THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES

Case ########-18 An examination of industrial meat processes. Audio recorded by the Archivist, in situ. Content warnings: - Dehumanisation - Helplessness / Existential dread - Devaluation of human life - Reduction of people based on 'usefulness' - Futility / Inconsequence - Body horror & torture - Body image issues - Medical horror - Paralysis - Arguments - Police brutality (discussion of) - Claustrophobia - Explicit language - Mentions of: enclosed spaces, needles/sharp objects, substance abuse, head trauma - SFX: persistent droning, high pitched tones, repetitive mechanical noises, sudden cracking sound, meat processing, insects.
Thanks to this week's Patrons: Rudy Urroz, Stacy Falcon, Ariana, Eleanor Smith-Dufresne, Ken Yuen, Bruna R. Scheuer, Ben Nothing, Sandro Ortega, Quinn, cecil with a cool sword, Elf Sternberg, Aster, Sam Zisk, Jay, Ally, Hearth of the Fae, Andrew Thomas, The Octopus Gallery, nell wood-prince what if you were defenseless, Penny Veline, Spark, Adam, Clara, Ksenia Martynova, Bloodsbane, Sarah Elert, Ari Gonzalez, Jake Samuels, Jack Beckwith, Maika Cartwright, Luke, John Earl, Alain Leo, Aynjel Kaye, K.McQueen, Daria Tkocz, Liz Wooten, Elizabeth Wynn, September Brogan, Kyndall Holland, Tom Lackow, Landon Kade, Claire C, Alexa West, Andrea R Larson, Angel Dellamore, Ray Thomas, T, caitlin! If you'd like to join them visit www.patreon.com/rustyquill
Edited by Katie Seaton, Brock Winstead & Alexander J Newall;
Written by Jonathan Sims;
Directed by Alexander J Newall Produced by Lowri Ann Davies;
Performances: "Martin Blackwood" - Alexander J. Newall; "The Archivist" - Jonathan Sims; "Basira Hussain" - Frank Voss
Sound effects this week by florianreichelt, pagancow, duckduckpony, InspectorJ, viertelnachvier, alexmol, vollkornbrot, SpliceSound, yadronoff, CastIronCarousel, bruce965, jamesgilsenan, tutenchwimse, pfranzen, cassssi, LudwigMueller, ecfike, kyles, kolczok, TiesWijnen, Soundkrampf, johanwestling, toxicwafflezz, nicktermer, dersuperanton, sacredblack, suncord, jaredi, glock102020202, LamaMakesMusic, msantoro11, gerainsan, groupe1bts, semccab, Cell31_Sound_Productions, pfranzen , JasonElrod, Bastianhallo, MWLANDI, vibe_crc, Breviceps, UOregonCinemaStudies, Aris621, gubodup, ancorapazzo, derjuli & previously credited artists via freesound.org
Check out our merchandise at www.redbubble.com/people/rust...
For more information or to hang out with the Rusty Quill community, visit:
WEBSITE: www.rustyquill.com
FACEBOOK: therustyquill/
TWITTER: @therustyquill
FORUMS: rustyquill.proboards.com
REDDIT: www.reddit.com/r/TheMagnusArchives/
DISCORD: / discord
TWITCH: / rusty_quill
EMAIL: [e-mail]
The Magnus Archives is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill Ltd. and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Sharealike 4.0 International Licence.

[@f_mva]

"it’s fine. we’ll just have to tie them all up in one go." "hm?" "around elias’ neck." mark my words: if martin had a gun this season would have ended in 8 episodes

[@aceofjacks7071]

if Martin had a gun there'd be no more fear entities

[@katmhcharis1236]

Martin is the definition of the “I may be a healer but...” meme. He will make you a cup of tea but threaten Jon and he’ll whip out a Glock faster than a old fashioned gunslinger

[@Kyman102]

It's like that meme... "The Magnus Archives" "The Magnus Archives if Martin had a gun" And the first 10% of the Gun book is Martin killing Elias, the last 90% is "Getting the gun away from Martin"

[@katmhcharis1236]

@@Kyman102 I want them to make that series

[@jamesmortimer4016]

Martin is like those animal crossing/doom crossovers

[@_kai2702]

i really just love the imagery of jon reading a spooky story in a storage closet with basira and martin just hearing the muffled echos of the horror outside.

