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The era following Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain is considered the time period between the collapse of the Pillars of Nosgoth and Kain's resurrection of the six Sarafan commanders. This time period is visited in both Soul Reaver 2 and Legacy of Kain: Defiance, and is the chronological setting for all of Blood Omen 2. Its events were monumentally altered by the sparing of Raziel by Kain, which permitted the Hylden Lord to enter Nosgoth's Material Realm.

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"If I had any doubts about the era I now occupied, this grotesque tableau certainly eliminated them.
For here was Moebius – long since murdered by Kain – lionized and beatified as the martyred leader of his bloodthirsty crusade.
And if I required further evidence, I needed only to behold the gruesome trophy Moebius held aloft: the severed head of Vorador, the final triumphant kill of Moebius's cutthroat mob. His execution marked the annihilation of the vampires.
Far from channeling me into Nosgoth's past, Moebius had propelled me over a century into its ghastly future."
―Raziel — Listen (file info)[src]

As a result of the Pillars' destruction, the barriers between Nosgoth's Material, Spectral and Demon Realms waned during this period, forcing the Human population to adapt and advance technologically.[1][2][3] The rulership and influence of nobles and monarchs such as King Ottmar appeared to have gradually died out, replaced by tyrannies in the populace's hope for survival.[4]

In latter timelines, it was considered that the "age of the vampires was coming to an end"; despite his status as the only survivor of the Circle of Nine, Kain could not yet create new Vampires to consolidate his power, and it would be several centuries before his reign as Nosgoth's uncontested emperor could begin.[5][6][7][8]

Progression[]

The post-Blood Omen era is easily the most heavily-reshuffled period witnessed in Nosgoth's history thus far, having undergone massive alterations with the introduction of the sparing of Raziel by Kain and the Hylden Lord's release from the Demon Realm.[9]

Given that Blood Omen 2 is the only game which has explored a version of Kain's history during this period in any detail, it is entirely uncertain how similarly or differently his destiny played out here in previous timelines, without the influence of the Hylden, Vorador and Janos Audron.[5] Vorador's original exclusion suggests that the entire generation of Vampires he sired could not have existed before the paradox which revived him took place - thereby preventing Kain's Vampire Army from being created and coming to power - whereas the Hylden Lord's absence equally implies that the Sarafan Order was never revived and glyph magic never propagated in Nosgoth.[7][10]

Blood Omen 2's developers intended for glyph magic to explain the origin of the fantastical technologies witnessed in the Necropolis, the Ruined City of the Dumahim and the Human Citadel of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, but later interviews asserted that both of these games take place in independent timelines.[3][9] Therefore, the Human machinery and advancements seen in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, which takes place in the second timeline, apparently evolved independently of glyph magic during that iteration of history's post-Blood Omen era.[Soul Reaver]

As the Demon Hunters were directly descended from Vampire hunters, which did not exist in the first timeline, it is unlikely they were extant - at least in their Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 portrayal - until Kain altered history and the second timeline began.[11]

Historical Timeline[]

  • The necromancer Mortanius is possessed by a dark entity known as Hash'ak'gik. Their two wills struggle for dominance of Mortanius' body – at times Mortanius maintains control; at other times Hash'ak'gik manipulates him like a puppeteer.
  • Ariel – the Guardian of Balance – is murdered, apparently at Mortanius' hands. It is actually Hash'ak'gik – in the guise of Mortanius – who assassinates Ariel.
  • Ariel's murder drives her beloved, Nupraptor (the Guardian of the Mind) insane with grief. In his agony, he unleashes a telepathic assault that ripples across Nosgoth, infecting the other members of the Circle (who are all symbiotically connected) with his madness.
    • With the infection of Nupraptor's madness, the Circle – who, as the "Protectors of Hope" are sworn to preserve the land – are now poisoning the land with their deranged sorcery.
  • The human Kain is born – the son of one of Nosgoth's noble families. He is (unknowingly) marked from birth as Ariel's successor; it is his destiny to take her place as the Guardian of Balance.
  • The Pillars reflect their patrons' corruption, growing gray and corroded. For Nosgoth to be preserved, the infection must be eliminated – the entire Circle, now wholly corrupted, must die so that the Pillars may cull new successors, and the land may be healed.
  • The nobleman Kain departs from his home city of Coorhagen on a journey across Nosgoth.

