Abyss


 * Tumbling, burning with white hot fire, I plunged into the depths of the Abyss. Unspeakable pain... Relentless agony... Time ceased to exist... Only this torture... and a deepening hatred of the hypocrisy that damned me to this hell.
 * - Raziel

The Abyss was a massive whirlpool in the middle of the Lake of the Dead that was seen in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. During the reign of Kain's empire, vampires were executed by being cast into the Abyss. At the bottom of the Abyss was a set of underworld caverns accessible only in the Spectral Realm where the Elder God resided. Ultimately the Abyss was the place Raziel's execution and the womb of his rebirth as a wraith as well as an important landmark in its own right.

Role
The Abyss was a major landmark in Kain's empire in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. Although the Lake of the Dead was first seen in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, the whirpool of the Abyss did not feature at this time and was first seen in the Soul Reaver era in the introduction to Soul Reaver, where - wtih contact with water being fatal to vampires - it was described as the execution ground for "traitors and weaklings". When Raziel evolved before Kain by growing a set of wings, he was condemned to suffer the same fate - "to burn forever in the bowels of the Lake of the Dead". Carried by his brothers Turel and Dumah, Raziel was taken to the Abyss and cast in on Kain's command.



For centuries Raziel endured this torment before finding himself resurrected as a wraith in the underworld in the lair of the Elder God beneath the Abyss. The Elder claimed responsibility for his revival and offered him a chance of revenge: to use his new existence to settle his dispute with Kain and become the Elder's soul devouring "angel of death". Raziel agreed and was slowly trained by the Elder God on his new powers as he made his way through the caverns of the underworld to the surface.

After passing the Sanctuary of the Clans, Raziel made his way back to the cliffs of the Abyss and found the whirlpool was largely unchanged, and he was able to use it as a landmark of sorts to get his bearings in the new Nosgoth before travelling on to the territory of his clan.



The Abyss then served as something of an initial hub area, allowing Raziel access to locations such as Raziel's clan territory, the Underworld, the Sanctuary of the Clans and the Human Citadel - with areas such as the Silenced Cathedral and the hub for the Ruined City and Oracle's Cave also positioned nearby. At any time Raziel could also jump down the abyss to the underworld, returning him to the Elder's chamber in the underworld. In addition, Raziel would be returned to the underworld beneath the abyss if his Health coil was depleted in the Spectral Realm, and each loaded game began in the Elder's chamber.

Although it does not appear in later games - which are mostly set in earlier time periods - the Abyss looms large in later stories as the womb of Raziel's rebirth as a wraith - as such it is mentioned, directly or indirectly, several times in both Soul Reaver 2 and Legacy of Kain: Defiance.

Design, Layout and Comparisons
When seen in the Blood Omen era in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain in the chapter Vorador's Mansion the Lake of the Dead was a fairly inconspicuous body of water, appearing directly after the Stone Keep and barring the entrance to the Termogent Forest, the lake effectively was a barrier forcing Kain to use Mist Form. At the time the Lake consisted of something of a 'Q'-shape with Kain crossing at the narrowest stretch at the south-east. The main body of the lake to the north-west was hemmed in by a set of cliffs and housed a large island at the center with a Megalith stone circle and a teleporter in the middle which led to the outskirts of the Lost City.

The Elder God's lair beneath the Abyss - usually counted as part of the Underworld - was only seen in the later time period, although again there were differences between the GlyphX FMV and gameplay versions of the location. In the FMV the area was largely seen as a darkened room covered with the eyes and tentacles of the Elder God, a few feint spiral shapes, and with only a few broken featureless pillars dotted around. The gameplay version of the area was brighter and more detailed although less sharp in its graphical style. Here the eyes and tentacles of the Elder God were supplemented by a number spiral and shell formations in the walls of the cavern and feint spirals could also be seen in the sand on the floor of the area. A number of pillars were placed around the area giving the impression of a set of ruins - with each decorated with a number of inhuman faces. The raised Elder God's platform stood at one end of the chamber. Perhaps the most notable feature however was the blue whirling conical impression of the bottom of the Abyss which emanated from the center of the ceiling.

Development
Soul Reaver Beta versions of the Abyss area are largely identical to the retail version though they do demonstrate a number of minor touches that were added later in the design process or changed completely. For example, The beta versions lack the burning torches and the clan insignia flags on the walls, as well as the 'fence posts' at the end of the bridges. The Ruined City bridge is also changed with the far section completely missing and the near section  raised to a higher angle with added collision detection so that it can be grabbed. Most of the area is also given an added green tint in the retail version (presumably using fog settings) that is not present in earlier versions, which makes the water and other textures appear grimier and dirtier.

Perhaps the most noticeable change is that in the earlier versions the cutscene regarding the cataclysms in Kain's empire occurs as Raziel enters the Abyss area - where it appears at the Sanctuary of the Clans in the retail version. After this cutscene, the scene where Raziel regards the Abyss itself plays as Raziel walks to the edge of the whirlpool, whereas in the retail version that scene plays as soon as Raziel enters the area.

Appearances

 * Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver