Bloodlines (game)

This article is about the cancelled game. For the quest, see  [15-35] Bloodlines.

Bloodlines concept art

Bloodlines is the name of a cancelled Blizzard Entertainment game.

History

Work on Bloodlines began after the completion of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, when Blizzard was considering new titles to pursue. Chris Metzen and Nick Carpenter began working on a pitch for a first-person shooter set in a world of vampires mixed with science fiction, called "Bloodlines". Metzen came up with dynasties or royal families of space vampires (also called "vrykol"), "some of them mutated and monstrous, some cool and sexy lords of the dark". They lived in a gritty, crime-ridden sci-fi universe with spaceships and alien species, all at the mercy of the warring vampire houses.

The game's main character would be named "Lon'Tiernan." He owned a ship and would deal with the political intrigue and infighting of the warring houses. Other characters in the game were "Tichondrius" and "Mal'Ganis."

Metzen and Carpenter created 3D demos, design work, and concept art. However, given the scope of the project, Bloodlines would require a lot of time, money, and manpower, and then-president of Blizzard Allen Adham ultimately shelved the project as the team shifted focus to what would become StarCraft.

The idea of space vampires was re-utilized for the nathrezim race in Warcraft, and the character names Tichondrius and Mal'Ganis were reused for nathrezim characters. Space vampires briefly featured in the development of StarCraft, though the concept was shelved in favor of the zerg and protoss.

"The Argus Wake", the name of a minor demon cult in World of Warcraft, first appeared in concept art for Bloodlines. The name "vrykol" (apparently derived from the Greek vrykolakas) may have been carried forward to contribute to early concepts of the vrykul race (who were originally vampiric) in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.