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Inner Bastion

article by Divine Shadow

Media

Description

The Inner Bastion is in a significantly better state of repair than the outer area, with some sections in near-perfect condition. There is still some decay in places, small piles of rubble are visible, along with toppled bridges and towers. In one area, a large multi-storey wall appears to have collapsed or been torn down by force.

The architecture of the area is very unique, designed around recurring abstract shapes. Pillars, platforms, bridges and towers are all formed from angular clear shapes, giving Inner Bastion a more nuanced appearance than the medieval influences seen in Base Tower One and the Outer Bastion. Dominating the area are huge statues of (what are presumably) Sarafan knights, large banners, and the recurring circular gold emblem of a winged sword.

The Inner Bastion has many bridges, doors, walkways and platforms on at least three tiers. There are also large gaps between some areas, possibly indicating where bridges may have once existed. Messages on the development console on some screenshots, suggest that the area is windy, and visible snow blankets many surfaces.

In one screenshot, we can see Kain in combat with three Hylden Armour Wraiths. The presence of the boss battle bar (identical to its appearance in Defiance) suggests that this is a boss encounter of some sort. The console also refers to an unseen enemy called "Elemental Earth", apparently encountered on a wide snowy bridge.

In one of the screenshots, one of the mysterious tunnelling devices from The Bridge seems to make an appearance, but it is unclear if the machine is active.

A selection of weapons seems to appear in this area, renders show us rows of swords and unique axe-like blades. There are also a variety of spikes and other possible environmental hazards such as icicles on the roof that may drop when disturbed.

One of the sketches is explicitly called "Entrance to elevator area", highlighting one exit from the Inner Bastion. A selection of doors are shown, one of which is referred to by the artist as being the "glyph door" and is circular and heavy looking, covered with ornate pattern.

Story Speculation

The Inner Bastion does not share the architectural traits found in buildings made by Nosgoth's human population. If we consider various other landmarks of the era such as the Sarafan stronghold, Avernus Cathedral, Willendorf Castle and the Fortress of the Nemesis, we see buildings of medieval or post-medieval construction. Malek's Bastion greatly contrasts these, with its geometric design and improbable, near impossible location. It seems very likely that the structure was not the work of Malek, the Sarafan or the humans of the era. The most likely original builders would be The Hylden or The Ancients.

The Hylden are less likely, for a few reasons. Firstly, Blood Omen 2's The Device and the ancient catacombs beneath Avernus Cathedral in Defiance suggest that the Hylden regularly build their facilities underground, especially during the war. Hylden facilities also seem to prioritise function over form (as seen in the Hylden City), and the Bastion appears to have been built with form as a primary consideration.

If we consider the Ancients as being the original builders of Malek's Bastion, then some of its mysteries begin to make sense. First, consider its location, built at the peak of an unlikely-shaped edifice of rock. For winged beings gifted with flight, assailing this rock and constructing a facility at its top would be far more likely than Nosgoth's human populace achieving such a difficult feat. Constructing an outpost here would also make strategic sense if it was done during the Ancient-Hylden War (or even during a period of pre-war tension). It would be a place easily accessible to the winged Ancients, and very difficult to access for their Hylden adversaries. The presence of the Dragon Statue Reaver Forge beneath the Bastion also seems to support this idea, as would the repeated winged-sword emblem that appears throughout the Bastion.

This theory could certainly have implications on the wider Legacy of Kain story. Consider the idea that the Bastion was previously an Ancient military outpost. It would be logical to assume that the Ancient Conflict Guardian would be based here. Following the human uprising, the Bastion may have been passed down through generations of human Conflict Guardians, with its true history being mostly forgotten. Therefore the bastion would indeed be "Malek's Bastion", but the title refers to him inheriting the facility, not constructing it.

When Malek, or a previous human Conflict Guardian decided to make the Bastion their own, they would have needed to construct Base Tower One, The Bridge and the Outer Bastion to provide access from the ground and to give their human servants and workforce somewhere to live. This would explain the medieval appearances of these areas as being a consequence of their human origins. The contrasting appearance and apparent durability of the Inner Bastion is therefore credited to the advanced and comparatively sophisticated construction methods employed by the Ancients.

When Kain visited the Bastion in Blood Omen, the area was inhabited by Malek and other Sarafan Armour Wraiths. In various locations, Kain found machines that were imbuing the souls of long-dead Sarafan knights into suits of armour, creating undead metal creatures. Eventually Kain had to abandon his assault on the Bastion due to the overpowering force of Malek's final attack, but eventually lured the Paladin to his demise at the sword of Vorador. With Kain's destruction of the soul-imbuing machines and Malek's final death, the facility was presumed abandoned.

It seems that since then, the Hylden have adapted it to serve their purposes. They have installed the mysterious tunnelling devices in the Inner Bastion and The Bridge, to possibly enable transport of raw materials and slaves to where they are needed. They have also begun to access some of the buried secrets beneath the Bastion, as explored in the dedicated essays on the Hylden's role in The Dark Prophecy and the Soul Machine.

