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Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
The following information comes directly from Crystal Dynamics' former website.

Kain is the youngest son of an aristocratic family, seeking gold and glory in the hinterlands of Nosgoth.  His haughty arrogance has won him no allies. In the mud-wallow, pathetic excuse of a village, Ziegstruhl, Kain is ambushed and slain by a band of brigands.  He awakens to a painful reality in the bowels of Hell.  The Necromancer Mortanious offers him an opportunity for vengeance.  Kain, his judgment clouded by his hunger for revenge, accepts without considering the cost.

Kain ventures from his crypt and begins stalking the brigands.  He discovers that he is somehow changed.  Water burns.  The light of the sun weakens him.  Villagers flee when they see him.  Yet only after he has slaughtered the bandits that killed him does he realize the full extent of his curse.  Driven mad with hunger by the warm rich scent of the blood coursing from their fresh wounds, Kain gorges himself.  Sickened by his frenzy, he vows not to spend eternity as a vampire feasting, tick like, on the blood of the living.

At the suggestion of Mortanious, Kain seeks the Pillars of Nosgoth to find a solution to his dilemma.  The Pillars are the mystical center of Nosgoth. Each of the Nine Pillars represents one of the powers that keep Nosgoth "whole."  When Kain discovers the Pillars he notices that they are crumbling. He also encounters the ghost of Arial.

Arial was the Pillar of Balance, until she was brutally murdered.  Her murder drove her love Nupuprator, the Pillar of Mind, insane.  Convinced that only another member of the Circle could have been responsible for her slaying, he attacked them with his mental powers infecting all with his madness.  The Circle collapsed, with each member seeking to dominate the Nosgoth they once nurtured.

To have any hope of release from the curse of vampirism Kain must destroy the Circle and restore the Pillars of Nosgoth.  To do so Kain must destroy all members of the Circle.

Pillars of Nosgoth
Character Biographies
The following information comes directly from Silicon Knights' article, Everything You"ve Ever Wanted To Know About Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, on their former website.  It was last revised by programer, Doug Tooley on January 13, 1997.

Kain

Kain

An ambitious young noble whose lust for vengeance overrides his sense of judgment.  Kain is resurrected from the dead by the Necromancer Mortanius, for whom he must perform a task of great importance, although what and why it is not revealed to him.  Kain's quest leads him on a torturous journey of self- discovery as his curse of vampirism takes irrevocable hold on his soul.  The once righteous Kain must slaughter the innocent to survive.  As all vampires know - the blood is the life...


Ariel

Ariel

Ariel was the last incarnation of "Balance".  Her magic influenced the regulation of the other magic in Nosgoth.  Her prowess in magic and enchantment rivaled that of her beauty, and it was these factors which Nupraptor the Mentalist loved her for.  Unfortunately, their love was short lived.  The Dark Entity exercised its power and had Ariel murdered at the hands of Mortanius.  Now, Ariel is a disembodied spirit "tied" to the Pillars, which she haunts, trying to find someone who will carry out her duties.

Nupraptor

Nupraptor

A magician of phenomenal mental and psychic ability, Nupraptor is hypersensitive to peoples' emotions and thoughts.  This constant exposure has made him extremely unstable - prone to rash action and sometimes unpredictable and illogical decision making.  He is a passionate man, however, and very loyal to those who are special to him.  And so it was with Ariel, the original Balance wizard.  When Nupraptor discovers that Mortanius, under the malevolent control of the Dark Entity, Hash'ak'gik, has murdered Ariel, he goes over the edge.  He vows vengeance upon Mortanius and the fates that have caused this event, and turns his powerful magic to bear on the other members of the Circle of Nine.  All across Nosgoth, the minds of the sensitive and intellectual are blasted by relentless waves of hatred.  There is no stopping the assault.  When the enchantment ends, the entire Circle is quite insane, some raving like madmen, others maliciously in control of their actions...  And now, Nosgoth is at their mercy.

