7:53pm: No updates thus far, except Six are the days until Diablo Anniversary, six are the letters in the word Diablo.  Taking a look at the master.CSS file, the 04.jpg photo shown below at 2:30pm could be considered a alphabet letter.  “04”—the fourth letter of the alphabet is “D”.  If that’s really a clue, tomorrow’s image might be named “09.jpg” or letter “I” in the alphabet. But this is mere speculation.

On other matters, since it is been many months of the release of Diablo: The Sin War, book three, The Veiled Prophet, I will talk about certain spoiler in the table below. If you don’t want to read the spoiler, simply don’t read what is inside this box below:

Richard A. Knaak in our October 2006 interview hinted Blizzard had great plans for Zayl the Necromancer.  I have no idea of Knaak meant Zayl would be an important character in any upcoming Diablo game, at least I do know he will be in a new Diablo novel not yet announced. Why would a Necromancer be of any importance in upcoming Diablo games?  They are the protectors of Sanctuary.  Protectors of Balance. The Diablo: The Sin War trilogy revealed Uldyssian’s brother: Meldeln to be an important figure in Sanctuary.  Of all inhabitants of Sanctuary, he was the chosen by Trag’Oul the dragon and Rathma to remember all the events after the Angiris Council wiped the memories of all humans. Trag’Oul renamed Meldeln with a new name as he did once with Rathma.  Linarian was the former name of Rathma—a name in ancient tongue.  Meldeln became Kalan.

Trag’Oul: “I would call you Kalan.  In the tongue of that of which I am, it means teacher, for you have risen far too high to be called by me as a mere student … and we have need of you to show others the truth of the Balance.”

Rathma: “There must be more who will fight to maintain the Balance,” Rathma said to him.  ” The Balance is Sanctuary’s best hope.  When that day comes that the edyrem return, they must not fall into either camp, for then humanity will merely be an appendage of one side or another, dying for their causes and nothing else.  Keep humanity balanced between the two, and it becomes the master of its own destiny.”—The Veiled Prophet, page 340.

As you see, the Necromancers have a great responsibility in any upcoming Diablo game.  Look at the Necromancers as the equals of the Night Elves (who serve Ysera and the Emerald Dream as guardians and protectors of nature and all of Azeroth).

There are two more spoilers from the novel that are of high interest to Diablo players.

Trag’Oul was contacted by other guardians (sentinels) such as himself, from other worlds. They stopped Trag’Oul from entering Sanctuary:

“The gateway was nearly complete, and then the voices struck him from all directions.  You cannot!  You cannot!  You cannot! At the same time, the gateway disintegrated despite his best efforts to keep it from doing so.  Filled with an unaccustomed anger, he confronted the voices.  This is my burden!  This is my duty! You have no say in this, none of you!  There was a moment of silence, and then, together, they responded, But we do … this goes beyond Sanctuary now.  Beyond all of us who stand sentinel.

The dragon grew wary.  How so?  How can that be?.

Their words struck him as nothing else could.  Because the war is coming to Sanctuary, and if you interfere with what the Balance demands, it and all existence may be forfeit.”

They left him, then, all the others who stood guard as he did over their separate worlds, left him with the knowledge that it was his Sanctuary whose imminent fate might decide theirs.—The Veiled Prophet, page 168.

Who to expect in a upcoming Diablo game? The lesser Evils, Lilith—mother of Rathma, and daughter of Mephisto; and the most important character above all … INARIUS.  Inarius created Sanctuary using the Worldstone, which he stole from Creation after resigning as Commander of the High Heavens. When the Angiris Council came to Sanctuary in the Sin War Trilogy, they ruled judgement over Sanctuary and the edyrem.  Tyrael was the final member of the Angiris Council to vote.  Tyrael voted in favor of Sanctuary and the edyrem’s survival:

Tyrael: I DID CALL THEM ABOMINATIONS … BUT I WAS WRONG!  MY VOTE IS FOR THEM … FOR I WOULD SEE WHAT THEY MIGHT BECOME … AND MARVEL IN IT.

