SharkReport

English：Shark　·　Locations

The lawless heart of the Swamp — a trade hub run jointly by outlaws, smugglers and five gangs. Nominally it belongs to the Swampers; in practice the Hounds call the shots, and the fate of three gang bosses decides whether the town changes hands or ceases to exist.

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Most of the immigrants in this town are refugees from some kind of cruelty. Either they were enslaved, or they were exiled… and yet once they have their freedom, most of them use it to prey on another set of victims. Cruelty hatching cruelty, an endless loop. — Disheartened Skeleton

Shark sits in the middle of the Swamp, the only city in the wetlands and the trading centre of the entire region. It has no lord, no taxes and no clergy; its residents are criminals, smugglers, assassins, escaped slaves, and people who simply want to survive. It is also the node that holds influence over Rot — when the power structure in Shark collapses, Rot goes down with it.

Nominal owners, actual owners

The town's residents are registered as Swampers, a loose collection with no central organisation. But players quickly discover that the Hounds have their headquarters here and are the ones actually giving orders. Big Grim himself sits in a second swamp dome next to the casino, with forty-odd gang members guarding the door.

The second power is the Blackshifters — a band of Hive ronin who run the casino, lend money at interest and collect protection payments. Their boss, Big Darkbrow, hides in a concealed base in town. The Grayflayers and Stone Rats also work the streets, but their bases lie outside the town.

Treating the whole Swamp as a chessboard, Shark maintains a peculiar stalemate: nominally it is neutral ground open to anyone, all five gangs keep a presence there, and how much say each has is ranked by "who has their headquarters inside town" — the Hounds first, then the casino-running Blackshifters, and only below them the Grayflayers, the Twinblades and the Stone Rats; on top of that, the Swamp Ninjas and Red Sabres roam the region^{[V1 0:16:28]}.

The gangs are not in the same lines of business either. The Twinblades are a gang of Scorchlanders whose main trade is kidnap and ransom, but what really made their name is the second half: those who cannot pay are killed and their organs harvested for sale — and to keep the "stock" up, they extort doctors and surgeons as well^{[V2 0:11:55]}.

Three rooms in town

• The Dancing Skeleton — the most famous bar in the Swamp, built inside a swamp dome. The barman will brief the player on all five gangs. Notably, three or four Empire Mercenaries are stationed here keeping order: the peace of an anarchic town is being propped up by outside muscle. The Hounds' broker Ears is often found here, and the full set of Letters From A Swamper is sold on the premises.
• The Blackshifter casino — you can gamble against the dealer for 100 Cats a go, but the counter itself does not trade. Player dialogue states outright that they cheat.
• The Blackshifter hideout — where Big Darkbrow herself is, and where the Memo From Big Grim is kept: in near-illiterate spelling it announces that Hash and the stalker clan have been wiped out, that "big grim runs the swamps now", and that anyone who crosses him gets fed to the hounds.

Shops and purchasable buildings

Shark's commercial function is unique in the Swamp:

Swamper trade culture drops hemp, riceweed, gohan and sake to 75% while pushing bread, bloodrum, meatwraps and other imported foods up to 125% — an economy that grows its own drugs and imports its food. The town also holds 6 hemp fields and 3 riceweed fields.

Buildings for sale: Swamp House ×2 (16,000 Cats), Swamp Shack ×3 (4,000 Cats), Swamp Store ×1 (6,400 Cats).

The people

Shark's density of unique recruits is among the highest in the game:

• Skeleton Survivor — always appears in Shark, unaffected by world states, 2,500 Cats. He sums the town up in one line: the strong live by stepping on the weak.
• Disheartened Skeleton — a mercenary at around 6,000 Cats, not guaranteed to spawn.
• Green — a Hive Worker Drone and former smuggler specialising in crossbows and turrets; settle his bar tab of about 2,300 Cats and he joins.
• Miu — an escaped slave whose companions were eaten by Blood Spiders before they reached Shark; specialised in farming and labouring.
• Doctor Chung — the surgeon who harvests organs for the Twinblades, and does the job reluctantly. He has nothing but medical and science skills, and his only weapon is a meat cleaver^{[V3 0:02:49]}.
• Hamut, whose wife was taken by slavers, joins free of charge for characters on the anti-slavery side; Stubs Momuso is short-tempered and irritable. Several of these share a spawn pool with Mud Town, so only one will appear.

