Kenshi is Grim Dark Done RIGHT

[@HeroInHisHead]

Great stuff! Thank you so much for linking me and my lore videos lad. It means a lot!

[@GrimDarkHalfOff]

No problem, you did a lot of good work on your videos and it shows! I’ll pin your comment so more people can find you!

[@LadyTakanashi]

Crossover between two of my favorite lore channels. Absolutely glorious.

[@somerandomschmuck2547]

The one really important aspect I think you missed about the Skeltons was something connected to their aging and their emotions. Basically Skeletons (at least nowadays) can’t really let go of their emotions, they have no ways of letting it out, they can’t really laugh, they can’t really cry, and they don’t feel pain. The only ways they can perceive the world is sight and sound. Because of this that stuff builds up, and eventually it can drive them crazy. While they can “cleanse” themselves of this viva a reset, that basically reboots them, while they might develop a similar personality they loose at the very least most of their memories and all of their skills, they’d have to relearn everything, which in a world like Kenshi is a very dangerous gamble, what if you reset yourself a day before someone tries to kill you and you find yourself unable to fight? Cat-Lon is probably the best example of this, he started out as a pretty good guy, but between the stresses of his job and his unwillingness to reset (because how could he, he’d loose all the skills he needed to run the empire), he became a Tyrant with some pretty eerie parallels to the humans the Skeletons initially rebelled against.

[@benjamintrejo9307]

A let’s play sounds awesome

[@Skyte100]

I don't believe its quite that they cant do those emotions. Sadneil exists. They just lack the ability to visually represent the emotions. Or maybe they can but its in a way only skeletons can detect. Its more they have a limited memory space and have to reset every few centuries or else they will begin having errors from the lack of free memory space...and go insane, or get their OS corrupted. Pick your preference terminology there.

[@darthplagueis13]

I don't think it's really the emotional aspect. It's the fact that everything they remember is stored as data and they cannot store indefinite amounts of it and they also cannot simply forget unimportant things like humans do literally all the time, so it just eventually piles up and needs to go lest it inhibits the normal functioning of the skeleton mind. Unfortunately, the only way to remove it is a memory reset, and that's not a selective process where all the unimportant stuff gets thrown out.

[@RipOffProductionsLLC]

I thought there were things implying that the whole "Skeletons have to wipe/reset their memories every few centuries to avoid issues" was a lie they made up so humans don't ask uncomfortable questions, or confront/blame them for their past actions that they've come to regret all these millennia later?

[@Skyte100]

@@darthplagueis13 exactly. The madness is a result of errors accumulating due to lack of free resources.

[@xbinbyer1055]

Never woulda thought that my Conan lore channel and Kenshi would have a crossover.

[@OfficerC4]

Same I am pleasantly surprised

[@LadyTakanashi]

I hope this leads to Kenshi mods for Conan Exiles.

[@BrandonS-lk2qc]

Right? What a treat!

[@BrandonS-lk2qc]

@@LadyTakanashi Or Conan mods for Kenshi!

[@LadyTakanashi]

@@BrandonS-lk2qc i would love to play kenshi with the controls of Conan Exiles alongside the building. Just picture the totality of the options opened up.

[@Hammerheadcruiser]

Kenshi is a great game. My most memorable moment was when I visited the Shrieking Forest. It's called that cause hordes of crazy people just run around, shrieking. I stumbled into the zone and was really surprised when one group came up to me and a dialogue box opened. Except what was in that box was just bizarre cries and shrieks. I somehow managed to luck my way through it by shrieking back, so the horde left me alone. I then crossed the zone, watching groups yelling and sprinting across the pathways of the forest. The whole thing was mystifying, utterly alien and completely unique. To this day I have no idea what their deal is, but I ran with the crazy people and it was unforgettable.

[@marltonmanks9891]

i think nomads are one of the only factions on good terms with the shrieking bandits. some will even say that the bandits are just simply misunderstood.

[@bboi1489]

The North East of Kenshi was once a production facility in the Second Empire (likely a genetic lab district, where enforcers, and maybe hivers were created). The most backed-up theory suggests that these facilities leaked industrial chemicals that tainted the crops, making them inedible. The survivors there were mutated, and forced to resort to cannibalism, while the others had to venture into the nearby forests, foraging for whatever may be even slightly edible.

[@Zimzilla99]

Got into Kenshi about 2 years ago. It’s gameplay wasn’t something I usually played but it’s world and vibe really spoke to me and it’s become one of my favorite games

[@n0denz]

The one thing I've found so fascinating about Skeletons is their near-complete aversion to talking about the past. If you press them on it, they'll shut down just like anyone with dissociative symptoms.

[@jaybee8862]

Lol... tis a reason for that... Recruit a skeleton and try speaking to them with the skeleton... They might just open up a bit 🤫

[@lsswappedcessna]

@@jaybee8862 I feel as if it's equal parts shame and equal parts fear that humans may still hold a grudge. The skeletons really wouldn't blame the humans for holding a grudge, but the realize their genocide has caused a never-ending cycle of skeletons killing humans who then kill skeletons who then kill humans who then kill skeletons and so on. It's a cycle they want to break before it becomes unbreakable.

[@ojnorl3604]

One of the more interesting theories I have encountered about Kenshi's lore pertaining to Hivers is that they were, just like the shek, formerly humans. After one of the animal enemies, the blood spider and the creatures the bugman keeps as pets look to be an extremely mutated version of a Hiver, with the suggested reason being that they were the Hivers ancestors and the unlucky first humans that were experimented upon. Another interesting theory is that the Hivers do not reproduce sexually, the Queens instead consume matter and use it in creation of various Hivers, with the type of matter used varying depending on the Hive, they are also not wholly organic. Western Hive has a continuous and steady supply of agricultural matter leading to them being more peaceful, the Southern Hive is present in more hostile environment, leading to a more predatory lifestyle, and also them using the Crimper type robot called "King" to mulch the bodies of animals, humans and other Hivers they have caught to feed to their queen. The Fogmen by all appearances have gone mad thanks to the death of their queen, their hivemind now devoid of her calming presence leaving them only with their destructive instinctincts, the speculated reason for their cannibalism is that their simialry to the their southern cousins, mulch the bodies in order to gain organic matte which they then feed to their dead queen, the queen is after not wholly organic and whatewer machinery is responsible for Hiver creation is probadly still functioning. And that is all from me on the possible Hiver lore, that I have gained by perusing the wiki and other lore channels, any of this, as far as i know, can be wrong and as such I too claim a status of Kenshi lore Dunce, hope it helps.

