The Disciples of Carnage are the fulfillment of a dark prophecy; the result of the union of the Apostles of Carnage and the Disciples of Death. Twin societies, both protégés of the Forces of Darkness, both created by the same entity, but each existing in different dimensions-until recently. Their union in this dimension marks a new era in the Eternal Doctrine of Carnage. An era in which the infidels will meet their fates doom. The conflict grows larger and more heated. There are many things to come, and the future is wide-open and ours for the taking. But it is the past and not the future that is the topic of discussion. What follows is intended to help the uninitiated understand who we are and where we’ve come from.

The Apostles of Carnage and the Disciples of Death have existed, in one form or another, for over 5000 years. No matter what guise they were under, their underlying agenda has always been the same: better existence through dominance and dominance through Carnage. This maxim has been the basic philosophy of both societies since it was first devised by the powerful Warrior King, Ka’Shator, over five millennia ago.

The inception of the Apostles of Carnage is accredited to the great Acolyte, Ka’Shator, 5,281 years ago during the year 2256 B.C. 25 years later, while in an alternate dimension, Ka’Shator started a similar society, the Disciples of Death. Acolyte is the name given to the four progenitors of the two societies. Along with Ka’Shator were three other Acolytes: Ankheg, Glabrezu, and Gor’NaThal. These four were the ruling members of a marauding society of nomads known as the Izkon Vorr. It was in the badlands of Eurasia where it all started, and the Izkon Vorr evolved into the first Apostles of Carnage. Ka’Shator was the Warrior King, Gor’NaThal was the Master Weapons Smith, Glabrezu was the ScoutMaster in charge of all the scouts who gathered intelligence on cities to be conquered and other nomads, and Ankheg was the Warrior Chief in charge of training battle tactics to the warriors. Under the leadership of the Acolytes, the Izkon Vorr became one of the most powerful nomadic societies of the Eurasia land mass; conquering several of the civilizations that they encountered as they moved throughout the land.

The Acolytes spread their philosophy to the other nomads of the time. As the Izkon Vorr once did, many of the nomadic groups lived in regions where the land was dry and the climate harsh. As a result, they suffered many hardships associated with poor crops and poor livestock. While the cities around them, with rich fertile soil, prospered. These same cities also denied the nomads from settling within them or even entering. As the Acolytes did with their own, so did they also teach the Maxim of Carnage to other nomadic societies. They taught these nomads that they had a right to a better existence and that to wreak carnage was the best way to secure that better existence. The Izkon Vorr along with their new apostles—the Akkad nomads whom were lead by Sargon the Great—conquered Mesopotamia and its other smaller city-states. On the plateau of Dhelyr they built the first Ministry Of Carnage. The large building was adorned with over 10,000 skulls taken from the slaughtered Mesopotamian leaders, soldiers, and civilians. They also built great Citadels Of Carnage, similarly adorned, on the perimeters of the newly conquered lands.

The Acolytes continued the practice of indoctrinating other nomadic groups that they encountered into their philosophy. Thus making these groups Apostles of Carnage. All those that did not believe in the ways of the Apostles were called Infidels. No matter how much they conquered, the Izkon Vorr and the other Apostles of Carnage never became complacent. They were always ready to contribute to the downfall of other civilizations and thus better their own existence. To aid them in their insatiable lust for conquest, the Acolytes made certain to stay on the fore front of military technology and tactics. Gor’NaThal introduced to the Apostles metallurgical techniques to allow them to smelt iron. With this ability they could create iron weapons far superior to the bronze and copper weapons used by the centers of civilizations they planned to conquer. Gor’NaThal also developed powerful compound bows for the archers.

Ankheg taught the nomads superior battle tactics that were both sophisticated and ruthless. Ankheg also instructed the use of horsedrawn chariots in battle as opposed to Ox drawn carts. Glabrezu kept the Warrior King, Ka’Shator, informed of cities that were ripe for conquest. Under the order of Ka’Shator these cities would invaded one by one. With the advantage of superior and ruthless tactics, superior weapons, and the superior mobility of horsedrawn carts, the Apostles of Carnage overwhelmed the defenses of several centers of civilization, massacred their armies and killed all of their leaders and implemented their own ruling hierarchy. They continued to build Ministries and Citadels throughout conquered lands. The Apostles were quick to crush any rebellions that might arise from the conquered populous. The Apostles were cold and brutal in their population control methods. Agitators were made to watch as their families were mutilated and killed in front of them before they themselves were eviscerated and made to die slowly over several hours. These horrifying and disgusting spectacles took place in public to send a message to the rest of the populous that resistance means Death.

