"Historical Timeline" is a Crystal Dynamics text outlining the chronology of the Legacy of Kain story.
Profile[]
Crystal Dynamics created at least three official versions of "Historical Timeline", covering the events of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Soul Reaver 2, and Blood Omen 2:
- "A Brief History of Nosgoth" was included in "Legacy of Kain: Funk Soul Brother", an article in issue 36 of Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine in September 2000.
- "Historical Timeline", a condensed version, was included in Soul Reaver 2's bonus materials.[Soul Reaver 2]
- "Chronological Events (as conveyed in BO:LoK and SR)", the most comprehensive version, was an internal Crystal Dynamics document. Series art director Daniel Cabuco kindly released this document to the Legacy of Kain Wiki team for archival.
The Legacy of Kain Wiki team also presents an unofficial version with additional detail, covering the events of the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver comic, Legacy of Kain: Defiance, and the Legacy of Kain: Defiance comic.
Historical Timeline[]
Before Nosgoth's recorded history[]
- thousands of years before Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
Nosgoth's earliest history[]
History is written by the victors
- Little is known of the Land of Nosgoth's genesis.
- The Elder God first emerges in this era. He will later describe himself as "eternally present – here and everywhere; now and always", "the Engine of Life [itself], the source of Nosgoth's very existence," and "the origin of [all] life." However, Raziel and Kain will disbelieve his claims.
- Life in the Material Realm comes into existence.
- Before the dawn of recorded history, two Elder races rule the land, similar in power, but different in method and intention: the Vampires, and the Hylden.
- The Vampires worship the Wheel of Fate, the cleansing agony of birth, death, and rebirth, the purifying rhythm of the universe – the cycle which sustains all life, to which all souls are irresistibly drawn, manipulated by the parasitic Elder God.
- According to a Hylden scientist, "when [the humans] were but hairless apes cowering in caves, [the Hylden] gave [them] all that [they] had."
- The ancient, primitive cult responsible for constructing a statue of the Elder God in the Subterranean Ruins may have been founded in this timeframe.
- Before or during the war, the Vampire Citadel is constructed.
The Vampire-Hylden war[]
The Vampire-Hylden war
The champions of prophecy
- The Hylden oppose the Vampires' tyrannous God, and refuse to submit to the Wheel of Fate. For this, the Vampires oppress their Hylden adversaries.
- The races battle for dominance of Nosgoth in a great, apocalyptic war, which flames for a thousand years, and will destroy both victor and vanquished alike.
- Towards the end of the war, Janos Audron, the Seer, the Builder, and the Vampires who will form the original Circle of Nine are born.
- The Builder creates a large Device as a weapon which houses the Mass, an ancient creature whose very mind is capable of killing any living thing with but a thought. The Device is to channel the mental energy of this creature, and direct it onto Nosgoth. It will attune the creature's mind to kill all living creatures except for the Hylden. Before it can be completed, however, the Builder is imprisoned in the Eternal Prison.
- Two champions are prophesied – one destined to be Nosgoth's redeemer; the other, its destroyer. The Vampires' hero is destined to wield the mystical sword known as the Reaver, a holy weapon, for whom it will be forged. The Hylden foretell a messiah of their own, an adversary worthy of his powers, who will destroy the shackles of the Vampires' god, brandishing a fiery sword; two heroes locked in combat which only one will survive.
- Between the end of the war and the forging of the Reaver, the human Vorador is born.
The genesis of the Pillars[]
The raising of the Pillars
- In triumph, the Vampires banish the Hylden from the world by powerful magic, sealing them into another plane of existence, and raise the Pillars of Nosgoth as the lock that binds them.
- The nine Pillars reach infinitely high into the skies, and deep into the earth (representing the principles of Mind, Dimension, Conflict, Nature, Energy, Time, States, Death, and – at the center of all of them binding them together – Balance), intrinsically and supernaturally tied to the spiritual and physical "health" of the Land.
The formation of the Circle of Nine[]
The summoning of the Guardians
- The Pillars stand like silent sentinels over Nosgoth, and will perpetually be represented by an oligarchy of sorcerer-guardians known as the Circle of Nine. With the appointment of nine Vampire Guardians (Mind, Dimension, Conflict, Nature, Balance, Energy, Time, States, and Death), the original Circle – entrusted with the safekeeping of the Pillars, sworn to serve and protect the ancient edifice – is formed.
- Each Guardian is marked from birth, chosen and summoned by the Pillar they are destined to serve for their lifetime. In return, the Guardians are granted longevity and extraordinary powers. The death of a Circle member is inevitably followed by the birth of a successor – the supernatural force behind the Pillars culls a replacement to fulfill that role, whom it is the responsibility of the remaining Guardians to seek out and apprentice into the Circle. The Guardians each represent the principle that their Pillar embodies, and the Balance Guardian is the axis of them all.
The affliction of the blood curse[]
The blood curse
- In their defeat, the Hylden retaliate with a terrible curse as they fall – afflicting the Vampires with a predatory blood-thirst that drives their once-noble race from the light, and turns them into ravenous predators of humankind.
- With the Vampires' transformation comes their enemies' true revenge: immortality. Their souls imprisoned in the flesh, the Vampires are expelled from the purifying cycle of death and rebirth as their curse casts them from the Wheel of Fate.
- Their immortality banishes them from the Elder God's grace – he turns his sight from them, and falls silent.
- In torment and despair at the abandonment of their God, the Vampires are driven to madness and suicide. Many take their own lives, unable to bear the separation from their God.
The forging of the Reaver[]
The forging of the Reaver
- The era of Janos Audron begins – a creature reputed to have been the greatest Vampire that ever lived.
- At the time of the Binding, nine guardians were called to serve the Pillars. And Janos is summoned as the tenth guardian – the keeper of the Reaver, the weapon of the Vampires' salvation. The Pillars are the lock, and the Reaver is the key.
- Vorador crafts the Reaver blade, at the behest of Janos Audron. It is the most formidable weapon ever forged by the Vampires' swordsmiths – they infuse the blade with vampiric energy, empowering the Reaver to drain their enemies of their precious lifeblood.
The dark gift is passed[]
The dark gift is passed
- To sustain the Binding, the Vampires have to preserve their bloodline – and so they pass the dark gift on to the humans.
- Vorador is the first human to whom the dark gift is passed, turned by the infamous Janos Audron. This is the Vampires' desperate bid to preserve their bloodline, for their enemies have cursed them not only with blood-thirst, but with sterility as well.
- The ancient Vampires (like Janos) have one method, by which Vorador is raised, and by which Vorador will also raise his vampire offspring. This "blood" gift would be a more "traditional" method, where the vampiric curse is passed from one vampire to a human.
- Before their annihilation, the ancient Vampires construct the Dark, Light, Air, and Fire Forges, and Janos Audron's Retreat. The Forges are sealed and forbidden to all but the prophesied bearer of the Reaver.
The human revolt[]
The human Guardians revolt
- As the Vampires Guardians begin to die out, the Pillars summon human Guardians to fulfill their roles.
- The Vampires adopt - and, when necessary, abduct - the human Guardians, and make Vampires of them when they come of age.
- Moebius the Time Streamer, the Guardian of Time, and Mortanius the Necromancer, the Guardian of Death, are born. They are abducted by the Vampires, and schooled in the ancient prophecies.
- Moebius is introduced to the Elder God when he lives among the Vampires of the Citadel. The Elder God speaks to Moebius even after he stops communicating with the Vampires.
- A bloody revolt is orchestrated through Moebius by the Elder God. Led by Moebius and Mortanius, the humans rebel against their Vampire masters, refusing the curse and seizing the Pillars as their own.
The Wheel of Fate
- The seminal events of Vampire history are recorded in murals throughout the Vampire Citadel.
- Moebius constructs the Chronoplast and other time-streaming devices to travel to various ages of Nosgoth's history.
- As the ancient Vampires' race dwindles, the humans prosper. Over the centuries, their history fades into myth, and finally recedes altogether. The humans forget them entirely, and claim the Pillars for themselves – wholly ignorant of their true purpose.
- Over time, the ancient Vampires' bloodline trickles away, until Janos alone remains - sustained solely by obligation, his unfaltering faith in the old prophesies, and his guardianship of the Reaver blade.
- Just as the origin of the Pillars is seemingly lost to history, the genesis of the Circle of Nine is also unknown. As long as the Pillars have existed, there has been a body of sorcerers sworn to protect them. Millennia pass.
Nosgoth's early history[]
The Circle of Nine
- Between the human revolt and the slaughter of the Circle, the Pillars cull new human Guardians of the Mind, Dimension, Conflict (Malek the Paladin), Nature, Balance, Energy, and States.
over 500 years before Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
- The vampire races increase – some clans prey indiscriminately upon humans, attracting the attention of the Circle.
- The humans Raziel, Turel, Dumah, Rahab, Zephon, and Melchiah are born
The vampire purge[]
The vampire purge
The human Raziel
- The formation of the Sarafan, and the crusade to counter the perceived "vampire menace".
- The Sarafan were a monastic order of warrior-priests, whose singular cause was the eradication of the vampires "plaguing" Nosgoth. The Sarafan order was formed by the Circle of Nine (the oligarchy of sorcerers sworn to protect Nosgoth). Malek, Raziel, Turel, Dumah, Rahab, Zephon and Melchiah command the armies.
- The Vampire Purges – thousands of vampires are exterminated at the hands of the Sarafan.
- The Sarafan hunt down and destroy the various enclaves of vampires, using inquisitorial tactics. They use torture to extract information about other vampires' locations – promising their victims an easy death in return for information.
- ← ...from the era following Blood Omen
Soul Reaver-era Raziel emerges from the Swamp time-streaming chamber into Nosgoth's early history.[Soul Reaver 2/7] - Having finally reached the summit of Janos Audron's balcony chamber, Raziel meets Janos Audron. He has traversed Nosgoth and crossed time to meet this being.[Soul Reaver 2/8]
- Raziel forges the Reaver with Fire.[Soul Reaver 2/8]
The death of Janos Audron
- The death of Janos Audron – he is murdered, his heart torn "throbbing and bleeding" from his living body.[Soul Reaver 2/9]
- Raziel witnesses Janos' murder.[Soul Reaver 2/9]
- Raziel encounters demons in Nosgoth's early history, hurdling back over five centuries to pursue him.[Soul Reaver 2/9]
- Having renounced his Sarafan heritage, Raziel trails his former brethren back to the Stronghold to avenge Janos Audron's murder. In the course of his pursuit, Raziel visits the subterranean Pillars chamber for the last time.[Soul Reaver 2/9]
- Raziel infiltrates the Stronghold in his pursuit of the Sarafan – he is here resolved to avenge Janos Audron's murder, and to recover his heart, and reclaim the stolen Reaver.[Soul Reaver 2/9]
The slaughter of the Circle[]
The slaughter of the Circle
The death of the Sarafan commanders
- Vorador takes his revenge upon the Circle, for their sponsorship of the Sarafan crusade, and for Janos' murder.
