Nosgoth

"We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time."

- T.S. Eliot

The Land of Nosgoth, usually abbreviated to Nosgoth, is a fictional setting in which the entirety of the Legacy of Kain series takes place, originally conceived by Denis Dyack, Ken McCulloch and Silicon Knights, then expanded upon by Amy Hennig and Crystal Dynamics. First entering production in 1993 and appearing in 1996's Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, it has since been further explored and developed by ensuing entries in the series, and derives inspiration from various literary sources, including Shakespearean drama, vampire mythology, Gothic culture, Gnosticism and steampunk.

Nosgoth is regarded by characters in-game as a dying world, and each game in the series depicts different moments in the transition of the land from abundance to desolation, though in a non-sequential order. The ultimate fate of Nosgoth, and its potential redemption and restoration to its former glory, is the most-prominent and oft-recurring theme in the storyline of the overarching series, and has yet to be resolved as of Legacy of Kain: Defiance. As the majority of the games take place in the same limited area, it has consistently remained ambiguous whether Nosgoth is the name of the entire world, or a region. Generally, the term "Nosgoth" is used to refer to the conceptual setting overall.

Mythology


Nosgoth is a fictional setting, incorporating elements of fantasy, steampunk and science-fiction. It shares several features and traditions common to other fictional worlds, being introduced as an analogue to medieval Europe, involving "sword and sorcery", supernatural creatures and futuristic technology. Nosgoth's eras also include many parallels to real-world human history, with elements resembling creation/salvation myths, medieval kingdoms and knighthood, the Crusades, the Reformation and Renaissance, and the Industrial Revolution, all at appropriate times (under such a system, the birth, rise and fall of Kain's empire roughly corresponds to the 20th century and beyond).

Principles
The metaphysics of Nosgoth can be divided into nine magical principles: Balance, Conflict, Death, Dimension, Energy, the Mind, Nature, States and Time. Further, eight of these principles can be combined to form the classical elements: Conflict and Nature are aligned to Fire, Death and States create Water, Energy and Time are associated with Earth, and the Mind and Dimension form Air. Fire and Air are associated with Light, and Water and Earth with Darkness. These principles, along with Spirit, form the basis of Nosgoth's physics and magic system. They are represented in the form of the Circle of Nine, an oligarchy of incredibly-powerful sorcerers who preside over the Pillars of Nosgoth. The Pillars are inextricably tied to the health of the land; their integrity, or lack thereof, directly influences the balance of the world.

Realms
At least three seperate but coterminous planes exist within the setting (usually described as "realms"); the Material Realm (the corporeal plane of the living), the Spectral Realm (the ethereal plane of the dead), and the Demon Realm (the entropic plane of demonic entities). However, even these seperate dimensions are not considered to exist "outside" the boundaries of Nosgoth. The Material Realm, where time flows in a linear fashion and physics largely behave as they do in the real world, is the main setpiece of the series, but the Spectral Realm (where time is "irrelevant") and the Demon Realm both figure heavily into the story's events and mythology.

Time travel
In Nosgoth, although time travel exists and is available to certain individuals, history is usually immutable; the continuum of time within the setting is extremely resilient, and does not allow for the introduction of historical paradoxes. The futures of Nosgoth's inhabitants are predestined, and the concept of fatalism is a reality rather than an idea. However, the Soul Reaver introduces loopholes to this rule, and - throughout the course of the games - Kain has succeeded in changing history three times. When the time-stream is derailed, it replaces the old timeline with a new, altered iteration of history; the previous one "dies". As such, parallel histories or universes cannot exist - only the "current" timeline is considered active or "real".

Geography


Beyond its obvious status as a fictional land, it is (deliberately) never explained what Nosgoth actually is. Formally, it should always be referred to as the Land of Nosgoth. The breadth of territory referred to under its name (including several entities that may be considered sovereign states) could suggest that Nosgoth may be a continent, but it has also been indicated that it is a world or planet. As no game has ever gone beyond the bounds of Nosgoth, and no references have been made of lands outside of it, some fans have speculated that it may indeed formulate an entire world, or may be a Pangaea-like "supercontinent". Thus far, all maps depicting Nosgoth have presented it at a large expanse of land, with the only known ocean on the south and west.

Eras
Prior to the Corruption of the Pillars in the Pre-Blood Omen era, Nosgoth was depicted as somewhat of a paradise with "abundant life and vitality". In Nosgoth's early history, the Ancient Vampire and Hylden had been involved in a devastating war for control of Nosgoth. This war would lead to the near-destruction of both species. With the raising of the Pillars of Nosgoth and the construction of the binding the Hylden were banished to the Demon Realm and as the vampires fell to the Blood Curse, a Human Rebellion would overthrow their control and the Pillars would come under Human guardianship - leading to the ancient history of the vampires being wiped out and forgotten as the Humans came to view the vampires as "a plague upon mankind". Eventually the friction between the humans and (a new generation of) vampires would lead to the instigation of the Sarafan against the vampire menace. The successful Sarafan would eliminate many vampires over the years, including the last of the ancients, Janos Audron, but eventually (possibly due in part to revenge attacks by Vorador and Raziel) the order would crumble. Though much of the history crucial to later conflicts has it's beginnings at this time, Nosgoth itself is depicted as in 'good health' until the Corruption of the Pillars in the Pre-Blood Omen era (though later evidence suggests that the loss of Vampire guardians may have had an unseen effect upon the stability of Nosgoth.)

