The Slaughter

The Slaughter
Entity inspired Tarot by Grace Holsten
Fears	Unpredictable violence War
Manifestations	War imagery Weapons Music Drums Bagpipes

"It's not cruel, exactly, or unstoppable like The End. It's just pure violence. Not targeted or premeditated, just… unpredictable violence. And you don't know when, or if it's even coming. Sometimes it's aggressive, like a frenzied killer, but sometimes it's calm, like an army firing shells into a village. The Slaughter's not that common in peace but, well, you know, there's always a war somewhere."
- Gerard Keay, MAG 111

The Slaughter is one of the Entities. It is the fear of pure, unpredictable, unmotivated violence, with strong ties to war. It is the fear of not knowing where, how, or when pain will come but that it will, and can be violent like a frenzied killer or calm, cold and regimented like soldiers firing on the battlefield.

The Slaughter is frequently associated with music, in particular various kinds of pipes, as well as battlefield music.

ATTENTION! SPOILERS AHEAD!! This article contains information from later episodes of The Magnus Archives and may contain major spoilers for the setting and plot. Continue at your own risk.

Episodes

Statements

• MAG 7: The Piper (The Piper)
• MAG 28: Skintight (Cambridge Military Hospital)
• MAG 42: Grifter's Bone (Alfred Grifter, Grifter's Bone)
• MAG 76: The Smell of Blood (The Army Hospital train car)
• MAG 82: The Eyewitnesses (The maimed figure)
• MAG 95: Absent Without Leave (The Deserter)
• MAG 105: Total War (Charles Fleming, The Nemesis)
• MAG 125: Civilian Casualties (An untitled paperback book, Melanie King's surgery)
• MAG 137: Nemesis (The Nemesis, The Risen War)
• MAG 163: In the Trenches (Domain)

Other Appearances

• MAG 115: Taking Stock (Firearm artefact, mentioned)
• MAG 116: The Show Must Go On (Partially; An unnamed avatar)
• MAG 117: Testament (Partially; Melanie King's statement)
• MAG 128: Heavy Goods (Knife artefact, mentioned)
• MAG 181: Ignorance (Blood money artefact, mentioned)
• MAG 200: Last Words (mentioned)

Characters

• Alfred Grifter: A musician whose music drives all who hear it, whether in person or on a recording, into a murderous frenzy. Appears alone or in a band, but any performance he takes part in is known as Grifter's Bone regardless.
• Amritsar Ghosts: The phantoms of British troops that massacred almost a thousand unarmed civilians in Amritsar, India. They manifest as a singular fused being, an angry mass of flesh and guns.
• The Deserter: An Italian deserter who had “gone rotten” and fled into the mountains of Appennino Centrale. He picked off the men sent to kill him with sniper fire until they tracked him to a cave filled with the dead of ancient wars, which opened their eyes and began to sing. He was killed on the spot by a firing squad when his final pursuer cornered him, though no such group was in the cave with him. He may also have been marked by The Corruption.
• Melanie King: Host of the Ghost Hunt UK YouTube channel and employee of The Magnus Institute, who was shot by the Amritsar ghosts and infected by the bullet left lodged in her leg.
• The Piper: An aspect of the Slaughter that appears during wartime. It appears as a heavily scarred, three-faced man with many hands holding weapons, playing musical instruments, or saluting. It plays its pipes before a battle and only those fated to die in the upcoming attack can hear its tune. Rarely some who hear its music will survive to spread the word of Slaughter but will die when the larger conflict ends.
• An unnamed Avatar of the Slaughter that interrupted The Stranger's ritual in 1787 by killing the main dancer with a cannon. Its interruption of the ritual was also supported by a group of faceless soldiers.
• A maimed figure whose whispers instill a permanent inclination for violence in others.
• Calvin Benchley, who was whispered to by the maimed figure as a child, and eventually killed by Alice "Daisy" Tonner.

Artefacts

• A knife that drives the holder to kill anyone in sight before turning it upon themselves.
• A train car from the 11th US Army Hospital train, which perpetually smells of blood. Opening the car reveals a pool of blood covering the floor of the car and a body bag, as well as the hostile spirit of a WWII medic driven mad by Slaughter.
• An old paperback book capable of driving an entire village to slaughter each other by any means necessary.
• A firearm of some sort sold to the Magnus Institute by Mikaele Salesa. Has a wooden handle with splinters that can infect people with the Slaughter's influence.
• Blood Money: A "leather pouch, filled with 1888 Morgan silver dollars." Sold by Mikaele Salesa.

Locations

• Cambridge Military Hospital: A military hospital in use since 1879 and closed in the late 1990s. Though marked by the Slaughter it was fairly subdued, rousing only against intrusion by avatars of other Powers. It was eventually demolished without incident.
• The Trench: A domain of the slaughter in the Post-Change world. It manifests as an expansive, ever-changing battlefield in the ruined world, an endless and meaningless war raging within it. People trapped within it continue to fight, with no idea who they are fighting or who or what they are fighting for.

Ritual

The Slaughter's Ritual is The Risen War and was last attempted during World War 2. It involved the playing of instruments on the Nemesis, an English ship sunk during the Opium War, while prisoners from the Japanese North Point POW camp killed each other, and disciples of the Slaughter watched garbed in uniforms from bloody battles. It ultimately failed, Gertrude Robinson speculating that the Nemesis was meant to be bombed in order to complete it, and notes that had they known about Nagasaki a few years later, the ritual may have been successfully completed.

Connections to other Entities

• The Slaughter stopped The Stranger's Unknowing in 1787. These two entities also share an affinity for music.
  • Sarah Baldwin, an agent of The Stranger was attacked for trespassing at a military hospital connected with The Slaughter while recording for Ghost Hunt UK, though it is unsure if her attacker was actually connected with The Slaughter.
• Between seasons 3 and 4, Melanie protected the Magnus Institute using Slaughter-related abilities, though Melanie may not have been controlled by The Slaughter.