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The first four chapters of Birthright take us through the first steps of Albtraum as he meets Lucifurius, a mysterious voice in his head that guides him through the world and sets him on a path of violence and conquest in an attempt to conquer the world. Throughout all of this we see Albtraum’s nature poke through—namely his more naivety and innocence. We’re also introduced to a secondary plotline that follows Ishtar and Septimus, members of a secret order that in the distant past made contact with a dark world and its inhabitants.

These early chapters lay out a lot of the imagery and themes that will be used throughout the entire trilogy and we'll see the shadows of these early chapters constantly as we move forward. There will be a lot that we’ll put in our back pocket and carry with us for later and I’ll point these out as they come up.

With that said let’s go out to our favourite daemon child, he’s just now waking up.

Chapter 1—A Child’s First Steps

Birthright opens with a lot of very warm imagery and I want to hang onto that for a moment. We get imagery of families and homes and we pivot into Albtraum through his eyes noted to be the colour of flame. Immediately we’re given a throughline into Albtraum’s desire for companionship and a place to call home. This is immediately driven home by his reaction to Lucifurius’ introduction.

In this introduction to Lucifurius we see that Albtraum really has no choice but to trust him, he has no other anchor to the world he’s woken up in and an authoritative and seemingly kind voice that is housed within him is really his only source of knowledge. And Albtraum is immediately established as curious and inquisitive, which Lucifurius quickly teaches him to associate with hunger—and hunger means you hunt.

Food and hunger are going to be a prevalent part of the imagery throughout the trilogy especially when related to Albtraum, so its early associations being manipulated by Lucifurius is an indicator of the journey that we’re about to go on with Albtraum.

As we follow Albtraum into the nearby village and then into the smithy, we’re confronted by an immediate difference between Lucifurius and humanity. The blacksmith, upon finding Albtraum looking at swords and armour tries to dissuade him from the weapons, seeing him as a child first and foremost. This is directly opposed to Lucifurius’ encouragement to draw a blade which urges Albtraum further along the path that he has laid out for him. 

Then, just after we get our first of many incredible and brutal fight scenes, Albtraum kills the blacksmith and dons a mask made of a skull, becoming in Lucifurius’ words ‘a symbol of death’. Which I’m sure will have no negative impacts on this child.

I do also want to emphasize when Lucifurius and Albtraum feed off the life of Albtraum’s first kill, we’re met with Albtraum’s discomfort with the blood and gore he has wrought which Lucifurius immediately pushes through in order to feed. The first feeding is entirely overwhelming and overstimulating for Albtraum but Lucifurius once again pushes through it commanding Albtraum to get more.

Lucifurius’ facade of care was never really perfect and we already see some of the disregard he has for Albtraum coming through. It will take Albtraum quite a while to see what we see though, especially after Lucifurius rewards him with a ‘designation’.

Chapter 2—Lessons and Omens

This is our first introduction to the Septimus and Ishtar plotline. We see them discussing the nature of their fledgling Order and the differences in the paths they chose to walk. Ishtar dons white robes and walks a path of faith while Septimus dons darker robes and perseus knowledge. 

As we go back to Albtraum, Lucifurius hints at a similarity in Albtraum’s desire for knowledge and that of a previous vessel he had inhabited—this vessel later being revealed to be Septimus. We also learn a bit more of the world, namely about daemons—Lucifurius’ children—and the treatment they face when they are born to humanity. Lucifurius then tells Albtraum that he desires justice, but that justice takes the form of a complete conquest of humanity and contains very little mention of what it will actually do for his children.

This is also where the imagery of Albtraum’s skull mask begins to solidify. It’s more than just a symbol of death, it’s also a symbol of Albtraum’s nature. The skull of a predator with antlers fastened to it, completing Albtraum’s daemonic visage as his own horns have been removed. The mask is the symbol of what Lucifurius wants for Albtraum—a visage of death, fear, and his own daemonic nature.

