Diablo Immortal: A Necromancer's JourneyPyresongSummary:A man who isn't supposed to exist finds himself in the fulcrum of divergent prophecies that could fundamentally change his world and many others. Along the way, he learns everything from his origins to where his destiny will take him. This is only the beginning of a journey that spans decades. After all, the Balance is more than just one person.
Chapter 1: 00 PrefaceSummary:Notes and Warnings about the following content and how it all began.
Chapter TextHiya! I'm the meat puppet that has been chosen to help Pyresong tell his story. I am no one. This entire profile is dedicated to him and his projects because if I don't begin doing something soon, he'll really drive me mad.
The following is not, I repeat NOT representative of the writing or style of the story. It is comments on my time working on this and general warnings. I promise, the story is far better written than my near-psychotic ramblings. But I feel it's only fair to give warning.
Tags on AO3 are a bit rough on this one. Characters include pretty much the entire cast of Diablo Immortal, centered around a central original character. Sadly, the best I can do are tags from Diablo II in here. But there are dozens of lovely characters from Immortal I hope to find in here one day.
With it being more than a decade since I last fiddled around with this site, I had forgotten just how very much I loathe the formatting. He's so desperate to tell his story, he doesn't care. But I'm the one spending literally hundreds of hours making this format at least tolerable. I'd sell my soul for paragraph indents! Because, of course, with all our wondrous technology today, there's absolutely no chance we could ever feasibly expect something as grand as actual, traditional book format out of this place.
Notes and Warnings
Jump Start:
If you make it as far as Chapter 3: Westmarch, you'll have passed the "introduction" and begun the part where Pyresong really begins to tell his story. So, if you've played Diablo Immortal, you can probably skip to there and then enjoy the rest. If you haven't played Diablo Immortal, don't read this. I don't say that just because of spoilers. It may suck you in and consume your soul for months or even years; as it did my own.
Rating: M
Yep, I gave this an M rating mostly for the sheer volume of violence. While there may be some graphic stuff, I find it overall pretty tame compared to the Diablo game series. Always better safe than sorry.
Profanity: Always.
Yes, that is your warning. There is mild to moderate profanity in these chapters. However, the bulk of the truly filthy, vile language is up to your imagination. Enjoy!
Sexual Content:
Yes, sex is mentioned fairly frequently. However, there are no explicit scenes within the following pages. I will happily let you use your imagination on that one. But, they do exist, much to my frustration. He literally made me write them for his own enjoyment. I'm telling you, he does it to torture me.
Pyresong Visuals:
If you want to know his appearance, check out the art for the white guy necromancer in Diablo Immortal. It's literally the default guy with reddish brown hair to his shoulders. There are images and even posters of him online. If allowed, I may post images here on ff net. The only real difference is that he has white hair. The rest, right down to that lovely voice, is all the same. Yes, I've learned to love that voice, despite loathing it initially. Damn you, Pyresong!
Other Characters:
If someone is mentioned in one of the games, you can find their images online or by playing the game. He didn't go out of his way to double-check details. Feel free to fill in the gaps with your imagination.
Monster Visuals:
Same as above. He decided not to waste a lot of time describing every detail of every monster in the game. If you want to see them, you can check out Diablo Immortal videos or articles online. They're freaking everywhere.
Lands:
Find a map of Sanctuary online and fill in the gaps with your imagination. There are some things that totally did not make sense to either Pyresong or myself. For example, if Wortham was attacked on Wednesday, why are there refugees pouring into Westmarch capitol less than a week later when Wortham is in a whole other country? For that matter, Pyresong wanted to make the story so engrossing no one ever bothered to look away and wonder at the irrelevant details, such as: How many days on horseback would it take to get from Dark Wood to Westmarch? Nope. Not doing the math, either.
To be fair, it's extremely hard to judge the actual size of the world or time differences from one continent to another. For all we know, it's five times the size of Earth. If you're the type of reader who needs to question those kinds of details, you probably should be reading Elder Scrolls instead of Diablo, anyway.
Timelines:
There's no real night/day aspect in Diablo Immortal as there is in other games. Pyresong was more than a little miffed by the unrealistic quality of that. (Yes, I'm laughing at the idea that a guy who doesn't actually exist is irritated with something for not being realistic. I really am going mad.) So he decided to put day/night breaks wherever he felt appropriate. Also, you will note that he "loses track of time" on several occasions. There is a reason for that, which is explained much later in the book. Up until then, it's another detail he hopes everyone can forgive.
We are well aware that there are some places within the game where phrases like "months at sea" may actually be appropriate. More often than not, he sees it more as "weeks at sea". So there's a lot of variable there. Also, there are dozens of timeline articles and whatnot online. Pyresong has his own timeline, and he is not budging.
