City Guards were the soldiers, warriors and guards that protected many of the human settlements around Nosgoth in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and were only seen in that title. They were featured throughout the game world but were generally concentrated in and around human settlements where they presumably served to prevent crime and defend the human populations from threats.
Profile[]
City Guards were an enemy classification introduced and appearing solely in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. They acted as the guards protecting several human settlements and their surroundings, serving to keep the peace and protect the human population of the area, while some may also have performed military activities for their respective towns. They generally wore distinctive variations of armor - some of which may have marked their respective settlements.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen strategy guide][1]
Kain would first encounter the City Guards in the Wolf Form Dungeon in the chapter "Nupraptor" as he made his way away from the Pillars and towards Nupraptor's Retreat, but Kain did not openly issue comment about them.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen/3]
Thereafter Kain would generally encounter them as the guards protecting human settlements. A variety of classes could be seen in and around Steinchencröe, Vasserbünde, Nupraptor's Retreat, Coorhagen, Avernus, the Spirit Wrack Dungeon and even in the Lost City. They were not given any further comment and were not seen in further games.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen strategy guide][1]
Classes[]
The City Guards came in several distinct variations. The below summarises the various sub-classes:
char0012 (poleaxe)[]
Poleaxe Wielders were a class of city guards that protected human settlements. They were introduced and exclusively featured in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen strategy guide][1]
They appeared as an armored class with a brown undershirt, dark chainmail and silver plate armor covering the upper torso, along with a distinctive silver helmet with a backwards facing visor. They were armed with a long silver poleaxe on a wooden handle.[Blood Omen][1]
The class could initially be encountered in the Wolf Form Dungeon in the chapter "Nupraptor". Thereafter they were encountered in Vasserbünde, around the outside of Nupraptor's Retreat in the Inspire Hate Dungeon beneath Coorhagen and in the areas around Avernus city.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen/3][Blood Omen/4][Blood Omen/8][Blood Omen strategy guide]
These guards were mid-level enemies for Kain with moderate endurance (25 points) and attack power (20 points), but with a fairly slow and easily telegraphed swinging attack. The class was not seen in further areas or timelines and were not featured in later titles.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen strategy guide][1]
char0026 (sword)[]
Swordsmen were a class of city guards that protected human settlements. They were introduced and exclusively featured in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen strategy guide][1]
They appeared as an armored class with a brown undershirt, dark chainmail and silver plate armor covering the upper torso, along with a distinctive silver helmet with a backwards facing visor. They were armed with a sword. They were visually identical to the Poleaxe Wielders apart from the weaponry.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen strategy guide][1]
They were initially encountered around Steinchencröe in the chapter "Nupraptor" and could later be found in the interiors of Avernus city.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen/3][Blood Omen/8][Blood Omen strategy guide][1]
These guards were mid-level enemies for Kain with moderate endurance (20 points) and fairly weak attack power (10 points). The class was not seen in further areas or timelines and were not featured in later titles.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen strategy guide][1]
char0115 (poleaxe)[]
Blue Poleaxe Wielders were a class of city guards that protected human settlements. They were introduced and exclusively featured in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen strategy guide][1]
They appeared as an armored class with a brown undershirt, dark chainmail and metallic blue plate armor covering the upper torso, along with a distinctive metallic blue helmet with a backwards facing visor. They were armed with a long metallic blue poleaxe on a wooden handle. The class was essentially a more powerful color variant of the regular Poleaxe Wielders.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen strategy guide][1]
They class was only encountered in the areas around Avernus city in the chapter "Defeat Azimuth".[Blood Omen][Blood Omen/8]
These guards were mid-level enemies for Kain with moderate endurance (28 points) and fairly powerful attack power (30 points), but with a fairly slow and easily telegraphed swinging attack. The class was not seen in further areas or timelines and were not featured in later titles.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen strategy guide][1]