[@MrIsizukuri]

I chuckled at the "New plan!" bit

[@alphalilly8207]

"God I hate all of these loose ends" *that's very spider of you Martin*

[@-haclong2366]

Basira Hussain just blindly allowed Daisy to harm the innocents because she assumed that her partner was always right.

[@Ghostrecall_M]

Bobbies, amiright?

[@DJsonnet141]

Typically that’s why “good cops” get lumped in with the bad cops

[@thecondescendinggoomba5552]

ACAB even basira

[@sirbrandalf7813]

Well yeah, she's a cop

[@Methus3lah]

I think I FINALLY get why Basira was so much worse to Jon than to Daisy. Basira sees the world in absolutes. There are, say, Citizens who just go about life, Criminals who harm said Citizens by committing crimes, and Cops who fight/punish the Criminals. Criminals are thusly bad and cops are thusly good. And so when Daisy is hunting, she’s harming Criminals, who are always negative moral agents in Basira’s mind. Besides, Daisy is a Cop, so that means she’s “good”. And so of course, the only people she would ever harm are Criminals. But when Jon starts feeding on Innocents, Basira freaks out and hates Jon because Jon is now a Criminal. Acab btw

[@jacobjohnston3983]

As someone who recently had to spend 5 hours waiting in the DMV because my insurance made a 1-letter typo, this episode hits different now

[@MrIsizukuri]

yeah! the twist on the meaning of "processing" people like meat was unexpected and very, very relatable

[@Vi_Vi_1]

"you never said" Like you'd have listened, Basira--anytime Jon tried to talk about his emotions or hardships you'd shut him down and basically tell him to fuck off. Which, whatever, you can make that choice, but don't turn around and act like your good buddy was keeping secrets and should have opened up to you

[@bowlerhatfilmsandreviews2778]

This is one of several stories that really got under my skin, made me feel dread. Also that ending, with John confessing the moment that made him the most scared, everyone discussing their relationships with Daisy and her inevtable fate; *demonic angels kiss*

[@someoneawesome8717]

"The daily grind" is taken literally here and you have no other options because of where or when you were born

[@MarktheCrawler]

Like what happens to animals in real life every day...

[@someoneawesome8717]

@@MarktheCrawler and humans are animals

[@inedanap6253]

@@MarktheCrawler Yikes

[@cartoonistanonymous]

@@MarktheCrawler Ouch

[@hoominbeeing]

@@inedanap6253 Go vegan

[@MsMagnolia97]

Can we take a moment to recognize despite the trauma Daisy inflicted on Jon he still saved her from the Buried? Like, HE may not be human anymore, but his CHOICES were still human.

[@racoon_in_ankhmorpork]

Basira wasn’t a total asshat in this one. Nice. By this point, I don’t think she’ll redeem herself for how she treated Jon, but at least she’s acknowledged all the harm she did as a cop, and by always thinking Daisy was right to exact violence. Go Basira! I must say, I’m NOT looking forward to the tragedy of her having to kill Daisy…

[@Sxcheschka]

All The Flesh needed was proper management, now it works so much more efficiently before, it was just chaos.

[@wabschall]

The cruel efficiency of industrialization

[@Sxcheschka]

@@wabschall Now we got AI art too fear lolol

[@coletteb.8889]

I think they might have teamed up with The Slaughter for this one. A lot of these later episodes the fears are mixing together to create more specific nightmares to subject people to.

[@ixisnyx6860]

John making Basira actually take a second of introspection is pretty cathartic. She spent a season in a half grilling this guy for genuinely helping, and for what he either didnt know was happening or had no real control over, and now shes complaining and saying how she doesnt like it when he calls her on all the atrocities she willingly let fly under the radar and knew about. Oh how uncomfortable to gets a first peraon description of what it's like for someone Daisy drags off into the woods. You made the cup and fermented the grapes, Basira. Take a good long sip.

