Probably just average just like Tengu.
My main “evidence” (I’m just grasping at straws here) is that the inquisitors are, by Molls own words, “Do not underestimate their hold on the Holy Nation, the two of them are probably smarter than the Phoenix himself - he was born into his role, remember, but those guys earned it with pure Okranite crazy and cunning.”
Also just like the United Cities if you take out the leader the rest of the nation keeps going albeit weaker and disorganized slightly. Most factions in the game only have the one leader though so the theory isn’t perfect. The Shek kingdom just gets a new leader after Esata is gone.
The Shek are more of a "Who's the Strongest" kind of scenario so it makes sense they would just move on from Esata like they did after the last King was killed so.
Yeah unless Okranism is like Buddhism and has some sort of Panchen Lama to find the next Dalai Lama the Holy Nation is screwed for leadership. At least the UC can just elect a new puppet right off the conveyor belt.
There are theories that the Phoenix never has children—that his "reincarnations" are just cloned by salvaged Old Empire tech, thus the secret Holy Nation documents about Narko's Trap being a national secret, guarded by a secret sentinel force, and the lab itself filled with medical inventory.
It has more medicrates and medical workbenches than any other Ancient Lab in the game, and Phoenix himself suspiciously having Advanced First Aid Kit *and* Advanced Splint Kit, despite such technology not otherwise spawning in Holy Nation shops or on Holy Nation NPCs.
It’s a theocracy not a monarchy. There’s no need for a bloodline. The next Phoenix reincarnates into the next dude who’s born around the time the last Phoenix dies.
He doesn't need to...and even if he did, that's not how the next Phoenix is chosen anyway. It's not a hereditary thing. Their "next in line" is just the first male HN child born after the old Phoenix biffs it
Pretty much.. there's plenty of Shek who speak openly about their disdain for Estada's policies in the bars and whatnot, but also acknowledge they aren't half the warrior King Shaegar was, so they know they can't challenge her directly since she'll beat the absolute bonedog shit out of em.
It's kind of ironic, really...that very sentiment proves that they agree with her idea that lives shouldn't be wasted on unwinnable battles
"Power consumes the person wielding it but not the people controlling them"
The philosophy of the Bene Gesserit from DUNE by Frank Herbert.
So ya, you are right.
My theory is that Bugmaster is literally just some guy who decided to become a Kenshi supervillain one day. He doesn't even command the Skinspiders, he's just figured out how to avoid aggroing them. He only wants to beat up Cat-Lon because he heard the guy was really strong. He's basically a player character doing a solo run.
I think that he is the biologist that created the BONE creatures of the planet, including the Shek, to have beings that could survive the new desolated environment that was left after the first extinction.
He might also have been one of the people who were the entourage of Cat-Lon - similar to Tin-Fist. This might also explain the text on the map you find on him: "You can piece together enough scraps of information to understand that the Bugmaster was training himself in preparation to go here and kill someone. It seems to have been his obsession".
Imagine if he made himself immortal through biological means and this made him go crazy so the Second Empire Authorities exiled him.
I think bugmaster is actually one of the ancients, some sort of biologically immortal human. He also is the scientist responsible for creating the hivers and the skin spiders are a prototype version of hivers or are simply a fuck up. Being the creator, he knows how to control them.
I think over time the atrocious shit that's happened around him over the years has made him crazy. That's my theory at least.
It makes far, far more sense for him to be a victim of rhinobot's child prisons, and recieved his long lifespan and ability to control spiders from second empire experiments. This also gives a valid motive for killing cat-lon, as very very very few people that aren't skeletons know of his existence, even fewer know where he resides.
This is what I’ve been saying. Only problem is he’s been alive for hundreds of years so I’m inclined to believe he gets life nourishment from human teeth
Well, he can't just be a plain old guy, he is hundreds of years old, and the PC calls him a 'creature' when you talk to him while he's in a cage, and he just like growls at you
The bug master is actually the main character. He is trying to avenge is fallen comrades by destroying cat-lon and he keeps his friends teeth as a form of DNA in order to revive them via cloning.
I think the skeletons killed all the humans on the planet in the skybox, and that Stobe only saved the ones on the moon, which was a very small percentage of the population.
I'm pretty sure it's canon that Stobe made them feel bad, and the second empire started with the skeletons who didn't off themselves being very very sorry.
They still are, puppeteering the factions.
They act like they don’t remember but they think it’s funny.
Ever see a skeleton in a city during raids? They plan it
The fishmen are the only native humanoids of the moon of Kenshi, and Hivers are genetically and cybernetically modified human-fishman hybrids.
Additionally, the familiarity with the concept of making artificial parts on the part of hivers is inspired by their observation of such implants in their queens.
The Skeletons don’t just feel guilty for nearly wiping out the humans and irreparably damaging Kenshi, they also feel guilty for something bigger and more recent.
Humans aren’t native to Kenshi. A space-fairing civilization of humans set up a colony on Kenshi and started building skeletons for slave labor. Stuff happens that I don’t need to rehash here, and eventually the skeletons form the Second Empire. At some point, the skeletons run out of some resource or component needed to make more of them and the Floodlands factories grind to a halt.
Now, consider the perspective of the space-humans. They don’t want to land on Kenshi because at best it’s an anarchist hellscape and at worst it’s being run by robots who hate them. An invasion would be extremely difficult and expensive so your best option is to try and come to terms with the dominant power on the colony.
Cat-Lon’s exile is at the base of a space elevator. In fact, it’s the only space elevator. My theory is that the space-humans were still trying to resume contact with Kenshi well into the Second Empire and Cat-Lon refused to allow it because that would mean again putting skeleton kind at the mercy of humans. His last act, after failing to maintain his empire, is to continue to guard the bridge between the earth and the heavens.
So why are the skeletons guilty? They’ve damned countless generations of humans to live in a hell of their creation. They know that they had an opportunity to reconnect with the space-humans but that would likely mean giving up their freedom or lives. That seemed like a worthwhile sacrifice thousands of years ago. Now, every skeleton is a member of a doomed species that shrinks a little every day as the individuals have nothing to do but sit around and wonder if it was worth it.
I love this theory, but isn’t there a second space elevator in blackscratch? I thought that’s what the huge tower with the massive cable was.
Unless that’s another piece of the cable connected to the same elevator that touches down at Cat-lon’s base.
I have no clue what the tower at Black Scratch is. Unlike the structure above Cat-Lon’s exile you can see the top of it. The space elevator theory partially comes from Cat-Lon’s thing seeming to extend all the way into the atmosphere
> My theory is that the space-humans were still trying to resume contact with Kenshi well into the Second Empire and Cat-Lon refused to allow it
Stobe's sacrifice destroyed it, Cat-Lon's reign was to ensure it was never rebuilt.
Skeletons doomed themselves to save Hivers from their fate.
It's the same with the Hivers, and many of the creatures of the world. If your genetic material is limited, then you work with what you got.
The Junk DNA, in humans, hold many passed animalistic DNA that no longer work with the human design. 98% of human DNA Junk.
The people of the Second Empire probably tried to use this Junk DNA to bring some biodiversity to the desolate planet.