- Vorador infiltrates the stronghold of the Circle of Nine and murders six of the sorcerers, before humiliating the Sarafan general Malek (the Guardian of Conflict) in combat.[Blood Omen/6][Soul Reaver 2/9]
- During Raziel's final pursuit of the Sarafan through their Stronghold, he confronts each of his former brethren in turn, exacting revenge for Janos' murder.
- The death of the Sarafan commanders – Melchiah, Zephon, Rahab, Dumah, and Turel.[Soul Reaver 2/9]
Kain spares Raziel[]
- Raziel himself slaughters the Sarafan commanders, and is his own murderer, and unearths how he thus becomes the catalyst not only of Kain's future empire, but of his own dark destiny.[Soul Reaver 2/9][Soul Reaver 2/Epilogue]
- Finally, he realizes how he is fated to become the ravenous spirit imprisoned in the Soul Reaver blade - that this is, and always has been, the hellish cycle of his destiny. The wraith blade, he finally understands, is his own soul, twinned and bound eternally to him.[Soul Reaver 2/Epilogue]
- Kain prevents the blade from consuming Raziel's soul, but Raziel, nearly obliterated by the Reaver, realizes that he can never escape this terrible destiny - Kain has merely postponed it.[Soul Reaver 2/Epilogue] to the events of Blood Omen... →
The punishment of Malek
- The necromancer Mortanius (one of the surviving Circle members, and the Guardian of Death) punishes Malek for his failure to protect the Circle, by fusing his soul into a magical suit of armor. Malek, now disembodied and immortal, is thus damned to serve and protect the Circle (and represent the Pillar of Conflict) for eternity.
- The Sarafan commanders are entombed as heroic martyrs.
- The Pillars cull new successors to take the place of the fallen sorcerers – Nupraptor the Mentalist, Azimuth the Planer, Bane the Druid, Ariel, DeJoule the Energist, and Anarcrothe the Alchemist.
- Disgusted and disillusioned, Vorador retreats from the world of human affairs, ensconcing himself in his remote mansion.
- a few years after the slaughter of the Circle
Kain in the age of the Sarafan
- Soul Reaver-era Kain returns to the Sarafan Stronghold.[Defiance comic][Defiance/1]
- Kain recovers the Balance Emblem.[Defiance/1]
- Kain confronts Moebius in his hidden chamber.[Defiance/1]
- Kain acquires the Flame Reaver enhancement.[Defiance/3]
- Kain confronts Moebius in the Tower.[Defiance/3]
- Kain arrives at the Pillars.[Defiance/5]
- Kain acquires the Dimension shard of the Balance Emblem.[Defiance/5]
- Using the second shard of the Balance Emblem, Kain is able to open the path to, and reveal, the Vampire Citadel.[Defiance/5]
- Kain arrives in the Citadel Council Chamber via bat-flight.[Defiance/7]
- Kain discovers the Lightning shard of the Balance Emblem.[Defiance/7]
- Kain acquires the Time Reaver enhancement.[Defiance/9]
- Using the Balance Emblem, Kain is finally able to open the mysterious chamber at the heart of the Citadel. Kain discovers the ancient Oracle from which the Elder God speaks. Kain uses the oracular portal to travel forward in time.[Defiance/9] to the events of Blood Omen... →
The history preceding Blood Omen[]
- Ottmar is born. He rules the Lion Throne.
- William the Just is born. At a young age, he inherits rulership of a kingdom in northern Nosgoth.
- Elzevir the Dollmaker is born.
- roughly 50 years before Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
The assassination of William the Just[]
The assassination of William the Just
- ← ...from the events of Blood Omen Suddenly, Blood Omen-era Kain finds himself in a peaceful field, the carnage of the battlefield erased – he knows he has traveled to a different time, but doesn't know when in time he is. The Time Streaming Device lies in ruins at his feet.[Blood Omen/10]
- Traveling on, he encounters and kills a man-at-arms – as he drinks the victim's blood, he receives a telepathic image of recent events in the man's memory. Moebius addresses a crowd, exhorting them against some unnamed evil, and urging them to take him to their king.[Blood Omen/10]
- As he continues on, Kain realizes that he has traveled nearly 50 years into Nosgoth's past, to a time before William the Just had become the megalomaniac tyrant known as the Nemesis. He infiltrates William's castle, and overhears a conversation between Moebius and the young King – Moebius has armed William with the Soul Reaver, and warned him of a vampire coming to assassinate him.[Blood Omen/10]
- Kain confronts William, each of them armed with the Soul Reaver (incarnations of the same weapon at different periods of time). Kain is victorious, and he triumphantly drinks the blood of the fallen king – this is witnessed by the king's guards, come to aid their martyred ruler.[Blood Omen/10]
- Kain conveniently discovers another Time Streaming Device (also planted by Moebius, of course), and escapes back into the future – secure in his belief that he has thwarted Moebius's machinations by removing his pawn William from the game. With William dead, there will be no Nemesis army to lay waste to Nosgoth.[Blood Omen/10] to the events of Blood Omen... →
- Devastated by William's murder, the people of William's realm swear a vengeful covenant to their fallen king, promising to eradicate Nosgoth's vampires once and for all.[Blood Omen/Miscellaneous]
- Eventually, most of Nosgoth's human citizens ascribe to the same genocidal hatred of vampires.[Soul Reaver 2/1][Blood Omen/11]
- Under Moebius's leadership, the mercenary army is formally founded, operating from the former Sarafan Stronghold.[Soul Reaver 2/3][Soul Reaver 2/1]
- The mercenary army heads a renewed, highly-successful vampire purge. William's corpse is taken to the Sarafan Stronghold, and is beatified in a dedicated chapel with the broken Soul Reaver.[Soul Reaver 2/3][Soul Reaver 2/1][Blood Omen/11]
The seduction of the Circle[]
The altar to Hash'ak'gik
- Azimuth, not content with summoning demonic thralls, steals a Time Streaming Device in order to gather creatures from other ages as well. Since Azimuth is the Dimension Guardian, she cannot pull creatures from other times - only from other places or dimensions. Through the use of the Time Streaming Device she possesses, Azimuth pulls Turel from the future back to the bowels of Avernus Cathedral.
- Azimuth and Mortanius serve the Hylden, who they know as "Hash'ak'gik." They are seduced away from their service of the Pillars by the power they unearth beneath Avernus.
- The necromancer Mortanius is possessed by the Hylden Lord - a leader among the Hylden, who has his own agenda. Their two wills struggle for dominance of Mortanius's body - at times Mortanius maintains a modicum of control; at other times the Hylden Lord manipulates him to do evil like a sinister puppeteer.
- 30 years before Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
- Soul Reaver-era Kain emerges from the Chronoplast, and makes his way to the Pillars, to await Raziel.
- Moebius snatches Soul Reaver-era Raziel from the time-stream. He appears in a different place – in the depths of the Sarafan Stronghold, in one of Moebius's time-streaming chambers.
- ← ...from the events of Soul Reaver Upon emerging from the Chronoplast time portal, Raziel discovers he has been transported nearly two thousand years into Nosgoth's past, to a time roughly 30 years before Kain's resurrection as a vampire... but a decade after Kain's own ill-fated journey into Nosgoth's history, and his assassination of William the Just.[Soul Reaver/15][Soul Reaver 2/Prologue]
- He discovers Moebius waiting to meet him on the other side. Raziel is all too aware of Moebius's deceitful reputation, but realizes that they share a common enemy in Kain, and that he may have to consider a careful alliance with the devious Time-Streamer...[Soul Reaver/15][Soul Reaver 2/Prologue]
- In William's chapel, Raziel discovers the broken Soul Reaver, causing a Reaver-convergence. The Wraith Blade leeches Raziel's soul energy to restore the damaged physical sword. Raziel threatens Moebius with the Soul Reaver, but stays his hand, and leaves the reconstituted weapon behind.[Soul Reaver 2/1]
- Raziel discovers a stained glass window in the Stronghold, depicting the murder of the vampire Janos Audron at the hands of the Sarafan.[Soul Reaver 2/1]
- Raziel emerges from the Stronghold and sees past-Nosgoth for the first time.[Soul Reaver 2/1]
The corruption of the Pillars[]
The murder of Ariel
The human Kain is born
- Ariel - the Pillar of Balance - is murdered, apparently at Mortanius' hands. It is actually (surprise!) the Dark Entity - in the guise of Mortanius - who assassinates Ariel.[Blood Omen/2]
- 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.[Blood Omen/2]
- 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 the deranged sorcery.[Blood Omen/2]
- 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.[Blood Omen/2]
- 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.[Blood Omen/2]
- Soul Reaver-era Kain and Raziel both witness this event from the Pillars' clearing.[Soul Reaver 2/2]
- Raziel emerges into the Swamp for the first time.[Soul Reaver 2/3]
- Raziel reaches the Dark Forge entrance.[Soul Reaver 2/3]
- Raziel forges the Reaver with Darkness – he has successfully completed the Dark Forge, and experienced the first elemental-forging of the Reaver.[Soul Reaver 2/3]
- Using the Reaver as a key, he exits the Forge – as the massive stone doors slide open, he sees Vorador standing on the esplanade, apparently waiting for him.[Soul Reaver 2/3]
- Raziel re-enters the subterranean Pillars chamber for the second time. After having met the ancient vampire Vorador, unearthed the secrets of the Dark Forge, and learned more about the Ancient Vampires who were apparently the architects of the Pillars, he revisits the Elder God.[Soul Reaver 2/3]
- Raziel realizes he can now enter the Light Forge.[Soul Reaver 2/4]
- Raziel forges the Reaver with Light.[Soul Reaver 2/4]
Raziel spares Kain[]
- Raziel spares Kain in the Relic Hall of the Stronghold.
