. She also had folk beliefs. He visited a squat a few times, and I would have taken him if he was not already on the list. We needed computer people. I was chosen to make the offer because I was young and beautiful and he was ugly.

It was the right decision. It was very easy. After we raided the squad, I made him the offer. He could work computers for me or join his punk friends. He agreed, of course, but I do not know if it was because he wanted me or because he feared me. Perhaps both, I think. I knew from his fights he was a computer coder from HFE, good at statistics, at predicting

people. This was useful to us. My superiors tired of arresting the guilty. Better to stop them before they could commit the crimes. The program was to track the fears of the targets and so predict his order and his loyalty, find the traitors before they knew themselves. It was a grand dream. Schweitzer did not want to work for us,

but the idea, he longed for it, I think. More even than he longed for me. So I gave him computers, files, data. Always he was asking for data. When he tired, I would encourage him. I was not very good at this. But when he was slow or stupid, I would scold him. This I was very good at. Soon he could not eat, could not drink, could not breathe without checking if it pleased me. And if it did not, I did my duty and ensured he did his. He was an ugly, foolish man, but his work, his work was strange, almost wonderful, but never correct.

No matter how I loved him, how I hurt him, he could not make it work. Again and again he failed, and so my superiors began to question me. So I pushed him harder, too hard. By the end he did not know whether love ended and the fear began. But all that mattered is that we both knew he was mine. He could not live without me and I wanted code, so he would code or die. I left him to work alone that final time. He was already mine and would not disobey. work alone that final time. He was already mine and would not disobey. I left him with food for one week and returned after two. By then he stank like a caged dog and he could

not speak. But the work, das hat für mich gesungen. I did not understand the code. It was Kauderwitz. But the symbols, he had carved them into the walls with his nails, into the keyboard, into his own skin. Copied from the photographs of old tattoos, he would shuffle in his hands. In the glow of the filthy screen, it was hard to tell where his wasted body ended and the work began, but there was paper falling from the printer, completely clear, except for a list of names, dates and times. I knew the first name well, Karin Müller. She was a known thief and speculant at the Lokale Handelsorganisation,

and she was already due arrest the next day at the date on the list. I attended the arrest, but it was not an arrest. There had been an accident. Frau Müller had been killed by a... Fleischwolf. Her arm was caught in the mechanism, and she was somehow pulled in.

The second name was an old study made from the Hochschule. I had not spoken to Matthias since graduating, but I knew where he was working. I found him just as he placed the electric cable into his mouth. I read his watching notes before I called the football. It seemed he had been following special orders from a supervisor who had never existed. Every name I investigated from that list was the same, broken and strange. It was not what we asked for, but Schweitzer had made something wonderful and terrible.

I did not understand it, but I knew we needed it. I informed my supervisors and then returned to him, ready to take his work from him and hand him over. But when I stepped inside, I found he was already gone. He had left and taken the computer, the program, the data, everything except his filts, his carvings, and a small envelope. This envelope. I have not opened it. I already know what is inside. A name, a date, and a time.

My time. Every day I hold this letter and dare not open it, because what if that date is today and that time is now? I cannot know, but I cannot not know. All these years, and I cannot eat, cannot drink, cannot breathe without thinking of him and this letter. I do not know if it was meant as a gift or as torture. Perhaps both. All I do know is that however much he wanted me, he loved the program.

And that's everything. You never saw him again. Clara. You never saw him again? Clara... No, never. I do not know how he left the country. But if he had not, I would have found him. And this place where you locked him in? Where he finished the program? What was the address? There's nothing there now.

All right, fine. We're done, you can go. She left her envelope. Do not worry. I shall return it to her later. Thank you. Do you have any sugar? No. I like your house. It's very, uh... It's not what I expected. What exactly were you expecting? I don't know. Something less... hmm... nice. I see.

Gwen, when I agreed to speak with you, I was under the impression that you needed to discuss something more substantial than my personal living arrangements. If that is not the case then... No, I mean, yes, I do. I was just making small talk. Well don't. You're not very good at it. Oh and you're just so... I am glad you're doing well. Are you? Yes. I hope... I am glad you're doing well. Are you? Yes.

Look, I know we had our... differences, but I am genuinely glad you're okay. Because you need something from me? No. Well, sort of. But also because, well, you left so suddenly and there was no record of you anywhere. Something I had orchestrated at considerable effort and no small expense. I was starting to worry that you had been... disappeared. I see. Surely the minister could have disabused you of that particular notion easily enough himself? Oh. Well, we don't... We haven't really been in contact since... Um...