Malek

Malek

Malek, fanatical warrior-priest of the Sarafan, is Ward of the Circle.  He is the defender and paladin to the Circle of Nine, and as so, has vowed allegiance to their protection.  Long ago, his inaction allowed several members of the Circle to be murdered by a vicious vampire; and for his crime his soul was fused to the metal of his own armor, which he has inhabited ever since, and will do for eternity.  In "life", Malek was known as a ruthless and cold blooded murderer by enemy generals and, particularly, by the vampires who he and his Sarafan cohorts hunted relentlessly.  Vampire purges continued under Malek's direction for hundreds of years.  In "unlife", Malek stands defiant in battered rune-covered armor, his helmet's plume braided from the bloodied scalps of his many victims.  Purged of his humanity by the Circle's sorcery, Malek's hate has been entirely focused on exacting revenge upon the vampire that caused him to be damned for eternity.

Moebius

Moebius

Moebius is an intensely devious and conniving sorceror.  Not many of the Circle trust him, despite the fact that he has maintained his post for many years.  His power stems from his control over time travel, and its use in forecasting history.  He constantly abuses this power to further his own plans and situation.  In the Nosgoth before the Decline, Moebius passed himself off as a wise hermit called "The Oracle" giving benevolent and kind advice to anyone who sought it.  Now, after his mind has been tainted by Nupraptor's magic, he causes trouble and torment by predicting omens and horrific events, exploiting them to his own ends.

Mortanius

Mortanius

Mortanius is an ancient sorcerer skilled in the arts of manipulating death.  His power has accumulated over the centuries, arguably making him the most potent wizard in all of Nosgoth.  His power is tempered with mercy and judgment, however, since he is one of the Circle of Nine ("the Protectors of Hope") - the magicians whose magic preserve the order of magical power in the world.  The toils of his magical practices with the dead have made Mortanius little more than a skin and bone husk whose fragility belies his ultimate power.

Bane

Bane is a wizard of Nature.  He manipulates the behavior of life and the elements.  Through his magic he can change the nature of life itself, animating plants and influencing animals, creating new and weird life forms for his own purposes.  The weather itself is at his behest.  Bane is dressed in the trappings of a priest of nature - somewhat druidic in essence.  Animal skins and hides clothe his body, a deer skull functions as a hat.

Dejoule

Dejoule is a woman of duplicity.  Her field of magical specialty is the harnessing and manipulation of energy.  This practice has, over the years, altered her physical makeup somewhat.  Her body glows with an intense blue light, constantly caressed by tongues of flickering energy.  This magical aura has an insidious effect on anybody standing nearby - sapping their energy and blistering their skin, sterilizing cells, etc.  Because of this, Dejoule wears a heavy robe lined with insulating fabric which contains her magic.  When forced to fight, she'll rip her robe off and let the energy shine through...  In this form, she is nothing more than a glowing humanoid female shape, with sparks and arcs of energy whipping around her.

Anarcrothe

Anacrothe

Anarcrothe the Alchemist is a tinkerer.  He fools around with chemicals, alien substances and strange machinery.  He concocts, explores, experiments, and dabbles with forces he only partially understands.  Long ago, he became scarred in an accident resulting in one of his more ambitious experiments.  The left side of his face was burned away by acidic energies, melding skin and bone in an unsightly writhing tangle.  This mutilation he keeps hidden beneath the hood of his robes, so that only the unscarred side of his face is visible. He wears robes of dark, imperial purple, embroidered with the arcane symbology of his craft.

Azimuth - The Planer

Azimuth is an explorer of alien realms.  Her magic opens portals and doorways to other dimensions, allowing the creatures within to escape...  After the insanity struck, her magic was left intact, but her mind was blasted into obscurity.  She is now a raving lunatic that revels in the pain and misfortune of others.  The magic she indiscriminately conjures has left numerous cities at the mercy of inhuman demons and creatures that delight in spreading pain.  In many ways, Azimuth is an analogy to Nero, who played a fiddle while Rome burned...  She revels in the destruction she has wrought with sadistic glee, a trait that was present even before she was driven insane by Nupraptor's magic.


Vorador

Vorador

Vorador is a proud, arrogant and long lived vampire.  He has lived since ancient times, and seen the world grow from being young and vibrant to sour and corrupt. He has feasted upon the teeming human cattle of Nosgoth and learned everything there is to know about the world, reading his victims thoughts as he preyed upon their blood.  The great vampire purges, brought to the world by the Sarafan, caused much suffering to Vorador.  The Sarafan murdered his friends, lovers, and his vampire children and gave him a valid reason to hate the living.  He fought back once, destroying part of the Circle who supported the Sarafan, but it was not enough.  The purges eventually drove him into hiding, and so he became lost to the world of Nosgoth.

