The Sluagh, or Sluagh na marbh, were the hosts of the unforgiven dead in Irish and Scottish folklore. In the words of British folklorist Lewis Spence, "In the Western Isles of Scotland the Sluagh, or fairy host, was regarded as composed of the souls of the dead flying through the air, and the feast of the dead at Hallowe'en was likewise the festival of the fairies." Usually taking a crescent form, similar to a flight of grey birds, they were said to be able to approach and pick up a person from any direction and then transport them far away through the air, from one island to another. Although they would sometimes rescue humans from dangerous rock clefts, they were generally portrayed as dangerous to mortals.
Kurt Harland is an American singer, songwriter, and audio engineer and is the lead singer of Information Society. He also works on video game scores, including two of the soundtracks for the Legacy of Kain video game series.
Kain is a character and the main protagonist and title character of the Legacy of Kain video game series. First introduced in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain in 1996, he was created by Denis Dyack and Silicon Knights, and has appeared in all subsequent Legacy of Kain games under the direction of developer Crystal Dynamics. Between games, he serves as either the central playable character, or as an antagonist, but in all his depictions he has consistently been described as an antihero.
Legacy of Kain is a series of dark fantasy action-adventure video games primarily developed by Crystal Dynamics and formerly published by Eidos Interactive. The first title, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, was created by Silicon Knights in association with Crystal Dynamics, but, after a legal battle, Crystal Dynamics retained the rights to the game's intellectual property, and continued its story with four sequels. To date, five games comprise the series, all initially developed for video game consoles and later ported to Microsoft Windows. Focusing on the eponymous character of Kain, a vampire antihero, each title features action, exploration and puzzle-solving, with some role-playing game elements.
Raziel is a fictional character and a main protagonist in the Legacy of Kain video game series. Introduced in 1999 as the lead and playable character of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, he was created by Amy Hennig, Seth Carus and Arnold Ayala of Crystal Dynamics. He reappears as the protagonist of Soul Reaver 2, and returns as a playable character alongside series eponym, Kain, in Legacy of Kain: Defiance, which closes his story arc.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is a 1999 action-adventure video game developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Eidos Interactive for the PlayStation and Windows. A port to the Dreamcast developed by Nixxes Software was released in 2000, serving as Nixxes' first project. The second game in the Legacy of Kain series, Soul Reaver is the sequel to Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. Soul Reaver was followed by three games, one of which, Soul Reaver 2, is a direct sequel.
Crystal Dynamics, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Mateo, California. The studio is best known for its games in the Tomb Raider, Legacy of Kain, and Gex series.
Raziel, also known as Gallitsur is an angel within the teachings of Jewish mysticism who is the "Angel of Secrets" and the "Angel of Mysteries”. He is also called "Keeper of All Magic." He is one of the angels associated with the sephirah Chokmah of Kabbalah, alongside Jophiel.
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain is a 1996 action-adventure video game developed by Silicon Knights and published by Crystal Dynamics for the PlayStation. A Microsoft Windows port developed by Semi Logic Entertainments was released by Activision under license from Crystal Dynamics in 1997, which was re-released digitally via GOG.com in 2021. The game is the first title in the Legacy of Kain series.
Nosgoth was a free-to-play multiplayer action game, developed by Psyonix and published by Square Enix for Microsoft Windows through digital distribution. It was a spin-off from the Legacy of Kain series of action-adventure games, and took place in its eponymous fictional universe. Nosgoth employed a player versus player system in which each match consisted of two rounds. Teams were composed of characters assigned to one of two races: vampires, designed around hack and slash combat; and humans, whose gameplay was styled after third-person shooters. Between rounds, teams would switch to control the opposing race, and the team which accumulated the most points by fighting their counterparts won the match.
Soul Reaver 2 is a 2001 action-adventure video game developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Eidos Interactive. It is a sequel to Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and the third game in the Legacy of Kain series. Originally developed as a PlayStation and Dreamcast project, it was reworked into a PlayStation 2 and Windows title in early production. Soul Reaver 2 was followed by two sequels, Blood Omen 2 and Legacy of Kain: Defiance, in 2002 and 2003.
Trivium is an American heavy metal band from Orlando, Florida, formed in 1999. The band comprises vocalist and guitarist Matt Heafy, guitarist Corey Beaulieu, bassist Paolo Gregoletto, and drummer Alex Bent.
Matthew Kiichi Heafy is a Japanese-American musician, best known as the guitarist and lead vocalist for heavy metal band Trivium. He was also the lead vocalist for the band Capharnaum, along with Trivium's former producer Jason Suecof. In 2017, Heafy was voted sixth on the Ultimate Guitar list "Top 25 Greatest Modern Frontmen".
Legacy of Kain: Defiance is an action-adventure video game developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Eidos Interactive for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows. It is the fifth and final game in the Legacy of Kain series.
Blood Omen 2 is an action-adventure video game developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Eidos Interactive for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows and GameCube. It is the fourth title in the Legacy of Kain series and is the sequel to the first game in the series, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, with Blood Omen's protagonist, the vampire Kain, returning as the central character.
Amy Hennig is an American video game writer and director, formerly for the video game company Naughty Dog. She began her work in the industry on the Nintendo Entertainment System, with her design debut on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System game Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City. She later went to work for Crystal Dynamics, working primarily on the Legacy of Kain series. With Naughty Dog, she worked primarily on the Jak and Daxter and Uncharted series, the latter of which she created.
Joshua "Josh" Viola is a science fiction/fantasy/horror writer, artist and film producer best known for Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver – The Dead Shall Rise, True Believers, Denver Moon, The Bane of Yoto and his companies Hex Publishers and Bit Bot Media. He is a 2021 Splatterpunk Award nominee and a 2022 Colorado Book Awards winner.
Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun is a cancelled action-adventure video game that was in development by Climax Studios for Square Enix Europe, with an accompanying multiplayer component developed separately by Psyonix. Conceived as the sixth entry in the Legacy of Kain series, Dead Sun entered production for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Xbox 360. It was cancelled in 2012 after three years of development. Square Enix Europe and Psyonix salvaged the planned multiplayer mode, which they reconceptualized as Nosgoth, a standalone free-to-play title.
Nixxes Software B.V. is a Dutch video game developer based in Utrecht. It was founded by former demoscene developer Jurjen Katsman in 1999 to port the game Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver to the Dreamcast. In July 2021, the company was acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment to help bring its games from PlayStation platforms to personal computers. As of 2020, 40% of Nixxes' work comprises game ports, with the remainder being co-development efforts like the production of art assets.