Kain's journey through the apparently large Inner Bastion area seems to involve fighting numerous battles with Hylden Armour Wraiths and at least one "Elemental Earth" (possibly the development name for an Earth Elemental creature), and exploring multiple tiers of the complex. There are many doors and passages leading to different areas, suggesting that Inner Bastion may be a hub of some sort. One piece of concept art explicitly confirms that one path leads Kain to the "Hallway Elevator" area. Another door is named as the "Glyph Door", and numerous other doors are shown leading to unknown destinations. From the other areas and pieces of media, it seems likely that some of these doorways grant passage to the Winged Being Shrine, the Skull Corridor, the Hallway Elevator (leading to the Soul Machine complex and the "Dragon Statue Reaver Forge"), and the Red Carpet Hall (leading to the Boss Arena).

Kain may have gained new powers and upgrades from these areas, and returned to the Inner Bastion hub to gain access to further tiers.

Speculative Map

Sources

These images were found in a number of places. The seven pieces of concept art were found in the DeviantArt account of Andez Gaston, and was later published on his official blog. Screenshots are preserved here for historical reference:

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

...

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

...

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

The screenshots and renders of this area were discovered in the online portfolio of Jason Muck in November 2008.

Jason is a former Ritual Entertainment staff member, and was employed as an Environment Artist between January 2004 and September 2005. Jason has recently worked on Red Dead Redemption and its expansions, and now works as a Senior Environment Artist at Big Huge Games. His portfolio is available to view online (as of February, 2012), and relevant screenshots are preserved here for historical reference:

Elsewhere on the site, Jason provides us with some insight into his role on The Dark Prophecy and its development timeline:

Environment Artist on Legacy of Kain: The Dark Prophecy - PS2, Xbox, PC CANCELLED

Ritual Entertainment - Jan 2004 - April 2004

Responsible for modeling, texture mapping, and lighting in-game environments while following art direction and maximizing target platform memory limitations.

...

Legacy of Kain: The Dark Prophecy: Xbox, PS2 CANCELLED

These are screen shots from the playstation 2 version of Legacy of Kain : The Dark Prophecy. It was canceled after about 3 months of production work. These are the levels I worked on including modeling, texture mapping, and lighting. On this project I was not responsible for actual texture creation but working from a library provided by our texture artists. I would then model out the level, create props, map textures, and apply the lighting. All lighting was vertex based and applied in Max.

...

LEGACY OF KAIN THE DARK PROPHECY: Environment Artist, Texture UVs, Lighting, 2004, CANCsELLED

— JasonMuck.com

The silver renders were discovered on the official website and portfolio of Aaron Hausmann in 2008. Shortly after they were added to his site, the images were removed, but fortunately had been saved and preserved for the purposes of this essay.

Aaron's LinkedIn page confirms that he was employed as an artist at Ritual Entertainment between December 2003 and January 2007, and now works for Nerve Software.

Some very limited description was provided on Aaron's site, now removed:

Environment Artist on Legacy of Kain: The Dark Prophecy - PS2, Xbox, PC CANCELLED

LEGACY OF KAIN: CANCELLED SEQUEL

Modelled and unwrapped props to hand off to texture artist.

Modelled, mapped, and lit environments based off of designers' layouts. Textures created by another artist.

— Methhaus.com

The original filenames of these images were LegacyofKain_[NUMBER], FinalMalekNew[NUMBER], kain-columns, kain-doorsa, kain-doorsb, kain-doorsc, LOK_Pillars_01, LOK_SpikeSet_01, LOK_Statues_01, LOK_WeaponSet_01, LOK_WindowSet_01, LegacyofKain_D_Wire_Shot01, LegacyofKain_D_Wire_Shot01a, kain-maliekmaingatetobridge copym, kain-main building_entrancetoMalekElevator and kain-maleksentrance_main+building.

Links

• Andez Gaston's Official Portfolio Blog.
• Andez Gaston's DeviantArt Gallery.
• The Gaston Bros Official Portfolio Blog.
• Jason Muck's "Big Huge Games" biography page.
• Jason Muck's Official Website and Portfolio.
• Aaron Hausmann's Official Portfolio Site, where some of the attached images were originally discovered. They have since been deleted from the site.
• The Linkedin page of Aaron Hausmann, confirming he was an artist at Ritual Entertainment during the development of Legacy of Kain: The Dark Prophecy.
• The discussion concerning this concept art that took place at the Nosgothic Realm forum.
• The discussion concerning this concept art that took place at the Official Eidos Forums.
• The discussion concerning this concept art that took place at the Neogaf forums.

Related Articles:
The Ruins of The Pillars of Nosgoth
Cobbled Road
Base Tower One
The Bridge
Outer Bastion
Winged Being Shrine
Skull Corridor
Hallway Elevator
Steam Pipe Cave
Headless Statue Chamber
Subterranean Campfire
Soul Machine Mine
Dragon Statue Reaver Forge
Soul Machine Core
Red Carpet Hall
Boss Arena
Dark Eden
Mountain Bridge
Hylden Armour Wraiths

Last updated: 02 June 2013

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