Kenshi - The Whole Story of The Second Empire 

Robot Pirate Ninjas

River Ninjas

Even better make it possible to own people i want to make enemy leaders my personal butlers

I wish for custom base boats.

​@@neroham93cant you just buy slaves in the slave market?

The skeletons are just what happens when humans live forever.

@@EveryTimeV2 Skeletons: the true chads of kenshi especially with a crab squad at their back

@@EveryTimeV2 I think that's the necrons. Necrons are what happens when humans live forever.

Kenshi has always been a difficult game to dive into extensively on the lore wide of things. Thats one of the best parts of the game, how expansive but contextual the lore is. Which is my favorite part of these videos. They show just how much time and effort went into world building and its great

@@HeroInHisHead more of these please :)

I mean i did not play the game for myself, but i can understand why its so obscure, in Kenshi nobody gives a damn about you, (and that is a euphémisme), not Everyone like that plus since now a day people judge a game by its graphic and the hype train, Kenshi would be like a puddle of water at first glance, simple graphic and basic gameplay, but the lore and detail when you pay close attention, makes you realise that this puddle is in fact the gate to a massive cave Network.

When I first picked up kenshi I had a rally superficial feeling about the lore. Skeletons. The ruins. The characters. They all seemed to be just ideas cobbled together into a storyless game that played suuuuper well. Skeletons most of all seemed almost out of place in the world to me. But after making these videos and realizing that skeletons are infact essentially the progenitors of the entire lore indefinitely have a deeper love for them than I even did before. 10/10 Skeletons are the real Kenshi. And Beep. Love me some Beep

I believe that the hivers along with skin spiders were created by the second empire. I think that when the famine took place and people started rebelling, Cat-lon attempted to continue his genetic manipulation that he had done to create the enforcers and applied that same idea to creating a more sustainable work force. A force built for labor. High intelligence. A collective hive mind for easy control. Able to eat rotten foods. And capable of mass reproduction. This would explain why the hivers are smart, organized, look like modified humans, reproduce using a mechanical womb attached to the queen, and why a Second empire Krimper is their king. It's hinted at that the reproduction process involved King somehow (likely through crushing generic material down which the queen feeds on and uses as biomass to make more hivers in her incubation unit). Skin spiders are likely failed experiments which is why they resemble hivers but all messed up and distorted. That would also lend credence to the Bugmaster wanted to kill Catlon. He wasn't raising an army of spiders to challenge him. He was raising an army of oppressed and tortured victims of Catlons experiments to revolt against their former emporer for the crimes he committed. It's likely the fued between the shek and bugmaster started as the genetically modified enforcers cleabing up yhe failed experiments during the famine and evolved through the millenia into a cultural tradition instead of a job.

​@@HeroInHisHead that's wild. Likely close to the truth too

I actually wondered this myself but Chris Hunt actually said himself the whistler is non canon unfortunately during an AMA he did a while back. Said he just never bothered to take it out of the game files.

@@HeroInHisHead Hrrm. It does make sense though, to connect Cat-Lon's Empire to the Shek, to have either another dome general or a roaming boss to fill the 'Gengineer' niche, as it's pretty clearly described in the Okranite books.

oh that model

Information prevents Okranization my friend. Kenshi is such a great world and I loved the opportunity to share and explain its history to people. And the response on the Kenshi Lore series has been overwhelmingly positive which is awesome! In short, thank you and I appreciate the kind words.

@@HeroInHisHead Kenshi has such a great community. I love doing the "in game archology" for my videos. currently on a hold up digging up things for my next big video. but untill then working on a cities series of shorts

If you like it be sure to check out my other lore video on the clear information of the First Empire as well! I hope you enjoy and would love to hear your thoughts!

It's easy to dump on them for who they are. It's much harder to look at who they were and how they ended up here. People are afraid or too caught up in what they became to acknowledge that they were not always evil but were instead pushed into their beliefs. We as people may not be able to understand or agree with their current views but to them their fears and biases are very real and very much based on real atrocities that they lived through in the world of kenshi. History doesn't care about biases and beliefs. Only the facts.