The invading Apostles of Carnage were called by many names by the terrified people they conquered. Names such as, raw barbarians, abominations, the red menace, cruxes of evil, beasts, and riders from the abyss. An Egyptian official once wrote "Their morals reek more than the stench of death that they create." At the other end of Eurasia a Chinese imperial secretary wrote, "In their chests beat the hearts of beasts…they are not men, they are far from being a part of humanity." The Apostles took great pride in their enemies not regarding them as human. This gave them a sense of immortality. As a result, their fear of death as they fought was further reduced because they now regarded themselves as immortal and their enemies as mortals. Because the Apostles were militarily elite, practiced horrific population control, and were reviled as inhuman monsters, they could easily rule over subject peoples that far outnumbered them.

The Acolytes became obsessed with the idea of achieving true immortality. To this end, they sought out practitioners of magic such as shamans, spellbinders, sortilegers, mages, and chaldeans. It took ten long years before any real progress was made. But finally, a sortileger by the name of Savir opened a portal that he believed contained the secrets to immortality. The Acolytes along with Savir entered the portal and vanished. Believing that their leaders were forever lost, the Apostles carried on in the tradition of Carnage in which they were taught. As a way of honoring the memory of the Acolytes, the Apostles wreaked carnage with an unprecedented ferocity. In some instances, they did not stop with the conquest of a civilization; instead, they slaughtered entire populations and burned cities to the ground leaving nothing but rotting bodies and burning wastelands.

This Wrath of Carnage continued for years. Then one dark and stormy night, the portal reopened and the Acolytes and Savir returned. With them they brought back fabulous tales of other worlds; some similar to their own and others that were vastly different—all existing in other planes. They also spoke of another place, a place full of wonders and horrors alike, a place where the sun never shined and the sky was pitch black and the moon had a deep red glow. It was here that they found the secrets to immortality and much, much more. This place was called Perdition. The Acolytes promised all Apostles that if they remained devoted and true to Carnage, that they would be granted immortality. They would have life eternal and never die of disease or natural causes. And if they were killed through violence, that instead of death, they would be transferred to a plane of existence where they would be regenerated over time then returned intact and once again be an Apostle Of Carnage; alive again to continue what was now, because of their immortality, the Eternal Doctrine of Carnage and reap the benefits created thereof. This plane of regeneration was called Zhon.

Along with all of this, the Acolytes told the Apostles that they had started another clan in an altered reality. The Acolytes explained that this clan, the Disciples of Death, were their brethren. And that their brethren would carry out the Eternal Doctrine of Carnage in this altered reality, called T’eotra, until the day comes for the Disciples to cross the breach and join the Apostles in this reality. Ka’Shator called this future union his Dark Prophecy, and that when this time came, it would mark the beginning of a great era of Carnage.

The now Hellified and immortal Apostles continued the indoctrination of several nomadic societies throughout Eurasia. These included the Scythians, Assryians, Achaeans, Arameans, Phoenicians, Hittites, Kassites, Hurrians, Hyksos, Dorians, Mycenaeans, Akkads, Saklins, Axuns, Panthiryns, Hortas, Noves, Persians, Vikings, and even Turks and Mongols. The civilizations that they conquered included Mesopotamia, Greece, Indus, Shang, Egypt, Tikal, Kievian Russ, Lytra, Aspasia, Korsk, Andhra, and Eligonia, to name a few.

Throughout the ages, the Apostles, continued their Eternal Doctrine of Carnage. Many outstanding groups and incidents of history that you may be familiar with, the Apostles were involved in. What follows are several examples of these groups and events. The Scourge of God, also known as Attila the Hun, was an ardent Apostle; others included Erik the Red, Genghis Khan, Ivan the Terrible, and Syca the Mad. Another example of the Apostles’ influence is the fall of the Roman Empire. The fall of Rome was ordered after Roman leaders tried to defy the wishes of the Acolytes. The Byzantine Empire enjoyed a 1000 years free from invasion because a city near its center, Nicaea, was designated an Apostles’ Sanctum. Word had spread that violation of land within 500 miles of a Sanctum, would be met with Extreme Reprisal. An example of an extreme reprisal would be the constant extermination of the women and children of the invading force for a period of no less than two years, as was done to a Teutonic group known as the Liraks. Later, Nicaea would be abandoned by the Apostles. This allowed the fall of Byzantium to the Ottoman Turks, whom, later, were indoctrinated by the Acolytes. Ever hear of the lost city of Atlantis? Ka’Shator gave the city of Atlantis to his number one wife, Novinia, as a gift. Novinia preferred the city to be in a dimension known as Ahvonga, so the Acolytes and Savir moved it there.