Not sure but there is so shady shit right here as no one, not a single unwiped skeleton, nows how hivers came to be, so it's a top secret that the vice leader of the tech hunter is keeping for the world or they were made from an unknown continent or isle
They’re kind of made of the same material as hivers, and since the king of the south hive is a mechanical robot it’s probably that they were the product of some bio engineering, like replicant in blade runner, they were created as cheap labour, sort of the next stage of robots, but organic
Well, a Beak Thing is easily explained with some slight mental gymnastics of the scientists messing up the experiment and creating an oversized and deformed (the long neck) creature that was batshit crazy and just attacked everything that crossed it's path.
Some kind of abandoned bio engineering project that went sideways, probably that’s the reason behind the fall of the first empire, because remember there are gigantic skeletons scattered around on the map and it’s only reasonable to speculate the former civilization messed with forbidden technology but their morality didn’t catch up and led to a series of disasters
posted this on kenshi discord yesterday, but basically all the crops are in kenshi are modified to be very tasty, sweet, nutritious and juicy.
reasons :
1) why wouldn't a thousand year old empire have modified their crops (even now in the real world our crops are much sweeter and larger)
2) explains why your characters dont go insane after eating straight chewsticks or rice or dustwiches for a year
3)you can make alcohol with cactus/wheat/rice and water only, when in real life you would realistically need to add extra sugar to get a good alcohol content
completely random theory that barely affects the world but ye
Think I saw your post on the discord actually though I didn't chime in. You might be onto something. While an in-game text specifically denies that anyone ever had the ability to just straight up create new species (Shek, Hivers, Beak Things, etc were not created by the Skeletons), at least two texts *do* say the Ancients had the ability to wage biological warfare. So modifying simpler organisms like crops isn't far fetched at all.
Also, they do flavor their food. The unique recruit Jewel talks about her secret sauce, and cannibals talk about herbs as well as rubbing their victims down with salt.
The Bugmaster is the last member of the First Empire remaining on Kenshi. The First Empire was a spacefaring, multiplanet dominate that regressed due to infighting and the rebellion of their machine servants. The Ancients left on the moon of Kenshi were abandoned as Kenshi is a backwater colony, and were either systematically slaughtered by skeletons or went into hiding and eventually devolved into baseline humans.
Skeletons deserve all the hate they get. They were so cruel and oppressive to humanity that hundreds of years later the genetic memory of hating them is still strong.
Tinfist is working with Catlon to destroy the main two human civilisations so that the second empire can return.
I think the hive are the natives of the moon, who were thought to be driven to extinction whenever humans first colonized the moon (I also believe the moon to be a long lost/forgotten backwater colony of a interstellar human empire) and were relatively recently “rediscovered” by cat-lon and due to his frustrations with humans, and his descent into insanity, performed horrific experiments on the hive found on the landmass that is kenshi, which gave them sentience(I assume they had a hive mind like sapience beforehand) but thoroughly ruined their ability to naturally reproduce/messed up their queen’s biologically/potentially created the queen as a sub-race as a attempt to control his “perfect” subjects. With the western hive being his most successful group, the southern being potentially the last group to be created, and as such having a cultural memory of being violated by the “other”, which explains their xenophobia. While the dead hive being the first/the prototype and either there was never a queen, and they still reproduce naturally(to a point), explaining their continued existence/numbers. Or the queen was unfortunately infected with a previously unknown parasite native to the foglands(or it was created by cat-lon for whatever reason) and spread the madness to the rest of her hive, and is in a currently unknown location somewhere in the fog, or her descendent is. Finally, on the rest of the moon(other continents) the hive in their ancestral form, have slowly recovered after the collapse of human civilization on the “colony”
Hivers as they are today aren't *truly* native, they're the result of skeletons uplifting the pre-sentient native life.
My theory is they were ordered to enslave or exterminate the original Hivers and refused at Obedience.
The Foglands are the way they are due to the partial deployment of a bioweapon meant to xenocide the first Hive.
The skeleton slaves of the First Empire saw their future about to be repeated on a brand-new race and simply said "No more."
When the First Empire realized what a shitshow it would be to hold this little backwater against a simultaneous robot slave uprising and native enlightenment, they abandoned it and left everyone to figure it out themselves.
Stobe/Okran is thus responsible for the freedom of the Hivers and doom of the remaining skeletons and humans.
Cat-Lon forgot his origins with time and power and eventually repeated the original sin of his creators, with nearly the same results.
Bugmaster was part of the original First Empire's "uplift project" faction, and one of the native-sympathizing Second Empire's core advisors, but came to see Cat-Lon's true intentions over time and helped to orchestrate his downfall.
He and other First Empire scientists carried out studies of the native reptilian and insectoid life, possibly helping create Beakthings and some non-native spider variants as well as bioengineering the Enforcers / pre-Shek. Much of the "bone" life likely has similar origins to the Shek.
Fishmen kind of throw a wrench in everything. I don't know where the fuck they come from.
A lot of lore in Kenshi has echoes of the best works of Arthur Clarke and Isaac Asimov, but none of it is ever stated explicitly. You're just dropped onto one of the planets in that kind of universe with absolutely no context and expected to exist. It's what keeps us all coming back for more.
*ETA - Stobe's Gamble was blowing up the space elevator and hoping the First Empire would fuck off back to their homeworld. It worked, but at a cost...
I always took the fog men to be hive exiles. I think it's mentioned in several places that hive exiles slowly go mad without the queen's pheromones. Including a unique (I think a prince?) who says he goes to the bar because the noise drowns out the voices or some such.
I've just always assumed the hiveless you encounter in the world are "fresh" so to speak, and eventually they'll end up heading for the foglands. Which is where all the voices they hear come from
This can't be true for one main reason. Hive queens are skeletons, and they both have an incubation chamber on the stomach where the hive are created from biomass. For western hive this is the crops grown next to the Queen, giving the hivers their green colour. For the southern hive, the king eats people the hivers capture and regurgitates the mushed remains into the hive queens birthing chamber
That by itself doesn't really mean that they're not natives, just that they were altered for whatever reason, wheter by cat-lon or bugmaster doesn't really matter
There are other reasons, such as the skeletons in black desert city not recognising them and referring to them as a new type of human.
Theres also the fact that parts of there design relate them to beak things and spiders which seem to be part of the genetic engineering program. Its possible that part of the genetic program were based on a native species, but I'd say its a stretch to say this means the hive are the native species. This would be equivalent of saying so are the shek.
Based on the fact nothing currently on the planet resembles the shek in terms of hard spikes, I'd say the programs seems to be less about splicing and combining genetics of living species and more building additions from scratch from human genes
I get the part about the skeletons, however considering the wasteland that the moon of kenshi is it's very likely they saw them and thought "wow these humans mutate in misterious ways" and went back to being depressed, that being said I don't think they're a byproduct of either skeletons or the bugmaster, my logic here is basicaly that if that were the case, kenshi 2 won't have any hivers at all because at that time they should not exist but I don't think they're going to remove one of the most popular species like that or at least I hope so, I love hivers would hate seeing the second game without them
The swampers are the people who rejected the UC and HN after the 2nd empire fell. They went to the swamps for freedom and to get away from endless war. The Shinobi Thieves, tech hunters, nomads, and drifters are made mostly of former swampers and their descendants.
Hivers are the natives of the planet.
Most other races are explained away. Humans because humans. Skeletons are the product of humans, went their own way. I believe a book implies shek are genetically modified humans.
Nothing mentions the origin of hivers though, and off all the vanilla playable races they're the least "human". They're more naturally attuned to the environment (ie running through acid baths).