Im glad you Iiked the content!

Maybe but the fact that the cannibals still are around 1000+ years later I feel it's more likely that there was some form of genetic degradation that resulted in their altered appearance and lowered intelligence. The land is clearly fertile in the game files. The acid rain is only present on the coastline. There isn't a reason that they should remain the way they are for over a 1000 years besides some kind of degenerative genetic condition either via natural factors or genetic tampering or even a similar parasite to the one that created rhe fogmen

@@HeroInHisHead What if, intentionally or not, for a few hundred years around the fall of the second empire something or someone caused genetic degredation or something of the like to the food/animals in the region... something like a mutagen, enough to like, possibly corrupt any northernmost hives or something, as well as the cannibals... If anything like that happened, maybe we'd learn about it i kenshi 2 ^.^ As for explaining how it isnt around in kenshi itself, or in the plains at that period, maybe it all sort of went away after the centuries, and the genetic degradation/culture of the cannibals still lingers... As for the fogmen... I'm not sure... all sorts of things to ponder while I play :P

The idea of a parasite would also explain it a good bit, when you think about prion diseases... that would explain a lot actually Yeah... what you said in video still stands at that point then, if a parasite, because it had to start with either scarcity of food or... a curiosity about human meat

This is especially interesting when one considers Rome went through 77 Emporers in about 503 years. This isn't a great comparison, but it's the best I could conjure on the spot

Initially I think they had a point. Infct initial sects of the cult that would become the holy nation were healers and pacifists who refused to stoop as low as those who had nearly destroyed humanity in the past. But their teachings were slowly twisted into blind hate and xenophobia. In the modern age skeletons are all but repentant for their crimes. Shek don't even remember their origins as humans and have evolved into their own people. The HN once had a point. But they are long since past being the good guys.

If only they knew the God Okran they hail is a skeleton himself. Phoenix would probably shit a brick

@@HeroInHisHead Nah man, Holy Nation may be a bit screwed up and backwards. But definitely is the best place to live if you are a human who just wants to get by.

@@HeroInHisHead well it makes sense the teachings were twisted, the skeletons tried genociding humanity once and with the oppression of the cult it appeared it could happen again, and the creations of the enforcers(shek) it would appear that the skeletons were outright replacing humanity, if I were a human in kenshi at this time I know I'd end up hating skeletons and shek. The risk of another genocide is too high and the skeletons have made a fighting force of genetically modified humans who were stronger than most humans

Its like a good meal thats been left out for a month. Amazing and pure at the beginning, but rotten and disfigured compared to the original. They simply wanted to be good people and live life simple, but then turned into a tyrannical war-religion thriving on the hate and fear for skeletons.

It was some royalty free mood music from a site I subscribe too.

Check the description for the original reddit post by JustJoeying that I used to build this video and lore. Aside from that I also used my own ingame experiences

Yes. At first (back in Kenshi early access) they were supposed to be named after the city of Catan (later Catun, which is present in the game), but after the last part of the Kenshi map was added (featuring Cat-Lon and his place within the game's lore) it was retconned to have Cats named after him.

I always thought they were Catun Credits.

According to the clues the game gives us Tinfist and Catlon were friends during the second empire and Catlon likely had him seated in a position of authority. However when Catlon started to lose his mind and his empire began to crumble, Tinfist turned away from Catlon and left the empire and his friend

+1

Sort of. The second empire ENDED 1000 years ago. But we don't know how long they existed from start to finish or when exactly the revolt from the cult of stobe happened. It's very possible there were several pheonixes that existed during the final decades of the empire, if not longer. For example, if the revolt happened 250 years prior to the fall of the empire, that could mean the average pheonix lived to be 20. Which given that is the average, the fact fact the pheonix is selected as the first boy born after the previous, it doesn't account for the lack of reliable medical care due to both the state if kenshi and the HNs refusal to use technology so much like in real human, many children didn't live past infancy, and their growing proclivity to violence against other factions/races (although the current pheonix is much harsher than some of his more recent predecessors if ingame sources are to be believed), and the health situation on Kenshi as a whole. I wouldn't be shocked if MANY pheonixes died young while some made it to older age. Being hailed as their leader doesn't spare them from disease or sicknesses at birth or in infancy.

