Dark Forge (Soul Reaver 2)

The Dark Forge was the first elemental forge encountered by Raziel in Soul Reaver 2. Located in the heart of the Swamp, the Dark Forge was where Raziel first imbued the Wraith Blade with elemental darkness, creating the Dark Reaver.

Role
The Dark Forge was a playable location in Soul Reaver 2, indicated as one of the main areas on the World map - shown as encompassing an area in central Nosgoth north of the Swamp. The Forge was the first of the ancient elemental forges found by Raziel in Soul Reaver 2, being discovered and explored in the Pre-Blood Omen era in Chapter 3: Through the Swamp.

Shortly after Raziel emerged from the Sarafan Stronghold in the Pre-Blood Omen era,  he discovered a sealed door in the cliffs surrounding the Great Southern Lake, marked by a distinctive symbol. Investigating Nosgoth in this era, Raziel soon discovered a passageway leading away from the Pillars of Nosgoth and down into the Subterranean Ruins where he found the Subterranean Pillars Chamber and its murals depicting the events Before Nosgoth's recorded history. Progressing through the ruins, Raziel soon surfaced in the dense canopy of the Swamp and found a number of distinctive ruins therein. Observing the vampire Vorador watching him from one of the high terraces around the Swamp, Raziel made his way around the Swamp until he reached the high terrace, where an unusual partially ruined building was positioned marked with the distinctive symbol seen earlier in the lake. Using the Wraith Blade Raziel was able to unseal the door and progress inside the Dark Forge.

Upon entering the forge, Raziel observed further murals depicting the events before Nosgoth's recorded history and the legendary war between the blue winged race and their equally inhuman adversaries. The Reaver was also present in these murals, depicted with "the reverence of a holy icon". Progressing further into the forge, Raziel was able to discover the main forge chamber, a dark shadowy room at the back of the forge with several distinctive murals, a large moon sculpture, an unusual circular altar and a small alcove room behind the moon containing a claw-like pedestal.

The main objective of the forge was to recover the polished Sun Disk and place it in the claw holder at the back of the main chamber of the forge and eventually bounce a beam of Sunlight through the forge to reflect off the disk and cause an eclipse effect on the forge altar as the beam was blocked by a moon-shaped sculpture.

This was achieved in several stages, with it notably necessary for Raziel to complete several light beam puzzles. First Raziel had to complete an eclipse-themed puzzle to open his way to the Sun disk on a pedestal on a high platform within the forge. Once the disk had been recovered and placed in the main chamber pedestal a different route was taken to a sundial-themed puzzle which allowed Raziel to activate a beam of light and bounce it through the forge and down to the sun disk pedestal in the main chamber below. Once this was completed the eclipse effect was completed, the main forge altar activated. Imbuing the Wraith Blade with the elemental Darkness therein created the Dark Reaver and activated all Dark-affiliated Reaver fonts.

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.

In game, the Dark forge was accessed from a raised balcony above the north-west clearing of the Swamp, where a notably distinctive ruined structure was marked with several ziggurat-like tower and darkness symbols, as well as a central sealed door activated by Wraith Blade which led passed an external checkpoint and into the forge. Beyond the doorway a modest L-shaped hallway turned to the west, lined with square columns and decorated with several rune-marked hexagonal roofing beams upto an arched element doorway topped by a Darkness symbol. Behind, the passage once again turned north and emerged in the entrance chambers of the forge.

The first entrance chamber was a much larger, much more open courtyard-like expanse, containing Scalable walls at the eastern and western walls which led up to two raised balconies running along the tops of their respective walls, each lined with square columns and a small roof, and with the back balcony walls each bearing a long mural depicting the Vampire-Hylden war and the events Before Nosgoth's recorded history. At the northern end, the courtyard was topped by two ziggurat-like towers and at the ground level a large arched doorway led further into the mid-chamber. Above at the balcony level, two modest staircases led from the northern end of their respective balconies and curved inwards and upwards to reach a high northern opening above the archway overlooking the mid-chamber.

The mid-chamber was another open courtyard area, slightly wider than the entrance chamber with two ziggurat marked constructions in the eastern and western walls and a partially collapsed bridge running north-south across the center of the second level the chamber, connecting the entrance chamber balcony in the south with another balcony with a wide arched doorway at the north of the room. On the ground level, several doorways were placed around the room: in the foot of the western construction, a doorway led into a modest room containing a Darkness-attuned Reaver font; another entrance in the western construction (accessed from the south of the construction) headed west off to the double-level chamber containing the Sun Disk (which was initially too high to reach). At the north of the mid-chamber an initially inactive doorway was blazoned with an image of the golden sun disk and would be activated by its presence, whilst directly above it the second level balcony was decorated with images of crowds of Ancient vampires and one in particular prominently armed with the Reaver around the open archway leading north into the main activation chamber.

The Main chamber itself was a much more enclosed and darker space, covered by a curved ceiling complete with many curved rib-like beams that led down into square columns decorated with the phases of the moon. Around the top of the chamber, images again illustrated crowds of Ancient vampires along with another prominent single figure in the north with a familiar visage, while beneath the chamber extended slightly further to several doorways and features. In the south of the chamber both the ground-level Sealed door and the second level open archway led back into the mid-chamber, and a large Rotatable reflector also positioned towards the middle of the south of the room was present, allowing the player to bounce beams of Sunlight onto Light-activated doors in the west and east of the room, providing access further into the forge. In the middle of the north of the room was positioned the circular forge altar on the floor, with a large purple crystal positioned directly above it, suspended from the ceiling. At the far north of the chamber, a large sculpture depicted the moon and beyond this a small staircase led upto a modest circular chamber containing a disk holder and a small areas of decorated flooring resembling the sun disk, as well as a small circular hole in the ceiling which allowed light to reach the holder.

The various remaining passageways leading out of the activation chamber (and mid-chamber) led into the remaining rooms of the forge:
 * The eastern door led eastwards down another 'column and hexagonal beam' corridor, briefly tuning north and passing through a gate and by a large fire brazier before heading east again out to another large open courtyard chamber. This room contained several small structures built into layers of covered roofing, but most prominently featured a large tree in the center of the room, with a platform embedded in its high branches. Constructions were positioned at the east and west end of the chamber, leading from a smaller building and down an small staircase into the courtyard and across to a larger two-level layered construction in the west. At the north and south were two Scalable walls which allowed access to two high ledges among the roofs to reach the tree platform in the center and then the high second-level entrance in the western construction. Beyond this doorway, the passage reached a small square room marked with another a arched element doorway, where Raziel would be confronted with a Greater thrall

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
Like the other forges of Soul Reaver 2 The general environment of the Dark Forge and nearby Swamp area 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.

Appearances

 * Soul Reaver 2