DiabloFans

Repeating Crossbows have existed in ancient times.
Now early generation handguns are actually no better than crossbows and are worse off in fact.
The gameplay clearly shows crossbow shots and not pistol shots, you can see the bolts flying off towards the enemy.

The key thing here is that 20 years have passed since the events of D2!
20 years can bring around lots of technological advances!
Especially when the whole world of Sanctuary was prepared for an invasion from the Burning Hells.
I don't think mankind and the likes will sit around waiting for the Demons and what-nots to invade without proper preparation!

Still this is my 2 cents take on the plot, lore and technological stuff we might see in the game.

One of the biggest mysteries that surrounds Diablo III is the story line that we will play out throughout the course of the game. Although next to no information has been given about the story, there have been many hints and clues about different areas of the game and brief explanations of instances. By compiling all of these random tidbits together, we can being to paint the picture of what will happen during Diablo III.

First, we will begin with the overall story line. Starting with the broadest of plots we look towards the official Diablo III site. On the main page it states:

Official Blizzard Quote:

When Deckard Cain returns to the ruins of Tristram Cathedral seeking clues to defeat new stirrings of evil, a fiery harbinger of doom falls from the heavens, striking the very ground where Diablo once entered the world. This fire from the sky reawakens ancient evils and calls the heroes of Sanctuary to defend the mortal world against the rising powers of the Burning Hells once again.

This sets up the basis to the story that we will be going through in Diablo III. Perhaps the most important part of this quote is the fact that it states this "harbinger of doom falls from the heavens". What exactly is this fiery harbinger of doom is still unknown, however. Is it Tyrael kicked out of the Heavens, coming to warn of us of the ultimate results of his actions at the end of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction? Perhaps it is the actions of the lesser Sanctuary loving angels, aimed to destroy all of Sanctuary itself by reawakening the Evil that still lay beneath Tristram Cathedral? It could really be anything that just happens to be falling from the sky and not the High Heavens themselvs. Regardless, this beginning of the game is seen in the first cinematic that was shown announcing the game and will begin the story.

Beyond this mysterious omen, we also know that we will begin the story with Deckard Cain where we find him in New Tristram. He has called upon our aid to help fight against this new resurgence of Evil. Being one of the citizens of Sanctuary and Tristram through all three Diablo games now, Deckard Cain is the last of the Horadric Mages. We know, thanks to our interview with Michael Gough (the voice actor for Deckard Cain), that "there is just more on his emotional plate in this one, than there has been before. He now has different things to be concerned about, at different points in the story, and his life, and all that". They have added an additional character, Leah, who seems to be an important character to not only Deckard Cain this time around but the story of Diablo III as well.

With Deckard Cain being the last of the Horadric Mages, this brings us to an interesting side note for the story that may contribute to the overall plot of the game. In Diablo II, we obtained an item known as the Horadric Cube. In Diablo III, a similar item with the exact same graphic will be used to deconstruct items as oppose to creating them in the previous game. While simply a change in mechanic, it is the name change of this item that is intriguing. Renamed the Nephalem Cube, this item now reflects the origins of Sanctuary itself. For those who do not know, the Nephalem was the name given to the offspring of of Inarius and Lilith, the Angel and Demon who gave birth to man and Sanctuary itself. You can learn more about this story in the video recap created byforce and written by phrozendragon. Long story short, they created the Worldstone to hide these people from Heaven and Hell. Another side effect of the stone was that it slowly drained the Nephalem's power turning them into regular humans that we know them as now. However, with the Worldstone destroyed by Tyrael, we can assume that man will soon be regaining these powers that their ancestors once had, making them more powerful than Angels or Demons. Bashiok commented on just how pivotal this change will be to the story of Diablo III.

Official Blizzard Quote:

It has a name. It is not Salvage Cube. The name does include Cube, though. The name is sort of a spoiler, which is why we haven't revealed it yet.

Now that we know how the game will begin, we need to know where the plot will go. The biggest clue we have of the overall storyline is a quote from Jay Wilson in an interview with IGN during the 2009 Blizzcon.

Official Blizzard Quote:

Well, our story tends to focus a lot more on the two major demons and the impending invasion of Sanctuary.

Supposed images of Belial and Azmodan

While he never directly states who these two major demons are, there is some educated thought that can help us figure out who he is talking about. For those who do not know much about the lore of Sanctuary, there are seven greater evils. These evils are made up of three prime evils: Diablo, Baal, and Mephisto and there are also four lesser evils; Andariel, Duriel, Belial, and Azmodan. Now, before the events of Diablo, the three prime evils are exiled from Hell with Andariel and Duriel going with them to Sanctuary. Of course, throughout Diablo II, we ended up destroying all five of these demons. This, however, leaves both Belial and Azmodan who are waring against each other for complete control over Hell. We can assume that these last two Evils are the ones that are now invading Sanctuary. The question is why have they moved their feud from Hell onto this mortal plane? Without going into details, Jay Wilson did say:

Official Blizzard Quote:

We have this conundrum early on of should you have a game called Diablo without Diablo in it. We can debate that, whether we should or shouldn't, but what it comes done to is we've had a storyline in mind that's been going back quite a ways. So, without revealing too much I can say that there's been a plan. If the player thinks they've outsmarted forces of Hell and evil and they basically won, well, they are in for a big shock. Because really what they are going to discover in Diablo III is things pretty much went exactly the way Hell wanted to all along.

It is possible that Azmodan and Belial's plan to kick out the prime evils may have had more to it then it first appears. Perhaps they were testing to see how strong the humans were or knew that they would be the only ones strong enough to actually destroy the prime evils for them. While we do not know what their plan was or still is, we do know that these two are now after Sanctuary and it will be up to us stop them from doing so.

Moving on to the climax of the story, how it all ends is what is the most important part of the story. However, because of this, we know the least amount of information concerning this topic. As cliché as it may be, the game may very well conclude, once again, with us defeating Diablo. Perhaps his exile from Hell was part of his master plan to be reincarnated into the form we see him in now. Many wondered if Diablo would even be returning in this third sequel. However, it has been officially confirmed that the demon seen at the end of the cinematic is Diablo and that he will be returning in Diablo III. Many people will still argue that he will not actual be a demon you fight or that you will not even face him in the original Diablo III but he will not show up until one of the multiple expansions they have planned for the game. Regardless of when and how he appears, it only seems right that the Lord of Terror is, at some point, the climax to the game. After all, we know that Diablo III and its expansions will conclude this story that started fifteen years ago with Diablo I.

Official Blizzard Quote:

We're not saying this is the end of the Diablo universe, but we are trying to bring this storyline to a close. It's not just Diablo III -- we've got plans beyond

Now with the all of the story we know so far explained, we need to know how we will actually play out this epic journey. Blizzard is attempting to expand the universe in Sanctuary and there are 1,000 places we could end up at along this path. While each act will span a larger area than before, there will still be distinct areas in which each take place. We also know we have seen the first three acts that will be in Diablo III.

Official Blizzard Quote:

You've actually seen some of the first three Acts already, and we probably won't be revealing too much more than what we've already shown. We really want to try to keep as much a surprise for you when you play through the game the first time as possible. We will be announcing all of the game systems though before beta, so there are a few things left as far as reveals go. While beta will obviously be a lot of fun, should you get the chance to get in and help test, it'll only be a small part of the whole game. Some people want to know everything, but we're really trying to preserve the surprise and wonderment (that we hope will come with exploring Diablo III) as much as possible.

Act 1:

We have seen quite a bit of act 1. This act will begin in New Tristram with the fiery crash into Tristram Cathedral. Our heroes of Diablo III will be starting off their journey investigating this phenomenon. We will go back into the Cathedral that the brave heroes of Diablo I ventured into. We also know that King Leoric will be playing an important part in this act despite not being the actual act boss. In fact, we don't know who will be the boss of any act for certainty. King Leoric plays a big role in the overall story of Diablo as his son was the first sacrifice to bring Diablo into this realm physically. We have seen plenty of screenshots of Leoric's Torture Chamber as well as a couple pieces of concept art of this demon. We do not know exactly how this act will conclude but however it does, it will bring us to our next destination, act 2.

Act 2:

Act 2 will take our characters to the East venturing in the deserts of Kehjistan. We were first shown this desolate area when the Monk was announced at the 2009 Blizzcon. Within this desert, we will also be going to the city of Caldeum. An important piece of information to note right now is that Jay Wilson mentioned that we would be visiting the homeland of the Wizard. While she actually originates from Xiansai, her story also takes her to Caldeum where she learned a lot of her skills. While it is possible we will be venturing to this island, it is also possible that Caldeum is the city of origin that we will be visiting. Moving the story from the meteor to the invasion of Belial and Azmodan, we know that act 2 is where will be encountering Belial. How this plays out in the game is still unknown but he definitely is the driving force through this act.

Official Blizzard Quote:

Act two's a little bit more of an intrigue and deception-focused story, because Belial is in there.

Act 3:

This next act has us going back to the West to Bastion's Keep. Bastion's Keep was seen in the 2010 Blizzcon panel "Crafting Sanctuary". This Keep happens to be placed right on the edge of Arreat Crater where the Worldstone once stood until Tyrael destroyed it. All we know about the area is that is the last line of defense against a horde of demons and monsters. We saw a glimpse of this assault in the cinematic as a demonic army marched. It is possible that Azmodan is commanding this army in attempt to take over Sanctuary.

Act 4:

Practically nothing is known about the last act of the game. All we do know is that it will be the shortest of all of the acts leading up to the climax of the game. There is a chance that we will, once again, be venturing to Hell to defeat Diablo much like we have in the previous games. We could be doing this by venturing into Arreat crater.



There are a few missing holes in this act progression compared to the story. There has been a lot of concept art of Jungle-type areas that do not seem to fit into any of these acts as far as we know. This could be explained by the unknown transition of all of the acts and just how we will be going from one area to the next. Even in between acts 2 and 3, we seem to be going from one side of Sanctuary to the other. There has to be some story explanation that has us traversing such a large area of Sanctuary.

Now, with the story spelled out and how it translates to the gameplay, we are left with a few questions about Diablo III. The first is what is the harbinger of doom from Heaven? Why are Belial and Azmodan trying to take Sanctuary now that they have control over Hell? Do the angels care about what is going on in Sanctuary between the humans and demons. Most importantly, how will it all end?


Disclaimer: DiabloFans' Rumors are not the officially recognized positions of the staff, management, and/or administration of DiabloFans.

I thought you wanted it. So I did it. Don't know if this is legal..

Well, regardless to how Blizzard is designing the game (trust me, I understand it is a PvE game), Dennis and Kevin plan to spend a lot of their time playing in the arena as I feel many other will do as well. This is what makes the game fun for them.

As for me, I do not like PvP. I would prefer to kill demons than other players. Luckily for those of us like me, 95% of the game is catered towards us.