Within the series, Nosgoth was first mentioned in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain as the 'land' where Blood Omen takes place, in this era, several maps (including one avaliable in-game) depicted Nogoth as a temperate region with a diverse environment including many forests, mountain ranges (Nogoth is surrounded by them in this depiction), rivers and lakes, and a range of settlements. Nosgoth was depicted as stretching from the Lake of Tears in the west to the Provincial Mines in the east and from Coorhagen/Dark Eden in the north to the Cemetery/Lake of Serenity to the south.

Whilst on the course of his quest in Blood Omen, Kain would be able to explore much of this area of Nosgoth, though many of the locations significant to later games were inaccessible (including the Great Southern Lake and the Lake of Tears; sites of the Sarafan Stronghold and Vampire Citadel respectively). It was also hinted that map was at least partially incomplete as there were mentions of several settlements (apparently much further to the east or north) that were infected by the plague or conquered by the Legions of the Nemesis (prior to their attack on Stahlberg).

During the course of Blood Omen, the health of Nosgoth itself was threatened by the Corruption of the Pillars of Nosgoth and at the climax of that game, Kain's refusal to sacrifice himself to restore them, sealed the Collapse of the Pillars and Nosgoth would slowly become a wasteland. For the next few centuries Nosgoth would be subjected to violent Demon incursions from the Demon Realm and Kain (in the fourth timeline) would build up his army and attempt a conquest of Nosgoth, becoming embroiled in a war with the fledgling Sarafan Order for control of Nosgoth. In this era, maps focused on the previously unseen south-western coast of Nosgoth along the Great Southern Sea, (likely because of the prolonged conflict between Kain's Army and the Sarafan Order concentrated in that area). By the time of Kain's revival, the Sarafan (and Hylden) influence had brought something of an Industrial Revolution to Nosgoth and at this time Nosgoth's capital was based at Meridian, on the coast of the Great Southern Sea (presumably before their collapse, the pillars would have held such an honor).

After the defeat of the Sarafan Order, Kain would raise his own vampire sons and conquer Nosgoth, giving birth to his empire. With the domestication of the Humans, many human settlements were presumably destroyed (leaving only the Human Citadel) and human slaves were put to work constructing the new empire (including building Kain's throne room, the Sanctuary of the Clans, built around the collapsed remains of the the pillars) But the effects of the Pillars collapse had begun to severly effect the health of Nosgoth and little of the green vegetation seen in previous era remained. The formerly calm Lake of the Dead had apparently 'collapsed in on itself', creating The Abyss, Kain's "execution ground for traitors and weaklings" and a major landmark of Kain's Nosgoth. Further to this, Kain's empire had begun to take actions to make the land hospitable for the dominant vampires and huge furnaces were built to "belch smoke into the sky, shielding the land from the poisonous effects of the sun". Jake Pawloski has created a map which has all the areas present and cut which applies to both during Raziel´s late years as a vampire and the Soul Reaver era. This map is one of the most accurate Soul Reaver maps available and is the only one which also shows the location of the lakes and land in comparison to the landmarks.

After Raziel's execution, Nosgoth decended further into a wasteland and by the time of Raziel's return five centuries later, the Vampire Clans of Nosgoth had devolved into various beasts and "scattered to the corners of Nosgoth" (though several clan territories would remain around the heart of Kain's Empire in western Nosgoth.) By this time, Nosgoth was "wracked with cataclysms" (apparently due to attempts by Nosgoth itself to "shrug off the pestilence of Kain’s parasitic empire.") with the Elder commenting that Nosgoth was "on the brink of collapse" and Kain admitting that "this place has outlasted it's usefulness". After travelling back in time and observing Nosgoth before the corruption, Raziel referred to this era as "the corpse of Nosgoth – a lifeless husk, bled dry by the corruption of Kain’s parasitic empire." Soul Reaver 2 and Defiance would explore Nosgoth at earlier periods in time (the early and later Nosgoth's early history and the Pre and Post-Blood Omen eras) and these would re-inforce the view that prior to the Corruption of the Pillars, Nosgoth was a land of vitality and after their collapse, a dying wasteland.

Appearances

 * Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
 * Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver comic
 * Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
 * Soul Reaver 2
 * Blood Omen 2
 * Legacy of Kain: Defiance comic
 * Legacy of Kain: Defiance

Non-canonical

 * Legacy of Kain: The Dark Prophecy (canceled)
 * Tomb Raider: Legend (depicted only)
 * Tomb Raider: Anniversary (depicted only)
 * Tomb Raider: Underworld (depicted only)
 * Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (Raziel and Kain Character Pack)