“ | Truth is, they don't care about who we used to be or what we wanted to do. To them, we're just slaves. But if they thought this was gonna be easy... they came to the wrong fucking planet. | „ |
~ Sam Stone on the Horde. |
“ | The Oracle said: Men shall build the Boat of Sun and sail across the sea of stars. But they shall awake the wrath of One Infinite. The foes of Osiris shall bring destruction to the realms of men. And the Boat of Millions of Years shall have to be awoken. | „ |
~ The Sirian Oracle predicting the war between humanity and Mental. |
Mental's Horde are the main antagonists of the Serious Sam video game series.
They are a loose alliance of alien species both advanced and primitive that serve the ancient deity called Tah-Um, named Mental by humanity, whose sole purpose is to carry out his will and destroy all sapient life outside of his empire. The Horde is notable for their sheer incalculable numbers and low average intelligence.
Military[]
The command structure in the Horde is very loose, with only a few individuals having clear authority over others. Mental himself stands supreme over all others, his generals and most trusted servants leading his armies in the field. Those that joined the Horde willingly, such as the Khnums and Octanians, appear to have more influence than those that were enslaved, hired or resurrected into serving.
Biography[]
Background[]
It is not known at which point in time the Horde was founded, only that it has existed for millions of years and was formed when Mental started his near-omnicidal rampage across the stars. Any civilization that did not heed to his will was wiped out and their culture destroyed, leaving almost no trace that they ever existed in the first place. The only remnants that may remain are the repurposed corpses of these species, either used as resources for Mental's experiments or resurrected to serve him as mindless cannonfodder in death. Over time, powerful individuals joined the Horde and perpetuated Mental's eternal conquest, such as the mighty Ugh-Zan Dynasty and the sadistic sorcerer Lord Achriman.

A Beheaded Kamikaze, the most famous enemy in the series.
The last known civilization to be eradicated by the Horde were the Sirians from Planet Sirius. Thousands of years before the birth of Christ, the Sirians visited the Earth and influenced several civilizations such as the Egyptians and Mayans. The Egyptians in particular came to worship the Sirians as gods, constructing temples and pyramids in their honor and being visited by them the most frequently. But one day, the Sirians had to leave Earth behind as Mental was invading their homeworld. They sealed whatever technology they left on Earth within hidden chambers or buried it beneath the sand, then returned home to fight the mad god.
The Sirians never returned, as they had no hope of defeating the overwhelming numbers and ferocity of the Horde. Whoever wasn't slaughtered immediately was executed, their headless bodies revived with a combination of technology and magic, becoming common infantry that humanity would later call the Beheaded.
War with Earth[]
After the Sirians were wiped out Mental entered a deep slumber on their former homeworld, while humanity remained unnoticed and advanced into the twenty-second century. The Sirian technology on Earth was eventually discovered and excavated, which caused a technological boom that put the stars within reach. Humanity finally expanded colonies beyond Earth and entered an age of prosperity and discovery, but sadly this was not meant to last. What was supposed to be an ordinary exploration mission by the starship Surveyor turned into disaster, as when they reached their destination Planet Sirius, the ship's captain Samuel Stone accidentally activated an alarm system that was hidden inside an unusual asteroid field around Sirius. Mental had been awakened once more and the Horde resumed their genocidal task.

The Tunguska Portal.
Humanity fought bravely, but just like the Sirians they were ultimately fighting a losing war. Their attempts to protect their colonies were futile and within three years of conflict humanity was once again resticted to Earth, which they defended to their last breaths. Lord Achriman directed the invasion of Earth, constructing a massive superportal in Tunguska, Russia and began using the Octanian Harvester Leviathans to process the human masses into mindless berserkers. The Earth Defense Force was able to kill Achriman and destroy the portal, but vast sections of Europe were already destroyed and all this accomplished was buying time.

