Base Tower One - The Dark Prophecy - Legacy of Kain: The Lost Worlds

Base Tower One

Media

Concept Art

Description

The single piece of concept art for this area is titled "Malek Bastion Base Tower 1". The image shows is the silhouette of a figure with a cape (likely Kain) standing on a path, facing a layered castle-like structure built into a crack in a towering cliff face. Directly in front of the figure are broken pillars appearing to be made of brick or stone. Surrounding these is rubble and debris.

At the edge of this disrepair are what appears to be drooping and tattered banners and flags on slanted poles. Beyond these is the bulk of the structure, an uneven and asymmetrical combination of towering walls, arches, support pillars and a grand parapet. The structure is surrounded by cracked mountain rock, and seems to extend inward and upward into the edifice.

The mountain itself rises high above the structure, and seems to curve back over it. The crack in the mountain and visible structure within suggests that some of it is naturally hollow or has been hollowed out.

Annotated Image

Story Speculation

We know from the existence of areas such as the Cobbled Road, The Bridge and the Outer Bastion, that Kain is unable to ascend Malek's Bastion in his bat form. We can presume that the Hylden now occupying the facility have put some measure in place to prohibit such an assault, possibly a variant on their Ward Gate or shield technology as seen in Blood Omen 2. Kain therefore must ascend through more pedestrian means, and Base Tower One appears to be the start of that journey.

The concept art shows us a caped figure (almost certainly Kain) standing on a darkened horizontal marked area. This could be the terminus of the Cobbled Road, and would suggest that the path was built in Nosgoth's history with the intention of linking The Pillars and the Bastion. The rubble, damaged pillars and tattered flags seem to hint at a place that once held significant importance, possibly a grand entrance to a military stronghold. The high walls and parapet suggests that this entrance was built with defense considerations, but the arches and pillars would also hint at the area once possessing quite ornate architecture.

The cliff face seems to be very similar to the strata of rock cradling Malek's Bastion in Blood Omen, and by superimposing this image over one taken from the earlier game, we can consider a possible location of Base Tower One.

Malek's Bastion with Base Tower One overlaid

The most likely scenario appears to be that Base Tower One exists at the foot of the mountain cradling The Bastion, and is a method into the facility for those not gifted with teleportation or flight power. The artist's deliberate circling of "1" in the illustration could suggest the existence of further base towers around the other sides of the mountain, though it is unclear if Kain visits any of them on his journey.

The existence of such an entrance to the Bastion makes logical sense. The Bastion was presumably originally occupied by human Sarafan soldiers, who when encountered in Soul Reaver 2 do not demonstrate any teleportation powers. The Base Towers would have allowed them (and their servants and other officials) entry to the high Bastion.

As Malek became more adept with his Pillar Guardian powers (such as instant teleportation as seen in Blood Omen), and reclusive due to his madness and corruption, there would be little reason for anyone to ascend or descend the mountain. We have a possible explanation for the Base Tower's dilapidation: the area became obsolete and was no longer necessary to maintain.

The crack in the mountain is interesting, in particular the way that the building appears to expand both vertically and horizontally into it and beyond the rocky mountain surface. This could suggest that the mountain itself is a hollow structure. This would not be unprecedented, as both Nupraptor and Moebius occupied facilities in hollowed out mountains.

We can speculate that Kain completed his journey down the Cobbled Road and reached Base Tower One. He then ascended the various arches and floors seen in the artwork, and possibly arrived at the area known as "The Bridge".

Speculative Map

Speculative arrangement of this area in relation to others

Speculative progression through the game world

Sources

This image was originally found in the DeviantArt account of Andez Gaston, and was later published on his official blog. Screenshots are preserved here for historical reference:

A page from Andez Gaston's DeviantArt account

A page from Andez Gaston's blog

Andez and his brother Anderson were freelance conceptual artists hired by Ritual Entertainment in 2004 to work on The Dark Prophecy. Andez confirms his work on the game on their joint portfolio blog site, on his individual portfolio, and in image annotations in his DeviantArt account:

Legacy of Kain : Dark prophecy (cancelled game of 04)

while scoping YouTube I manage to run into a video of a project quite familiar and it brought back memories when we were still young.my brother and I had just been hired at a video game company at the time which was still known as ritual entertainment to work on a game that many people knew very well. though nothing came to fruition that project was to be legacy of Kain: Dark Prophecy for the PS2. for those of you interested in seeing some of the character/creature designs click on the link below

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Ritual Enertainment-Legacy of Kain: the dark prophecy(cancelled Game)concept artists (ag/dez) 2003-04

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Legacy of Kain : Dark Prophecy concept art

concept art done during our time at the company once known as ritual entertainment. for what was supposed to be the final chapter in the Kain series. the game was later cancelled for reasons unknown if given the chance i would work on this again in a heartbeat.- agartofgastonbros.blogspot.com

— artofgastonbros.blogspot.com

Legacy of Kain :Dark Prophecy game art(cancelled) the non interesting stuff about game development art. If you're planning to work in games be prepared to do a lot of breakaway concept art and props.

— douedgezword.deviantart.com

Links