In addition, the Holy Nation's only permanent Pacifier is stationed in Shark — a theocracy that regards Skeletons as heretics, keeping its diplomatic repair window open in the most lawless city on the continent. The prerequisite is that the player has not allied with the Flotsam Ninjas and has not killed or imprisoned Holy Nation leadership.

Public order: always about to blow

The Wiki's advice is blunt: do not get too comfortable. The standing risks include Blood Spider incursions, drunk bar thugs, and assaults by the Red Sabres and Swamp Ninjas. Street brawls erupt over the smallest exchange of words, and once one person draws a blade the whole street gets pulled in.

The loosest screw here has a name: the Stone Rats, led by the Shek warrior Big Al, live off protection money from shopkeepers and spend their days picking fights in Shark's streets — the brawls they set off are the ones most likely to metastasise into town-wide violence^{[V2 0:11:28]}.

World states: three-step succession, then annihilation

Shark is one of the game's most clearly written examples of a transfer of power, with the priority order Big Grim → Big Darkbrow → Big Gray → destruction.

1. Big Grim killed or imprisoned while Big Darkbrow remains free → Shark is taken over by the Blackshifters.
2. Both Big Grim and Big Darkbrow down while Big Gray remains free → Shark is taken over by the Grayflayers.
3. All three bosses killed or imprisoned → Shark is destroyed. At the same time, Rot is occupied by Blood Spiders.

The traces of the handover hide in details: once the Hounds lose power, the Hound guard outside the travel shop is replaced by a second non-gang Swamper.

Trivia

• During the alpha there was another town called Shark, located at the northernmost point of the map and belonging to "The Holy Empire", characterised by an odd layout and unfinished walls. It was removed after 0.93.0 Beta and the name was moved to the Swamp, becoming today's Shark.
• The community generally reads the "city carved up by street gangs" premise as inspired by New Reno in Fallout 2 and Vegas in New Vegas. One commentator develops the analogy further: Shark has no formal government and its citizens do not really control their own city; what actually runs it is a consortium of criminal families — and drug production became the local industry precisely as a natural product of that power structure^{[V4 0:09:30]}.

See also

• The Swamp
• Hive
• Shinobi Thieves
• Economy and Trade
• Locations of Kenshi

Buildings and shops

1x Hound HQ (Grim, 44 ~ 47 Hounds) (2), 1x Blsh Casino Bar (1 Swamper Casino Dealer, 5 Blackshifters) (2), 1x Swamper Blackshifter (1 Big Darkbrow, 3 ~ 6 Blackshifters) (2), 1x The Dancing Skeleton (2), 1x Swamp Trade Goods (2), 1x Swamp Shop Mechanical (2), 1x Swamp Travel Shop (1), 1x Swamp Smithy (1), 1x Swamper Fish and Drugs (1), Blackshifter Casino Bar, Blackshifter Hideout, Shop, Shark Travel Shop, Shark Smithy, Shark Mechanical Shop, Fish and Drugs Seller, Hemp Farm (L) x6, Riceweed Farm (L) x3

Buildings for sale

Sells

Vendors here stock 92 items in total, grouped by category — every entry links.