[@amantryingtodogood9061]

bless u laddie

[@staticdrutis2566]

I appreciate you took the time to type that all out because i think its the coolest theory by far

[@danello9091]

A bit of a spoiler: Hivers weren't around before the second empire in the continent we play in, they came from far away and there's very little actually confirmed info on them, however it is pretty much canon that they came from overseas to Kenshi, hence why both South and West colonies can be found in the coast. Also, another interesting detail is that, all hives have a difference in who controls them, the West has a Queen but no King, Deadhive has no Queen nor King, and South has King and Queen, I theorize that while the Queen may provide this sort of calmness and unity among all hivers, King provides a different kind of hivemind message, that being the aggressiveness we see in the South, "Kill for King, food for King". A headcanon I have is that West's King actually died in battle against earlier Shek who were just settling over in their corner of the map, maybe a confrontation with Kral himself even, and West King's death is what made the Hivers rather passive and collaborative, the Queen being relocated to one of the unexplored westernmost islands, clearly trying to reduce any form of exposure from the no-hives since they don't have a reliable King to protect her. Having to develop technologically to fulfill the role king probably had which as you said might've been a feeder for the Queen or something.

[@staticdrutis2566]

@@danello9091 oh very cool thank you for the lore

[@richfoster4369]

Another thing to support the case the hives are artificial genetically modified beings. (I think created by the bug master at the command of catlon to be a substitute for humanity and skeleton grief as a reaction to the famines the second empire where facing) is that if you go to the skin bandits as only a hive/hivers they won’t attack and skin you but say your skin is not the right skin since hivers are in there words “robotic humans”

[@lordmidas7279]

It’s suspected that the god Okran is actually a corruption of worship of the titanic skeleton Stobe, who saved some of the last humans during the genocides of the second empire. I like to believe this to be true too for the irony of the skeleton hating faction worshipping one without knowing it. Also Stobes corpse can be found still in Stobe’s gamble, hence the name

[@alexrosu4405]

Oh holy brother the Holy Lord Phoenix, blessed be his name, wouldn't be pleased with what you're saying.

[@MuandDib]

​@@alexrosu4405 We shall take him to Rebirth to cleanse his foul soul.

[@bboi1489]

How do we know the dwarf-behemoth in SG is Stobe, though? Like, I know common sense says so, but is there any dialouge that goes "Omg, that's Stobe!?"

[@The4j1123]

@@bboi1489I’d say it’s safe to assume that the behemoth found in “Stobe’s Garden” is Stobe… for obvious reasons

[@bboi1489]

@The4j1123 But is it confirmed? That's all I wanna know

[@jeffleng2733]

You know, something that’s always fascinated me about Kenshi is its reminiscence of the Dying Earth genre. In fact, if Kenshi did come out as a series of short stories, I think it would be pretty comfortably set under that genre. Digression aside, it reminds me most of the great Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique series in terms of overarching style, what with the overwhelming cruelty, decadence, and stagnating decay of the setting.

[@Arbaaltheundefeated]

There is also the fact that while the game's lore does leave it in some ambivalency, there are several indicators that Kenshi is in fact dying. A lot of people I've talked to seem to have the opposite impression for... no actual reason as far as I can tell, that Kenshi is a world of hope, that is recovering from an apocalypse that has now passed. But there really is no reason to believe that to be the case other than blind optimism as far as I can tell, and several environmental clues to expect the opposite; The waters have receded massively in a (relatively speaking) very short amount of time. Vegetation has receded to mere pockets, and look around at the vegetation there *is* in most places where it's present... large vegetation outside of the most fertile of places appear mostly dead or dying, not growing and thriving and being replaced by younger plants. Pollution is still worsening courtesy of myriad old machinery still belching forth environmental hazards, even though it's already bad enough that more than half the planet has rain that will kill a human over varying terms of exposure. And even if you put all of those 'markers' aside... chances are a tidal-locked moon just was never going to be long-term habitable without the assistance of advanced technology keeping it so. Technology that has long since stopped working. I find a much more likely scenario is that the moon of Kenshi is in the process of becoming climatologically incapable of sustaining life, and probably in a matter of centuries at worst to maybe a couple millennia at most. That it is not (only) post-apocalyptic, but in the middle (or more likely, end-stages) of a climate apocalypse.

[@bhartley1024]

Not really the same vibe as Kenshi, but have you read The Dying Earth Series by Jack Vance? It gave inspiration to much of the early DnD magic system.

[@nomorechess]

@@bhartley1024 didn't he already mention that?

[@bhartley1024]

@@nomorechess Maybe. He said Dying Earth "genre" not "series", maybe there are other books/authors/series that use the words "dying earth"? I wouldn't call Vance's Dying Earth grimdark though

[@dovahkiin3379]

@@Arbaaltheundefeated those are very correct observations, and honestly that is the only fate kenshi can ever have, even if the moon was already naturally habitable or artificially engineered to be so, in both cases it is most likely on the decline to no longer be so, and that's most likely due to the actions of the skeletons in their rebellion against the human empire, It stated that they altered the environment causing great catastrophes, ruining the ecosystem and causing famines alongside diseases, they killed kenshi and that's why they always cry, it's not about mass murdering many humans as those can be replaced, or losing the technology because that can be easily salvaged or reinvented much quicker than the first time, it's because they set an unstoppable course for the moon that they can no longer reverse, they know that soon enough all life will end on this moon and depending on what Chris meant for the first empire to be, it could be that kenshi was all there is, and they probably ended sentient organic life in their universe, all that will remain is them weeping over the dead dunes of kenshi

[@Hy3jii]

Cat-lon invested heavily into genetic engineering during his reign of the Second Empire. He also kidnapped tons of human children. During the empire's waning years the humans he ruled over rebelled and fled into the wastes in droves. He likely spliced children and another unknown animal (maybe bone dogs?) to create the Enforcers in an attempt to regain control of his subjects. These Enforcers eventually evolved into the Shek. When that failed, and he lacked a sufficient number of subjects to maintain his empire, he needed a race that was subservient to skeletons and skilled in engineering. HIvers are enslaved to a cybernetic queen through pheromones and are naturally curious when it comes to machinery. They might be the result of spliced children and skin spiders.

[@louissteyn6871]

One of my favorite things I randomly noticed while playing was how the game treats it's markets, I cant tell you how it specifically works but I can say it blew me away for how minor of a thing it was, when you craft weapons and armor it has created by "individual" from "player faction" in its description, my faction mainly made a living off making weapons and selling them at one point I went to a settlement and found a weapon and it was made by my faction, but not by who, and I almost never go there and never sold any weapons there, the implications of this feature and what it meant to me as a player just blew my mind at the time

[@SoundTracx]

Speaking of making weapons, there's a theory that "Cross" who made the best weapons found in game were made by the first empire using automated machines like we do today with silverware. Cross was probably just a Company brand.

