VainReport
English：Vain · Locations
The heartland of the Western Hive — red earth, red rain and a red acid river. The internal biome codename is "Artery", and the zone's own name is a pun on "vein": this land is bleeding, and what it bleeds is iron.
…oh good, Vain. I wouldn't buy a loaf of bread off a bug merchant if I were starving to death. Cheating bastards. …Cute cheating bastards. — Shryke
Vain occupies the west coast at the middle of the map and is the heartland of the Western Hive. Walk in from any direction and the colour of the world changes on you: everything around is dry yellow-grey wasteland, and only this place is red — rust-red soil, a deep red river, and even red rain[V1 0:01:15].
Red does not mean barren. Quite the opposite: Vain is red and fertile, the agricultural and breeding heart of the Western Hive. As for where the red comes from, the usual understanding points at minerals (iron) or algae, and has nothing whatsoever to do with blood[V2 0:09:33].
What is here
Vain has no large towns and spawns no camps.
- Hive Villages ×5 — the physical settlements of the Western Hive, each with a Hive trader
- Western Hive — the Queen's "Hill Hut", on an island off the coast of Vain
- Ancient locations: the Lost Library, the Post-Ancient Workshop, and the Tower of Fog (an island stronghold holding a Fog Prince and a large body of Fogmen)
- Nests: Beak Thing nests, up to 15
Environment values: water 100%, fertility 75%, aridity 50%, greenery 50%. Copper is plentiful and permanently 100% quality, while iron and stone are poor — to get all three at once, build on the outer edge where Vain meets the Stenn Desert.
Three separate kinds of red
To get this straight, the three phenomena have to be separated, because their causes are not the same:
| Phenomenon | Harmful? |
|---|---|
| Red soil | Harmless |
| Red river | Acidic — corrodes humans and Shek |
| Red rain | Harmless, purely cosmetic |
The wiki states it plainly: although the rain is red, it is not corrosive (or at least not enough to burn); what is corrosive is the water. This is also the most common misconception about the zone — plenty of players kit out in acid protection and wade in anyway.
Why Vain is red
This is a classic question in Kenshi lore circles. The game never answers it, but a piece of player research (HeroInHisHead's Why is Vain Red?) strings together an explanation from real earth science that fits the in-game geography remarkably well:
Step one: the iron comes from the north. North of Vain is Dreg; north of that are the Fog Islands, and at their northern tip lies Obedience — a vast pit with the bodies of the Behemoths at the bottom, along with the chemicals used to entomb them. That metal pit has been corroding in place for thousands of years and is treated as the in-game pollution source for the whole chain, with iron and chemical residue leaching steadily into the soil and travelling south with the groundwater[V1 0:06:10]. Vain sits directly downstream on that drainage path.
Step two: why the Fog Islands are blue-grey. Real soil science has a process called gleying: prolonged waterlogging exhausts the oxygen and creates a reducing environment, so iron cannot oxidise into red haematite and remains in its ferrous state, turning the soil blue-grey. The Fog Islands are fogbound year-round with permanently wet ground — the conditions match exactly. The same mechanism has been used to explain the Cannibal Plains and the Gut, the latter with iron concentrations so high that the plants have evolved to metabolise it, letting players harvest iron straight off the trees.
Step three: Vain is dry enough, so the iron rusts. The fog does not reach Vain. Water sits at 100% here, but the surface never reaches the permanently saturated state of the Fog Islands. The iron gets room to meet oxygen and can oxidise fully into haematite — the same mechanism, the author notes, that produces the red soils of Prince Edward Island in Canada and of Uluru in Australia[V1 0:05:37].
Step four: why the river burns. Where iron-bearing rock also contains minerals such as pyrite (iron sulphide), water percolating through reacts with oxygen and yields both dissolved iron and sulphuric acid. In the real world this is called acid mine drainage, and the water around abandoned mines is exactly this: red and acidic at once. Vain's river has both properties[V1 0:06:10].
Step five: why the rain is red (but not acidic). This step needs a separate explanation, because evaporation is a natural distillation: the iron and acid dissolved in the river cannot be carried up into the clouds. The red can only be suspended particulates. The author's answer lies to the south — the Stenn Desert never rains, its wind speeds are among the highest on the map, and magnified, its surface is not sand and grit at all but broken concrete and exposed rebar, the wreckage of an ancient megasociety. That rebar has been rusting for millennia into iron oxide dust, and prevailing winds carry the dust storms north to fall on Vain and stain the rain[V1 0:07:50]. Real-world parallels: Saharan dust drifting across the Atlantic to fall as red rain in the Caribbean, and Indian monsoon rain reddened by dust off the Thar Desert.