Elzevir - The Dollmaker

Elzevir

The "Dollmaker" is a magician of little note and unknown origin.  His sphere of power, if you will, is the soul of mankind.  He is a collector of souls, and in particular he covets King Ottmar's daughter.  His mode of magic involves making an effigy of his target person, and then attaching a personal item to it - in the case of the king's daughter, it is a lock of hair.  This enabled him to target his enchantments on her, and draw her soul into the effigy.  With the effigies he is able to exert power of the person in whose likeness it is carved...  Over the years, the Dollmaker has collected many and varied souls for his own twisted reasons.

The Oracle of Nosgoth

From all across Nosgoth, people seek audience with the Oracle of Nosgoth.  He is said to have knowledge of past and future, and many seek to find answers to their questions from him.  Indeed, he is a wise and benevolent man, proficient in the arts of divination and prophecy.  Pilgrims must first find him in his mountain home, and conquer the pitfalls of the labyrinths behind which he hides, and even then, he might not be there.  The Oracle is a wise and mysterious man - and works in devious ways...

King Ottmar, the Lion of Willendorf

King Ottmar

King Ottmar is a valiant warrior and wise ruler.  His armies have united most of Nosgoth and is the only thing which is halfway capable of stopping the advancing Legions of the Nemesis.  Unfortunately, Ottmar is melancholic.  His faith in his ability to lead and fight has been undermined by the abduction of his daughter's soul.  Until his daughter's soul is returned to her body, the future of Nosgoth is grim indeed.  Ottmar's court is open to everybody - anyone of his domain is free to enter and converse with the king. He is willing to allow anyone to attempt to retrieve his daughter's soul.

William the Just / The Nemesis

In a previous timeline, William the Just was exactly as his title suggested.  A kind, fair and just ruler.  Through the insidious designs of Moebius, the Time Streamer, William has become a sadistic despot and tyrant, vying for global domination and the slavery of right thinking folk.  For forty years, William conspires with Moebius, creating a fanatically loyal and ruthless army that crushes all in its path, including the Last Hope of Nosgoth, the Lion of Willendorf himself - King Ottmar.  William, now known as the Nemesis, tortures and executes those who oppose him.  Beheading, disembowelling, impaling peasants and warriors alike in their very own villages.  The Nemesis brings with him death and strife, pain and misery, and it will never end...

The Legions of the Nemesis

Nemesis

An ancient seer once prophesied the march of an enormous army that would lay waste to the last havens of peace in Nosgoth and bring about the end of civilization.  The seer said little of its origin, but noted that it would gather in the wastes of northern Nosgoth, and crush all who opposes its expansion, and that the people would name it the Legion of the Nemesis.  The prophesy foretold rape and torture, death and destruction on cataclysmic levels, and that it cannot be stopped.  The peaceful pastoral land of Nosgoth WILL be massacred.

Cinematic Outlines
"Historical Note [From SK]: This document was created for Steve Henifin in order to create original music for each cinematic.  As things turned out we were only able to use one of Steve's compositions for the first cinematic, and we used the rest of his in-game music for the others.  We thought this would be interesting to read because it describes the themes of each cinematic in Legacy of Kain."

All of the cinematics for Kain are from a retrospective point of view. There are 35 minutes of video for about 120 hours of game-play. These should NOT be scored like a movie but like a rock video because each of these scenes are a rare treat and should grab the player's attention. What is really important is that the music for these pieces creates a mood. They should do much more than fill dead space.


What is happening here

We are 5000 years before the game starts. The "Vampire Purge" is beginning, undertaken by the Sarafan, a holy order of warriors-priests.  The Sarafan are lead by Malek who is also charged with protection of Circle of Nine.  The Circle of Nine are known as the Protectors of Hope and stand for everything that right and just.  They protect Nosgoth and are responsible for ordering the Sarafan to undertake the "Vampire Purge".  Vorador, a great leader among the vampires executes his revenge on a member of the circle for what they have done and defeats Malek in a duel.  For failing the circle, Malek is fused to his armor and is charged to protect the Circle for eternity. Elsewhere, Ariel, the Pillar of Balance, (another member of the Circle) is killed, which sets a number of events in motion, particularly the decay the Pillars of Nosgoth.

