Sarafan archers (Defiance)

Sarafan archers
Enemies article
Sarafan archers in Defiance.
Introduced in	Legacy of Kain: Defiance (2003)
Appearance(s)	Defiance

Sarafan Archers were a Sarafan variant enemy class that were encountered by Kain in Legacy of Kain: Defiance. Among the lowest ranked of the Sarafan classes, they utilized a "long range arrow attack" and were seen in Kain's early chapters in Nosgoth's early history at the Sarafan Stronghold and the Pillars of Nosgoth.

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Sarafan Archers were troops of the Sarafan faction, encountered by Kain in Nosgoth's early history at the start of Defiance. In contrast to their brethren Sarafan Archers often kept their distance from Kain and attacked from the back of a group, attacking using bows and shooting arrows that were on fire. Their uniform consisted of metallic looking armor with violet or dark blue/purple clothing underneath. Sarafan Archers were weaker than other Sarafan troops, but their ranged arrow attack could be a major nuisance, especially in mass battles, hence Sarafan Archers were of a high priority in combat - best attacked first or after the spell casting Inquisitors, but before Zealots, Templars and Crusaders.^{[Defiance][Defiance/1][Defiance/3][Defiance/5][Defiance strategy guide]}

Sarafan Archers were among the first enemies engaged by Kain, being encountered in the chapter Infiltrate the Stronghold as Kain investigated the Sarafan Stronghold in Nosgoth's early history and came across a group guarding the Main battlements.^{[Defiance][Defiance/1][Defiance/3][Defiance/5][Defiance strategy guide]}

Like many of the Sarafan classes in Defiance, Sarafan Archers could be 'enhanced' by the spells of Sarafan Inquisitors.^{[Defiance][Defiance strategy guide]}

Notes

• Sarafan Archers are not named in game. They are however titled as such in Legacy of Kain: Defiance: Prima's Official Strategy Guide where they are classified and grouped along with other Sarafan enemy types.^{[Defiance strategy guide]} Stage directions in scripts do refer to the archers in cutscenes as "Sarafan archer" or alternatively simply "Sarafan".^[Defiance] The Sarafan Archers are labelled as "sarafanbow" in game files and their weapons as "sarabow".^[Defiance]
• Sarafan Archers were responsible for the many 'arrow shooting pillars' in the Sarafan Stronghold in Defiance - the pillars could be targeted using telekinesis allowing Kain to pull a Sarafan Archer from behind them.^{[Defiance][Defiance/1][Defiance/3]} The devices themselves appear to have been a nod to the various Shooters seen in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain.^{[Blood Omen]}
• Like many of the Defiance Sarafan ranks, the design and role of the Sarafan archers does not match with the roles seen previous in Nosgoth's early history in Soul Reaver 2.^{[Soul Reaver 2][Soul Reaver 2/7][Soul Reaver 2/9]} Developer comments revealed that much of Kain's Defiance journey in Nosgoth's early history actually takes place 'some years' after the conclusion of Soul Reaver 2 and the ranks and organisation of the Sarafan may have changed in the interim.^[Defiance] Ultimately the archers fill in similar role to the long range projectile attacking female Sarafan sorceresses in Soul Reaver 2 although in a much more mundane and less magical capacity.^{[Soul Reaver 2][Soul Reaver 2/7][Soul Reaver 2/9]} Similar roles would be filled in later hunting order by cannon wielding enemies such as the Vampire hunter cannoneers and Demon hunter cannoneers in the history preceding Blood Omen and Era following Blood Omen respectively.^{[Soul Reaver 2][Soul Reaver 2/1][Soul Reaver 2/2][Soul Reaver 2/3][Soul Reaver 2/5][Soul Reaver 2/7]} The later Sarafan order of the Post Blood Omen era also had its own unrelated Sarafan archers who utilized crossbows.^{[Blood Omen 2][Blood Omen 2/6][Blood Omen 2/7][Blood Omen 2/10]}
• Many of Defiance Sarafan units bear similar color schemes to the former Sarafan commanders.^{[Defiance][Defiance/1][Defiance/3][Defiance/5]} The archers violet shade does not match any of these colors, but is most similar to the blue shades favored by the Sarafan Rahab - especially when compared to the more obvious purple of the Sarafan crusaders.^{[Soul Reaver 2][Soul Reaver 2/8][Soul Reaver 2/9]} It is possible these colors were intended as a deliberate callback or the Sarafan using the martyred lieutenants as inspiration.^{[Soul Reaver 2][Soul Reaver 2/8][Soul Reaver 2/9]} Rahab's blue shade was also used for the Rahabim banners in the events of Soul Reaver of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver^{[Soul Reaver][Soul Reaver/2][Soul Reaver/6][Soul Reaver/10]}
• Along with the other Sarafan designs in Defiance the archers were designed with influences from the diverse sources such as Japanese martial arts and the Crusades. A Sarafan crusader artwork on Daniel Cabuco's website bore this accompanying annotation which provided some background to the Defiance Sarafan design:

" For Defiance we added Aikido style pants and color coding for the Sarafan.
It supposed to be a few years after SR2, so I evolved the armor from Roman to Crusader style armor"

―Daniel Cabuco

Gallery

Archers (Defiance)

Sarafan Archers (Defiance)

Sarafan group of archers (Defiance)

See also

• Sarafan
• Sarafan crusaders
• Sarafan templars
• Sarafan zealots
• Sarafan inquisitors
• Sarafan sorceresses
• Sarafan archers (Blood Omen 2)
• Vampire hunters (cannoneers)
• Demon hunters (cannoneers)

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This article is about the male bow-and-arrow wielding troops of the early Sarafan order featured in Defiance. For the female crossbow wielding troops associated with the later Sarafan order featured in Blood Omen 2, see Sarafan archers (Blood Omen 2).