In the Soul Reaver era, humanity existed only as a small pocket population of survivors, tolerated by the vampires solely for feeding and amusement. The adepts, and their counterparts, the novitiates, had "adapted to the vampire menace by serving their tormentors and worshipping them as gods". This earned them a reputation as "an insidious threat to the human population, since they [kidnapped] victims for Blood sacrifices. Considering no sacrifice too great, they [would] also gladly give their own blood, and lives, if necessary, to sustain their vampire masters".[Soul Reaver manual (US)] The adepts venerated their leader, the Priestess, and opposed the Human Citadel's villagers and vampire hunters. They always "viewed Raziel as an enemy", regardless of his actions.[Soul Reaver manual (US)][Soul Reaver comic] If the vampire hunters and Raziel were cooperating, Raziel could freely harm and kill adepts and novitiates without fear of compromising the alliance.[Soul Reaver]
Each adept was equipped with at least two sacrificial knives, which they used as weapons.[Soul Reaver manual (US)][Soul Reaver] They would attack Raziel at range by throwing a single knife, but once the first knife was thrown, they would not throw their second, instead retaining it for melee attacks. Their garments included long, red robes tied with a brown belt, and metal face masks. Like other humans, they were comparatively weaker than vampires and easy to kill, but they were immune to the powers of the Water and Sunlightglyphs.[Soul Reaver] Raziel encountered them only while exploring the Silenced Cathedral, where they served the resident Zephonim.[Soul Reaver/7]
Behind the scenes[]
The vampire worshippers in the final, retail version of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver appear only in the Silenced Cathedral, unlike most other enemy classes, who appear in multiple major areas.[Soul Reaver] In the original production plan for the game, they were to play a larger role in the main storyline. Upon defeating Kain in the Chronoplast, Raziel would be required to travel to the City and infiltrate its secret subterranean compound, the Undercity, which led to a Temple where the Priestess resided.[1][2][3][4][Soul Reaver/Cut content] The adepts, as her cohorts and disciples, would probably have reappeared as enemies in this area. Due to time constraints, Crystal Dynamics scrapped this portion of the storyline and all other events which were to follow the Chronoplast encounter, and in the finished product, the adepts and novitiates are never seen outside of the Cathedral.[5][6][7]
Raziel cannot wield the adepts' sacrificial knives in the retail version of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. However, pre-release screenshots indicate that he was able to wield them in prior development builds.[8]
Only one Worshipper - an Adept - is present in the Soul Reaver alphas. Instead of being found in the Silenced Cathedral as in the retail version the adept is instead found in the 'City9' area of the Citadel outside the temple and the entrance to the Undercity area. No worshippers were found in the Undercity itself - although the area was notably unfinished and they may have been intended to feature there. The Knife weapon of the adept could be picked up and used when dropped.
Notes[]
The adepts' title (indicating experience in their field) may indicate that they were senior to the novitiates (whose title implies the state of being a novice), though no hierarchical distinction between the two classes is confirmed in any official source.
Vampire Worshippers (Adepts, Novitiates and Feral Humans) at Dark Chronicle (by Ardeth Silvereni).
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
