Temple Gate

Temple Gate has other uses. Please see Temple Gate (Disambiguation) for other meanings.

"Mount Massive was a pebble in a pond, an experiment on individuals. This is where the real sickness spreads."

―Simon Peacock about Temple Gate^[1]

Temple Gate is a remote settlement in the Havasupai Indian Reservation in Northern Arizona, and the primary setting of Outlast 2. It is the home of a Christian doomsday cult known as the Testament of the New Ezekiel and was built within a radius approximately forty miles away from the Sinyala Facility^[2]^[3]^[4] by the estimated year of 1971^[5]. Temple Gate was lead by the cult's self-appointed Reverend, Sullivan Knoth, formerly known as Reagent 1616.

While Temple Gate exists to provide shelter to the cultists and enable their depraved activities, the greater purpose of the settlement is, unbeknownst to all of its residents, to serve as a secret testing ground for the Murkoff Corporation's experiments into modifying the brain with microwave broadcasts on a mass scale.

History[]

The origins of Temple Gate can be traced back to Project Lathe, a bizarre experiment conducted by the Murkoff Corporation at the Sinyala Facility during the Cold War. The project's intended purpose was to produce sleeper agents, known as Reagents, for the Central Intelligence Agency. One such Reagent was Sullivan Knoth, who managed to complete the therapy and was released to the outside world to await further instructions from Murkoff and the CIA. He was monitored extensively by Collections Agent Clyde Perry, who observed his employment and termination as a cobbler ^[6], his subsequent move to New Mexico^[7], his ability to charm people^[8], and his responses to trigger tests.^[9]

During surveillance, Perry noted that Knoth was an intensely charismatic individual which helped him attract the attention of numerous women^[9]. But furthermore, Knoth experienced anomalous behavior even by the standards of most completed Reagents. He began placing metal objects near his eye and mouth^[6] and would turn and travel in a direction as if he were a compass. At each point his "compass behavior" was observed, the lines of Knoth's headings were all seeming to lead him towards a site approximately forty miles away from the Sinyala Facility^[2]; a site that would presumably become the home of Temple Gate. Perry theorized that Knoth had picked up an unusual signal.

Knoth would indeed pick up signals from radios broadcasting Evangelical programs that he would perceive as the "true voice of God" commanding him to abandon the public world and serve as his "prophet" in preparation for the end times, all whilst experiencing overwhelming visions. He garnered a large following of lost individuals and inducted them into his newfound religious ideology. He then encouraged his female followers to engage in sexual activities, even going as far as to donate "his own seed to the cause". Driven away by the New Mexico authorities, Knoth and his followers would find themselves settling in the Arizona desert.^[10]

In 1960, a containment breach at the Sinyala Facility was orchestrated by Amelia Collier, resulting in hundreds of Reagents escaping from the facility and into the Arizona desert by foot. To reduce the amount of Reagents reaching the public, Project Lathe's director Doctor Hendrick Joliet Easterman brought out Perry's files on Sullivan Knoth and showed them to his boss A. Bradley Avellanos and the facility's architect Moses Scarfiotti. Noting that Knoth had already been building up a significant "harem" near the facility, Easterman proposed that Knoth would bring the escaped Reagents into his flock if given a new narrative and sense of mission.^[11]^[12] This would implicitly mean that many of Temple Gate's earliest settlers were escaped Reagents who fell under Knoth's sway, and that Murkoff had played a part in intentionally engineering Knoth's religious ideology that would hold control Temple Gate's society.

In 1971, with the help of his followers and closest deacons, Knoth would finish building Temple Gate where all of his followers would reside independently in isolation to escape the outside world.^[5] Over the decades, the presence of bizarre white flashes in the sky would greatly alter the mental states of all of Temple Gate's residents in varying ways, especially in their religious views and behavior.

Before its occupants were driven into further insanity, Temple Gate was a self sustaining settlement, with very few residents leaving town to buy medical supplies or batteries. The town was capable of generating power from an industrial generator that powered all the lights and industrial appliances in homes and buildings. Notable buildings were the Compound and the Chapel. Despite appearing as a thriving community, Temple Gate had at least one secret burrow where Sullivan and his closest followers would rape the women of the community. They also raised their own livestock and had a school for children's primary education. The community's primary source of food was from its livestock, mostly cows, and their corn crops.

Some time after the fanaticism and madness in the town's inhabitants had grown, Temple Gate gradually became a religious killing ground. By the time of Blake Langermann's arrival, many of Temple Gate's buildings had fallen into a state of disrepair and much of the land had been littered with blood and corpses. Some of the houses had secret rooms mainly used by the Heretics disguised among Sullivan's flock. The Compound was still used as a place of worship, but the basement had been converted into a prison for the cult's enemies, while the Chapel was being used to torture Knoth's foes. Several female residents were rape, both at Sullivan Knoth's hand and at the hand of the cult's male followers upon being encouraged by the Gospel of Knoth's teachings. Dozens of children conceived by the rapes were murdered, either out of suspicion that they were the Antichrist or in preparation for the Apocalypse. Many of Temple Gate's residents are found dead, some having killed themselves after murdering the town's children in the name of God while others were found hanged, butchered, or burned at the stake. The town's livestock by the present day were often found mutilated and rotting in Temple Gate's farmland.