Let them be happy with their measly 5% of the game

But seriously guys, you have to talk about some PvE in my absence

It's been a while (a year in fact) but the Cosmology series will finally be finished. This time we will deal with the heavy subject of the Worldstone: where it comes from, what it does and what impact its destruction at the end of the Lord of Destruction (LoD) will have on the world of Sanctuary.

As a reminder there will be plenty of spoilers from the Sin War novels here, so if you've yet to read the books but still wish to do so, you should stop reading now.

Unlike the previous installments, citations will be placed at the bottom of the post for a more fluid reading experience.

What is it?
How does it hide Sanctuary?
How does it increase the power of the edyrem?
Was it stolen?
Conflicts with lore in LoD?
What will its destruction lead to?
References

What is it and what does it do?
The Worldstone was an immense crystal that sat at the heart of Mount Arreat. It stretched over a hundred feet tall and had a jagged, crimson structure.¹ The stone itself is made up of thousands upon thousands of small facets that flash with multi-colored lightning. Fragments of the Worldstone also float around the cavern, continuously colliding, breaking, and reforming.²

Originally it had one purpose only: to hide Sanctuary from outsiders, specifically Heaven and Hell, in order for the angelic and demonic deserters to remain safe. Four important changes were made to it over the course of it's life however:

1. Inarius bound it to himself, preventing anyone but him to draw on its power. This secured his dominance of Sanctuary.³
2. Inarius changed the resonance of the stone, which started to diminish the powers of the nephalem.⁴
3. Lilith made an alteration to its resonance after her return to Sanctuary from the void, which allowed the nephalem to once again grow in power.⁵
4. Uldyssian made a change to the core of the Worldstone which allowed the powers of the edyrem to grow faster than before.⁶

Important point: It is often argued, here and in other places, that Uldyssian tied the Worldstone to himself when he changed its structure. This does not appear to be the case. It is still possible that he did so, but there's no clear reference made to it anywhere.

Not all of these effects remained after the end of the Sin War however. Inarius' tie to the Worldstone is broken by Uldyssian⁷ and the spell that Lilith cast, is most likely dispelled or overridden with the core change that Uldyssian made. The same seems likely in regards to the dminishing efffect Inarius placed on it.

Two powers were not specifically stated to have been altered, however: the hiding power that allowed Sanctuary to remain undetected, and the change Uldyssian made that increased the growth of nephalem powers. These will be dealt with below.

How does it hide Sanctuary?
We all know the following as "fact": the worldstone protects Sanctuary from Heaven and Hell, and now that it is gone Hell is sure to invade! It's maintained in the games, and every Blizzcon at some panel there's a developer mentioning it. However, there are some serious problem with this theory, as I will show. First, we must look at how the Worldstone actually provides protection.

In essence, it works much like camouflage. Imagine that Sanctuary is a soldier hiding in a forest in full camouflage. If he is perfectly still he is nigh impossible to spot. Should he move, he becomes easier to spot, and the faster he moves the easier it becomes. However, unless someone is actually watching the spot where he is when he moves, he can remain undetected, even if he is running.

This is exactly how it is portrayed to work in the books. The Worldstone is consistently described as having been made in order to hide Sanctuary.^8,9 Both Inarius and Hell are furthermore concerned that if they move too fast, in essence use too much magic, they run the risk of exposing Sanctuary to Heaven¹⁰. This very neatly explains why Hell hasn't invaded Sanctuary in full force, and why Inarius simply hasn't stamped out Hell. Doing either would require so much power that Heaven would undoubtedly discover Sanctuary as a side-effect. For this reason, Diablo doesn't even show himself in full force, as that mere act might alert Heaven of Sanctuary.¹¹ Inarius has similarly contained his powers all these years so that Heaven would not find him.¹²

Thus the Triune was created to slowly turn mankind towards Hell, and the Cathedral of Light shortly thereafter to counter their efforts. This also helps explain why there are so many morlu in the first two books and relatively few demons. Summoning an army of demons would surely cause Sanctuary to be more visible to Heaven, as would Diablo in his full form, but an army of morlu are just dead humans. Raising them from the dead requires no direct interaction with Hell. It does require some magical energies to raise them from the dead, but this is probably on a magnitude far smaller than what is required to summon an army of demons.

What does this tell us? This tells us that the effect the Worldstone provides is the camouflage cover in the soldier analogy, and in itself, the cover is near perfect. However, heavy use of magical energies or the mere presence of angels and demons in the world makes Sanctuary "move," thus making it noticeable to those outside of it.

How does it increase the power of the edyrem?
As stated above, Uldyssian made a change to the Worldstone with the intent of increasing the power of the edyrem, or rather to make their powers grow faster. While it's never actually made clear how that works, it is clearly shown throughout the final book that the powers of the edyrem begin to take control of them, fueling their emotions and refusing to subdue once arisen.²² Uldyssian does remark near the end of the Veiled Prophet that their powers have grown too fast, and that they weren't ready for them yet.¹³

In the final chapter, when the "Reset" as I like to call it has been performed, where all the inhabitants of Sanctuary have their memories of recent events removed, all magical powers are also absent in the previously powerful Serenthia and Achilios. It seems impossible that Heaven and Hell would be responsible for this; if they can remove the powers of the edyrem so easily, what use are they as weapons?

Perhaps their powers didn't disappear. Since they've all lost their memories, it could be they still possess them, but simply no longer remember how to use them. Since the gift had to be awakened within the edyrem before they can use them, whatever powers they had would not transfer to the next generation of humans, and so the powers would be lost, and humanity would be free to develop at a slow pace again.

Was it stolen?
There is an obscure sentence where Tyrael says that the Worldstone was stolen.¹⁴ He does not say from who, yet it seems unlikely he could mean anyone but Heaven.

In another passage, Trag'Oul says that the "essence of creation" was stolen, and that he was contained in it. As the world was shaped by the angels and demons, so too did he evolve.¹⁵

These two references are highly confusing. No other mentions are made in regards to whether Inarius and/or Lilith stole something in order to forge Sanctuary. But if the Worldstone, or whatever was used to shape it, was stolen, then than could mean that Heaven or Hell should be capable of figuring out how to change it, which could explain how the edyrem lost their powers after the Reset.

Conflicts with lore from LoD
So far this unfortunately makes little sense. In Lord of Destruction, the Worldstone is depicted as erecting some sort of barrier around Sanctuary. As long as it stood, it prevented angels and demons from entering en masse, but as soon as it was destroyed, there was nothing holding Hell back. This is not how its portrayed in the novels. Not once is the Worldstone made out to do anything but hide Sanctuary.

In fact, the idea that the Worldstone would provide a barrier is directly disproved in the novels. During the final chapters of The Veiled Prophet, Sanctuary is truly invaded by both Heaven and Hell as angels and demons pour out over the world.^16,17 There is nothing that stops them. In fact, the only thing that did hold Heaven back for a while was Trag'Oul.¹⁸ He in fact seems to have performed a function similar to what is usually ascribed to the Worldstone, for he managed to "shield Sanctuary from their sight" after Heaven had already learned of Sanctuary's existence, and only when his shield failed could the Heavenly Host invade Sanctuary proper.

What is even more interesting is that the Angiris Council and Mephisto form a pact between themselves. The pact is specifically made so that neither Heaven nor Hell shall interfere in the development of Sanctuary.¹⁹ This pact is not just a verbal contract, it also involves Mephisto leaving "his mark" on Sanctuary in order for the Angiris to accept it. Whatever that actually means is never made clear, but it's possible that it somehow forces Hell, or at least Mephisto, to abide by it.

There is also a pact made in regards to the Worldstone, but what that actually results in is never explained in the books.²⁰

What will its destruction lead to?
At this point it seems safe enough to assume that the Worldstone, in and of itself, was not what prevented Hell from invading prior to the events of Diablo III. But is there a way to make all of this fit together without retconning out the events of LoD entirely?

I believe there is, and the key lies in the last chapters of The Veiled Prophet. The entire finale is centered around this very pact that I mentioned above, the sole intention of which is to make sure that neither Heaven nor Hell will invade Sanctuary. There's also mention of a pact regarding the Worldstone, and the quote of Tyrael where he claims the Worldstone was stolen. These three parts allow us to piece something together.

When the Angiris and Mephisto convene they agree to form a pact regarding the Worldstone. Given that neither side is likely to trust the other, the pact would have to somehow force both sides into agreeing to it. If it lies within the powers of Heaven and Hell to erect some sort of barrier around Sanctuary, then that would seem a likely course of action for them to take.

Now the Worldstone is at face value just a big crystal, but it also permeates the entire world in some way.²¹ What better way to erect such a barrier than to do it through the Worldstone? The powerful artifact would maintain the barrier and make sure that neither Heaven nor Hell will be given the opportunity to invade Sanctuary. The final piece of the puzzle is the part about the Worldstone being stolen. The Worldstone has proven extremely hard to actually manipulate and change, but if it was taken from either Heaven or Hell, or combined using some magics from both, then it would seem reasonable that the task of altering it could be performed if both Heaven and Hell cooperated in doing so.

This allows us to fit it together with established LoD lore. Baal, when trying to corrupt it, would have been trying to alter whatever arrangement had been made there jointly with Heaven so that Hell would once again be granted full access. Tyrael destroyed it so that both forces would once again be able to invade should the need arise. This would mean that the reason Hell hasn't invaded has been because such a response would have garnered an immediate counter-response from Heaven, eventally leading to all humans perishing, something neither side wants. It's simply a stalemate. Such a stalemate doesn't seem likely to last for very long, becauase if it were then there would have been little reason for Mephisto to cement the earlier pact with his own blood. The stalemate is inherently unstable due to the nature of the war between Heaven and Hell, and that is why Hell begins to move during the events of Diablo III. The reason Hell hasn't invaded yet is thus that it was simply a matter of time.

Incidentally, this also ties in well with the banishment that the Three suffered from the Lesser Evils. The actual act of banishing them could not be seen as an attempt to invade, and depending on how the Worldstone pact was formulated it might have been that Heaven was prevented from doing anything about it. On the other hand, even if the magics used to banish the Three were indeed successful in circumventing the protection placed over Sanctuary, it would still have prevented a full invasion, thus leaving the Three alone on Sanctuary. Powerful yes, but not powerful enough to subdue an entire world on their own. What they could do however was to use their exile in order to get to the Worldstone. And the soulstones, shards of the Worldstone, could perhaps allow them to negate the barrier around Sanctuary.

One problem still remains. During Diablo II, it is specifically stated by Tyrael at the end of Act IV that Baal is searching for the Worldstone.²³ This indicates that the Three had no prior knowledge of the Worldstone's location, which fits nicely with what is established in the Sin War. The Three are never made out to actually know where the Worldstone is located. However, if the Three did in fact not know where the Worldstone was when they were banished to Sanctuary, then it doesn't seem likely any pact regarding the Worldstone could have involved any tampering with it. How could it have been if Mephisto wasn't present? I think we can assume Mephisto would not be happy with closing any sort of deal regarding the Worldstone without knowing where it is and what it's capable of.

