Cilvyn
2015-07-24, 10:26 AM
http://oi59.tinypic.com/29iz9g.jpg
In the beginning
Since the birth of reality itself, the high Heavens and the pits of Hell have waged an endless war for anything of value within their realms of order and chaos. No side has gained much of anything at all for long, and, in their struggle, have often destroyed much of what they sought to claim. It is referred to as The Great Conflict.
The story begins with Inarius, a powerful angel and member of the Angiris Council. Tired of the constant fighting, he sees little point in their infinite war they are waging against Hell. Convinced that there must be others such as him in both Heaven and Hell, Inarius starts to search for other individuals who share his views on the war. To his surprise there are many such as himself, and together with Lilith, daughter of Mephisto, he leads a great exodus. Together, they defect from Heaven and Hell and search for another place to live.
They succeed in stealing the Worldstone, a huge object of immense power which was the centerpiece of the world and was the source of power for many ancient artefacts and used it to create Sanctuary, a world of men, as aparadise and refuge from the Great Confilict
To protect this world from both Heaven and Hell, they used the stolen Worldstone. It acted as a protective barrier, and effectively prevented angels and demons from either directly invading Sanctuary or noticing its existence at all. How exactly it worked remains unclear, but work it did.
The two races of Heaven and Hell tried to live peacefully with each other on Sanctuary, and even mated with each other, spawning the first generation of humans, called the Nephalem. It quickly became apparent that the Nephalem were as powerful as their parents, and had the potential to be much, much more than any angel or demon. This caused struggle among the higher beings. Inarius wanted to kill the humans, as he viewed them as a threat to their own existence. Lilith, on the other hand, wanted to raise the Nephalem to an army and have them fight both Heaven and Hell. The two began fighting, and Inarius cast out Lilith from Sanctuary and imprisoned her in The Void, claiming Sanctuary as his own. Many of the Nephalem were slain during this time, but some survived.
Eventually both the Heavens and Hells discovered the existence of Sanctuary and another great war was fought over it. After the battle, a gathering was held between the Angels and Mephisto. Sanctuary was all but destroyed, but all hope was not lost. Some, like Rathma, pleaded with Heaven to spare Sanctuary. A vote was held between the Angels. Imperius voted against Sanctuary's existence and Auriel argued strongly for it. The deciding vote was laid by Tyrael, who initially seemed to show little love for humanity, something which has evidently developed over the years since this event. Together with Mephisto, a deal was made between Heaven and Hell. Sanctuary was to live on its own, with no war brought there by Heaven or Hell. Humanity would choose for themselves what to do. In return for agreeing to this, Mephisto obtained custody of Inarius and took him to the Burning Hells. Mephisto sought Inarius because it was him and his daughter Lilith that was responsible for the creation of Sanctuary and the Nephalem.
After this the four lesser Evils sought a chance to dominate the Hells. Azmodan, Belial, Andariel, and Duriel are the four Lesser Evils of Hell. Whether Diablo and his brothers, the two other Great Evils intended for it or not, the Four Lesser Evils plotted and ultimately exiled the Three Primes into Sanctuary. In their absence, Belial, the lord of Lies, and Azmodan, the Lord of Sin, engaged in a civil war between themselves. Their war rages in the deepest pits of Hell to this day.
The Angel Tyrael learns of the Three's exile into Sanctuary and mobilizes to stop them. He creates the Horadrim, a collection of the most powerful human Magi, including Jered Cain, Deckard Cain's ancestor, and Tal Rasha. Tyrael charges the Horadrim with the capture of the Three Prime Evils, giving them Soulstones to imprison the souls of Diablo and his brothers within. One by one they find and imprison the Primes. Unable to permanently destroy the demons, the Horadrim are forced to instead hide the Soulstones.
Diablo had fled to the west and continued to evade capture for several decades after his brothers' capture. Eventually he was captured near today's Westmarch, and the Horadrim built a cathedral above his tomb to stand guard. As time passed by however, the Horadrim fell apart, and no one else remembered the evil imprisoned within.
