| “ | It was to be a week of night and horror, culminating in the eclipse that passed over Ny-Ålesund on the 20th of March, 2015, almost three hundred years after Halley’s eclipse passed over London. We had hundreds of sacrifices prepared and ready, plunged into darkness and terror for days on end. All prepared to culminate in the unveiling of that point of purest night at the moment of the eclipse’s height. It would open the door to a world of true and holy darkness, extinguish the sun, and take us to a place where we would be redeemed of our base and corrupt need for light and warmth. | „ |
| ~ Manuela Dominguez on the end goals of the People's Church. |
The People's Church of the Divine Host are major antagonists of the Rusty Quill horror podcast The Magnus Archives.
They were a secretive cult that worshiped the godlike entity known as the Dark. Led by Maxwell Rayner, they sought to bring about the Extinguished Sun Ritual, which would bring their god into the world and cast everything into an eternal night.
History[]
The cult was founded by Maxwell Rayner, an avatar of the Dark, sometime in the late 20th century, and became well-known in the late 1980s and early 1990s, being made up of people who believed light was corrupting force that prevented the universe from existing in its true form of darkness. Sometime in the 1990s, the cult disappeared, although continued to operate secretly.
Around this time, the Church began seeking to empower the Still and Lightless Beast, so as to sacrifice it when the time for their ritual came. When a cultist named Linette Montauk tried to quit, Rayner fed her to the beast, and manipulated her husband, Robert Montauk, into becoming a serial killer. Montauk's kills empowered the beast until he turned on the cult and began killing members, before being arrested and murdered by the Beast in prison shortly thereafter.
Sometime later, the cult set about creating the "Dark Star", and Rayner's second in command Manuela Dominguez went into space to create it using the infinite darkness. She was successful, and the Church set about their final preparations.
In the late 2010, the Church set up mini rituals all around the world, where they murdered hundreds of sacrifices. The bulk of the cult centered in Ny-Ålesund, the northernmost human civilization, owned by their shell company Outer Bay Shipping. However, small parts of the ritual began to fail, and although Maxwell and Manuela were able to briefly bring the Dark into the world, it only lasted a few moments and led to the deaths of about half of the cult.
Having failed at their main goal, the Church regrouped in London, and kidnapped a little boy touched by the Dark named Callum Brodie, hoping to make him a new form for Maxwell. However, during the body-swapping ritual, the warehouse they hid out in was attacked, and Maxwell was killed, effectively ending the cult for good.
Members[]
- Maxwell Rayner - Founder/Leader (Deceased)
- Manuela Dominguez - Second-in-command
- Natalie Ennis - High-ranking member (Deceased)
- Vardhan Darvish - Leader of the Manchester branch (Deceased)
- Linette Montauk (Defected)
- Christopher Lorne (Deceased)
- Robert Montauk - Serial killer associated with the Church (Defected)
Trivia[]
- According to Mag 53: Crusader, the Serapeum of Alexandria was destroyed by "those who sing the night". This is possibly an early predecessor of the modern-day church.
- The cult bears a strong resemblance to the "Starry Wisdom Sect" from the HP Lovecraft story The Haunter of the Dark. Like the Divine Host, Starry Wisdom are also based out of an old church, connected to a larger, globe-spanning occult organization, have wealthy backers and summon a supernatural creature that is weak against light.