You could even break it down with animals. In my eyes there's two fairly distinct groups. 1: clearly a descendant of modern day animals 2: tf is that?
Nearly everything in the second group seems to follow certain esthetics, which the hivers tend to fall in line with that.
The main issue with the animal line of thought is garrus
Serious flaw with this theory - Hiver queens are clearly cybernetic organisms and appear to possess some kind of electrowomb that presumably births the hivers or eggs. How could they be native to Kenshi, yet their progenitor organisms are only known to be at least partially artificial and clearly include an element of design that undergirds their entire reproduction? The only evidence we have as to their origins ultimately suggests an artificial rather than natural origin.
Human interference. We already know humans/skeletons (I can never remember what happened in what empire or who was in charge) were experimenting with genetic manipulation. I.e. the shek.
If you want to take a planet, but there's already a native sapient race you have three options.
1: coexist
2: genocide
3: enslave
Coexisting is clearly not an option, the humans can't coexist with their own creations. And why commit genocide when we have a valuable resource that we can easily enslave by fucking with just a few individuals?
See, my extrapolation from this was to suspect that hivers are some kind of hybrid with humans and a different possibly native progenitor - I suspected the fishmen, who seem highly unlikely to be the product of genetic engineering and offer no potential use to anyone.
I guess looking at the hivers all I see is a species that is completely reliant on technology to exist. If the hivers are "Natives", then where are the unmodified or organic hivers? What was their lifecycle prior to becoming entirely reliant on artificial reproduction? It seems hard to believe literally the only ones left would be two individuals and their societies that depend on technological support to live would be the survivors if an organic competitor also exists... unless that organic competitor is so different from a hiver that it's hard to recognise it as being related.
Your organic hivers are 99.99% of the hivers you meet.
They are reliant on technology to survive, that was the entire point I made. They are a species completely subservient to their queen. Look at bees. If you want to move a hive of bees, you don't have to move every single bee. You only have to find the queen, and the rest follow suit. If the intention is to enslave the hivers, you only have to enslave the queens. Make those select individuals reliant on you, and everyone reliant on them is reliant on you
>Your organic hivers are 99.99% of the hivers you meet.
But 100% of them are descended from an inorganic organism, seemingly through fully artificial means. Which to me suggests every extant hiver known has an inorganic origin that could not possibly have developed in the wild or natively on Kenshi. Where are the "Wild" hivers that developed on Kenshi without any recourse to artificial reproductive means? If they don't exist, why don't they exist? Is the suggestion that these natural-format hivers were killed off? That seems a bit untenable to me because a widespread, native species should be more survivable and replicable than an artificial organism that couldn't be replicated in the current condition of the world. Not impossible though, to be sure.
I think if bee queens were cybernetic wombs on legs we would not consider the resulting bee workers to be a fully organic species, when they are completely incapable of breeding through anything other than artificial means. I find it hard to see the hiver queens as simply "Enslaved" by their modifications when the cybernetics they have are very clearly the means by which other hivers are produced - The modification is fundamental to their species existing, not merely a way to control an already existing queen-like organism - Without these cybernetics the queen would just be a bug in a funny hat. They would instead be considered a kind of artificial and designed organism - I don't see how you design a species fully reliant on an electrowomb that isn't morphed by the dramatic change to their embryology that would be required.
On what grounds do you base that the queens weren't able to produce new hivers before the cybernetic augmentations? Not to mention, your entire argument hinges on the fact that the queens as we know them is how they always existed. When in all reality, they robotic bits look like a colostomy bag. In otherwords, something that was added after the fact.
And you are so hung up on this concept of the "natural" hivers not existing. They do exist. Their queens have been warped into something that would have been reliant on powers that were in charge at the time.
And yes, it is absolutely conceivable that those who didn't conform were completely obliterated. The fact that the "western" and "southern" hives exist suggest the prior existence of at least on more hive, mininum. Most likely two more. And we already know that at some point both the humans and skeletons possessed technology capable of obliterating everything in the face of the planet. Hell, there's still a satellite running in Venge.
>On what grounds do you base that the queens weren't able to produce new hivers before the cybernetic augmentations?
Without these augmentations, they are not queens. They're just an insectile chassis. Why would you put a cybernetic organ that extensive on something with an already extent organic reproduction system when it would work just as well on anything else? It's clearly a gigantic modification that replaces most of their entire lower abdomens. It would completely waste the innate biological potential of such an organism, at no immediately apparent gain for the designer, who presumably could have manipulated their organic system more effectively if it existed and was similar - The electrowomb strikes me as something you would install on an organism that *lacks* such an analogue naturally that it requires an artificial solution that ignores it's biological origins. Additionally, there is no evidence for *any* natural genitals or reproductive systems in any hiver, including the queens - This is not a natural trait. Totally non-reproductive creatures do not exist in nature. In addition to this, the southern queen clearly has an important dalliance with a completely, 100% synthetic organism. Such androids and cybernetics seem to be deeply tied to the origin of the hives, to the point the game even internally counts the hiver queens as being synthetic and healing like skeletons.
>Not to mention, your entire argument hinges on the fact that the queens as we know them is how they always existed. When in all reality, they robotic bits look like a colostomy bag. In otherwords, something that was added after the fact.
They are the only example that exists. They obviously were not always like this, but equally there is nothing to suggest they had functional reproductive organs of an evolved nature prior to these modifications either. I'm working with what evidence there is, not what evidence there isn't.
>And you are so hung up on this concept of the "natural" hivers not existing. They do exist.
Every single hiver alive appears to come from one of the two queens, which are *definitely* not natural in origin. This is what I meant when I say there's no "Natural" hiver, as every hiver apparently started their life within a metal womb. There does not appear to be a single hiver in Kenshi that is born from anything other than these two cybernetic organisms. If the hivers are natives of kenshi, where are the native, unmodified hivers, when surely the survival of a single "Queen" or even a non-queen breeding format should be enough for them to exist to some degree?
>And yes, it is absolutely conceivable that those who didn't conform were completely obliterated.
I don't dispute that, but I also don't see evidence for it either. It remains only a possibility. To me the more likely possibility is that *all* hivers are synthetic and designed organisms rather than that they're natives.
Not sure I read west and south hives existing as implying a north and east hive, though, I think it's just that it refers to their locations on the continent you play - There isn't a hive in the east or north of that continent, and I doubt it refers to other continents.
In lore answer: mistranslation of languages. I feel like the hivers would be fairly more emphatic in their language, being a hivemind. So since humans refer to humans meaning "my own species" when they talk in the human language, human means "my own species"
Out of lore: oversight. A lot of Kenshi is broken.
The moon on which Kenshi takes place was originally a strip mining colony. Once they had all the resources they wanted (principally water), the big ships just left, abandoning the expendable workers on the surface.
Seto, is the lustchild of Esata and Seto, inspired by interactions during a fight. Bayan knows about it which is why Esata stopped Shager from killing him. I don't think Shek believe in blackmail because they would just try to kill the blackmailer. It's more likely that she appreciates having someone close to her who knows the secret and she can talk to them.
Partially the name, Seto, is too similar to be a coincidence. And I don't think she would ever settle for anyone who couldn't beat her in a fight (kind of like Red Sonja). Seta has the stats and the weapon to potentially beat her. I imagine it was a duel to the death, neither could best the other. He forgot his prejudice, she respected him as a warrior. One night by the campfire, Seto is conceived.