Kain travels 50 years into Nosgoth's past
Kain assassinates the young King William the Just, who will become the Nemesis
Kain discovers another Time Streaming Device and returns to Nosgoth's present

The Corruption of the Pillars[]

  • Ariel, the Guardian of Balance, is murdered; the human Kain is born, destined to take her place
  • Ariel's murder triggers a chain of events, resulting in the corruption of the Circle, and the decay of the Pillars
  • the nobleman Kain is assassinated

  • The necromancer Mortanius is possessed by a dark entity known as Hash'ak'gik. Their two wills struggle for dominance of Mortanius' body—at times Mortanius maintains a modicum of control; at other times Hash'ak'gik manipulates him to do evil like a sinister puppeteer.
  • Ariel—the Pillar of Balance—is murdered, apparently at Mortanius' hands. It is actually (surprise!) Hash'ak'gik—in the guise of Mortanius—who assassinates Ariel.
  • Ariel's murder drives her beloved, Nupraptor (the Pillar of the Mind), insane with grief. In his agony, he unleashes a telepathic assault which ripples across the land of Nosgoth, infecting the other members of the Circle (who are all symbiotically connected) with his madness.
  • With the infection of Nupraptor's madness, the Circle—who, as the "Protectors of Hope" are sworn to preserve the land—are now poisoning the land with their deranged sorcery.
  • The human Kain is born—the son of one of Nosgoth's most noble families. He is (unknowingly to him) marked from birth as Ariel's successor; it is his destiny to take her place as the Pillar of Balance.
  • The Pillars reflect their patrons' corruption, growing gray and corroded. For Nosgoth to be preserved, the infection must be completely eliminated. How to do this? The entire Circle of Nine, now wholly corrupted, must die so that the Pillars may cull new successors from the populace, and the land may be healed with their purity.
  • The nobleman Kain departs from his home city of Coorhagen on a journey across Nosgoth.

Notes[]

  • This era is witnessed briefly in both of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain's endings, albeit in very different forms to its later portrayals. The one in which Kain refuses the Sacrifice depicts him upon his throne at the Pillars of Nosgoth - now surrounded by scorched wasteland - under a blood-red, overcast sky, whereas if Kain accepts the Sacrifice, it is depicted as a flourishing landscape filled with life, as before the Corruption of the Pillars.
  • The second timeline is the only timeline in which this era is never visited or viewed; Raziel creates the third timeline immediately before visiting this time period in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2. The only game it has not appeared in is Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.
  • The post-Blood Omen era supposedly marks the "new aeon" referred to in Aleister Crowley's quote at the beginning of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, in which the "whole planet must be bathed in blood". This is supported in Legacy of Kain: Defiance, where the Hylden Lord proclaims "and thus a new epoch has its beginning" upon his defeat of Raziel.

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References[]

  1. Icon Soul Reaver 2 ~The Demons plaguing Nosgoth are able to rip through from the Demon Realm into the physical world at will. As the spiritual health of the land declines, the barriers between the Realms are weakened, and become more easily permeable.~ Crystal Dynamics. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 manual. (Eidos Interactive). (October 31, 2001) Download.
  2. Eidos Interactive Answers to questions from the Defiance team at the Eidos forums (by Christopher Bruno)
  3. 3.0 3.1 GS Blood Omen 2 Designer Diary #1 at GameSpot (by Steve Ross)
  4. Male Aristocrat 2: "My father says that there was a time when the great noble families ruled the land, with a king over all." // Male Aristocrat 1: "It’s just the same now. The Sarafan Lord –" // Male Aristocrat 2: "But we, the nobles of the land, are not being permitted to have a proper influence upon affairs." Crystal Dynamics. Blood Omen 2. (Eidos Interactive). PlayStation 2. (March 19, 2002) Transcript.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Icon Dark Chronicle Soul Reaver 2: Historical Timeline at Dark Chronicle (by Ardeth Silvereni)
  6. Icon Defiance Raziel: "Your bloodline is erased. The age of the vampires is coming to an end." Crystal Dynamics. Legacy of Kain: Defiance. (Eidos Interactive). PlayStation 2. (November 11, 2003) Transcript.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Vorador: "It serves. But time is short. The Sarafan's power grows by the day. Soon our every haven will be destroyed. We are facing extinction once again." // Kain: "They thought once before they had destroyed us. Yet you proved them wrong. You created a new race, something I could never do, and from that race, I had my army." Crystal Dynamics. Blood Omen 2. (Eidos Interactive). PlayStation 2. (March 19, 2002) Transcript.
  8. GS Blood Omen 2 Q&A at GameSpot (by Sam Newman)
  9. 9.0 9.1 Icon The Lost Worlds My Visit to Crystal Dynamics at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln)
  10. Beast: "Wait…You must know…your true enemies. My captors. They are not of this world. They control the Glyph magic by which Meridian is enslaved. They pull the strings of the Sarafan while in the disguise of the Glyph Wrights. They are called... the Hylden... And their leader is, of course -" // Kain: "- The Sarafan Lord." Crystal Dynamics. Blood Omen 2. (Eidos Interactive). PlayStation 2. (March 19, 2002) Transcript.
  11. Icon Dark Chronicle Defiance: Background Story at Dark Chronicle (by Ardeth Silvereni)

Browse[]

Preceded by:
The events of Blood Omen
History Nosgoth's historical eras
The era following Blood Omen
Followed by:
The events of Soul Reaver
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