Soul Reaver 2: Historical Timeline

Before Nosgoth's Recorded History

Genesis of the Pillars of Nosgoth.
Formation of the Circle of Nine, sorcerer-guardians sworn to protect and serve the Pillars.
The Reaver is forged.

- Over 500 years before Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

The Vampire Purge begins

The order of the Sarafan is formed to counter the vampire menace.
The human Raziel is born, and becomes a Sarafan warrior-priest.
The vampire Vorador slaughters six of the Circle for their sponsorship of the Sarafan crusade.
Raziel of the Sarafan dies in combat, and is entombed with the Sarafan martyrs.
The Sarafan crusade ceases.

The Vampire Purge ends

- Altered Historical Timeline begins

Kain assassinates the young king William the Just, who will become the Nemesis.
Kain discovers another Time Streaming Device and returns to Nosgoth's present.
Mortanius, the Guardian of Death, is possessed by a dark entity.

The Corruption of the Pillars begins

Ariel, the Guardian of Balance, is murdered; the human Kain is born, destined to take her place.
Ariel's murder triggers a chain of events, resulting in the corruption of the Circle, and the decay of the Pillars.
The nobleman Kain is assassinated.

In the underworld, the necromancer Mortanius offers Kain the chance to avenge his murder. Kain accepts the offer, and is reborn as a vampire.
Kain hunts down and destroys the corrupt Circle Guardians, restoring each of the Pillars in turn.
Kain meets the ancient vampire Vorador.
Kain discovers the Soul Reaver within Avernus Cathedral, and claims it for his own.
Kain joins forces with King Ottmar's Army of Hope, to confront the Legions of the tyrant Nemesis.
The Armies of Hope are decimated; Kain activates the Time Streaming Device, and is propelled nearly 50 years back in time.

- The path of History goes off on a tangent at this point, reflecting the 'new' present-day Nosgoth

Kain returns to present-day Nosgoth... and discovers that assassinating William 50 years ago triggered a renewed vampire purge.
Vorador is executed; Kain is the only surviving vampire in Nosgoth.
Kain confronts and kills Moebius, the Guardian of Time.
Kain confronts Mortanius, the final Guardian, at the Pillars. Mortanius is destroyed as the Dark Entity possessing his body emerges; Kain defeats the Dark Entity in combat.
With Mortanius' death, all but the Balance Pillar are restored.
Kain realizes finally that he is the Balance Guardian, and therefore the last of the Nine. He must choose between sacrificing himself to heal the world... or preserving his life and ruling Nosgoth in its damnation
Kain refuses the sacrifice, ensuring the Pillars' collapse.

- 400 years after Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

- Roughly a century later

Kain sets the ruined Pillars as the seat of his new empire, and the unrestored Balance Pillar as the base of his throne.
Kain raises his six vampire lieutenants from the corpses of the Sarafan martyrs; Raziel is reborn as a vampire.

- A millenium passes

Raziel evolves, growing wings - for this transgression, Raziel is executed by being cast into the Abyss

- Centuries later

Raziel is revived by the mysterious Elder God at the bottom of the Abyss and is reborn as a reaver of souls.
Raziel returns to reap the vampires' apostate souls and take his revenge on his vampire brethren and his creator, Kain.
Raziel confronts Kain within the ruins of the Pillars sanctuary; Kain attacks Raziel with the Soul Reaver, his ancient sword - the blade is destroyed on impact. Now a wraith blade, the Soul Reaver intertwines with Raziel and becomes his symbiotic weapon.
Raziel pursues Kain through Moebius's ancient Chronoplast time portal, and is plunged into Nosgoth's past. Soul Reaver 2 begins...