| “ | How does the heart pump blood? What does it look like? Is it like this? | „ |
| ~ Erika Mustermann asking questions in anatomy class, before making a dead human heart beat. |
| “ | You could have at least chopped my ears off, too. You people just won’t shut up! Hhhhow am I supposed to get the lungs lined up right, when I can’t even con-concentrate… | „ |
| ~ Mustermann to their captors after healing their lungs. |
Erika Mustermann, later called Max Mustermann, is a supporting antagonist of season 3 of the Rusty Quill horror podcast The Magnus Archives.
They were a shape-shifting creature created by and serving the godlike entity known as the Stranger. Along with several other creatures similar to them, they enrolled in a college anatomy class hoping to use knowledge of human insides help bring the Stranger into the world. Upon graduating, they began to work with the Circus of the Other, taking on the identity of an American cop and setting out to track down Jonathan Sims to take his skin.
They were voiced by Brock Winstead.
Appearance[]
Mustermann is never described in detail, but when in Dr. Lionel Elliott's class, they wore a white t-shirt and blue jeans. They appeared a young woman when in that class but presumably shifted over to a man at some point over the next few years.
Personality[]
When taking the anatomy class, Mustermann seemed somewhat curious and naive, albeit in a twisted way. They had a genuine desire to understand human anatomy and was interested enough to allow their teacher to survive teaching their class, even giving them a gift along with the rest of their classmates.
Despite this, they seemed to have no actual respect for the human race, and was perfectly willing to help force a surreal hell of fear onto the world. Their interest in anatomy did not extend to the actual lives of the people they met, and they held a mild contempt for those who talked about themselves.
Biography[]
Taking Anatomy[]
Mustermann came into existence in January of 2016, along with 6 creatures similar to them. They all somehow got themselves into a class at King College, London, despite it being halfway through the term. The class was taught by Dr. Lionel Elliot, who was unaware of the true nature of his students.
As Elliott taught the class, Mustermann and their classmates began trying to act more human, beginning to pretend to breathe when he explained the respiratory system. When Elliott took the class to the dissection room, the students began taking some of the bones in the chamber and sticking them into themselves, making themselves bigger in the process. After this Elliot more or less stopped teaching the class, leaving Mustermann and their classmates to sit in the classroom and stare off into space for the who hour.
Eventually, Elliot returned to take the class to the dissection room a second time, this time to show them human hearts. During this lesson, Mustermann picked up a heart and asked what it would be like for it to beat. They began to make the heart spasm grotesquely, asking if that was what a beating heart was like. As their classmates joined in, Elliot left the lesson. He did not return for the rest of the semester, although on the last day, Mustermann and their classmates left him a note thanking him for teaching them, and an apple full of teeth.
Hunting Jonathan Sims[]
Sometime later, Mustermann shifted into the appearance of a man, and began to work for Nikola Orsinov, hoping to help her bring about the Unknowing. To do this, Nikola wanted the skin of Jonathan Sims, head archivist of the Magnus Institute, and an enemy of the Stranger.
Mustermann followed Jonathan Sims when he left the Magnus Institute headquarters in London and took a plane to Chicago. There, they disguised as a police officer, and followed Jon to the Usher Foundation in Washington D.C. There, he witnesses Jon get accosted and taken into a car by a mysterious woman. He followed the car and eventually pulled them over, still pretending to be a cop. He opened the car's trunk and was assaulted by an old man inside. The old man stabbed him in the lung and incapacitated him.
The woman and the old man, revealing themselves to be monster hunters Trevor Herbert and Julia Montauk, brought Jon and Mustermann to their lair, where they explained their natures to Jon while they waited for Mustermann to heal his lung. When he finally did, they interrogated him about the Unknowing, and he apparently gave them some useful information. Afterwards, he remained in the captivity of Montauk and Herbert, until they presumably found a way to kill him.
Powers and Abilities[]
Mustermann seemed to have control over anatomy: complete control over their own which allowed them to shapeshift, and limited control over that of other people. This power seemed to require some amount of skill and knowledge to use, and Mustermann needed to have understanding of human biology before they could put it in effect. As a creature of the Stranger, they seemed effectively impossible to kill and could heal themselves from any injury.
Trivia[]
- The name "Max Mustermann" translates to "Max Exampleperson" in English, and is a German placeholder name, being the equivalent of "John Doe".