char0116 (sword)[]
Blue Swordsmen were a class of city guards that protected human settlements. They were introduced and exclusively featured in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen strategy guide][1]
They appeared as an armored class with a brown undershirt, dark chainmail and metallic blue plate armor covering the upper torso, along with a distinctive metallic blue helmet with a backwards facing visor. They were armed with a metallic blue sword.The class was essentially a more powerful color variant of the regular Swordsmen and were visually identical to the Blue Poleaxe Wielders apart from the weaponry.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen strategy guide][1]
They could be encountered around Avernus city, in the Spirit Wrack Dungeon and the Lost City.[Blood Omen/8][Blood Omen/9]
These guards were mid-level enemies for Kain with moderate endurance (28 points) and attack power (15 points). The class was not seen in further areas or timelines and were not featured in later titles.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen strategy guide][1]
char0164 (sword and shield)[]
Soldiers were a class of city guards that appeared to protect human settlements. They were introduced and exclusively featured in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen strategy guide][1]
They appeared as an armored class with dark chainmail and silver-grey plate armor covering the upper torso as well a greaves covering the legs and a distinctive silver-grey helmet with a backwards facing visor. The class was armed with a sword and shield.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen strategy guide][1]
They were initially found in the chapter "Nupraptor" as Kain made his way from the outskirts of Vasserbünde to the exterior of Nupraptor's Retreat. Later on they could be found on the Vasserbünde-Coorhagen trail in the chapter "The Hunt for Malek".[Blood Omen][Blood Omen/3][Blood Omen/4]
These guards were mid-level enemies for Kain with moderate endurance (25 points) and fairly weak attack power (10 points). The class was not seen in further areas or timelines and were not featured in later titles.[Blood Omen][Blood Omen strategy guide][1]
Notes[]
- The name "City Guards" is referenced in the original NPC dialogue scripts of Blood Omen. The names of the specific classes as "Poleaxe-wielder", "Swordsmen", "Blue Poleaxe Wielder", "Blue Swordsmen" and "Soldier" all originate in the official guide Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain—Official Game Secrets.[Blood Omen strategy guide] Developer assisted magazine previews offer "axe swingers" as an alternative to poleaxe wielders.[2] Other internal classifications list the poleaxe wirlders as "Guard 1"
- In game files the sprites relating to the classes are referred to as "char0012" (Poleaxe Wielders), "char0026" (Swordsmen), "char0115" (Blue Poleaxe Wielders), "char0116" (Blue Swordsmen) and "char0164" (Soldiers).[Blood Omen]
- A few armored individuals of can be can be seen briefly in the 'A Vampire's End' Dark Diary cutscene that starts Moebius's boss battle. The exact classes are unclear but they seem to be intended to represent City guards. The models of the classes essentially appear as 'extras' to make up the numbers in the crowd.[Blood Omen/11]
- The colors and style of the armors of the city guards roughly correspond to locations, giving the impression that individual settlements may have their own uniforms. Along with the Army of Last Hope and the Legions of the Nemesis - which perform guard functions for their areas - it seems that white armor is representative of Willendorf, red armor is seen in the Land of the Nemesis (and conquered lands), blue armor is unique to Avernus, while the grey 'soldier' style is limited to the areas around Vasserbünde. The silver-grey of the poleaxe wielders and swordsmen is more evenly distributed but does appear to be more concentrated on the western towns like Steinchencröe and Vasserbünde.[Blood Omen]
- Despite not being seen in further games, other classes do fulfil something of a 'city guard' role in other titles - but these are often not their primary role and appear to be performed alongside other duties. In Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, the villagers of the Human Citadel were protected by the Vampire Hunters of the era. In Soul Reaver 2, the village of Uschtenheim was patrolled by Demon hunters in the Post Blood Omen era and by Sarafan warriors in Nosgoth's early history, Various guards of the Later Sarafan order defended Meridian in Blood Omen 2. Though no settlements were seen in Legacy of Kain: Defiance it appears the city of Avernus was considered as a candidate for a playable location at one time, though as it ended up only the Avernus Cathedral was playable - albeit much smaller than planned - and the religious order of Cenobites served as the main human guardians.[Soul Reaver][Soul Reaver 2][Blood Omen 2][Defiance][3]
Gallery[]
See also[]
- Army of the Last Hope (enemies)
- Legions of the Nemesis (enemies)
- Enemies - Fighters at the Blood Omnicide site
References[]
Browse[]
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