Figuring out the setting of Kenshi.

[railgunlovebites]

I'm pretty intruiged by the setting of Kenshi and have been trying to figure out its setting for a while now. What i've come up with is pretty underwhelming though. So from the lore blog we know that the Holy Empire has been around for a LONG LONG time. We're not told exactly but we know that there have been 62 Emperors by the name of "Phoenix". So that means there have been a minimum of 62 Emperors! Assuming that the average lifespan in Kenshi is significantly shorter than our modern lifespan because of their harsh lifestyle call it about 30-45 years (similar to the lifespan of your average English man in medieval Europe) then the Empire has existed for around 1,860 to 2,790 years! Almost twice as long as the Roman Empire! And that is the MINIMUM extent of their reign assuming that every emperor up to that point had been named "Phoenix". What this means? I don't know. It just means that the Holy Empire has been around for a long ass time.

Now for geography. I looked around alot for places similar to the continent in Kenshi and I couldn't find any currently existing landmasses that resemble the continent so I figured if it is set on earth then it must be a newly created landmass from a receeded ocean or something. However the presence of strange machinery and the lack of rusty shipwrecks then I guess that isnt the case. Meaning that Kenshi is probably set on a completley made up planet.

The ruins and other races raise more questions. The races could be a byproduct of evolution over god knows how long this strange new world has existed or they could've been around for as long as humans in a fantasy world. The ruins imply that there was more advanced civilizations existing before the world of Kenshi happened (I will now simply refer to the current age as the Swordsman Age and the possible "past" as the Old Age). I think its safe to assume that the Skeletons and mechanical spiders were made by this civilization of the Old Age seeing how they are remarkably similar to the ruins and have unknown origins.

So now to my conclusion. Kenshi, if it is set on Earth, probably takes place around the year 5000 or 6000 AD on a newly created landmass created by receeding or rising oceans. Otherwise it is set on a fictional planet (or maybe a planet we know of that is possibly habitable).

[Shidan]

You might want to check out this thread. It was pretty active until a couple days ago, and covers this topic. http://steamcommunity.com/app/233860/discussions/0/353916838207371357/

There's actually a bit of dialog that implies that the Holy Nation is at least 5000 years old.

And it does not take place on Earth or even the same reality. It is a completely different universe, completely disconnected from the real world. (Despite the fact that an image of Mars is one of the moons.)

[ForgeTec]

theres also the old empire and the holy empire a few times it seems like the holy empire steals some of the acomplishments of the old empire

can't wait for game to be done and can explore the setting though

[railgunlovebites]

Ah so that narrows down the possibilities. I'm very intertested in how the Holy Nation managed to survive 5,000 years. I mean thats over three times the Roman Empire, the longest lasting state in history. I'd like to learn more about the bureaucracy and history of the Holy Nation one day to see how they managed to maintain their state for so long. I guess it helps that they are actually pretty small geographically. Not owning nearly as much territory as the Romans thus making it easier to manage. But on the flip side they have to deal with the Shek tribes (and later the Shek Kingdom) and also the Southern Hives. Both of which are probably more dangerous than the human barbarians. Their highly xenophobic and sexist attitude doesnt seem like a smart way to maintain stability though.

[ForgeTec]

your also making a fatal assumption - you think there telling the truth

in a world of little to no education many governments have stated they were around much longer then they were - and with the short lifespan of people in this region its not like many read or have the ability to sit down and learn history - I mean if I say I'm a member of a group thats been around 2,000 years you might believe me cause you have no reason to doubt me doesn't mean its true - its like the old Bard joke - I might not have slayed a dragon but I can make you think I have -

also I do know this - kenshis land mass is not on earth the sky has 3-4 moons so either they are artifical constructs or its a alternate universe which is far more likely

also the style I believe is "sword punk" and the members are not in a post apoclytic world its more like technology failed and now you live in the world after something happened to the world basically

[Shidan]

I'm inclined to believe the 5000 years, as I got that number myself when I ran the numbers before the beta even launched. Using the average lifespan in the UK multiplied by the number of Phoenixes. Ends up really close to 5000, and this Phoenix would have been the one that pushed it over that mark.

Personally I believe that the average lifespan would be much shorter in Kenshi. But you never know, we seems to have some pretty advanced medicines around. :)

[Quint ¤ ς ¤]

I say that in kenshi this is indeed not earth but some far away planet all denisens including some if not all wildlife are alien to this world the wrecks all over the place are crashed ships from different races and places who where forced to crash here from some unknown force eons ago which would explain the mix of advanced tecnologys present including the skeletons and maby even the robotic goliaths in obdiance

after the differnet races crashed here time goes on as it does unable to sustain their tecnological level the slowly decline in a more primitive people races become warriors religious zealots thieves bandits and mercenarys etc over time factions are formed break away reform etc i sort of hope they do something like this like this is some natural spacial anomaly planet like a cosmic prison that rips ships from different realitys and galaxys and drops them off here to crash land that could be an intresting way to introduce new races and maby even advanced weapons and tecnologys

[railgunlovebites]

As I play this looking for clues I did realize my very stupid mistake of thinking that it might be Earth since I never noticed that there were two moons before.

