Warped precipitation

"From the heavens, the tears of angels danced around me in a frenzy of fire."

―Kain — Listen (file info)

Warped precipitation in the Heaven dungeon

Warped precipitation, also known as The Tears of Angels, was a rare weather phenomenon that could be encountered by Kain in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. Treated as something of an environmental hazard, the fiery rain appeared to consist of falling lava or similar fireball-like projectiles and could only be seen in certain map areas.

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Warped precipitation was only seen in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. Like rain and snow it was a precipitation-based weather phenomenon and was thus governed by a certain amount of chance and timing. However unlike the previous weather-types, the warped precipitations was only able to be encountered in a very small number of locations, meaning it was one of the rarest weather-types that could be experienced.^{[Blood Omen]}

The Fiery rain on the path to Dark Eden

Consisting of a number of red projectiles or droplets that exploded into flame and smoke when they hit the ground along with lightning flashes, the precipitation could first be encountered in the outside areas of Dark Eden as Kain made his way to the Dark Eden Castle to confront the Dark Eden triad. Inside the domed energy of Dark Eden, Kain found a number of warped and mutated lifeforms and found that the rain itself here was also effected. The only other area confirmed to experience warped precipitation was the Heaven dungeon inside Avernus Cathedral which, although appearing as an internal area, was presented as an area high in the clouds and was actually treated as an external area by the game.^{[Blood Omen][Blood Omen/7][Blood Omen/8]}

The warped precipitation was not highly damaging and its pyrotechnic display acted as more of a distraction than a hazard itself. Its rarity also made it less dangerous than previous precipitation.^{[Blood Omen][Blood Omen/7][Blood Omen/8]}

Notes

• The warped precipitation was never named or titled in the course of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and is only vaguely referred to as "the tears of angels" by Kain in dialogue. ^{[Blood Omen][Blood Omen/7][Blood Omen/8]}It is not acknowledged in either version of the manual, the Prima guide or the original recording scripts of Blood Omen ^{[Blood Omen manual (Windows)][Blood Omen strategy guide]} and is only vaguely referred to as "precipitation that has been warped by Circle magic" in stage directions of Blood Omen transcripts. This description also suggests that the precipitation may have been created by the warping of nature in Dark Eden, which explains its presence there - its presence in the Heaven dungeon is less well explained, although Kain does evoke a number of 'heavenly' themes when describing it, along with it fitting the heaven/hell theme of the Avernus Cathedral dungeons.^{[Blood Omen][Blood Omen/7][Blood Omen/8]}

The warped dome of Dark Eden - one possible cause of the warped precipitation

• The warped precipitation is the only form of weather/precipitation that Kain does not gain an immunity against from Blood fountains. Fountains providing immunity to rain and snow could be found just south of Steinchencröe and the Oracle's Cave, but none exists for warped precipitation.^{[Blood Omen][Blood Omen/3][Blood Omen/5]} Further dialogue relating to deleted fountains shows that immunity from swamp terrain was another possibility discarded by developers, but apparently the fire-rain was never considered for such a negation.
• The warped precipitation was not seen in further titles although similar effects have been hinted, with Ash Village in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver often interpreted by fans as being covered by falling ash rather than snow When quizzed about this artist Daniel Cabuco commented: "Well that wasn't a level I directly worked on, other than Dumah. It was always left pretty ambiguous. *I* thought it was snow with the buildings long burned to ashes, but I can see the case for it being pure ash. In fact I like it better when I think of it as a city of eternal ash."
• Several real world phenomena may account for the fiery rain seen in Blood Omen. A Meteor shower is one possible explanation, however cosmic material reaching the surface of the earth is usually rare and never seen in the large volume that Blood Omen presents. A far more likely explanation is the 'dirty thunderstorms' associated with a volcanic eruption - these are known to carry ash and other volcanic debris for some distance and can often produce lightning in the volcanic plume. Such a cause is possible for Blood Omen with Nosgoth's World map showing at least one volcano to the west of Dark Eden - although it is not shown in game.^{[Blood Omen][Blood Omen manual (Windows)][Blood Omen strategy guide]} A natural cause like this would not necessarily rule out the circle's involvement as the presence of ruined villages suggests the lava and volcanic activity in Dark Eden may have been a relatively recent phenomena, likely caused by the actions of the Dark Eden triad.^{[Blood Omen][Blood Omen/7]}

See also

• Rain
• Snow
• Water
• Lava
• Fire