[@ErrorNotFound-nl1sh]

I'm so glad Basira is acknowledging it at least that's like the best we can hope for in this post apocalyptic world honestly

[@melshinta2966]

Me noticing the title: OH NO *MEAT*

[@broblerone413]

me noticing the title: OH YEAH *MEAT*

[@citra1885]

The duality of TMA fans

[@rivercrow5151]

Martin telling Jon and Basira to stop fighting like they're his divorced parents fr.

[@pyrosianheir]

Pigs, making meat of humanity... Guh.... At least we got good banter between the trio on either side of it.... Even with the depressing thoughts about what'll happen to Daisy whenever they find her.

[@Sxcheschka]

Justified tho

[@hoominbeeing]

@@Sxcheschka How is eating animals justified?

[@Sxcheschka]

@@hoominbeeing Have you listened to the episode?

[@hoominbeeing]

@@Sxcheschka The episode goes through great lengths to show how horrifying animal torture would be if done to humans. It does not justify it at all

[@Sxcheschka]

@@hoominbeeing Justified tho was referring to the pig monsters being the killing floor workers and mistreating the stock. I like the duality flip as the animals are the abusers, was very interesting in concept to me.

[@rory1336]

This episode reminds me so much of what my brother told me about how prisons in the US treat people during intake, outtake, transfers, and every other moment they can. The sheer horrific horrible things we do to people in the prison industrial complex... Real kudos to Jonny and the team, especially for tying this episode to Basira and Daisy's storyline.

[@golesh-ow5dp]

Fun fact: the new logo is one of those "shake thia image slowly and it moves"

[@najhoant]

So was the avatar in charge of the slaughterhouse supposed to be Tom Haan?

[@f_mva]

it's never confirmed but id like to think so!

[@mimkyodar]

I mean, he was the meaty one when it came to the Flesh.

[@liolokk5248]

I think it's implied by Jon using "he" when talking about the avatar? But I'm not too sure. In the episode about the Flesh ritual (don't remember the number, the name was "meat") Gertrude seemed to believe that Tom will not live long after failing the ritual, but, sinse Simon and Peter both survived their respective failures, she could be wrong? Last when we (chronologically) heard of Tom Haan, he was shot in the head in one of the season 1 statements, which took place in 2013, and it's unclear whether or not he survived it, but he definetely became less active (all of the statements about him are taking place chronologically before his disappearance). So, if Tom is still alive, it's most likely him, but it COULD be a new avatar.

[@Idran]

I think probably not; I assume that if they don't call out a specific former character in charge of a domain, it's someone we never ran into before Plus this is a little more conceptual than the stuff Tom seemed to be involved with

[@owenr-m4619]

I think it's implied that he died, or just...faded after his failed ritual. I think the fact he doesn't seem to have a really physical form in MAG 49, which would probably a Flesh avatar's worst nightmare, implies he was severely weakened, and even if he is still alive, he probably wouldn't be given such a massive zone to feed on.

[@EduardoVazquez-hh5tz]

I wonder if people that were preyed on by other fears ended up in other domains. I think the Woman that thought everyone in the world were Zombies and just pretending to be people would be more scared in the Processing Line than in the Merry Go Round

[@everythingcoffee8901]

I mean I don't think the domains actually correlate directly to the entities, and there are probably way more than fourteen, with some more specific fears and such. (I'd give an example but most of the ones I'm thinking of are from episodes that haven't yet been released on youtube so like spoilers or whatever lol)

[@EduardoVazquez-hh5tz]

@@everythingcoffee8901 I agree, I think that there are multiple domains for each Fear, I just thought that each domain was only dedicated to One Entity Only (with the exception being the eye) I also would like to think there are domains that are only for animals too since The Slaughter is an animalistic “born” Fear

[@pyrosianheir]

I'm pretty sure that domains can be somewhat... mixed, especially now. Like Gerry said, the fears are more like colors, bleeding over at the edges. Post-Change, there's probably more interaction between them.

[@lu-em6wr]

@@EduardoVazquez-hh5tz the slaughter is the fear of senseless violence, brutality, war… the flesh and hunt are the entities more born of animal fear than human

[@PorgWitch]

Ok but I do love that it really does feel like Jon needs constant bathroom breaks🤣

[@nateds7326]

This is one of only a few Magnus statements that actually got to me. This one really got under my skin.