Mephisto appeared before the Angiris Council and offered a pact.  Tyrael requested Mephisto to leave his Mark upon the spot inside the Cathedral of Light where Inarius had originally created all of Sanctuary. By placing his mark to seal the pact with the Angiris Council, Lord Mephisto looted his prize given in exchange of placing his mark … INARIUS.  Inarius was taken by Lord Mephisto to the Burning Hells.

“A black substance oozed from the bite, and this the demon let drip onto the spot the angels had chosen.  As it touched, there was a searing sound, and several red runes suddenly materialized above the stain.  They turned twice in a circle, then sank into what passed for Mephisto’s blood.  The black substance melted into the floor, vanishing.”—The Veiled Prophet, page 334.

You can order online the Diablo: The Sin War Trilogy—as this is the lore ground for upcoming Diablo games.

5pm: Lyquid submited a rendering of the teaser image showing the red data layer. At the center of the image you can see a lot of runes. It might be nothing, but the odd shape of the ice reminds me a lot to the Worldstone. Click the image below to zoom in.

4:21: Gamespot takes serious the teaser as a imminent game announcement, and references Blizzplanet’s interview with Richard A. Knaak where he hinted his novel material would be used in upcoming Diablo projects. (Read More)

3:55pm: Rumors circulate refreshing the old Hydra project codename. Hydra could be a reference to Trag’Oul (the dragon who protects the Worldstone in Diablo: The Sin War trilogy).

3:20pm: On the Diablofans forum, a link to Peter Lee (Blizzard Artist)‘s forum showed some Hydra project images.  Sadly, the gallery was passworded and no access is possible at this time. This happened before I was able to take a look. Peter updated and edited the front page of his site twice. First it said the gallery would be back on June 28th. That’s when the Blizzard Worldwide Invitationals starts.  Now his website says the gallery will be back on July.

2:30pm – Gayardos from our Spanish fansite buddies at Diablo3-ESP have analyzed the icy teaser image.  There seem to be some hidden elements. The Glyph within a circle is the same as one of the glyphs in Frostmourne. Check out their image analysis here. They also mention an image that appeared on the Blizzard Europe site which got removed shortly after.

If there is a game announcement, these teaser images will be rotated at an undetermined lapses of time, the way Starcraft: Ghost teaser was handled on 2002. Some fans think these images are a metaphor.  Hell has frozen over.  The image above was supposedly titled tundra—there was a Tundra in one of the Diablo acts. Anyway, fans are gonna go crazy on every forum around the globe trying to decipher these teasers.

2pm – The teasers have begun—a new game announcement is now imminent.  All Blizzard websites now have a splash page hinting to a new game announcement at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitationals. Note that this teaser has started exactly SIX days before the Diablo II Anniversary—which coincidencially is the day WWI ends. Everyone knows what the SIX means.

11 Days before WWI – Diablo II Patch 1.12a

10 Days before WWI – Diablo3.com officially owned by Blizzard Entertainment on Registrar Search Engines, no longer redirecting to Diablofans.com

5 Days before WWI – Splash Teaser Image

Will it be a Diablo game?  Or Hunter Misdirection to unveil Starcraft: Ghost on PC?  We will find out on June 28 at 11:45am – 1:30pm (Paris Time) during the Press Conference at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitationals for sure. Personally, I wouldn’t look too much into the ice image. Knowing Blizzard that image might be updated showing the ice cracking until WWI when the image will reveal the new game.

The original teaser image URL starts like: https://us.media.blizzard.com/232309/

W (23th letter of the alphabet).  I (9th letter of the alphabet.  Therefore 232309 means WWI (Worldwide Invitationals). Thanks, feelingshehides.

Share your speculations and ideas with other Diablo fans here.

Thanks for the alerts of this teaser: Angellium, Johan (Sweden), Imanol, Lavarinth, cS)Beta@Battle.net (Taiwan) feelingshehides, PsYkeR, traderjoes, and Marcel (Germany). Image by iczer. Sorry for missing the news bit. I woke up … yes, at 1:30pm.  Practicing for Paris time zone before taking the flight on Thursday.