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"> 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?
When
Richard Knaak was asked about this from Diablofans member, TH3N00S3 he replied: 
Official Blizzard Quote:
Thanks for your interest. There are two distinct and, imho, contradictory definitions for 'upturned'. In this case, I went with the definition that refers to an object turned business end up, such as 'an upturned nose'. This means the point of the sword would be toward the head. Based on conversations with Blizzard in the past, they see it the same way.
Now this takes us to Diablo3.com where the page initially said:
Official Blizzard Quote:
When Deckard Cain returns to the ruins of Tristram's Cathedral seeking clues to new stirrings of evil, a comet from the heavens strikes the very ground where Diablo once entered the world. The comet carries a dark omen in its fiery being and it calls the heroes of Sanctuary To defend the mortal world against the rising powers of The Burning Hells – And even the failing luminaries of the High Heavens itself.
But was changed a couple years back to:
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.
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. 
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.
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? 
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?Disclaimer: DiabloFans' Rumors are not the officially recognized positions of the staff, management, and/or administration of DiabloFans
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Posted Jun 12, 2011- The Witch Doctor uses magics from the jungles which is spiritual
- The Wizard uses conjured magic (arcane)
- The Monk uses Holy magic (Heaven?)
(The Barb uses his brute strength and training, and the DH uses her gadgets and vitality as their powerhouse)Are these powers supposedly supposed to come from within humanity?
EDIT: Nice read Daemaro!
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Posted Jun 12, 2011-
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Posted Jun 12, 2011-
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Posted Jun 12, 2011Personally, I'm going for fighting heaven to primary be in the expansion, because Hell moved first. Or, it would because Heaven moved first, but Hell made the overt move and so the heroes go after them.
Either way, if they set up D3's story correctly for an expansion (and does anyone think there will not be an expansion?), then they could easily flow from fighting Demons to fighting Angels without the story being split into two "campaigns" that are just barely connected, story wise.
If that is Blizz's plan, then I hope they have some foreshadowing in the main game involving hunt down angels. It would be a great side quest (even more so if it is hidden and so if you don't find it, then you don't have a blank in the quest screening telling you as such). So we would either fight a few low level Angels, or at the end you find out the bad thing the quest is trying to fix was caused by an angel, not a demon.
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Posted Jun 13, 2011-
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Posted Jun 13, 2011With talks of D3 possibly being the last game of the series (expansions aside) I anticipate Heaven will have more involvement than the first two games combined, which admittedly is not saying much. I wonder if Tyrael will be banished and have his wings "clipped" at some point, only to regain his status once the heroes he's believed in thus far finally prove themselves once and for all.
Either way, I'll definitely be paying much more attention to the lore this time around!
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Posted Jun 13, 2011-
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Posted Jun 13, 2011Very true but you have to remember, Inarius wasn't banished. He took the renegade angels and left.
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Posted Jun 13, 2011-
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Posted Jun 13, 2011Right, I meant before he left to go to Sanctuary.
Yeah I'm unsure what they would have done to him. It does seem like they wouldn't allow him all his powers. Angel's wings seem to be tied to their powers or at least their emotions, they flare up when they get angry. So it would make since for them to possibly neutralize Inarius by clipping his wings, but they could also have just Imprisoned him forever possibly, we know they have such spells: IE Lilith. Possibly even killed him. It's hard to say.
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Posted Jun 13, 2011-
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Posted Jun 13, 2011I also believe Lore may at times lead to too much speculation and not enough core ideas about what the producers may think is good for the game. (but don't get me wrong, I love Lore)
First of all,
Great article!
Second,
I would like to discuss when we will see Imperius.
I am going to assume that the boss from the D3 cinematic is going to be last boss in D3. Since Blizz always seems to show last bosses in their cinematics. (D1,D1 Hellfire, D2, D2 expansion)
I am also going to assume that Imperius is way to cool/powerful to be an earlier boss.
This leads me to believe that Imperius will be a final boss in an expansion of D3, probably the first.
Why?
What else would make me want to buy the expansion more than having the ability to fight a badass angel boss being included?
...
Well... nothing really.
For some reason I feel that if they included fighting angels in the basic game, then they would not being able to introduce it as a "new" idea in the subsequent expansion.
Please let me know what you think.
-ZTZaorish
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Posted Jun 14, 2011However you can see how they changed the quote from the main page to change the fact that angels seem to be in the game. I think it's very likely we'll see angels in D3, and probably more likely we'll do the fighting them in the expansion.
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Posted Jun 16, 2011-
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Posted Jun 16, 2011You're very welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed the read.
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Posted Jun 17, 2011-
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Posted Jul 6, 2011