All in all, it's still a bit unclear on how exactly the Worldstone was relevant during the events of LoD. We will probably have to wait until the very end of Diablo III to find out unfortunately.

References

1: Scales of the Serpent, p. 186

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It resembled some of the crystalline formations that, as a boy, Uldyssian had found in the small caves at home, but none of those had stood well over a hundred feet high—perhaps even more than two hundred, since the base was too deep down to view—consisting of several monoliths jutting in a dozen different directions. Unlike the formations he recalled, this behemoth had a harshness to its look, with its jagged appearance and frightening crimson color.

2: Scales of the Serpent, p. 187

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Each facet of the gargantuan formation contained thousands of minute ones. From within it emanated not only the illumination that had so burnt Uldyssian’s eyes, but, deeper yet, flashes of multicolored lightning. The overall light from the great crystal not only extended the entire length and breadth of the cavern—itself vast enough to fit the village of Seram and its surrounding lands within at least twenty times over—but looked as if it seeped through the very stone walls.

3: The Veiled Prophet, p. 178

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Tyrael:

SOMEHOW HE WAS ABLE TO ALTER THE WORLDSTONE’S FOCUS — PERHAPS WITH THE UNKNOWING HELP OF HIS FELLOW RENEGADES — THEN BIND HIMSELF UTTERLY TO IT AND THUS ENSURED THAT NONE WHO HAD ASSISTED HIM IN ITS THEFT WOULD BE AS POWERFUL….

4: Scales of the Serpent, p. 191

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Rathma:

Yet, the notion of the nephalem disgusted him and that is why he took the
Worldstone—which had been created in great part as a manner by which to hide Sanctuary from the eyes of the High Heavens and the Burning Hells—and altered its resonance.”

Uldyssian had been trying to follow Rathma’s tale as best as possible, but did not understand the last at all. “What does that mean? What would that do?”

“What it means is thus; in addition to secreting this realm, the Worldstone also began a steady and subtle dampening process. Each succeeding generation of nephalem became far less powerful than the previous, until, in very short order, those next born were bereft of any ability.

5: Scales of the Serpent, p. 192

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Once again confused, Uldyssian turned back to the subject at hand. “What’s she done?”

“Clearly, my mother altered the resonance of the Worldstone again, so that now its effect is minimal and limited more or less to Mount Arreat, if that. Even in its presence, you were able to overcome it. With the Worldstone no longer a hindrance, the natural process enabling the nephalem powers could now flourish. You are the result of that…the first, anyway.”

6: Scales of the Serpent, p. 195

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We need to be stronger, he told the Worldstone. We need our powers to grow faster…

The Worldstone did not outwardly change in any way, but Uldyssian felt something within start to shift in response to his probing. He repeated his desire, emphasizing the need for more power and quickly.

...

What had been perfect, was now flawed…impossibly so.

He withdrew immediately. “Lilith’s work—”

“No, son of Diomedes…your work.” Rathma’s gaze burrowed into him. “My mother altered the
resonance through a spell, which affected outcome but not structure. I expect you to do the same, or more likely, fail. It was a desperate chance, but one I felt worthy. You had been cast this near the Worldstone for a reason, I thought…”

“It was an accident that I came here.”

“Have you not discovered yet that there are no accidents?” the shrouded figure returned. “I did not know what to expect, but certainly not this. Uldyssian ul-Diomed, you have altered the very essence of the Worldstone, something that should not be possible…”

7: The Veiled Prophet, p. 306

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Uldyssian made that adjustment….

And Inarius howled. He shimmered, and it seemed as if a part of him burned away. Physically, the angel appeared unchanged, yet as Uldyssian concentrated on him again, Inarius looked…much less. He was still what he was, a celestial warrior of tremendous might, but that might was nothing compared to what the Worldstone had enabled him to do.

Uldyssian had severed the renegade’s link. Inarius no longer could call upon the Worldstone.

8: Scales of the Serpent, p. 191

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Rathma:

Yet, the notion of the nephalem disgusted him and that is why he took the
Worldstone—which had been created in great part as a manner by which to hide Sanctuary from the eyes of the High Heavens and the Burning Hells—and altered its resonance.”

9: The Veiled Prophet, p. 8

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Then, using the gigantic crystal called the Worldstone — which had been created to keep Sanctuary hidden — he had altered the artifact so that it caused the innate powers of the children to decline until they became so dormant as never to have existed.

10: Scales of the Serpent, p. 282

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“I had always thought that,” returned Lilith’s son. “because I knew that the Burning Hells would do all that they could to keep the secret and thus move at a slow, deliberate pace that I could counter. I knew that my father, too, would not rush matters, for he has no desire to reveal his paradise to his brethren nor face their stern justice for his crimes.”

11: The Veiled Prophet, p. 149

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They did not know how fortunate they were, for the demon who visited Inarius could have done much worse. It was only that he, like the angel, dared not fully reveal himself.

There were those even the Lord of Terror feared.

12: Scales of the Serpent, p. 52

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He had no fear of being noted. The mortals were naturally blind to his presence and his power shielded him from any others who might have been otherwise able to detect the celestial being. Inarius no longer even had to worry about the High Heavens sensing either him or Sanctuary, for he felt at last that his powers were vast enough to keep even the Angiris Council oblivious, especially with the everlasting war to further distract their attention.

13: The Veiled Prophet, p. 323

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But the trouble, in Uldyssian’s case, in the case of all his followers, was that it had come too soon. Humanity — and he, in particular — had been thrust too fast into their destiny. That had been Lilith’s doing, the demoness too impatient to let the centuries lead men in the same direction. Uldyssian had not been given the opportunity to mature properly into his gifts.

14: The Veiled Prophet, p. 178

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Tyrael:

SOMEHOW HE WAS ABLE TO ALTER THE WORLDSTONE’S FOCUS — PERHAPS WITH THE UNKNOWING HELP OF HIS FELLOW RENEGADES — THEN BIND HIMSELF UTTERLY TO IT AND THUS ENSURED THAT NONE WHO HAD ASSISTED HIM IN ITS THEFT WOULD BE AS POWERFUL….

15: The Veiled Prophet, p. 69

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His name was Trag’Oul, and he had existed since this world had been molded by the refugee angels and demons. The essence of creation that they had stolen to forge Sanctuary had included what was him. He had grown as the world had grown, and his fate was tied to Sanctuary as much as was that of the humans now populating it.

16: The Veiled Prophet, p. 303

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There seemed no end to their ranks. They flew through the unnatural tear by the hundreds, in the process making the gap widen so as to let those behind them enter in even greater numbers. Already, they filled a good portion of the heavens, and the clouds seemed to react to their presence by churning worse.

17: The Veiled Prophet, p. 307

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However, something happened next that surely Tyrael did not desire. From the ruined ground erupted huge, steaming craters. They blossomed without warning, sending the edyrem scattering. Uldyssian knew what they were, and his hopes for his home did not improve in the least, especially when the first scaled fiend leapt out to meet the angels.

The Burning Hells had come to have their say in the fate of Sanctuary.

18: The Veiled Prophet, p. 240-242

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The strain…was too…much…I could not maintain the…the ploy at the same time…we may have saved you…only to condemn you…with the rest of us…Rathma…

“What do you mean?” he asked, sounding every bit as concerned as Mendeln felt. “What ploy? What happened?”

Sanctuary is no…no longer shielded from their…sight! The Heavenly Host knows they were misled. Trag’Oul’s grief at his failure was so very evident. The winged warriors are closing in on our world.

...

Tyrael could sense the others fast approaching, and the only question he had was why it had taken them so long.

19: The Veiled Prophet, p. 332

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With a chuckle, Mephisto added, “But Sanctuary is much more than we envisioned! All you said is true, and we would let it grow and see where it leads, good or ill, untouched by either side.”

AND WE SHOULD TRUST THE WORD OF YOU, mocked Imperius.

“This world cost me my children, both who sought its survival. I would also have it grow for their sakes.”

20: The Veiled Prophet, p. 334

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His voice seeping with satisfaction, Mephisto murmured, “And the cavern and the find within?”

Imperius shifted as if angry. Tyrael replied, FOR WHAT SHALL BE NEEDED TO BE DONE THERE,
ANOTHER PACT MUST BE MADE.

21: The Veiled Prophet, p. 305

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Distance had no meaning where the Worldstone was concerned. Though it physically appeared to be hundreds of miles away, it was, in truth, everywhere, and so Uldyssian had no difficulty reaching out to it with his mind.

22: The Veiled Prophet, p. 250

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The merchant’s daughter shook uncontrollably, then started sobbing. The fire vanished from around her hands. As it did, Uldyssian retracted his own spell.

Or, at least, he tried to. The green flames resisted. The heat around both of them continued to increase. Sweat began pouring down Uldyssian’s face, and he heard Serenthia gasping for breath.

Gritting his teeth, the son of Diomedes focused harder. He demanded that his power obey.

And it did. Just like that, the flames ceased. Yet the effort took more out of Uldyssian than he had expected.

Serenthia shifted in his arms, bringing his attention back to her. She looked up, her face drawn from her outburst.

“I’m…I’m sorry, Uldyssian…. I didn’t mean to lose control of myself…but…”

“It’s all right. I understand.”

She wiped the moisture from around her eyes. “It’s just that…I suddenly feared that I might not see him again this time.”

23: Tyrael, Act IV, Diablo II

The corpse rune is the most ridicolous skill i ever saw in my life.

Seriously, one thing is summon weapons, spirits and elementals. Other is summon ridicolous objects to throw at enemies. Summon a corpse and throw at enemies is just ridicolous as summoning other non combat retarded objects like apples and chairs.

Also, it's totally out of context. One ridicolousthing in a character is actually nice in others. If a necromancer summon and magicaly throws a exploding corpse noone would care that much. But the Barbarian ? Seriously, his ancients has no better things to give him other then fucking cadavers ?
It's not a matter of realism or anything. It's just context and class theme. A fucking brute barbarian shouldn't be summoning and tossing cadavers... It just feel wrong.

BUT... If he can only use this skills by getting a monster body close to him (or another object), then the skill is ok. I just don't accept summoning and throwing a corpse, it looks just a random idea some retarded 10 years would imagine. "WOW HE SHOULD GET and THORW CORPSESZ !!1!! SO KOOLL!!@1!".

About the frog. PEople have to stop to look at animals as something funny. The Witch Doctor summon bizarre natural spirits. And a giant toad fits well in his context.

