This page is all of the notes I've written out of my head in an effort to cement the entire setting of Sanctuary, fast-forwarded to approximately the modern level of technology. Some of the ideas inside have been built off my previous three stories (follow the link to my website) and some from reading the game manuals many times over. In some ways, the level of "technology" (which, technically, is more techno-magic-ology; say that three times fast) is more advanced, and in others, less.
For starters, the country of Westmarch conquered both Khanduras and Entsteig, controlling all the land west of the Aranoch desert and south of the barbarian steppes. That area is now called the Empire of the Setting Sun, and is run similar to a constitutional monarchy, except that the ruler has powers similar to the president. The main currency, the Rugen, would be equal to about ten gold coins from Diablo2.
The Society of Rathma gradually gained both influence and acceptance in the Empire, due to their power over the nature of death. While the bodies of the dead were relatively worthless for lawful purposes, their spirits could be brought back from the afterlife for a short period of time. Police departments also found a few clay golems to be incredibly useful for riot control.
With the destruction of the Worldstone, and the end of the Barbarian tribes task to protect Mount Arreat, the druid and the barbarian tribes slowly unified, with each tribe keeping most of the traditions and names. A unified council of elders meets every year, alternating between the rebuilt city of Sescheron and the clearing at the foot of the Glór-an-Fháidha. Mercenary groups were established by each tribe, led by druidic Loremasters and backed up with sheer barbarian might. With the unification of the Empire of the Setting Sun, the need for the honorable warriors-for-hire lessened, except for occasional invasions from the demon-worshipping countries east of the Kehjistan and their separating mountains. So, with nothing else to do, many of the mercenary groups became ... sports teams.
Going from the map of Sanctuary in the Diablo2 manual, there's a fair bit of the world left unexplored. So in my stories, the Kehjistan fades into a temperate rainforest as it goes to the east, and a mountain range similar to the Himalayas (but without the Tibet plateau) separates it from the lands further east. In the time of the Diablo games, the whole country was one great empire. The Worldstone was reconstructed in their capitol, seven years after Tyrael shattered it, and the remnants of the Viz-Jaq'taar order joined with the imperial gunsmiths to form an organization called the Protectorate. More about them will be explained later. A few decades later, when Na-Krul was loosed in Sanctuary, the empire divided in a brutal civil war, as two different factions sought to topple the emperor, and turn the rest of the population to worshipping the Prime Evils as they did. As a result, the land is now divided into three kingdoms - one controlled completely by the Protectorate, and the other two highly feudal kingdoms worshipping Baal and Diablo.
To the south, across the Great Ocean, is a pair of continents. In composition, they are both a great deal like Australia, with a narrow strip along the coasts being habitable for humans, and the interior vast deserts that occasionally are flooded with monsoon-like storms, sparking brief growth spurts from the plants. The two continents are separated by a narrow channel, about twenty miles wide, and the coasts along the channel are hotbeds of volcanic activity. In the deserts, there dwells an intelligent reptilian race called the Mazu. In appearance, they resemble a diamondback rattler grown to be about twelve to forty feet long, and between one and three feet thick. Behind their head, in four lines about a foot in length, grow a number of small, prehensile tentacles that the snakes use for grasping and manipulating tools. There is a small amount of trade that goes on between the Mazu, and the small Zakarum colonies on the coasts, as the snakes can easily find high-quality gemstones in the desert dunes. In addition, they produce (through an as-yet unknown process) a strong material similar to silk, prized by many celebrities and designers.
In a world with a rebuilt Worldstone, it's natural that the nature of magic powers should change somewhat, and it has. While traditional mages continue to be powerful (though slightly fewer in number and far more busy), more people have emerged with the psionic powers utilized by the Viz-Jaq'taar order of old. Since the remnants of the assassin order were made part of the Protectorate, they have taken over training anyone who shows a measure of psionic power. While most of their recruits show only meager levels of mental skills (imagine, on a game rule scale, having a sole point to put into any skill except traps), the most powerful and adaptable of the psions are called the Ghosts. They serve as spies, internal security to ferret out any demon-worshippers trying to infiltrate the Protectorate and subvert the Worldstone, and the trainers of anyone psionically active. A high-powered Ghost is not someone you want to annoy casually.
Just to make things clear here - about 20% of humans have the ability to learn a little the psychic disciplines that the Protectorate teaches. Less than 2% can spontaneously use them without training, and they tend to be rather dangerous, being overwhelmed by their powers. Less than 0.1% of humans are nulls, humans who are completely immune to all forms of psychic powers - and not only immune, but they're more like black holes of psychic power. A Ghost who tried to do a mental blast, or a Jedi mind trick, would end up draining themselves to death by accident, unless something was done to break the psychic connection first. Needless to say, the rare nulls that exist tend to be quite valued as both police and counter-intelligence agents.
Most nulls live their life without ever discovering their rare ability, just as most humans never get training to utilize their psionic powers. However, they usually tend to gravitate towards positions like law enforcement, border patrols against the demon-worshipping countries, and lawyers - positions of confrontation, leading some psychologists to theorize that the null genes are linked with higher levels of aggression.
