The Tomb of the Sarafan

The Tomb of the Sarafan appeared in Soul Reaver. It was the burial place for a select few of the vampire-hunting, Sarafan order.

In Soul Reaver, Raziel had to pass through the Tomb of the Sarafan to reach Rahab's territory. As he approached the huge structure, he commented on the men it had been built for. Retaining his old vampiric viewpoints, Raziel referred to the Sarafan as murderers.

The place had been "impenetrably sealed" but now "ravaged by Nosgoth's upheavals, its mysteries lay exposed." Raziel was soon to learn that the tomb had actually been breached at least once, centuries before, by Kain. Raziel was not prepared for the revelation awaiting him within. The ornate inner chamber of the tomb was empty, but carved above the vacant caskets were the names of Raziel's brethren - and his own. Raziel, Turel, Dumah, Rahab, Zephon and Melchiah had all been Sarafan in life.

Raziel was forced to re-evaluate himself and his opinion of the Sarafan crusade. If it were possible, his anger towards Kain grew as a result of this discovery. Raziel was disgusted by Kain's intentional blasphemy in raising vampire-hunting warrior-priests from the dead to serve him. By the time Raziel followed Kain through the Chronoplast's portal, he was speaking of the Sarafan with some reverence.

Raziel's new, rose-tinted view of the Sarafan was shattered in Soul Reaver 2. The humans Raziel, Turel, Dumah, Rahab, Zephon and Melchiah had not merely been Sarafan - they were Inquisitors, the elite of the Sarafan order. As he witnessed the murder of Janos Audron at their hands, the wraith Raziel instantly reverted back to his old hatred of the Sarafan, but that hatred was intensified by grief and guilt. He hunted and killed the Inquisitors, revelling in the knowledge of what Kain would do to them. Raziel was putting them in the tomb to await Kain's arrival, around a thousand years later. As Raziel killed his (rather unpleasant) Sarafan self, he renounced his human life and history forever.

The Tomb of the Sarafan was a notable location in Soul Reaver for two other reasons as well. It was where Raziel faced the Tomb Guardian, Morlock, and gained the Telekinetic Force Projectile ability. Also, there were seven names inscribed in the tomb, not six. Malek had a place too, although there was no casket for him, and we know from Blood Omen that his body never made it there. This suggests that the tomb was constructed prior to his failing of the Circle.