22 Years ago
A conquering hero known as Leoric established himself as the king of Khanduras, a kingdom on the Western continent of Sanctuary. He appointed Tristram as the capital of this kingdom and used the abandoned cathedral there as his throne and central point of governance. Not soon after, King Leoric's most trusted advisor Archbishop Lazarus was drawn deeper into the cathedral by the Lord of Terror's Soulstone. The Archbishop, whether out of fear or temptation, shattered the Soulstone, releasing Diablo's trapped spirit. Unable to take King Leoric himself as a physical host, Diablo had the Archbishop Lazarus kidnap the king's son, Prince Albrecht, and brought him down into the Cathedral for Diablo to corrupt and use as his host to fully manifest as the Lord of Terror.
The King, already deranged from Diablo's attempts to possess him, went mad in his search for his lost son, sending many to their death out of suspicion of guilt. Ultimately Lazarus led the town's warriors into the cathedral as a trap for The Butcher, a minion wielding a bloody cleaver. King Leoric's physical form had withered away, but his soul found no peace and returned as a giant skeleton, still wearing his golden crown.
Several heroes travelled to Tristram, hearing rumors of a corrupting evil, vast riches, and arcane magic. The heroes were assisted in their journeys by Deckard Cain, a descendant of one of The Horadrim. Eventually, it was Aidan, the son of Leoric, who sought and ultimately vanquished Diablo deep in the depths under the Cathedral. Thinking he was able to contend with its evil, Aidan forced Diablo’s Soulstone into his own forehead. After returning to Tristram, the town's inhabitants celebrated their champion's victory, but Aidan had returned a much changed man, haunted by Diablo's essence.
Aidan departed Tristram and travelled to the East for answers to his nightmares. He becomes the dark wanderer and travels the world to free the Prime Evils and eventually freeing Diablo from his Soulstone Prison. Decart Cain, the heroes of Tristram venture to find Diablo and imprison him in hell with the Help of the Angel Tyreal, where he still is to this day.
Leoric originated from Kehjistan. At the behest of the Zakarum Church Leoric came into the lands of Khanduras and, in the name of the Zakarum, declared himself to be king. He was unaware that Zakarum had been corrupted byMephisto and that Lazarus, subtly under Mephisto's influence, was to ensure that Tristram would be his seat of power—the resting place of Diablo.
Leoric brought with him his family, knights and priests, the latter two groups forming hisOrder of the Light. Along with his advisor Lazarus, Leoric and his entourage made their way to the town of Tristram, appropriating the decrepit monastery on its outskirts as his seat of power. Although the people of Khanduras were not pleased with coming under the rule of a foreign king, Leoric served them with justice and might. Eventually, his subjects came to respect him for his purity of heart and deed. A case in point was Griswold, who forged Leoric's mithril sword and crown.
Leoric's Corruption
Unknown to Leoric however, his seat of power was the resting place of Diablo, imprisoned in the catacombs beneath the cathedral by the Horadrim long ago. Lazarus fell under the Lord of Terror's sway, shattering his soulstone. Requiring an anchor to the world, Diablo chose the strongest soul available to him to be his host—Leoric himself
For many months, Leoric secretly fought against Diablo's will. Sensing that he had been possessed by some unknown evil, Leoric kept his condition a secret from those close to him, believing that his piety would be enough to exorcise the demon's corruption. In this he was sorely mistaken, and Diablo stripped away the core of Leoric's being, burning all honor and virtue from his soul. Lazarus, now also under Diablo's sway, kept close to his lord at all times, and sought to keep Leoric's condition a secret. Despite this, Leoric's change in demeanor became known to his subjects. His once proud visage became rugged and deformed while his sanity slipped away. Becoming increasingly deranged, Leoric began ordering immediate executions of any who questioned his decisions or authority while he sent his knights to the outlying towns to bully them into submission. At the height of his madness, Leoric would evince his displeasure by pummeling courtiers, servants, and even foreign dignitaries with his scepter. Horrified by his actions, Leoric's subjects began calling him "the Black King."