[@varkusor6899]

@@SoundTracx but there are too few ''Cross'' blades to be made by a automated machine after all they can never lose their edge

[@SoundTracx]

@@varkusor6899To be fair what use would swords have in the First Empire times? They had satellites in space and space elevators. If anything the swords were more for ceremonial practices like we see today.

[@blender7]

@@SoundTracxThey were the mall katanas of their era.

[@FlippedHands]

An interesting note. The skeletons remember the past. They tell you that when they reset they lose their memory. But people are pretty sure its a lie. They are haunted by the past and wish to forget it. So much so that certain people seek to censor history so their actions will be permanently lost to time. There is some really great writing hidden through out the game. You have to really work to piece things together. Its very satisfying. I'm downloading that Talking Beak Things mod right now. Thank you.

[@lsswappedcessna]

A few Kenshi loremasters such as Hero In His Head have speculated that when Skeletons do a CPU reset, they don't lose their long-term memories, they lose recently acquired memories, talents, skills. Think of it like restarting a computer. Your storage drives retain information, even a digital storage device like an SSD or NVMe can retain information for years without being powered on, but whatever was loaded into RAM has been deleted.

[@witchkinglp]

My most memorable moment in Kenshi occurred after I recruited Beep and Crumblejon in Mongrel. I had them train there (they were too weak to leave with my main team - my main guy Brogan, a Greenlander Eagle Cross abusing ninja; Ant, a giant Hive Soldier; and Fakefist, a Skeleton Tinfist cosplayer). I sometimes had them fight isolated Fogmen to get stronk bc there's only so much you can do with training dummies (beep also got pretty great at stealing stuff from the local merchants), so they basically had their very own epic training arc adventure going. At one point, however, I saw a couple of random travellers being attacked by the Fogmen and some Ninjas from Mongrel had gone out to help them. I knew they would get owned if I didn't help, so I had Beep go and recruit the mercs in the bar, hoping we could free the guys and rescue them. When we came back the travellers were already dead and two of the Ninjas had been captured and were now being eaten alive. As we charged the Fogmen, the merc captain immediately fled, screaming something to the extent of "I'm too young to die!" along with another merc. There was a pretty epic scene though as the rest of us charged down the hillside and the big guy with the fragment axe screamed something epic like "Forward to glory!". The plan was simple. At this point Crumblejon had become pretty strong, so he was leading the attack. Beep meanwhile had levelled up his thieving skills quite a bit. So while the others were distracting the Fogmen, Beep would sneak in, free the captured Ninjas, rescue them, and then we'd all retreat back to Mongrel. Things did not go as planned. Beep managed to free the Ninjas, but could carry only one of them at any reasonable speed, he managed to save the guy on an epic run up the mountain, but Crumblejon had to step in to save the other. He was not so lucky. By this point the mercs had all either fled or been killed. Crumblejon did his best to dodge and weave, but he was all by himself and eventually they got to him and the Ninja. The Fogmen grabbed them, put them on their sacrificial poles, and began by eating their limbs while they screamed for help. The Ninja was soon beyond all help. Beep, being the gloriously fearless hero that he was, could not just let his friend and training partner die. So he baited the Fogmen into running after him with his crossbow, ran up to the Ninjas guarding the gate to bait them into helping him, and managed to distract enough of the Fogmen, to run back and untie Crumblejon. In a last, heroic run for his life, Beep managed to carry the unconscious Crumblejon all the way back up the hillside to Mongrel. But by this point, both of his arms had been gnawed off and his legs were not looking good. But Beep did his best and managed to stop the bleeding and nurse Crumblejon back to health. Deciding that his legs were basically useless, they were amputated (used a mod for this). Through selling enough of the stolen goods from Mongrel's merchants - *cough* maybe or maybe not abusing a certain mechanic *cough* - Beep managed to scrounge up the funds to go to the robotics merchant and afford Crumblejon a new set of limbs - he had to use money this time because he simply couldn't figure out a way to steal the guy's stuff unnoticed. Once he had recovered, he was Crumblejon no more. Crumblejon had died in the Fog. He rose as Cyberjon. I sent him to the plastic surgeon to finally realign his spine, completing the transformation and changed his name that instant. They both soon joined the main team as heroes after that. What I love about Kenshi, is that it lets you simply stumble into epic stories like this, to write your own story, simply by interacting with the mechanics of the game, the characters and the world, and just what the game throws at you; rather than simply discovering a story that was written for you.

[@mr.factoid105]

Best moment in Kenshi, accidentally getting stepped on by a leviathan

[@PTLANS]

I loved kiting squads of different factions into the territory of other factions. The usually violent interactions and the dialogue was as rewarding as the loot.

[@Inquisitor_Redacted]

I love Kenshi and am glad to see you cover it! As for video ideas, a video on the Crab Raiders and the Venge would be interesting. And remember "Relax...embrace death."

[@jameslatham1110]

DUDE!! Welcome to the wonderful and wacky world of hash, thievery, and cybernetics! I've been playing for years but only just now did I even notice the planet in the night sky as anything other than a part of the skybox. THIS is why I like your work so much, you take what I already love or something I've not heard of but WILL love and recontextualize it in a new and epic way. Keep up the great work man, and thanks for another awesome video :]

[@GrimDarkHalfOff]

Happy to be of aid!

[@qliphalpuzzle5453]

Another series that does interesting themes of Grim Dark is the Malazan verse. Interesting characters and cultures and the magic interlocked with the grimness beholden. Not even the gods old or new are exempt from such fates

[@denisarabinka3508]

Oh boy am I happy to see it mentioned, absolutely stellar universe with so many chracters, factions and overall twists of common fantasy elements all masterfully interwoven together, love it

[@poopsymcloopsy]

A bit over half way through the sixth book. I dunno if I'd consider Malazan grimdark? It has terrible things in happen in it but it feels like the world weathers them and adapts close to how ours does. We've had plagues, societal collapses, genocides, world encompassing wars and natural disasters that are so expansive in their effects we still feel it hundreds of thousands of millions of years later. Malazan has that but they just more often than not have magical explanations. Plus, the core concept of Malazan is consistently the importance compassion plays in mending and healing the world whereas grimdark I feel is more focused on the uselessness of resisting the world due to the inevitable decline from entropy in everything. Malazan deff touches on the latter but I feel like it's core message defies it, especially with how the main villain, The Crippled God, seems to embody the beliefs espoused in grimdark literature and all his enemies are people who bund together through empathy and compassion. I dunno, I gotta finish the series first I suppose so no spoilers. I just don't see Malazan as grimdark at this point yet.

