The QueenReport
English：The Queen · Characters
The Queen of the Western Hive, seated on a throne inside a Hill Hut on an island ringed by acid, communicating only in screeches. There is not a single cat of bounty on her head, but when she dies the whole Western Hive becomes a Fogman hunting ground.
"EEEEEEEEEH!"
The Queen is the ruler of the Western Hive and one of only two Hive Queens in the game. Her throne is set in the "Hill Hut" on an island west of Vain.
Getting to her
The island is itself a barrier: the water around it is acidic, so human and Shek characters start losing health the moment they wade in, and there is no shop or anywhere at all to heal on the island. What greets the player on landing is packed patrols of Soldier Drones.
Once actually inside the Hill Hut, a group of Royal Soldier Drones gasp, come over and demand that the player leave. But if the player refuses, they do not turn hostile — they simply go on standing there. The Queen herself sits atop a strangely shaped throne and does nothing throughout but screech; there is no conversation to be had.
A half-mechanical body
The Hive Queen differs sharply from the rest of her race at the level of racial design. Her torso is joined to an artificial metal canister — the so-called "dispenser unit" — with a row of circular metal plates set along her spine, and six antennae growing from her head, where an ordinary Hiver has only one.
More important is how the game mechanics handle her: she is classed as a robot and bandages do not work on her. She nevertheless still needs to eat, her hunger bar simply being hidden; lock her in a player cage and fail to feed her and she will starve to death.
On the combat side, her Strength is 60–68, Toughness 35–45, weapon skills and melee attack and defence 35–45, Dodge and Martial Arts 30–40, Field Medic 42–54, with all values randomising by 5 points. Her health is only 50.
When she dies, Vain changes overnight
The world states triggered by the Queen being killed or kidnapped are among the widest-reaching in the entire game:
- Lost Hivers begin appearing in cities everywhere, talking about how much they miss the Queen.
- Every Hive Village and Distant Hive Village is taken over by Fogmen and becomes a Deadhive Overrun.
- Before long, a Hive Attack to avenge the Queen arrives at the player's base.
- Fogman Deathyards begin spawning in Dreg, Okran's Gulf and Vain.
- Hive Bandits and Lost Princes scatter across the Border Zone, Dreg, Flats Lagoon, Okran's Pride, Okran's Valley, Sinkuun, Skinner's Roam, the Stenn Desert, The Eye, the Great Desert and the Swamp.
- Farm Trader and Materials Trader events no longer occur.
- If the Queen of the South is still alive and free, Southern Hive patrols begin expanding into the Bonefields, the Border Zone, Flats Lagoon, Okran's Gulf, Okran's Pride, The Hook, the Swamp and Vain.
In other words, killing her is not "dealing with a boss"; it is erasing the entire Western Hive from the map and handing the vacated space to the Fogmen.
An enemy with no price on her head
One easily overlooked detail: the Western Hive is loathed by the Holy Nation, and yet Holy Lord Phoenix and the Inquisitors have issued no bounty of any kind on the Queen. This is decidedly odd, because the Holy Nation clearly knows she exists — Volume 6 of The Guiding Light mentions her.
Her stat panel is identical to that of the Queen of the South; in the game files the two are two copies of a single set-up.