The way I see it, all of the seven rulers of Hell have their own followers among humanity. Depending on which Prime Evil those humans worship, they can be granted different powers based upon their loyalty, skill, and worship of their master. In the hierarchy of worshippers, some naturally rank higher than all others - and for Asmodan, the Lord of Sin, his most powerful followers are the living embodiments of the seven deadly sins. They don't always cooperate, and they often don't know who each other are, but when their master calls them, they had best put away their differences if they know what's best for them. Some of the Deadly Sins are chosen semi-randomly for how closely they match the particular Sin, and others tend to be passed down from generation to generation. Lust, in particular, is practically expected by Asmodan to have a sole baby girl at some point to raise to replace her - whereupon, she usually becomes the next Envy.
After how easily the Zakarum High Council was corrupted by Mephisto, and then the next High Council corrupted by the temptation of the corrupted shards of Worldstone, the paladins returned en masse to Travincal, evicting the priests and installing themselves as the head of the Zakarum order. Since their powers come more directly from Heaven, and since Hadriel has a tendency to show up and permanently curse paladins who horribly abuse their oaths, the Zakarum church has remained largely a beneficial organization. Men and women from every light-friendly group on the planet come to join the ranks of the Church in all capacities - paladin, priest, soldier, teacher. Of course, those who do make it through four grueling years of instruction and practical exams still have to pass one last test.
As the Kingdom of Westmarch was slowly expanding and becoming the Empire of the Setting Sun, the Zakarum were expanding as well. With the paladins now in charge of running the church, they turned to expanding the area of their control southward, wanting to encompass all of the tropical Kehjistan jungle and the more temperate lands of the south. They made alliances with the Vizjerei mage clans, inviting them in to use their elemental magics for the benefit of their theocratic empire. And as they continued to press southward, they faced off against the saber cat tribes that had always lurked around the edges of human settlements, watching warily for danger from the apes.
While some of the saber cat tribes worshipped the Prime Evils, others did not, preferring to rely on the faithfulness of earth-based magic rather than the unreliable demonic sources. After several decades of guerilla warfare, the demon worshipping tribes were all exterminated or fled east across the mountains to the kingdoms there. The tribes who followed more sedate traditions were gradually allowed to join the Zakarum kingdom, excelling in their army. Their speed and natural ability to run longer than the most hardy barbarians make them excellent scouts, and a few of them are present in every battalion in the Zakarum army. They do not follow the Zakarum faith (much to the disappointment of many priests) but they have proved their loyalty to the satisfaction of the paladin High Council.
Oddly enough, only saber cat females ever leave their homes, leading to a variety of rumors about their society. But since the traditional homes of the tribes are off-limits to all humans, and no saber cat will ever speak of their differences, they remain only rumors.
While the strength of magic lessened somewhat with the destruction of the Worldstone, magic was obviously a very important part of the world. The Viz-Jun clans, considered to be the most widely studied since the Horadrim died out, joined the Zakarum and formalized the studies of the elements. Eventually, schools were founded across the world for those lucky few with the spark of magic. Each school focused on one specific element out of the four, and a friendly sort of rivalry sprung up between each branch of the elemental colleges. Once magical enchantments could be tuned to producing things in an assembly line fashion, modern culture was born, and with it, all the nuisances that come with it.
Like PETA.
While the Ghosts are the epitome of psychic power and its potential, the Gunsmiths are the flip side of the Protectorate coin of power. While they all have at least small amounts of psychic potential, none of them have the mental power to be anything more than a mental irritant to demons, mages, and other psionics. The Gunsmiths focus more on the interactions of the physical world, with a special love for gadgets and explosions. Each Gunsmith builds their own customized weapon, designed to accept dozens of types of ammunitions. As they progress in both their knowledge of traps and increase their psychic powers, they can imbue their weapons with elemental damages. Frequently, they also hire mages to enchant ammunition, so that they can save their own minor skills for the more dangerous situations.
Outside of the Protectorate, guns have become more common in the world, though only the most skilled could ever approach the training that a Gunsmith goes through. Still, when looking for a break from the constant demonic raids on their country, Gunsmiths are often found in the other lands, hiring themselves out to police, or freelancing with private detectives.
The reason Haven was rebuilt was to become the new capitol for the Empire of the Setting Sun. While the ghettos in the lower part of the city have certainly returned to the age-old tradition of being one step short of an outpost of Hell, the higher parts of the city are home to the Imperial Palace and the Imperial Senate. Mansions for the rich and lordly glow, imbued with magic and psionic skill, and embassies from the Zakarum, the Protectorate, and the Bul-Kathos tribes are frequent stops for the tourists that come to visit.
The Empire itself is run by a form of constitutional monarchy. The Emperor serves in a position similar to that of the US President, and the Senate consists of two houses, one for the nobles, chosen by birthright, and one for elected representatives of the people. The electoral house also has the leaders of the Imperial Army as advisors, since all the western nations are in a constant state of warfare with the two demon-worshipping nations of the east. Since the Empire was unified a century and a half ago by King Roland, there has been incredibly little war and strife - except for the occasional demon infestation.
I usually think of Diablo and Baal in the forms you see them in the game. That means Diablo looks like a giant red-scaled cat, and Baal looks like an ugly centaur with tentacles instead of legs. Of the seven Evils, Asmodan and Belial are the closest to human. Or at least, Asmodan is - nobody is entirely sure what Belial's true form is.
The ten siblings who rule over Heaven and Hell didn't always have corporeal forms, and they created the forms we see in the games and in my writing. The millenia they have spent inhabiting those forms have sort of imprinted it subconsciously. The Evils don't enjoy taking human form, because it limits their powers, so they use it only when great subtlety is called for - Diablo freeing his brother, Baal getting the Soulstone from Marius, Belial doing just about anything.
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