The Externals apparently know of each others' existences on a telepathic level, although this telepathy remains vague and perhaps only manifests when an External first resurrects him or herself. It has also yet to be revealed how the Externals originally banded together. Nevertheless, by the time the Externals began making their activities public, their number included eight members: Absalom, Burke, Candra, Crule, Gideon, Nicodemus, Saul, and Selene. (At one point, it was suggested the mutant Apocalypse was an External as well, but this was never upheld by any of the actual Externals.)