[@a-bird-lover]

to your flesh, would you say? /j

[@broblerone413]

@@a-bird-lover to their bones

[@caseygrothe3791]

This is still my favorite show ever.

[@liliansnapdragon9836]

bro i love that jon finally admits how scared he was at something and it wasn;t even an AVATAR it was daisy and maybe that was the scariest bit and that last comment about even him getting what hurts him the most just oof

[@myrthefruit]

You know I'm starting to think these season 5 domains might be a metaphor for something... but what, exactly? I guess we'll never know.

[@marytreaty9357]

No one gets what they deserve not in this place" especially not Tim!!!!

[@Ghostrecall_M]

Shush... Tim is fine.

[@atlander4204]

The one good thing is that Tim never had to experience this place.

[@drzeworyj]

did anyone hear 'not anyone you're familiar with... we won't be meating them'

[@vannyssa]

This episode just makes me feel bad for animals ;_;

[@confusionintensifies7948]

Good

[@belalima9908]

Yes, this hell is real for them

[@Sxcheschka]

I like to think the executioners are Pigs

[@w4rh34d4]

If you sincerely do, I can give you advice to go vegan. I have some resources for newbies. Alternatively if you want to learn more about the meat, dairy and egg industries, check Dominion, it's freely available on KZbin but take the trigger warnings seriously, it is very graphic. Earthling Ed's videos are also a great resource even if they can also be pretty shocking.

[@hoominbeeing]

Go vegan then Feeling bad won't do anything, take action

[@marytreaty9357]

Man tma is so good. And this ep really chilled me

[@Companion92]

Love that the show reflects about Daisy and Basira's past

[@alphalilly8207]

I had to come back to this episode because it reminded me of something. The domain in this episode sorta shows the fear if being part of a system that doesn't care about you, literally being a body on the assembly line to chop up. If I can try to explain my train of thought, I think it's very similar to how the old restaurant was only labeled "Food", or the butchery was called "Meat" or even the abandoned chips shop was called "Chips". Dull. Generic. Bland. And not meaningful at all. Just like the bodied on the assembly line. Bodies, numbers, reduced to a statistic. An interesting aspect of "the flesh", kinda overlaps with "the vast" in my opinion. Interesting. Idk that could just be me and my stupid electrified meat brain but yeh. Lol.

[@sheolcodemonkey4027]

I actually really like this take. The Flesh basically works on stripping your personhood away and reducing you down the the organic tissue that makes up your body, making you one of the billions of interchangeable chunks of warm meat that makes up the human population. Meat is meat. It makes sense to use bureaucracy to mirror that, where everyone is just one of the many interchangeable records and documents that makes up the population. Paperwork is paperwork. Then when they kill you, they throw you away, it doesn't matter if it was wasteful, you were never a person anyway, similar to how the administrative algorithms don't care about fairness and need and basic human decency, only that you didn't fill this form in correctly, and so in the trash it goes I think that also plays a role in Jared's whole deal. He's a grotesque monster, but so what? The point is he's big and strong. The people in the mortal garden too. It doesn't matter if you use steroids. Who cares how you got so ripped? The point is you are. It doesn't matter if you develop an eating disorder. Who cares how you got so thin? The point is you are. It doesn't matter if you get addicted to plastic surgery. Who cares how you stay looking so young? The point is you do. And I wasn't entirely sure, but I got the feeling the fourth one was supposed to be a trans person experiencing gender dysphoria and being very explicitly told that their body is all there is to them. They have no soul, no afterlife, no gender identity, just their body, and that's all that matters The idea of the Flesh essentially operating by stripping away all meaning and sentiment and uniqueness and whatnot and reducing everything down to nothing more than the matter that makes it up and whatever basic physical purpose that serves really adds a layer to it beyond the body horror and how it relates to humans. All that matters is matter itself. The whole world is just matter, the Flesh makes it pointless, it isn't a planet, with people and civilisations and flora and fauna and environments and weather patterns and ecosystems and so on, it's just atoms, lots and lots of atoms. It's true and unfiltered nihilism, and that's scary as fuck Thank you for this take, it's helped me appreciate what was one of my less favourite of the Fears

[@masonmyers6837]

It also kinda plays into the Flesh theme of anti-religion. You don't matter. You're just a sack of meat and bones, and when you die, you will simply be disposed of. No soul or anything more.

