The vampire hunters (events of Soul Reaver)

The vampire hunters
The banner of the Human Citadel as it appears in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.
Introduced in	Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (1999)
Appearance(s)

The vampire hunters were the warrior class of Nosgoth's remaining humans during the events of Soul Reaver, and distant successors to the Sarafan and Vampire hunters. Dedicated to eliminating the land's now-dominant vampire population, they were headquartered in the northerly Human Citadel.

During his journey to kill Kain and his former brethren in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Raziel could capitalize on his common ground with the hunters; if he spared humans, instead attacking only vampires, the hunters would see him as an avenging angel, worshipping him and assisting him in combat.

Profile

"The destruction of the major human Kingdoms was inevitable. Within a hundred years, humanity had been thoroughly domesticated. To be sure, there remained some feral humans scattered across the hinterlands, clinging to their hopeless holy war to rid Nosgoth of 'the vampire scourge'. They were tolerated. They made existence for the fledglings more challenging."

―Raziel

In the second and third timelines, human vampire hunters existed in Nosgoth's history long before Kain raided the Tomb of the Sarafan, and the vampire race came close to extinction numerous times. However, these efforts largely ended in the era following Blood Omen, when Demons began to break into the Material Realm in increasing numbers following the Collapse of the Pillars. The sole surviving vampire in all of Nosgoth was Kain, and without Moebius to guide their efforts, the mercenary army instead reformed into the demon hunters, becoming more technologically-advanced and elite to cope with their enemies.

Five centuries after his battle with the Dark Entity, Kain "set his capital in the ruins of the Pillars of Nosgoth and began his conquest of the world". Having discovered a means of creating vampires, he raised the Council from the corpses of the Sarafan commanders, heralding a period of rebirth for the vampire race. The vampire hunters rose again in its wake, incorrectly believing that the new vampires were produced by "a poison of the Blood", and "clinging to their hopeless holy war to rid Nosgoth of 'the vampire scourge'", they sought refuge in places such as the Abbey, and conceived a great Cathedral capable of destroying the vampires with a deadly hymn.

Regardless, Kain's empire quickly grew over the ensuing century, leading to "the destruction of the major human Kingdoms" and the thorough domestication of humanity. Feral human vampire hunters remained in Nosgoth's hinterlands, and were tolerated - Raziel reasoned that "they made existence for the fledglings more challenging". Two thousand years after the Pillars' collapse, Raziel returned to Nosgoth following his execution and resurrection. Filled with rage, disgusted that the vampires had devolved into "foul, scuttling beasts" and aggrieved by the apparent destruction of his clan, he resolved to destroy Kain and his own brethren, spurred on by the Elder God.

On his journey, Raziel discovered that the vampire hunters still existed, headquartered in the City. Against the odds, they had managed to infiltrate the Silenced Cathedral conquered by the Zephonim, with one making it as far as Zephon's lair.^{[Soul Reaver]} They had even succeeded in decimating the Dumahim clan, killing Dumah in a surprise attack on the Ruined City of the Dumahim. Despite these victories, they were forced to contend with sacrificial kidnappings from the Vampire worshippers loyal to Kain, led by the Priestess.^{[Soul Reaver comic]}

What ultimately became of the vampire hunters beyond the events of Soul Reaver is as yet uncertain, but Moebius's comments to Raziel regarding the wasteland suggested a bleak future for humanity. However the eventual fate of the human race in Nosgoth is unclear, but Raziel's fight against his former brethren and his killing of all the vampires lieutenants: Melchiah, Zephon, Rahab, Dumah and Turel likely saved the human survivors from extinction.

Apocrypha

Multiplayer spin-off Nosgoth featured the predecessors of the Vampire Hunters - known as the "Hunters" or "the Ironguard" - as a playable class, with some of the skins apparently inspired by the look of the Soul Reaver classes and the symbol of the faction heavily borrowing from that of the Human Citadel.^[NOS]

Background materials illustrated that the hunters originated from the Vampire hunters mentioned in the background story to Soul Reaver that were driven from the heartlands in Kain's conquest of Nosgoth. Originally a tribal culture centred in the areas of the Iron Pass and the town of Valeholm the town had pursued a policy of neutrality in the rise of Kain's empire and when the vampires wiped out the population of the area. The few that survived had been driven from the heartlands and had carved out an existence in the hinterlands of the empire, taking the name the Ironguard to memorialize the fallen of the Iron Pass and continuing a vain "holy war" against the vampire scourge.^{[Soul Reaver manual (UK)][Soul Reaver manual (US)][NOS]}

The descendants of the hunters were among the first to emerge and begin recruiting in the wake of the Vampire civil war and were the all-purpose human troops in the War For Nosgoth.^[NOS]

Membership and forces

Vampire hunters (crossbow)

Vampire hunters (flamethrower)

The vampire hunters were encountered only in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, where they were divided into two classes:

• Hunters armed with crossbows, capable of wounding opponents from afar with heavy, impaling bolts.
• Hunters armed with primitive flamethrowers, whose weapons were devastating but only potent at a short range.

