Burning Hells

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The Burning Hells,or just Hell is the home of demons. The inhabitants of Hell are lead by the Great Evils, seven immensely powerful demons.

Background

No one actually knows how Hell came to be, but it has been in existence for far longer than Sanctuary. The Great Conflict between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells had been raging for countless millennia before Sanctuary was created.

Of the Great Evils there are the Lesser Evils and the Prime Evils. The "Lesser" are still formidable entities, but generally controlled by the Prime Evils through cunning and sheer force in a lethally evil combination.

Prime Evils

• Mephisto - Lord of Hatred
• Baal - Lord of Destruction
• Diablo - Lord of Terror

Lesser Evils

• Andariel, Maiden of Anguish (prominent daughter of Lilith)
• Azmodan, Lord of Sin
• Belial, Lord of Lies
• Duriel, Lord of Pain (also known as Prince of Pain)

Sometimes attributed as a Lesser Evil is Lilith.

Sanctuary

However, it so happened that there were some demons and some angels that grew weary of the conflict, and wanted to separate themselves from it. The angel Inarius and the powerful demoness Lilith were the first of a small group to become lovers over the borders of Heaven and Hell. They created Sanctuary as their home, and although created in a vastly different way than humans procreate, had offspring they called nephalem.

The nephalem became immensely powerful from this union of angel and demon, and the main forces of Heaven and Hell noticed Sanctuary. Demons and angels alike were afraid to let this new faction grow aware and strong, and wanted to destroy it. The Angiris Council with Tyrael in the lead were prepared to do just this.

The nephalem however, proved to be individual and of free will, so in the end, Sanctuary was spared by both races. The artefact known as the Worldstone was set to dampen the energy of the nephalem, and eventually it turned most of them to forget their former power, becoming what we call humans today.

The Sin War

As soon as Sanctuary was revealed, some of the battle between Light and Darkness took place on human soil. This conflict was to be called the Sin War.

The Prime Evils noticed that while on the mortal realm, they were cut off from their source of power deep in the Burning Hells. However, the energy from mortal souls was easily harnessed and could be used in all realms. The almost exact power balance of Heaven and Hell could thus be overcome by taking control of Sanctuary. An all-out invasion would do no good, however, since the Heavenly Host would just come down to meet them, and the world would be destroyed.

Instead, the then already corrupted angel Izual told the Three of angelic Soulstones that could be used to channel power from Hell directly. With this force, any battles on the mortal realms would easily be dealt with. They needed to lure the angels to use the Soulstones against them without letting the ruse become obvious.

The Dark Exile

With minute careful planning, they manipulated the Lesser Evils of Azmodan and Belial to revolt against the Three, exiling them on to Sanctuary in a much weakened Spirit form. The angels saw this and assumed the new rulers of Hell would imminently attack the gates of Heaven, so they withdrew their support from Sanctuary, feeling that if the human race survived they might be worthy allies after all.

However, the angels could not resist the chance of capturing the weakened Prime Evils.

The Three had not heeded Izual's warnings of being weakened on the mortal realm, and found themselves shut off from their source of power, draining themselves to just stay alive. They found that this did not happen when possessing a human body, they retained their power and also managed to accumulate more from other mortal's souls, up to a point of what their host body could hold. Strong minds and bodies were better vessels, but also harder to possess.

With this new knowledge, the Three ravaged the human kingdoms, gathering and using power wildly.

Capturing the Three

The rampage by the Prime Evils made the disperse mage clans of the humans unite as a group they called the Horadrim, a group of the most powerful sorcerers the human race had ever seen. The Archangel Tyrael contacted them and gave them Soulstones to capture the Prime Evils with.

Led by the Initiates Tal Rasha and Jered Cain, the Horadrim found Mephisto in the Kehjistan jungles, and managed to capture him within the Soulstone meant for him. He was buried under the Temple of Light in what would become Kurast and guarded by a large section of the magi brotherhood.

Baal was found and defeated in the Aranoch desert, not too far from Lut Gholein. However, the demon lord managed to shatter the Soulstone, and an improvised prison was used for Baal. Tal Rashas very soul would help contain the demon, chained to a Binding Stone in the Tomb of Tal Rasha, located in the Canyon of the Magi.

Jered Cain led the remaining Horarim to the West, and caught up with Diablo near the river Talsande. They fought a bitter and hard battle, with heavy losses, but managed to subdue the red terror. He was imprisoned in his Soulstone and buried in caves nearby, whereupon a Horadric monastery was built.

Neither of the Three Demon Lords had anticipated not only to be defeated, but be unable to escape.

Return of the Three

However, some centuries later, after the taskless Horadrim brotherhood had all but disappeared, Mephisto managed to reach out to the local Zakarum priesthood in the now sprawling city of Kurast and draw them to him. He corrupted the priesthood, and sent emissaries of Zakarum out into the world while he built his power.

Whether or not Lord Leoric, a very well known pious man, came from these expeditions or not, he brought with him the Zakarum religion to Khanduras from the East, and made himself King with his seat of power in Tristram, the very same location Diablo was still imprisoned. Diablo tried to corrupt Leoric but failed, making the King mad in the progress. However, his Archbishop and advisor Lazarus was susceptible, and was made to free the Prime Evil, giving him Leoric's only son Albrecht as a host to possess.

Terror started reigning again, and although the mad King Leoric eventually was killed by his trusted commander Lachdanan, the worries did not end. The Cathedral was still spewing out evil beasts.

Many adventurers tried to travel down in the labyrinths beneath the Cathedral in search for fame and fortune, but all died or fled. One day came an unknown man, who did manage to reach the deepest parts of the labyrinth and find Diablo in a section that had already begun to corrupt into a likeness of Hell. A frightful battle took place, and the hero was successful.

He tried to contain the demon within himself, to bring it to the Eastern mage clans for a final defeat, but in the end he succumbed to the powerful force of Diablo and became the Dark Wanderer.

The Dark Wanderer

Some time after the release of Diablo and his travels to the East in the guise of the Dark Wanderer, Diablo and/or Mephisto regained some control of Hell again, as the Lesser Evils of Andariel and Duriel once again stood by the Prime Evils. Possibly as punishment, they were just placed as guards against the passage East, to delay the human heroes from capturing Diablo. Exactly what went on here is not known.

The Dark Wanderer did indeed turn East, but to free his brothers, not defeat Diablo. The demonic decoys did indeed slow down the heroes, and with the help of his companion Marius, the Dark Wanderer managed to free Baal from his prison in the Tomb of Tal Rasha despite Tyrael physically intervening.

The heroes arrived too late, but managed to free Tyrael, which was bound to the Binding Stone in place of Baal.

More to come...

Known Hell Locations

• Hellforge - Where the most powerful of demonic weapons are forged, and the one place that can destroy Soulstones.
• Burning Pits An area within Hell.

Likely Hell Locations

• The Abyss - Where demons spawn. Not necessarily part of the Burning Hells.

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