Cult of Gozer

The Cult of Gozer, also known as Gozer Worshippers (as Peter Vankmen jokingly guessed and answered), also sometimes known as the "Gozerian Society", the "Gozerian Cult" and the "Gozerians", was a powerful and religious organization dedicated to the worship of Gozer, the ancient Sumerian god which they believed was to return to one day destroy and remake the world. The Cult was mentioned in the first Ghostbusters movie and become a major threat in Ghostbusters: The Video Game. Despite it's power, the cult itself is but a tool for it's leader, Ivo Shandor.

According to Tobin's Spirit Guide (GBI Supplement Version)
The first known reference to Gozer the Gozerian is a brief phrase in an Egyptian legend believed to reach back to the end of the Middle Kingdom (2040-1650 B.C.). This particular chronicle, dated to approximately 1600 B.C., warns about a powerful deity of the Hyksos known as Zuul, or the Gatekeeper, minion of Gozer.

The menace of Gozer did not end with the passing of the Hyksos (the Egyptians overthrew their masters in 1567 B.C.). Though its worshippers remained quiet for more than 3000 years, remain they did.

Hawthorne Bent, another fanatical Gozer Worshipper, founded the Alnwick school in 1871. The ruins of Alnwick can still be seen rising from the English moors today. Their most striking feature is the odd, pyramid-like shape of the roof of one of the buildings. One also notices the strange stone arch that is the entrance to the ruined school grounds. On one side of the arch crouches a large stone statue of a deformed dog. The other side of the arch is empty, making for a curiously unbalanced structure.

The school was a front for a Gozerian cult. Statements which the poor students made to investigating officers, as recorded in county court records, indicate that Bent trained each of his charges in the sinister practice of Gozer worship.

Finally in 1878, Bent was ready. He assembled the students in the building with the oddly shaped roof, and he began the ritual of summoning.

Until this moment in history, it was thought since the ritual was begun, destruction must surely follow. The courage of a schoolboy and the stupidity of the minion Vinz Clortho would prove that long-held belief wrong.

Bent's arcane ritual woke Vinz Clortho first. The boys' accounts became confused here; events are difficult to reconstruct. Vinz Clortho must have galloped past an old plow-horse that the school kept on the grounds, and rather than possess a human form, the demon Keymaster took the horse's body. It was the possessed Clydesdale then, that burst through the doors of the assembly room and demanded in a voice hoarse from centuries of silence, "Where is the Gatekeeper?"

It searched the room with fiery eyes. No on spoke out until young Alan Childress, a sixth-former said to have done the best impression of the schoolmaster, hit on an idea. In a near-perfect imitation of Hawthorne Bent, young Childress answered, "Here I am-I am the Gatekeeper."

The demon-horse spun its head around, perhaps looking for the source of that adult-sounding voice. "Are you the Gatekeeper?" it rasped mechanically at the stunned Bent.

"No, no," Bent stammered. "Zuul is. If you wait patiently, please, we will summon him."

But Vinz Clortho remained fixated on the voice he had heard. "You are the Gatekeeper! I am the Keymaster!" the horse bugled as it leapt towards Bent. The schoolmaster ran screaming.

Neither Bent nor the horse was ever seen again, but several Border farmers reported seeing the running figure of a man pursued by a horse with strange, glowing eyes. Bent never completed the ritual, Vinz Clortho never met with Zuul, and because of the ingenuity and courage of young Mr. Childress, Gozer the Gozerian was not allowed to walk the Earth.

The world at large encountered the Gozerian cult in Vienna in 1899. There, a public outcry arose over a lecture delivered by Dr. Michael Zhorchev, a Serbian surgeon from Zagreb. Dr. Zhorchev believed that human beings were by nature an angry, abusive, violent race that surgery could transform into docility. Zhorchev was laughed out of Vienna, and it was discovered that he actually performed operations on all but one student at a Serbian university, he was hunted down and hanged.

During the hunt for Zhorchev, investigators where struck by the unusual shape of his Zagreb house. Upon inquiry, the searchers discovered that Zhorchev had built the building himself, at considerable expense, after a research trip to Damascus. The roof of Zhorchev's house was precisely the shape of certain odd and ancient ziggurats in the Middle East.