- Raziel and the Elder Kain travel over 100 years into Nosgoth's future. to the era following Blood Omen... →
- Ariel's specter begins to haunt the Pillars of Nosgoth.[Soul Reaver 2/2][Soul Reaver 2/5]
- The insane and deranged Guardians unleash their powers against Nosgoth, with malicious intent. Anarcrothe, Bane and DeJoule create the Dark Eden. Azimuth begins indiscriminately summoning malevolent demons and creatures in numerous cities, leaving the populace at their mercy. Nupraptor practices self-mutilation, sewing his own eyes and lips shut, and terrorizes pilgrims who journey to his retreat near Vasserbünde.[Blood Omen/7][Blood Omen/3]
- King Ottmar of Willendorf holds a contest to celebrate his daughter's birthday, offering a royal favor to the creator of the finest doll in the realm. Among hundreds of submissions, Elzevir the Dollmaker's entry is proclaimed the winner. Elzevir takes a lock of the Princess' hair in payment.[Blood Omen/9]
- Elzevir traps the Princess' soul in a burlap and silk doll. The Princess becomes lifeless, plunging Ottmar into despair.[Blood Omen/9]
- Coorhagen, Kain's home city, is struck by the plague.[Blood Omen/4]
- By now, the vampire race has been devastated by the crusades of Moebius's mercenary army, and Vorador is among the last survivors of his kind.[Blood Omen/11]
- Kain departs Coorhagen, embarking on a journey across Nosgoth.
The events of Blood Omen[]
The human Kain
The assassination of Kain
Kain trapped in the Underworld
The resurrection of Kain
The resurrection of Kain
Vorador versus Malek
Vorador versus Malek
The Legacy of Kain
- Mortanius orchestrates Kain's assassination – Mortanius is in control for now; not the Dark Entity. In the village of Ziegsturhl, Kain is ambushed by brigands, who murder and cruelly impale him with a sword.[Blood Omen/2]
- Kain's body is interred in a crypt west of Ziegsturhl.[Blood Omen/2]
- Kain awakens in the underworld, where Mortanius offers to revive him, so that Kain may take revenge upon his assassins. Kain, heedless of the cost, accepts the necromancer's offer. The catch: in order to rejoin the world of the living, Kain is reborn as a vampire.[Blood Omen/2]
- Kain awakens in his mausoleum, and begins his "unlife" as a vampire.[Blood Omen/2]
- Kain finds his assassins and kills them, getting his revenge – but Mortanius drives him on to the Pillars, saying that the brigands were only the instruments of his murder, not the cause.[Blood Omen/2]
- Kain visits the decaying Pillars for the first time, meets the spectre Ariel, and learns the nature of his quest. The Circle – the sorcerers poisoning Nosgoth – must be destroyed for the land to be healed and the Pillars righted. Kain wants only to be cured of his vampirism – Ariel promises him release (and peace) when the Balance is restored.[Blood Omen/2]
- Following Ariel's direction, Kain hunts down and kills the Circle members one by one, returning the "tokens" of their service in order to heal each Pillar in turn. The mentalist Nupraptor is Kain's first victim.[Blood Omen/3]
- Kain confronts the immortal warrior Malek in his frozen, bleak stronghold, but Malek eludes him.[Blood Omen/4]
- Kain meets the Oracle of Nosgoth, a reclusive soothsayer who holds court in the arctic caves of the northern mountains.[Blood Omen/5]
- The Oracle warns Kain of the legions of the Nemesis attacking from the north, of the bereaved King Ottmar of Willendorf, helpless to withstand their attack. He gives Kain some of Malek's history, including his defeat centuries ago at the hands of the vampire Vorador. Kain, intrigued, asks for more information about Vorador – the Oracle directs him to Vorador's mansion.[Blood Omen/5]
- The Oracle is in fact Moebius the Time Streamer, member of the Circle of Nine (representing the Pillar of Time). He uses the guise of the Oracle to influence pilgrims and orchestrate events. Kain only learns much later how much of his quest was manipulated by Moebius.[Blood Omen/5]
- Kain meets Vorador, Nosgoth's oldest and most-evolved vampire.[Blood Omen/6]
- Vorador recounts the stories of the Sarafan vampire purges, and his revenge upon the Circle and Malek. He warns Kain not to meddle in the affairs of men, and offers him a ring by which Kain may summon Vorador if he is ever in need of his assistance.[Blood Omen/6]
- Kain travels north to "Dark Eden", a twisted corruption of nature created by a triumvirate of the deranged sorcerers – Bane, DeJoule and Anarcrothe, the Guardians of Nature, Energy and States (respectively).[Blood Omen/7]
- When Kain confronts the sorcerers, Anarcrothe summons Malek and makes his own escape. Outnumbered, Kain summons Vorador – Malek's ancient enemy. While they battle, Kain pursues the fleeing Bane and DeJoule – whom he subsequently defeats in combat.[Blood Omen/7]
- When he returns to the scene of the confrontation between Malek and Vorador, Kain finds that Vorador has been the victor. Vorador is gone, but Malek has been destroyed.[Blood Omen/7]
- Kain returns the defeated sorcerers' tokens to the Pillars – now four have been healed. Ariel instructs him to seek Azimuth the Planer (the Pillar of Dimension) in the heart of Avernus Cathedral.[Blood Omen/7]
- Kain travels to Avernus – Nosgoth's largest city, ruled as a religious autocracy from the great cathedral that sits at the center of the city. He discovers the city in flames, assaulted by a plague of demons summoned by the deranged Azimuth from other dimensions.[Blood Omen/8]
- In his pursuit of Azimuth, Kain must ascend into the heights of the cathedral, and the hellish depths of the catacombs below. Along the way he discovers and claims the Soul Reaver blade, conveniently hidden away in the upper reaches of the Cathedral.[Blood Omen/8]
- During his exploration of the great cathedral, Kain also discovers a hidden altar room – like a corruption at the heart of the apparently pristine and wholesome cathedral. This is an altar to Hash'ak'gik – a tome open on the altar describes bloody acts of human sacrifice.[Blood Omen/8]
- Kain confronts and defeats the planer Azimuth, and reclaims her token. He also discovers a mysterious Time Streaming Device, which Azimuth has apparently stolen from Moebius (the Guardian of Time).[Blood Omen/8]
- In fact, Moebius has planted the Time Streaming Device here by allowing Azimuth to steal it. He is orchestrating events so that Kain will discover and claim the device.[Blood Omen/8]
- Kain returns to the Pillars and rights the Pillar of Dimension. Ariel warns him of the impending assault from the Nemesis armies to the north, and that Willendorf is next in their path. She tells him of the Nemesis, how this tyrant was once William the Just, a kind and benevolent king.[Blood Omen/9]
- Kain continues on to Willendorf, to rouse King Ottmar into battle against the Legions of the Nemesis.[Blood Omen/9]
- Ottmar has become an ineffectual king, lost in grief over his daughter who lies in a comatose state. A minor sorcerer called Elzevir the Dollmaker has stolen her soul. To rouse the King, Kain embarks on a side-quest to recover the princess' soul. With his daughter recovered, Ottmar rallies his army and launches an attack against the approaching Legions.[Blood Omen/9]
- Kain joins Ottmar's army at the Battle of the Last Stand – but the battle is hopeless, and Ottmar's army is decimated. Kain escapes the battlefield by activating the mysterious Time Streaming Device he found in Avernus Cathedral.[Blood Omen/9] to the history preceding Blood Omen... →
- ← ...from the history preceding Blood Omen Upon returning to the future, however, Kain discovers that his actions have dramatically altered the course of Nosgoth's history.[Blood Omen/11]
- Following the scent of fresh blood, he comes upon the scene of a public execution – Moebius addresses a crowd of bloodthirsty villagers and vampire hunters. Kain arrives just in time to witness the climax of their little gathering – Vorador, the last of Nosgoth's vampires, is guillotined and his head held aloft for the cheering crowd.[Blood Omen/11]
- Kain now realizes the impact of his actions, and how he has been manipulated by Moebius from the start. By going back in time and influencing William, Moebius perverted the just king into a power-hungry tyrant. Then he sends Kain back nearly 50 years in time, knowing that Kain will try to prevent the Nemesis' future devastations by murdering the king before he can become a tyrant. Moebius knew that the murder of the beloved king at the hands of a vampire would ignite a genocidal hatred of vampires among the citizens of Nosgoth.[Blood Omen/11]
- So, through all these acts, Moebius orchestrated and engineered the vampire genocide which Kain witnesses upon his return to the present. And Kain, albeit inadvertently, is directly responsible for the extinction of the vampires and the execution of his erstwhile mentor Vorador.[Blood Omen/11]
- Kain confronts Moebius and – fitting retribution – lops off his head with his sword. Upon claiming Moebius's token, Kain is instructed by Mortanius's disembodied voice to return the Pillars.[Blood Omen/11]
- Kain arrives at the Pillars just in time to witness the confrontation between Mortanius and Anarcrothe.[Blood Omen/11]
- Anarcrothe accuses Mortanius of betraying the Circle by turning Kain into a vampire and setting him against them.[Blood Omen/11]
- Mortanius replies that the Circle is irredeemably corrupt and must be destroyed. Anarcrothe challenges Mortanius, and is killed.[Blood Omen/11]
- Kain reveals himself to Mortanius, stating that if the Circle is to be destroyed, then Mortanius himself must die. Mortanius agrees, saying he will embrace death, and engages Kain in combat. Mid-battle, Mortanius' form begins to change as the dark entity, now fully in possession of Mortanius' body, finally crushes the necromancer's psyche. Before Kain's eyes, Mortanius' body dissolves into the massive, demonic form of the dark entity.[Blood Omen/11]
- The Dark Entity taunts Kain, saying that Kain has been no more than a pawn, and that all of the preceding events have been orchestrated from the beginning. Kain launches himself at the Dark Entity, and using the Soul Reaver, manages to defeat him. It's not clear, however, whether the Dark Entity has been destroyed or merely dispelled.[Blood Omen/11]
- Kain uses the recovered tokens to heal the remaining Pillars, leaving only the Balance Pillar still corrupted.[Blood Omen/11]
- concurrent with Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
The Vampires' prophesied hero
The Hylden messiah
- ← ...from Nosgoth's early history Soul Reaver-era Raziel remains in the lair of the Elder God for 500 years.[Defiance/2]
- Raziel narrowly escapes the Underworld.[Defiance/2]
- Raziel enters the Cemetery.[Defiance/4]
