Timeline

Eons ago...

The Elder God reveals himself to the ancient vampires, and they accept his doctrine of the Wheel of Fate.

The vampires start a war against their enemy race, the Hylden, as they refuse to submit to the Wheel of Fate of the Elder God.

1000 years later...

The vampire race defeats the Hylden, confining them in a demonic dimension.

In revenge, the Hylden curse the vampires with bloodthirst, sterility, and immortality, and because of this the Elder God expels them from the Wheel of Fate. Many vampires commit suicide in order to re-enter the Wheel of Fate.

The vampires erect the Pillars to keep the Hylden imprisoned in the demonic dimension. The Circle of Nine is formed, an oligarchy of guardians who watch over the Pillars. Vorador forges the Reaver, and Janos Audron is its guardian.

In an attempt to perpetuate their race, the vampires bestow the dark gift of vampirism upon the human Vorador for the first time.

The human population grows at the expense of the vampires. Humans replace the vampires as guardians and receive the dark gift from them.

The human guardians refuse to accept the gift of vampirism. Moebius and Mortanius start a revolt to serve the Pillars as humans.

Centuries later...

The Circle of Nine creates the Sarafan Order, dedicated to exterminating the vampire race.

The human Raziel is born. When he comes of age, he joins the Sarafan Order alongside Malek, Turel, Dumah, Rahab, Zephon, and Melchiah.

Raziel meets Janos Audron, who guards the Reaver.

The Sarafan priests reach Janos Audron thanks to the path opened by Raziel. The human Raziel kills Janos. The Sarafan take his heart and the Reaver. Raziel renounces his past as a Sarafan priest and pursues them to their fortress.

The First Circle Massacre begins. Vorador kills six of the nine guardians. Malek fails to arrive in time to prevent it. Only Mortanius, Moebius, and Malek survive.

Raziel kills the Sarafan priests Melchiah, Zephon, Rahab, Dumah, Turel, and Raziel.

The Reaver pierces Raziel to trap his soul, but Kain intervenes, altering history.

Raziel falls into the Underworld for a period of 500 years.

Kain discovers the vampire citadel.

The Elder God offers Kain the chance to travel 500 years into the future to stop Raziel and prevent him from reclaiming the Heart of Darkness.

Vorador retrieves Janos Audron’s corpse and takes it to the chapel of his mansion.

Mortanius condemns Malek for failing the Circle, trapping him in his armor and designating him as the new guardian of Conflict. Ariel, Anarcrothe, Azimuth, Bane, DeJoule, and Nupraptor replace the fallen guardians.

450 years later...

Kain realizes he has traveled back in time and decides to kill William the Just before he becomes the Nemesis.

Moebius arms William with a replica of the Soul Reaver.

The young King William is killed by Kain.

Kain finds another time-streaming device and uses it to return to the future.

Moebius exploits William’s assassination at Kain’s hands to sow genocidal hatred against the vampires and launch a crusade against them.

20 years later...

Raziel appears at the Sarafan stronghold and meets Moebius.

Raziel finds the Soul Reaver broken, displayed in King William the Just’s tomb.

Raziel encounters Kain at the Pillars. Ariel, the guardian of Balance, is murdered by the parasitic entity inside Mortanius. Her lover Nupraptor discovers her body, and his anguish corrupts the rest of the Circle’s guardians, causing the Pillars to become corrupted. Kain is born, destined to be the new guardian of Balance.

Raziel meets Vorador, who tells him about his master Janos Audron.

Raziel finds Kain in William’s tomb, at the Sarafan stronghold. Raziel refuses to kill him, changing history.

Raziel forces Moebius to manipulate the time-streaming device to travel five centuries into Nosgoth’s past, but Moebius sends him a hundred years into the future.

30 years later...

The human Kain is killed by bandits.

Mortanius offers Kain the opportunity for vengeance. Kain accepts and is resurrected as a vampire.

Seeking a cure for his vampirism, Kain meets Ariel. She tells him the only solution is to restore the corrupted Pillars by eliminating the guardians who serve them. The Second Circle Massacre begins.

Kain kills the first guardian: Nupraptor. The next guardian, Malek, forces Kain to flee.

Kain arrives at the Oracle’s cave at Ariel’s direction. The Oracle urges Kain to find the vampire Vorador in the Termangent Forest.

Kain meets and gains the friendship of Vorador, from whom he learns about the history of the vampire race and the dangers of meddling in human affairs.

At Dark Eden, Vorador is summoned by Kain. He kills Bane and DeJoule, while Vorador eliminates Malek.

Kain finds the Soul Reaver in the Cathedral of Avernus and uses it to kill Lady Azimuth. He also finds a time-streaming device.

At Ariel’s behest and against Vorador’s advice, Kain allies with King Ottmar to fight the invading armies of the Nemesis.

Cornered in battle, Kain uses the time-streaming device and unwittingly travels fifty years back in time.

Upon returning, Kain observes how William’s assassination has brought about the extinction of the vampires.

Raziel awakens in the Underworld and seeks out Ariel, hoping she will help him find Vorador.

Vorador shows Raziel the corpse of Janos Audron. To resurrect him, Raziel heads to the Cathedral of Avernus in search of the Heart of Darkness.