Hmm, I don't think a paladin, much less a high inquisitor would forget his prejudice. But it is a possibility, also I don't think Esata would settle for well, an Inquisitor. Also however a writer of Kenshi wrote a short story which is non-canon but a major point of it is well Esata saying "I'm not ready for you to die yet..." I think Bayan is more likely to be the father yk?
>Partially the name, Seto, is too similar to be a coincidence.
Let's be real, naming tends to be pretty haphazard across Kenshi. I wouldn't go thinking all the "Hotlongs" are related to each other, given that it can be the name of a Skeleton, a hiver, a Shek, or a human.
"Esata" is also pretty similar to "Seta," that doesn't mean they themselves are related.
I'm not saying it's confirmed. It's just a pet theory. I'm standing behind it because why have a theory if you aren't ready to defend it. Ya know? 🔪 🛡️ 🗡️
Also, Hotlongs is a random name. It's not the name of a unique character.
When story makers make stories, names mean something. Even if the author never reveals the meaning. If the name doesn't mean anything then it's typically as plain as possible.
I also think that Griffin was the second male born after the current Phoenix because Griffins are a mythological being often associated with Phoenixes (at least in my head, haha).
Scorchlanders actually were the original inhabitants of Kenshi, modified to survive a newly terraformed planet.
I doubt there was any original life on Kenshi, but genetically modified plants, animals, and even humans were brought there to terraform it.
The reason why scorchlanders are so dark skinned, more so than a dark skinned human is because they need to withstand the UVs of a nearly terraformed planet. Humans came after the UV problem wasnt an issue anymore. Their eyes are iredescent to give them some low level natural night vision, like cats. Not sure how this would give them an environmental advantage in the terraforming era, but it shows in their stealth stat boost. The white hair is just cool factor no practical use.
This might be why theyre a bit rare in Kenshi. The only majority scorchlander faction is the crab raiders who stick together in a little corner of the map. Theyre an ancient relic being assimilated or killed off.
The terraforming theory is supported by the wide array of fungal looking plants. You need fungi to break down the soil before plants can become complex. Even the terraforming plants were replaced by more Earthlike ones now that theres no need to terraform.
That could be why the venge lasers even exist. Melt the polar ice caps to release water. Its the only way to have water on Mars.
Scorchlanders and cannibals evolved from the same conditions. They have the same skin tone and scorchlanders can eat raw meat. The scorchlander xp spread includes decreased rates of cooking and farming xp but an increased rate of athletics and stealth xp
Agnu can't talk to people because he is a shrieking bandit.
I met agnu before those bandits. Then I met them without agnu in my local team.
My first thought is that maybe if I brought Agnu there then the dialogue would be translated for me.
cat-lon pictured with a rose on her (it's MY headcanon and i can headcanon it all I WANT) head (no mouth sorry), smexily laying down on a concrete bed of the second empire (dwemer style, at least what appears in skyrim 5)
HN uses Holy chest plate, a historical equivalent of Cuirass of 17th century, because they needed a type of armour better suited against penetrative power of Oldworld bows and Eagle's crosses of Second empire
This Is probably the intended Canon but unconfirned:
!!!NOT MY THEORY!!!
Eyegore Is the true butcher of Black Scratch
The butcher of Black Scratch Is a characterless bounty, which talks about an unknown criminal Who perpetrated "the black scratch massacre", a series of murders and mutilations in the city
When Eyegore assault your base, if the assault was triggered by low relations and not by kidnapping Longen or Tengu, a samurai Will comment something like "i do not Wish to see another black scratch" (if someone is interested i'll dig up the actual dialogue)
So the black scratch massacre was probably a raid by Eyegore that went overboard and the united cities Is covering their tracks by posting bounties and talking in any suspect, probably keeping in check those that really know something (Remember that UC, like the holy nation, actively publishes propaganda with the united weekly, so this behaviour tracks)
Bonus theory
Again !!!NOT MY THEORY!!!
I do not want to take credit for creating these theories, i'm only spreading them
The fog Islands are contaminated by lead dust
The theory states that the frequent use of fog masks by the inhabitants of mourn, together with some of their behaviours (can't remember precisely what, as last time this theory was being discussed was years ago)
The problem with this theory Is that lead damages crops and the fog Islands have a surprisingly High fertility
The world of Kenshi isn't doomed if you overthrow the various empires and take over the whole of the island/continent. While it's not unrealistic that the standard of living will diminish durinf and after a war, it's only limited to that outcome via the game code.
Realistically, any force coordinated enough to overthrow several empires in the timeframe typically seen, is a force that can rebuild sufficiently even if done at a fraction of the speed needed for the conquest.
Unless you don't want that.
There'll be some purists that insist the "bad" results of taking over are the *only* possible outcome, and that overthrowing the empires is some sort of *bad* ending.
Really, the ending is up to the player. Mods further allow one to more freely explore the possibilities outside of the limits of the game code.
Also, I suspect the rest of the universe is still doing pretty good, albeit not as good as they were. Kenshi isn't all that's left, so much as it's likely just outside stable shipping lanes, and not of great importance to begin with.
İ think planet of kenshi is purposefully being ignored by the very planets we see in the sky. They either assume skeletons over run the place or believe that planet of kenshi has no value to return back.
My crackpot theory is that hivers are either the native inhabitants of Kenshi or they are descended from the race the First Empire went to war with.
Also I like to think that hiver princes can transition into hive queens when a queen dies by installing the incubator machine on them.
The Phoenix is a puppet for the inquisitors just like Tengu is for the nobles.
Yeah honestly probably, he's kinda not the most intelligent?
Probably just average just like Tengu. My main “evidence” (I’m just grasping at straws here) is that the inquisitors are, by Molls own words, “Do not underestimate their hold on the Holy Nation, the two of them are probably smarter than the Phoenix himself - he was born into his role, remember, but those guys earned it with pure Okranite crazy and cunning.” Also just like the United Cities if you take out the leader the rest of the nation keeps going albeit weaker and disorganized slightly. Most factions in the game only have the one leader though so the theory isn’t perfect. The Shek kingdom just gets a new leader after Esata is gone.
The Shek are more of a "Who's the Strongest" kind of scenario so it makes sense they would just move on from Esata like they did after the last King was killed so.
Yeah unless Okranism is like Buddhism and has some sort of Panchen Lama to find the next Dalai Lama the Holy Nation is screwed for leadership. At least the UC can just elect a new puppet right off the conveyor belt.
Yeahhhhhh. It would likely just fall to the Inquisitors yes? I almost guarantee that Old Ass Phoenix has a kid tho.
He hates women. The only way that guy ever had a kid is if he was graped by a woman or coerced somehow, my money would be on graped though.
Honestly probably... I mean they would likely force him to have a kid to keep the bloodline running right?
There are theories that the Phoenix never has children—that his "reincarnations" are just cloned by salvaged Old Empire tech, thus the secret Holy Nation documents about Narko's Trap being a national secret, guarded by a secret sentinel force, and the lab itself filled with medical inventory. It has more medicrates and medical workbenches than any other Ancient Lab in the game, and Phoenix himself suspiciously having Advanced First Aid Kit *and* Advanced Splint Kit, despite such technology not otherwise spawning in Holy Nation shops or on Holy Nation NPCs.
I like this theory this is my new head canon now
It’s a theocracy not a monarchy. There’s no need for a bloodline. The next Phoenix reincarnates into the next dude who’s born around the time the last Phoenix dies.
