Razielim

"What I have made, I can also destroy, child."

- Kain

Raziel's clan, also known as the Razielim, comprised one of the six vampire clans which inhabited Kain's empire, and its members were the vampire children and descendants of Raziel. Mentioned only in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, they were ostensibly eradicated by Kain following Raziel's execution.

Role
"Utter desolation. My once-proud kin, wiped from this world like excrement from a boot. I knew the hand that wrought this deed..."

- Raziel

Unaware of his own heritage as one of the leading warrior inquisitors of the Sarafan, Raziel personally raised his clan during the Soul Reaver era, over the century following the raising of the lieutenants at the Tomb of the Sarafan. Alongside the Dumahim, Melchahim, Rahabim, Turelim and Zephonim, it was one of the "six legions of vampires" involved in "the destruction of the major human Kingdoms"; pillaging Nosgoth, they had thoroughly domesticated humans within a hundred years, despite the efforts of the vampire hunters.

Raziel's clan dominated a stronghold in territory west of the Lake of the Dead. Over the millennium of Raziel's service, the "lesser vampires" provided "amusement and spice to an increasingly uninspired court"; presumably, his own clan was involved in these power struggles. The Council would help and foil plots between the clans, betting upon the outcome as the factions warred. A thousand years after his resurrection, Raziel convened at the Sanctuary of the Clans with his lieutenant brethren and Kain, where he revealed that he had pupated beyond Kain, transgressing against his master. Purportedly acting on "a jealous whim", Kain ripped the bones from Raziel's new wings, and ordered Turel and Dumah to cast him into the Abyss.

Five centuries later, Raziel returned to Nosgoth as a wraith, apparently resurrected by the Elder God. Upon reaching the Lake of the Dead, his first undertaking was a return to his clan territory; he "was anxious to see how [his] descendants had fared during the centuries of [his] absence". To his horror, he discovered the city was desolate, "clearly abandoned for centuries". Only roving fledgling Dumahim inhabited the place, but beyond the decorum and tattered flags which still bore his clan symbol, there was no evidence of his children's presence - he was certain that his "once-proud kin" had been "wiped from this world like excrement from a boot".

Raziel did not encounter any members of his clan during his exploration of Nosgoth, and when pressed as to their fate, Melchiah suggested that Raziel was "the last... to die". He hinted that the clan had proven "an upstart inheritance", one which Kain "would [not] risk his empire upon". When Raziel directly confronted Kain on the gravity of this supposed "act of genocide", Kain was indifferent; he simply responded that "what I have made, I can also destroy, child".

Traits
"What has become of my clan? Answer me, little brother, or I will beat an answer from your horrid lips."

- Raziel

Like their fellow vampires, Raziel's clan carried the blood curse, blood-thirst, immortality and sterility inflicted on their ancient vampire ancestors by the Hylden, during the vampire-Hylden war, and most likely developed the yellow or amber irises and tridactyl claws and feet characteristic of their race. They were created from reanimated human corpses, restored to unlife with the infusion of souls, and "gain[ed] their advantage from the powers of the underworld".

As a result of Nupraptor's corruption - which was passed on to all of Kain's descendants - Raziel's clan devolved and pupated as the centuries passed, "becoming less human and more... divine". Raziel inherited the strongest portion of Kain's soul, and his descendants were likely the most powerful vampires in Nosgoth, apart from the members of the Council. If they survived beyond Raziel's execution, adults of the clan would have emulated the physical developments that their patriarch had begun to exhibit, growing chiropteran wings which would have enabled flight.

In Kain's empire prior to their devolution, the Razielim were noted to have taken roles described as: "Artisans, Philosophers, Spellbinders, Tacticians..., Blood Bankers, and manipulators." and it was further elaborated that the "Razielim would use their spellcraft to spy on other clans, and manipulate them with a wry hand".

Background
"I am your creation, Kain - now, as before. You criticize your own work. What have you done with my clan, degenerate? You have no right--"

- Raziel



Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver originated as Shifter, an independent project by Amy Hennig, Seth Carus and Arnold Ayala of Crystal Dynamics which never entered production in its original form. As was the case with the game's other vampiric elements, Raziel's clan was presumably conceived after Shifter was merged into Nosgoth and the Legacy of Kain IP, which incorporated "a lot of research into vampire mythology".

Following their introduction as a story element, Raziel's clan goes entirely unseen and unmentioned in Soul Reaver 2, the Legacy of Kain: Defiance comic and Legacy of Kain: Defiance; thus, they still have yet to make an appearance in the Legacy of Kain series. There is no official artwork which is confirmed as representative of Raziel's children, but one image discovered on Arnold Ayala's blog in 2010 depicts an unused devolved vampire concept for Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, with distinctive bat-like wings and traits which closely correspond to Raziel's devolutionary path.

In Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Raziel is led to conclude that his clan has been destroyed by Kain, an assumption which Kain does not explicitly confirm or deny. With subsequent games, Kain's villainous Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver portrayal has been unveiled as a ruse, part of a complex plan to eventually restore the Pillars of Nosgoth and return them to vampire guardianship; his "one last hand to play against Fate". All along, Kain had been counting on Raziel's "reckless indignation", hoping to deliberately goad Raziel into pursuing him into Nosgoth's past. Thus, the question as to whether Kain truly eradicated Raziel's descendants or not remains open to debate. When queried on the subject in 2002, then-series director Amy Hennig cryptically replied that "this is currently unrevealed".

Former lead artist Daniel Cabuco, would subsequently offer more on the role of the Razielim: ''"When I worked on Soul Reaver, I believed them all killed (with perhaps a survivor or two). If you look at the scheme, Raziel's clan was the most powerful and favored. The sudden loss of their leader, and favor with Kain meant that they were targets for destruction: The other clans would have gleefully torn them apart. Based on the original SR storyline, Kain couldn't risk any of them developing wings and showing that Kain's gifts were mutating and growing beyond the Master. Kain was always first with the gifts.. that's how he maintained power. By the time Defiance was made, I was wistfully thinking that perhaps a few of them survived, hiding throughout the realm. It's a sad thing though, because they would still be tainted and doomed to devolution. By the time Raziel saw them again, he probably wouldn't recognize them. Even if they did survive, I imagine Kain would have to put them down, perhaps activating the silenced cathedral so he could start over.. IF he went back to the original SR1 timeline."''

Appearances

 * Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (mentioned only)