Spells:
There is a huge array of spells in the Diablo series, even just for necromancers. Pyresong kept it to a handful of favorite spells from the one originating game to keep it from getting snarled up and completely confusing. He did his best to explain to this non-necromancer how the spells actually worked. Bear in mind, he has some rather unique skills that other Master Necromancers do not. Again, there is a reason for that. It is also explained later on. I hope they make sense to readers as well. That's the best I can offer.
Final Warning:
This is literally a work in progress. While the final chapters are mostly polished enough that I won't cringe while re-reading them, there may be some things that require later editing. At this point, he's pushing me to do anything other than leave this monstrosity on my computer and my cloud drives. So, here we are. The first chapters are going up this weekend. More will follow after I've had a chance to read over them yet again for obvious errors. Probably no more than a couple per week. We shall see. I commit to no set timeline since this is still a work in progress, and Pyresong has a really nasty habit of waking me up in the middle of the night, wanting to add something to a long-ago finalized chapter. There is a chance I may pull or repost something you've already read. If you're the type that gets annoyed by that sort of thing, feel free to wait until it is complete to enjoy it.
Also, events that occur some 15 to 60 years down the road are already being written. He's all over the place. So the ending of this first book may take longer than expected. Truthfully, he's already laid out the roadmap for the entire second and part of the third book. Yay! (curls up sobbing in a corner) And, thus far, they are nowhere near this long.
Update Note (3/19/25): I'm well aware Diablo Immortal as a game is still being written with new chapters and whatnot coming out in 2025. Pyresong does not care. As far as he is concerned, this first book ends shortly after the war at World's Crown. Then we move on to subsequent events that are not directly included or related in the other games. And, no, there's no such thing as a happy ending in reality, so don't expect one here. Besides, he's a sadist and a masochist. I knew from the beginning there would be no "happily ever after" for any of us; including myself.
I will let everyone know when it is finalized for good.
"Preface"
12/14/24 – 14:48 Eastern
Let me begin with this: In the forty-plus years I have been writing hundreds of stories and dozens of books, I have never had so little control over a character as I did Pyresong. I'm not exaggerating when I say he and the others got together and decided what would happen. (The bickering matches between himself and Karshun were downright hilarious. Acid tongue meets dry wit and LOL for real. Seriously, they fight like a married couple.) Honestly, yes, this is fanfiction, so a vast majority of the core story is already "written". But literally everything outside of those key events was well beyond my control.
That said, this was by far the biggest, most obsessive project I have ever had. My previous big project took somewhere in the ballpark of six months and was roughly 450k. My personal best was 175k in 30 days. And, yes, I work a full forty hours a week like everyone else.
The first draft from Wortham to just after the end of the Dreadlands was done in four weeks and totaled over 650k. Written from mid-June 2024 to mid-July 2024. Just like everyone else who was playing Diablo Immortal at the time, I knew nothing about the new chapters that would later come out between September and December of that year. Pyresong would not let me eat, sleep, or game without working on at least some of it at some point every day. Not once was I allowed to call out of work, either.
So, yes, I wrote flipping fanfiction, not for the first time in my life, either. And, in case you're wondering before you browse the following story: Yes, there is an absolutely ridiculous amount of stuff in between parts of the game story that have been written into this thing. For that matter, there's even a prologue that I totally nixed because he decided to add all that junk into the main line anyway. And then there are side pieces that will drive me completely mad that I have nowhere near finished. But I will not torture potential readers with those yet.
And this lovely little piece is literally just the beginning. There's another seventy or so years of other stuff to come. I have no idea where the actual game series is going, but Pyresong could not care less. This is his story to tell.
I have been a follower of the Diablo game series since 1998. I have never felt the need for any kind of fanfiction for it. It's a game. You play it. Then you get back to your own horror game, otherwise known as reality. I have never felt more than a passing interest in adding backstory to a character in a game. Hells, I've never even bothered daydreaming about a side story to the game. And then they put out a freaking MMO (a game type I loathe overall) that seems to have the best story of all of the games. It has a richer, more in-depth character style that goes through a progression that some may even consider traumatic. The fact that the free, crappy MMO has the best character development story of all five games actually makes me mad. I am a solo player. I don't play for the titles, rewards, squads, and blah blah blah.
I play for the story.
Now, here's the real stupidity of that statement: In the more than a quarter of a century since the first game, I have never read a single one of the dozens of books out there based on the Diablo series. Again, it's a game. You play it over and over and over again. Then you get back to reality. So, yeah, I'm a story player who is too lazy and cheap to bother reading the books.
And then my recycled character name of 25 years that I've used in literally dozens and dozens of games hears, "In the meantime, I'll try not to lose my mind." This right after learning his soul is corrupted. Yes, the entity in my head who would claim to be the Pyresong, heard that and came alive. He was desperate to tell his own story. And there was so very much more than what is in the game.