The Apostles were nomads at heart, so they never stayed in one conquered land permanently. They were always looking for the next conquest, and once conquered, the Apostles’ society would move there pretty much as a whole. This mentality changed in the late 15th century. It was at this time the Acolytes became determined to control all of Eurasia. To achieve this, Ka’Shator knew that the Apostles would need greater numbers and greater weapons. Savir discovered a way to get advanced weapons to aid in their quest. Weapons so great, the Apostles would be able to conquer Eurasia and beyond, with their present numbers. He discovered a portal to dimension of an alternate Earth on which there lived an advanced society, the Torans. To the benefit of the Apostles, this society was being ravaged by a terrible pestilence. Even though their weaponry was advanced, they did not have the strength in numbers or healthy warriors to resist a massive onslaught.

The plan the Acolytes devised was to capture the capital of this society and force the Torans to produce advanced weapons for the Apostles while at the same time teaching the Apostles their advanced weapons technology. This way, as the Torans died out, the Apostles could continue to produce these weapons for the conquest of Eurasia in their own dimension. To this end, the Apostles began a massive assault on the Torans. Several sects of Apostles were deployed to the Toran dimension. Because of the highly destructive nature of Toran technology, the Apostles suffered heavy losses, but because of the Torans’ deteriorated health and the shear number of Apostles involved, the Torans fell to the Apostles after only one year of fighting.

The Acolytes’ plan was nearly complete; all that was left was for the massive buildup of Toran weapons to be exported back to the Apostles’ dimension. But unbeknownst to the Apostles at the time, a terrible tragedy was about to befall them, causing a horrible setback in their pursuit of maximum dominance. The sun in the Toran dimension was in a critical state. Soon after the Apostles conquered the Torans and began mass producing Toran weaponry, the Toran sun went supernova. The Earth in the Toran dimension was destroyed. The sun’s explosion was so great, it caused a rupture in the Toran dimension that caused it to collapse in on itself. As a result, most of the Apostles that were killed weren’t able to leave the Toran dimension in order to travel to the plane of Zhon, in which all ardent Apostles are regenerated after death. Hence, their immortality was not actualized. Out of the 50 sects of Apostles that were in the Toran dimension, only the Izkon Vorr, Lytra, Tikal, Akkad, and Panthiryn sects escaped and were regenerated. The Acolytes weren’t in the Toran dimension at the time the sun went supernova, so they survived the event. The Andhra and Axun sects of Apostles were left in Earth Prime’s dimension as a garrison, so they too, survived.

With only seven sects total remaining, the Apostles numbered only 8,500. This paled in comparison to the nearly 325,000 they once had. In addition to this tremendous loss, none of the Toran weapons had been brought back to Earth Prime. Further more, Gor’NaThal did not have enough time to fully comprehend how to reproduce the Toran weaponry. What he did learn of Toran technology was only a token of what they had to offer. Ka’Shator knew it was time to regroup. So under the orders of the Acolytes, the Apostles of Carnage became a secret society and their main head quarters, the Ministry of Carnage, was moved to the deepest darkest depths of HADES. The Apostles spread throughout Eurasia and the Americas, which at that time was known as the New World. Their goals were to develop what little they did learn of Toran technology, assimilate all new technology developed throughout Eurasia, and to indoctrinate others into the way of the Apostle. They would continue in this manner until the time came that they were in a position to launch a major offensive for maximum dominance of Eurasia and the Americas. This offensive became known as the Dark Assault.

The Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Death was one of the Apostles’ first experiments with biological warfare based on Toran technology. The pestilence that afflicted the Torans was a hyper-potent form of the bubonic plague created by Toran war-chemist that mutated and became resistant to all their vaccines. The Torans had released this agent against their enemies but it mutated and spread back to them. In its mutated state, the Torans had no way to stop it. Many of the hundreds of thousands that died in the Apostles’ experiments did so after the Black Death spread beyond its initial target groups, but the Apostles could care less.