As we then follow Albtraum on a hunt we see that he’s developed a bit of a sense of honor, only targeting warriors and leaving innocents. Lucifurius is fine with this as warriors make for a better meal, but we can see a bit of Albtraum's underlying moral intuition poking through what Lucifurius is teaching him. Albtraum also spares a child, a decision made based on his empathy for the child’s fear as he sees in them the fear that daemon children see throughout their lives.

And this is our crack in Albtraum and Lucifurius’ relationship. Neither character makes a comment of it but this is the first reveal of their incompatibilities that will only deepen as the two have genuine conflict with each other.

Chapter 3—The World Gets Bigger

We start out with another scene of Septimus as he descends into the depths of a temple, moving towards a rift that connects this world with a world of darkness. As Septimus arrives at the rift her speaks with an entity that promises him knowledge—but that knowledge will not come freely, Septimus must kill in exchange for what he desires.

Lucifurius has never and will never change.

Albtraum has grown up quite a bit when we check back with him, and he’s built up quite a reputation for himself as he continues to hunt at Lucifurius’ behest, his pride in himself and his strength is starting to grow.

He then enters a new weight class. Albtraum encounters an immortal, as he tries to fight he’s out matched and overpowered. When he does land what should be a crippling blow on the immortal, they quickly shrug it off and continue their assault. For the first time Albtraum has failed a hunt, he has killed no prey and is forced to flee.

But Lucifurius’ hunger must be sated and despite his comforting words to Albtraum—assuring him this failure is not his fault—he overindulges taking all of the energy from Albtraum’s slaughter of a small village for himself, and when Albtraum finds another group to hunt for his own well being, Lucifurius doesn’t lend him strength for this one. 

Albtraum gets injured and while he does complete the hunt he’s left on his own by Lucifurius. This is his punishment for failing despite being assured that that failure was not his fault. Failure can not go unpunished.

As Albtraum is confused and hurt by Lucifurius’ treatment of him Lucifurius explodes at him berating Albtraum for questioning him. 

Those incompatibilities we saw in the last chapter begin to deepen.

“Albtraum, the perfect puppet, had been tainted by doubt.”

Chapter 4—Disobedience

Ishtar learns of what Septimus has done and the people he has killed and we learn that Septimus has lost control, he’s woken up standing over corpses as he is compelled to sacrifice those around him to the voice in his head. Then Albtraum wakes up and we learn these scenes are in fact his dreams

I want to emphasize Albtraum waking up at the beginning of this chapter as a parallel to chapter one. This is in many ways an echo of that awakening, the awakening of Albtraum as his own person rather than as a mere extension of Lucifurius’ will.

Albtraum continues his travel towards a kingdom in the mountains, passing by a rift to the dark world—the same one Septimus had made contact with in the past. This is also where we are reminded of Albrtaum’s strong desire for companionship, being scared of Lucifurius leaving him once he has enough power to make his own body. He resolves to prove himself worthy of being kept.

As Albtraum reaches the city, he tries to move in secret but quickly has his cover blown. He fights the city guard and is once again met with the immortal. And she still is far too powerful for him. 

Lucifurius instructs Albtraum to run, but Albtraum refuses to fail again; he must prove himself. He must be kept. And from this desire to prove himself he disobeys. He stays to fight. His desperation to be valued and to have companionship overpowering his obedience. 

But desperation doesn’t win fights and Albtraum is beaten. Losing consciousness. The next time it wakes it will be a prisoner and a failure.

These first four chapters bring us into the world as Lucifurius allows us to see it, we alongside Albtraum have a very narrow perspective of what’s unfolding. We only know what Lucifurius shares, and he tries to shape a very careful narrative to mould Albtraum into a perfect tool, but Albtraum’s nature comes to odds with that and going forward we’ll see how that rift between them deepens and how Lucifurius truly feels about Albtraum.