Because its not really in your face lore like alot of games with quest and main story. You have to look for the lore to really learn it and take the time to read it or pay attention to it. Most people just play the game

Yeah they really piled it on - its no wonder he went mad. Imagine the stress he was under as everything he strove for, the people he vowed to protect, and the empire he helped unite and build slowly unraveled around him. Granted he made it worse but that doesn't detract from the overwhelming influx of stress and negative emotions he must have felt. Especially since skeletons seem to have a certain proclivity for falling into depression and anxiety as a result of being a near immortal sentient being in a non-organic unfeeling body. Just a constant state of suspended consciousness with no real concept of living beyond their Sight. Auditory processing. And their own thoughts. Must be hell

And yet that depressing ending would give way to the stories we ourselves get to create. So in many ways it isn't the end. Simply the beginning....But yeah actually pretty depressing lol

Kenshi is not a world of factions, its word of little basic Man İ want to share what i see on those small stories in that world with my friends

Currently we have no idea. I have my speculations but they are only that and have no substantial evidence to defend. Upside though is chris hunt has said in an ama on reddit we should get answers come kenshi 2 on the hivers origins

@@HeroInHisHead What are your personal speculations?

@@granolapancake I have a few. The most likely being that they are the native inhabitants of kenshi who were stuck underground until the water levels started to drop after the fall of the second empire. The 2nd is that they were the results of genetic experimentation by the Ancient humans of the 1st empire or even that they themselves are a genetic mutation of the ancients themselves. That would explain their proclivity for tech even though it's crap tier as they would effectively be devolved ancients who retained some of their former knowledge but not nearly to the extreme they once had. It would also explain why skin spiders seem to look like massive mutated hivers and why a race of beings that seemingly create low efficiency tech are in possession of both KING and Incubation tech that seems far outside their range of ability. It would be because they used to be the hyper intelligent ancients and have simply devolved over thousands if years.

@@HeroInHisHead Interesting. My conspiracy theory is that the first empire was at war with an organic space faring civilization, which the giant skeletons were created to combat, and that the hivers were the "inhabitants" of these vessels. With their skeletons being found around the wastelands as those large black tubular organic looking structures, or as the massive skeleton near the fallen robotic skeleton in the great desert.

Iyo appears to be hiding secrets from Finch and the Machinists as a whole. When questioning Iyo as a Skeleton PC, Iyo will say the following: "Look, you don't need to worry... no one will ever know the truth. As long as I am Finch's second-in-command, I will see to that myself."

Oi my guy

Comments like this are my favorite cause it really validates the time put into the work..thank you!

Nark-oh and Oh-kran. The two figures are inverted in symbol and name, and so you wouldn't say Nark-ock you'd say Nark-oh. To say Okran is Ock-ran would negate the fact whole inverted figures concept Okran was named by Nat after the vegetable Okra. Which is pronounced with Oh sound not an Ock.