Items

Advanced First Aid Kit, Armour Plating, Authentic Skeleton Repair Kit, Basic First Aid Kit, Book, Chainmail Sheets, Copper Alloy Plates, Copper, Electrical Components, Fabrics, Fuel, Gears, Generator Core, Hacksaw, Hashish, Hemp, Iron Plates, Leather, Luxury Goods, Medical Supplies, Riceweed, Robotics Components, Simple Rug, Skeleton Repair Kit, Sleeping Bag, Splint Kit, Spring Steel, Standard First Aid Kit, Steel Bars, Strawflour, Tools, Water Jug, Water

Light Armour

Bandana, Black Bandana, Cargopants (sneaky chain), Halfpants (padded), Halfpants (reinforced), Longcoat, Ninja Mask, Ninja Rags, Red Bandana, Sleeveless Longcoat, Swamp Ninja Mask, Swamp Ninja Rags, Tricorn Hat

Medium Armour

Armoured Face Plates, Armoured Hood, Iron Hat, Masked Helmet, Mercenary Leather Armour, Plate Jacket, Plated Drifter's Leather Pants, Plated Longboots, Police Helmet, Rusty Chainmail Tagelmust

Weapons

Desert Sabre, Guardless Katana, Holed Sabre, Horse Chopper, Mercenary Club, Ninja Blade, Ringed Sabre, Spiked Club, Staff

Shirts

Cloth Shirt, Leather Hive Vest, Leather Shirt, Leather Turtleneck, Leather Vest, Rusted Hive Shirt, Rusty Chain Shirt, Rusty Chainmail

Crossbows

Bolts Heavies, Bolts Regulars, Bolts Toothpicks, Junkbow, Ranger, Spring Bat, Tooth Pick

Backpacks

Bull Backpack, Garru Backpack, Scavenger's Basket, Trader's Wooden Backpack, Wooden Backpack

Nutrition

Dried Fish, Dried Meat, Rice Bowl, Thinfish

Heavy Armour

Tin Can

Legwear

Worn-out Shorts

Mercenaries

Mercenary Plate

Vendors and stock here

Compiled automatically from the wiki's vendor data: shops that can appear in this settlement and what they may carry. Actual stock varies with world state and randomisation.

Blackshifter Casino Bar

Dried Fish, Dried Meat, Rice Bowl, Thinfish, Water, Water Jug

Shark Big Shop

Armour Plating, Authentic Skeleton Repair Kit, Book, Chainmail Sheets, Copper, Copper Alloy Plates, Electrical Components, Fabrics, Fuel, Gears, Generator Core, Hacksaw, Iron Plates, Leather, Skeleton Repair Kit, Spring Steel, Steel Bars

Shark Smithy

Armour Plating, Armoured Face Plates, Armoured Hood, Bolts Heavies, Bolts Regulars, Bolts Toothpicks, Cargopants (sneaky chain), Desert Sabre, Guardless Katana, Holed Sabre, Horse Chopper, Iron Hat, Junkbow, Leather Hive Vest, Masked Helmet, Mercenary Club, Mercenary Leather Armour, Mercenary Plate, … (35 items in all at this shop)

Shark Travel Shop

Advanced First Aid Kit, Authentic Skeleton Repair Kit, Bandana, Basic First Aid Kit, Black Bandana, Bull Backpack, Cloth Shirt, Garru Backpack, Halfpants (padded), Halfpants (reinforced), Leather Shirt, Leather Turtleneck, Leather Vest, Longcoat, Ninja Mask, Ninja Rags, Red Bandana, Scavenger's Basket, … (30 items in all at this shop)

Swamp General Shop

Armour Plating, Authentic Skeleton Repair Kit, Basic First Aid Kit, Book, Chainmail Sheets, Copper, Copper Alloy Plates, Electrical Components, Fabrics, Fuel, Gears, Hacksaw, Hashish, Hemp, Iron Plates, Leather, Luxury Goods, Medical Supplies, … (25 items in all at this shop)

The Dancing Skeleton

Dried Fish, Dried Meat, Hashish, Rice Bowl, Thinfish

Video citations

1. The History of Kenshi | DocumentaryCivilizationEx
2. History of Kenshi: Minor Powers | DocumentaryCivilizationEx
3. Kenshi: Unique Companions | GreenlandersCivilizationEx
4. Kenshi Base Building - Hounds Hashish FarmHeroInHisHead