It is ultimately revealed that the source of the madness that affected Temple Gate's inhabitants were the microwave signals coming from the Radio Towers situated at the Sinyala Facility,^[13]^[14] which could be seen in the distance at the lake residing along the town's outskirts.^[15] The signals are known to cause serious psychological effects on the human mind, such as hallucinations, dreams, visions, delusions, or even catatonia. The towers were installed by the Murkoff Corporation to brainwash the inhabitants of Temple Gate, supposedly to test mind control techniques on a mass scale.

Blake eventually escapes Temple Gate for the nearby mines to rescue his wife Lynn Langermann, but returns when he and Lynn take shelter in the Chapel while running from the cultists. Following Lynn's death, all of Temple Gate's residents in town commit suicide by cyanide poisoning except for Knoth who asks Blake to kill the "child" before slitting his own throat. Pauline Glick and a team of Murkoff agents later arrive to assess what happened, bringing a clean up crew to collect, identify and dispose of the dead. They later find a catatonic Blake in a nearby shed and have him taken to the Elrich facility for brutal questioning.

Locations[]

Crash Site: A cliffside overlooking woodlands near the entrance to Temple Gate and the site where Blake and Lynn's rented helicopter crashed. Past the burning wreckage is where Villagers caught the helicopter pilot, brutally murdered him and tied him to a tree.
Village Entrance: The first section of Temple Gate visited by Blake. It is mostly uninhabited, containing houses, farmland, a memorial fence, a barn and campfires. A couple houses have seemingly been marked for heresy. Most notably, the Village Entrance features an underground sacrificial temple where numerous children have been killed on Sullivan Knoth's orders.
The Compound: A massive wooden temple adjacent to the Chapel. Large gatherings for the Testament of the New Ezekiel appear to take place here. Knoth frequently holds sermons and speeches in the Compound's throne room, which are blasted over speakers across Temple Gate. Seemingly a place of worship for the Testament of the New Ezekiel, the Compound now serves as a jail for various residents deemed to be Heretics, with evidence of torture taking place.
Waterfall Settlement: A remote section of the village near the Compound. The settlement is built over a lake with a waterfall overlooking it. Blake briefly visits this settlement after Lynn is kidnapped by Val and the Heretics. Several Villagers attempt to ambush Blake in this area.
Ethan's House: An isolated cabin near the Waterfall Settlement and the home of Ethan, a villager who has secretly rejected the cult's monstrous beliefs. While small and largely unkempt, it contains a root cellar used to shelter Blake from Knoth's followers. It is cut off from the Fields by a river.
The Fields: Farmlands located near the core of Temple Gate. It was notable for featuring a large cornfield Blake must traverse through to escape from Villagers hunting down Heretics. Outside the cornfield is a set of farmhouses and a barn. Despite being separate from the main village, Marta was known to hunt deserters in this area.
Heretic Cave: A secret place of worship for Heretics, it is a temple built within a mountain's cavern near the Chapel Streets. Inside is a shrine depicting a large winged wicker statue holding a baby doll with a crown of thorns. Skulls decorate the sides of the shrine and a rock used as a "table" for sacrifices is found underneath the statue. Flayed bodies and branches decorate the passage out of the cave.
Town Square: A major settlement within the core of Temple Gate, housing many of Knoth's most loyal followers, including Henchmen dressed in black executioner robes. Since Blake's arrival, the Town Square was left in a state of disarray, featuring Heretics being slaughtered in their homes and in the streets by Knoth's followers, residents committing suicide, cultists preaching hysterically, and villagers hiding from Marta in their homes. Val and her followers have set up several hidden shrines within their homes. A generator powers much of the village's electricity and an elevator leading to the upper part of town, where a sign declaring Temple Gate's foundation, a well, a child's dormitory, and a sealed path to the Chapel are located.
Village Underside: A series of caverns and basements underneath the Town Square. The well's underside is located here, which was revealed to be a place of sacrifice, as a pit of spikes where men, women and children have been thrown to their deaths by Knoth's followers, is found directly below the well. A "show room" is also found, where women are evidently chained to beds and raped.
Schoolhouse: A school built in between the Town Square and the Chapel Streets. The primary source of education in Temple Gate was evidently used to induct the village's children into following Knoth's beliefs from a young age, including having to accept their inevitable deaths and embrace the thought of going to Heaven.