Vampire hunters could be encountered in the Necropolis and the Silenced Cathedral, but they were by far most prevalent in the City, particularly in and around the Water Glyph Altar.^{[Soul Reaver]} Though Raziel could not typically wield crossbows or flamethrowers dropped by slain vampire hunters, he made use of the fire stemming from a dead hunter's flamethrower to kill Zephon.

Reputation dynamic

Uniquely in the Legacy of Kain series, Raziel's early interactions with the vampire hunters dynamically determined their attitude towards him for the rest of the game.^{[Soul Reaver]}

In the Necropolis, it was compulsory for Raziel to encounter a crossbow-wielding vampire hunter, who attacked him indiscriminately; if Raziel retaliated against him, all vampire hunters in the entire game became irrevocably hostile, and villagers would flee from him in terror. On the other hand, if Raziel ignored this hunter and proceeded to the next area without harming him, any subsequently-encountered villagers and vampire hunters would bow down to Raziel as a messiah, assisting him in combat against vampires and allowing him to sip at their souls for health.^{[Soul Reaver]}

However, if Raziel harmed or killed any non-combative humans or vampire hunters after this point, the faction would turn permanently hostile. Harming the vampire-worshipping Novitiates and Adepts had no effect on Raziel's reputation with other humans, and he could freely cast the Water Glyph or Sunlight Glyph around his allies without fearing their retribution.^{[Soul Reaver]}

Behind the scenes

Arnold Ayala's early concept artworks for Shifter, the predecessor project to Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, depict two Steampunk-stylised, human-like characters labeled "Forsaken" and "Hunter", armed with various weapons and equipment. On both pieces, the words "Material Form" are scribbled in, suggesting that at some point it was considered that the vampire hunters would be able to shift into the Spectral Realm.

The vampire hunters may have played a larger role in the original game design; levels and extended sections in the City's Undercity and Temple, Turel's Clan Territory, Kain's Mountain Retreat and the Silenced Cathedral were cut from the project due to time constraints. Considering that all of this content concerns the elimination of Nosgoth's vampires and vampire worshippers, it is probable that hunters would have appeared in some of these levels to help or hinder Raziel.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver artist Daniel Cabuco released the texture layout map for the game's vampire hunters on his online portfolio. He explains: "I create the layout by rendering out the wireframe, and painting over it, then cutting each texture into individual 32x32 or 64x64 textures to be compressed into 4bit textures. Using this methodology, I was able to cram a ton of detail into the PS1. Yes. It was a big pain to do, but the results were worth it in the end".

Notes

• It is possible that the "poison of the blood" the vampire hunters believed vampires suffered from was inspired by the plague, a fatal Blood-tainting disease which struck Nosgoth in the events of Blood Omen. Kain was immune to its effects as a vampire. The City is located geographically close to the area formerly occupied by Coorhagen, Kain's home city, which was devastated by the plague in that period.

• Although the major events of Raziel's quest were never altered by paradoxes, it is unclear whether or not the history and role of the vampire hunters as established in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver was palpably affected or changed by the sparing of Kain by Raziel or the sparing of Raziel by Kain, both of which occurred in Soul Reaver 2. The events surrounding Vorador's resurrection, the new vampire race and Kain's vampire army, and the Hylden Lord's reformation of the Sarafan and introduction of glyph magic may have had very significant effects on the more modern vampire hunters' culture and proficiency, but since the Soul Reaver era has yet to be revisited in these new timelines, it cannot be confirmed whether this was the case.

Gallery

Claws concept by Arnold Ayala (SR1).

Forsaken concept by Arnold Ayala (SR1).

Gears/weapons concept by Arnold Ayala (SR1).

Hunter concept by Arnold Ayala (SR1).

Arnold Ayala's concept of three vampire hunters (SR1).

Vampire hunter concept by Dave Reyes (SR1).

"vampire_hunter"