Petty Noble - Human Kain

The Petty Noble Kain is human Kain before being murdered and turned into a vampire in the original Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. It’s the first bonus skin of Kain you receive in Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered. I made a version of this over 10 years ago and revised and uploaded that back in 2017. However, despite the revisions I did then, it never was quite right. My goal then was to make the Kain that you could feel would have evolved into the elder vampire Kain we see in the Soul Reaver 1 and 2 intros. That Kain’s features, due to his evolution, are a bit thicker overall and blockier in the face than what he could be as a human. Trying to find the balance of human proportions and feel that still has Kain’s overall features between the two is harder than it might seem at first glance. With this remaster, I was given a chance to find that missing essence I never found before in his human form – and that was crucial, as, beyond the human model, I would need to make his fledgling vampire model and draw an evolutionary chain from there in the proposed skins we had. If I didn’t nail down the human look, the rest would suffer.

As with so many instances on this super tight schedule that we had, somehow I did find it. As I tried altering some things with the lips and eyes, and various other small tweaks here and there, suddenly, there was Kain. For the first time I could look at a human Kain and believe not only it could be a real human, but also that this was the origin of what evolution would bring about later in his demi-god vampire form. (Also, as before, Jason Issacs was a good reference for facial details). After this, creating his early vampire forms just flowed freely. Underneath the clothing and armor, I tried to make Kain a naturally fit human for his size, though not a body builder. This is the version shown here in everything but the in game Defiance Remastered screenshots. For the in game version, I then had to fit this Kain to the Defiance game rig, so he is sized up at near 7ft and proportions are slightly altered, as I had to with my evolved vampire Kain, to fit the rig.

The other issue was the armor. While I took from real world examples before and tried to weave something that would logically work to also evoke what we saw in Blood Omen 1, as with his human model, the armor just never was right. I made areas too thick and other bits felt like they were being forced to work, like the kidney belt to both armor his mid section and to evoke the area that was not covered in plate armor in the original BO1 design. So, I went back to the drawing board on most of the upper chest and arms. The legs needed some refitting and optimizing, but the overall design wasn’t too bad. Kain’s plate armor is taking inspiration mostly from the 14th and 15th centuries Gothic-styled armor. There are gaps where he does not have plate, or mail. A padded gambeson underneath is enough. He feels comfortable to defend himself against the wilds of Nosgoth on his journey. I also imagine that this armor would have, at one point, had Willendorf’s coat of arms painted on it, but it has since been removed after Kain’s dissolution with Ottmar’s rule. The red sash at his waist gives the red separation look that BO1’s armor had, and is the same idea expressed in Kain’s portrait in his crypt within the Cemetery level of Defiance. I exchanged the full cape I had for him before with a shoulder half cape, now embroidered with his coat of arms. This would fit the skeleton of the rig and added to the flair of nobility. Symbols from this also adorn his gloves in a better way than I had before.

The sword has seen a slight upgrade in textures since last I posted it in 2017, but the overall look is the same. A 15th century 2-handed longsword with a special engraving, given to Kain for his service. Willendorf’s army is described as the Army of the Last Hope. When inscribing the sword, I wanted something to evoke hope, or the light of hope. It became, in the Blood Omen version of Futhark used, “Light be thy Strength.” Also fitting that Kain would lose his life and be “turned from the light” when raised as a vampire shortly after we're introduced to him in this armor.

As with every bonus skin for Kain, I added the additional bloody mouth section that turns on when he feeds in the opening cutscene and his chest wound seen near the end of the game. Unlike the vampire versions of that, the wound and the blood from it are more of a straight red than the deeper, near purple reds seen from the vampire wounds. All of this to say, I am extremely happy to have finally been able to bring to life Kain as I intended those many years ago and I hope that fellow fans and new fans, alike, enjoy playing as him!