Had one 20 minute session with Diablo III this morning and here are some thoughts:

1. Blizzcon was HUGELY more crowded than last year. So much so that I did not want to wait in the ridiculously huge line to play again which shocked even me

2. The "feel" of the game is perfect. It feels much like a really upgraded Diablo II which is all I think we want

3. Graphics and UI are top notch...they are super polished and clean. Tons of effects. Graphic color bloom seems to have been turned down a notch. I think some will be really excited about this

4. It is very very fun and addictive

5. It seems "done". They are definitely in a beta stage of the game not alpha. The games seems to be itemized, which they always said was one of the last things to be done before it shipped

6. Diablo III seems slightly faster paced from an action standpoint and there are more monsters

7. The monster type limit that Diablo II had is gone. There were at least 8 different monster archetypes in the starting Dungeon you could play

8. In the first dungeon there were champion groups, uncommon "blue" groups of monsters, yellow "rare" named random bosses, purple unique monsters and bosses

9. Loot drops seem to have been tweaked to help with balance. Drop rates from trash mobs seemed lower-they dropped loot but not often. The yellow and purple boss types dropped a lot of loot

10. I am not sold still on the health ord thing

11, It has "best game ever" possibility

It's been five weeks, but the next installment in the cosmology series is here. Last time I went over how the various worlds in the universe were created, what their purpose is and how they relate to each other. Before then, I delved deeper into how the world was actually created, and how it all began.

This time, the article will be slightly different. This article focuses on the most powerful and prominent angels and demons, and seeks to describe them more than anything. The element of speculation is, I believe, considerably less in this installment. To compensate, it also seems to be much longer.

As always, spoilers from the Sin War novels are aplenty. There are also some small spoilers from The Black Road and Kingdom of Shadow as well.

(The pagenumbers currently have ?-marks after them. These numbers do not correspond to the printed pagenumbers, as I use .pdf documents when writing these. I have not yet had the time to double-check the pages in the books, so they are only approximations at current.)

Overview

Demons
Diablo
Mephisto
Baal
The Three

Angels
Inarius
Tyrael
The Angiris Council

Summary
Next Time

Overview
What are angels and demons exactly? On a basic level, they are pretty much the iconic representations of what you would think of when you hear their names: angels are pure beings who fight in shining armor, while demons are mostly ravenous beasts thirsting for blood. After that however, subtle and large differences start to appear that separates them from other games and popular culture.

One thing that is very important to note is that angels are not really a force of good. This is not clear at all if you've only played the games; Heaven in D2 is portayed more like the good guys, who watch to see if humanity is strong enough to stand for themselves. Reading the books however, another picture is painted.

Another difference that is important to note is that there is no indication or suggestion of a god who supervises the angels. In fact, the angels are even confirmed not to follow a deity. They are as autonomous as the demons are.

Because of this, Heaven is just as bad for Sanctuary if it were to win over Hell as the reverse would be, and so the humans are trapped between both. The following quote sums up very nicely what angels think of Sanctuary:

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 211" »

Tyrael — and it dismays me yet to hear you verify that it is he who is here — would see no contradiction in his role as a warrior of light by twisting his words and leading you and likely Achilios to believe him kindly and benevolent!” Rathma’s cloak fluttered almost nervously, an effect more pronounced by the fact that there was no wind. “All he has desired during his time here is to create more chaos that will keep those interested in the world’s survival at one another’s throats, the easier for them to be judged by the High Heavens and erased from existence.”

“Not possible!” Mendeln blurted. “I spoke with him. He was concerned over Inarius’s madness and the fear that demons were gaining control over humanity. He —”

“The truth can hide many lies within it.” The Ancient’s shoulders slumped. “To Tyrael, we would be monsters, things that should have never existed. Therefore, we are not worthy of trust or truth. All that matters is our annihilation, so that we do not blemish creation.

Of course, before the end of the Sin War, Tyrael has a change of heart. In a vote between the Angiris, Tyrael votes for humanity, stating the following:

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 330" »

BUT I WAS NOT THERE…AS WERE NONE OF YOU, Tyrael reminded his counterparts. AND SO THIS THING GREW…AND GREW…UNTIL IT BECAME WHAT NONE COULD FATHOM, WHAT NONE COULD HAVE EXPECTED! THIS PLACE CALLED SANCTUARY HAS BROUGHT FORTH SUCH AS WE HAVE NEVER WITNESSED, THINGS I MYSELF CALLED ABOMINATIONS! Before Imperius could interrupt, Tyrael pressed, BUT ABOMINATIONS DO NOT FEEL SUFFERING, THEY DO NOT STRUGGLE FOR ONE ANOTHER AGAINST GREAT ODDS AND THEY DO NOT…THEY DO NOT…OF THEIR OWN FREE WILL…CHOOSE…YES…CHOOSE TO COMMIT SUCH GREAT SACRIFICE FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS.

Mendeln felt the hope rising among his companions, even the generally dour Rathma. Was it possible of Tyrael, of all the angels?

WE SACRIFICE, responded Imperius. OF WHAT DIFFERENCE WAS HIS?

WE SACRIFICE BECAUSE WE MUST…BECAUSE IT IS PART OF OUR CALLING! WE DO IT BECAUSE IT IS OUR DUTY AND NO MORE! THE MORTAL, ULDYSSIAN UL-DIOMED…HE CHOSE TO SELFLESSLY GIVE HIMSELF BECAUSE HE CARED FOR HIS COMPANIONS! IT WAS NOT HIS DUTY…BUT HIS DESIRE. Tyrael looked at each of the other judges, ending with Imperius. I DID CALL THEM ABOMINATIONS…AND I WAS WRONG! MY VOTE IS FOR THEM…FOR I WOULD SEE WHAT THEY MIGHT BECOME…AND MARVEL IN IT.

The change of heart Tyrael has here explains his heavy involvement later on in the games, when the rest of Heaven seems to be extremely passive. However, it also reveals more about Heaven than at first glance. Total domination of heaven is often seen as a grave potential, with a rigidity and order imposed on humanity that it would be terribly to live in.

Astrogha further comments on this point:

Quote from name="Scales of the Serpent, page 73" »

Humans could become the weapon the demons needed to at last seize total victory from the sanctimonious angels, yet the tendency toward good in them might make them ally themselves with the High Heavens…until the piousness and rigidity of the winged warriors sickened their stomachs as much as it did the demons’.

Of course, a demon would probably feel that any amount of piousness is sickening. But Tyrael's speech remains. He spaks of selflessness and comassion prominent in humans, and views it as good. Perhaps Heaven is not as bad after all. It's probably no good for Sanctuary if Heaven were to beat Hell and the angels invade, but that does not mean that an equal 50-50 balance between Heaven and Hell is preferable either. While both must exist, a greater tendency towards Heaven is probably preferable for humanity and Sanctuary as a whole.

Demons
If we start at the easiest and most straightforward end, we have the demons. Since both Diablo 1 and Diablo 2 have focused on us as players killing demons by the scores, the games have given us a pretty good grasp of what they are. In large part, many of them would hardly be more than what the games show us had they been dropped down in our world. Most would have run around and killed everything in sight.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 307" »

The demons were not like the angels. They had no uniformity save their savageness. They did not come in rank upon rank but spilled out like water, quickly covering vast ground, then rising up into the sky.

The more powerful demons however are not very accurately portrayed in the games, and so knowledge of them must be gathered from the books.

Diablo
Big D himself is the iconic demon in the Diablo Universe. Big and red with lots of spikes, horns, claws and teeth, Diablo is as fearsome as they get. He went through some minor changes in Diablo 2 compared to how he appeared in Diablo 1. His original form was quite humanoid, standing upright. The image to the left, from Diablo 2, depicts a more beast-like Diablo, who runs on all fours, with a massive tail to accompany him. Some say he looks like a dinosaur, but in large part he is still humanoid, with two legs, two arms and all that.

In the Sin War however, Diablo takes on another shape. He is encountered many times throughout the books by different characters, and throughout all of them Diablo constantly changes appearance in accordance with the fears of the watcher.

Quote from name="Scales of the Serpent, page 74" »

As the hideous specter neared, Astrogha then caught glimpses of a fiery red shape, huge fists with black talons, and a horrific countenance that was in part a rotting skull with blazing eyes that burned into the arachnid’s own. Monstrous, curled horns—like those of a ram’s gone amok—topped the thick-browed, scaled head.

Fiery red shape, huge fists with black talons, curled horns, thick-browed and scaled head. Excepting the rotting skull, the description fits very well with the appearance Diablo has in D2. In other instances however, this is not the case.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 190" »

From below came a wild roar. Out of the water burst the monstrous shadow, and as it rushed up at Uldyssian, it transformed a hundred times. Each incarnation was more horrific than the last, and nearly all the son of Diomedes could trace to his own innate terrors.

Clearly here then, we see that Diablo resembles that which his onlookers fear. The question though is, does he do this purposefully, i.e. is it a power he can choose to control, or is it an innate quality of his very being, his natural form?

First, an encounter between Inarius and Diablo.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 148" »

Inarius showed no sign of anxiety when that figure became another winged warrior he knew so well. “You are not Tyrael, and I am not afraid of him.”

Are you not? Then why do I resemble him?

It should be noted here that Inarius quite probably does fear Tyrael, he's obsessed with the angel throughout the latter parts of the books. Diablo's response would indicate that his own shape merely changes to what Inarius fears.

On the other hand, during an encounter between Uldyssian and Diablo, something else happens.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 190" »

And so Diablo looked upon himself.

Under any other circumstances, Uldyssian doubted that the demon would have been affected. Prepared for such a trick, the Lord of Terror would have adjusted. Here, though, Uldyssian’s spell happened so quickly, and with so much instinct as opposed to preparation, that the demon could not have known what to expect.

Thus, Diablo inflicted upon himself that which he did unto others. The fears he had been thrusting upon the human altered to his own.

The shadowy figure let out a shriek that nearly made Uldyssian flee in mindless panic.

Of course, Uldyssian cannot know for sure what Diablo can or cannot do. But the idea that simply holding up a mirror is enough to stop him at all times seems ludicrous. Diablo must be able to exercise active control this power of his for it to make any sense. He's not medusa.

This of course does not say whether or not Diablo does in fact his true for is the one we see in Diablo. Thus I fall back on the fourht cinematic in D2. At about 2:10, Mephisto says:

Quote from "cinematic" »

Now my young brother, the time has come for you to assume your true form.

Which is his dino form with tail and all.

All in all, Diablo probably looks something akin to how he appears in Diablo 2.

Mephisto
Mephisto is the eldest of the Three (which of Baal or Diablo is the youngest has never been made clear anywhere thus far). He is also the master of the undead. Indicated by his skeletal appearance in D2, it is made clear in the Kingdom of Shadow, spoken by a mage of the Vizjerei.

Quote from name="The Kingdom of Shadow, page 12?" »

The Prime Evils. Whatever land one had been born in, whether in the jungles of Kehjistan or the cooler, rockier realms of the Western Kingdoms, all knew of the Prime Evils, the three brothers who ruled Hell.