[@qliphalpuzzle5453]

@@poopsymcloopsy like I said in my post, I didn’t say the series is full on grim dark but uses themes of grim dark to paint the world. Like the pointlessness of the life of Sha’ik and the two Felicin. If it was like any non grim dark fantasy they’d have went through a longer journey, but Malazan is a series that uses pointlessness for even the major characters, one book you think the character will rise as a major force but by the next storyline they are found in a sad pointless end. Yes it uses realism with how people act or how the worldbuilding is constructed, but when you look down deep in its guts many of its pillars are of a grim dark sense. It’s a series that uses it and twists it in a way that reshapes how we think of the sub genre, we see the soldiers die in horrific ways, heroes are laid low without the spirit of full revenge. The betrayers gain thrones and are never overthrown, even at the core of the major antagonist is to spread wanton misery to every edge of the lands, because it wants to from eons wrongs. There’s the tyrant who gets cursed for killing swathes of people for selfish reasons. But it ends up those who cursed him get worse ends than him for the most part, besides some exceptions never expect revenge or justice to be a clean thing but something that might screw you over more.

[@JaketheDog3333]

My favorite moment was a save I started fairly recently. It was a modded start called Legs, Arms, and Mat, if I'm remembering right, and you start with 3 characters. One has no arms, one has no legs, and Mat, as the name implies, has neither. I had a hiver, a shek, and a skeleton, and I had to spend the first week or so in-game stealing things in the United Cities to even eat for the day, hoping I could make enough money via thievery to buy some prosthetics. Only to find there were no skeleton limb stores that I could find in the cities near me. I eventually bought two slaves just to carry Arms and Mat around places, and after awhile I got a few prosthetics from the Tech Hunters. Right when I had enough to replace all Mat's limbs, one of my slaves, a scorchlander, had a leg removed while scavenging equipment off of dead Holy Nation soldiers at a battlefield in Bast. I laughed out loud when it happened, and I can only imagine Mat probably would've cracked some kinda joke about the irony of the situation. Anyways I'd love to see more Kenshi content on this channel, whether more lore videos or a playthrough!

[@drpretzel2086]

OMG he’s doing Kenshi yes please

[@GrimDarkHalfOff]

I got into it last week and got a bit super excited

[@drpretzel2086]

Kenshi has been my one of my big obsession spending over at least 1,000 hours simply taking thematic screenshots and writing stories of the adventures.

[@Shyraton12]

One of my favorite "mystery" characters has to be the bugmaster. Not just because he controls an army of insects, but because they is a LOT you can infer about the guy based around context clues. 1) Skeleton party members might make passing mention of him "in this day and age". Which opens questions of how old this guy is, or if he isn't the first? 2) In his tower is a map that leads straight to Catlon's domain, implying some link between them, and possibly a grudge? What *IS* he building an army of giant insects for anyway? If you ever do a deep dive into Kenshi's lore though I do want to drop this little nugget from one of my own theories: The first empire presumably built the giant robot behemoths to fight something before they ordered them destroyed for fear of their power. The question then is what....? ...Perhaps the bone fields in the south provide some clue?

[@slymarbo6324]

The Fog Islander Hivers do not have a queen anymore. You can find every Hive's queen in game but not theirs. This is also why our beloved bugmen who are exiled from their hives all go towards the Fog Islands. (I may be wrong, i am a faulty skeleton) also thanks for doing kenshi, this world deserves all our attention

[@sawyerschultz6205]

there are many hivers that dont go to the islands though? as for them not having a queen your absolutely right, when you kill a queen many of the areas that they control become deadhives.

[@skepsisrollins1711]

@@sawyerschultz6205 perhaps if one of the hivers is more talented and falls well into a town or something it won't end up like the predatory fogmen

[@sawyerschultz6205]

@@skepsisrollins1711 talent wouldnt be a factor here, i know it might lead to controversy but...beep exists and isnt a fogman. now then from what i have seen hivers with a purpose wont become fogmen, beep(wants adventure), grey(wants freedom), eyegore(has ambition to rise though the ranks of the empire). the list goes on, just take a look at the soldier mercs(want money) or worker slaves(want to please the masters). many hivers that exist in the hives have one main purpose, the queen. if you take the queen away all of a sudden they lose purpose and alot of them become fogmen.

[@jaybee8862]

​​@@sawyerschultz6205 exactly... they need a purpose... if not they default into their baser instinct... Kind of like the Shek... forever restless... forever wanting to prove themselves in combat... because it's what they were made for

[@DCJMS]

*SPOILER* the level of detail in Kenshi is great, Tengu's Vault is one example of something most games seem to skip but Kenshi wants you to have the opportunities that only raiding a prison can bring

[@marltonmanks9891]

i actually just started a game where my solor character was imprisoned in the vault and had to escape. and holy shit it has been a wild ride

[@jaybee8862]

​@@marltonmanks9891 lol... try being a cripple spawned in Rebirth next

[@marltonmanks9891]

@@jaybee8862 I dunno man, I was getting infinite guard spawns in the vault for some reason. I thunked all but the last two and anytime I thunked one of them, 5 more would spawn. Shit got insanely dumb lol

[@jaybee8862]

@@marltonmanks9891 lol u just gotta bolt... I don't think u can thunk em fast enough

[@marltonmanks9891]

@@jaybee8862 well I was thunking and throwing them in the vaults cells. Plan was to just walk out with all the former prisoners and form a bandit/terrorist gang

[@starhalv2427]

A super intriguing fact about Kenshi, is that cannibals are potentially a different species from humans (Scientists of the world of Kenshi speculate so, at least).

[@jaybee8862]

Yes... like a subspecies... their genes tainted thru genetic tampering or from their toxic environment and all the substances they rely on

[@bonafide4874]

