Big AlReport
English：Big Al · Characters
The Shek leader of the Stone Rats, lowest-ranked and softest target among the Swamp's five gang bosses — the moment he goes down, Stone Rat Village changes hands.
Big Al is the leader of the Stone Rats, a Shek living in Stone Rat Village out in the Swamp. He is one of the five gang bosses of the Swamp, and the least boss-like of them.
A leader with no diplomatic status
In Kenshi's data structures, "Diplomatic Status" is what decides whether a character can be negotiated with, and whether they can speak for their faction in dealings with outsiders. Big Al does not have it — he commands an entire gang, and yet the player cannot negotiate anything with him whatsoever. There is exactly one way to deal with the Stone Rats, and it involves swinging first.
That is unusual among gang leaders of comparable rank, and it states plainly where the Stone Rats sit in the Swamp: they are not regarded as a party worth conducting diplomacy with.
Who actually gives the orders
The Stone Rats' day job is collecting protection money from the shopkeepers of Shark, and picking fights with passing travellers in the street. The local barkeep's assessment of them is not gentle; the gist is that they are a pack of thugs who swagger about town beating honest tradesmen out of their money.
But there is somebody above the Stone Rats. They do as the Hounds say without argument, and back off the instant they blunder onto Hounds ground — there is a line, spoken when Stone Rats break into a player outpost, that puts it bluntly: this is Hounds turf, and if we touch them Big Al will snap our necks. The whole gang is set to the "Dumb" personality, and the Hounds' own dialogue contains several bits that treat Stone Rat stupidity as a standing joke.
Combat strength
Big Al's numbers sit mid-table among the Swamp's gang leaders: Strength around 47–52, Toughness around 52–56, all six weapon skills and Melee Defence in the 43–47 band, Melee Attack 52–56. The real hole is that his Dodge is only 2–5 and his Martial Arts 2–6 — he does not evade at all, and takes every blow on the body.
His weapon is a Plank of Ancient manufacture, rolled with equal probability across three grades — Mid Grade Salvage, Old Refitted Blade and Refitted Blade — worth somewhere between 3,729 Cats and 5,165 Cats. For armour he wears Mercenary Leather Armour with a Rusty Chain Shirt, Samurai Clothpants and Samurai Boots: 95% of the time Standard grade, with only a 5% chance of rolling High.
For a squad that has already found its feet, he is the easiest target of the Swamp's five leaders.
After he goes down
Killing or carrying off Big Al rewrites the map of the Swamp outright:
- Stone Rat Village changes hands — depending on the other world states in play at the time, the village falls to either the Hounds or the Swamp Ninjas. If Big Grim is still in power, it is the Hounds who take it.
- The Stone Rats stop operating — their raids on player outposts, and the protection-racket shakedown events, both cease along with him.
Put another way, his value lies not in the bounty (he does not have one) but in shutting down an entire pipeline of harassment.
What happens if you hand him to the Hounds
If the player's faction is already allied with the Hounds, hauling Big Al to the Hounds' headquarters in Shark and handing him to Big Grim triggers a scene written for the occasion: Big Grim mocks him to his face and tells him to take it as a lesson; then she turns and warns the player not to waste her time bringing her any more gang bosses, because after all he has not actually done anything to them — not yet.