[@GuysIMadeAVidio]

I’m so disappointed that this didn’t show up in my recommended I’ve been waiting for it for days

[@belugaval144]

there's loads more episodes on their website, just so ya know. idk why they stopped uploading here

[@OpenBiolabsGuy]

Dear God, they did it. They got to my fear and loathing of bureaucracy. I just wasn’t expecting it to be The Flesh. I’d have expected it to be the Web with its love of manipulating people, or the Slaughter with its connection to the military (oh, military bureaucracy is hellishly aggravating, intractable sometimes).

[@elesaknowles5664]

Oh my, arch 2 let’s go Martin and Jon!!

[@toastghost9145]

I don't know how to express my feelings on this episode, but whoo boy there's a lot of them.

[@elliot1428]

Well, this was the episode that got to me. After 178 of these I've finally found it. And it wasn't even the meat part, it was the conversation between John and Basira and Martin at the end about Daisy and police brutality.

[@lordbaphie]

Whoah this adds to my insight before that the Flesh as in Human Flesh and Body Dysmorphia is quite distinct compared to Flesh as in Meat. The fact that they get to have their own two different domains featured as statements is awesome. I think that if the Extinction can verge from the End, then maybe Flesh can split up into Dysmorphia and Meat too.

[@dragonking6326]

I don't know how to feel about my name being the main character of John's statement lmao

[@nemnyoom]

you think you have it bad? i'm called helen

[@dragonking6326]

@@nemnyoom I bet the Adherents l Annabelles have it rough too lmao.

[@nemnyoom]

@@dragonking6326 actually, shout out to anyone called john

[@dragonking6326]

@@nemnyoom would you know it, my middle name is John lmao so close enough

[@elijahmoths]

i'm called elias :|

[@thedistinguished5255]

i'm glad they're saying what needed to be said about cop violence. i know basira didnt want to say it, she didn't want to admit it, but not admitting it was holding her back. i don't know if i was jon, getting that cut from daisy would've been the scariest thing, when theres so much paranormal stuff, but i'm glad they wrote it that way. it really highlights that it mattered, it shows the very real consequences. also "Daisy *derailed her recovery twice* " hits fucking hard.

[@belugaval144]

there's more episodes, they just arent on youtube. just letting yall know!

[@mistydevillier2197]

Where are they???

[@Luna-wl6ce]

@@mistydevillier2197 on their website

[@minuspi8372]

For anyone here now, this isn't true anymore. All 200 episodes are on all platforms.

[@midnights2631]

Poor Tyler, I hope they help everyone soon. It's terrifying of what is going on with people suffering like this.

[@jamesmortimer4016]

Hi Alex!

[@dorkindustries7145]

f l e s h c a b i n e t

[@Jazzisa311]

Wait I don't get it... I thought the garden was the domain of the Flesh... do fears have multiple domains?

[@toastghost9145]

Yup; they're sectioned off into uncountable and niche horrors, presumably one for each Avatar.

[@macabrecitrus2127]

The whole world is transformed so yes, of course

[@Cheshire5174]

mhm. its like the metaphor of fears being like colors. would you put Teal and Navy blue in the same place?

[@YodasMessenger]

Yes. In the same way that there used to be multiple different manifestations and avatars of any given fear, there are multiple domains they can feed from. The grotesque body horror of Jared and the dehumanizing degradation of the meat factory are very different, but they both very much feed the Flesh. Plus theres also bits and pieces in here that feel like they should feed The Stranger. If you take it even further, pretty much all of the domains also in one way or another feed Terminus. All of the Dread Powers were pulled into this world at once. They cannot exist on their own, isolated from the others because thats never how any of it worked. They bleed into each other, feed off of each other. After all, very few people are only afraid of 1 specific thing and that thing only, its always more nuanced and muddy, so the Dread Powers reflect it in kind. The previous, clean division beetween them seems to have never been anything more than ultimately mortal minds trying to comprehend something entirely and rightfully beyond them. (It is impossible to talk about any of this shit without starting to sound like a goddam avatar midway through and i love/hate it.)