- Raziel is teleported to Guardian Citadel for the first time.[Defiance/4]
- Raziel acquires the Dark Reaver enhancement.[Defiance/4]
- Raziel is teleported to the Citadel Again Light Area[Defiance/4]
- Raziel acquires the Light Reaver enhancement[Defiance/4]
- Raziel arrives on the Pillars path[Defiance/6]
- Raziel is transported into the Guardian Citadel's Fire-themed Area[Defiance/6]
- Raziel confronts the specters of the original Conflict and Nature Guardians.[Defiance/6]
- Raziel acquires the Fire Reaver[Defiance/6]
- Raziel encounters Ariel in the Pillars clearing[Defiance/6]
- Raziel is transported back into the Citadel's Air-themed area.[Defiance/6]
- Raziel confronts the specters of the original Mind and Dimension Guardians.[Defiance/6]
- Raziel acquires the Air Reaver[Defiance/6]
- Raziel arrives at the Mansion.[Defiance/8]
- Raziel confronts the specters of the original States and Death Guardians.[Defiance/8]
- Raziel acquires the Water Reaver enhancement.[Defiance/8]
- Raziel confronts Vorador in the garden crypt.[Defiance/8]
- Raziel departs for Avernus.[Defiance/8]
- ← ...from Nosgoth's early history Soul Reaver-era Kain steps through the portal, which swallows him up – when he steps back out the other side, it is 500 years in the future.[Defiance/9]
- Raziel arrives at Avernus Cathedral.[Defiance/10]
- Raziel confronts the specters of the original Energy and Time Guardians.[Defiance/10]
- Raziel acquires the Earth Reaver.[Defiance/10]
- Raziel discovers the altar of the Avernus cultists.[Defiance/10]
- Raziel confronts Turel in the altar pit.[Defiance/10]
- Raziel defeats Turel. Turel dies, and his soul energy flies out of him and into Raziel.[Defiance/10]
- Raziel confronts Mortanius in his chamber. Mortanius teleports away to the Pillars, where he will meet the young Kain, and die.[Defiance/10]
- Kain arrives at Avernus Cathedral.[Defiance/11]
- Kain confronts Raziel.[Defiance/11]
- Raziel tears out Kain's heart: the Heart of Darkness. With his new telekinetic powers, Raziel blasts Kain backward – he is swallowed up into a dimensional rift, and disappears.[Defiance/12]
- Raziel returns to the Mansion and is confronted by Moebius.[Defiance/12]
- Raziel resurrects Janos Audron.[Defiance/12]
- Janos and Raziel arrive at the Guardian Citadel.[Defiance/12]
- Raziel enters the Spirit Forge, and meets the Elder God once again.[Defiance/12]
The collapse of the Pillars[]
The collapse of the Pillars
- Ariel appears and reveals to Kain that he himself is the Pillar of Balance, and that the only way the Pillars can be healed is for him to sacrifice himself – as the last of the Circle – to the Pillar. She presents him with the final, climactic decision — sacrifice himself to heal the world, or refuse the sacrifice and ensure the world's corruption.[Blood Omen/12]
- Kain chooses the latter path, deciding to rule the world in its damnation rather than commit himself to oblivion. This apocalyptic act completes the Pillars' destruction – the Pillars topple as Kain seals their ruinous fate. He concludes with the epiphany that Vorador was right – that vampirism is not a curse but a blessing; that the vampires are dark gods whose duty it is to thin the human herd.[Blood Omen/12]
- concurrent with Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
- Raziel solves the Spirit Forge. Somewhere in the distance, Kain's younger self has just made his fateful decision at the Pillars. The Forge summons the spirit of every Balance Guardian to itself, for this final purpose. Ariel's spirit, united with the souls of her predecessors, is drawn here now for the final baptism of the blade. She manifests, transformed into her perfect state when she is summoned, and then one spirit after another joins and unites with her (but not Kain's spirit).[Defiance/12]
- With his left hand, Raziel reaches out toward the pure white fire that surrounds Ariel's spirit. The energy flows to him and through his body, into the wraith blade in his right hand. The Soul Reaver is imbued with splendid, transfiguring flames, as Ariel's spirit is consumed.[Defiance/12]
- Raziel returns to Janos in the Council Chamber. The collapse of the Pillars creates a dimensional rift that spreads across the land. A blast wave radiates out from the falling Pillars, tearing across the landscape. Raziel recoils, and Janos stiffens as the blast strikes the Citadel. As Janos recovers, he is changed. His body is now inhabited by a different entity – the Hylden Lord. The Hylden Lord makes to leave the chamber, but Raziel blocks him, flourishing the wraith blade.[Defiance/12]
- Raziel is defeated by the Hylden Lord Possessed Janos. The Hylden Lord departs, using Janos' body as his vehicle. His health completely depleted, Raziel is shunted back to the Spirit Forge, once more at the foot of the Elder God.[Defiance/12]
The era following Blood Omen[]
- The Elder God resurrects Moebius from dying at the hands of Blood Omen-era Kain, and summons him to the Vampire Citadel.
- Soul Reaver-era Kain awakes in the Demon Realm.[Defiance/13]
- Kain escapes the Demon Realm, departs from Avernus via bat-flight, and arrives at the Vampire Citadel.[Defiance/13]
The purification of Kain[]
The fall of the Vampire hero
Redeemer and Destroyer
- Kain returns to the Spirit Forge and kills Moebius.[Defiance/13]
- Raziel finishes Moebius in Spectral. Mirroring Kain's recent act, Raziel pulls the wraith-blade from Moebius -- then, opening his cowl, he devours Moebius' soul, thus delivering him to the Elder God.[Defiance/13]
- Before the Elder God realizes his intentions, Raziel becomes dissolute and projects his soul energy into Moebius' corpse.[Defiance/13]
- Suddenly Moebius' corpse comes alive again -- Kain turns as he sees Moebius rising menacingly once more behind him. Kain reflexively brings up the Reaver and impales Moebius through the chest once again. Then Moebius transforms, and Kain sees that it's Raziel impaled on the blade -- just as Raziel's soul begins to leech out through the sword and into Kain, through Kain, and into the Reaver.[Defiance/13]
- Kain resists, but Raziel pulls himself farther onto the blade, and puts his right hand over Kain's wounded chest. We see the purifying energy of the Spirit Reaver pass through Raziel and into Kain at this point, and we see the wound heal. [Defiance/13]
- Raziel fades as his soul is consumed completely, passing through Kain's body into what is now, finally, the Soul Reaver.[Defiance/13]
- Kain battles the Elder God.[Defiance/13]
- Kain defeats the Elder God, and steps free from the chamber just as the walls around him begin to collapse.[Defiance/13]
- Kain enters the Citadel Council Chamber, overlooking the Nosgoth landscape and the smoldering wreck of the Pillars in the distance.[Defiance/13]
- The Hylden Lord uses the body of Janos in order to open the Hylden Gate. Once the Gate is opened, the Hylden can enter the Material Realm directly, and so Janos is placed in the Device.
- As the spiritual health of the land declines, the barriers between the Realms are weakened, and become more easily permeable. Slowly Nosgoth begins to be overrun with dark creatures from outside the bounds of normal reality. The demons plaguing the land are able to rip through from the Demon Realm into the physical world of Nosgoth at will.
- With the vampire threat exterminated, Moebius's mercenary army evolves and turns their attention to the demons now menacing Nosgoth. The demon hunters are more skilled and aggressive than their ancestors.
- Mutants evolve in the decades following Kain's fateful decision at the Pillars.
- over a century after Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
- ← ...from the history preceding Blood Omen As Raziel exits the Stronghold time-streaming chamber, he realizes that Moebius has deceived him. Rather than arriving in Nosgoth's past, he has been propelled into its ghastly future. The Stronghold is derelict, abandoned and overrun by demons.[Soul Reaver 2/5]
- Raziel sees memorials commemorating Moebius's murder at Kain's hands, and the climax of the vampire purge – Vorador's execution.
- As he works his way through this nightmare Stronghold, Raziel encounters the spectre of Moebius, dead now for a century following his murder at Kain's hands. This isn't really Moebius' ghost – this is past-Moebius who has traveled forward in time to deceive and influence Raziel. He's masquerading as a ghost.[Soul Reaver 2/5]
- Stranded now in Nosgoth's nightmarish future, Raziel enters the ruined Pillars clearing for the first time, and sees the devastation wrought by Kain's fateful decision at the Pillars a century ago. In the gloom, Raziel meets the spectre of Ariel drifting restlessly among the toppled Pillars.[Soul Reaver 2/5]
- Raziel enters the subterranean Pillars grotto for the first time in this future era, and encounters the Elder God a third time. He is shocked to discover how the Elder God has encroached into the chamber – its tentacles are wrapped chokingly around the shattered, broken Pillars, and the room's murals have been nearly obliterated, almost completely obscured by the spiral "footprints" of its grasping limbs.[Soul Reaver 2/5]
- Returning to the swamp in the future era, Raziel comments on the still-sealed entrance to the time-streaming chamber.[Soul Reaver 2/5]
- Raziel enters the ruined village of Uschtenheim for the first time.[Soul Reaver 2/5]
- Raziel enters the canyon, and meets Soul Reaver-era Kain at the ruins of Janos Audron's Retreat – in this era, the majestic facades of the Vampires' ancient cliff-dwellings are collapsed and toppled.[Soul Reaver 2/5]
- Raziel forges the Reaver with the elemental power of Air and realizes he can now break open certain barriers.[Soul Reaver 2/6]
- Raziel activates the time-streaming device in the Swamp.[Soul Reaver 2/7] to Nosgoth's early history... →
Vorador's resurrection[]
- Vorador returns from the grave.
- Vorador creates a new race of vampires, and from that race, Kain becomes the powerful commander of an army of vampires fixated on ruling the Land of Nosgoth.
- Umah is sired by Vorador. Sebastian, Marcus, Faustus, and Magnus are sired by Vorador or his descendants.
- Sebastian, Faustus, and Magnus join Kain's army.
- Kain asks Marcus to fight at his side as he wages war upon Nosgoth. Marcus declines. Kain strikes Marcus down, and presumes him dead, but Marcus crawls from his haven and flees into hiding.
- The Hylden Lord uses his magic to draw other Hylden through, but has not yet the power to begin a full invasion. He requires an army, and humans to drain of energy. He learns of a legendary order whose purpose was to purge the world of vampires long ago. He revives this order, and the Sarafan are born again.
