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Imperius is a member of the enigmatic Angiris Council. He is thought to be the Archangel of War. Wearing crimson red robes and a gleaming breastplate, he is anything but patient. In fact, his name is likely derived from the word imperious, which means overbearing and urgent. He makes a cameo appearance in The Sin War trilogy in the last book, http://diablowiki.com/The Veiled Prophet" class="wiki-link">http://media-diablofans.cursecdn.com/attachments/16/736/wiki2.gif" alt="DiabloWiki.com - The Veiled Prophet"/> The Veiled Prophet, fervently denouncing Sanctuary and it's denizens. If humanity had an angelic enemy, he is certainly the number one candidate. Below are some quotations directly from The Sin War that show just how much Imperius despises humanity.

[Imperius talking about Sanctuary]
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. THE PATH IS OBVIOUS....WHAT HAS BEEN WROUGHT BY THE TRAITOR MUST BE UNDONE! LET THE HOST FINISH WHAT IT BEGAN, EVEN IF WE MUST CUT THROUGH A HUNDRED RANKS OF DEMONS TO ACCOMPLISH IT!

[Imperius talking about Inarius]
FROM HIS CRIMES WAS THIS ABOMINATION CALLED SANCTUARY CREATED! JUDGE ONE, AND YOU RIGHTLY JUDGE THEM BOTH!

[Imperius talking about Inarius and Sanctuary]
I SAY THAT THE RENEGADE MUST BE FOREVER IMPRISONED AND HIS NEST OF DEMON-SPAWN ERADICATED!

[Imperius talking to Tyrael]
WELL, OLD FRIEND? asked Imperius. HOW WILL YOU CHOOSE, YOU WHO HAVE SEEN THEM AT THEIR MOST FOUL? WILL YOU VOTE WITH ME AND PUT AN END TO THIS MOST HEINOUS OF SPAWNING GROUNDS?

Perhaps his most notable physical feature is the blazing upturned sword on his breastplate. When I think of the natural state of a sword, it's being held by the hilt with the blade pointing upwards. Then if it were to be upturned it would be sitting on the tip of it's blade with the hilt towards the top. A cross could easily be construed as a sword in the Diabloverse where there are no real world religions.




When Richard Knaak was asked about this from Diablofans member, TH3N00S3 he replied:
This certainly doesn't mean they couldn't have changed their idea of what an upturned sword is. Even Richard Knaak admitted the word upturned can really be taken either way in this case.

Now this takes us to Diablo3.com where the page initially said:


But was changed a couple years back to:


There is a pretty large difference here. In the first version it seems to hint at angelic intervention at some point in the story. In the later version it seems like they've pulled all that back to hint only at demonic influence. Perhaps they're planning for an expansion?

If The High Heavens were to intervene, at this point after their stance during The Sin War, it's rational to assume they wouldn't be friendly. These quotes also seem to point to the importance of the comet, or what they would have us believe is a comet.

All throughout Diablo 2, Tyrael makes it very clear that the Angiris Council does not approve of his meddling in the affairs of mortals. Is it possible that destroying the Worldstone was the final straw? Could Tyrael have been cast from The High Heavens? I don't know of any comet with that little substance. It is my belief this is Tyrael plummeting into the depths of the Cathedral.



Now after the events of The Sin War, no one would be more willing to toss Tyrael from the graces of The Heavens than Imperius. Tyrael was the deciding vote that could have landed Sanctuary directly in the path of angelic annihilation. In this piece of concept art it appears to be the same angel we see with the cross or sword on his chest to be looming above another angel which appears to me to be Tyrael shielding his eyes.



If this is the case, Imperius wouldn't be acting alone. It's very likely that the Angiris Council of The High Heavens once again held a vote deciding the fate of the human race. This time we may not have came out so lucky. During the last vote the two angels that voted to save humanity were Auriel and Iltherael, who essentially agreed they wanted to let us grow and hopefully become allies. One thing is certain though, both The High Heavens and The Burning Hells wish to use us as pawns. One wrong step in one direction and we'll become puppets to The Hells , to the other, The Heavens will destroy us. Heaven has been watching, and what have they seen?

The Prime Evils, after being unleashed, are all finally caught inside their own soulstone. Then, by human error, all the stones were damaged. A horadric mage attempting to contain Baal becomes consumed and corrupted, eventually leading to the corruption of the world stone. A religion is founded by Akarat, based on the visions and teachings of what we are led to believe is an Archangel named Yaerius. That religion evolves into the Zakarum church, which is infamous for its inquisition and then becomes the perfect staging ground for the corruption of Mephisto. After being secretly usurped by the demon lord, the paladins of the church were sent on a crusade throughout the lands murdering all non believers suspected of the use of demonic magic. Mephisto then used the church to provide him with fresh human sacrifices.