[@caramel9154]

da sslaughtheeeerrr

[@polly9753]

My bingo for this pod had one space and it said "horror of waiting in line" I won 🎉

[@cwdiode4521]

Basically what I learnt from this is run while you can.

[@primeingress4166]

This is the first episode I've had to skip over the statement due to getting uneasy not triggered but uneasy with the statement. Love this series but wow.

[@tinkercat8268]

I had to skip the statement of the theaters That one was way too much

[@alphalilly8207]

*laughs in Animal Farm* seriously though, this episode was messed up. I pictured every grueling detail so vividly I could see the colours XD

[@__-jt4tv]

Huh. Didn't realise their were Vogons in The Magnus Archives. This sounds like heaven to them....!

[@robertbcardoza]

This is my second listen through of this series, and this is by far the most memorable from my first. Not the most emotionally impactful, or even the most unsettling or the most interesting, but I definitely remembered the most about this one.

[@cowcannon8883]

I love the sound design of this episode

[@missep1830]

Jon is giving the Premium Banter today

[@sheolcodemonkey4027]

Basira giving Jon the "dOn'T jUdGe mE" schtick after all the shit she's given him, moments before wholeheartedly admitting that she was no better and actually WORSE than Jon... Well Basira, if you aren't an idiot, then what ARE you?

[@devaughnp.4721]

This episode gives off rainbow factory videos :) In the rainbow factoryy

[@Kitcat-squish75]

Where fears and horrors come true

[@moonlight_scribe]

Monster pig, is that you?

[@cupcaketv5673]

Woah, okay, this is the first episode I think where I have to actively stop and take a moment lest I have a panic attack or anything similar 😅 Really good job, as always of course

[@freyamcbain4160]

The real horror of this episode: long queues

[@codyjordan8722]

This. THIS is probably the most terrifying one for me. drugery dread and disassembly. *shudders*

[@Petronya]

"Avatars are from Mars and humans are from Venus" lmao

[@wonderwhatsgonnahappen579]

Im listening to this after eating dinner -

[@Maskami]

this is the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals

[@semiengima]

Aaah I get it!

[@Boinkess]

“Better to be useful.” Then right after *”USELESS.”*

[@Badficwriter]

That right there makes this completely human rather than animalistic. The only other animal I know that dies willingly for others might be Dictyostelium slime molds. They will join together and some will suicide so the others can go on. Commenters acting like pigs get depressed and try to get eaten are stretching the metaphor.

[@nikolasversteeg]

God the fucking bolt sfx was so good.

[@F0rsythi4]

I thought they already passed the domain of the flesh????? With Jared hopworth????

[@bokai9868]

There are *a lot* of domains, each one reflecting a more specific fear than one of the great fears, but they still technically belong to the 15. There can be more than one avatar of each great fear as well

[@caramel9154]

da sllaugghterrr

[@iiiinkman]

aesthetic music to do your math homework to

[@sunitaoot3614]

this ep is really hot and sexy. very relatable 10/10

[@novadselir1068]

Gasp

[@DearMonroeville]

I have such a hard time understanding what Basira is saying sometimes.

[@takeoats]

this domain is a no thank you from me /pos

[@claireg7929]

18:35

[@fionngarveydrazin2996]

First!

[@TheGoauldApophis]

Wtf is with all the Basira hate in these comments?!

[@alphalilly8207]

I find that some people project themselves too much on these characters. I wouldnt try to use them as a moral template, they are literally in an apocalypse of fear and horror XD

[@drakenhoff]

It's because she's the worst

[@Kitcat-squish75]

She's mean to my favourite boys, so I don't like her 😂 I'm petty! And she's just mean and unpleasant.

[@Badficwriter]

@@Kitcat-squish75 Ah same. Every time she speaks, its to bark or tear others apart. It took an apocryphal magic path quest to get her to reconsider. Its a shame, because she was briefly a decent character.

[@capn_toad]

another episode that's a metaphor for capitalism, yippee! i love these

[@Badficwriter]

I mean, communism was notorious for long queues but whatever speaks to you.

[@zinganeatsr4011]

Yo, is this meat capitalism?