- roughly 200 years after Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
The vampire-Sarafan war[]
The vampire-Sarafan war
The vampire-Sarafan war
The vampire-Sarafan war
- In response to Kain's ascension to power, the revived Sarafan appear in the land. The Sarafan are a group of militant and zealot humans led by the Hylden Lord. Determined to wipe out the vampire scourge, the Sarafan clash with Kain's army over decades of blood-stained and internal conflict.
- Kain's army conquers Ziegsturhl, Freeport, and Provance.
- Sebastian sells himself to the Sarafan. He arranges the ambush that destroys Kain's army, dealing him the blow that costs him the war.
- Magnus leaves Kain's camp in the night, and tries to kill the Hylden Lord alone. He is struck down. The Hylden Lord uses magic to take his mind, and transports him to the Eternal Prison.
- Eventually, the war ends when the Sarafan triumphantly defeat Kain's army. In the final battle, the Hylden Lord defeats Kain in mortal combat, strips him of the Soul Reaver, and tosses him off a cliff into an abyss of apparent demise.
- When the Sarafan prove victorious, Marcus and Faustus offer themselves to the winning side.
- When Kain's torn body is found, it is revived and brought to the capital of Nosgoth, the city of Meridian. In the two centuries that Kain is dormant in hibernation, the Sarafan rise and take fascist control over most of Nosgoth. Far from the great empire they once embodied, the Vampires now exist only as a small resistance to the Sarafan, called the Cabal, in Meridian.
- 400 years after Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
- It is into this resistance that Kain emerges and is now, by brotherhood and lust for vengeance, a part of. The ambition of the resistance is simple: slay the Hylden Lord, and the Sarafan Order will crumble.
- Because the Sarafan have no knowledge of Kain's existence, he is the perfect agent to locate and kill the Hylden Lord. Kain agrees to help the Cabal for the time being, until which time he sees fit to follow his own agenda, and seek revenge at all cost.
- Kain wakes from his long hibernation in the Slums of Meridian, and meets Umah. Umah introduces him to life in Nosgoth under Sarafan rule. They become separated, and Kain is left to travel through the Smuggler's Den.[Blood Omen 2/1]
- Kain meets Faustus in the Smuggler's Den. He kills Faustus, and absorbs his Jump Dark Gift.[Blood Omen 2/2]
- Kain exits the Smuggler's Den and arrives in the Lower City.[Blood Omen 2/3]
- Kain negotiates the Lower City, and encounters, but fails to recognize, Sebastian.[Blood Omen 2/3]
- Kain finds Sanctuary, hiding within a Curio shop in the Lower City, and meets Vorador.[Blood Omen 2/3]
- In the Upper City, Kain meets Marcus.[Blood Omen 2/4]
- Umah investigates the Industrial Quarter, discovering the Nexus Stone in the Main Factory before being captured by guards. She is taken to the Sarafan Keep for impending public execution.[Blood Omen 2/3][Blood Omen 2/6]
- Charged with Umah's rescue, Kain travels to the Upper City to find the Bishop of Meridian. He is accosted by Marcus. They fight in Meridian Cathedral, and Marcus is killed. Kain absorbs his veins to obtain the Charm Dark Gift.[Blood Omen 2/4]
- Infiltrating the Sarafan Keep, Kain rescues Umah. Before they can leave, they are confronted by the Hylden Lord. Umah teleports them safely back to Sanctuary at the last minute.[Blood Omen 2/5]
- Kain infiltrates the Industrial Quarter and obtains the Nexus Stone in the Main Factory, killing Sebastian to obtain the Berserk Dark Gift. The Main Factory explodes, but Kain is saved by the Bald Cabal vampire.[Blood Omen 2/6]
- At Vorador's direction, Kain traverses the Canyons in search of the Seer. She allows him to drink her blood, and he gains the Telekinesis Dark Gift. The Hylden Lord attacks the Seer's Cottage, and the Seer teleports Kain to the Device, where he meets the Beast (Janos Audron).[Blood Omen 2/7]
- Following the Beast's advice, Kain journeys to the Eternal Prison and slays the Builder, drinking his blood. Before leaving, he kills the insane Magnus, and obtains the Immolate Dark Gift.[Blood Omen 2/8]
- Kain descends into the heart of the Device, and uses the Builder's blood to poison the Mass. Janos is restored to his natural form, and teleports himself and Kain to Sanctuary as the Device ruptures.[Blood Omen 2/9]
- The Cabal agrees to launch a final attack on the Hylden City. Kain and Umah travel to the Wharves, and Umah - fearing his lust for absolute power - steals the Nexus Stone from him. Believing Umah to be another Sarafan spy, Kain kills her and retrieves the Stone.[Blood Omen 2/10]
The fall of the Hylden Lord[]
- Kain infiltrates the Hylden City and destroys the Shield Guardian, enabling Vorador and Janos to join him. Kain and Vorador argue over Umah's death, but the Cabal is ambushed by the Hylden Lord. Janos tends to Vorador while Kain pursues the Hylden Lord.[Blood Omen 2/11]
- Kain reaches the Hylden Gate and confronts the Hylden Lord before it.[Blood Omen 2/11]
- Kain takes the Nexus Stone, and hurtles it into the Gate. The Gate proceeds, ever so slowly, to implode. The Hylden Lord attacks Kain with the Soul Reaver.[Blood Omen 2/11]
- Janos intercedes as Kain is fighting the Hylden Lord. The Hylden Lord attacks Janos, trying to drive him into the Gate. Janos closes, grapples with him, and sends the Soul Reaver sprawling. Kain picks up the Soul Reaver. The Hylden Lord casts Janos into the Gate.[Blood Omen 2/11]
- Kain dispatches the Hylden Lord with the Soul Reaver, as the Hylden Gate is destroyed in a final implosion. The Glyph magic dies, the Hylden perish, and the Gate collapses into itself and disappears.[Blood Omen 2/11]
- roughly 500 years after Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
The raising of the lieutenants[]
The vampire lieutenant Melchiah
- With intentional irony, Kain sets the ruined Pillars as the symbolic seat of his fledgling empire, with the unrestored Balance Pillar as the base of his throne.
- Kain establishes his empire by recruiting six lieutenants.
- Kain, raised by necromancy, cannot "turn" a vampire via the traditional blood gift. By breathing a small portion of his vampire soul into a corpse, he draws the corpse's soul back into the body - the corpse is then revived as a fledgling vampire.
- In an act of calculated blasphemy, Kain raids the ancient tomb of the six martyred Sarafan commanders. Their well-entombed corpses - though long dead - have been spared the corruption of the grave. Going from crypt to crypt, he breathes his revivifying gift into each of the desiccated Sarafan knights in turn. Thus he raises his six first-born vampiric "sons" to become the Lieutenants of his fledgling empire.
- Raziel is raised first, and thus receives the greatest portion of Kain's gift. The six lieutenants have been too long dead to remember much of their human lives; they are ignorant of their Sarafan roots, or of Kain's blasphemous private joke.
- But the Pillars, Kain ultimately realizes, were more than just a human edifice - the health of the Pillars was tied inextricably into the health of the land. With the Pillars left unrestored, corruption seeps slowly into the land like a poison, turning his empire into an irredeemable wasteland.
The events of Soul Reaver[]
Kain's empire
The vampire lieutenant Zephon
The vampire lieutenant Rahab
The vampire lieutenant Dumah
- Kain's empire grows. The six lieutenants recruit clans of their own, "turning" the corpses of their human victims to do their bidding.
The taming of the humans[]
- The destruction of the major human Kingdoms is inevitable. Within a hundred years, humanity is thoroughly domesticated. Some feral humans remain scattered across the hinterlands, clinging to their hopeless holy war to rid Nosgoth of 'the vampire scourge'. They are tolerated. They make existence for the fledglings more challenging.
- After the taming of the humans, the vampires' real work begins; shaping Nosgoth to their will. Around the Pillars, slaves construct a shrine worthy of their new age and renaissance. Huge furnaces are built to belch smoke into the sky, shielding the land from the poisonous effects of the sun.
- The lieutenants allow the remains of the legions, the lesser vampires, to have their intrigues. They provide amusement and spice to an increasingly uninspired court. As faction falls against faction they bet upon the outcome. They help and foil plots at their whim. They are the Council and Lord Kain, their only master.
- 1500 years after Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
Raziel's execution[]
Raziel's execution
Raziel's execution and resurrection
- Over the centuries, each of the vampires undergoes a series of evolutionary adaptations. These evolutionary "growth spurts" are preceded by a quiescent, near-hibernatory period of retreat, from which the vampire emerges transformed.
- Raziel emerges from one of these evolutionary hibernations having grown wings. He returns to the Sanctuary of the Clans to present himself to Kain, and reveal his latest gift.
- Kain, in an apparent act of jealousy, tears the wings from Raziel's back, and orders Raziel to be cast into the Abyss. His motives are unclear, but this is clearly more than just punishment for Raziel's "evolutionary treachery".