Mephisto, Lord of Hatred, master of undead. Baal, Lord of Destruction, bringer of chaos

What this means exactly is unclear, but it is an interesting tidbit of knowledge.

Still, what does Mephisto look like? Contrary to Diablo, his appearance in The Sin War does not agree well with how he appeared in D2.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 331" »

The shadow coalesced somewhat into a tall, macabre shape that instantly brought to Mendeln’s mind the monstrous morlu or, worse yet, their heinous master, Lucion, who, like Lilith, was also offspring of this sudden and dread visitor.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 332" »

A green, scaly hand thrust forth from the shadow to condemn Inarius.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 332" »

A hint of great, sharp teeth momentarily flashed into sight where the demon’s head should have been.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 333" »

A black substance oozed from the bite, and this the demon let drip onto the spot the angels had chosen.

To fully understand this description, we must also have a description of Lucion and Lilith, Mephisto's two children.

Lilith

Quote from name="Birthright, page 252" »

Rather, it was taller and hideously scaled, with a mass of fiery quills for hair, quills that ran down the spine to…to a reptilian tail ending in savage barbs. Where the delicate hands had been were now clawed fingers—four, not five. Worse, the feet were like hooves, yet splayed, too.

The body was unclad and, although monstrous, still very, very female. The lush curves enticed, drawing his eyes despite his dismay. But most horrific of all was that, when he looked up into the face -the face with its burning orbs that had no pupils and teeth designed for shredding—he could still see the features that he recognized as that of the woman he loved.

Lucion

Quote from name="Birthright, page 312" »

And as he spoke, the facade of humanity fell away. Lucion’s aspect grew terrible to behold, even more so to Uldyssian because there was resemblance to Lilith after all. Lucion stood half again taller than the demoness and much broader, but he, too, had the thorns that acted as mane all the way down his scaled back. Yet, where she had only had one tail, her cursed brother had three, all spiked from top to tip with daggerlike projects longer than Uldyssian’s hand.

Lucion took a step toward him again and, in doing so, revealed that he also had the hooved legs his sister did. His hands were different, though, for the fingers on each numbered more than five and the claws were like those of a badger, but dripping with what surely had to be poison.

And of the face, only the eyes were identical. Lucion, who played at being the handsome, schooled cleric, was a beast whose head more resembled a toad. His mouth was wider than the top of his skull, and row upon row of teeth greeted Uldyssian. The brother of Lilith had no nose, not even nostrils, and his chin was hooked so sharply in the middle that Uldyssian could almost imagine it being used as a weapon.

Clearly then it would seem that Mephisto would share some traits with his brother Diablo. He is no undead himself, even though he may be the master of them.

We cannot be certain of Mephisto's finer features though. Lilith and Lucion have similar shapes, but differ in their faces. Likewise, Mephisto probably looks like them in body, but has a different face. It is not impossible he share some features with Diablo as well. They are, after all, brothers.

Why then does Mephisto not look like this in D2? Why is he a hovering skeleton? The answer to that question is simply that, in D2, Mephisto possesses the body of Sankekur, the leader of the Zakarum. Like Tal Rasha for Baal and the Wanderer for Diablo, they are all much more human while still in their bodies. Diablo, shedding his human form, is the only one of them who truly returns to his demonic form in the games.

Baal
Unfortunately, there's is little to be said about Baal. He plays such a minor role in the books, never appearing and only being mentioned here and there in passing that there's little new to say. I did however find one interesting thing: Baal appears to be more stupid than his brothers, or at least he has more stupid demons serving him.

Quote from name="Birthright, page 207" »

“Stupid is Gulag,” came Astrogha’s monstrous voice from above. “Like his master he is…”

Quote from name="Birthright, page 207" »

“And you, Gulag, do you have any reservations about accepting what I offer even before hearing the price?”

“Dessssstrucctionnnnnn?”

He smiled at the simple question. “Yes, there could very well be some.”

“Hhhheadddd…”

It was as close to an acquiescence as Lucion would get from one of Baal’s minions.

Quote from name="Birthright, page 274" »

Satisfied that it was not Gulag, Lucion sought then for Astrogha. The spider was a more cunning creature, being of Diablo’s calling.

Both of these indicate that demons of Destruction think little, and it clearly shows that Astrogha is more cunning because he is a demon of Terror.

Whether Baal is more stupid isn't necessarily true, Astrogha will likely not give much credit to a Prime other than his master Diablo. But Lucion has the same thought of Gulag, while at the same time acknowledging that Astrogha is not dumb. If this were simply a matter of hate between servants of different Primes, Lucion should not have upheld Astrogha so.

It seems strange that Baal should be noticeable dumber. But why would he surround himself with stupid demons then?

The Three
Now, how do the Three interact with each other? There is much mystery regarding this, and I have in the past tried to figure out how their relationship works. It is well known that demons constantly plot against each other:

Astrogha against Lucion:

Quote from name="Scales of the Serpent, page 73" »

If Lucion was no longer fit to command, then someone would rightly have to step in and take his place…but that would prove difficult, considering Mephisto’s role in this. The other Prime Evil would not take kindly to his offspring’s role being usurped…unless the results of that proved most promising.

And so Astrogha was debating plots of his own.

And Kabraxis against the Three:

Quote from name="The Black Road, page 139?" »

If we grow too quickly, we will attract the attention of the Prime Evils, and I’m unwilling to deal with them at the moment. For now, though, you have a service to give.

There are others, but the thing I have always remarked about is that the Three do not seem to plot against one another. Even when they were all shattered and imprisoned, they reunited in Kurast. And Baal, like most of you have heard, screams "My brothers will not have died in vain!" when you enter the Worldstone Chamber at the end of D2. Is it in fact so that the Three do not plot to overthrow one another?

There is much on this topic. First, Malic summons a demon:

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 122" »

“My master is Mephisto, brother to your master…Diablo….”

Again, the demon bubbled. By this point, there was hardly anything left of the dead mage save a few bone fragments, including the skull.

“By the pact of the Three, you must bow to my power. You must obey my will! Understand?”

Clearly Malic is here using some sort of agreement between demons. If a servant of another Prime if specific terms are met (in this case a human sacrifice), then the summoned demon is forced to obey the summoner. This is important, for it shows a matter of trust between the Three. They are allowing demons not of their own to command their servants... provided they belong to another Prime.

However, when Diablo and Inarius meet, Diablo is of another mind:

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 148" »

I deal with a traitor, a liar, and a murderer, said a voice that, despite Inarius’s claim, sent a slight chill through him. It’s almost like dealing with one of my brothers.

This could mean much. On the one hand, it could mean that the Three are as treacherous against each other as against other demons and servants. At first glance, it certainly seems that way.

On the other, if one ponders this for a bit, this makes little sense. By all accounts, the Three have reigned in Hell forever. If they backstabbed each other constantly, there must have been fluctuations in power, either in favor of themselves or for other demons (such as Kabraxis or Azmodan and Belial).

And if we consider the Three, they are most certainly traitors, liars and murderers in their own right (though it's hard to use that last term on them when they are obviously not bound by any law). That does not mean they commit any of these acts against one another however. In the Veiled Prophet, Diablo betrays Inarius, lies to Uldyssian and probably murders somebody along the way as well, which would make him all three things.

Now there may be scheming between them, but there are different levels of betrayal. Are any of them willing, or in fact even able, to overthrow the others?

On the same topic is an interesting exchange between the Auriel and Mephisto when he appears.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 331" »

YOU OFFER PARLEY…LORD MEPHISTO? Auriel asked the shadow. YOU…NOT YOUR BROTHER?

...

“My dear brother is beside himself. Therefore, I, who am also supreme, do indeed offer parley — and more! I offer…a truce.”

It is obvious that Auriel would expect Diablo to handle this exchange. In fact, up until this point, only Diablo of the Three has appeared on Sanctuary during the entirety of the series. Only after Uldyssian "scares" Diablo away does another Prime Evil enter the picture.

What's more is that Mephisto is not at all surprised by Auriel's reaction, or angered that he is not viewed as Diablo in this matter. (This may be entirely unintentional and simply a detail Knaak did not consier however).

Tyrael lends another piece into the puzzle:

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 177" »

The angel dipped his head ever so slightly. AND PERHAPS THE WORST OF THE THREE…HE WHO IS THE ESSENCE OF TERROR…THE LORD DIABLO.

What Tyrael expresses here seems to confirm what was suggested earlier: Diablo is the foremost of the Three.

It is not entirely clear though, for Mephisto is apparently able to seal a truce between Heaven and Hell, which includes Diablo, and Tyrael only says that Diablo is perhaps the worst. Not very clear at all.

Still, two times in favor of Diablo, as well as a lot of appearances from him. If nothing else, Diablo is probably a first among equals.

But wait a minute some of you will say. What about the 4th cinematic in D2, the one where Mephisto seems to be commanding Diablo into Hell?

It has been argued that this scene, where Mephisto says "Send forth your Terror into Hell." implies that Mephisto is the foremost of them. The problem though is that Diablo is well on his way through the gate before Mephisto says anything. It seems less of a command, and more of a... encouragement, for lack of a better word.

Angels
Angels are different from their popular depiction. To the left we have Hadriel, the only angel we've ever seen in Diablo game except for Izual in his spirit form and Tyrael himself.

The key features of the angels are illustrated here though: a hood or helmet with no face but only a silhouette inside it, only black, a body covered in armor, and the iconic shining wings that are not really wings with feathers, but tendrils made of light. The description is solidified in the Sin War however when the Heavenly Host arrives to Sanctuary and are described by Uldyssian:

Quote from name="Scales of the Serpent, page 51" »

They were angels, as humans portrayed them at least. The Prophet, more the wiser, acknowledged the artisan’s exceptional attempt, but an attempt was all it truly was. A mere mortal could not have grasped the true essence of such beings. A mere mortal could not conceive of creatures who were not exactly physical in nature, but instead harmonic resonances.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 302" »

And through that tear flowed an astounding, breathtaking swarm of magnificent beings whose armor gleamed brighter than the sun and whose many wings created a dazzling display of colors unmatched upon the mortal plane.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 307" »

The celestial host dove in perfect order, row upon row spreading out in every direction over Sanctuary. All held ready fiery weapons — from swords to lances to scythes and more — which somehow Uldyssian understood were actually manifestations of their individual powers.

In terms of angels, there's is little to be had, and next to nothing about any of them before the last few chapters of the Veiled Prophet, save regarding Inarius and Tyrael.

Inarius

Quote from name="Scales of the Serpent, page 51" »

In his place stood a looming, hooded figure with vast wings of flame. Within the hood there was no face, instead a radiance—formed from the blending of both light and sound—so wondrous that it would have been almost blinding to most humans. What appeared to be long, silver hair draping around it was also no more than pure light and sound mixing together.