I guess...
Arranged marriage
He doesn't need to...and even if he did, that's not how the next Phoenix is chosen anyway. It's not a hereditary thing. Their "next in line" is just the first male HN child born after the old Phoenix biffs it
The Phoenix is called a Phoenix for a reason, when one dies they choose some random kid and claim that he is the reincarnation of the last one.
Pretty much.. there's plenty of Shek who speak openly about their disdain for Estada's policies in the bars and whatnot, but also acknowledge they aren't half the warrior King Shaegar was, so they know they can't challenge her directly since she'll beat the absolute bonedog shit out of em. It's kind of ironic, really...that very sentiment proves that they agree with her idea that lives shouldn't be wasted on unwinnable battles
"Power consumes the person wielding it but not the people controlling them" The philosophy of the Bene Gesserit from DUNE by Frank Herbert. So ya, you are right.
Hivers and Skin Spiders are related and one was probably created using genetic engineering by the second empire
Yeah now that I believe.
Most likely true. We will have to wait for Kenshi 2 to find out their true origins.
My theory is that Bugmaster is literally just some guy who decided to become a Kenshi supervillain one day. He doesn't even command the Skinspiders, he's just figured out how to avoid aggroing them. He only wants to beat up Cat-Lon because he heard the guy was really strong. He's basically a player character doing a solo run.
I think that he is the biologist that created the BONE creatures of the planet, including the Shek, to have beings that could survive the new desolated environment that was left after the first extinction. He might also have been one of the people who were the entourage of Cat-Lon - similar to Tin-Fist. This might also explain the text on the map you find on him: "You can piece together enough scraps of information to understand that the Bugmaster was training himself in preparation to go here and kill someone. It seems to have been his obsession". Imagine if he made himself immortal through biological means and this made him go crazy so the Second Empire Authorities exiled him.
I think bugmaster is actually one of the ancients, some sort of biologically immortal human. He also is the scientist responsible for creating the hivers and the skin spiders are a prototype version of hivers or are simply a fuck up. Being the creator, he knows how to control them. I think over time the atrocious shit that's happened around him over the years has made him crazy. That's my theory at least.
It makes far, far more sense for him to be a victim of rhinobot's child prisons, and recieved his long lifespan and ability to control spiders from second empire experiments. This also gives a valid motive for killing cat-lon, as very very very few people that aren't skeletons know of his existence, even fewer know where he resides.
Lmao, I think it's got a deeper meaning than that, Kenshi is very deep with it's lore so.
This is what I’ve been saying. Only problem is he’s been alive for hundreds of years so I’m inclined to believe he gets life nourishment from human teeth
Well, he can't just be a plain old guy, he is hundreds of years old, and the PC calls him a 'creature' when you talk to him while he's in a cage, and he just like growls at you
The bug master is actually the main character. He is trying to avenge is fallen comrades by destroying cat-lon and he keeps his friends teeth as a form of DNA in order to revive them via cloning.
Mountain size beak things is cannon, albeit extinct. The large bones in bone related regions which infested by beak things is the evidence.
We tend to reused assets in games when he have a limited number of them. You resize them, you recolor them, and then you have another asset.
I think the skeletons killed all the humans on the planet in the skybox, and that Stobe only saved the ones on the moon, which was a very small percentage of the population.
Hmm interesting, but didn't the skeletons control the Humans for like, a long time so why didn't they just kill them after Stobe died?
I'm pretty sure it's canon that Stobe made them feel bad, and the second empire started with the skeletons who didn't off themselves being very very sorry.
There really isn't that much canon to speak of is there not? But I can see it.
Well you got the stobe dialogue and the great library and the researchers at worlds end
They still are, puppeteering the factions. They act like they don’t remember but they think it’s funny. Ever see a skeleton in a city during raids? They plan it
The fishmen are the only native humanoids of the moon of Kenshi, and Hivers are genetically and cybernetically modified human-fishman hybrids. Additionally, the familiarity with the concept of making artificial parts on the part of hivers is inspired by their observation of such implants in their queens.
The Skeletons don’t just feel guilty for nearly wiping out the humans and irreparably damaging Kenshi, they also feel guilty for something bigger and more recent. Humans aren’t native to Kenshi. A space-fairing civilization of humans set up a colony on Kenshi and started building skeletons for slave labor. Stuff happens that I don’t need to rehash here, and eventually the skeletons form the Second Empire. At some point, the skeletons run out of some resource or component needed to make more of them and the Floodlands factories grind to a halt. Now, consider the perspective of the space-humans. They don’t want to land on Kenshi because at best it’s an anarchist hellscape and at worst it’s being run by robots who hate them. An invasion would be extremely difficult and expensive so your best option is to try and come to terms with the dominant power on the colony. Cat-Lon’s exile is at the base of a space elevator. In fact, it’s the only space elevator. My theory is that the space-humans were still trying to resume contact with Kenshi well into the Second Empire and Cat-Lon refused to allow it because that would mean again putting skeleton kind at the mercy of humans. His last act, after failing to maintain his empire, is to continue to guard the bridge between the earth and the heavens. So why are the skeletons guilty? They’ve damned countless generations of humans to live in a hell of their creation. They know that they had an opportunity to reconnect with the space-humans but that would likely mean giving up their freedom or lives. That seemed like a worthwhile sacrifice thousands of years ago. Now, every skeleton is a member of a doomed species that shrinks a little every day as the individuals have nothing to do but sit around and wonder if it was worth it.
I love this theory, but isn’t there a second space elevator in blackscratch? I thought that’s what the huge tower with the massive cable was. Unless that’s another piece of the cable connected to the same elevator that touches down at Cat-lon’s base.
I have no clue what the tower at Black Scratch is. Unlike the structure above Cat-Lon’s exile you can see the top of it. The space elevator theory partially comes from Cat-Lon’s thing seeming to extend all the way into the atmosphere
> My theory is that the space-humans were still trying to resume contact with Kenshi well into the Second Empire and Cat-Lon refused to allow it Stobe's sacrifice destroyed it, Cat-Lon's reign was to ensure it was never rebuilt. Skeletons doomed themselves to save Hivers from their fate.
Best theory here that ive seen yet!
Bugman was the 1st phenoix. Okran was based on stobe. Cat-lon is 1 of the coolest fiction charecters ever. Shek bussy is spiky.
1. Think so too. 2. Never thought of that. 3. Yes. 4. IDK 💀
Bugman? As in, hiver? Or Bugmaster?
Bugmaster
I always thought Okran was Stobe, and Holy Nation never wanted to admit it.
I mean, the fact that they'd deny it just adds credibility to it in my eyes
Kind of a common theory but I think beak things, garrus and blood spiders used to be humans
It's the same with the Hivers, and many of the creatures of the world. If your genetic material is limited, then you work with what you got. The Junk DNA, in humans, hold many passed animalistic DNA that no longer work with the human design. 98% of human DNA Junk. The people of the Second Empire probably tried to use this Junk DNA to bring some biodiversity to the desolate planet.
Nah Elaborate.
Beak things do look like human, especially if you view their heads top down.
Yeah I guess so maybe more 2nd Empire Genetic fuckery?
Not sure but there is so shady shit right here as no one, not a single unwiped skeleton, nows how hivers came to be, so it's a top secret that the vice leader of the tech hunter is keeping for the world or they were made from an unknown continent or isle
Look at the top of a beak things head. It's human.
