Diii.com is going all out with this contest and it looks like a really nice one, so if you have an oppertunity to join, then why not give it a go? Here is the information from Diii.com.

Do you want to win a cool book on swords by one of the D2 artists, a spot in the ongoing WoW beta, and an in-game Tyrael mini-pet? Of course you do, and here’s your chance! We’ve got four signed copies of Ben Boos’ first book, Swords: An Artist’s Devotion, and we’re giving them away in two different contests. We’re even throwing in some Blizzard prize cards, each of which holds a code to get you into the WoW beta, and to get you one of those ultra rare Tyrael mini-pets.

We’re running two contests; you can win with your fan art, or your very short story writing, and we’re even picking two non-winning entrants at random and giving them prize cards, so your odds have never been better. Full rules and details on how to enter can be seen in the official contest article. Add your 11-word story to the comments of that thread, to enter.

Even if you care nothing about the WoW-themed prizes, you’ll want to check out our interview with Ben Boos, and the sample images from his new book. Swords is set for release on September 9th, and it’s a gorgeous volume, full of Ben’s original artwork depicting swords and their use throughout human history. In the interview Ben talks about his artistic inspirations, his work on D2 and D2X, how he got hired at Blizzard, how he sold his book, his next project, and more.

This is the second part of the extensive article regarding the lore of Diablo 3. The first part is called “An Examination of Diablo 3 lore- Part 1 : Background“. Original source is StarCraft 2 armory.

Half the images which follow are cut off. Please just control click them and view them in a new window till I can make them smaller. I’ll also post links under them if I can.

So, now your caught up, we can start the article, I plan to cover the following subjects in no particular order.

1) What was the meteor in Tristram? What signifigance does it bear?
2) Is Tyrael corrupted or what?
3) Who are the real bad guys?
4) What are the ramifications of the destruction of the worldstone
5) What about the Nephalem, Lilith, and Inarius?
6) Where are the brothers?
7) What does Izuals speech mean (and other prophecies?)

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This is an extensive examination of the Diablo 3 lore, in fact its so long that I will break it down in several posts. The first will be about the background, which is my favorite part. The original post can be found on StarCraft 2 armory if you prefer to read it as a whole.

So, the sequel to the almighty RPG title Diablo 2 has finally been announced, Blizzard has been unusually mysterious about the plot giving us virtually nothing to go off of, except some remarkably provocative artwork and a cinematic trailer. Here’s what we got from them (Blizzard.)

-Set 20 yrs after Diablo 2
-There will be returning NPCs (Cain, Tyrael)
-Meteor’s are the harbringers of doom, one just crashed into the cathedral at Tristram where Diablo himself once stood.
-Tyrael is being punished (confirmed)
-Hell was expected to attack as soon as the worldstone was destroyed
-Hell has not
-Hell is just beginning to come up (from where the worldstone once stood)
-The Sin War trilogy of books is considered canon
-Most hero’s played in Diablo 2 have gone insane from the horrors of Hell.
-One new NPC we know is a young woman named Leah who has a direct relationship with Cain, probably apprentice or something. There’s artwork further in the article to confirm this.
-The destruction of the Worldstone will have massive ramifications.

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