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The Human Citadel, or the City, was the last settlement of humanity in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.

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"The humans’ citadel -- its towering walls and deep moats engineered to keep Nosgoth’s vampire plague at bay."
―Raziel — Listen (file info)[src]

During the early years of Kain's empire, humanity was 'thoroughly domesticated', leaving only a few feral human groups. By the time of Kain's empire, this had fallen to a solitary Citadel. Surrounded by high walls and deep moats, it was designed to keep out Nosgoth's vampire masters.

When Raziel returned from the Abyss, he was able to breach the Citadel (which was not fortified against winged creatures) and gain access. Within its bowels he was able to find the Water Glyph. It is a large area without a storyline purpose and can be skipped entirely such as the Glyph shrines.

The Human Citadel can be divided into several main areas - the moat area, the inner walls, the Water Tower area, residential courtyard area, upper street and the sewers.

Exterior[]

The exterior is a large moat area with a bridge and two giant doors on either side. The waterfalls fill the moat from both ends of the valley.

Guard Tower[]

The Guard Tower stands opposite to the Citadel and appears to be crudely carved into the stone. There are two hunters guarding it.

Gallery[]

The gallery with a set of windows is situated on the top level of the Citadel walls.

Entrance[]

The large ornate door is the entrance to the Citadel. The lower streets lead into the anteroom.

Anteroom[]

The anteroom consists of a tower connected to the rest of the City walls.

Water Tower[]

The water tower serves as the main supply of water for the City. The fresh water is supplied by the pipes from the waterfall in the area with the Water Glyph altar.

Canal[]

It was a small body of water divided into two by a bridge. It was found opposite the water tower.

Inside Water Tower[]

The circular reservoir was half filled with water and at the bottleneck there was a working propeller pushing the water through the pipes.

Waterfall[]

The waterfall serves as the water supply for the whole city. There is one Rahabim guarding its waters, possibly sent out as a scout by Rahab. The entrance to the Water Glyph altar is found here.

Notes[]

Behind the scenes[]

Soul_Reaver_Alpha_-_The_Human_Citadel

Soul Reaver Alpha - The Human Citadel

(by Raina Audron)

  • The Human Citadel is a large area, which houses one health power-up, one eldritch energy power-up and the Water Glyph. However, in the original Soul Reaver storyline it was intended that Raziel could swim through to get to an underground city complex - the Undercity and Temple areas - populated by the Vampire Worshippers (in the retail version found only in the Silenced Cathedral) and vampires. The leader of the worshippers was the Priestess who would have the gift of Possession. The battle with her would have included waves of enemies she would summon from a high ledge; and upon her death granted to Raziel the Possess ability.
Main article: Undercity
Main article: Priestess
Main article: Possess
  • The Human Citadel has several elements that were changed during development and appeared differently in the alpha builds:
    • Many corridors within the building are shorter meaning they fit better in the physical space than the retail version.
    • In the external area hunters patrolling and boulder objects are missing. A barred grate is present on the southern wall which allows Raziel to overlook the approaching path - The grate can be seen from outside even in retail but from inside is replaced with a rock wall.
    • There are no doors and there is no block puzzle to reach the outer balcony area, only stairs. At the top the platform to glide across is much more raw and rocky rather than the finished platform in the retail version. Across on the balcony on the other side the humans hunters and lights are also missing.
    • The main citadel doors do not exist on the inside and the first climbing wall collectible wall alcove is missing, with the following circular room missing entirely. The bridge across the top of the entrance lacks the railings seen in retail.
    • The main water tower area has fewer occupants.. The tower itself bulges notably in spectral and has a climbing wall alongside it which is missing in retail – this features a slight overhang at the top of the wall. Atop the tower there is actually a small door in alpha which allows entry to the internal cistern and water pipes of the tower.
    • The tower pipes contain Rahabim and even some pupating cocoons.
    • The 'City2' square area has no locked door at the center of the room and the balcony with the switch which opened the door in retail has a railing preventing jumping access - a human is however present on the balcony possibly suggesting a Possession puzzle was intended to gain access to the upper levels. Interestingly even in retail the area is decorated with a symbol which the alphas allow us to identify as the prototype mind symbol.
    • The 'City4' area leading off from the 'City2' balcony contains broken stairs leading to the Spirit Forge, where retail has a distinctively designed room containing an eldritch energy power up - the retail room actually adopted its textures from the deleted Kain's Mountain Retreat.
    • The 'City 9' area has an extra tower and a worshipper present and would have linked on to the Undercity. The exit of the Undercity lines up with the building here suggesting it was the temple area with ”mysterious figures” that Raziel discusses in deleted dialogue. The canal in the alpha ('City 10') leads to a large body of water and a single pipe in the middle ('City 11') which leads down to the Undercity. In the retail the canal and water reservoir leads to a set of rooms which also line up with the outer building - these were originally the Spirit Glyph altar from the alpha, moved from outside Turel's clan territory, repurposed and reused to house a health upgrade .

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