At the Cathedral of Avernus, Raziel finds Hash’ak’gik, who turns out to be his vampire brother Turel. Raziel devours his soul and becomes partially possessed by the entities that parasitized Turel. He then meets Mortanius, who reveals he used the Heart of Darkness to resurrect Kain as a vampire.

Kain and Raziel confront each other. Believing he is about to be trapped in the Reaver, Raziel rips the Heart of Darkness from Kain’s bowels and confines it in the demonic dimension.

Raziel resurrects Janos Audron. He takes him to the vampire citadel. There, Raziel learns Kain’s true nature: he is the Scion of Balance, destined to return control of the Pillars to the vampire race. Ariel appears before Raziel and offers him her soul. Raziel takes Ariel’s spirit and gains the Spirit Reaver.

Vorador is guillotined and Kain becomes the last surviving vampire in Nosgoth. Kain kills Moebius.

Following Mortanius’s orders, Kain heads back to the Pillars. There he witnesses Mortanius finish off Anarcrothe. Kain kills Mortanius, which causes the Hylden possessing him to fully take control of his body, and Kain defeats him once more.

With all the guardians dead, Ariel reveals to Kain that he is the last guardian. Kain must choose between sacrificing himself to restore Balance to Nosgoth by extinguishing the vampire race, or refusing and condemning the Pillars to ruin forever.

Kain refuses the sacrifice. The barrier created by the Pillars eventually collapses.

The Hylden who possessed Mortanius now possesses Janos Audron. Raziel understands the mistake he was warned about by Kain and confronts the possessed Janos Audron. Audron kills Raziel and escapes while Raziel falls into the Underworld.

Kain awakens in the catacombs of the Cathedral of Avernus. He escapes and returns to the vampire citadel. There he finds Moebius and kills him.

In the Underworld, Raziel eliminates Moebius. Understanding and accepting his destiny, Raziel enters the physical realm through Moebius’s corpse and purifies Kain by allowing himself to be imprisoned within the sword.

Kain escapes from his confrontation with the Elder God at the vampire citadel.

70 years later...

Raziel finds the spirit of Moebius in the Sarafan stronghold and then Ariel’s specter at the Pillars.

Raziel discovers the ruins of Janos Audron’s retreat and encounters Kain there.

Kain travels back in time to prevent the Reaver from consuming Raziel.

Raziel uses a second time-streaming device, hoping it will take him to a time when Janos Audron was still alive.

130 years later...

The Hylden possessing Janos Audron reforms the Sarafan Order, taking the name Lord Sarafan. Janos Audron is used to power a Hylden weapon.

Somehow Kain resurrects Vorador and leads an army of vampires alongside him to overthrow the new Sarafan Order. Kain is defeated and the Sarafan Lord takes possession of the Soul Reaver.

Most surviving vampires defect to the Sarafan, while Vorador and a small group flee and form the Cabal, the vampire resistance, who take Kain and hide him.

200 years later...

Kain awakens in Meridian and meets Umah.

Kain meets with Vorador. There he learns that Umah has discovered the Nexus Stone, an object of great power. Kain sets out to steal it.

In the industrial quarter, Kain steals the Nexus Stone and learns of an ancient Hylden weapon known as the Device.

Kain visits the Seer, an ancient Hylden acquaintance of Vorador, to obtain more information. She transports him to the Device.

There, Kain does not recognize a deformed Janos Audron, who feeds the Mass, the being inside the Device, with his blood. Janos reveals that the Mass can only be destroyed with the blood of the Hylden builder of the Device. Kain heads to the Eternal Prison in search of the Builder.

Upon his return, Kain destroys the Mass and discovers that the creature feeding it was in fact Janos Audron. Janos instructs him about the Hylden and the gate they use to bring other Hylden from the demonic dimension.

Kain faces the Sarafan Lord. Janos is confined in the demonic dimension while trying to help Kain. Kain closes the Hylden Gate, retrieves the Soul Reaver, and kills the Sarafan Lord.

100 years later...

Kain profanes the Sarafan crypt and resurrects six of the seven Sarafan priests as vampires. Kain begins the conquest of Nosgoth with Raziel as his first lieutenant.

Kain undergoes an evolutionary process followed by his lieutenants.

1000 years later...

Raziel evolves ahead of Kain, growing a pair of wings. Kain orders him to be thrown into the abyss.

Centuries later...

Using a stolen time-streaming device, Turel is taken centuries back in time by Azimuth to be worshipped as the god Hash’ak’gik and serve as a host for the Hylden.

Centuries later...

The Elder God resurrects Raziel as a soul-devouring wraith.

Raziel kills his brothers Melchiah, Zephon, Rahab, and Dumah, acquiring their abilities.

Raziel finds Kain at the Sanctuary of the Clans. Kain attacks Raziel with the Soul Reaver, which is destroyed. Raziel becomes bound to the Reaver. There, Raziel meets the specter of Ariel.

Raziel finds the Sarafan crypt profaned by Kain and discovers that he himself was one of these priests. He rejects this sacrilegious act and identifies with the ideology of his former self.

Raziel pursues Kain to the time-streaming chamber in the Oracle’s cave. Kain crosses the time portal and Raziel follows him.