Lazarus, concerned of the suspicions Leoric's subjects had, convinced the now delusional king that the kingdom of Westmarch was plotting to take over and annex Khanduras, manipulating him into declaring war, diverting attention as well as sending many troublesome knights into their deaths when the armies of Westmarch inevitably crushed those of Khanduras. Leoric's priests were meanwhile sent as emissaries. Thanks to Lazarus's words, Leoric even ordered the execution of Queen Asylla, his own wife, by guillotine.
The Fall of King Leoric
With the lack of inquisitive eyes, Diablo had free rein to assert his will over his vassal. However, Diablo found that a part of the king's soul still fought against him, and that he would still not be able to take full control. Thus he abandoned his attempts to take over Leoric, leaving him broken and crazed as he much more easily took control of his youngest son Albrecht instead.
When King Leoric found that his son had gone missing, he went into a rage and had many innocent people executed for kidnapping the prince, slipping deeper into madness with each passing day. He was eventually slain by his own lieutenant, the knight Lachdanan, who returned from the quickly lost war only to find that he, too, was being accused of the kidnapping, and that the king was nothing but a raving madman who set his other warriors upon those returning. The knights came to blows and Lachdanan begged Leoric to explain his actions. Leoric simply spat at him, condemning Lachdanan and his men as traitors. Sorrowfully, Lachdanan struck down his liege, Leoric cursing him and all of his knights in his last moments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9mUe5vHYzs
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/diablo/images/5/50/Tristram1_final2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080721203801
You enter the town of New Tristram. Although it is late afternoon the sky is cloudy, dark and rain poors from the sky. The gate is lit with torches like a defensive ward all around the village wall. When you approach the guardsmen ain their crossbows at you, but once you speak and they can see you are not one fo the monsters roaming the fields outside the safe wooded walls, they quickly open the gate for you to let you in.
Once inside you follow a dirt road towards a building that looks like an inn where you can stay the night. You heard stories about the village and the other village it was named after. Most inhabitants live more uphill and the place where you jus entered is more like a large open square with artisanshouses, marketplaces and taverns. The village used to be a important place for farmers to sell their wares, artisans to trade with merchants in the harbor, not far the the marketsquare. Now there lies a grim darkness over the village and the smell of death penetrates your nose. You imagine the plague must have struck here first and in the last few days countless people must have died. The cathedral is not in the village but you can see its outlinings on the dark horizon against the pale moon.
You shake most of the rain from your clothes as you enter the inn. A comfy warmth embraces you when you enter and the stench of death makes place for the smell of a butning fire and stew. Inside you see several farmers, their faces are dark and angry and you are smart enough not to greet them with too much joy. At the counter you see a young human woman. She wears a red shirt and has half long brown hair. She talks with the innkeeper, a huge 7 feet tall man with a very rough appearance, clearly a goliath.
http://www.gamoholic.net/images/stories/Diablo_III_Blizzcon09/Dilapidated_Tavern.jpg
http://www.simmonsasylum.com/GameResources/DJ/Inn1-Floorplan.jpg
http://oi60.tinypic.com/hv9v7r.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ae/7f/0c/ae7f0cf89c48940aaf11b6eccd92e7cc.jpg
"Sadeir, Listen. We have to do something! The patrol with Captain Stephen has not returned yet and the longer we wait the longer my Uncle will be down there. He will die!"
"Leah Lis'n, He migh be dead already, y'know? I mean not to expect tha worst here, but 'ave ye seen the things that walk 'round there?"
"Uncle is strong, I am sure he is still alive and someone has to find out what is causing people to rise again after the plague killed them. I am sure it has to do something with the falling star. It cannot be a coincidence!"
"I hear ye. But who is brave 'nough to venture down there, mh? Surely not a girl like you, we need soldiers, but they die just as easily from the plague as simple farmers."
You walk in and see three others who look like they do not belong here but traveled a long way to here. As if Leah expect you to say anything she looks at you, but then smiles at Sadeir and walks to a table in the corner of the in and opens a large tome and reads through it while sipping a glass of milk.
"Welcom' welcom'. It surely been a looong time since we had adventurers in New Tristram, isn't it Leah, and now suddenly they poor in like something special happened that drew them to us, like say a Star Falling from the sky and the dead popping out of the ground like freshly sewed corn.... What can I get ye?" he quickly asks when Leah glimpse at him with an angry face.