The exact motives of the sinister Serb are unclear, but it is known that he had at least one disciple. Ivo Shandor, an Albanian medical student and research assistant to Zhorchev, fled to the United States and took with him the secrets of the Gozerian cult.

Primary Canon
The original Gozer Worshippers, known as the "Gozerians" first appeared in Mesopotamia around 6000 BC. By the 4th millennium BC the Cult of Gozer consisted of a large Sumerian sub-culture and was engaged in a long, protracted war with the followers of Tiamat. Eventually Gozer and its followers were defeated and Tiamat banished Gozer from this world. Though Gozer fell into relative obscurity, it was not forgotten over the subsequent millennia and in 1920 a new cult was founded by Ivo Shandor. Shandor was an insane genius who, during his lifetime, made all the preparations needed for his god to be summoned. The members of the cult included close to a thousand followers, who's high priests included a many great wealthy and powerful people in New York society. The cult made many preparations for Gozer, including constructing a portal which would eventually bring forth the Destroyer, and four sacred places containing a Mandala to channel the spirit force, powering their god's Destructor form. The cult studied the ghosts very carefully, and had many knowledges which surpasses their time.

The Cult's activities were prominent enough that they and Shandor himself are listed in Tobin's Spirit Guide.

In 1984, during the time of the Gozer's coming, all the cult members were already dead. However, their spirits were still active on Earth, thanks to the Black Slime, a powerful substance they created from a captured Sloar. The Black Slime boosted the powers of their spirits, allowing them to operate the Mandalas and patiently wait until their god will bring new, post-Gozerian era to the Earth.

However, the mighty Gozer was defeated by the Ghostbusters, ruining the Cult's plan for a new world. The now-undead Cult planned a second coming of Gozer, which succeeded in 1991. However, the god was banished by the Ghostbusters. This lead Ivo Shandor to reconsider his dream, activating the four Mandalas and channeling the spirit force to the Cult's secret holy ground, the Cemetery in Central Park. Disappointed in his God, Ivo Shandor planned to power himself with the spirit energy intended for Gozer and become a Destroyer himself. However, he was stopped by the Ghostbusters.

Secondary Canon
At least one faction splintered from the Cult of Gozer and its remnants formed the Temple of the Divine Father, dedicated to worship of Gozer's father, Koza'Rai.

Members
The Cult of Gozer once consisted of many prominent people of wealth and power. However, the Cult reached its true form when all of them died, re-emerging as evil ghosts. The majority of the immortal cultists' powers were boosted by the Black Slime, which is the source of most of their power. However, some of them is enough powerful on their own.
 * Ivo Shandor - The legendary architect, inventor, paranormal genius, and homicidal madman. He is the supreme leader and the founder of the Cult.
 * Edmund Hoover - Also known as Azetlor, this high-ranking Cult member become a keeper of the library's Mandala. He was the one who discovered the secrets of Gozerian lore from the library, and now rules a twisted ghostly version of it.
 * Cornelius Wellesly - A high-ranking Cult member who is the keeper of the museum's Mandala. Once was a powerful tycoon.
 * The Spider Witch - True name unknown. A serial killer who acted under Ivo Shandor's commands, and a high-ranking member of the Cult. Now she is a keeper of the hotel's Mandala, and a powerful, spider-like ghost.
 * Cultist Summoners - The ghosts of powerful high class cultist members who possess summoning magical abilities. Minions of Ivo Shandor.
 * Cultists - The ghosts of powerful cultist members. Powerful beings on their own, but still minions of Ivo Shandor.
 * Black Slime Monsters - The most powerful of Black Slime-dependent ghostly cultists. Once a wealthy, powerful people.
 * Black Slime Ghosts - Cultists which existence is completely binded to Black Slime.
 * Black Slime Fiends - The lower-ranking cultists re-emerged with the help of Black Slime, becoming a mindless minions.

Trivia

 * On page 21 of Ghostbusters Issue #6, part of the seal of the Cult of Gozer can be seen in the top right corner.