A small group of heroes develop extraordinary powers, once again, and defeat Diablo only to succumb to his taint later. One going on to become The Dark Wanderer, one becoming Blood Raven, and the last becoming The Summoner in the Arcane Sanctuary. Nihlathak shows them that humanity is untrustworthy and has a thirst for power and a price at which we can be bought. In Diablo III the Triune is emerging once again. Once a major religion in the world headed by Lucion then, and now another demon. We have groups of humans known as Demon Hunters, wielding demonic magics. We just may appear too much of a risk at this point, a loose end.

This time we do not have Uldyssian to protect us. Will we be able to survive an onslaught from The Heavens trying to purge us and the driving forces of The Hells trying to enslave us? If Tyrael truly has been cast out of The High Heavens, what could this mean for our characters in Diablo III? What could this mean for all of Sanctuary?




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Blizzard has just released their eighteenth batch of screenshots (see here if you missed the seventeenth) for hitting the 975k 'Like' mark. Once again, we've got the high resolution versions at our disposal here on DiabloFans.

The first image is a concept of the male Witch Doctor.



The second is the city of Caldeum in the desert region of Kehjistan.



The third and final is a screen shot of the Male Wizard using the wave of force spell to crush some enemies.



Click the images to bask in the glory of the high resolution versions that you likely won't see anywhere else! 25,000 more likes to go until the 1,000,000 mark where we can get some more images, or who knows what else! This is the last milestone so everyone pitch in! Go visit facebook.com/Diablo and 'Like' the page to sprint to the finish!

It appears they're trying to breathe new life into D2 by adding in skill respecs into the new patch.

Quote from "Bashiok" »

"Skill tree re-specialization is currently a planned feature for the Diablo II 1.13 patch, yes."

Source.

Some users have been discussing it, if you wish to add to the conversation do so here.

(Thanks Dimebog.)

For those who don't know, Richard Knaak is the man who wrote a lot of the books and background story for Diablo. His Diablo books include The Sin War trilogy, Legacy of Blood, The Moon of the Spider, and The Kingdom of Shadow. A lot of what he has wrote has become canon to Diablo lore and some will even be featured in Diablo 3.

Red will be my color, Mr. Knaaks response will be in the plain text to it's easier to differentiate.

On behalf of Diablofans, Hello Mr. Knaak.

Hello to everyone! Thank you for having me.

--- Q&A ---

Q: As a writer are there any other parts of the Diablo lore that interest you? Such as the Dark Exile or the Binding of the Three?

A: The Binding of the Three, naturally. More on the Rathmians, of course. And, to be honest, I'm very interested in what material we've already seen coming for Diablo 3. King Leoric is a character I'd like to delve into. I think that there's a lot to work with there.

Q: The Diablo universe has grown and evolved significantly since the first Diablo game has come out. What has it been like for you to be an integral part of that process?


A: Fantastic! To be able to flesh out events, to flesh out the world and add to the mythos --- all as Blizzard approves and directs, naturally --- had been great fun! It's especially great now that the first images of Diablo 3 include a certain lost city...

Q: What were your inspirations for writing the Diablo novels? For example, the character of Uldyssian seems to be inspired by Odysseus (also known as Ulysses), who similarly went on a long journey and is said to be full of wrath.

A: Blizzard laid out a very fascinating and complex struggle between darkness and light and introduced some classes that blended well with the setup of the world. I chose to build stories around particular elements, which Blizzard very much liked. For Legacy of Blood, I liked the idea of enchanted armor that wasn't beneficial to the wearer and had a history of terror attached to it. For Kingdom of Shadow, Ureh's mysterious past enabled me to create something of an 'anti-Brigadoon', which worked to good effect. Moon of the Spider was a terrific chance to bring back Zayl and delve into the necromancers more, something Blizzard was very much interested in.


As for the Sin War, Blizzard needed that history adjusted to fit their notions of what D3 would be and between the company and myself, we worked out this one man's odyssey from human to what humanity has the potential to be. Homer's The Odyssey definitely inspired us and we're happy with the results.

Q: Is the character Karybdus from The Moon of the Spider loosely based off of the necromancer in Diablo II or are they in fact the same character?

A: Loosely.

Q: In Birthright, Uldyssian has an encounter with a Thorned Hulk and it kneels before him. Is there any significance to this?

A: The thorned hulk sensed what was developing in Uldyssian. It was a sign of what was to come for someone who was once a simple farmer and was now on the path to something amazing.

Q: Are there any non-Diablo writing projects you are currently working on that we may look forward to?

A: Most immediate are the WarCraft Legends anthologies. Volume 4 is coming along in mid-June and will conclude my four-part saga concerning Trag, the tauren from the Sunwell saga. September not only sees Volume 5 --- with a special story I can't yet speak about --- but the release of Legends of the Dragonrealm, a trade omnibus that features the first three novels of my own Dragonrealm series! With a 2-page map --- the first for the world --- and the novels FIREDRAKE, ICE DRAGON, & WOLFHELM, it is an astounding 680 pages.