The Moon about to destroy Earth.
Their only hope was to use the Time-Lock, an ancient device predating even the Sirians that held the power of time travel. As the EDF struggled to activate the Time-Lock, the Horde switched tactics from assimilation to annihilation and began their final cleansing of Earth. Sam Stone succeeded in turning on the Time-Lock, but the last remaining human forces were overwhelmed before they could make use of it. The only one left was Sam himself, who took it upon himself to travel into the past and prevent Mental from wiping out humanity. Mental himself personally threw the Moon at Earth to destroy it and the Time-Lock, sending General Ugh-Zan IV to delay Sam so that he perishes as well. Despite facing tremendous resistance, Sam managed to reach the portal seconds before Earth was shattered into pieces.
Battle through Time[]
Once Sam arrived in ancient Egypt, the Time-Lock's activation immediately alerted Mental to intelligent life on Earth. He sent his forces to Egypt to locate the source of the anomaly, quickly discovering Sam Stone and realizing what he was trying to do. Sam Stone battled through the servants of the Horde and eventually found a Sirian spaceship called the "SSS Centerprice" left behind within the solar system, which he called to the Great Pyramid of Giza to get off Earth. Grand Admiral Ugh-Zan III intercepted Sam, but he was slain with the usage of the SSS Centerprice's transportation beam, as it was programmed to only let a few species on-board and was lethal to all others.
Unforseen events caused the SSS Centerprice crashing back down to Earth however, so Sam had to find a backup ship mentioned in the ship's computer. A network of time portals scattered across the planet led Sam to the backup ship, killing Mordekai the Summoner and a failed experiment along the way.
Members[]
Notable Individuals[]
(Canon)
- Mental - Lord and god of the Horde
- Ugh-Zan III - Great Admiral
- Lord Achriman - General, chief strategist and propagandist
- Ugh-Zan IV - General
- Mordekai the Summoner - Favoured servant
- Octifex Maximus - Leader of the Cult of the Eightfold Manifestation
- Ugh-Zan VI
- Exotech Larva
- Raahloom
- Giant Anomaly
- Shaanti Dragon
- Earth Giant
- Howard Brand - Human turncoat, rejected by Ugh-Zan VI
(Non-canon, ordered by appearance)
- Sirian Sphinx
- Wolfiator
- Evil Serious Sam Clone
- Diablotaur
- Subterranian Emperor Hydra
- Kwongo
- Zumzum
- Prince Chan - Ruler of Planet Chi-Fang
- Count Kleerofski - Ruler of Planet Kleer
- Cecil the Dragon
- Maxilla - General
- Chimputee Battle Master
- Mental's Pet Hamster
- Double Diva
- Doppler - Director of Mental-Altani
- Slick Stinger - Major
- Fattie Swallower
- Tetrachoke the Wizard
Notable Species[]
(Canon)
- Sirians - Beheaded undead soldiers that once belonged to the Sirian civilization, whose technology left behind on Earth led humanity to the stars and eventually Mental.
- Gnaars - Animalistic, sometimes intelligent creatures from Sirius. Notable for their single eye and faces located on their chests.
- Werebulls - Bovine hybrids made from the DNA of Sirians and cattle native to Sirius, likely created as a form of sick cosmic joke.
- Kleers - Undead bipedal skeletons that once lived peacefully on Planet Kleer, until Mental dropped enough napalm on it to scorch the entire planet into an uninhabitable wasteland. Perhaps the most numerous monsters in his Horde.
- Marsh-Hoppers - Territorial amphibian creatures from Rigil Kentaurus, which attack by overinflating themselves and splashing their enemies with a toxic slime contained in their intestines. Individually not a threat, but lethal in large swarms.
- Arachnoids - A heavily religious civilization whose species are known for their humanoid torsos and scorpion legs. They once opposed Mental until their government was overthrown by fanatics worshipping him.
- Aludran Reptiloids - Primitive reptilians who agreed to serve Mental in exchange for magical powers.
- Witch-Harpies - Birdlike female creatures cloned by Mental and deliberately made with an oversexualized appearance. Nobody can agree on where they actually originated from.
- Bio-mechanoids - Bipedal cyborgs grown and armed in Mental's Biolabs. Notable for their intelligence on the level of a common cockroach despite their massive brain-like heads.
- Zorgs - Reptilian humanoids hired as mercenaries. They were once an empire of their own, until they conquered more planets than they had use for and accidentally burned off their own skin while they took a break.
- Khnums - Vicious, intelligent creatures that once dominated their own solar system. Willingly allied with the Horde due to recognizing Mental's superior strength.
- Scrapjacks - Rocket launcher-wielding humanoids stitched together from the corpses of fallen Horde soldiers and enemies.
- Witch-Brides of Achriman - An unnamed species of powerful sorceresses once known as the "Great Council". Originally opposed to the Horde, they were deceived and corrupted by Lord Achriman. Now they are trapped between the material and shadow planes, little more than puppets bound to his and his master's will.
- Swamp Hives - Gigantic crustaceans from the rainforests of Planet Valtos, who were genetically modified by Mental to be aggressive and give birth to monsters of his choosing.
- Octanians - Advanced civilization allied with the Horde, specialized in the use of cyberparasites.
- Draconians - Advanced civilization allied with the Horde. Don't actually care much for Mental and just want to burn everything.
(Non-canon)
- Methugs - An odd species with noxious skin that use the power of levitation to move around, leaving their legs horribly atrophied. The Soldiers, Bladder Beasts and Commanders have a notable size difference, the former two being overweight and the latter being tiny with large heads.
- Chimputees - Earth primates that were given cybernetic augmentations by Mental.
- Orcs - Zorgs that attempted to use a dangerous mutagen called "Ooze" to regrow their skin, mutating them and earning them an exile from the rest of Zorg society. They went on to form the Altani Corporation, later entering a partnership with Mental to form Mental-Altani.
Gallery[]
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Mental's Horde |