[Nadlug]

Originally posted by MajorFission:

As I play this looking for clues I did realize my very stupid mistake of thinking that it might be Earth since I never noticed that there were two moons before.

Also the developer said it isnt earth, among other things. :P

What we do know is that The world we inhabit on kenshi has more or less remain unchainged physicly technologically and politically for around 5000 years.

Preceding that there were large empires that collaped due reasons that are not fully understood. It is known that there was at least one major war. It most likely ended more due to the collapse itself and the resultinglack of any ability to wage the war itself.

As for the origins for the planets inhabitants beyond thoes 5000 years everything is unknown. Alot of people do speculate and have their own theories and ideas, you should definatly check out the other thread (which is more or less the exact same as this one)

[[BRO]Ingvar]

Originally posted by MajorFission:

Ah so that narrows down the possibilities. I'm very intertested in how the Holy Nation managed to survive 5,000 years. I mean thats over three times the Roman Empire, the longest lasting state in history. I'd like to learn more about the bureaucracy and history of the Holy Nation one day to see how they managed to maintain their state for so long. I guess it helps that they are actually pretty small geographically. Not owning nearly as much territory as the Romans thus making it easier to manage. But on the flip side they have to deal with the Shek tribes (and later the Shek Kingdom) and also the Southern Hives. Both of which are probably more dangerous than the human barbarians. Their highly xenophobic and sexist attitude doesnt seem like a smart way to maintain stability though.

Au contraire. To maintain a cohesive culture and to keep once way of life, a high deal of xenophobi is necessary. Sexism worked for millennia in real life, why would it not here. After 5000 ish years, its more or less the only way of life the vast majority know.

[Shidan]

Originally posted by Nadlug:

What we do know is that The world we inhabit on kenshi has more or less remain unchainged physicly technologically and politically for around 5000 years.

Actually the world has apparently changed a fair bit in those 5000 years. The Holy Nation is one of, if not the, oldest living civilization in the world.

Several civilizations have come and gone since. Such as the Second Empire, who existed a mere several hundred years ago. And may have had some of the robotics capabilities of the Ancients, considering the only known citizen has some Security Spiders. The world has seen significant physical changes as well, such as the Floodlands flooding thanks to something splitting a mountain range in half.

[ForgeTec]

it is a interesting background to play with the biggest issue is the lack of a common 100% known point - if I show 5 people the same thing and ask them to tell 5 people each I'll get 25 stories about the same thing - if we at least had one 100% accurate point to work off of we could balance everything around it

[Nadlug]

Originally posted by Shidan:

Originally posted by Nadlug:

What we do know is that The world we inhabit on kenshi has more or less remain unchainged physicly technologically and politically for around 5000 years.

Actually the world has apparently changed a fair bit in those 5000 years. The Holy Nation is one of, if not the, oldest living civilization in the world.

The holy Nation never really changed in that time, they had a new leader but that was pretty much it. Everything else came and went within relatively a blink on eye As in the case of the second empire. All that remains of the second empire is a very small amount of ruins nothing major so again, Everythign remained more or less unchanged.

As for the floodplains its hard to say. Supposedly there was a giant factory there, but theres barely any debris left behind. Yes there some large chunks of metal but nothing really on the scale af what you would expect. Keep in mind that yes its called the floodblains but at its deepest point its about 4-7 feet of water. so there isnt any factory under that water.

[Tommygun]

Originally posted by Nadlug:

Originally posted by Shidan:

Actually the world has apparently changed a fair bit in those 5000 years. The Holy Nation is one of, if not the, oldest living civilization in the world.

The holy Nation never really changed in that time, they had a new leader but that was pretty much it. Everything else came and went within relatively a blink on eye As in the case of the second empire. All that remains of the second empire is a very small amount of ruins nothing major so again, Everythign remained more or less unchanged.

As for the floodplains its hard to say. Supposedly there was a giant factory there, but theres barely any debris left behind. Yes there some large chunks of metal but nothing really on the scale af what you would expect. Keep in mind that yes its called the floodblains but at its deepest point its about 4-7 feet of water. so there isnt any factory under that water.

If the lake silted in, the factory could be under the current lake bed.

[Nadlug]

That is possible but the ground and water depth wouldent be so perfectly uniform. Course the devs probably didnt really think about it that deeply..

[FossyMossy]

I'm dumb. I thought it took place in far-future Japan.