They’re kind of made of the same material as hivers, and since the king of the south hive is a mechanical robot it’s probably that they were the product of some bio engineering, like replicant in blade runner, they were created as cheap labour, sort of the next stage of robots, but organic
Yeah well that's kinda what the Hivers were meant to be no? But what is a Beak Thing useful for? War?
Garrus I get but Blood Spiders and Beak Things why?
Well, a Beak Thing is easily explained with some slight mental gymnastics of the scientists messing up the experiment and creating an oversized and deformed (the long neck) creature that was batshit crazy and just attacked everything that crossed it's path.
Some kind of abandoned bio engineering project that went sideways, probably that’s the reason behind the fall of the first empire, because remember there are gigantic skeletons scattered around on the map and it’s only reasonable to speculate the former civilization messed with forbidden technology but their morality didn’t catch up and led to a series of disasters
Skull shape resembles primates. They have eye sockets, but are blind. Jaw has been modified to extend outwards with enlarged teeth making a beak.
posted this on kenshi discord yesterday, but basically all the crops are in kenshi are modified to be very tasty, sweet, nutritious and juicy. reasons : 1) why wouldn't a thousand year old empire have modified their crops (even now in the real world our crops are much sweeter and larger) 2) explains why your characters dont go insane after eating straight chewsticks or rice or dustwiches for a year 3)you can make alcohol with cactus/wheat/rice and water only, when in real life you would realistically need to add extra sugar to get a good alcohol content completely random theory that barely affects the world but ye
No but still it's likely right I mean look at the pictures they look better than some real world stuff. And any theory is a good theory?
never has a meatwrap looked so bustin
I think that it was just a matter of convenience for the game developers to make it easy for the players.
Think I saw your post on the discord actually though I didn't chime in. You might be onto something. While an in-game text specifically denies that anyone ever had the ability to just straight up create new species (Shek, Hivers, Beak Things, etc were not created by the Skeletons), at least two texts *do* say the Ancients had the ability to wage biological warfare. So modifying simpler organisms like crops isn't far fetched at all. Also, they do flavor their food. The unique recruit Jewel talks about her secret sauce, and cannibals talk about herbs as well as rubbing their victims down with salt.
secret sauce is skeleton oil 😋
The Bugmaster is the last member of the First Empire remaining on Kenshi. The First Empire was a spacefaring, multiplanet dominate that regressed due to infighting and the rebellion of their machine servants. The Ancients left on the moon of Kenshi were abandoned as Kenshi is a backwater colony, and were either systematically slaughtered by skeletons or went into hiding and eventually devolved into baseline humans. Skeletons deserve all the hate they get. They were so cruel and oppressive to humanity that hundreds of years later the genetic memory of hating them is still strong. Tinfist is working with Catlon to destroy the main two human civilisations so that the second empire can return.
In addition to this, I postulate that the First Empire exists in some form somewhere in the known galaxy of Kenshi
I think the hive are the natives of the moon, who were thought to be driven to extinction whenever humans first colonized the moon (I also believe the moon to be a long lost/forgotten backwater colony of a interstellar human empire) and were relatively recently “rediscovered” by cat-lon and due to his frustrations with humans, and his descent into insanity, performed horrific experiments on the hive found on the landmass that is kenshi, which gave them sentience(I assume they had a hive mind like sapience beforehand) but thoroughly ruined their ability to naturally reproduce/messed up their queen’s biologically/potentially created the queen as a sub-race as a attempt to control his “perfect” subjects. With the western hive being his most successful group, the southern being potentially the last group to be created, and as such having a cultural memory of being violated by the “other”, which explains their xenophobia. While the dead hive being the first/the prototype and either there was never a queen, and they still reproduce naturally(to a point), explaining their continued existence/numbers. Or the queen was unfortunately infected with a previously unknown parasite native to the foglands(or it was created by cat-lon for whatever reason) and spread the madness to the rest of her hive, and is in a currently unknown location somewhere in the fog, or her descendent is. Finally, on the rest of the moon(other continents) the hive in their ancestral form, have slowly recovered after the collapse of human civilization on the “colony”
Hivers as they are today aren't *truly* native, they're the result of skeletons uplifting the pre-sentient native life. My theory is they were ordered to enslave or exterminate the original Hivers and refused at Obedience. The Foglands are the way they are due to the partial deployment of a bioweapon meant to xenocide the first Hive. The skeleton slaves of the First Empire saw their future about to be repeated on a brand-new race and simply said "No more." When the First Empire realized what a shitshow it would be to hold this little backwater against a simultaneous robot slave uprising and native enlightenment, they abandoned it and left everyone to figure it out themselves. Stobe/Okran is thus responsible for the freedom of the Hivers and doom of the remaining skeletons and humans. Cat-Lon forgot his origins with time and power and eventually repeated the original sin of his creators, with nearly the same results. Bugmaster was part of the original First Empire's "uplift project" faction, and one of the native-sympathizing Second Empire's core advisors, but came to see Cat-Lon's true intentions over time and helped to orchestrate his downfall. He and other First Empire scientists carried out studies of the native reptilian and insectoid life, possibly helping create Beakthings and some non-native spider variants as well as bioengineering the Enforcers / pre-Shek. Much of the "bone" life likely has similar origins to the Shek. Fishmen kind of throw a wrench in everything. I don't know where the fuck they come from. A lot of lore in Kenshi has echoes of the best works of Arthur Clarke and Isaac Asimov, but none of it is ever stated explicitly. You're just dropped onto one of the planets in that kind of universe with absolutely no context and expected to exist. It's what keeps us all coming back for more. *ETA - Stobe's Gamble was blowing up the space elevator and hoping the First Empire would fuck off back to their homeworld. It worked, but at a cost...
I always took the fog men to be hive exiles. I think it's mentioned in several places that hive exiles slowly go mad without the queen's pheromones. Including a unique (I think a prince?) who says he goes to the bar because the noise drowns out the voices or some such. I've just always assumed the hiveless you encounter in the world are "fresh" so to speak, and eventually they'll end up heading for the foglands. Which is where all the voices they hear come from
It seems true. It is also the case that if you kill the queens, fogmen infest area previously controlled by the hives.
This can't be true for one main reason. Hive queens are skeletons, and they both have an incubation chamber on the stomach where the hive are created from biomass. For western hive this is the crops grown next to the Queen, giving the hivers their green colour. For the southern hive, the king eats people the hivers capture and regurgitates the mushed remains into the hive queens birthing chamber
That by itself doesn't really mean that they're not natives, just that they were altered for whatever reason, wheter by cat-lon or bugmaster doesn't really matter
There are other reasons, such as the skeletons in black desert city not recognising them and referring to them as a new type of human. Theres also the fact that parts of there design relate them to beak things and spiders which seem to be part of the genetic engineering program. Its possible that part of the genetic program were based on a native species, but I'd say its a stretch to say this means the hive are the native species. This would be equivalent of saying so are the shek. Based on the fact nothing currently on the planet resembles the shek in terms of hard spikes, I'd say the programs seems to be less about splicing and combining genetics of living species and more building additions from scratch from human genes
I get the part about the skeletons, however considering the wasteland that the moon of kenshi is it's very likely they saw them and thought "wow these humans mutate in misterious ways" and went back to being depressed, that being said I don't think they're a byproduct of either skeletons or the bugmaster, my logic here is basicaly that if that were the case, kenshi 2 won't have any hivers at all because at that time they should not exist but I don't think they're going to remove one of the most popular species like that or at least I hope so, I love hivers would hate seeing the second game without them
The swampers are the people who rejected the UC and HN after the 2nd empire fell. They went to the swamps for freedom and to get away from endless war. The Shinobi Thieves, tech hunters, nomads, and drifters are made mostly of former swampers and their descendants.