He was clad in breastplate and robes, the former a shimmering copper, the latter as if sewn from the very rays of the sun. In mortal terms, what had been the prophet seemed now some divine warrior, and in truth, he had faced many a harsh battle against the demons of the Burning Hells.

This description is of course akin to the one I made above, and it's not really how Hadriel looks. It is close, but Inarius' hood is evidently not black inside, and whether Hadriel's wings can be called fiery is debatable. Regardless however, while there may be small differences, both are evidently angels.

Who was Inarius though? For those of you who don't know, I advise you check the first article in this series, as I go in heavily on his part. In short however, he can be called the (main) creator, or shaper, of Sanctuary.

He is also a rebel however, a rebel who left the High Heavens. Before then, it is often claimed by fans that he was a member of the Angiris Council, the highest ruling body in Heaven. While it is certain that he had some position there, it is unclear just how high his rank was.

Quote from name="Birthright, page 157" »

And in announcing it to himself, he felt a rush of jubilation. He was again Inarius, once of the Angiris Council, once a commander of the Heavenly Hosts!

Quote from name="Birthright, page 158" »

Making contact with such—either those of his own kind or, especially, the demons—proved a tricky situation, but Inarius had not been an advisor to the Council for nothing.

This does not make any sense. How can he both be a member and an advisor to the Council? It seems as if one of the statements must be false, but both thoughts come from Inarius himself.

There are several possible ways to solve this apparent problem.

1. All members are advisors, even Tyrael, Imperius etc.
2. The Council employs advisors to aid in their decisions. By this line of thought, Inarius would not have had any executive power in the Council similar to what Tyrael displays.
3. The term advisor is simply a mistake that slipped by the editors.

The first I am ready to refuse outright. The Angiris is the highest ruling body in Heaven, there is no god or supreme being that they report to. Thus they cannot all be advisors, unless advisor was a title. However, as such it should be capitalized (the Angiris Council is always shortened to Council with a capital C in the books, likewise should advisor have been had it been a formal title). It is not however, and so I rule out that alternative.

The second option is more probable. The Angiris are only five, and they cannot possibly handle all decisions that must be made. For all their vaunted power,neither Angiris nor Prime seem to be all that much more intelligent than humans, and their mental capabilites are not so vast as to be able to handle all decisions. Thus, work must be relegated to other angels. In this sense, we can imagine that an advisor such as Inarius would have similar duties to a member of the Cabinet in the US; he very much has real power, but the five councilors of the Angiris are his superiors.

The last option is that this is just a typo on Blizzard's behalf. While it is possible (the term advisor is only used once in the entire series), drawing this conclusion seems weird. "Blizzad only mentioned it once, and I don't like the idea, so they probably didn't mean it."

Lastly though, a point against Inarius having been a fully-fledged member: who in their right mind creates a council, which makes it's decisions based on voting, with an even numbr of members? Why create a council with six members, when five or seven is much preferable? This I believe speak in favor of the second point. This of course means that there would be other advisors to the Council, and why not? Reasonably they must have councilors, no rules can know everything, and Inarius having such a position seems very reasonable.

Tyrael

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 175" »

A brilliant light blossomed from there, one that made Serenthia immediately tighten her grip on her spear. In the midst of that light, she saw the tall figure emerge. Vast wings composed of tendrils of energy rose up behind him.

Notice the difference in description here between Inarius and Tyrael. Not wings of fire, but of energy. It could be that they mean the same thing, but at the same time we have up-to-date artwork that clearly shows different wings for different angels. Tyrael, whom we can see at www.diablo3.com, clearly does not have wings of fire, while much artwork of what must be other angels show wings that are dazzling in color and could very well be described as fiery.

This also brings stark contrast to how Inarius looks. Tyrael has a completely black inside of his cowl, while Inarius was described to have a combination of bright light and sound inside. But enough of that, mots of you know how Tyrael looks simply by having visited Blizzard's site.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 306" »

Uldyssian could not see the other angel, but he felt his power. Tyrael was naturally far stronger than Inarius. Uldyssian might have still defeated him easily, but the second angel had wisely used the Prophet’s fury to hide his own efforts until it was too late for the human to notice.

Interestingly, Uldyssian judges Tyrael to not only be stronger than Inarius, but far stronger. This, should be noted, is right after Uldysssian severs Inarius' link to the Worldstone, so this does not take into account the added power Inarius received from there during most of the books.

The Angiris Council
Another point I wish to raise here though is the epithetof angels. We all know the Three and their domains: Destruction, Hatred and Terror, as well as the lesser demons: Anguish, Lies, Pain and Sin. But what of the angels, do they not have similar domains?

It has long been theorized that they do, and there is some support for it.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 71?" »

“Yes. Tyrael. I believe that the Angel of Justice has come on his own to judge his brother’s crimes…and, in the process, Sanctuary.”

Notice the capital J, this is most certainly a title of Tyrael. At it seems reasonable that Justice is his domain, for there are other passages in the books that continually speak of his as bringing justice.

If Tyrael has an epithet like the demons however, it seems vey reasonable that all high-ranking angels do as well. So let's break down the Council and see what we can figure out

Imperius

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 326" »

THERE IS NO NEED FOR THIS DEBATE TO CONTINUE…. OR TO HAVE EVEN BEGUN, declared a majestic angel with robes of royal red and a shining breastplate upon which the image of an upturned sword blazed.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 328" »

Imperius did not reply, but if he had had a face, Mendeln felt certain that it would have glowered.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 331" »

Imperius summoned a sword of fire.

Commonly, Imperius has been thought of as the Angel of War, at least here on DFans. His demeanor supports a war-like nature, but I do not think it is as simple as that. War seems not quite fit as an epithet. Terror is not a domain of Heaven, and Justice is no cause of Hell, but both sides deal avidly in war. It seems weird that an angel should be specifically linked to war, while a demon is not. And even so, the two sides should be opposite one another.

What could Imperius be then instead? I have a few suggestions:

Devotion
Order
Courage
Strenght

Imperius very name (Imperial, Empire) speaks of of order and power, and he is certainly has Heaven's best wishes in mind when he votes. He's strong of character, but if I had to pick one, I'd guess he was the Angel of Order. Sanctuary is, for all intents and purposes, a disruption to the order that Heaven represents.

Auriel

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 327" »

SHOULD WE NOT DEAL WITH THE RENEGADE FIRST, IMPERIUS? asked one whose robes were a softer blue and who seemed, as angels appeared, a female.

Auriel, like Imperius, also has a common attribute given to her, and that is Love. I am inclined to agree here somewhat, though Benevolence might also be her domain, as she is sympathetic of Sanctuary from the start and argues most fervently for it.

Itherael

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 328" »

LET IT BE SO, interjected a gray-clad angel who seemed neither male nor female in aspect.

This one is tought. There is very little to go by, but when Itherael makes his final decision (he votes in support of Sanctuary) he calmly considers all the facts and the situation. I propose that he is the Angel of Reason. Demons think, true, but they are also very impulsive and sudden. Itherael's entire being speaks of calm and contemplation. The gray robes also indicate this; he arrives at logical conclusions, regardless of what results that might yield.

Malthael

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 328" »

The female angel looked to a fourth member of their council, a very gaunt figure whose robes were black and whose breastplate was likewise colored.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 328"" »

A visible shiver ran through not only Mendeln but also the rest when the angel Malthael spoke. His voice brought nightmares of death to Mendeln — a permanent, empty death.

It seems probably this is the angel of death, the colors and descriptions fit. Still, this is also in contrast to Hell; they dabble in death just as much if not more so, yet the epithet of death would belong to Heaven? It doesn't seem right, but I can't think of what else to give to him.

Summary
This article hasn't been aimed at a specific target, but has instead simple explained various features about demons and angels. I cannot really summarize what s written here.

Next Time
I am not really sure what will come next time. This article created some additional aspects I wish to explore, but I do not know if they warrant an article of their own. You will just have to wait and see what comes next.

Three weeks ago I began to disseminate the inner workings of the Diablo Universe with a starting post about how the world was created. I advise you to read it, but here's the quick rundown of it:

1. The Universe was at one point created
2. Sanctuary was not created by Inarius and Lilith in the absolute sense; the world existed prior to them, and they merely shaped it.
3. There are other worlds like Sanctuary in the Universe, with guardians similar to Trag'Oul on them. Both Heaven and Hell seem to be unaware of these worlds, or at the very least unaware of the guardians.
4. The War between Heaven and Hell concerns more than just Sanctuary, perhaps all of the Universe.

This time, I will delve deeper into the specifics of each world, and how they function. Some of them you undoubtedly know of, such as the Void and the Abyss, while some are more unknown, such as reflection of sorts of Sanctuary, which appears briefly in the Sin War novels.

As before, this post will be heavy with spoilers from the Sin War novels. If you have not read them and do not wish to have it spoiled to you, I advise you not to read more.

Worlds
Trag'Oul's Realm
The Dream World
The High Heavens and the Burning Hells
The Void
The Abyss
The Afterdeath
Summary
Next Time

Worlds
First, we must establish what a world is exactly. It does not appear to be just as simple as planets floating around in space. Not entirely at least.

There are various mentions throughout the books about various planes of existence. It is not make specifically clear what separates one plane from another, but I think a plane is just one aspect of the same world. Sanctuary in this sense is a world, yet at least four different planes make it up. The mortal plane is the first, but Trag'Oul's realm, the "dream plane" (my own name for another plane mentioned) and the afterdeath also appear to be directly related to the mortal plane of Sanctuary which we normally see in the story.

The other places, such as Heaven and the Void, will need special mention.

Trag'Oul's Realm

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 167" »

There is no choice! he insisted. There is no choice! I must act! I must go to the mortal plane.

This is Trag'Oul speaking, when he tries to enter Sanctuary but is immediately stopped by the other guardians. It is here clearly shown that Sanctuary is part of the mortal plane.

At the same time, this quote also establishes that Trag'Oul's realm is not part of the same plane, and Trag'Oul definitely does not inhabit a planet. The following three quotes all describe Trag'Oul's realm.

Quote from name="The Scales of the Serpent, page 118" »

Darkness surrounded Mendeln, darkness that felt as if it went on forever. Uldyssian's brother
suspected that if he ran and ran as hard as he could for as long as possible, he would find no change in things. It would still be dark and empty. A part of him was unnerved by that...but another part was morbidly fascinated.

Quote from name="Birthright, page 275" »

The shrouded figure understood that it might mean waiting for what seemed days, weeks, or even years, but that did not matter. In the other place, that which was called Sanctuary, no time would pass at all.

Quote from name="Birthright, page 275" »

There was no sound, no wind. He felt solid ground beneath his booted feet, but knew that to be illusion. In this place, everything that existed was but the dreams of his teacher.

