| “ | This circus was huge, easily as big as the ones I would see at Morshansk. The trucks rolled through the village shortly before dawn, and by the evening there it stood in the field to the east of town. Over the entrance stood a brightly painted wooden sign that read “Другой Цирк” 3, “Another Circus”. | „ |
| ~ Yuri Utkin describing the Circus of the Other. |
Цирк другого, or the Circus of the Other, known alternately as другой Цирк ('Drugoy Tsirk’. Another Circus or the Different Circus), are the main antagonists of season 3 of the Rusty Quill horror podcast The Magnus Archives.
They were a circus dating back to the 1700s dedicated to the godlike entity known as the Stranger. Led by Gregor Orsinov and later Nikola Orsinov, it was made up of twisted people and monsters who spread surreal chaos around Europe for centuries. In the early 2000s, it became dedicated to bringing about the Unknowing, a ritual that would twist reality and bring the Stranger into the world.
History[]
The Circus was founded by Gregor Orsinov sometime before the 1700s. He made it up by recruiting various servants of the Stranger, including the infamous pair of being Breekon and Hope and the organ player Nikolai Denikin. Together, they made more monsters and recruited more entities to join their circus.
In the early 1800s, the circus found Joseph Grimaldi, an embittered and forgotten clown. Hoping to eventually use him as the head dancer in the Unknowing, Gregor took him apart and rebuilt him as Nikola, a living mannequin. It was around this time that Nikolai Denikin left the troop and it apparently became less dangerous.
The Circus continued to tour Europe during the 20th century, appearing in the town of Minsk, Belarus, in 1948. In 1952 they came to a town called Algasovo in Russia. There, they forced a young boy named Ivan Utkin to walk a tightrope in a bag, and hypnotized the entire town into watching two clowns violently murder each other in a noncomedic way. They left the town the next day and apparently did far worse to the others they came across.
In the latter half of the 20th century, Nikola killed Gregor and took over the troop, prompting the strongmen to leave. She brought the troop back to Britain, where they began collecting skin, hoping to bring about the Unknowing. As they did this, they formed an alliance with other servants of the Stranger such as the Anglerfish, the NotThem, and the Hundreds of Shells.
In 2017, the Circus had collected everything they needed to bring about the Unknowing, and began to twist reality in a taxidermy shop called the Trophy Hall. However, during the ritual, they were attacked by members of the Magnus Institute, Timothy Stoker, a vengeful enemy of the circus, blew the shop up, destroying Цирк другого.
Members[]
- Gregor Orsinov - Founder/First Ringleader (Deceased)
- Nikola Orsinov - Second Ringleader (Deceased)
- Nikolai Denikin - Organist (Defected)
- Breekon and Hope - Strongmen (Defected)
- Unnamed contortionist
- Unnamed fire-eater
- Unnamed beings in the "Freak Show"
Trivia[]
- In Mag 24, Jonathan Sims inspects a picture of the circus said to have been taken in Minsk Russia in 1948. Minsk, however, is a capital of Belarus, and at the time would be not a part of Russia, but a part of the USSR.