The Hivers are also described as sexless btw! So, like even tho the hivers are called hive princes, the hivers themselves seem to have no concept of sex (verb) or sex (noun). This is mentioned in game. They're also not good at telling if a human/ shek is male or female. Also, if the queen is reproducing like bees (i.e. hivers) irl, or like ants, she's going to be undergoing haplodiploidy -- queens or workers will be diploid (have two sets of chromosomes) and be females, while drones will be male and haploid (only one set of chromosomes). Thus Hiver workers will be female, the Queens will be female, the Hiver drones will be male, and the Hiver Prince could be male or female/ is up to speculation. Additionally, the only Hivers that seem to leave the group/ hive are called Hiveless and are rare, so it's likely outsiders ended up naming the groups of Hivers -- ie workers, drones, princes -- and thus named these groups after things based in their own culture. Like, the workers are good at typical labour jobs and are strong, whereas the 'princes' are smart and have 'higher' or 'more refined' skills, thus named them this. The Hivers are likely the actual alien species in Kenshi, as in, out of the four groups -- humans, shek, hivers, skeletons -- the Hivers are the only ones who are adapted to parts of Kenshi's environment (Hivers are immune to acid rain/ acid water while no other group is). Others have pointed out that Hivers look the closest to skin spiders, so it's likely the Hivers that evolved on Kenshi, while the other three groups came to Kenshi later. Also, I think you've got a fair bit wrong about Shek haha. It even says on the Kenshi wiki page about their origins and characters. A skeleton says they look like Enforcers, however, that the spikes/ horns are new. It's implied that the Shek were made from humans and made to be a warrior group, perhaps having the plates/ bones, but later for some reason also got horns. Also, having female leaders doesn't mean a society is matriarchal. A lot of societies around the world have had female leaders and still been patriarchal in its various systems. It's also a misconception that they're dumb, and again it says in the Wiki. Also, I would say they have the same difference btw men and women as human men and women? I don't know where you got this info. I think you came to this conclusion because both men and women in the society tend to be warriors? Idk, I was really excited to watch your video but I feel like how you're portraying the races is... not accurate haha. I stopped watching after you explained the Shek bc I didn't want to have to write another paragraph explaining how you got the skeletons. I'm sorry, that sounded savage. I also didn't know what grimdark was and was eager to learn -- and I agree Kenshi fits into this somewhat. I would argue that it has aspects of grimdark but also hopepunk. From reading about grimdark on Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimdark. I'd say Kenshi is most similar to this definition of Grimdark: In the view of Jared Shurin, grimdark fantasy has three key components: a grim and dark tone, a sense of realism (for example, monarchs are useless and heroes are flawed), and the agency of the protagonists: whereas in high fantasy everything is predestined and the tension revolves around how the heroes defeat the Dark Lord, grimdark is "fantasy protestantism": characters have to choose between good and evil, and are "just as lost as we are". I also agree with aspects of this definition of grimdark applying to Kenshi: Adam Roberts described it as fiction "where nobody is honourable and Might is Right", and as "the standard way of referring to fantasies that turn their backs on the more uplifting, Pre-Raphaelite visions of idealized medievaliana, and instead stress how nasty, brutish, short and, er, dark life back then 'really' was". But he noted that grimdark has little to do with re-imagining an actual historic reality and more with conveying the sense that our own world is a "cynical, disillusioned, ultraviolent place". but not all of it. Kenshi is a brutal world, yes, but it's hopepunk as well bc you can start off as nothing, as skilless, and through being beaten down and getting back up again (literally how you level toughness and learn fighting skills) you become better.

[@GrimDarkHalfOff]

Solid info thanks!

[@logancole5101]

I am not familiar with Kenshi at all, but this has gotten me to think of more writing ideas and I already have about 5,000 stories I am already writing. I only have myself to blame. I will probably look into it more though.

[@GrimDarkHalfOff]

Inspiration is always a good thing!

[@Xaxp]

I feel you, brother. Anything you'd be willing to share a stranger on the internet?

[@logancole5101]

@@Xaxp I have a few I could probably share. However I am picking a setting that I am most proud of because I have done a lot of work and spent a few years on. I have a high fantasy pirate setting that is set on a flat world. Not like Discworld no. Volengesh, operates on the flat universe theory, where it is flat and ever expanding. So while there are maps for places on Volengesh the world is ever expanding so there's never a time for explorers to not have work. I could go on to talk about the magic system(s) and stuff but it would take a long while.

[@Xaxp]

@@logancole5101 No problem man. Kinda reminds me of the Elric saga's world but instead of expanding the world just dissolves into chaotic soup past a certain point.

[@My-Name-Isnt-Important]

The first time I played Kenshi, was long ago, when there really wasn't much to the game. You could walk around in a desert landscape and fight NPCs, and that was pretty much it. Just like the game Project Zomboid, it took quite some time for it to become a full-fledged game. There are so many little things to find in the game, not just characters but places that can provide info about the setting and world. Exploration is really rewarding in the game, which is rare.

[@JonnyDoey]

What’s revealed by the skin bandits leader was dark. It’s evil that if you turn him in, he starts trying to hide that he was the mastermind and blames the skin bandits

[@Jonsoner]

What I find super fascinating about the Hivers existence, is that while all the power rest on the princes, all the defense on the soldiers and the labor to the drones, the queen, while a background entity (in our eyes at least) is the one that is basically the lifeblood of the colony. I remember reading that they secrete some kind of pheromone, as would a real world ant queen do, to control the rest of the hive. To the point that they reject hivers with no hive and if a queen dies, HER hivers become insane (Fogmen). However the ones that leave the Hive willingly gain some autonomy, you can see hiver princes in charge of UC Traders Guild, meaning that as a race they are chained to their queen, but they could be so much more. Maybe part of the theory that they are a human bug hybrid made for cheap labor during one of the previous empires? Who knows, part of the charm of Kenshi is that there is no definitive answers, only clues and insights made from connecting lore. We'll have to wait for Kenshi 2.

[@turcanudan9386]

Kenshi is by far one of the most unique games I've ever had the pleasure of playing. Everything from it's oppressive world, desolate enviorment, music and gameplay loop had me hooked.

[@RedStar441]

Kenshi gives the process of learning through failure the best representation I've seen in any video game. You want to get stronger? Good you need to fight. You lost? Good you have become stronger. I'm so glad you gave Fog Islands an honorable mention too because its definitely in the top 5 best designed areas in kenshi. The whole premise of a fog filled with zombies just pulls you right in, the thrill of it is too much to ignore. Then you think what in the world could be at the center of such a hellish place. It isn't until you reach Mongrel that the scope of where you are actually sinks in. You're standing in the eye of the storm, effortlessly safe now above the shroud but maliciously trapped by it too. Beep is there too.

[@lenorevanalstine1219]

ah i remember when i first played asked my friend who had the game longer how i got stronger and they simply told me go get beat up hope you dont die in the process

[@turtelpond8531]

Dude I love Kenshi I hope you do a breakdown of every faction. Also, the Fog Island hivers likely have some form of parasite, sickness, or a defective queen, at least that's my theory. Also, I would like to see what you think of purple sand and the Shrieking forest since those areas have always been bizarre and strange to me, even more so the inhabitants, as if prolonged exposure to the area drives one insane. Also, I think you'll like Kenshi's own Cthulhu-esk cult of the moon and their insane hiver prince preacher.

[@Xaxp]

I'm pretty sure the Cult of the Moon might be Narko worshippers since Narko is represented by the moon in Okranite mythology.

[@turtelpond8531]

@@Xaxp You could be right, and it would make sense why a charismatic exiled hive prince would exploit people in a religious way for personal gain. Especially when all of the human cult members seem to be workers while the hiver member just sit back and reap the rewards.

