The Sanctuary of the Clans was the Council chamber and Throne room of Kain's empire; it was built around the remains of the Pillars of Nosgoth with the Pillar of Balance as the base of Kain's throne, and was seen in Soul Reaver.
The Sanctuary of the Clans was first seen in the Soul Reaver opening video; it was the location of the council meeting where Kain ripped off Raziel's wings and ordered his execution. Raziel would return five centuries later following his execution into the era of Kain's empire, shortly after emerging from the Underworld. He was unable to gain entry to the Sanctuary as the doors and gates were rusted shut, so he continued to the nearby Abyss and onto his Clan territory.
After defeating Melchiah and gaining the Phase Through Gates ability, Raziel was able to enter and found Kain by his throne, apparently awaiting Raziel's return. Raziel confronted Kain and Kain responded by drawing the Reaver blade from its scabbard, after a short battle Kain defeated Raziel and smashed the blade against Raziel, shattering it. Kain was seemingly expecting this outcome and teleported away, his laughter ringing out through the Stronghold. In the Spectral Realm Raziel found the spirit of the blade now in its natural form - the Wraith Blade. During this visit he was also able to find the bound spirit Ariel, who would offer further guidance whenever it was required.
Raziel visited the Sanctuary of the Clans at least once more, shortly after his defeat of Zephon, where his new 'Scale Walls' ability enabled him to climb to the upper balcony and use and exit on his way to the long-hidden Tomb of the Sarafan.
Apocrypha[]
The Sanctuary of the Clans was briefly mentioned in the background materials to multiplayer spin-off Nosgoth, where it was described as "[Kain's] unassailable court in the Heartlands".[1]
Environment[]
The Sanctuary Clan Building[]
The Interior Courtyard[]
The Pillars of Nosgoth[]
Behind the scenes[]
1/30
The Sanctuary of the Clans has several elements that were changed during development and appeared differently in the alpha builds:
The exterior of the building has a different facade and no clan flags are seen. There are no bars to phase through instead a high opening in present in the cliff face nearby, apparently reached by climbing, although a climbing wall is yet to be added to reach the opening. This is one of the factors suggesting that Raziel was intended to visit the Silenced Cathedral before returning to Sanctuary.
The high opening leads to a narrow rocky pass which leads up and follows a subtle water course back to the Sanctuary courtyard - emerging at the top of a small waterfall which appears as dried up in the retail version.
The courtyard appears to have simpler designs - although they do develop between the builds as more Arabian inspired elements are added. No internal structure is present beneath the outer walls. The dome of Sanctuary is visible from the courtyard.
The hexagonal corridors appear to be texting ideas with a number of different designs in succession and only one area resembling the final designs. No gates are present.
The pillars area itself also progresses between builds starting off with unfinished textures and progressing towards an Arabian inspired design. The throne changes with successive builds. The domed ceiling contains several small stained glass windows decorated with clan symbols, but these are replaced by plain windows in later builds, and the final build contains banners with the words ”Long Live Kain”.
The pillars feature some prototype symbols in early builds before the concept of redesigned symbols was abandoned entirely and they were left as coloured bands until - some of these symbols were used on early Soul Reaver 2 promotional images and the proto mind symbol can be seen in the human citadel in an area where the Possession ability seems to have been required .
Neither Kain nor Ariel are present so no boss battle or abilities are given.
The upper corridors leading away from the Pillars bear unfinished textures and these are used for the whole of the outer area in the early builds.
A cave leading to the Sound Glyph altar can be found near the back entrance of Sanctuary - it would be moved beneath the Silenced Cathedral in retail.
Notes[]
The Sanctuary Of The Clans appears to be much bigger and brighter in its presentation in the opening video of Soul Reaver than in its playable counterpart.
Considering the front gate is rusted shut, it can be assumed that the Sanctuary has not seen much in the centuries since Raziel's execution; it is slowly crumbling away as with the rest of Kain's empire by the time of Soul Reaver.
Kain is also observed briefly in a similar room at the opening 'dream' sequence video of Blood Omen 2, although this is not actually the Sanctuary of the Clans. Whether the Sanctuary of the Clans has been built by this stage is unknown, though the Pillars are one of the locations that Kain's vampire army conquers, it is unlikely they had time to do any major building before the army was destroyed by the Sarafan Lord.