The Great DesertReport
English：The Great Desert · Locations
Desert. United Cities. Main settlements: Heft, Sho-Battai, Stoat, Bark.
The Empire has pressed its capital, four major cities and three slave camps onto this sea of sand — the dunes grow no food, but the stone and the iron never run out, and neither does the labour. Getting knocked out here usually does not end in dying; it ends with you weighed and sold.
Terrain
The terrain is Desert.
Who holds it
- United Cities Controls
- Slave Traders Controls
- Traders Guild Present
- Rebel Farmers Hostile
- Manhunters Patrols
- Sand Ninjas Roaming
- United Heroes League Hostile
- Empire Peasants Present
Settlements
| Name | Type |
|---|---|
| Heft | City |
| Sho-Battai | City |
| Stoat | Town |
| Bark | Town |
| Port North | Camp |
| Port South | Camp |
| Stone Camp | Camp |
| Fort Mirage | Outpost |
| Old Village | Ruin |
Inhabitants
Races: Greenlander, Scorchlander, Hive, Shek
Wildlife
Notable units
| Name | Type | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emperor Tengu | Hostile boss | Heft, the throne room of Tengu's palace | The sitting emperor of the United Cities, holding the strongest Meitou katana in the game, permanently ringed by five Samurai Elites, eight Samurai Captains and five Jonin Elites; killing him breaks all four Great Desert cities at once. |
| Koin | Quest-related | Heft, Tengu's palace (at the emperor's side) | The United Cities' diplomat and spokesman, the only window you have for negotiating an alliance, and he holds diplomatic immunity; if you are already allied with the Anti-Slavers he simply calls the guards on you. |
| Lord Ohta | Hostile boss | Heft, the noble house | A Noble Circle member with five hooded Empire Noble Guards, all of them in masterwork armour with Edgewalker-made weapons — the fattest robbery target in Heft. He disappears the moment Tengu dies. |
| Lady Sanda | Hostile boss | Bark, the noble house | Bark's ruler in practice, guarded by as many as 5–8 Empire Noble Guards plus five hooded guards; drop her and samurai patrols across the Great Desert are cut in half. |
| Lord Nagata | Hostile boss | Sho-Battai, the noble house | Lord of Sho-Battai, and he runs Port North as well; he is the one who takes your property and your job in the Empire Citizen start. |
| Lord Inaba | Hostile boss | Stoat, the noble house (or walking the town with five hooded guards) | Author of The Blessing Of Slavery, responsible for conscription and for patrol scheduling around Bast — the Noble Circle member who can put the most bodies in the field. |
| Lady Kana | Hostile boss | Port North, the noble house | A Traders Guild noble and a major figure in the slave trade, carrying a Meitou wakizashi and the only Mask Type III in the game; her guard is four hooded noble guards plus four Samurai Heavies. |
| Slave Master Wada | Hostile boss | Port South, the noble house | Port South's slave master, guarded like every other Traders Guild noble (four hooded guards plus four Samurai Heavies); no bounty, but he carries luxury goods and hashish. |
| Slave Master Haga | Hostile boss | Stone Camp, the noble house | The Stone Camp's slave master; drop him and the whole quarry camp becomes a ruin, and Stoat goes into famine as well (you have to deal with Ren at the same time). |
| Lord Mirage | Hostile boss | Fort Mirage | Head of the United Heroes League, surrounded by close to ten City Heroes, with manned crossbow turrets on the fort roof; there is nothing valuable to loot here, and hitting the place turns the whole League hostile. |
| Red | Recruitable | Wandering the streets of Bark | One of the cheapest unique recruits in the game. If you are carrying more than 200 Cats she picks your pocket first; a non-aggressive line gets the money back and you can still take her on (Stealth 20 / Athletics 20). |
| Ells | Recruitable | Sho-Battai (usually near the outhouse) | A fat Shek wanted for stealing booze, who joins with three bottles of cactus rum in his pack — recruiting him actually turns a profit. Whatever the world state, he is in Sho-Battai. |
| Izumi | Recruitable | The bar or bakery of any United Cities town in the Great Desert (Bark, Heft, Sho-Battai, Stoat) | A young Empire-born scientist and physician, Field Medic 40 and Science 24 — the best-value medical hand you can buy early. |
| Jewel | Recruitable | The bar of any United Cities town in the Great Desert | A cook whose bar the Shek took off her, Cooking 50 — first pick for any squad planning a food line at a base. |
| Riddly | Recruitable | The bar of any United Cities town in the Great Desert | A lone adventurer who starts the conversation, combat and athletics around 8 but completely free; make sure you say you are going adventuring together — say you are building a base and she turns you down. |
History
- After the Red Rebellion was put down, poverty itself became a crime — the three slave camps out in this desert are that crackdown's dividend.
- The landless farmers rose out of Sinkuun to the west and turned the desert's caravan routes into a hunting ground, and ninety percent of the rebellion's size hangs on one man staying alive.
Getting there
Resupply inside the region: Heft, Sho-Battai, Stoat, Bark, Port North, Port South, Stone Camp, Fort Mirage.
The nearest city is Heng, just across the border.
Regions you can walk into directly from here:
| Region |
|---|
| Bast |
| Heng |
| Sinkuun |
| Skimsands |
| Spine Canyon |
NoteThis article is assembled from the region dossier; facts come from the Kenshi Fandom Wiki and in-game data, and the navigation section is computed from the 72-region adjacency graph.