In the beginning
Since the birth of reality itself, the high Heavens and the pits of Hell have waged an endless war for anything of value within their realms of order and chaos. No side has gained much of anything at all for long, and, in their struggle, have often destroyed much of what they sought to claim. It is referred to as The Great Conflict.
The story begins with Inarius, a powerful angel and member of the Angiris Council. Tired of the constant fighting, he sees little point in their infinite war they are waging against Hell. Convinced that there must be others such as him in both Heaven and Hell, Inarius starts to search for other individuals who share his views on the war. To his surprise there are many such as himself, and together with Lilith, daughter of Mephisto, he leads a great exodus. Together, they defect from Heaven and Hell and search for another place to live.
They succeed in stealing the Worldstone, a huge object of immense power which was the centerpiece of the world and was the source of power for many ancient artefacts and used it to create Sanctuary, a world of men, as aparadise and refuge from the Great Confilict
To protect this world from both Heaven and Hell, they used the stolen Worldstone. It acted as a protective barrier, and effectively prevented angels and demons from either directly invading Sanctuary or noticing its existence at all. How exactly it worked remains unclear, but work it did.
The two races of Heaven and Hell tried to live peacefully with each other on Sanctuary, and even mated with each other, spawning the first generation of humans, called the Nephalem. It quickly became apparent that the Nephalem were as powerful as their parents, and had the potential to be much, much more than any angel or demon. This caused struggle among the higher beings. Inarius wanted to kill the humans, as he viewed them as a threat to their own existence. Lilith, on the other hand, wanted to raise the Nephalem to an army and have them fight both Heaven and Hell. The two began fighting, and Inarius cast out Lilith from Sanctuary and imprisoned her in The Void, claiming Sanctuary as his own. Many of the Nephalem were slain during this time, but some survived.
Eventually both the Heavens and Hells discovered the existence of Sanctuary and another great war was fought over it. After the battle, a gathering was held between the Angels and Mephisto. Sanctuary was all but destroyed, but all hope was not lost. Some, like Rathma, pleaded with Heaven to spare Sanctuary. A vote was held between the Angels. Imperius voted against Sanctuary's existence and Auriel argued strongly for it. The deciding vote was laid by Tyrael, who initially seemed to show little love for humanity, something which has evidently developed over the years since this event. Together with Mephisto, a deal was made between Heaven and Hell. Sanctuary was to live on its own, with no war brought there by Heaven or Hell. Humanity would choose for themselves what to do. In return for agreeing to this, Mephisto obtained custody of Inarius and took him to the Burning Hells. Mephisto sought Inarius because it was him and his daughter Lilith that was responsible for the creation of Sanctuary and the Nephalem.
After this the four lesser Evils sought a chance to dominate the Hells. Azmodan, Belial, Andariel, and Duriel are the four Lesser Evils of Hell. Whether Diablo and his brothers, the two other Great Evils intended for it or not, the Four Lesser Evils plotted and ultimately exiled the Three Primes into Sanctuary. In their absence, Belial, the lord of Lies, and Azmodan, the Lord of Sin, engaged in a civil war between themselves. Their war rages in the deepest pits of Hell to this day.
The Angel Tyrael learns of the Three's exile into Sanctuary and mobilizes to stop them. He creates the Horadrim, a collection of the most powerful human Magi, including Jered Cain, Deckard Cain's ancestor, and Tal Rasha. Tyrael charges the Horadrim with the capture of the Three Prime Evils, giving them Soulstones to imprison the souls of Diablo and his brothers within. One by one they find and imprison the Primes. Unable to permanently destroy the demons, the Horadrim are forced to instead hide the Soulstones.
Diablo had fled to the west and continued to evade capture for several decades after his brothers' capture. Eventually he was captured near today's Westmarch, and the Horadrim built a cathedral above his tomb to stand guard. As time passed by however, the Horadrim fell apart, and no one else remembered the evil imprisoned within.