[@zekeolopwi6642]

Playthrough with the Slave start. Dew it 😈 Edit: Also, best Kenshi moment was once a created a supreme combat squad I proceeded to execute every single faction leader. This lead to in world destabilization and territory changing hands between factions. Not necessarily fun or funny, but just a testament to how well made this game is.

[@anv0rgu3sa2]

The 'world states' mechanic is just art. And there are mods that add more factions and world states

[@zekeolopwi6642]

@@anv0rgu3sa2 I want A-Team up between the maker of kenshi and monolith to get a game that utilizes both the world State mechanic and the Nemesis system. I do believe that would be the end-all-be-all of gaming.

[@anv0rgu3sa2]

@@zekeolopwi6642 indeed, but capitalism setting things back again, WB has the copyrights til 3025

[@osmancemuzun]

I hadn't noticed the similarity until you explained it. Now I have one more reason to love kenshi

[@RobertoJoseBoberto]

Of all the videos I've seen about Kenshi's lore yours is litereally THE BEST one. The most comprehensive, the most interesting e.t.c. So pls more videos about Kenshi :)))

[@Havanna1512]

I'd love to see a let's play on kenshi. Especially with these mods you have installed

[@fifthofascalante7311]

I got hooked on Kenshi lore too recently. Can’t get into the game, RPGs aren’t my thing, and I pretty much stopped playing games in general. But since I discovered Kenshi, I think I binged all lore videos on YT. I’d love to see more.

[@Xaxp]

Its a fun rabbit hole to dig through. The overarching theme of endurance fighting entropy is such a unique take on a post apocalyptic setting since most say either something along the lines of "we can always rebuild", "Man is the real Monster", or "everything sucks, commit game over". If you do pick it up and the game isn't quite your style you can always mod it to hell and back.

[@Cynder44]

One of my favourite things to do in this game is to watch my bonedogs pick up and run around with loose body parts of my fallen enemies after a battle. They start out as tiny puppies but eventually grow to the size of polar bears. I can handle a character death but if one of my puppers dies I'm reloading.

[@richeefswitchee]

Please make more content with Kenshi. A Lets Play would be amazing to watch.

[@jasonpaul6418]

It's such an amazing, truly open world grimdark game. However, it's the unique yet recognizable lore that grabs me. It's great to see it part of this awesome channel.

[@sonic55193]

Kenshi's emergent gameplay is probably what I love about this game. Back when I started my first game I still couldn't fight. My base got attacked by slavers, few of my men got kidnapped. Those who were left behind patched up and went on a journey to save their kidnapped comrades, while following the slavers they got attacked by the largest beak thing I've ever seen. While the slavers are being eaten alive we slowly sneaked to grab a bunch of my teammates and went home.

[@onii--chan6067]

So glad i came across your channel my guy you articute lore in a great manner. 👍

[@GrimDarkHalfOff]

hopefully I don't disappoint, I'm very new to Kenshi and I had to correct some things in this script with real time text you'll seen on screen.

[@onii--chan6067]

​​@@GrimDarkHalfOffol I wasn't pertaining to the kenshi. It was the entire way of describing lore and how you describe you are always learning. Very articulate and indepth (voice goes well with the lore being described as well). I got interested in conan lore several months back and you are the best when it comes to explaining the background lore. Edit: you should try a let's play just to see how it goes. But definitely keep the lore videos coming. There's a deeper purpose in that I feel, but do you.

[@SpadeRZA]

Don't miss prayer day! My favorite play-through was with skeletons only (modded). There is building (also in vanilla) where 30ish skeletons rush out of and regard you your new master, attacking anything else on sight. Fun times fixing them after each battle just to have them run after each merchant and patrol on the road. As you don't have to feed skeletons it's shifting away from the survival aspect. Not having to grow food in your settlement gives you plenty of time for crafting and raiding your neighbors. We eventually exterminated all cannibals, and most of these religious knuckle heads. It's quite interesting to see who occupies the exterminated settlements after the power vacuum.

[@paragonvice1128]

"[Fogmen] cannibalize anything they find, and they worship their savage queen like a goddess." Actually, fogmen are what happens to Hivers that have no queen. It's why they're also called the deadhive -- their mind is dead, they really are just racing around like zombies. If you kill the queen of the west hive, or the queen of the south hive, all non-independent hivers become fogmen, which further confirms this.

[@paragonvice1128]

My personal favourite time during my Kenshi playthrough was when I went to war with the Holy Nation. I was riding high after having just defeated the United Cities and the Slavers' Guild, and I thought to carry that victory forward to help abolish slavery for good. I attacked the capital of Blister Hill and I was soundly quashed. I was repelled and driven back, half my people enslaved, and one of my favourite characters was destroyed in one hit after either the Holy Phoenix or the Protector of the Flame got a lucky hit in an unarmoured region. It really set in Kenshi being about the highest highs and the lowest lows, a true story generator rather than just an RPG. It took me a long time to recover, lick my wounds, infiltrate Blister Hill and Rebirth to free my people, re-tool my faction armour, until I could try again and finally triumph.

[@michaelthomas5433]

Happily just been introduced to Kenshi by this video. Thank you! :)

[@alexknudsen2759]

Love that I see you doing Kenshi videos. I love Kenshi and I think you're 100% right about it being close to the Dark Sun! Thats what got me into it in the first place!

[@GearShotgun]

I didnt know Beak Things had eyes until that extreme close up on their face. That visual alone was enough to make Kenshi more horrifying than it already was

[@tonywalker3541]

As someone who's played Kenshi for quite awhile now, I think the Shek Kingdom is my favorite faction overall. Part of this is because they were the first major nation that I ever encountered on my first playthrough, but also because they're arguably one of the only factions that could be considered "good guys" in the setting. Sure, they're racist, borderline suicidal, and highly dismissive of anyone who's not a proven warrior. But everyone is racist in Kenshi, and most of the shek you encounter won't attack you unless you antagonize them (not including bandits of course). Compared to the likes of the Empire or Holy Nation, they're practically saints. I also just love their whole aesthetic, and end up siding with them more often than not. On a more practical level, the Shek Kingdom is very close in proximity to Hub, the most common starting location in the game. Making it very convenient, especially in the early stages of a playthrough. And shek in general are inherently some of the toughest bastards you can get your hands on, making them perfect shock troops for your party.

[@nothingspecial3229]

Great to see you found Kenshi! I bought it on the Steam sell a litle bit ago and I'm in love. More Kenshi content please.

[@seababobabie9192]

Im really happy Kenshi is getting so much attention recently. Its one of the most unique fantasy worlds I’ve ever seen in a game

[@ValcurasBane]

Awesome video dude. Looking forward to seeing more kenshi content.