The teacher being Trag'Oul, and the man waiting being Rathma. Clearly, wherever he is is quite distinct from a regular world such as Sanctuary.

Now, Trag'Oul is time and again throughout the books named to be the guardian of Sanctuary. Not just a guardian, but the guardian. It stands to reason then that the realm which Trag'Oul inhibits, which apparently exists at his wishing, it specifically tied to Sanctuary as well.

The Dream

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 250" »

Serenthia looked as if she slept, but she did not. Regardless of what Uldyssian had said, she could not merely leave things be. Achilios had been reckless, true, but Serenthia would not abandon him because of that trait. After all, he had always been reckless, but also extremely loyal. And so, while her body lay still, her mind went in search of the man she loved.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 251" »

And then she saw the hole.

It was not truly physical but bordered between that and some plane of existence almost akin to that which she currently inhabited.

This is Serenthia talking. During this passage, she is currently appearing to sleep while letting her mind travel a shadow of Sanctuary in search of Achilios. In this state, she is able to overview the landscape quickly, as if flying.

Both Trag'Oul's realm and this dream state that Serenthia is in are two distinct places, however they also both appear to be linked to Sanctuary. Serenthia is traveling a world that has the same landscape and geography as the waking world, which clearly links it to Sanctuary.

The High Heavens and The Burning Hells
What exactly are these two realms? At first impression, one would like to say that they are worlds. They are clearly not tied only to Sanctuary, as planes seems to be. Regardless of which, I will assume that regardless of what their nature, they are identical in to each other in this aspect. If Heaven is a world and not a plane, then Hell is per definition as well.

First, there is appears to be evidence that they are worlds:

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 240" »

Sanctuary is no...no longer shielded from their...sight! The Heavenly Host knows they were misled. Trag'Oul's grief at his failure was so very evident. The winged warriors are closing in on our world.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 241" »

Tyrael could sense the others fast approaching, and the only question he had was why it had taken them so long. There was more to this place - this Sanctuary, as he now knew it to be called by the renegade - than appearances suggested. There was some force, some vast reservoir of power, that Inarius had come upon that might be the reason. Tyrael was still investigating that. Likely it was what had caused the delay of the host. In the long run, it would not matter.

What is made clear here is that it actually takes time to travel to Sanctuary from Heaven at least. This is crucial, because travel between planes appears to be instantaneous. Whenever Mendeln goes to see Trag'Oul, there is no delay. And Serenthia barely even seems to close her eyes before she can travel the dream world. If Heaven and Hell were planes in the sense I'm using the word, there should be no travel time. Yet there is.

However, there is a potential issue here some other issues that speak against it being as simple as that, and it comes from the previous passage.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 251" »

And then she saw the hole.

It was not truly physical but bordered between that and some plane of existence almost akin to that which she currently inhabited.

This is exactly the same quote as above describing the dream plane. What is troubling is that the hole mentioned here borders to Hell. Seeing as Serenthia is at this point in what appears to be a reflection of the waking Sanctuary, what I previously called the Dream plane, and that Hell seems to share similarities to it, one can wonder if Hell isn't actually a plane after all.

Perhaps we simply do not know enough of Heaven and Hell to draw any conclusions though. Considering their names are plural, it's possible that Heaven and Hell stretch across many planets, or that they have a lot of different planes as well. The plane Serenthia sees is perhaps one of those planes.

The Void

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 235" »

Listen to me! demanded the dragon in a tone that cut off any further protest by the human. Look about you! See where you are!

Uldyssian's brother did just that - and only then registered that the blackness in which he floated was not the domain of Trag'Oul. This place radiated such emptiness that Mendeln suddenly clutched his arms tight around his body and wished fitfully for the relative cheer of the dragon's home.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 1235" »

What is this place?

Trag'Oul's voice sounded fainter, as if he were farther away now. What could be called the remotest part of existence! A place so far from all else that to be trapped here is to be cursed forever.

Mention of the Void is scant, but it plays a large part in the story of the Sin War. In one part, quoted above, Mendeln is sent to the Void by Trag'Oul to find and rescue Rathma, who has been imprisoned there by Inarius.

"Where is the Void?" exactly is perhaps a question as hard to answer as "Where is the Universe?" would be. Perhaps, if my earlier assumption about worlds and planes is correct, it is a plane so far removed and tenuously connected to the rest of the Universe as anything can be and still exist. Or, it is some emptiness between planes.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 235" »

The strain...the strain of reaching out all the way here is...is growing worse. Mendeln ul-Diomed, you must act as the link between myself [Trag'Oul]...and Rathma...if we are to save him.

It also appears to be quite hard to reach. Trag'Oul has to strain himself to even touch the place, and the only other being we know of to send beings there is Inarius, who is very powerful.

The Abyss

Quote from "Tyrael" »

For his transgressions, Izual's spirit was bound within the form of a terrible creature which was summoned from the Abyss. His maddened spirit has resided within that tortured husk for many ages now.

Quote from name="Arreat Summit" »

Spawned from the very bowels of the skulking Stygian Beast who awakens only once every 1000 years to feed off the spawn of its own bile and pus, the Reziarfg is truly the most hideous and vile monster in all of the Three?s bestiary. It was once said that the Three did not always rule the darkness that beasts beyond thought swelled and slithered across the void. It is believed that some of these nightmares may still exist hidden deep with in the pitch of the abyss where even the darkness of the upper realms of hell seems like day. This is where Reziarfg lives.

These are the only two mentions I could find of the Abyss, and the second quote is from an April Fools! There is never a mention of the Abyss in the Sin War novels.

EDIT
emilemil1 reminded me of a quote by Tyrael, the very last dialogue in Diablo II.

Quote from "Tyrael" »

Praise be to the Light! You have accomplished the impossible! Diablo and Mephisto have been banished back into the Black Abyss that spawned them and the corrupted Soulstones are no more. You've done well, hero. For now, you should rejoice.

What exactly can be extrapolated from this I do not know, since I cannot take the April Fools info as reliable without confirmation from Blizzard. That leaves what Tyrael says. He is probably one of the most reliable sources in this matter however, so this does hint at the Abyss, which is probably the same as the Black Abyss, is a spawning ground for demons. Perhaps it is an all-encompassing plane like the Void might be, or perhaps it is some galactic churning ground that constantly keeps Hell and Heaven filled with soldiers ready to battle each other.

Still, it's difficult to know if all demons come from there, or only some, or if the Abyss is specifically tied to Hell.

The Afterdeath
It has been speculated on what happens to humans after they die. There is the idea that dead people go to either Heaven or Hell, based on the observation of the tortured souls that the player can kill in Act IV in Diablo II. However, it seems to be a little more complex than that.

Quote from name="Scales of the Serpent, page 170" »

They have accepted you who hears them - the children of angels and demons slain so foully - accepted that you will keep Sanctuary from becoming either the fury of the Burning Hells or the oppressive order and worship of the High Heavens. They who were the first birthed in Sanctuary and are, because of that, still more of it than either Lilith or Inarius can understand, forever open the link between the phase of afterdeath and that of living?

"'Afterdeath'?" Mendeln repeated, but the glittering stars did not further explain that term and Mendeln finally understood that he should define it as best he could on his own.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 143" »

For a thing like Achilios, though, Uldyssian's brother hoped that by actually reversing the animation spell, he would send the archer back to the afterdeath.

There are a few other passages mentioning the afterdeath, and all point to the same thing. Dead humans at least, including Nephalem, go to that place, whatever it is.

However, it is made clear that necromancers call being from the afterdeath. There is another quote which hints at something else as well:

Quote from name="Scales of the Serpent, page 265" »

"He [Achilios] is nowhere to be found," Rathma reported, more to Trag?Oul than to Mendeln.

You have gazed upon all planes?

"Naturally. I have also summoned him in a hundred manners, some of which put me at risk. It was necessary to do so, though the results were not as I wished."

The dragon was oddly silent for a time. Then, You realize, my friend, that there are few other paths?

Rathma nodded. "Yes, the most preferable one is that somehow he has passed on to that place from which even you could not summon him back. Certainly, it would be his reward for what he had so far
done."

This then, is clearly not the afterdeath, since a necromancer, and hence Trag'Oul, would be able to call him back from there. There is no other mention of this place, except that Nephalem do not go there. They are forever part of the afterdeath.

Curiously this quote also lends evidence to the idea that the afterdeath is also a plane, and going by my earlier proposition of planes being linked to Sanctuary, it makes sense even here. Demons are never raised from the, but plenty of humans are. Reasonably, only humans are accessible from the afterdeath, linking it to Sanctuary. Whatever happens to demons is unknown.

That being said, it is often stated, particularly in Diablo II, that humans meddling with demons often face miserable futures. Perhaps these humans are dragged to hell, purposefully by demons, to punish those who meddle in the affairs of the Three.

Summary
1. Worlds are made up of several planes.
2. Sanctuary is a world, with four known planes linked to it: the mortal plane, Trag'Oul's realm, the Dream plane, and the afterdeath.
3. Heaven and Hell are most likely worlds as well, with their own sets of planes making them up.
4. The Void is a place as far away from anything else as is possible. It's unknown what it is, but there's nothing there save for a few unlucky imprisoned souls. It might be a plane, or it might just be some emptiness between planes.
5. The Abyss is still a mystery. Nothing conclusive is known about it.
6. Dead humans seem to first go to the afterdeath, and eventually fade to some other place beyond the reach of angels, demons and even Trag'Oul.

Next Time
Now that we've cleared the two more abstract topics in this series, I will focus on what most of you are probably more interested in. The next article will be about angels, demons and other divinities, in particular the more powerful of them all.

Have you ever gone into the Lore and Storyline forum here? I'm sure you have at one point, and when you did, you might have searched for answers to the most pressing questions you had regarding Diablo: What happened to Inarius at the end of the Sin War? Why did Tyrael destroy the Worldstone? What will the Necromancers do in D3? What order should I read the Diablo books in?

All questions valid enough to merit an answer to be sure, but a bit limited in scope, focused in the game and the near future. True, you might have found deeper discussions in there as well, regarding the nature of the soulstones and the relations between demons and angels. But what of the truly large questions, not just how a specific aspect of the world worked, but how the world itself worked? Perhaps you have never considered them.

Allow me then to enlighten you all, for I present to you the cosmology of Diablo. Through a series of analytical posts, I will try to assert the structure and purpose of the entirety of creation in the world of Diablo. To my aid I will use a multitude of quotes and passages from the Sin War Novels, the latest and most encompassing piece of lore released regarding Diablo. This first post will deal with the beginning and general world order of the Universe. My next posts will deal more with the nature of the worlds, the structures of Heaven and Hell, the Worldstone and it's function, and eventually a speculative post about the end of all things, with whatever might present itself in between.