December sees BEASTMASTER: MYTH an epic that brings the iconic character from the movie back to his roots while expanding his world in an entirely new direction. This will be out in trade paperback. At the same time, the third volume of my Ogre Titans trilogy for Dragonlance --- THE GARGOYLE KING --- will be released in mass market.


I'm also at work on SHADOW WING, the first volume of the next WarCraft manga trilogy.


Q: Thank you for taking time to answer a few questions for us. Is there anything else you'd like to say to the Diablofans community?

A: I'd like to thank the community for their support and hope that they continue to enjoy not only my contributions, but the upcoming game!

So there you have it. My short interview with Richard Knaak, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed conducting it.

The Blizzcon site has been updated for 2009.

Tickets will go on sale May 16th:

Tickets to this year's BlizzCon gaming convention, being held on August 21 and 22 in Anaheim, California, will go on sale worldwide on Saturday, May 16 for $125 each, with a second block of tickets going on sale Saturday, May 30.


For those unable to attend, DIRECTV will once again be televising BlizzCon in high definition as a Pay Per View event, featuring coverage from the show floor, exclusive interviews, demos, and more. In addition, for the first time, players around the world will be able to watch the DIRECTV BlizzCon event as a Pay Per View Internet stream.


Check out the press release for further details, and head over to www.blizzcon.com on May 16 or May 30 to buy your tickets.

Some of the notable D3 attractions so far are:

Heroes & Monsters

The hero you play and the monsters you slay take center stage in any Diablo game. Join us for a look at the design process that brings these characters and creatures to life, as well as the mechanics involved in creating epic and memorable battles.

Lore

Sit down with our lore masters as they delve into the past, present, and future of the Diablo universe. We’ll recap the story thus far, provide new information on the tale Diablo III will tell, and grant some insight into what’s in store for Sanctuary.

Art

From designing characters to creating concept art to placing the building blocks that form the world: Our artists take players on a behind-the-scenes tour of Sanctuary.

Thanks Dauroth!

Bashiok commented today about the D2 content patch 1.13 in the works. Many suspected it to be out already but here is what he had to say.

Quote from Bashiok »

So yeah, we're still working on the patch. It's coming along really well. We're getting there. I can't give an estimate or date, we're expecting there to be a good amount of testing required due to the types of changes being made. We want to take our time and put out a solid patch, and that means we don't have a release date right now.

Some exciting news - and it also may be some comfort - due to the types of changes we're making we will be offering the Diablo II 1.13 patch for testing and feedback on a test realm before its release. We'll have more information about how you'll be able to help test it in the coming weeks.

Source.


Thanks Flyarion!

Bashiok recently commented about the lore to a user.

Quote from "Bashiok" »

Yes there are books that drop somewhat randomly that when picked up can be listened to. I say somewhat randomly because they should make sense contextually. Leoric's Journal should be dropping in the same dungeon where you fight his undead corpse, and not somewhere else that doesn't make sense. They're fully voice acted lore treasures essentially. Think Bioshock tapes.

It seems the narrated books will be returning like the tomes from D1 and the moldy tome from D2.

Good news to me!

Continue discussion in the current thread here.

Thanks minsc&boo!

We now have a section located here for Diablo fan fiction and a subforum in it for any other fan fiction writings.

Hope you all enjoy, and I look forward to reading the stories.

http://diablofans.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=49

As you can see from the job page here, there are two openings for a NEW unannounced game separate from the new Next Gen MMO. It is NOT THE MMO.

Unannounced

• Software Engineer, Client
• Software Engineer, Gameplay

What could this new unannounced game be? Warcraft 4? A new Starcraft FPS? A Diablo RTS?

Only time will tell, but what do you think?


(thanks Dimebog and CapKosmaty)

Okay I know this has been touched upon in another thread a little but I thought it was news worthy.

A user created a thread on the battle.net forums asking about elemental weapons in which they said:

Quote from Player »

I made a post earlier and it contained this, people seemed to like the idea, so I figured I'd give its on thread.

The enchanted weapons are just a joke. Don't get me wrong I think that they should leave the flame, lightning and cold weapon animations. There just needs to be variety of effects for different levels of damage that a weapon does.

cold damage - 1-10 weapon glows blue, 11-25 weapon leaves a blue trail, 25-50 weapon leaves frost trail, 51+ weapon has constant frost + trail (what we saw in gameplay demo) and similar for all enchanted items. Its a little ridiculous when an maul does 1-5 fire damage is on fire....just looks too over the top. The effects should be more varied plus it would add some identification for multiplayer and for just add more depth to the game...not to mention give you something to strive for weapon wise.

Source

Interestingly enough Bashiok responded to the post somewhat quickly with this comment:

Quote from Bashiok »

That's actually exactly what we have. The elemental effects seen in the video were, at the time, the most "powerful" versions of each effect to make sure they were noticeable. And of course, they were certainly not final.

Source

Good news to me, glad to see there will be a lot of variation in the weapons.

Continue the discussion here.

Thanks Dimebog!