Here's your short Diablo 4 lore primer before launch

pcgamer.com:

As it goes with any long-running RPG series, Diablo is crammed full of proper nouns—Inarius and the Horadrim and the Nephalem and so on. If Diablo 4 is going to be your first crack at the series (or hell, if you understandably need a refresher) Blizzard has a new video in which its developers set up the story for you with a bit of context from the series origins and the end of Diablo 3.

For starters, Diablo 4 kicks off 50 years after the events of Diablo 3's Reaper of Souls DLC during which half of the population of Sanctuary (the mortal realm between the heavens and hells) was killed off by the archangel of death, Malthael. Sanctuary's original creators, the angel Inarius and demon Lilith have both returned and, wouldn't you know it, that's not really going to go well for humanity. 

Blizzard's senior lore manager, narrative designer, and writers go on to explain foundational word events like Sanctuary's creation and the origins of the Horadric Order that were meant to protect Sanctuary from outside forces. But I needed more, so I went and did a bit of wiki diving to brush up on the details—specifically the relationship between Inarius and Lilith, which is a bit more complex than the «he locked her in a realm of darkness» broad strokes that Blizzard leaves it at in the video above.

I took Act 1 of Diablo 4's story at face value with no preparation during the first two beta weekends, so here's a few high points from my lore dive that I wish I'd known before:

Blizzard says «the story between Lilith and Inarius is the darkest we’ve ever told in a Diablo game,» and based on some bits of the first act of the story I'd believe it. Mom and Dad are back and they still do not agree on how to handle the kids. Lilith may still have