- 2000 years after Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
Raziel's resurrection[]
The deaths of Melchiah and Zephon
Raziel's pursuit of Kain
- Raziel's body is destroyed as he falls through the endless maelstrom of the Abyss. As he drifts to the bottom of the whirlpool, he is met by the disembodied voice of a preternaturally ancient god, dwelling in the depths of the Abyss. With this Elder God as his new benefactor, Raziel is transformed into a devourer of souls – and like Kain before him, is released back into the world in order to take his vengeance.[Soul Reaver/1]
- Raziel uses a material-plane portal for the first time, and first sees the devolved vampires of this new Nosgoth.[Soul Reaver/2]
- Raziel enters the courtyard of the Sanctuary of the Clans, reduced to ruin. This is Raziel's first real revelation as to how much time has passed between his execution and resurrection.[Soul Reaver/2]
- Raziel discovers that his clan has apparently been wiped out – the city that they once occupied is desolate, clearly abandoned for centuries.[Soul Reaver/3]
- Exploring the western ruins of his clan territory, Raziel spies a band of creatures that he has not yet encountered. Seeing the ransacked graves and crypts, Raziel realizes that the Melchahim have robbed the graves of the Necropolis to recruit new vampires.[Soul Reaver/4]
- After encountering the decayed, ghoulish Melchahim, and after having recognized Melchiah’s clan symbols scrawled throughout the Necropolis, Raziel realizes that these zombie-like creatures are actually the children of his former brother, Melchiah.[Soul Reaver/4]
- By the time Raziel reaches the depths of the Necropolis, he has seen the degradation of the Melchahim, which further confirms for him that the world has gone to hell. But it’s still a shock when Raziel finally confronts his brother Melchiah – even after everything he’s seen, he’s not prepared for Melchiah’s monstrous appearance. It’s a powerful indication that their vampire evolution took a frightening turn after his execution.[Soul Reaver/5]
- Raziel devours Melchiah's soul.[Soul Reaver/5]
- Raziel confronts Kain within the ruins of the Pillars sanctuary; Kain attacks Raziel with the Soul Reaver, his ancient sword - the blade is destroyed on impact. Now a wraith blade, the Soul Reaver intertwines with Raziel and becomes his symbiotic weapon.[Soul Reaver/6]
- Having worked his way to the top of the Silenced Cathedral, Raziel finally enters the lair of Zephon, another of his former brothers and fellow lieutenants. Zephon is completely grotesque, with few vestiges of his humanity remaining – his body is inhumanly thin and insectile, his skin chitinous; his arms are distorted into praying-mantislike stabbing claws. His body is tethered to the ceiling and surrounding walls by masses of webbing. Only his face reveals his original humanity.[Soul Reaver/8]
- Raziel defeats Zephon, devouring his soul.[Soul Reaver/8]
- The threshold guardian inside the Tomb of Sarafan guards a relic which bestows the Force projectile ability on Raziel, once the guardian is destroyed.[Soul Reaver/9]
- Raziel defeats the Tomb Guardian, and receives the Force projectile ability.[Soul Reaver/9]
- Raziel finds Rahab at the center of the drowned abbey, nestled in the chapter house in the center of the courtyard. Rahab is massive, and so devolved that he appears more like an amphibious monster than the man he used to be. His human features are still vaguely recognizable, and a few remnants of his human anatomy are evident – in his powerful arms, and the shriveled, vestigial legs suspended from his torso.[Soul Reaver/11]
- Upon Rahab's defeat, Raziel is infused with Rahab's soul, overcoming his former vulnerability to water's touch.[Soul Reaver/11]
- Raziel discovers the Fire Forge, and baptizes the Soul Reaver in its elemental fire.
- Raziel travels to the Ruined City of the Dumahim, in order to confront Dumah, another of his brothers. Upon arriving, however, he is shocked to discover that Dumah’s citadel, like his, is a ghost town – there are long-dead vampire corpses scattered everywhere, impaled and burned, and the walls of Dumah’s city have been torched. Although he doesn’t realize it yet, the Dumahim were victims of a vampire-hunter raid, centuries ago, from the adjoining human city.[Soul Reaver/12]
- After working his way through the city, Raziel finally steps into Dumah’s throne room. The corpse of Dumah slouches on its throne, impaled by multiple spears.[Soul Reaver/13]
- If Raziel goes into spectral first, he encounters the spirit of Dumah haunting the throne room, waiting for an opportunity to reinhabit its body. Centuries in the spectral plane have made Dumah a formidable enemy – he cannot be defeated in the spirit world by any means.[Soul Reaver/13]
- Ironically, there is no way for Raziel to defeat Dumah without first reanimating his corpse. Back in the material plane, Raziel must pull the multiple spears out of Dumah’s body to revive him.[Soul Reaver/13]
- Raziel successfully immolates Dumah in the furnace room, defeating him (earning the constrict ability).[Soul Reaver/13]
- North of the Dumahim City, Raziel discovers a trail leading into the mountains. It winds around, opening onto the entrance of the Oracle’s Cave. Raziel discovers the long-hidden entrance to the Oracle’s chamber.[Soul Reaver/14]
- Once inside, Raziel comes upon a statue of Moebius, the Time Streamer.[Soul Reaver/14]
- In the depths of Moebius’ time-streaming apparatus, Raziel discovers a series of portals displaying scenes of past and apparently future events. As he descends, passing these various scenes, he reflects on the images confronting him. The images in the portals imply that the events he’s experienced – and those still to come – have all been predestined.[Soul Reaver/14]
- The first portal shows Raziel reviving in the Underworld, after being executed by Kain.[Soul Reaver/14]
- A second portal displays Raziel’s discovery of the Tomb of Sarafan, and his origins.[Soul Reaver/14]
- A third portal shows the Soul Reaver being shattered during the confrontation between Kain and Raziel (as Kain prepares to destroy Raziel with the blade).[Soul Reaver/14]
- The next portal shows Raziel confronting Kain at some future time, in an unfamiliar setting.[Soul Reaver/14]
- Another portal shows Raziel striking Ariel down with the Soul Reaver (an event which has not yet occurred).[Soul Reaver/14]
- A final portal shows Raziel armed with an enhanced Soul Reaver, its blade writhing with intertwined black and red energies.[Soul Reaver/14]
- After having worked his way down into the depths of Moebius’ complex, he comes across the “heart” of Moebius’ time-streaming device – the Chronoplast room. Kain reveals himself, stepping out from the shadows of the room.[Soul Reaver/15][Soul Reaver 2/Prologue]
- Raziel pursues Kain through Moebius's ancient Chronoplast time portal, and is plunged into Nosgoth's past.[Soul Reaver/15][Soul Reaver 2/Prologue] to the history preceding Blood Omen... →
Nosgoth's latest history[]
The Scion of Balance
- Turel is summoned back in time, and used by the Hylden to command the Cenobites of Avernus, in order to further their final cause of toppling the Pillars.
- The Spirit Forge summons every Balance Guardian to itself. Ariel's spirit, united with the souls of her predecessors, is drawn back in time for the final baptism of the Wraith Blade.
- Now armed for his true endeavor, the Scion of Balance is destined to return the Pillars to vampiric rule. The coin is still turning, and the Legacy of Kain continues...
Before recorded history[]
- The genesis of the Pillars of Nosgoth – the nine Pillars (representing Mind, Dimension, Conflict, Nature, Energy, Time, States, Death, and – at the center of all of them – Balance) which are intrinsically and supernaturally tied to the spiritual and physical health of the land.
- The formation of the Circle of Nine – a body of sorcerers entrusted with the safekeeping of the Pillars, each sorcerer serving a Pillar and representing the principle it embodies.
- Just as the origin of the Pillars is lost to history, the genesis of the Circle of Nine is also unknown. As long as the Pillars have existed, there has been a body of sorcerers sworn to protect them. When a member dies, the supernatural force behind the Pillars calls a worthy successor, who is destined from birth to fulfill that role.
- The Soul Reaver is forged
- The era of Janos Audron – reputed to have been the greatest vampire that ever lived.
- The human Vorador is born
- Vorador becomes a vampire
Nosgoth's early history – (centuries before the events of BO:LoK)[]
- The vampire races increase – some clans prey indiscriminately upon humans, attracting the attention of the Circle.
- The human Raziel is born
- The formation of the Sarafan, and the crusade to counter the perceived "vampire menace".
- The Sarafan were a monastic order of warrior-priests, whose singular cause was the eradication of the vampires "plaguing" Nosgoth. The Sarafan order was formed by the Circle of Nine (the oligarchy of sorcerers sworn to protect Nosgoth).
- The Vampire Purges – thousands of vampires are exterminated at the hands of the Sarafan.
- The Sarafan hunt down and destroy the various enclaves of vampires, using inquisitorial tactics. They use torture to extract information about other vampires' locations – promising their victims an easy death in return for information.
- The death of Janos Audron – he is murdered, his heart torn "throbbing and bleeding" from his living body.
- Vorador takes his revenge upon the Circle, for their sponsorship of the Sarafan crusade.
- Vorador infiltrates the stronghold of the Circle of Nine and murders six of the sorcerers, before humiliating the Sarafan general Malek (the Guardian of Conflict) in combat.
- The necromancer Mortanius (one of the surviving Circle members, and the Guardian of Death) punishes Malek for his failure to protect the Circle, by fusing his soul into a magical suit of armor. Malek, now disembodied and immortal, is thus damned to serve and protect the Circle (and represent the Pillar of Conflict) for eternity.
- The death of the Sarafan commanders – Raziel, Turel, Dumah, Rahab, Zephon, and Melchiah – who are entombed as heroic martyrs.
- The Pillars cull new successors to take the place of the fallen sorcerers.
- Disgusted and disillusioned, Vorador retreats from the world of human affairs, ensconcing himself in his remote mansion.
Pre-Blood Omen History – (in the decades before BO:LoK)[]
- 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.
The events of Blood Omen[]
- Mortanius orchestrates Kain's assassination – Mortanius is in control for now; not Hash'ak'gik. In the village of Ziegsturhl, Kain is ambushed by brigands, who murder and cruelly impale him with a sword.
- Kain's body is interred in a crypt west of Ziegsturhl.
- Kain awakens in the underworld, where Mortanius offers to revive him, so that Kain may take revenge upon his assassins. Kain, heedless of the cost, accepts the necromancer's offer. The catch: in order to rejoin the world of the living, Kain is reborn as a vampire.
- Kain awakens in his mausoleum, and begins his "unlife" as a vampire.
- Kain finds his assassins and kills them, getting his revenge – but Mortanius drives him on to the Pillars, saying that the brigands were only the instruments of his murder, not the cause.
- Kain visits the decaying Pillars for the first time, meets the spectre Ariel, and learns the nature of his quest. The Circle – the sorcerers poisoning Nosgoth – must be destroyed for the land to be healed and the Pillars righted. Kain wants only to be cured of his vampirism – Ariel promises him release (and peace) when the Balance is restored.
- Following Ariel's direction, Kain hunts down and kills the Circle members one by one, returning the "tokens" of their service in order to heal each Pillar in turn. The mentalist Nupraptor is Kain's first victim.
- Kain confronts the immortal warrior Malek in his frozen, bleak stronghold, but Malek eludes him.
- Kain meets the Oracle of Nosgoth, a reclusive soothsayer who holds court in the arctic caves of the northern mountains.
- The Oracle warns Kain of the legions of the Nemesis attacking from the north, of the bereaved King Ottmar of Willendorf, helpless to withstand their attack. He gives Kain some of Malek's history, including his defeat centuries ago at the hands of the vampire Vorador. Kain, intrigued, asks for more information about Vorador – the Oracle directs him to Vorador's mansion.
