Alcarnus

"Alcarnus. It seems like an eternity since I set out from Caldeum to find it and to find Maghda, but finally the road is clear. The last time I went to Alcarnus, it was a sprawling desert town. I fear to think what Maghda has done to it."

- Li-Ming

Alcarnus is a town in the Borderlands of the Kehjistani Empire.

Lore
"I have seen my share of horrors, but nothing I have seen compares to this. Maghda and her coven have turned Alcarnus into a charnel house. Decaying corpses are piled along the streets; blood runs in the gutters; and the screams of the dying can be heard everywhere. The smell is unbelievable—rancid and foul. Maghda will pay for every last life she has taken."

- Li-Ming

Alcarnus was established c. 885, when ore was discovered in the Stinging Winds. Alcarnus was established as the center of mining in the area, with several other smaller settlements springing up in its wake. By the later half of the 13th century, Alcarnus was a sprawling desert town.

In 1285, its population was massacred by the Coven, and the town set ablaze. Some refugees managed to escape to the imperial capital of Caldeum. When The Nephalem arrived, they found corpses strewn in the streets, with blood 'running in rivers' through said streets, and the screams of the dying echoed through the town. The Nephalem managed to rescue surviving prisoners of the cult, before taking Maghda's life. In the aftermath, the Imperial Guard were dispatched to the Dahlgur Oasis, in order to procure (new) slaves.

Decades after Malthael's attempted genocide, people still lived in Alcarnus. However, conditions were even worse than during the time of Hakan II.

In-game
Alcarnus appears as a zone in of Diablo III. It is accessed through the Road to Alcarnus.

Sub-zones

 * Alcarnus Cellar
 * Lair of the Witch
 * Sandy Cellar
 * Town Cellar

Bestiary

 * Dark Cultist
 * Dark Thrall
 * Hellion
 * Shondar the Invoker (unique)