Crab WorshipReport
English：Crab Worship · World & History
The Scorchlander bandits of the far south-east keep crabs as gods. This is not a metaphor — they have a full feeding doctrine, a tournament that certifies who is fit to own a crab, and a habit of marching on your gate in the name of "the balance of the crab lands".
A traveller? Don't get many victims here in the pits... — a Crab Raider, immediately before attacking
Kenshi has no formal scripture for a "crab religion", but one walk along the south-eastern coast makes the point: the very first line describing the Crab Raiders calls them a bandit faction of Scorchlanders who worship Crabs. Their leader is the Crab Queen, their capital is Crab Town, their best armour is made of shell, and the way they decide whether an outsider deserves to live is by holding a crab contest.
What is worshipped
The crabs themselves.
The game lists "Crabs" as a separate animal faction, and the Crab Raiders' relation towards it is a full 100 — a rare case of a human faction and a beast faction being outright allies. Wild crabs do not attack them and they do not hunt crabs; crabs are kept, taken to war, and treated as family.
The relationship is even written into the equipment rules: wear dyed Crab Raider faction armour and every wild crab in the world treats you as one of their own, which the game handles as a Disguise.
Who believes
The congregation is an entire faction in the south-eastern pits:
| Capital | Crab Town, in The Pits East |
|---|---|
| Villages | Crab Village, in Greenbeach and Stobe's Garden |
| Patrol range | Greenbeach, Stobe's Garden, The Crags, The Pits, The Pits East |
| Highest authority | The Crab Queen, in the Palace of the Crab Queen |
They are hostile to their neighbours the Reavers, the Skeleton Bandits and the United Cities alike, and thanks to strong Crab Armour, high combat stats and a pack of pet crabs they win most of the long-running pit-gang skirmishes.
Doctrine: the rules of crab care
The actual content of the faith is delivered by the Crab Man to anyone buying a crab. It is the game's most detailed — and most absurd — piece of religious instruction:
Now the crabs, see, they like fish, that's their favourite food. Otherwise they'll eat funghi, algae... you know, standard stuff. But you gotta make sure they eat five meals a day. And be warned, never feed them after sundown! NEVER!... It gives them indigestion. You've also gotta give them a ninety minute salt bath once a month so that they can molt no trouble. Now, they don't sleep well and they need affection, so make sure you sing 'em a song every night before bed, you gotta gurgle from the back of your throat, stroke his back legs too, he'll like that...
Note that buying a crab does not require conversion: even at neutral standing you can buy one straight from a Crab Man. What the faith actually gates is Crab Armour, which is sold to allies only.
The Crab Tournament: an entrance exam
The Crab Raiders' way of deciding whether an outsider may "own crabs" is to send an armed party to your base and declare a tournament.
It fires when a Crab Raider spots one of your characters inside your own outpost while your reputation with them is below 50, with the Crab Queen still in power.
WHAT IS THIS!?!? An invasion! A rival colony come to do battle, crab against crab! So be it! We shall test each others crab training skills! It's a crab toouuurrrrnameeeennntttt!!!
| Round | Force | Champion crab |
|---|---|---|
| Crab Tournament | 8–12 raiders, 10 crabs | Titus |
| Quarter Finals | 12–15 raiders, 10 crabs | Barnabus |
| Semi Finals | 14–21 raiders, 15 crabs | Mr Gigantus |
| Final | 20–25 raiders, 15 crabs | The Crabinator |
| Crab Champion | 8–10 raiders, 10 crabs, non-hostile | announces the result and allies you |
Losing a round does not actually end anything — it triggers a Remedial Round and the process continues. In other words the exam cannot fail you, it can only re-sit you, over and over, until you win the final.
The best joke in it: you do not need to own a crab, or any animal at all. They will refer to your non-existent entrant as the "Mystery Crab" from beginning to end.
"You crabless"
If you merely build a base near Crab Raider land — within seven kilometres — what you get is not a tournament but a punitive expedition.
Don't much like you crabless puttin' up your walls here... You've upset the balance of the crab lands. And that upsets my crabs. Sic' em, crabs!
The Crabbed Ones event has up to a 10% daily chance, scaling down with distance to zero at 7,000 metres. One or two squads arrive, each of 8–14 raiders plus 4–10 crabs; they attack gates and characters and try to steal food out of your storage.
Did they once worship something else?
Crab Raider buildings can spawn Holy Nation memorabilia, such as Small Emperor Statues. The wiki takes this as a hint that they may also follow some form of the Okranite faith.
That thread explains something else too: why so few Scorchlanders live inside the Holy Nation. They may be descended from exiles cast out for their disdain of authority — and may have held this coast for longer than neighbours such as the Reavers or the Skeleton Bandits.
What it means for the player
- Joining is easy, but one wrong line closes the door forever. Tell the Crab Queen you think well of crabs and you gain 75 relations and an alliance. Say crabs are dumb, or that you enjoy eating them, and the conversation route is gone — leaving only the tournament (+200).
- Allying with the Skeleton Bandits or the Skin Bandits costs you 75 relations here. The three pit gangs are mutually exclusive.
- Winning the tournament is the only way in that offends nobody, and the only way to be allied with the Crab Raiders and one rival pit gang at once (join the rival first, then start the tournament). It is also notoriously buggy in vanilla.
- Once allied you can take a squad of crab riders along as bodyguards, exactly like mercenaries.
- Allying does not hurt your standing with the United Cities, despite their hostility towards the Raiders.
Related entries
Crab Raiders, Crab Queen, Crab, Scorchlander, Reavers, Skin Bandits