- The Oracle is in fact Moebius the Time Streamer, member of the Circle of Nine (representing the Pillar of Time). He uses the guise of the Oracle to influence pilgrims and orchestrate events. Kain only learns much later how much of his quest was manipulated by Moebius.
- Kain meets Vorador, Nosgoth's oldest and most-evolved vampire.
- Vorador recounts the stories of the Sarafan vampire purges, and his revenge upon the Circle and Malek. He warns Kain not to meddle in the affairs of men, and offers him a ring by which Kain may summon Vorador if he is ever in need of his assistance.
- Kain travels north to "Dark Eden", a twisted corruption of nature created by a triumvirate of the deranged sorcerers – Bane, DeJoule and Anarcrothe, the Guardians of Nature, Energy and States (respectively).
- When Kain confronts the sorcerers, Anarcrothe summons Malek and makes his own escape. Outnumbered, Kain summons Vorador – Malek's ancient enemy. While they battle, Kain pursues the fleeing Bane and DeJoule – whom he subsequently defeats in combat.
- When he returns to the scene of the confrontation between Malek and Vorador, Kain finds that Vorador has been the victor. Vorador is gone, but Malek has been destroyed.
- Kain returns the defeated sorcerers' tokens to the Pillars – now four have been healed. Ariel instructs him to seek Azimuth the Planer (the Pillar of Dimension) in the heart of Avernus Cathedral.
- Kain travels to Avernus – Nosgoth's largest city, ruled as a religious autocracy from the great cathedral that sits at the center of the city. He discovers the city in flames, assaulted by a plague of demons summoned by the deranged Azimuth from other dimensions.
- In his pursuit of Azimuth, Kain must ascend into the heights of the cathedral, and the hellish depths of the catacombs below. Along the way he discovers and claims the Soul Reaver blade, conveniently hidden away in the upper reaches of the Cathedral.
- During his exploration of the great cathedral, Kain also discovers a hidden altar room – like a corruption at the heart of the apparently pristine and wholesome cathedral. This is an altar to the dark entity Hash'ak'gik – a tome open on the altar describes bloody acts of human sacrifice.
- Kain confronts and defeats the planer Azimuth, and reclaims her token. He also discovers a mysterious Time Streaming Device, which Azimuth has apparently stolen from Moebius (the Guardian of Time).
- In fact, Moebius has planted the Time Streaming Device here by allowing Azimuth to steal it. He is orchestrating events so that Kain will discover and claim the device.
- Kain returns to the Pillars and rights the Pillar of Dimension. Ariel warns him of the impending assault from the Nemesis armies to the north, and that Willendorf is next in their path. She tells him of the Nemesis, how this tyrant was once William the Just, a kind and benevolent king.
- Kain continues on to Willendorf, to rouse King Ottmar into battle against the Legions of the Nemesis.
- Ottmar has become an ineffectual king, lost in grief over his daughter who lies in a comatose state. A minor sorcerer called Elzevir the Dollmaker has stolen her soul. To rouse the King, Kain embarks on a side-quest to recover the princess' soul. With his daughter recovered, Ottmar rallies his army and launches an attack against the approaching Legions.
- Kain joins Ottmar's army at the Battle of the Last Stand – but the battle is hopeless, and Ottmar's army is decimated. Kain escapes the battlefield by activating the mysterious Time Streaming Device he found in Avernus Cathedral.
- Suddenly, Kain finds himself in a peaceful field, the carnage of the battlefield erased – he knows he has traveled to a different time, but doesn't know when in time he is. The Time Streaming Device lies in ruins at his feet.
- Traveling on, he encounters and kills a man-at-arms – as he drinks the victim's blood, he receives a telepathic image of recent events in the man's memory. Moebius addresses a crowd, exhorting them against some unnamed evil, and urging them to take him to their king.
- As he continues on, Kain realizes that he has traveled nearly 50 years into Nosgoth's past, to a time before William the Just had become the megalomaniac tyrant known as the Nemesis. He infiltrates William's castle, and overhears a conversation between Moebius and the young King – Moebius has armed William with the Soul Reaver, and warned him of a vampire coming to assassinate him.
- Kain confronts William, each of them armed with the Soul Reaver (incarnations of the same weapon at different periods of time). Kain is victorious, and he triumphantly drinks the blood of the fallen king – this is witnessed by the king's guards, come to aid their martyred ruler.
- Kain conveniently discovers another Time Streaming Device (also planted by Moebius, of course), and escapes back into the future – secure in his belief that he has thwarted Moebius's machinations by removing his pawn William from the game. With William dead, there will be no Nemesis army to lay waste to Nosgoth.
- Upon returning to the future, however, Kain discovers that his actions have dramatically altered the course of Nosgoth's history.
- Following the scent of fresh blood, he comes upon the scene of a public execution – Moebius addresses a crowd of bloodthirsty villagers and vampire hunters. Kain arrives just in time to witness the climax of their little gathering – Vorador, the last of Nosgoth's vampires, is guillotined and his head held aloft for the cheering crowd.
- Kain now realizes the impact of his actions, and how he has been manipulated by Moebius from the start. By going back in time and influencing William, Moebius perverted the just king into a power-hungry tyrant. Then he sends Kain back nearly 50 years in time, knowing that Kain will try to prevent the Nemesis' future devastations by murdering the king before he can become a tyrant. Moebius knew that the murder of the beloved king at the hands of a vampire would ignite a genocidal hatred of vampires among the citizens of Nosgoth.
- So, through all these acts, Moebius orchestrated and engineered the vampire genocide which Kain witnesses upon his return to the present. And Kain, albeit inadvertently, is directly responsible for the extinction of the vampires and the execution of his erstwhile mentor Vorador.
- Kain confronts Moebius and – fitting retribution – lops off his head with his sword. Upon claiming Moebius's token, Kain is instructed by Mortanius's disembodied voice to return the Pillars.
- Kain arrives at the Pillars just in time to witness the confrontation between Mortanius and Anarcrothe.
- Anarcrothe accuses Mortanius of betraying the Circle by turning Kain into a vampire and setting him against them.
- Mortanius replies that the Circle is irredeemably corrupt and must be destroyed. Anarcrothe challenges Mortanius, and is killed.
- Kain reveals himself to Mortanius, stating that if the Circle is to be destroyed, then Mortanius himself must die. Mortanius agrees, saying he will embrace death, and engages Kain in combat. Mid-battle, Mortanius' form begins to change as the dark entity, now fully in possession of Mortanius' body, finally crushes the necromancer's psyche. Before Kain's eyes, Mortanius' body dissolves into the massive, demonic form of the dark entity, Hash'ak'gik.
- Hash'ak'gik taunts Kain, saying that Kain has been no more than a pawn, and that all of the preceding events have been orchestrated from the beginning. Kain launches himself at Hash'ak'gik, and using the Soul Reaver, manages to defeat him. It's not clear, however, whether Hash'ak'gik has been destroyed or merely dispelled.
- Kain uses the recovered tokens to heal the remaining Pillars, leaving only the Balance Pillar still corrupted.
- Ariel appears and reveals to Kain that he himself is the Pillar of Balance, and that the only way the Pillars can be healed is for him to sacrifice himself – as the last of the Circle – to the Pillar. She presents him with the final, climactic decision — sacrifice himself to heal the world, or refuse the sacrifice and ensure the world's corruption.
- Kain chooses the latter path, deciding to rule the world in its damnation rather than commit himself to oblivion. This apocalyptic act completes the Pillars' destruction – the Pillars topple as Kain seals their ruinous fate. He concludes with the epiphany that Vorador was right – that vampirism is not a curse but a blessing; that the vampires are dark gods whose duty it is to thin the human herd.
After Blood Omen (centuries later)[]
- Kain, appreciating the irony of his decision, sets the ruined Pillars as the seat of his fledgling empire, with the unrestored Balance Pillar as the base of his throne.
- Kain establishes his empire by recruiting six lieutenants.
- Kain, raised by necromancy, cannot "turn" a vampire via the traditional blood gift. By breathing a small portion of his vampire soul into a corpse, he draws the corpse's soul back into the body – the corpse is then revived as a fledgling vampire.
- In an act of calculated blasphemy, Kain raids the tomb of the six martyred Sarafan commanders. Their well-entombed corpses – though long dead – have been spared the corruption of the grave. Going from crypt to crypt, he breathes his reviving gift into each of the Sarafan corpses in turn. Thus he raises his six first-born "sons" as the lieutenants of his fledgling empire.
- Raziel is raised first, and thus receives the greatest portion of Kain's gift. The six lieutenants have been too long dead to remember much of their human lives; they are ignorant of their Sarafan roots, or of Kain's blasphemous private joke.
- Kain's empire grows. The six lieutenants recruit clans of their own, "turning" the corpses of their human victims.
- Over the centuries, each of the vampires undergoes a series of evolutionary adaptations. These evolutionary "growth spurts" are preceded by a quiescent period of retreat, from which the vampire emerges transformed.
- Raziel emerges from one of these evolutionary hibernations having grown wings. He returns to the Sanctuary of the Clans to present himself to Kain, and reveal his latest gift.
- Kain, in an apparent act of jealousy, tears the wings from Raziel's back, and orders Raziel to be cast into the Abyss. His motives are unclear, but this is clearly more than just punishment for Raziel's "evolutionary treachery".
- Raziel's body is destroyed as he falls through the endless maelstrom of the Abyss. As he drifts to the bottom of the whirlpool, he is met by the disembodied voice of a preternaturally ancient god, dwelling in the depths of the Abyss. With this Elder God as his new benefactor, Raziel is transformed into a devourer of souls – and like Kain before him, is released back into the world in order to take his vengeance.
- The events of Soul Reaver follow —
- Including the confrontation with Kain at the Pillars, the destruction of the Soul Reaver as it impacts Raziel's body, and the symbiotic/parasitic attachment of the wraith blade as it intertwines with Raziel.