22 Years ago
A conquering hero known as Leoric established himself as the king of Khanduras, a kingdom on the Western continent of Sanctuary. He appointed Tristram as the capital of this kingdom and used the abandoned cathedral there as his throne and central point of governance. Not soon after, King Leoric's most trusted advisor Archbishop Lazarus was drawn deeper into the cathedral by the Lord of Terror's Soulstone. The Archbishop, whether out of fear or temptation, shattered the Soulstone, releasing Diablo's trapped spirit. Unable to take King Leoric himself as a physical host, Diablo had the Archbishop Lazarus kidnap the king's son, Prince Albrecht, and brought him down into the Cathedral for Diablo to corrupt and use as his host to fully manifest as the Lord of Terror.
The King, already deranged from Diablo's attempts to possess him, went mad in his search for his lost son, sending many to their death out of suspicion of guilt. Ultimately Lazarus led the town's warriors into the cathedral as a trap for The Butcher, a minion wielding a bloody cleaver. King Leoric's physical form had withered away, but his soul found no peace and returned as a giant skeleton, still wearing his golden crown.
Several heroes travelled to Tristram, hearing rumors of a corrupting evil, vast riches, and arcane magic. The heroes were assisted in their journeys by Deckard Cain, a descendant of one of The Horadrim. Eventually, it was Aidan, the son of Leoric, who sought and ultimately vanquished Diablo deep in the depths under the Cathedral. Thinking he was able to contend with its evil, Aidan forced Diablo’s Soulstone into his own forehead. After returning to Tristram, the town's inhabitants celebrated their champion's victory, but Aidan had returned a much changed man, haunted by Diablo's essence.
Aidan departed Tristram and travelled to the East for answers to his nightmares. He becomes the dark wanderer and travels the world to free the Prime Evils and eventually freeing Diablo from his Soulstone Prison. Decart Cain, the heroes of Tristram venture to find Diablo and imprison him in hell with the Help of the Angel Tyreal, where he still is to this day.
Leoric originated from Kehjistan. At the behest of the Zakarum Church Leoric came into the lands of Khanduras and, in the name of the Zakarum, declared himself to be king. He was unaware that Zakarum had been corrupted byMephisto and that Lazarus, subtly under Mephisto's influence, was to ensure that Tristram would be his seat of power—the resting place of Diablo.
Leoric brought with him his family, knights and priests, the latter two groups forming hisOrder of the Light. Along with his advisor Lazarus, Leoric and his entourage made their way to the town of Tristram, appropriating the decrepit monastery on its outskirts as his seat of power. Although the people of Khanduras were not pleased with coming under the rule of a foreign king, Leoric served them with justice and might. Eventually, his subjects came to respect him for his purity of heart and deed. A case in point was Griswold, who forged Leoric's mithril sword and crown.
Leoric's Corruption
Unknown to Leoric however, his seat of power was the resting place of Diablo, imprisoned in the catacombs beneath the cathedral by the Horadrim long ago. Lazarus fell under the Lord of Terror's sway, shattering his soulstone. Requiring an anchor to the world, Diablo chose the strongest soul available to him to be his host—Leoric himself
For many months, Leoric secretly fought against Diablo's will. Sensing that he had been possessed by some unknown evil, Leoric kept his condition a secret from those close to him, believing that his piety would be enough to exorcise the demon's corruption. In this he was sorely mistaken, and Diablo stripped away the core of Leoric's being, burning all honor and virtue from his soul. Lazarus, now also under Diablo's sway, kept close to his lord at all times, and sought to keep Leoric's condition a secret. Despite this, Leoric's change in demeanor became known to his subjects. His once proud visage became rugged and deformed while his sanity slipped away. Becoming increasingly deranged, Leoric began ordering immediate executions of any who questioned his decisions or authority while he sent his knights to the outlying towns to bully them into submission. At the height of his madness, Leoric would evince his displeasure by pummeling courtiers, servants, and even foreign dignitaries with his scepter. Horrified by his actions, Leoric's subjects began calling him "the Black King."
Lazarus, concerned of the suspicions Leoric's subjects had, convinced the now delusional king that the kingdom of Westmarch was plotting to take over and annex Khanduras, manipulating him into declaring war, diverting attention as well as sending many troublesome knights into their deaths when the armies of Westmarch inevitably crushed those of Khanduras. Leoric's priests were meanwhile sent as emissaries. Thanks to Lazarus's words, Leoric even ordered the execution of Queen Asylla, his own wife, by guillotine.