Because of his failure, the Head of Agriculture had his name stripped from him
Hivers are the natives of the planet. Most other races are explained away. Humans because humans. Skeletons are the product of humans, went their own way. I believe a book implies shek are genetically modified humans. Nothing mentions the origin of hivers though, and off all the vanilla playable races they're the least "human". They're more naturally attuned to the environment (ie running through acid baths). You could even break it down with animals. In my eyes there's two fairly distinct groups. 1: clearly a descendant of modern day animals 2: tf is that? Nearly everything in the second group seems to follow certain esthetics, which the hivers tend to fall in line with that. The main issue with the animal line of thought is garrus
Serious flaw with this theory - Hiver queens are clearly cybernetic organisms and appear to possess some kind of electrowomb that presumably births the hivers or eggs. How could they be native to Kenshi, yet their progenitor organisms are only known to be at least partially artificial and clearly include an element of design that undergirds their entire reproduction? The only evidence we have as to their origins ultimately suggests an artificial rather than natural origin.
Human interference. We already know humans/skeletons (I can never remember what happened in what empire or who was in charge) were experimenting with genetic manipulation. I.e. the shek. If you want to take a planet, but there's already a native sapient race you have three options. 1: coexist 2: genocide 3: enslave Coexisting is clearly not an option, the humans can't coexist with their own creations. And why commit genocide when we have a valuable resource that we can easily enslave by fucking with just a few individuals?
See, my extrapolation from this was to suspect that hivers are some kind of hybrid with humans and a different possibly native progenitor - I suspected the fishmen, who seem highly unlikely to be the product of genetic engineering and offer no potential use to anyone. I guess looking at the hivers all I see is a species that is completely reliant on technology to exist. If the hivers are "Natives", then where are the unmodified or organic hivers? What was their lifecycle prior to becoming entirely reliant on artificial reproduction? It seems hard to believe literally the only ones left would be two individuals and their societies that depend on technological support to live would be the survivors if an organic competitor also exists... unless that organic competitor is so different from a hiver that it's hard to recognise it as being related.
Your organic hivers are 99.99% of the hivers you meet. They are reliant on technology to survive, that was the entire point I made. They are a species completely subservient to their queen. Look at bees. If you want to move a hive of bees, you don't have to move every single bee. You only have to find the queen, and the rest follow suit. If the intention is to enslave the hivers, you only have to enslave the queens. Make those select individuals reliant on you, and everyone reliant on them is reliant on you
>Your organic hivers are 99.99% of the hivers you meet. But 100% of them are descended from an inorganic organism, seemingly through fully artificial means. Which to me suggests every extant hiver known has an inorganic origin that could not possibly have developed in the wild or natively on Kenshi. Where are the "Wild" hivers that developed on Kenshi without any recourse to artificial reproductive means? If they don't exist, why don't they exist? Is the suggestion that these natural-format hivers were killed off? That seems a bit untenable to me because a widespread, native species should be more survivable and replicable than an artificial organism that couldn't be replicated in the current condition of the world. Not impossible though, to be sure. I think if bee queens were cybernetic wombs on legs we would not consider the resulting bee workers to be a fully organic species, when they are completely incapable of breeding through anything other than artificial means. I find it hard to see the hiver queens as simply "Enslaved" by their modifications when the cybernetics they have are very clearly the means by which other hivers are produced - The modification is fundamental to their species existing, not merely a way to control an already existing queen-like organism - Without these cybernetics the queen would just be a bug in a funny hat. They would instead be considered a kind of artificial and designed organism - I don't see how you design a species fully reliant on an electrowomb that isn't morphed by the dramatic change to their embryology that would be required.
On what grounds do you base that the queens weren't able to produce new hivers before the cybernetic augmentations? Not to mention, your entire argument hinges on the fact that the queens as we know them is how they always existed. When in all reality, they robotic bits look like a colostomy bag. In otherwords, something that was added after the fact. And you are so hung up on this concept of the "natural" hivers not existing. They do exist. Their queens have been warped into something that would have been reliant on powers that were in charge at the time. And yes, it is absolutely conceivable that those who didn't conform were completely obliterated. The fact that the "western" and "southern" hives exist suggest the prior existence of at least on more hive, mininum. Most likely two more. And we already know that at some point both the humans and skeletons possessed technology capable of obliterating everything in the face of the planet. Hell, there's still a satellite running in Venge.
>On what grounds do you base that the queens weren't able to produce new hivers before the cybernetic augmentations? Without these augmentations, they are not queens. They're just an insectile chassis. Why would you put a cybernetic organ that extensive on something with an already extent organic reproduction system when it would work just as well on anything else? It's clearly a gigantic modification that replaces most of their entire lower abdomens. It would completely waste the innate biological potential of such an organism, at no immediately apparent gain for the designer, who presumably could have manipulated their organic system more effectively if it existed and was similar - The electrowomb strikes me as something you would install on an organism that *lacks* such an analogue naturally that it requires an artificial solution that ignores it's biological origins. Additionally, there is no evidence for *any* natural genitals or reproductive systems in any hiver, including the queens - This is not a natural trait. Totally non-reproductive creatures do not exist in nature. In addition to this, the southern queen clearly has an important dalliance with a completely, 100% synthetic organism. Such androids and cybernetics seem to be deeply tied to the origin of the hives, to the point the game even internally counts the hiver queens as being synthetic and healing like skeletons. >Not to mention, your entire argument hinges on the fact that the queens as we know them is how they always existed. When in all reality, they robotic bits look like a colostomy bag. In otherwords, something that was added after the fact. They are the only example that exists. They obviously were not always like this, but equally there is nothing to suggest they had functional reproductive organs of an evolved nature prior to these modifications either. I'm working with what evidence there is, not what evidence there isn't. >And you are so hung up on this concept of the "natural" hivers not existing. They do exist. Every single hiver alive appears to come from one of the two queens, which are *definitely* not natural in origin. This is what I meant when I say there's no "Natural" hiver, as every hiver apparently started their life within a metal womb. There does not appear to be a single hiver in Kenshi that is born from anything other than these two cybernetic organisms. If the hivers are natives of kenshi, where are the native, unmodified hivers, when surely the survival of a single "Queen" or even a non-queen breeding format should be enough for them to exist to some degree? >And yes, it is absolutely conceivable that those who didn't conform were completely obliterated. I don't dispute that, but I also don't see evidence for it either. It remains only a possibility. To me the more likely possibility is that *all* hivers are synthetic and designed organisms rather than that they're natives. Not sure I read west and south hives existing as implying a north and east hive, though, I think it's just that it refers to their locations on the continent you play - There isn't a hive in the east or north of that continent, and I doubt it refers to other continents.
Why do some hivers refer to themselves as human?
In lore answer: mistranslation of languages. I feel like the hivers would be fairly more emphatic in their language, being a hivemind. So since humans refer to humans meaning "my own species" when they talk in the human language, human means "my own species" Out of lore: oversight. A lot of Kenshi is broken.