Chapel Streets: A deeper section of the village near the Town Square, located directly outside the Chapel. The streets can be first be seen overlooking the Fields. Numerous two-story houses have been built here, and the streets appear to be in better condition than the Town Square. A blacksmith is found in the corner of the street. Additionally, a river runs directly through the Chapel Streets, with a few large bridges built over the river to connect paths through the village. One of these bridges has collapsed, cutting off Blake's path into the Chapel Streets after he had traversed the Fields. The Chapel Streets was most notable for featuring a tense encounter with Marta before entering the Chapel.
The Chapel: The home of Sullivan Knoth, the Chapel was a large, ominous church built on a hill overlooking the entirety of Temple Gate. The "House of God" for the Testament of the New Ezekiel was revealed to be anything but a place of sanctuary. It has most recently been used to hold Heretics captive and torture them to death, most notably Josiah and Mary. The black-robed Henchmen are encountered here once again, gathering in the Chapel to serve as muscle for Knoth.
Watermill: Temple Gate's hydropower facility outside the Town Square and the Chapel Streets. One of its uses seems to be for making flour, as the Watermill overlooks a nearby cornfield and bags of flour are found inside. While making his way to the Heretic Mines, Blake must stop the Watermill from operating to pass through.
"Marta's Piece": Marta's apparent home, located on the edge of town next to the Watermill. The villagers actively avoid visiting these grounds out of fear of being killed by Marta. The land features a field of grass, a tool shed, a barn, and a slaughterhouse for Temple Gate's cattle. All of the livestock in the area have been killed, and human corpses are found hung from hooks within the slaughterhouse. At the end of "Marta's Piece" is a small chapel built into the side of a mountain, seemingly serving as Marta's place of worship.
Scalled Reservation: The main setting of the second chapter, Job. The Scalled Reservation is a forest found within a canyon along the outskirts of Temple Gate and a quarantine zone for the Scalled, members of the Testament of the New Ezekiel who have succumbed to a deadly outbreak of syphilis and gonorrhea. The Scalled Reservation was led by Laird Byron, a tyrannical deacon of Knoth suffering from dwarfism, amputation and STDs. The settlement is mostly composed of campfires, cabins and a small village at the deepest end of the canyon. The Scalled Reservation was kept in a perpetual state of squalor, as many Scalled settlers were left to suffer and rot. Puddles of vomit and dead bodies litter the area, water sources and small crevices are used by the settlers for relieving themselves, and several residents are frequently murdered by Laird at random.
The Lake: A large, open body of water found along the outskirts of Temple Gate. A small fishing community of cultists is found at the lakeside, but the settlers have seemingly abandoned it due to what appears to be either Heretic presence or severe hallucinations. A "HELP" sign was even built out of logs and rocks by the Lake's residents. The Radio Towers directly overlook the Lake. Furthermore, evidence of a Murkoff researcher taking observation notes of Temple Gate can be found. The Lake seems to have experienced severe chemical pollution from down the river, evidenced by Blake mentioning the smell of chemicals and poison in the water, and Lynn musing that the mercury in Anna Lee's blood may have come from downstream industrial pollution.
River: The stream ahead of the Lake leading directly to the Mines. The River has been completely populated by Heretics who stalk Blake throughout his journey on the raft. Grisly warnings composed of the Heretics' victims have been set up throughout the riverside, and several villagers were burned alive and tossed into the River.
Heretic Mines: The main setting of the fourth and fifth chapters, Judges and Leviticus respectively. It is an abandoned mining facility and cavern located in the furthest outskirts of Temple Gate, and seen at a distance several times throughout Blake's journey. It has become the home for Val and the Heretics, who have slaughtered dozens of villagers here for attempting to recapture Lynn. As such, the Heretics' victims decorate much of the topside facility. Due to the effects of the Radio Towers, Blake begins to see blood showering the mining facility upon arrival. Within the mines caverns are unused mining equipment, rails and, unusually, scarce sources of electricity running through it. The caverns experience multiple cave-ins and earthquakes throughout Blake's time there. Heretic shrines and dead bodies once again decorate much of the caverns. At end of the Heretic Mines was the site of Heretics engaging in a twisted orgy to celebrate the birth of "the Antichrist".

Trivia[]

Temple Gate's coordinates are N 36° 05' 51", W 112° 34' 00".^[1] In real life, this would place it about eighty miles northwest of Flagstaff, Arizona.
Simon Peacock described Temple Gate as a place where "If you can look at what's there and not eat yourself hollow with shame, you are not human anymore", referring to the experiments conducted by Murkoff Corporation at Temple Gate as so cruel and inhumane that they exceed those at Mount Massive Asylum.^[1]
As seen on a sign in the Town Square, Temple Gate was founded in 1971. This means that by the time Blake Langermann arrives in Temple Gate, the town had been there for over forty years.