The Fall of King Leoric
With the lack of inquisitive eyes, Diablo had free rein to assert his will over his vassal. However, Diablo found that a part of the king's soul still fought against him, and that he would still not be able to take full control. Thus he abandoned his attempts to take over Leoric, leaving him broken and crazed as he much more easily took control of his youngest son Albrecht instead.
When King Leoric found that his son had gone missing, he went into a rage and had many innocent people executed for kidnapping the prince, slipping deeper into madness with each passing day. He was eventually slain by his own lieutenant, the knight Lachdanan, who returned from the quickly lost war only to find that he, too, was being accused of the kidnapping, and that the king was nothing but a raving madman who set his other warriors upon those returning. The knights came to blows and Lachdanan begged Leoric to explain his actions. Leoric simply spat at him, condemning Lachdanan and his men as traitors. Sorrowfully, Lachdanan struck down his liege, Leoric cursing him and all of his knights in his last moments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9mUe5vHYzs
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/diablo/images/5/50/Tristram1_final2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080721203801
You enter the town of New Tristram. Although it is late afternoon the sky is cloudy, dark and rain poors from the sky. The gate is lit with torches like a defensive ward all around the village wall. When you approach the guardsmen ain their crossbows at you, but once you speak and they can see you are not one fo the monsters roaming the fields outside the safe wooded walls, they quickly open the gate for you to let you in.
Once inside you follow a dirt road towards a building that looks like an inn where you can stay the night. You heard stories about the village and the other village it was named after. Most inhabitants live more uphill and the place where you jus entered is more like a large open square with artisanshouses, marketplaces and taverns. The village used to be a important place for farmers to sell their wares, artisans to trade with merchants in the harbor, not far the the marketsquare. Now there lies a grim darkness over the village and the smell of death penetrates your nose. You imagine the plague must have struck here first and in the last few days countless people must have died. The cathedral is not in the village but you can see its outlinings on the dark horizon against the pale moon.
You shake most of the rain from your clothes as you enter the inn. A comfy warmth embraces you when you enter and the stench of death makes place for the smell of a butning fire and stew. Inside you see several farmers, their faces are dark and angry and you are smart enough not to greet them with too much joy. At the counter you see a young human woman. She wears a red shirt and has half long brown hair. She talks with the innkeeper, a huge 7 feet tall man with a very rough appearance, clearly a goliath.
http://www.gamoholic.net/images/stories/Diablo_III_Blizzcon09/Dilapidated_Tavern.jpg
http://www.simmonsasylum.com/GameResources/DJ/Inn1-Floorplan.jpg
http://oi60.tinypic.com/hv9v7r.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ae/7f/0c/ae7f0cf89c48940aaf11b6eccd92e7cc.jpg
"Sadeir, Listen. We have to do something! The patrol with Captain Stephen has not returned yet and the longer we wait the longer my Uncle will be down there. He will die!"
"Leah Lis'n, He migh be dead already, y'know? I mean not to expect tha worst here, but 'ave ye seen the things that walk 'round there?"
"Uncle is strong, I am sure he is still alive and someone has to find out what is causing people to rise again after the plague killed them. I am sure it has to do something with the falling star. It cannot be a coincidence!"
"I hear ye. But who is brave 'nough to venture down there, mh? Surely not a girl like you, we need soldiers, but they die just as easily from the plague as simple farmers."
You walk in and see three others who look like they do not belong here but traveled a long way to here. As if Leah expect you to say anything she looks at you, but then smiles at Sadeir and walks to a table in the corner of the in and opens a large tome and reads through it while sipping a glass of milk.
"Welcom' welcom'. It surely been a looong time since we had adventurers in New Tristram, isn't it Leah, and now suddenly they poor in like something special happened that drew them to us, like say a Star Falling from the sky and the dead popping out of the ground like freshly sewed corn.... What can I get ye?" he quickly asks when Leah glimpse at him with an angry face.