Mortanius

Mortanius the Necromancer is a principal character in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, a member of the Circle of Nine and Guardian of the Pillar of Death. Mortanius was responsible for resurrecting Kain as a Vampire, and served as an enigmatic benefactor throughout his quest to restore Nosgoth. Eventually, it transpired that Mortanius' body was a vessel to the malevolent Dark Entity; he had assassinated and resurrected Kain in an attempt to correct the imbalance caused by the murder of Ariel and the Corruption of the Pillars. Mortanius was the final Guardian to perish in Kain's wake.

Mortanius' character is further revisited and explored in Legacy of Kain: Defiance. He, alongside Moebius, initiated the human crusades against the Ancients, which led to the eventual corruption of the Pillars of Nosgoth. While struggling against the Hylden Lord's attempts to possess his body, Mortanius had attempted to atone for his crimes by creating Kain - the prophecied Scion of Balance - using the Heart of Darkness. In Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Mortanius is voiced by Tony Jay, while in Legacy of Kain: Defiance his role was assumed by Alastair Duncan.

In a World Without Life
"If the Circle is to be destroyed, you have to die as well, Necromancer. I admire your cunning, but you will not escape your fate."

- Kain

Upon the demise of the preceding Guardian of Death, Mortanius was born, inheriting curatorship of the role and the Pillar of Death. As a human Guardian, he was born some time after the conclusion of the Vampire-Hylden war, and - along with the immortality gifted to him by his duty - he was "skilled in the arts of manipulating death". Alongside Moebius and fellow human Guardians, Mortanius' youth was overshadowed by the decline of the Ancient Vampire race: having lost control of the Pillars due to the sterility imposed upon them by the Blood curse, they attempted to prolong their dying civilization by "turning" human members of the Circle of Nine into Vampires.

The Ancient Vampires routinely adopted - and, when necessary, abducted - the human successors, planning to pass the curse on to them as they came of age. Mortanius was subjected to this custom - possibly separated from his family in the process - and raised in the Vampire Citadel. He formed a bond with the Guardian of the Pillar of Time: his peer, Moebius, who conspired with his fellow human Guardians to rebel against their Vampire masters, secretly acting under the instruction of the Elder God.

Perceiving the Vampires as "a plague upon mankind", Mortanius was unaware that the Pillars of Nosgoth were holding back the threat of the Hylden, and felt that the Vampires were merely a "plague upon mankind". When he and Moebius came of age, they rejected the dark gift, and incited a bloody Vampire Purge, which further devastated the Ancient Vampire race to the brink of extinction. Mortanius and his allies attained full control of the Pillars, and Mortanius would reign as the final Guardian of Death, serving up until the Pillars' eventual destruction some centuries later.

Mercy and Judgement
"It had to be. Nupraptor’s insanity poisoned all of our minds. The Circle had failed in its sworn duties. It had to be destroyed."

- Mortanius

Many centuries later and Ancient Vampire history had receeded altogether, with many humans seeing the vampires themselves as a "plague upon mankind". With an apparent rise in Vampire numbers, The Sarafan brotherhood was formed to combat the threat and Mortanius, as one of the most senior of the circle was likely heavily involved in the decision of the circle to sponsor the the Sarafan crusades, but to what extent Mortanius was involved in the running of the Sarafan is unclear.

In the aftermath of the Sarafan's murder of Janos Audron, Mortanius was able to avoid the revenge attacks on the Stronghold by Vorador and the Wraith Raziel, (which resulted in the deaths of most of the leaders of the Sarafan brotherhood and the Circle of Guardians, with only Malek and Moebius surviving the assault). Mortanius' whereabouts during this time are ultimately unknown (All of the leading figures of the Sarafan brotherhood and Circle of Guardians, with the exception of Mortanius, are accounted for during this event).

A short time afterward however, Mortanius would be on hand to punish Malek ("protector of the circle") for his failure to defend the other pillar guardians from Vorador's assault, as he presided over a ceremony (apparently taking place in a location that resembled the Avernus Catacombs) which seemed to 'extract' Malek's soul from his body and 'fuse' it to his armor; depriving Malek of the "the pleasures of the flesh" and turning him into an 'undead' reanimated suit of armor.

To Resurrect the World
"Failed our duties? Idiot! The Circle exists for us, we don't exist for it! Our powers will save or damn Nosgoth at our whim! Stand with us, Mortanius, or die!"

- Anarcrothe

Some years later, Mortanius joined new Dimension Guardian Azimuth in investigating the Avernus Catacombs and the two of them "unearthed" something of great power, though what exactly it was that they discovered "beneath Avernus" is yet to be revealed. Mortanius and Azimuth were "seduced away from their service of the pillars" by this power, forming the Cult of Hash'ak'gik, with Azimuth using her powers to retrieve Turel from the Post-Soul Reaver era to act as the dark god  of the cult. (It is likely that Azimuth was aware of the Hylden's role behind the cult; unlike Mortanius, who may have believed that Turel, who he knew as "Hash'ak'gik" was the leader of the cult).

Mortanius would continue to serve the cult for many years afterwards and this would unknowingly leave him vulnerable to Hylden Possession; as the Hylden Lord took control of his body and used him to murder the Balance Guardian Ariel in a deliberately calculated move that ultimately led to the corruption of the pillars. Mortanius was affected by the corruption and he like the other guardians descended into madness.

