Burning Hells

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The Burning Hells,or just Hell is the home of all demons, and the eternal foe of the High Heavens. The inhabitants of Hell are lead by the Great Evils, seven immensely powerful demons, who have serious problems cooperating.

Background

The Burning Hells have been around since the dawn of time in the diablo universe. It has been in existence for far longer than Sanctuary for sure. The Great Conflict between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells had been raging for countless millennia, with both sides being equal... at least, until sanctuary's creation.

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.

Below is a summary of the Prime Evils on sanctuary.

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 and to corrupt Leoric. The attempt failed, but broke his mind. 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.

Diablo's power was wreaking havoc upon Tristram, 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, and after his death Leoric returned as the skeleton king and corrupted all his former knights butLachdanan, who managed to escape his wrath.In the first diablo game Lachdanan, can be found in a side quest in the deepest areas of the labyrinth.

Many adventurers traveled down in the labyrinths beneath the Cathedral in search for fame and fortune, but all died or fled, or went mad. One day came an unknown man (later confirmed to be Leoric's son, Aidan 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. The hero slew diablo and shoved the diablo's soulstone into his own head.

Aidan tried to contain the demon within himself, to bring it to the Eastern mage clans for a final defeat, he could not resist the overwhelming influence 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. They were told to guard the locations they were assigned to, likely to delay the hero.

The Dark Wanderer did indeed turn East, but at this point was corrupted beyond saving as Diablo. Before leaving tristram, it appears that he was with adria long enough to birth a daughter, Leah, who was important in the future. 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. Tyrael assigned Marius the task of destroying the soulstone, the result of which will be explained later.

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

Diablo Returns To Hell

Despite attempts to stop it, the portal to hell was opened, and Diablo went through for an unexplained reason. Mephisto guarded the portal but was slain by the heros, who went through the portal after Diablo. After opening the seals, the heros defeated Diablo on his own turf. It is unclear if that was part of his plan to become the prime evil. He was not seen again for 20 years.

The Worldstone Corrupted

While the heros were distracted hunting diablo, Baal took advantage of this opportunity and amassed a huge army to defeat the barbarian kingdoms. With the aid of Nihlathak, he bypassed the Ancients and managed to corrupt the worldstone before the heros defeated him. Tyrael had to destroy it, or the tides of hell would flood into sanctuary. Known activity of hell stops here for 20 years.

Belial and Azmodan Invade Sanctuary

It is unknown when their activities actually started, but 20 years after the defeat of Baal the Nephalem, who just recently discovered their powers, were informed by a mortal Tyrael the evils once again walked the world. They also met Decard Cain and Leah. Unfortuinately, Cain was slain by a servant of Belial named Maghda. They traveled to Caldeum, where Belial had already taken over the guard and the palace, as well as the form of the emperor. In time, the nephalem discovered Belial's identity and slew him. Right before, the Black Soulstone was claimed with the aid of leah's mother Adria, and Belial's soul was absorbed into the stone, along with every other evil but Azmodan.

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.
• Chaos Sanctuary The place where Diablo was defeated in Diablo 2.

Likely Hell Locations

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

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