Chronoplast

The Chronoplast was the largest of the Time Streaming devices in Nosgoth and the only one that had the ability to transport its users through time and space. Owned and constructed by Time Guardian Moebius, the Chronoplast was hidden within the Oracle's Cave and was encountered as a playable location in Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, with the finale - taking place in the main Chronoplast chamber - briefly revisited in Soul Reaver 2 Prologue video.

Profile

 * Name: The Chronoplast
 * Category: Soul Reaver sub-locations/Soul Reaver 2 locations
 * Introduced: Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (1999)
 * Architects: Moebius
 * Ownership: Moebius (until Blood Omen era), Kain
 * Status: Intact (as of Soul Reaver era)
 * Features: several dials and switches relating to activation of the device, starry night sky ceiling with orrery-like construction, Health recharge, floor ouroboros symbol, main Time-stream portal, 'elderly figure' doorway mural, nearby Chronoplast vision portals and 'winged figure' murals, nearby Time complex.
 * Inhabitants: Kain
 * Appearances: •

Role
The Chronoplast was at the heart of a large time streaming complex and the personal refuge of Time Guardian Moebius. The first hints of the Chronoplast were featured in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, where Kain travelled to the nearby Oracle's Cave in Chapter 5: Find the Oracle, seeking the advice of the mysterious "Oracle of Nosgoth" - a pseudonym of Moebius himself. Passing through Moebius's museum, Kain met "The Oracle" in his chamber, but did not progress any further. The Chonoplast itself was seen for the first time in the latter chapters of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver as Raziel explored the Oracle's Cave in Chapter 9: The Oracle's Cave in pursuit of Kain. Progressing beyond the museum, Raziel discovered the vacant Oracles' chamber and noted that is was "rumored to be only a facade for a much larger, more elaborate complex". By Constricting the central cauldron, Raziel uncovered the entrance to an elaborate Time-related complex and made his way through it the heart of the complex - the Chronoplast chamber - discovering several prophetic vision portals on the way. Entering the grand main Chronoplast chamber in Chapter 10: Kain, Raziel was able to finally confront Kain and while the two battled and debated the morality of Kain's actions, Kain confirmed that he had "stole into this chamber, centuries ago" (presumably at some point after Moebius's death in the interim between Blood Omen and Soul Reaver) and had spent some time studying the complex and its visions of the past and future. Kain set the controls of the device while he and Raziel battled, and when it was activated Kain, retreated through the portal into Nosgoth's past and Raziel gave chase, aariving in one of Moebius's Time-streaming chambers within the Sarafan Stronghold in the pre-Blood Omen era centuries earlier.

The confrontation between Raziel and Kain in the main chronoplast chamber was recapped in the Soul Reaver 2 Prologue and though the device was not seen in further titles it is possible that Kain continued to use it to follow Raziel journey to the Post-Blood Omen era and on to Nosgoth's early history.

Design and Layout
Passing through the bare caverns of the Oracle's Cave, Moebius's museum and the Oracle's chamber, Raziel was able to open his way into the secret chambers below - a set of Time-themed chambers each leading progressively further underground.

Progressing beyond the chambers of the time complex Raziel passed a large vault-like doorway and uncovered a passage with a steep curving incline which headed deeper underground. At the bottom, the corridor levelled out and entered an area of repeating curving passages tracing a figure-of-8 (or infinity sign) pattern, each wall clad in bricks with a bronze trim, a black and red decorative pattern and occasional hanging lamps. Initially the corridor curved right and passed between two murals of winged figures (one 'squeezed' on the inside of the curve, the other 'stretched' on the outside) before passing a pentagonal opening on the left surrounded by square or triangular decorative grid, each of which contained a 'starry' background chronoplast vision portal. After the portal the pathway continued to curve right and passed between two square pillars before curving to the left, passing more winged murals and curving left passed another portal opening on the right. These curves, 'S' bends and portals would be repeated until Raziel passed six portals, at which stage the corridor would enter a final 'S' bend which turned into a differently decorated area.

The next area was composed of much straighter passages and decorations, and was much more ornately decorated - with walls clad in a pale-green stone resembling granite and regular white marble-like stone 'window' formations surrounded by a subtle gold trim - while the black and red decorative pattern and occasional hanging lamps continued from before. A small passage way led a sort distance to the left, before sharply turning right in a zig-zag and heading down another inclined curving passage heading downwards before levelling out and straightening at an intersection with a warp door on the left - which led along short passage curving to the right to enter the Chronoplast warp gate room. The main passage continued on passed the warp door down another short curving incline before levelling out and turning to the right to meet with the door to the main chronoplast chamber - decorated with the face of on elderly man - and the final Planar portal.

The Chronoplast chamber itself consisted of large circular room with three large stepped tiers which curved around the outside of the sides of the chamber. Each of these contained several semi-circular control panels, arranged in vertical lines along the tiers; with each control panel consisting of a decorated back-plate, a large central 'pointer' needle pivoted at the bottom and five symbols arranged along the outside of the back-plate. At the north of the chamber, the second tier featured an ornate decorated entrance door, while the opposite southern route featured a starry Time portal on the third tier. The ceiling of the chamber was also decorated like a moving and flowing starry night sky like pattern with the only feature being a rotating piece of machinery in the middle with a large central sphere with four claw like parts hanging from its sides and several smaller spherical bodies. To activate the device Kain moved the pointer on a control panel on each tier to a specific position, causing the ceiling mechanism to rotate and gain momentum and finally to join with the smaller spheres.

Background
The Chronoplast appears as the location of the final boss battle in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. This event was revisited in GlyphX's Soul Reaver 2 opening video, with some minor dialogue edits and more cinematic action. The Chronoplast itself undergoes some major redesigns between the two depictions, though essentially maintaining the same structure; the colour changes and the complexity of the room is notably increased, with a lot more 'dials' added around the outside of the chamber. The symbols on the dials also vary between depictions, as does the activation sequence used by Kain (In SR1, Kain moves 3 dials, moving them all to the extreme right, to point to an infinity sigil; whereas in SR2, The 3 dials activated are in different places in the more complex layout, and the dials are only moved one space each, this time left-right-left, to different runes - with infinity sigils no longer represented on the dials)

Ultimately whereas the Soul Reaver area was designed by Crystal Dynamics developers as a boss arena, the Soul Reaver 2 area was designed by GlyphX and was to be used purely for a cutscene full-motion video using the upgraded technologies of the PS2 over the Playstation and thus the area was redesigned for more cinematic action. The production of the Soul Reaver 2 introductory Prologue also caused some conflict between the developer and animation studio centering on the amount of action and effects that should be present in the scene. One animator commented:

Appearances

 * Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
 * Soul Reaver 2