Realizing the peril his actions had caused, thirty years later Mortanius would attempt to make up for his murder of Ariel and his rebellion against the Ancient vampires. Recognizing the signs of ancient prophecy, Mortanius would organize for several Brigands to murder Ariel's successor as Balance Guardian, the Human nobleman Kain. Mortanius met Kain in 'the Underworld' (preventing Kain's soul; his pillar token; from returning to the pillars) and offered him the Iron Sword as a token of revenge. Accepting Mortanius's offer, Kain awoke in his tomb (in his Mausoleum) to discover he had been resurrected as a Vampire.

The True Player
"The Necromancer had offered me no warning as to what my resurrection would entail, and yet I must confess, in my haste, I had not sought one. Was his gift a curse? I would seek the Pillars for an answer."

- Kain

Mortanius would act as a mentor and guide to Kain throughout Blood Omen; providing him with advice and directing him on his quest, often using a form of Telepathy to communicate with Kain over large distances. After Kain took his revenge on the Brigands responsible for his murder, Mortanius lead Kain to the Pillars (and onwards to the "fortress of the mind"), exposing him to the spirit of Ariel, who would send Kain on a quest to restore the Pillars. Later on in his quest, as Kain was about to enter the Oracle's Caves (seeking the advice of 'the Oracle of Nosgoth' to defeat former Sarafan paladin and protector of the Circle, Malek) Mortanius cryptically cautioned Kain "with so many pawns, can you spot the true player" - a reference to the time-manipulation employed by Time Guardian Moebius, who had disguised himself as "The Oracle".

When Kain emerged from the Termogent Forest after meeting Vorador at his mansion, Mortanius spoke to Kain again, this time directing him to Dark Eden;where "a triad [of guardians] congregates at the roof of the world". Kain would destroy the guardians at Dark Eden and kill Dimension Guardian Azimuth at Avernus Cathedral before Mortanius spoke to Kain again, but this time (with Kain  on his way to Willendorf  to 'understand the machinations' of Time Guardian Moebius) Mortanius would offer Kain  no hints; instead Mortanius would tell Kain that the quest was Kain's alone and that he could no longer assist him. When Kain had defeated Moebius, Mortanius congratulated Kain and summoned him back to the Pillars for "the Grand Finale".

Defiance showed that as he recorded the message invitng Kain to the Pillars, Mortanius was actually in the Avernus Catacombs, having just finished performing a sacrifice in service of the dark god 'Hash'ak'gik' (Turel). On his own quest to find the Heart of Darkness, Raziel confronted Mortanius and during their conversation Mortanius was regularly possessed by the Dark Entity (The Hylden Lord). Mortanius greeted Raziel as the Hylden champion and revealed his motivations in reviving Kain as a vampire; making his "atonement" for his rebellion against the Ancient vampires by creating the Scion of Balance who was destined to restore the Pillars and return them to Vampire Guardianship. Mortanius finally confirmed that he had used the Heart of Darkness to make Kain a vampire and had hidden the relic inside him, before he teleported away to the Pillars to "finish it".

Embracing Death
"I created the champion foretold by my masters, who is destined to be your destroyer. The Scion of Balance will save Nosgoth - the Pillars will return to vampire guardianship as intended, and your race will be cast down forever."

- Mortanius

When Kain arrived at the Pillars, responding to Mortanius's invatation, he found the Necromancer being confronted by States Guardian Anarcrothe (who had earlier escaped Kain), Kain observed their confrontation unnoticed, watching as Anarcrothe agrily accused Mortanius of betraying the circle by re-creating Kain as a vampire (revealing to Kain that it was Mortanius that arranged his murder in the first place). The last remaining two guardians debated the purpose of their roles as guardians (with Mortanius justifying Kain's elimination of the Circle as a necessity to eliminate the corruption) and When Anarcrothe demanded Mortanius "stand with us or die", the two fought and Mortanius easily dispatched the alchemist, summoning spirits to break his back.

With Anarcrothe dead and Mortanius his last target, Kain emerged from hiding, congratulating the Necromancer on his cunning but cautioning him that he would not escape his fate. Mortanius embraced his destiny, but before the two battled Mortanius revealed that his death would leave "one more to take". As the two fought Mortanius raised several undead creatures to battle Kain, but eventually he fell to Kain's sword (see also Mortanius (boss)).

As Mortanius died, the Dark Entity 'broke him' transforming his flesh into form resembling a demon. The Dark Entity now directly confronted Kain, calling him "a pawn" in his "theatre of grand guignol", realising that the Dark Entity was the true source of the pillars corruption, Kain battled the Dark Entity and was able to defeat (but not kill) him (see also The Dark Entity (boss)). As Kain returned Anarcrothe's scales and Mortanius's Death Orb, (temporarily restoring the pillars of States and Death respectively) Ariel appeared and Kain realised that the Balance Pillar itself was still corrupted; and he was the corrupted Balance Guardian born to replace Ariel. Presented with the decision to sacrifice himself to restore the Pillars and Nosgoth itself, or rule the land in it's damnation. Kain chose to refuse the sacrifice, damning the pillars to collapse but ensuring the vampire race continued and over the centuries (as Mortanius had hoped) Kain planned to restore balance.

"We didn't understand what it was the Pillars were holding back. I have made my atonement. I will continue to make it to the end, which will be soon, now. But I know - Kain will set it right, he will restore Balance..."

- Mortanius

Appearances

 * Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
 * Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (mentioned only)
 * Legacy of Kain: Defiance comic (mentioned only)
 * Legacy of Kain: Defiance