In the medieval ages, an affliction known as Knight’s Bane affected many of these mounted soldiers. For no apparent reason, Knights would lead an assault on their own people. Knight’s Bane was an early form of mind control developed by the spellbinders of the Apostles from Toran sorcery. This had a devastating effect. People were terrified of Knights; they never knew when they would get caught up in a fervor and go on a killing spree. To counteract the loss of faith in the Knighthood, the code of Chivalry was adopted. This gave the Knights something to concentrate on. This helped them to fight the Bane. Another form of mind altering technology the Apostles developed was the Curse of the Apostle, which would later be termed CarnaPhobia. CarnaPhobia was the result of augmenting and intensifying the Apostles' aura so that all non-Apostles who came in contact with them would suffer from terrifying visions of demons, death, and carnage. The afflicted would also suffer from high fevers accompanied by the bleeding of their eyes, and ears. CarnaPhobia worked to incapacitate its victims. Best results were on those whose minds had certain weaknesses. On others with stronger minds, CarnaPhobia had little success.

The alchemists of the Wu Dynasty that invented gunpowder were students of the Acolyte, Gor’NaThal. Other notable students of Gor’NaThal that helped develop Toran technology were: Samuel Colt (Colt Revolver), D Tyler Henry (Henry Rifle), Richard J. Gattling (Machine Gun), Alfred Nobel (Dynamite), Robert J. Oppenheimer (Atomic Bomb). One note on Alfred Nobel, he was a promising Apostle, but wavered in his devotion, eventually going to the other side by championing the cause of peace. Oppenheimer also showed remorse for his work in the field of mass Carnage. For their blasphemy, they were not granted immortality. But since their contributions were great, they were spared from execution.

After several hundreds of years had passed since the Toran Incident, the Apostles were nearly ready to launch their Dark Assault. After the first World War, the Acolytes had an insidious idea. If they could instigate another World War, only much bigger with a high death toll on each side, they could accelerate their time table for the Dark Assault and would have a greater chance for success when it was launched; being that both sides would have lost a great deal of their soldiers and war machines. To this end, they began using Apostles world wide to orchestrate cir*****stances that would eventually lead to a second World War. It took just over twenty years, but the second World War was finally a reality. With the development of the V2 rocket and other more advanced weapons by the Germans, and the development of the Atomic Bomb by a student of Gor’NaThal on the U.S. side, the devastating affects of this war seemed promising. Unfortunately, the Axis powers were defeated before they could employ their advanced weapons. This meant no Axis invasion of England and America. This caused the U.S. to use atomic weapons in a much smaller capacity than originally envisioned by the Acolytes. As a result, the death toll on the Allied side and the Axis side was not nearly as high as they had hoped and the war had never even reached American soil.

Though World War II did not live up to their expectations, the Apostles knew that all was not lost. Their plans for dominance over America and Europe would have to be put on hold until they were in a position that their success was practically guaranteed. The target date for the Dark Assault was slated for 1955.

In the summer of 1947, a group of Apostles in New Mexico shot down what they believed was an experimental U.S. Military aircraft. The Apostles would routinely steal new technology from proving grounds around the world. But as it turned out, the craft was not a product of the U.S. Military. It wasn’t a product of anyone on Earth. Inside the craft were found four Extraterrestrial Biological Entities (EBE). One alive, one dead, and two severely injured. The living EBE was immediately taken to a secure AoC facility. The craft and the other EBEs were to be taken to a separate facility. But the crash had already alerted the nearby U.S. Military base. Before the craft could be loaded onto a flatbed-because of a defective wench- the Army was on the scene. The Army killed the Apostles and recovered the craft and the remaining aliens.

The alien that the Apostles had in custody turned out to be a high-ranking official of its world. It was not happy about what the Apostles had done. Through telepathy, it made several demands to be set free. But the Apostles wanted to study it. Further more, they intended to force it to give them technological secrets. In the course of pursuing these goals, the alien was killed. Unknown to the Apostles at the time, the alien was in constant communication with a ship just outside of the solar system. Shortly after the incident, Apostles world wide were subject to mass abductions and tortured to death by the aliens. Though the truly devoted Apostles were immortal, regeneration after being killed could take as long as two years. The Acolytes saw the assault by the aliens as a systematic extermination of the Apostles. So an evacuation of this dimension was organized. Those that stayed behind, Savir made dormant. The dormancy hid their Apostle Mentality which was how the aliens were able to identify the Apostles world wide. But while dormant, they could not carry out the Eternal Doctrine of Carnage nor were they immortal, but the history and all precepts of the Apostles and the Maxim of Carnage would be hidden deep within their subconscious and would also be passed on to their descendants genetically. They would act as the eyes and ears for this dimension and when the time was right, they would be made active again.