Themes

Anyone watching this cinematic will not have a clue about what is going on.  Thus, confusion, mystery and excitement are very strong themes.  This piece is meant to serve the same purpose as the prelude to "The Wheel of Time" series by Robert Jordan.


What's Happening Here

After being killed, Kain is given a chance to be reborn and seek revenge by the necromancer Mortanius.  Kain is turned into a vampire.

Themes

This is a very somber and retrospective moment.  It is not entirely clear that Kain is turned into a vampire when he chooses to take the sword. However, the choice that he made eternally damns him (not that he really had a choice).  Anger and frustration are prevalent in Kain's heart, since he is powerless to do anything.


What's Happening Here

Kain meets Ariel, the ghost of the Pillar of Balance.  She haunts the pillars, seeking fulfillment of the tasks she left incomplete in life.

Themes

Sorrow, fragility, mourning, "Lost love", wonder, mystery of the "Stonehenge" type.


What's Happening Here

Kain meets the Oracle of Nosgoth, from whom he receives visions of the future.  The future is not good.  This is the first place where Kain really starts to become manipulated as a pawn.  In this case by the time streamer - Moebius.

Themes

Lucidity, wonder, mystery, fore-shadowing.


What's Happening Here

Kain visits the ancient and arrogant vampire Vorador, who tells his story.

Themes

There is a lot of different themes here.  At the beginning, while Kain introduces Vorador we have dread and damnation - Kain considers himself lost, and Vorador is an example of what he will become.

Vorador's speech has themes of vengeance, anger, violence, triumph and glory.  Vorador is an arrogant, egotistical braggart and is going to exaggerate his tones.


What's Happening Here

Malek and Vorador meet again in a fight to the death.

Themes

This is an eternal struggle.  This is representative of Kain's struggle. Epic, conflict, revenge, bitterness are all present in this act.


What's Happening Here

Kain visits the Court of Willendorf, hoping to sway the king into attempting to stop the advance of the "Nemesis".  The king ignores him and tells him of his daughter, and the Dollmaker.

Themes

Here we have a kingdom that is falling into decay because the will of its ruler is lost. The tone is somewhat of what it may have been like in Camelot, as the Round Table is disbanded and Arthur killed.  It is a lost, sterile atmosphere, that was once proud and powerful.


What's Happening Here

The armies of the "Hope" rally to stop the huge numbers of the Horde.

Themes

Fading hopes and dreams.  This is the story peak.  Conflict, anticipation, dread, hopelessness.


What's Happening Here

Kain reads the mind of a dead peasant, and discovers that the "Oracle" has betrayed him.  The "Oracle" or Mobius the Time Streamer, stands before a crowd of irate peasants, and tells them of the impending arrival of the Vampire Kain, and prepares them for it.

Themes

This scene is a major revelation, with themes of fascism (Nazism), pomp and circumstance, very much like the Nuremberg rallies.  Moebius incites the crowd in a Hitler-esque fashion.


What's Happening Here

After Kain returns to the present time everything has changed. A vampire cult has been born that has done more damage to the race of the vampires than the Sarafan.  Vorador is executed and somehow they know of Kain's existence and wait for him.

Themes

Shock, Horror, Realization, Death, the "End of an Era" (of vampires)


What's Happening Here

Kain finally realizes a truth about what is going on.

Themes

Uneasiness, Revelation, Shock.


What's Happening Here

Kain is forced to face the fact that he is only a pawn and has to fight Mortanius as an Undead Monster.

Themes

Death, Rage.


What's Happening Here

Kain is given the chance to kill himself and save Nosgoth for he has become the pillar of Balance.

Theme

Dead silence.


What's Happening Here

Kain has chosen not to sacrifice himself and has destroyed the world in the process.

Themes

Kain has become a monster and destroyed everything around him.


What's Happening Here

Kain has killed himself to save and restore Nosgoth.

Themes

Sadness, loss, finality, melancholic over the loss of "Hero" (Kain), despite the salvation of the world as a whole.  This music should cater to Kain rather than Nosgoth.

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