Rayek

"The barbarian prodigy Rayek is the inventor of the Helliquary, a wondrous device built to locate particularly destructive demons and trap their essence when they’re slain. Rayek hopes to use his creation to stop demonic incursions before they happen, and prevent the doom that came to his homeland from ruining other lands. When he finds demons too strong to be defeated alone, Rayek points entire warbands of capable adventurers in their direction. Though unstable, Rayek’s first Helliquary—the Wrathborne Helliquary—may well prove capable of funneling the power of defeated demons to a sufficiently daring subject. The risks of such a process remain unknown."

- Character description^(src)

Rayek
Gender	Male
Race	Human
Ethnicity	Barbarian
Affiliation	Barbarians (formerly?)
Status	Active
Appearances	Diablo Immortal Book of Lorath (mentioned only)

Rayek is a young Barbarian, best known for his creation of the Helliquary.

Biography

"My friend, there is someone you should meet. A colleague of Charsi's named Rayek. He is a survivor of Arreat and something of an intellect. His Harrogathian expertise--combined with Charsi's skill at the forge--is already bearing fruit."

- Deckard Cain^(src)

Rayek

Rayek hails from Harrogath. A prodigy, Rayek witnessed the horrifying destruction wrought by Baal. Rayek survived the destruction of Mount Arreat and subsequent devastation of the Northern Steppes. He determined that no other people should suffer the way the Barbarians had, and devised a way to prevent demonic invasions of Sanctuary.

In 1270, Rayek was in Westmarch, where he met Deckard Cain and Charsi. With Charsi's help, he created the Helliquary; a wondrous device built to locate particuarly destructive demons and trap their essence when they were slain. Rayek hoped to use his creation to stop demonic incursions before they happened, and prevent the doom that came to his homeland from ruining other lands.

Per his construction of the Helliquary, Rayek detected a dark energy emanating from the Einfrinn Tree. While legend held that the tree was planted by King Rakkis, Rayek believed that the tree was as old as Sanctuary itself. Studying the tree, he discovered that the Helliquary had become entangled with the energy leaking from the tree, confirming what he had suspected; that the tree was demonic in nature. More specifically, the tree was holding back a powerful demon, but was growing weaker by the moment.

Right on time, Rayek met with the hero(es) that Cain had sent his way. Rejecting their suggestion that the tree be destroyed, he suggested that they use the Helliquary on the tree, as it was a conduit of energy. He asked the hero(es) to use their strength, and focus their energy on the tree. The hero(es) passed out, and when they awoke, told Rayek that they'd seen a vision of Westmarch being destroyed by the Wrathborne. Rayek explained that the tree had given them a vision of the future. To avert it, he suggested that they use the Helliquary. If they added power to it, it would strengthen their connection to the Einfrinn Tree, and with enough power, they could use it as a gateway, taking the fight to the Wrathborne before they were ready. Bidding them to take the Helliquary again, he told them to focus on one of the demons they saw in their vision. The hero(es) obliged, and saw the location of Chaos Herald Pyl. Rayek told them to go slay the demon, and bring him its remains. They obliged, and Rayek suggested that they channel the demonic energies into them. The process worked, and he led the hero(es) to Charsi to obtain scoria to reinforce the device. He told them that they would need to continue to reinforce the Helliquary as such in order to be powerful enough to access the gateway within the tree. He told them to go tell Cain about their vision, while he returned to the tree.

The Crimson Slag

Some time after the mists spread on Mount Zavain, a Crimson Slag fell from the sky at the Wolf Gate of Westmarch. Rayek sent a letter to the Shard-seeker, imploring them to investigate it.

New Threats

When Deckard Cain went on a journey, he handed his workshop over to Rayek to look after until he returned. Rayek built an altar in the secret room in the workshop, that would boost the detection ability of the Helliquary. When he tested it, an interference from Bilefen reduced its performance. He then called the Shard-seeker to help him investigate the interference, and get a sample of it. The Shard-seeker returned with news that the interference originated from a fissure that was releasing demonic energy.

The Helliquary scries Saarodan, Sky-Sunderer

When Rayek used the Helliquary to scry the source of the energy, it showed the visage of a demon. It also revealed similar fissures located at Dark Wood, Ashwold Cemetery, Mount Zavain, Frozen Tundra and Shassar Sea. The other fissures were found to also be emitting demonic energy. Rayek used the Helliquary to scry energy samples from all the fissures, and it revealed in a vision that the six demons responsible for the fissures were in coalition with each other. He decided to name them Hearthrot, and implored the Shard-seeker to seal them.

Precipice of Horror

"I extracted this sticky substance from one of those rifts... Terror Essence. When I touched it, I saw a vision... of sorts. It showed me a pillar standing where a Terror Rift later formed. It showed me a beacon for the rifts!"

- Rayek to the Shard-seeker^(src)

C. 1273, Terror Rifts began appearing at random over Sanctuary. Rayek explored one of these rifts and extracted a sticky substance from it. When he touched it, he saw a vision of a pillar that acted as a beacon for the rift.

Age of Unmaking

"Have you been sleeping all right, friend? Lately, whenever I dream, I see Westmarch, or home, or places I've never been to before. They're twisted and burning red, like they're being swallowed up by the Hells."

- Excerpt from Rayek 's letter to the Shard-seeker^(src)

Later, Rayek was plagued with nightmares. He would see different locations twisted and burning red, like they were being swallowed by the Hells. On one such dream,he found himself in a warped Wortham. He sent a letter to summon the Shard-seeker, while he went to Wortham to investigate.

Rayek and the Shard-seeker at the Wortham breach

At Wortham,he found a breach in space, similar to what he saw in his dream. While studying it, the Shard-seeker arrived. They volunteered to enter the breach and put an end to whatever evil laid within. The Shard-seeker was successful and returned with a solid shard of the breach. Rayek took the Terrorwrought Shard, and after studying it, designed a device to access the verge. He gave the blueprint of the device to Charsi to help him build it.

In-game

Rayek as he appears in-game

Rayek is an NPC in Diablo Immortal. He is introduced via the quest "Opening the Helliquary."

Development

His name was originally spelt "Rayoc."

In early material, it was stated that Rayek hailed from Mount Arreat, while in the final version, he is said to hail from Harrogath. However, given the close proximity of the two, this is a small difference, if at all.

In early material, the Helliquary was stated to have been built by Charsi. In the final version, Rayek is specified to be the developer of the Helliquary, while Charsi only aided him.