The Apostles that left this dimension went to an altered reality that became known as V’eotra. Here they carried out the Eternal Doctrine on the natives. The Acolytes, outraged by what the aliens had done, continued to look for ways to gain vengeance on them. Over seventy years had passed, but finally, Savir found a portal that lead to the alien homeworld. The aliens, which the Apostles had named Arilou, were still too advanced for them to launch a direct assault, and though, Savir had become a very powerful wizard, he could not cast a spell large enough to effect the entire populous. The vengeance that Ka’Shator and the other Acolytes had in mind involved the total annihilation of the aliens, a Wrath of Carnage. With no viable options at hand, the Apostles waited.

Just twenty short years later, an opportunity for vengeance presented itself. A meteor whose original course would have sent it safely pass the alien planet was altered by Savir. The meteor’s diameter measured 100 miles. It slammed into the alien planet at over 30,000 miles per hour. Millions of aliens were killed instantly by the deep impact. The resulting dust cloud spread throughout the atmosphere, making the air unbreathable and blocking out the alien sun. The planet-wide temperature dropped drastically. Over the next few months, plant and animal life on the planet died. The surviving aliens were starving and resorted to eating each other. Over the next few years, the entire alien population of 8 billion, died out. The Apostles’ revenge was complete.

By now, V’eotra was mostly under dominance by the Apostles. Over the next fifty years, the Apostles would consolidate their power and rebuild decimated areas in this dimension. The Disciples of Death who had been carrying out the Eternal Doctrine on the Earth in the T’eotra dimension, did not suffer the same setbacks as the Apostles did with Earth Prime, as a result, they had great success; having taken control of over half of the Earth in that dimension. In what would have been the year 2100, a temporal phenomenon known as a Chrono-Nexus affected the planes of V’eotra and T’eotra. As a result, V’eotra and T’eotra as a whole were thrown almost nine-hundred years into the future instantly, while the dimensions outside of the radius of the Chrono-Nexus progressed through this nine hundred year period normally.

The radius of the Chrono-Nexus was such that the dimension of Earth Prime, which the Apostles called Protos, was not affected. What this meant was that even though V’eotra was slightly more technologically advanced than Protos when the Apostles first moved there, Protos was now 900 years more advanced than V’eotra. It was time to go back to Earth Prime to continue what was started so long ago. Under the order of Ka’Shator, Glabrezu, several scouts, and Savir went back to Earth Prime. Savir’s task was to locate all of the descendants of the Dormant Apostles. Once found, they were to be reactivated so that they could give the Acolytes a full debriefing on the events of the past 900 years. Glabrezu and the scouts were in charge of gathering all other intelligence not gained from the reactivated Apostles.

What the Apostles learned is that the dimension of Earth Prime was a vastly different place; so many new technologies, colonization of distant planets, the formation of the five Houses, the Succession Wars, so many things to get caught up on. By design, the Dormant Apostles had became apart of many strategic facets of society: politicians, engineers, and soldiers in all five houses. The Acolytes recognized that it would take time to become fully acclimated with the Protos dimension. To this end, several sects of Apostles were deployed. With the help of the reactivated Apostles, their task was to begin building bases of operation, further infiltration into strategic positions, weapons procurement, tactical development, training, and indoctrination. Ankheg was in charge of tactical development and training, Gor’NaThal was in charge learning the new weapons technology while looking for ways to make improvements. All of these tasks were going toward the ultimate goal: the dominance of the Inner Sphere. Until it was possible to make a cohesive assault, all reactivated Apostles remained in what ever position they were in while they were dormant, and would aid their fellow Apostles in secrecy. Several sects of the Disciples of Death were also deployed to the Protos dimension with the same tasks. But they would not unite formally with the Apostles until it was time for the end-game, the Dark Assault.

Over twenty-five years have passed since the preparations for the Dark Assault began. The Apostles of Carnage and the Disciples of Death have united becoming the Disciples of Carnage; thus fulfilling the Dark Prophecy given by Ka’Shator and marking the beginning of the Dark Assault and the fates doom of the infidels of the Inner Sphere.