I'm sure he's very pleased with that outcome. Well then, as you can see, I am perfectly content in my obscurity and would prefer to stay that way. So what is it that you need that is so urgent that it justifies invading my home like this? I'm sorry if I overstepped but... What do you want, Gwen? I don't know what to do. Nobody does. We just turn up, sort cases and then horrible things happen. There's no onboarding, no documentation and it's not like the minister has any idea what actually goes on at the OIAR. And before you jump in with I told you so, I'm still not convinced you know any more than the rest of us. Then why come here for answers you don't trust? Because... because

for all our differences I know that neither of us can stand to see a job done badly. So if anyone knows, it's you. I don't know why I even bothered. Dread is organized into four key elements. Death, pain, helplessness and wrongness. It is essential that these four elements remain balanced. That is the purpose of the OIAR. Okay. Too little of any one of them and we need to

generate more. Too much of any of them and we need to increase the others to compensate. The FR3-D1 system monitors these levels and anticipates what interventions are required in order to maintain balance. Failure to maintain balance will lead to horrible things happening, which I am guessing is what has brought you to me. But, wait, that would mean... that would mean the system can only trend upwards, generate more dread over time. Hm. Correct. So, why not reduce them? Or just get rid of them entirely? Because it can't be done. At least not to my knowledge, and there's no one else to ask. I believe the response team used to try, but in my experience utilising appropriately sympathetic externals has proved the most reliable solution.

That doesn't sound... good. Perhaps not, but it is the job. Says who? I don't know. Perhaps nobody. I never controlled the OIAR, Gwen. I just worked there long enough to understand what the system needs. The only thing I have ever known with any certainty is that when the levels are unbalanced, terrible things happen. Leave it unbalanced long enough and the things you're worried about will become exponentially worse. I can only hope you've come seeking help before anyone is too badly hurt Yeah, that's a shame I please don't give me details I'd rather not know

So what's the protocol is that just the official name for keeping things balanced now, where did you hear that I wonder? In a sense the protocol is the last resort for keeping all this secret. What's wrong with transparency? I wouldn't try it. Even if people believed you, which they wouldn't, it would make it impossible to properly operate. Too many motives, too many variables, too many people looking to take advantage. So if it looks like someone or something is going to sink the whole ship, you enact the protocol. Which is? Isolate, gather, control, excise and subvert.

Can I please just get one straight answer? Quarantine the problem, collect the information, extract whatever's useful, burn the rest, blame someone else. Right. Just do whatever it takes to keep things balanced. If you can manage that when, the rest will take care of itself. Even if people die? That's the job. Thank you, Lena. If there's anything I can do to repay you... That's the job. Thank you, Lena. If there's anything I can do to repay you... Like giving me my job back?

Oh. Um... That was a joke. You can keep it. Oh. Huh. There is one thing, though. Oh? Leave me alone, Gwen. Forget I ever existed. Not many of us get out unscathed. I'd like to stay that way. I'll see what I can do. See you later, Lena. No, you won't. The Magnus Protocol is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial share alike 4.0 International License.

The series is created by Jonathan Simms and Alexander Ewell, and directed by Alexander Jane Ewell. This episode was written by Alexander Jane Ewell, and edited with additional materials by Jonathan Sims. With vocal edits by Lorianne Davis, soundscaping by Tessa Vroom, and mastering by Catherine Minella, with music by Sam Jones. and Mastering by Catherine Rinella, with Music by Sam Jones. It featured Billy Hindle as Alice Dyer, Manuja Battersby as Gwen Bouchard, Laurieann Davis as Celia Ripley, and Sarah Lambie as Lena Kelly. The Magnus Protocol is produced by April Sumner, with executive producers Alexander J. Newell,

Danny McDonough, Lynn C. and Samantha F. G. Hamilton, and associate producers Jordan L. Hawke, Taylor Michaels, Nicole Perlman, C.T.S. DeR Raven and Megan Nice. To subscribe, view associated materials, or join our Patreon, visit RustyQuill.com. Rate and review us online, tweet us at TheRustyQuill, visit us on Facebook, or email us at mail at RustyQuill.com. Thanks for listening. First, a new story recently launched from the talented team behind the Penumbra podcast on the RQ network. First is a horror-satire podcast about exploitative entertainment in a crumbling world. In a future America somehow even worse than the present, four couples must survive a dangerous reality TV competition designed by a sadistic host and a cheerfully violent algorithm.

Outside sea levels are rising and the temperature is climbing. Inside tensions quickly reach their boiling point. Ridiculous and horrifying, Thirst asks how much the residents of this crumbling empire are willing to trade away for a chance at wealth and safety. Get hooked on thirst by searching for the Penumbra podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts or go to www.thepenumbrapodcast.com or www.rustyquill.com for more information.