Remember that this is purely a hypothetical line of reasoning. It's as good as dead certain we'll never see any of the following theories actualized or proved in any games or novels. I even doubt that Blizzard has an planned cosmogony or eschatology for either Sanctuary or the world of Diablo itself. Nevertheless, the information we have from the games and books certainly allows us to theorize about the matter.

(If you do not wish to read any spoilers from the the Sin War Novels Birthright, Scales of the Serpent and The Veiled Prophet, I advise you not to read the rest of the post.)

Things to know
The Beginning
The Eternal War
Summary
Next Time

Things to know
Before continuing, there are certain facts about the Diablo Universe that one needs to know before understanding my line of reasoning in this post.

Sanctuary: Strictly refers to the "mortal world" which is the main the setting for all the games and books. This does not include Heaven, Hell, the Void, Trag'Ouls realm or any other worlds that might exist.

Heaven and Hell: Refers to the High Heavens and the Burning Hells only.

Other Worlds: There is indirect evidence that Sanctuary is not simply one of three worlds, but that there are many more worlds beyond those we know of. This will be further explained below.

The Universe: Refers to everything that exists, all worlds.

The Beginning
We must of course start at the beginning, and if there is no beginning there can be no end. So, first question: is there a beginning? Although it may appear a stupid question at first glance, it is a valid question and must be asked.

First, let's look at the Universe as a whole.

Quote from name="Scales of the Serpent, page 192" »

“What is ‘he,’ you want to ask?” Rathma gestured at the ever-shifting form. “Even Trag’Oul does not
entirely know. He has existed since just after the beginning of creation, although not quite as we
sense him now.”
No…that came later…Whenever the dragon spoke, the scales flowed and shifted, constantly displaying other lives, other times. That came with the finding of the Shards…with the molding of Sanctuary by the renegade angels and demons…

Notice Rathma's choice of words. He doesn't say beginning of Sanctuary, or beginning of the world, but beginning of creation, signifying that Trag'Oul comes from the very start, but also that there was a creation to speak of.

If we instead merely look at Sanctuary however, it becomes a much more interesting question and one specific to the Diablo Universe. And naturally, there is a beginning to Sanctuary:

Quote from name="Birthright, page 3" »

The world was young, then, and only a few knew it as Sanctuary or knew that not only did angels and demons exist, but some of them had caused Sanctuary to be in the first place.

The above is from the prologue of Birthright, and comes from the writings of a fictional character named Kalan, most likely someone similar to Abd al-Hazir. But while this text seems to suggest that Sanctuary was caused, i.e created in the sense of a total creation from nothing, it must be taken with a grain of salt considering that it written by a human hand. What he perceives thinks to have happened is not necessarily what has happened.

The apparent problem with Inarius creating the world is that he is not the most powerful being; the other archangels of the Angiris Council, and the Three, are by all accounts his equals or even superiors in terms of power. Why then do the angels and demons not create another world instead of warring over one? Why is Sanctuary so important to conquer? There are several possible explanations to this.

One is that the other high angels and demons can indeed create new worlds, but they cannot fill it with what actually makes Sanctuary important: humans, the Nephalem. Although how one could create an entire world from scratch with physical laws, matter and all plants/animals, but not humans, seems strange. Even supposing that were the case however, why not create a new world in the perfect image of Sanctuary, steal a few humans from the original, then place them in your copy and have them reproduce? Much simpler than fighting with the other side for control of a defiant world.

A second position that seems more plausible is that neither Angel nor Demon can create a new Sanctuary on their own, but by combining their powers they can achieve something much greater. The nephalem, children of both angel and demon, have the potential to become more powerful than their parents, as is first mentioned by Lilith:

Quote from name="Birthright, page 196" »

Obviously aware of this, she continued to talk as if all was well between them, as if he was happy to know that he had lain with a monster. “What you have called a gift, my love, is that and much more! You…all humans…are the spawn of our coupling! From demon and angel came the nephalem, greater than anything ever created in the cosmos! The force I stirred within you, the force which I found begging to be released, is nothing less than your birthright!

Inarius then thinks the same though:

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 78" »

Inarius frowned. The reason for his frown had as much to do with the cause of Gamuel’s doom as the servant’s inadequacy. Lilith’s pawn had done the unthinkable. That meant that Inarius would have to alter his entire strategy. The danger he had always believed the nephalem — or edyrem, as these called themselves — to be had come to pass.

If this is because of the mingling of angel and demon blood, which seems to be the only possible explanation, then it stands to reason that the powers of angels and demons compliment each others. Thus, working together, perhaps they could have made something like Sanctuary.

This explanation seems more credible, as it is unlikely an angel and a demon of Inarius' and Lilith's strength would have cooperated in creating a second world by spawning new humans. The problem here however is that there seems to be a host of other worlds somewhere that remain unknown to any angelic or demonic force, thus could not possibly have been created by either.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 96" »

Filled with an unaccustomed anger, he [Trag'Oul] confronted the voices. This is my burden! This is my duty! You have no say in this, none of you!
There was a moment of silence, and then, together, they responded, But we do…this goes beyond Sanctuary now. Beyond all of us who stand sentinel.
The dragon grew wary. How so? How can that be?
As ever, they answered as one, and, as before, their words struck him as nothing else could. Because the war is coming to Sanctuary, and if you interfere with what the Balance demands, it and all existence may be
forfeit.
...
The eternal war was coming to Sanctuary…and he had just been forbidden to do anything about it.

This leaves little doubt that there are other worlds besides that of Sanctuary, and it also shows that Trag'Oul is linked to Sanctuary, while remaining unknown to Inarius, in fact to any angelic or demonic entity.

Thus we come to the third and most plausible explanation, that Sanctuary was not actually created by Inarius and Lilith at all. This is supported by the improbability of the above two scenarios, as well as a slew of quotes:

Quote from name="Birthright, page 122" »

The one [Lilith] with whom he would help forge a world, a place known to his band of rebels as Sanctuary.

Quote from name="The Scales of the Serpent, page 38" »

So many, in fact, that the angel, Inarius, had finally spurned the eternal war between the High Heavens and their monstrous foes and set about finding a place for himself far from the struggle.

Quote from name="The Scales of the Serpent, page 38" »

I FOUND MY SANCTUARY AND NAMED IT THUS…

Notice the keywords forged and found, not created. It seems to suggest that Sanctuary was discovered rather than made, and only after then remodeled a bit by its new inhabitants; the Worldstone being such an example. What Sanctuary was before Inarius came there is unknown, but I think it reasonable to assume that it probably looked much like Earth would have done without humans. Hell certainly has no grass, animals, plants or similar, and it is unlikely that Heaven has either. Seeing as no angel or demon is omnipotent, it is not feasible to assume they could have created all those things without prior knowledge of them. Even humans, something definitely created by angel and demon, was only a mistake to begin with, and the result, how they eventually came to "function", seems to have been governed by some cosmic force (like genetics or some magical property intrinsic to the Universe) rather than the will of their parents.

Taking this last position also brings with it several benefits. First of all, it explains why no other world has been created; no one can. Second, it explains how it is that Trag'Oul remains unknown: he and the others were not created by Heaven or Hell, and are linked to their own worlds, most likely since whenever they were actually made. But this raises other concerns. It would seem that there is a large amount of other worlds out there, yet all somehow related to Heaven and Hell.

The Eternal War
This quote was shown in the earlier part of the post, but it is highly relevant, so I will show it again.

Quote from name="The Veiled Prophet, page 96" »

Filled with an unaccustomed anger, he [Trag'Oul] confronted the voices. This is my burden! This is my duty! You have no say in this, none of you!
There was a moment of silence, and then, together, they responded, But we do…this goes beyond Sanctuary now. Beyond all of us who stand sentinel.
The dragon grew wary. How so? How can that be?
As ever, they answered as one, and, as before, their words struck him as nothing else could. Because the war is coming to Sanctuary, and if you interfere with what the Balance demands, it and all existence may be forfeit. ...
The eternal war was coming to Sanctuary… and he had just been forbidden to do anything about it.

Notice how the war is called eternal, which would seem to counterprove my earlier point that there was a beginning to both Heaven and Hell. It does not say however that it is the war that the Angiris and the Three are fighting that he is referring to. Oh the angels and demons may well be the carriers of the conflict, but not necessarily that they are the cause. The eternal war can refer to some conflict of order and good that is a factor of the Universe, eternal in the sense that it cannot be ended and has lasted since time began.

Interestingly enough, Trag'Oul is as we know not known to exist by either Heaven or Hell:

“You should understand better than that,” returned Lilith’s son [Rathma] bluntly. “Trag’Oul cannot be known to exist, neither by my dear parents nor the Burning Hells or High Heavens. For the greater good of all Sanctuary—and for its very survival—he must always be hidden from their sight in order to help make certain that the world remains in Balance.”

It is reasonable to conclude that, given that there appear to be other beings very similar to Trag'Oul, none of them are known to Heaven and Hell. Of course, Rathma could be wrong here, but Trag'Oul is never mentioned or even thought of by any angel or demon throughout the Sin War. Perhaps with the increase in Necromancers since then up to our time, the two forces have learned of the dragon in present times, but we know nothing of it if that's the case.

The "others" also mention the Balance, which is the path that necromancers follow. This quote from Trag'oul describes what it is:

Quote from name="The Scales of the Serpent, page 130" »

The stars moved, briefly erasing any semblance to a beast. When they returned to their proper
positions, Trag’Oul replied, The Balance is the even distribution of Light and Dark. Its essence is most significant to Sanctuary, but it goes beyond, to all of creation. A world where Dark rules would burn itself up. A world where Light commands would eventually stagnate. If either gained enough
control of Sanctuary so that the other could not match it again, then that would be the end of all things…

The entire Universe is here then revealed to be dualistic in nature: not only are Heaven and Hell two forces that fight over Sanctuary, a random world, but they are the two driving forces of the Universe, the two powers against which all others, regardless of who they are or where they are, must stand. That is what the eternal war most likely amounts to. The Universe is not beyond time, but for as long as it exists, this war will be waged by both Heaven and Hell. This may not be a surprise; after all it is quite common knowledge that Heaven and Hell fight a great war. What is revealed however is that this war concerns all world, or at least all worlds that have watchers like Trag'Oul. It is impossible to say whether all worlds that do exist have such guardians, but many do it appears.

Summary
To summarize.

1. The Universe is not eternal, it had a point of creation.
2. Sanctuary was not created completely by angels and demons, but merely discovered and shaped by them.
3. There are other worlds like Sanctuary, with guardians similar to Trag'Oul, all linked to the conflict between Heaven and Hell. The angelic and demonic forces seem to be unaware of these guardians.
4. The war between Heaven and Hell not only concerns Sanctuary, but other worlds as well, perhaps all other worlds.

Next Time
Next time I will deal with the nature of all worlds, how they correlate, and where the Void and Abyss fit into it all.

(Image courtesy of Jetrall)