Dark Forge (Soul Reaver 2)

The Dark Forge was an elemental Reaver forge encountered by Raziel in Soul Reaver 2. Created by the Ancient Vampires, the forge was located in the heart of the Swamp area in central Nosgoth and was the first elemental forge encountered by Raziel in the game, initially discovered and entered in the Pre-Blood Omen era shortly after Raziel passed through the Subterranean Ruins and emerged in the swamp. Completing the puzzle of the forge Raziel was able to imbue the the Wraith Blade with elemental Darkness, creating the Dark Reaver.

Role
After forging the Dark Reaver Raziel left the main chamber and encountered his first powered up font and realized that these served to temporarily imbue the wraith blade with specific elemental powers. Shortly after he also recognized the distinctive symbol he had seen earlier in the lake as representing elemental Darkness and realised he now had the means to enter the shrine in the lake. Returning to the Southern Lake, Raziel was able to use the Dark Reaver to unlock the sealed door and enter the Light Forge (SR2).

Design and Layout
Like the other elemental forges, The Dark Forge is illustrated on the World map simply as a Darkness symbol and no effort is made to outline its area. The forge appears to be in central Nosgoth, north of the Swamp and directly south of the Termogent Forest and a short distance southeast of the Lake of the Dead and southwest of Uschtenheim; though the layout of the forge would suggest it extended some way north of the swamp area, possibly underneath the Termogent Forest.


 * The western door in the activation chamber passed through a gate and then led up a small staircase, decorated similarly to the previous 'column and hexagonal beam' corridors, before turning to the north at a rotatable reflector and passing between two obelisks (one of which was movable) and dropping down into the Reflector room. The reflector room was a large two-level chamber dominated by a raised platform in the north containing a large rotatable reflector and surrounded by lower level drops including a circular area surrounding the platform and an open square 'courtyard'-like area to the south, with a planar portal placed at the far north of the lower circular area. Above the 'courtyard' area murals on the eastern and western walls depicted a crowd of Ancient Vampires gathered at an edge and in spectral the image would alter to show the lead vampire walking across the gap on a mysterious bridge. By activating the light stream, rotating the reflector and moving the obelisk to cast a show across the chamber, Raziel was able to spawn his first shadow bridge and cross to the high reflector platform in the north. Here the chamber was decorated similarly to the eclipse room with a central rotatable reflector surrounded by four circular swirl patterns on the walls, although the platform was notably surrounded by gaps to the areas beneath. Again by unleashing the light stream from the ceiling by Reaver bolt and turning to face the circular opening in the east would cause the light to dissolve through it, leading down a modest staircase to the sundial room.
 * The sundial room itself was a semi-circular chamber dominated by a semi-circular sundial like object on the floor of the chamber with a raised 'fin' and marked with several swirl and eclipse patterns at appropriate intervals. Above on the ceiling another band of swirl and eclipse patterns ran east-west, with another reflected embedded in the ceiling which moved in turn with the sundial fin. Around the outside of the chamber were several circular pillar constructions and several wall murals depicting various light swirls and familiar humanoid mural. On the floor directly east ('above') the sundial was a circular sun symbol around a hole in the floor which led down to the sun disk holder in the main activation chamber, and by manipulating the position of the fin, Raziel could bounce the light from the reflector room down into the activation chamber below and bounce it off the (properly placed) Sun Disk to focus it on the moon sculpture and cause an eclipse effect on the forge crystal, which activated the forge.

Connections
From the main forge altar chamber ("Dark2"): From the mid-forge chamber ("Dark1"):
 * The western sun activated doorway leads up a staircase ("Dark11") to the top level of the Reflector puzzle room ("Dark8"). From here an eastern passage leads to the sundial puzzle room ("Dark9"), where a hole drops back into the main chamber ("Dark2")
 * The northern alcove ("Dark9") contains the Sun Disk holder an a hole in the ceiling (drop through only) which connects to the Sundial room above ("Dark9")
 * The western sun activated doorway leads down a Z-shaped corridor ("Dark12") to the open tree and platform room ("Dark13") where a high doorway in the east leads to a small chamber with an elemental door in the south. This leads into the eclipse puzzle room ("Dark3") with a high western passage leading to the top level of the two-tiered Sun Disk chamber ("Dark6")
 * The southern bottom level Reaver doorway and the second level balcony opening both lead out into the mid-forge chamber ("Dark1") at their respective levels.
 * The northern bottom level Sun Disk doorway and second level collapsed bridge/balcony opening both lead into the main forge altar chamber ("Dark2")
 * The western doorway lead to a small chamber containing a Dark Reaver font ("Dark1")
 * The eastern doorway leads to the bottom level of the the two-tiered Sun Disk chamber ("Dark6"), where a high opening at the east of the second tier (accessible only from above) leads into the eclipse puzzle room ("Dark3")
 * The southern bottom level doorway and collapsed bridge/balcony opening both lead south into the mural chamber ("Dark1")where a scalable wall allows access to the higher level. A doorway in the South leads down the entrance corridors ("Dark5" and "Dark4") to the raised balcony in the Swamp ("Swamp2")

Background
The external Dark Forge facade and Swamp areas bear many features which reference the similar environment seen in the nearby Termogent Forest in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, with the forest and swamp terrain, ruined battlements and Ignis Fatuus all observed in the Blood Omen area.Like the other forges of Soul Reaver 2 The general environment also bears architectural elements from real-world ancient temples, with which much of the architecture of the ruins and designed for Soul Reaver 2 inspired by real-world ancient Cambodian temples and the architecture and scenery of the Khmer Empire and Angkor regions; in particular structures such as Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm. Much of the Angkor region is covered by low lying heavily forested swamp terrain, with over a thousand temples in various states of abandonment and repair positioned throughout the area. In common with its real-world counterparts, the Swamp area in Soul Reaver 2 notably contained many ruined structures and features apparently "abandoned to the encroaching swamp". Of the ruins observed in game, only the time-streaming chamber and the Dark forge were formally identified and many of the other ruins were either too high to reach or otherwise inaccessible, though more was planned for these areas during the development of Soul Reaver 2. The Dark Forge also seems to be one of the first playable sections of Soul Reaver 2 completed - it is unclear if any sections were completed for the cancelled Dreamcast version before the title was moved to the PlayStation 2, though prerelease imagery as early as the Dreamcast version depicts a number of locations visually identifiable as within the Dark forge. These images reveal a number of changes to the area and game mechanics during the development of Soul Reaver 2: in many places subtle differences can be seen in minor artistic flourishes, completely different murals are seen on occasion and a number of statues and other features were moved or removed during development.

Appearances

 * Soul Reaver 2