The Return of the Necromancer Pack for Diablo 3 is about to be released and the developers at Blizzard present us the backstory today.

From their origins to the philosophy of balance, Diablo veterans and newbies alike are explained the background. Even long-established Diablo 2 necromancers can refresh their knowledge here.

The origins of the necromancers go back to the creation of Sancturio and are also a nice digression into the history of the Diablo world. Be it the emergence of demons, nephalim or angels, many interesting topics are explained here:

Diablo 3 - The Life of Rathma

When Sanctuary was created, the demons and angels hidden there, including the leaders Inarius and Lilith, begat offspring - the first nephalem. Eventually an argument broke out among angels and demons over whether to kill or spare their descendants, as they had the potential to become more powerful than their ancestors. While Inarius pondered this in seclusion, Lilith killed the remaining demons and angels to prevent them from harming the nephalem.

When he returned and saw what she had done, Inarius was horrified and banished Lilith. Shortly afterwards he was displeased with the growing power of the Nephalem, and he modified the World Stone to weaken it. In the years that followed, each new generation of nephalem lived shorter lives than their ancestors and their original power was forgotten - eventually they became the people who inhabit Sanctuary today.

During this time, Inarius' son Linarian rebelled against his father's plans and gathered like-minded people as he strengthened his own power. At some point he also discovered the balance, the fragile interplay between the forces of order and chaos. He took the name Rathma and worked in secret to hide Sanctuary from the High Heavens and to limit the influence of the Burning Hells.

This is just the beginning of the whole story which you can find on Blizzard's Necromancer homepage.Have fun browsing.