I only state the facts as they present themselves. Check out my video on the sadness of the skeletons and I believe you'll feel I don't have bias. Infact I'm often called a "robot apologist" because of that video 😂

The shek are referred to by the skeletons as humans on several occasions and also often make comments about how their now spikey exterior is a reflection of their more aggressive attitudes back in the second empire as well as being shocked by the presence of the spikes and horns since they apparently didn't use to have them. Do remember that the skeletons of the Black Desert City have been there in exile since the second empire. So their comments are from the perspective of someone who has not seen the "enforcers" since then over a 1000 years ago. This gives way to the idea that the Shek once looked human but evolved differently. Other in game dialogue also indicates that the enforcers were created artificially and used to replenish numbers and infiltrate the cult of stobe/okran and they DO NOT appear in any dialogue or lore before the second empire suggesting they came into being then. The other thing too is that it's important to understand there really is no "Source" for a lot of this information as Kenshi was built to not tell us the lore but suggest it through context clues and dialogue. Asking for a source is basically asking for a citations on a book that doesn't exist....however my videos on the lore of kenshi are all based on in game evidence and context clue. While some of these details may not be correct to Chris's vision. Without him expressly stating what is and isn't cannon we have no way to know for sure. These videos are closer to being well researched and educated theories than pure fact. But that doesn't make them less viable and frankly paints the clearest and most likely telling of events for the history of Kenshi. Hope that helps!

@@HeroInHisHead i understand the lack of concrete sources for a lot of this, but what i mean when i ask for one is something that heavily implies it in game. Personally ive never heard of these "enforcers" in game so i just wanted to know what description or dialogue mentions them.

@@Holacalaca totally get it. Yeah the skeleton players will often refer to shek as Enforcers as well as all the skeletons of the BDC upon arrival into the city will exclusively refer to them as Enforcers and make comments on their physical appearance in comparison to how they looked human 1000 years ago. I'm shocked actually you have never seen it as I believe it is standard if you enter the city with a shek in your immediate party. Edit- Spelling and grammer due to auto correct

@@HeroInHisHead i probably never triggered it, i have only been there 2 or 3 times so far and never with a solo shek, plus i have a repeating dialogue mod so that might be the cause too. Dont get me wrong the video is awesome and its totally believable that theyre genetically modified by the Ancients, hell you could tell me the Hives are insects evolved by radioactive waste lol, I just was unsure on that detail is all.

@@Holacalaca lol for sure. Actually I have video on the Hivers too and it's way grosser than radioactive waste if you're ever interested

The inflection wasn't remorse as much as madness and a refusal to admit he was the problem. Its not remorse. It's desperation for people to see thing "logically" like him. The exasperated tone was to show that even after 1000 years he is still trying to convince the world he was right to do what he did. Also taking away real world opinions catlon still was a monster in the end. Not at first. He was a great leader who fell to paranoia and greed. He oppressed his people both in the cult and out of it. He couldn't manage the famine. He was struggling to fight the cannibal threat to the north. He allow3d his generals and governing bodies to abuse his people such as rhinobot putting children in interment camps and then forgetting to feed them so they died. Accusing his own people of being pirates just to justify executions and further martial law. Stomping out the cult would have fixed 1 of MANY problems he had as he began to plummet into madness. As for his point he isn't totally wrong but it's based on an idea that Humans were the primary catalyst for the world's problems when I reality the skeletons both attempted to commit genocide and regressed kenshi from an advanced civilization to essentially a feudal iron age. Then to add to it catlon rebuilds and attempts to protect humanity and rectify the skeletons sins. Only to again abuse corrupt and destroy human lives in favor of his own views which were rapidly deteriorating under the weight of his own psychosis. Catlon started as a great leader. But to say he wasn't a monster in the end I can't agree with. He even went as far as to literally enslave and destroy the free will of his own subjects to keep his power and control. He stopped being a leader and became a tyrant only concerned with his own power.

@@HeroInHisHead great response. Subscribed good sir.

Lol was almost 2 years ago when I posted this and was my second ever lore video - check out my most recent kenshi lore video to get a better sense of where I am now.

@@HeroInHisHead oh don’t even worry I will Super interesting choice of history to explore Could make an awesome new game of thrones honestly haha

​@@HeroInHisHead Fully disagree with dudes comment I was very happy with the voices and voice acting

Ruins and Water Levels in Kenshi #kenshi #gaming #kenshi2 #lore #shorts