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"The ancient tomb of the Sarafan, once impenetrably sealed... Now, ravaged by Nosgoth’s upheavals, its mysteries lay exposed.
In the time of Vorador, centuries before Kain was made, the Sarafan warrior priests waged a merciless war against the vampire tribes of Nosgoth. Emboldened by righteousness, they committed unspeakable and indiscriminate acts of violence - massacring fledglings and ancients alike, they decimated entire bloodlines in mere decades. Now their husks lay here - murderers enshrined."
―Raziel — Listen (file info)[src]

The Tomb of the Sarafan was where the Sarafan warrior-priests Raziel, Turel, Dumah, Rahab, Zephon and Melchiah were buried, following their deaths at the hands of the time travelling wraith Raziel. There was also a named place in the tomb for Malek, although his body was never entombed there.

Profile[]

A thousand years after their burial, Kain broke into the tomb, and resurrected the six Sarafan as his Vampire lieutenants.

The wraith Raziel discovered the tomb in Soul Reaver. He had no memory of his human life as a Sarafan, and was shocked to uncover his past: it was the antithesis of everything he had believed as Kain's firstborn vampire son.

Tomb-mural

The bird mural

Behind the scenes[]

Soul_Reaver_Alpha_-_SarafanTomb

Soul Reaver Alpha - SarafanTomb

(by Raina Audron)

The Tomb has several elements that were changed during development and appeared differently in the alpha builds:

  • In the early alpha builds much of the area leading between the Sanctuary of the Clans and the Tomb has unfinished or placeholder textures, although this is rectified in later builds. The Sound Glyph altar is found here rather than beneath the Silenced Cathedral as in retail.
  • The Tomb exterior is much more ornately decorated than that seen in retail, with a more detailed weathered look to the brickwork and several high statues. The external outcroppings are not present and there are no bars over the door.The corridor encountered upon entering the tomb is also much shorter than that seen in retail, there are no enemies and the textures are unfinished. The block sealing the tomb is also much plainer.
    • In beta versions a plinth decorated with a Sarafan torso is placed outside but this is changed to script in the retail version
  • The main tomb chamber is somewhat simpler than other versions – the surroundings are more patterned than those seen in retail but most of the textures seem plainer and there are no names or individual designs. Additionally there are seven caskets – where Malek's is missing in the retail version. The spectral drop in this chamber doesn't function correctly and crashes the game if stood in the centre of the room.
    • Beta versions will have a similar design but with nameplates and unique illustrations on the individual coffins. By the time of the retail version the coffins are made bare and the nameplates and illustrations are instead placed on the walls behind.
  • The tomb guardian sub-boss is essentially an ordinary Turelim enemy – he has no dialogue, no revived vampire powers and grants no relic or ability. The side passage which leads back up has largely unfinished textures, no enemies and no grate at the top. Interestingly one build has the climbing wall textures replaced by Zephonim webbing – suggesting this may have been considered as a climbing texture at one time.
  • The Chapel passages contain the deleted Sunlight forge. In the retail version it is covered by a stained glass window of an armoured woman riding an armoured bird and only contains two enemies and an eldritch recharge on a distinctive chessboard floor.
  • The Chapel room itself is much smaller in the alpha than in retail, with some differently placed textures. There are also no side doors in the area.
"Okay so the bald lady is supposed to be a SARAFAN priestess. Not the vampire priestess. Following along the lines of the circle members killed in the opening cinematic of BO, I tried to portray the nun/priestesses of the Sarafan as bald. This was the very first room I painted and wanted to tie it in to Blood Omen.
Funny note, when the engineers said we could use different textures in Spectral, I was all about secret meanings being revealed. So that staked texture actually is being used (if I remember right) as the world transforms into spectral. It was meant to show all the death and murder behind the facade of this “holy” place. So the walls were meant to change to reveal the horrible images of hundreds of staked vampire figures. I also put a stained glass that was meant to change to reveal a skeleton behind the stained glass as a similar symbology. Unfortunately the way the gameplay in the chapel works, you never get to see any of it. You go to Spectral and can’t see the image changes. Lol all that work was wasted :p
It was also the first room where I tried to more subtly hide spears in the corners of the fence. It worked great with the fencing and after that the whole environment team stated blending spears more"
―Daniel Cabuco[1]

Notes[]

The entrance stone slab has a different picture in the early beta version. It appears to depict a Sarafan warrior. It is unknown why this texture was changed for a vampiric writing instead. Also in the early beta version, the coffins themselves are placed differently, have names and are fully decorated.

There is a picture of a long-haired blonde woman (presumably) in armor riding a giant bird type creature and holding a sword. What this mural is meant to portend is unknown.

Gallery[]

 

Videos[]

 	Soul_Reaver_Alpha_-_SarafanTomb 	 			    	Legacy_of_Kain_Soul_Reaver_-_Early_Versions_of_the_Sanctuary_of_the_Clans_and_Sarafan_Tomb 	 			  

See also[]

References[]

  1. Icon-Facebook Nosgothic Realm on Facebook (Monday 29th March 2021 by Daniel Cabuco)

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