Priests of Rathma

The Priests of Rathma.

The Priests of Rathma are a cult that feature in Diablo.

History

A Necromancer of the Priests of Rathma.

The Priests of Rathma were a religious order of necromancers that formed on Sanctuary. Their origins were tied to the creation of the world and the birth of the Nephalem who came to inhabit it. In this time, Rathma was born who was the son of the Angel Inarius and the Demoness Lilith where he sought to maintain the Balance by hiding Sanctuary from both the High Heavens and Burning Hells. He came to take on an apprentice name Mendeln ul-Diomed who became a master necromancer and in turn founded the Priests of Rathma. Mendeln began to teach others his skills where he imparted his understanding of the Balance to them whilst recording his knowledge in the Books of Kalan. These early priests then came to establish their headquarters in the east where they founded it deep in the jungles of Kehjistan. When their training was complete, these early followers ventured out into the world where they sought out places where the Balance was disrupted and set about working to restore it. In time, these students would continue the tradition of finding and taking apprentices of their own thus expanding the ranks of the Priests of Rathma.

Overview

In appearance, the Priests of Rathma were a mysterious order that outsiders referred to as necromancers. They were a specialized monastic organization whose active field ranks and scholarly council consisted entirely of adult human humanoids. They featured a standard, slender bipedal physical framework that perfectly mirrored baseline human skeletal biology, presenting four distinct limbs, ten fingers, and ten toes. The organization possessed a strikingly distinct collective profile due to their lifelong isolation within sunless subterranean chambers, presenting stark, chalk-white pale skin layers, gaunt facial contours, and long hair that naturally shifted into bone-white or deep silver pigmentations. They expanded their visual identity by entirely rejecting uniform state military camouflages or matching corporate jumpsuits, enforcing a grim, ceremonial attire standard designed to project absolute psychological detachment. Their garments consisted of dark, hand-tailored leather robes layered with tattered fabric sashes, heavy utility belts, and stylized bone armor configurations sculpted directly from slain monsters. Individual operatives openly carried curved ceremonial daggers, heavy wooden scythes, and preserved skeletal shields to anchor their mystical powers during urban and dungeon-clearing deployments.

They believed that Creation that involved a delicate balance between Light and Darkness. As such, they tenets held that if one ever gained prominence over the other then it would lead to the world falling into ruin. They were protectors of the Balance but stood on the edge between its two worlds where they were not accepted by either side but considered masters of both. Guided by the strict philosophical principle that neither the High Heavens nor the Burning Hells should completely conquer the mortal realm of Sanctuary, the group monitored localized manifestations of cosmic corruption. The administration actively deployed specialized field operatives into infected regional sectors to purge rogue demonic entities, suppress undead plagues, and manipulate the boundary lines of life and death to prevent a full-scale extra-planar invasion.

These necromancers had comprehensive institutional training and decades of cloistered academic research to execute highly sophisticated tactical extractions, map forgotten subterranean ruins, and process complex anatomical dissections. They did not initially possess innate supernatural superpowers, passive flight, or technology-dependent small arms, relying instead on a revolutionary manipulation of primeval life-force energy known as Essence. This specialized affinity allowed separate field units to reanimate decayed corpses into loyal skeletal thralls, explode the residual physical matter of target organisms mid-combat, project devastating bone spears, and manifest dense hard-light protective armor fields. Their primary capabilities allowed them to override standard municipal police jurisdictions during supernatural emergencies, extract vital historical data by communicating directly with the spirits of the deceased, and maintain a highly disciplined barrier of elemental enforcement capable of subduing high-tier demonic threats.

Ranks within the order included:

• Deathspeaker :
• Master Necromancer :
• Necromancer :
• Apprentice :
• Initiate :

Priests of Rathma tended to avoid cities as the masses seldom took kindly to their presence.

Since the first days of their order, they came to collect instruments of power from a variety of sources.

Their home was deep within he jungles of Kehjistan where they trained to preserve the delicate balance between the forces of life and death. The Necropolis served as their headquarters which was a vast underground city whose location was particularly secluded.

Members

• Mendeln ul-Diomed
• Kalan :
• Daros :
• Mykan :
• Jurdann :
• Xul :

Notes

• The Priests of Rathma were created by Blizzard Entertainment where they featured in the setting of the Diablo universe.

Appearances

• Diablo:
• Diablo II:
• Diablo III:

External Links

• Diablo Wiki Entry

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