Before Nosgoth's Recorded History[]
- genesis of the Pillars of Nosgoth
- formation of the Circle of Nine, sorcerer-guardians sworn to protect and serve the Pillars
- the Reaver is forged
Nosgoth's Early History[]
- over 500 years before Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
- Nosgoth's vampire population increases
The Vampire Purge[]
- the order of the Sarafan is formed to counter the vampire menace
- the human Raziel is born, and becomes a Sarafan warrior-priest
- the vampire Vorador slaughters six of the Circle for their sponsorship of the Sarafan crusade
- Raziel of the Sarafan dies in combat, and is entombed with the Sarafan martyrs
- the Sarafan crusade ceases
History preceding BO:LoK[]
- 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
- Mortanius, the Guardian of Death, is possessed by a dark entity
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
Events of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain[]
- in the underworld, the necromancer Mortanius offers Kain the chance to avenge his murder
- Kain accepts the offer, and is reborn as a vampire
- Kain hunts down and destroys the corrupt Circle guardians, restoring each of the Pillars in turn
- Kain meets the ancient vampire Vorador
- Kain discovers the Soul Reaver within Avernus Cathedral, and claims it for his own
- Kain joins forces with King Ottmar's Army of Hope, to confront the Legions of the tyrant Nemesis
- the Armies of Hope are decimated; Kain activates the Time Streaming Device, and is propelled nearly 50 years back in time
Altered Historical Timeline[]
- Kain returns to present-day Nosgoth... and discovers that assassinating William 50 years ago triggered a renewed vampire purge
- Vorador is executed; Kain is the only surviving vampire in Nosgoth
- Kain confronts and kills Moebius, the Guardian of Time
- Kain confronts Mortanius, the final Guardian, at the Pillars
- Mortanius is destroyed as the Dark Entity possessing his body emerges; Kain defeats the Dark Entity in combat
- with Mortanius' death, all but the Balance Pillar are restored
- Kain realizes finally that he is the Balance Guardian, and therefore the last of the Nine
- He must choose between sacrificing himself to heal the world...
- ...or preserving his life and ruling Nosgoth in its damnation
- Kain refuses the sacrifice, ensuring the Pillars' collapse
Era following BO:LoK[]
- the events of Blood Omen 2
- Kain sets the ruined Pillars as the seat of his new empire, and the unrestored Balance Pillar as the base of his throne
- Kain raises his six vampire lieutenants from the corpses of the Sarafan martyrs; Raziel is reborn as a vampire
Events of Soul Reaver[]
- Raziel evolves, growing wings — for this transgression, Raziel is executed by being cast into the Abyss
- Raziel is revived by the mysterious Elder God at the bottom of the Abyss and is reborn as a reaver of souls
- Raziel returns to reap the vampires' apostate souls and take his revenge on his vampire brethren and his creator, Kain
- Raziel confronts Kain within the ruins of the Pillars Sanctuary; Kain attacks Raziel with the Soul Reaver, his ancient sword — the blade is destroyed on impact. Now a wraith blade, the Soul Reaver intertwines with Raziel and becomes his symbiotic weapon.
- Raziel pursues Kain through Moebius's ancient Chronoplast time portal, and is plunged into Nosgoth's past. Soul Reaver 2 begins...
Before recorded history[]
- The genesis of the Pillars of Nosgoth—the nine Pillars that reach high into the skies, and deep into the earth (representing Mind, Dimension, Conflict, Nature, Energy, Time, States, Death, and—at the center of all of them binding them together—Balance) which are intrinsically and supernaturally tied to the spiritual and physical "health" of the land.
- The formation of the Circle of Nine—a body of sorcerers entrusted with the safekeeping of the Pillars, each sorcerer serving one of the Pillars and representing the principle that it embodies. Just as the origin of the Pillars is seemingly lost to history, the genesis of the Circle of Nine is also unknown. As long as the Pillars have existed, there has been a body of sorcerers sworn to protect them. When a member dies, the supernatural force behind the Pillars calls a worthy successor, who is destined from birth to fulfill that role.
- The mystical sword known as the Soul Reaver is forged. Later to have more significance.
- The era of Janos Audron—a creature reputed to have been the greatest vampire that ever lived.
- The human Vorador is born
- Vorador is turned; he becomes a vampire
Nosgoth's early history[]
- The human Raziel is born
- The formation of the Sarafan (a monastic order of warrior-priests, charged with the eradication of the vampires) by the Circle and the crusade to counter the "vampire menace." Raziel, Malek, Turel, Dumah, Rahab, Zephon and Melchiah command the armies.
- The Vampire Purges. Thousands of vampires killed.
- The Sarafan hunt down and destroy the vampires.
- The death of Janos Audron. He is murdered, his heart torn "throbbing and bleeding" from his body.
- Vorador takes his revenge upon the Circle. He infiltrates their stronghold and murders six of the sorcerers, before humiliating the Sarafan general Malek (the Pillar of Conflict) in combat.
- The necromancer Mortanius (one of the surviving Circle members, and the Pillar of Death) punishes Malek for his failure to protect the Circle, by fusing his soul into a magical suit of armor.
- The death of the Sarafan commanders
- The Pillars cull new successors
- Vorador retreats from the world of human affairs, ensconcing himself in his remote mansion.
Pre-Blood Omen history[]
- 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.
The events of Blood Omen[]
- Mortanius orchestrates Kain's assassination—Mortanius is in control for now; not Hash'ak'gik. In the village of Ziegsturhl, Kain is ambushed by brigands, who murder him by impaling him with a sword.
- Kain's body is interred in a crypt west of Ziegsturhl.
- Kain awakens in the underworld, where Mortanius offers to revive him, so that Kain may take revenge upon his assassins. Kain, heedless of the cost, accepts the necromancer's offer. The catch: in order to rejoin the world of the living, Kain is reborn as a vampire.
- Kain awakens, and begins his "unlife" as a vampire.
- Kain finds his assassins and kills them, getting his revenge—but Mortanius drives him on to the Pillars, saying that the brigands were only the instruments of his murder, not the cause.
- Kain visits the decaying Pillars for the first time, meets the spectre Ariel, and learns the nature of his quest. The Circle—the sorcerers poisoning Nosgoth—must be destroyed for the land to be healed and the Pillars righted. Ariel promises him release (and peace) when the Balance is restored.
- Following Ariel's direction, Kain hunts down and kills the Circle members one by one, returning the "tokens" of their service in order to heal each Pillar in turn. The mentalist Nupraptor is Kain's first victim.
- Kain confronts the immortal warrior Malek in his frozen, bleak stronghold, but Malek eludes him.
- Kain meets the Oracle of Nosgoth, a reclusive soothsayer who holds court in the arctic caves.
- The Oracle warns Kain of the legions of the Nemesis attacking from the north, of the bereaved King Ottmar of Willendorf, helpless to withstand their attack. He gives Kain some of Malek's history, including his defeat centuries ago at the hands of the vampire Vorador. Kain, intrigued, asks for more information about Vorador—the Oracle directs him to Vorador's mansion. The Oracle is in fact Moebius the Time Streamer, member of the Circle of Nine (representing the Pillar of Time). He uses the guise of the Oracle to influence pilgrims and orchestrate events.
- Kain meets Vorador, Nosgoth's oldest vampire.
- Vorador recounts the stories of the Sarafan purges, and his revenge upon the Circle and Malek.
- Kain discovers a mysterious Time Streaming Device, planted by Moebius (the Pillar of Time).
- Kain cleanses each of the pillars, leaving only Balance at the end.
- Ariel appears and reveals to Kain that he is the Pillar of Balance, and that the only way the Pillars can be healed is for him to sacrifice himself to the Pillar. She presents him with the final, climactic decision—sacrifice himself to heal the world, or refuse the sacrifice and ensure the world's corruption. Kain chooses the latter path, deciding to rule the world in its damnation rather than commit himself to oblivion.
After Blood Omen[]
- Kain, appreciating the irony of his decision, sets the ruined Pillars as the seat of his fledgling empire, with the unrestored Balance Pillar as the base of his throne. Kain establishes his empire by recruiting six lieutenants. Kain, raised by necromancy, cannot "turn" a vampire via the traditional blood gift. By breathing a small portion of his vampire soul into a corpse, he draws the corpse's soul back into the body—the corpse is then revived as a fledgling vampire. In an act of calculated blasphemy, Kain raids the tomb of the six martyred Sarafan commanders. Their well-entombed corpses—though long dead—have been spared the corruption of the grave. Going from crypt to crypt, he breathes his reviving gift into each of the Sarafan corpses in turn. Thus he raises his six first-born "sons" as the lieutenants of his fledgling empire.
- Raziel is raised first, and thus receives the greatest portion of Kain's gift. The six lieutenants have been too long dead to remember much of their human lives; they are ignorant of their Sarafan roots, or of Kain's blasphemous private joke.
- Kain's empire grows. The six lieutenants recruit clans of their own, "turning" the corpses of their human victims to do their bidding.
- Over the centuries, each of the vampires undergoes a series of evolutionary adaptations. These evolutionary "growth spurts" are preceded by a near-hibernatory period of retreat, from which the vampire emerges transformed.
- Raziel emerges from one of these evolutionary hibernations having grown wings. He returns to the Sanctuary of the Clans to present himself to Kain, and reveal his latest gift...
Notes[]
- It is known that Nosgoth has a recognized epoch, but it cannot be properly integrated with a timeline from the limited information available. In Blood Omen 2, a building in Meridian's Lower City is accompanied by a sign reading "Hill House est. 1246". This is the only time a reference date has been presented in the series, and it is unknown where the year 1246 should be positioned in relation to the games, or how it corresponds to the timeline as a whole.[Blood Omen 2/3] In Legacy of Kain: Defiance, the Hylden Lord declares that the collapse of the Pillars signifies the beginning of a new epoch, but this event takes place only 400 years before Hill House is encountered in Blood Omen 2 - far too soon to relate to the year 0 under the Hill House sign's reckoning.[Defiance/11]
Gallery[]
The official Crystal Dynamics timeline (SR2).
The official Crystal Dynamics timeline (SR2).
The official Crystal Dynamics timeline (SR2).
The official Crystal Dynamics timeline (SR2).
"Chronological Events (as conveyed in BO:LoK and SR)"
"Chronological Events (as conveyed in BO:LoK and SR)"
"Chronological Events (as conveyed in BO:LoK and SR)"
"Chronological Events (as conveyed in BO:LoK and SR)"
The OPSM 'Funk Soul Brother' Timeline
See also[]
- The Arcane Tomes - Volume 2 - Timelines | Legacy of Kain lore at YouTube (by Raina Audron and Bazielim).
- Soul Reaver 2: Historical Timeline at Dark Chronicle (by Ardeth Silvereni).
- The Soul Reaver 2 Timeline at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln).
- The Legacy of Kain Timeline at aradiel.co.uk (by Joseph Dowland).
- The Interactive Legacy Of Kain Timeline at aradiel.co.uk (by Joseph Dowland).
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