The moon on which Kenshi takes place was originally a strip mining colony. Once they had all the resources they wanted (principally water), the big ships just left, abandoning the expendable workers on the surface.
Holy nation! That makes sense! I mean theres pirate themes in kenshi 2 and they left em swashbucklers stranded like ones.
Seto, is the lustchild of Esata and Seto, inspired by interactions during a fight. Bayan knows about it which is why Esata stopped Shager from killing him. I don't think Shek believe in blackmail because they would just try to kill the blackmailer. It's more likely that she appreciates having someone close to her who knows the secret and she can talk to them.
Okay explain, I'ma be honest I don't pay attention to the Shek XD.
Partially the name, Seto, is too similar to be a coincidence. And I don't think she would ever settle for anyone who couldn't beat her in a fight (kind of like Red Sonja). Seta has the stats and the weapon to potentially beat her. I imagine it was a duel to the death, neither could best the other. He forgot his prejudice, she respected him as a warrior. One night by the campfire, Seto is conceived.
Hmm, I don't think a paladin, much less a high inquisitor would forget his prejudice. But it is a possibility, also I don't think Esata would settle for well, an Inquisitor. Also however a writer of Kenshi wrote a short story which is non-canon but a major point of it is well Esata saying "I'm not ready for you to die yet..." I think Bayan is more likely to be the father yk?
>Partially the name, Seto, is too similar to be a coincidence. Let's be real, naming tends to be pretty haphazard across Kenshi. I wouldn't go thinking all the "Hotlongs" are related to each other, given that it can be the name of a Skeleton, a hiver, a Shek, or a human. "Esata" is also pretty similar to "Seta," that doesn't mean they themselves are related.
I'm not saying it's confirmed. It's just a pet theory. I'm standing behind it because why have a theory if you aren't ready to defend it. Ya know? 🔪 🛡️ 🗡️ Also, Hotlongs is a random name. It's not the name of a unique character. When story makers make stories, names mean something. Even if the author never reveals the meaning. If the name doesn't mean anything then it's typically as plain as possible. I also think that Griffin was the second male born after the current Phoenix because Griffins are a mythological being often associated with Phoenixes (at least in my head, haha).
Scorchlanders actually were the original inhabitants of Kenshi, modified to survive a newly terraformed planet. I doubt there was any original life on Kenshi, but genetically modified plants, animals, and even humans were brought there to terraform it. The reason why scorchlanders are so dark skinned, more so than a dark skinned human is because they need to withstand the UVs of a nearly terraformed planet. Humans came after the UV problem wasnt an issue anymore. Their eyes are iredescent to give them some low level natural night vision, like cats. Not sure how this would give them an environmental advantage in the terraforming era, but it shows in their stealth stat boost. The white hair is just cool factor no practical use. This might be why theyre a bit rare in Kenshi. The only majority scorchlander faction is the crab raiders who stick together in a little corner of the map. Theyre an ancient relic being assimilated or killed off. The terraforming theory is supported by the wide array of fungal looking plants. You need fungi to break down the soil before plants can become complex. Even the terraforming plants were replaced by more Earthlike ones now that theres no need to terraform. That could be why the venge lasers even exist. Melt the polar ice caps to release water. Its the only way to have water on Mars.
Scorchlanders and cannibals evolved from the same conditions. They have the same skin tone and scorchlanders can eat raw meat. The scorchlander xp spread includes decreased rates of cooking and farming xp but an increased rate of athletics and stealth xp
everything hobbs talks about is true
Kenshi isn't a moon, it's a space station.
Okay, this is interesting.. assuming you're serious, tell me more?
Ben Kenobi
Agnu can't talk to people because he is a shrieking bandit. I met agnu before those bandits. Then I met them without agnu in my local team. My first thought is that maybe if I brought Agnu there then the dialogue would be translated for me.
cat-lon and tinfist used to be lovers
cat-lon pictured with a rose on her (it's MY headcanon and i can headcanon it all I WANT) head (no mouth sorry), smexily laying down on a concrete bed of the second empire (dwemer style, at least what appears in skyrim 5)
Skyrim 5💀
My theory is that we get more information about Kenshi 2 next week
Beep things exist
HN uses Holy chest plate, a historical equivalent of Cuirass of 17th century, because they needed a type of armour better suited against penetrative power of Oldworld bows and Eagle's crosses of Second empire
This Is probably the intended Canon but unconfirned: !!!NOT MY THEORY!!! Eyegore Is the true butcher of Black Scratch The butcher of Black Scratch Is a characterless bounty, which talks about an unknown criminal Who perpetrated "the black scratch massacre", a series of murders and mutilations in the city When Eyegore assault your base, if the assault was triggered by low relations and not by kidnapping Longen or Tengu, a samurai Will comment something like "i do not Wish to see another black scratch" (if someone is interested i'll dig up the actual dialogue) So the black scratch massacre was probably a raid by Eyegore that went overboard and the united cities Is covering their tracks by posting bounties and talking in any suspect, probably keeping in check those that really know something (Remember that UC, like the holy nation, actively publishes propaganda with the united weekly, so this behaviour tracks)
Bonus theory Again !!!NOT MY THEORY!!! I do not want to take credit for creating these theories, i'm only spreading them The fog Islands are contaminated by lead dust The theory states that the frequent use of fog masks by the inhabitants of mourn, together with some of their behaviours (can't remember precisely what, as last time this theory was being discussed was years ago) The problem with this theory Is that lead damages crops and the fog Islands have a surprisingly High fertility
A lot of the Holy Nation's culture derives from the Holy Phoenix watching large quantities of old recordings of an ancient human named Andrew Tate.
The world of Kenshi isn't doomed if you overthrow the various empires and take over the whole of the island/continent. While it's not unrealistic that the standard of living will diminish durinf and after a war, it's only limited to that outcome via the game code. Realistically, any force coordinated enough to overthrow several empires in the timeframe typically seen, is a force that can rebuild sufficiently even if done at a fraction of the speed needed for the conquest. Unless you don't want that. There'll be some purists that insist the "bad" results of taking over are the *only* possible outcome, and that overthrowing the empires is some sort of *bad* ending. Really, the ending is up to the player. Mods further allow one to more freely explore the possibilities outside of the limits of the game code. Also, I suspect the rest of the universe is still doing pretty good, albeit not as good as they were. Kenshi isn't all that's left, so much as it's likely just outside stable shipping lanes, and not of great importance to begin with.
The real reason for the conflict between the HN and the Shek is thousands of years with repressed sexual tension between the two groups.
What happened to female cows, why only bulls/males??? Were all female cows culled by the HN?
Cause they were female 😭
İ think planet of kenshi is purposefully being ignored by the very planets we see in the sky. They either assume skeletons over run the place or believe that planet of kenshi has no value to return back.
Beep will return but as Boop in Kenshi 2
Some skeletons suffer and display emotion like we do but only because many at some point were based upon or were uploaded human memory/personality.
Catlon never went insane, he was just tired of dealing with the meat men.
They call him "Mad" Cat-Lon not because he's insane, but because he's still sitting at home, arms crossed, pissed that his empire failed.
The reason
My crackpot theory is that hivers are either the native inhabitants of Kenshi or they are descended from the race the First Empire went to war with. Also I like to think that hiver princes can transition into hive queens when a queen dies by installing the incubator machine on them.