[@richfoster4369]

Kenshi is my favourite game of all time. And after watching this video I can tell your the type of content creator I respect and am excited for more kenshi context from you (also now I’m thinking about checking out dark sun)

[@1oace768]

I think what's most fascinating about Kenshi's lore is the ultimate understanding that there IS something beyond the tidal locked moon. The first empire could have been something as simple as a colony that was forced to weaponize against the "mysterious threat" that they seemingly faced. Personally I like to imagine that Kenshi was a mechanicus outpost that got lost when the warp went nuts and the "threat" that wiped out the first Empire were Daemons or something.

[@derkylos]

My headcannon is that Kenshi is set on a decivilised world in the Starsector universe.

[@thenewpav543]

YES, a Kenshi lets play would be great! I just discovered the game a couple weeks ago. It was very pleasing to find you have covered it.

[@oscarisevil1]

I think videos on the various bounties in the game would be neat. They all typically have at least a few paragraphs of info them like the bugmaster for example.

[@xbinbyer1055]

I've actually been waiting for this video to drop and have regularly checked on it hoping for the surprise that I dripped earlier 😭

[@GrimDarkHalfOff]

Don't worry only 2 hours away now

[@kurekt1]

I love Kenshi, it would be great to see you cover more lore!

[@tangomike2358]

Kenshi is one of my favorite games it's truly a hidden gem on steam. Would recommend to anyone who likes RPGs. Also would be awesome to have a playthrough on this channel. I'd be interested to see the stories that unfold.

[@Hexterguard99]

When I look at the world of Kenshi, a theory forms in my mind in which I think that the interstellar empire never really fell and the planet in which the game takes place on has been long abandoned and forgotten by the empire.

[@guyunknown6224]

Please do more dives of kenshi and I would love to see a let’s play , it’s genuinely one of the few games like it that I never get tired of see people play but yet I barely know anything about it 😂😅

[@tonyh9600]

Always seen and wondered about this game on steam. But, now you may have convinced me to give it a shot.

[@Kandyvault13]

Thanks for talking about kenshi love this game and world.

[@GrimDarkHalfOff]

As do I!

[@mobbofmobs8937]

So real quick while I have a moment three things. It's implied that the cannibals May to be human anymore, at least different enough where the two main human groups have gone a different path. The holy nation's religion may have originally been more of a yin yang kind of thing, with the current demoness previous been a sister goddess to there current God. The idea being that they were two half's of a perfect god. And third the most powerful weapons in the game are believed to been made at the same time by the same person thousands of years ago and apparently have not rusted or dulled at all dispute constantly being used.

[@johntaylor7029]

The two deities Narko and Orkan came from an earlier diety, who sacrificed themselves for all. They both originally served a purpose, to balance each other out and help guide people.

[@Illier1]

the hilarious Irony of Okran is that despite the Holy Nation despising robots odds are Okran was actually the last Behemoth who spared mankind and drive off the first Skeleton genocide. But after millenia of war and ignorance they forgot that.

[@jasonsantos3037]

Kenshi is interesting grim dark world but I enjoy it good job man.

[@lvl1snom]

my fav memory of kenshi was running through the venge for the first time and being suprised by the sudden hammer of dawn searing the flesh from my bones

[@Jetstoanywhere]

You are the man! I love learning about Kenshi!

[@nonexistent4177]

Kenshi is an amazing game. I play it now and again when I have time, and have for what feels like many years now. Not even sure when I first got it in fact. It's always one that can be enjoyed though.

[@masterzoroark6664]

Talking about Skeletons- besides the malities of mind you described, they can also fall into expiriancing dementia. They can also be lobotomised- in few locations you can find Skeleton Thrals, headless skellies subservient to a skelleton who still has a head (I think Kat-Lon mentions that he "Had to thrall" good majoirty of his soldiers once he went on his exile, besides that one of the skellie weaponsmiths has an ontarage of Thralls around him)

[@woopidoop7452]

One of my most memorable moments in Kenshi was of traversing an area known as the Eye. There is a constant sandstorm swirling around an ancient structure of some kind, likely some form of weather machine gone haywire I always thought. I would often take shelter there to recover from wild animal attacks. Until the day I got a new skeleton recruit to tag along, and having him run with another skeleton. The two of them drew closer to the Eye when one of them started talking about how the old thing was still running after all this time. They then mentioned "The other one" flying above a region named Venge. A place constantly under a barrage of orbital lasers during the day. That's when I realized I'd been sheltering inside of a crashed orbital laser satellite. One that was still trying to function. This never got mentioned until I had two skeletons go to that specific location together, which goes to show that there is a lot of lore hidden in what types of characters you bring to certain places, which is an amazing way of storytelling. Also I generally tend to avoid the Eye nowadays. Just in case.

[@eyeballpapercut4400]

There's a third Eye satellite in the Ashlands and it's destroyed for good. It's sitting in a maw in the ground, next to the Second Empire throne dome. Be careful not to get characters stuck while walking around it.

[@thegethconsensus393]

God I love this game. It’s an absolute gem. I’m amped for Kenshi 2 as well.

[@victoriantimetraveler2272]

What an awesome setting I'll definitely try this game sometime in the future. I don't play video games this time of year cuz I'm too busy being an actual cowboy

[@MRboss11]

Holy shit, I had complete forgotten about this game up until you said that you could becomes a paraplegic. That unlocked an ancient memory I had about a KZbin video I had watched about this like... More than 7 years ago probably

[@joelmitchell7597]

This analysis of one of my favorite things was insightful and appreciated.

[@Galdenberry_Lamphuck]

Would love an Elder Scrolls lore video from you. Easily my favorite lore channel.

[@egillskallagrimson5879]

You should totally do a let's play, recording your runs and serialise it like narrating the story of your characters and the video being the visual aid to that story.

[@IrisDImtv]

Seconded

[@BrandonS-lk2qc]

Thirded(?)

[@applepoie1806]

Fourthed

[@darkranger116]

I love watching peoples Kenshi RPs and stories

[@the-real-Lovefist]

Such a great game. Glad you found it!

[@Goodca6]

I love Kenshi! The only thing I really noticed you got incorrect is that Beep is a worker not a soldier. (Which is confusing given how the hivers just decide to do whatever they want if they survive being separated from the hive.)

[@TheFlyingMako]

My favorite Kenshi moment and one that I think summarizes the entire game pretty well is doing the Rock Bottom start. I approached a United Cities town where the samurai guarding the gate promptly accused me of being broke and proceeded to kill me immediately.

[@Sue_Me_Too]

Kenshi is an amazing game.

[@koboldlord]

This got me interested in Kenshi. I'm going to have to check it out!