That being said, I now apologize to all readers passing through here. There is likely a ridiculous amount of stuff we got "wrong". Basically, if it wasn't mentioned or highlighted in the games, I don't know it. To give you an idea how clueless I am with the rest of the story, I'm still wondering where Tyrael is in Diablo IV. He's alive, right? No idea. I might have seen a video or two from the Diablo channel on Youtube at some point regarding some more details of the world and its characters. Research was not a thing here. Pyresong's way of looking at it is that he has a story to tell, and he will tell it the way he wants.
No one is obligated to read this book. If you don't like it, feel free to move along.
How it all began.
I had just run through playing Diablo I through IV (pre VOH) over the course of about three months, just enjoying a nostalgia trip. I was already an adult when the first one was released in the United States in 1998. Oh, how much we miss the days of dial-up! Just kidding. I have been a dedicated necromancer player since Diablo II added it. I love the entire idea, as well as being the heartless, borderline bad guy with his own mysterious and possibly twisted motives. I'll leave it at that.
In early June of 2024 I was, yet again, borderline pissed off with the idea that the crappy MMO had the most relatable characters and story in the whole game series. Still, it was 4 AM, and I needed to sleep for work.
Two hours later, I'm woken up by Pyresong sitting on the edge of the bed. Yep, the white guy with reddish straight hair? That one, but with white hair. He starts with:
"This is what we're going to do."
Then he begins giving me a whole list of crap outside the main story line in Diablo Immortal. And he says that is just laying the foundation for something many decades down the road.
I laughed and rolled over to go back to sleep.
Little did I know that he and his cohorts would own me for six agonizingly obsessive months. In all honesty, I didn't write this. My hands were just a tool they used. My wife can even vouch for that. I had no choice in any of this. No opinion or discussion would change their minds on any elements anywhere in the story. I was to shut up, sit down, and let them have free reign with my hands and keyboard. I literally had to buy a whole new laptop just because I needed to continue working on this 24/7 when I was away from my desktop in the basement entertainment room.
After many verbal arguments and some pretty horrific nightmares, I gave in. And after months of fleshing out, editing, cleaning up, and praying for the end of this nightmare, here I am. I will happily share the outcome with anyone with the time and patience to read all of this. When I'm done, I'm going to completely delete every Pyresong I've ever used on any game.
Never again.
Update: 2/28/25 – 15:05 Eastern
I almost can't believe I'm still here. I feel like I should have been hauled off and locked up months ago. These guys are literally driving me mad.
I have now seen the end of the actual game and the big, whoopty doo Diablo boss battle (thanks to some gamers online because I literally cannot beat the final Diablo fight in Diablo Immortal). I can't even believe how well Pyresong called it all. He predicted the corruption being a separate entity and the general outcome of Ewon Tull. Then his predictions of where it would end were almost perfectly spot on.
The evolution of this story and Pyresong's character has been a wild ride. I'm literally just watching. I still have absolutely no control over anything. Where I started off loathing the whole idea and was nowhere near invested enough to do any actual research for it, I'm now seriously considering buying the books and whatnot. However, I reserve that for after this project has concluded. Mainly because I have absolutely no intention of giving him or the rest of the gang an opening to make me go back and "fix" anything (Zatham is the worst nitpicker, second only to Karshun). I am beyond done.
This was never about accuracy. It was never about gaining readership. It was never about making money. It was all done to please literally one person: Pyresong. And, yes, he's more real to me now than any character I've ever known. I didn't create him. He created himself. And he has a sadistic way of distracting me at work with some revelations that leave me so stunned, I actually had to call out once. Yes, I took half a day off to let him have my hands for a few extra hours.
I don't know that the other books will ever amount to more than a collection of short stories (though the outlines are nearly finished and many scenes already written out). But this one is nearly completed. We're down to editing, cleaning up, and hashing out minute details that are just plain irritating. As of right now, it is over one million words (according to the word counter in Open Office Writer). I'm probably going to wind up deleting a bunch of crap just to keep is readable.
If you've read this much, I appreciate you taking the time. If you read on, this will be a long, long journey, and I sincerely hope you enjoy it.
Please bear in mind this creation was purely for Pyresong and his need to tell his own story in his own way and with his own words. I am in no way affiliated with the Diablo franchise or Blizzard. I take no credit for the game series, the plot lines in those games, the original characters, or anything else therein. I give all credit to the owners and originators of all that content. I take no credit for the lyrics used in some extremely rare parts (instances will be given due credit in the chapter containing it). I take no credit for the names used. I take no credit for the artwork.
In short, I take credit for nothing. The truth is, I was a meat puppet here.
That said, I am allowing comments, though I may never actually read them. What can I really say in reply other than thank you for reading and I hope you're not as traumatized by this as I was?
My only personal desire in posting this online is that someone out there will enjoy it as much as Pyresong enjoyed telling it. If even one person finds it entertaining for a while, it was worth the time and effort and the madness of many sleepless nights.
PS You really wanna make some serious characters mad, play "It's the End of the World" by REM and envision them all dancing like idiots. Yes, it was the only way to get them to shut up long enough to get a full night of sleep sometimes.