World States are one of the more interesting elements of Kenshi. Players can manipulate the world of this post-apocalyptic adventure in many ways. With all of the different factions in the world, there’s a lot to do and battles to fight. As you explore and uncover more lore, you might notice the world shifting around you. Kenshi makes no bones about allowing the player to alter the world to their liking. World states are the primary way to do that. For the purposes of this guide, we’re going to focus on Shek Kingdom World States in Kenshi.
There are many major factions in the world, and the player can interact with many of them. But be careful, most of them aren’t very friendly. Completing missions for the faction, and turning in their bounties, are good ways to help them out. If you want to ruin them, that’s an option too. Killing the leader of a larger faction will not necessarily lead to the immediate dissolution of that faction.
The Shek Kingdom is on the decline. The passage of time in Kenshi has not been kind to these hardy warriors. Since they have been fighting a losing war against both the Holy Nation and United Cities, things are very dire. By chaining certain events together, you can actually weaken them further. They may also take new territory if their main enemies are defeated.
What are the major Shek Kingdom World States?
There are two classes of world triggers for the Shek Kingdom, minor and major. Most of them deal with cities changing hands, or certain NPCs dying. To make this easier to manage, we’ll break up each section for the NPCs that it affects. We will also include a note if any cities change hands.
Esata the Stone Golem
Esata the Stone Golem is the main leader of the kingdom at the start of the game. Killing or kidnapping her has the most notable impact on Shek Kingdom World States. You can capture Esata and turn her in to the Holy Nation for +80/+40 relations with the Holy Nation or United Cities, respectively. If she is killed or imprisoned, the world state triggers listed below will occur.
- Mukai the Mountain will replace Esata if she is killed and other World State triggers are not fulfilled. He will move the capital to Squin.
- Berserker bandits will take over the capital of Admag.
- Shek Kingdom Warrior spawns in Holy Nation territory will cease to occur. If Mukai The Mountain is alive, new lesser patrols will take their place.
- The Holy Nation will trigger more NPC spawns inside their territory, and may begin to more aggressively patrol inside former Shek territory.
Seto
The unique NPC companion and daughter of Esata can be killed or captured to trigger specific world states. If she is killed, more aggressive Shek NPC patrols will spawn in Okran’s Gulf and Okran’s Pride.
If the leaders of the Holy Nation remain alive, they will invade Shek territory with more patrols. Admag will also lose population if she is killed. One can actually abuse the World States by killing or imprisoning Seto, and then taking out the Holy Nation leaders. This will cause much stronger patrols for the Shek in various zones.
Other minor NPCs
- Tora the Fearless – This minor NPC leads a small band of outlaws. She can either be turned in for a minor bounty, or she can be upgraded. She will take over Greyflare village in the Swamps if both Big Gray and Big Grim are taken out of the picture.
- Flying Bull – will take over Squin for Kral’s Chosen if Mukai The Mountain is killed/imprisoned, after Esata has also been taken out. If Stack and Bad Teeth are owned by the Kindgom, dependent on other triggers, Flying Bull will also take these over.
- Mukai The Mountain – After taking out Esata, you can fully decivilize the Shek Kingdom by killing Mukai as well.
Also, certain locations can be taken over by the Shek Kingdom.
- If Holy Lord Phoenix and High Inquistor Seta are dead/imprisoned while Esata the Stone Golem is alive and free, Holy Mines will be taken over by Shek Kingdom. When they’re all three dead, then Kral’s Chosen will take it instead.
- If High Inquisitor Valtena is killed/imprisoned while Esata the Stone Golem is alive, the city of Okran’s Shield can fall to the Shek. The player must be allied first for this state to trigger. Also, killing Emperor Tengu will prevent this from happening.
- Squin can fall to any of the Bandit Shek factions, aside from Tora’s; provided the player takes out the leaders of the other factions. So for the Berserkers to take Squin, the player would need to get rid of Esata the Stone Golem, Mukai The Mountain and Flying Bull.
- Stack can fall to either the Shek Kingdom or to Kral’s Chosen. The players can kill or imprison High Inquisitor Seta to have the town fall to Esata. If Flying Bull is left alive but Esata has been taken out, then they will take it instead.
- Bad Teeth can be taken by either the Kingdom or Kral’s Chosen. If the player triggers the Shek Kingdom World States for Stack to change hands, the same trigger will apply to Bad Teeth. So if Stack is Kral’s Chosen territory, they will also take Bad Teeth.