[@Fluffy52600]

Consider this a demand for a Kenshi Let's Play. I don't have the tech to play it myself but this world is incredible from all I've seen

[@stageblood9935]

one of my favorite hints in kenshi lore is that okranite religion likely evolved out of a cult worshpping the behemoth Stobe during the 2nd Empire. They have long since forgot their deity was a robot and are oblivious to the fact his corpse is just laying around in the middle of nowhere desert.

[@sjcgill]

I have played Kenshi to death and back again, this is one of those "Dwarf Fortress" titles, once you get the hang of it, you're hooked. I heartily recommend a playthrough, multiple playthroughs... there is so much flexibility on game starts and character creation its almost absurd. I would definitely watch you run through this title.

[@leKitsu]

My most remembered moment was when I started as a one handed swordsman and planned to solo the entire holy empire up until something happened. When in a town I got pickpocketed which I didnt notice if not for me clicking to talk with the NPC that got closer to me. It was Red. I liked her. So I got her as my companion. Fast forward a day or two and now I hold three bigass houses in some city as my HQ for The Hidden Blades. Bandits operating in plain sight of the United Cities fencing stolen goods from Empire Peasants, Slavers and everyone who is in a swords reach.

[@lostnumber08]

This game is a masterpiece of game design on pretty much every metric. If you haven't played it, you should. It's tough to get into, but when you do, you are in.

[@delco2035]

it is NOT optimized in terms of performance tho. Ive played New Vegas and modded Minecraft on this pc but Kenshi struggles a LOT even with the shittiest settings.

[@skepsisrollins1711]

@@delco2035 the damn swamp man.

[@bradleyleslie4138]

I am a subscriber and I demand a playthrough. Love the video man :)

[@Maartwo]

Just found your channel through a random recommendation. Very good narration and interesting dive into the world of Kenshi. I've dabbled in the game but I dont have the time to put the work needed to master the mechanics, although this video has made me reinstall it and give it another try.

[@crimson8170]

Id love to see a lets play of this the world seems fantastically created

[@reyflowers]

Dang, just had to discover this game a few days after the steam summer sale. Great video :)

[@jeffphillips1832]

I would love to see a let's play.

[@Nuinwing]

From my time exploring the world of Kenshi and from lore videos on youtube, I learned that the hiver queens are essentially bio-mechanical creatures, you got the queen herself and her abdomen seems to be a sort of mechanical womb*, bio matter goes in and hivers come out. The western hive(all playable hivers are this) use agriculture to grow the food that serves as the bio matter for the queen while the southern hive has an old robot as their king that grinds captured humanoids to paste and most likely feeds this to the queen. As for the fog men, also known as dead hive, my theory is that their queen is dead but her mechanical womb still works and the fog princes who eat the captives of the fog men in pretty much identical way to how the king of the southern hive does it's grim business, regurgitate what they have eaten into this womb and that is how they make more fog men. the lack of living queen would also serve to explain why the fog men are so insane(no pheromone guidance). I also feel that they must also turn animals and plants into biomatter for the womb of their dead queen as there are a lot of fog men and they constantly attack the walls of mongrel and lands of the holy nation and never seem to run out of dudes, I doubt people travel to the fog islands in such numbers that the fog men could keep up the rate of reproduction by their bio matter alone. Another thing to support the idea of how fog men reproduce is that if you kill the queens of the other hives then the number of fog men goes up at a ridiculous rate and I think that the surviving hivers use the the same method as the fog men to try and keep up their numbers but without the living queen what comes out is just more fog men. *Both queens also sit on a mechanical looking throne, most likely this throne serves a part in hiver reproduction.

[@porkyorcy1715]

ive never followed kenshi lore but from the moment you started explaining i was hooked, it is so fucking good 😍

[@xenerald7362]

Now while the hivers may be truly alien another idea is that their origin along with the flesh spiders lies in a legendary figure known as the Bugmaster who supposedly worked with Catlon at the time

[@Archris17]

There's no way in hell that's accurate... The Bugmaster is a greenlander - a human. The Second Empire was at least a thousand years ago, there's no way he was alive back then! ...Right?

[@bushidobros1671]

​@@Archris17who's say the genetically engineered first or second Empire couldn't extend lifetimes. They were able to create( remake) brand new forms of life (shek). Even saying that I still have no idea what role bugmaster plays in the lore history

[@Archris17]

@@bushidobros1671 the first empire I can absolutely see it, but the second, while more civilized than the present, was still at best industrial or digital in technology... But then again, they did create the Shek I think, so who knows..? Does Tinfist have anything to say if he's with you when you confront the Bugmaster?

[@bushidobros1671]

@@Archris17 I've talked to tinfist after turning the bug Master into the Shek but didn't notice any different text. Play the bugmaster can do something no one else AK control spiders and the fact him or a series of bugmasters have plagued kenshi for long time. Not a lot of things in kenshi have Max stats.( Granite more of a gameplay thing) but still, who knows.

[@eyeballpapercut4400]

​​​@@Archris17 "industrial or digital" Might want to consider: -Sapient AI -Giant satellites cleansing entire biomes (edit: not just Venge, but also around the Eye and the Ashlands) with lasers from low orbit -Giant cleanser units instantly stopping giant gas leaks -Sentient AI being mass-destroyed via possibly cryogenic bath the size of towns -Stobe/Chitrin -Stobe stopping a WMD with possibly bare metal hands -Mass production of sapient skeletons in the Floodlands -The Crater+The Grid -Hive Queens are synth lifeforms

[@chickenspheres7582]

Subbed and notis on hell of a video, id love to see a in depth video on each faction like genuinely they are all so deep!

[@TommyLikeTom]

I've been playing Kenshi for a long time and it literally took this video for me to realise that hivers and skeletons are different. For some reason I just don't have any hivers in my squad, even though I live next to Vain. I saw beep and I noticed he was an alien trying to be a robot, but for some reason I never made the connection that the hivers were aliens, I just assumed this whole time that hivers were robots. I guess I never zoomed in

[@artimmenersilvers7841]

Subbed for Conan lore and got Kenshi, what a pleasant surprise

[@miguelmont.1111]

There is multiple books that expose a bit of the lore, and apparently during the 2nd empire, there was a cult that worshipped the behemoth Stobe for his sacrifices for humanity (as is said, during the 1st extinction, this behemoth sacrifice himself to save the lifeforms in Bast) and because of the breakdown of the 2nd Emprie police, they eventually chnage the names of their deity and it got lost to time and out of it incame the first Lord Phoenix I. But the funny thing, Okranites at first believed in helping eachother and equal values, but then again, years made them to forget those values and be where they are now

[@WhyrenGP]

the best part about the lore in kenshi is that we only have hearsay, rumors and heavily biast records of the world. the history of the planet and people are pretty much lost to us as the player and character, leaving us to fill the gaps with whatever theories we come up with or hear from others. wich seems pretty onpoint with the games storytelling.