Sommerdamm was a human settlement in southern Nosgoth on the banks of the Great Southern Sea guarding the southern entrance to Meridian. The settlement was first seen in Nosgoth, appearing in maps of the era and accessible as a playable location.
Sommerdamm was a map area first introduced to the series with the backstory of Nosgoth in 2013, where it was featured on maps of southern and western Nosgoth as a small settlement directly south of Meridian on the coast of the Great Southern Sea. Sommerdamm was subsequently identified as the fourth playable map area.
One of four highly defended self sufficient fort-settlements placed across delicate causeway bridges leading into Nosgoth's capital city Meridian, Sommerdamm was the southern-most of the fort-settlements defending Meridian's entrances.
As Kain's empire began to rise to control the land in the events of Soul Reaver, the Major human kingdoms were routed, Meridian and Sommerdamm among them. Even after its conquest and abandonment by the vampires, the city held a legendary status to the humans as the height of their development and resistance to the vampires; and this reputation served to attract many refugees, soon swelling the population of the city, turning it once again into a major human settlement and allowing much of the city and its defenses to be rebuilt, whilst the vampires were occupied with their own internal struggles.
However, the Council and the warring vampire clans would soon realize the threat caused by the humans and called a truce to put down the humans once again. As the vampires again advanced toward Meridian, Sommerdamm was one of the last of Meridian's defenses to be rebuilt and it was only half completed when the War for Nosgoth began and the siege of Sommerdamm reignited
Notes[]
Sommerdamm is one of four fort-settlements guarding the entrances to Meridian, each of which is named after seasons of the year. Perhaps also following on from previous naming conventions, the name "Sommerdamm" is Germanic and literally translates as "Summer Dam". The other settlements (presumably relating to spring, fall/autumn and winter) were named as Hochburg, Tür des Tages, Winternacht, but their positions were unclear.