Conclusion: the author's own summary is that the name Vain is not merely a pun on "vein" but a fairly accurate description of an entire geological cycle — iron flowing out of the wound at Obedience, passing through the wet tissue of the Fog Islands, and oxidising to blood colour in Vain[V1 0:09:29]. This land really is bleeding; it simply bleeds iron.
Wildlife
Vain's biodiversity is extremely high, and that is exactly what makes it dangerous.
- Beak Things — the zone's signature threat. Their speed skill has a minimum and maximum of 170 alike, meaning athletics has no effect whatsoever on their movement speed; how fast one runs is determined purely by its age. So "train running and you can outrun them" is false. The correct answers are to avoid being spotted, or to use stealth to break line of sight again.
- Gorillos — usually solitary, with high stats but clumsy; they can be kited with crossbows or simply outrun.
- Bonedogs, garru and wild bulls also appear in small numbers.
The wiki's trivia section adds two more observations: Hive spawn weighting in this zone is roughly ten times that of Beak Things, and Vain is one of only two zones on the map where Beak Thing spawns are not linked to neighbouring zones (the other being the Crater), meaning the local population is isolated and no migration takes place.
Practical notes
- The trading rules are convoluted. Hive Village traders will not do business with the "Hiveless", and every Hive character in the player's squad counts as Hiveless. To buy and sell in a Hive Village you need a non-Hive character to front the deal — and if a Hive squadmate is spotted at all, the trader refuses to deal with the entire squad. Roaming Hive caravan traders are exempt from this.
- Village guards will protect you. Duck into a Hive Village while being chased by a Beak Thing or a Gorillo and the guards will step in; the Hive caravans out on the road will not, unless you drag the beast into them.
- Money: copper is permanently 100% quality, making this one of the steadiest mining incomes in the game. Beak Things, Gorillos and garru drop large quantities of hides and raw meat, which can be sold to the Hive traders on the spot.
- The Map of Vain reveals every location in the zone at once.
World state
If the Western Hive Queen dies, Vain begins spawning Fog Deathyard (Overrun) groups at a weighting as high as 1000 — in other words, the moment the Queen falls, this land is rapidly taken over by the Fogmen. It is the most direct mechanical evidence in the game for the relationship between the Hive and their Queen, and it makes Vain the easiest place for a player to watch a civilisation collapse by their own hand.
Building a base here
The channel's verdict: Recommended
- Copper Copper is one of Vain's strengths: the orange nodes are everywhere, very easy to spot, and of good quality; Paul Rogers reckons mining copper is a viable early-game income.[V3 0:02:51]
- Green Green sits at 50%; Paul Rogers admits 50 arid / 50 green does not match some other regions, but in actual play it still counts as a big plus for Vain.[V3 0:02:17]
- Green Green sits at 50%; Paul Rogers admits 50 arid / 50 green does not match some other regions, but in actual play it still counts as a big plus for Vain.[V3 0:02:17]
- Copper Copper is one of Vain's strengths: the orange nodes are everywhere, very easy to spot, and of good quality; Paul Rogers reckons mining copper is a viable early-game income.[V3 0:02:51]
- Copper Copper is one of Vain's strengths: the orange nodes are everywhere, very easy to spot, and of good quality; Paul Rogers reckons mining copper is a viable early-game income.[V3 0:02:51]
- Raids Holy Nation Outlaws pass through Vain. They are not strong, and by the time you see them they have usually already been knocked down by a Beak Thing or a Gorillo, but squads hostile to the Holy Nation should still keep an eye out.[V3 0:03:27]
- Iron The iron shortage can be worked around: buy Iron Plates straight from the Hive Village traders, and once you have the ore drill tech, Paul Rogers reckons Vain's iron problem stops mattering entirely.[V3 0:07:51]
- Raids Beak Things are the biggest price of settling here. Vain has no nest-less Beak Thing spawns, so seeing a Beak Thing means there is certainly a nest nearby.[V3 0:05:40]
- Raids The other hostile wildlife you will run into are Gorillos and Bonedogs; neutral but dangerous are Wild Bulls, which come in herds and hit very hard, and Garru, which are very fast.[V3 0:04:34]
- Raids Holy Nation Outlaws pass through Vain. They are not strong, and by the time you see them they have usually already been knocked down by a Beak Thing or a Gorillo, but squads hostile to the Holy Nation should still keep an eye out.[V3 0:03:27]
- Hazards The rain in the region looks like acid rain but does no harm to characters; what is actually acidic is the river water, which burns everyone except Skeletons and Hive characters.[V3 0:01:43]
- Distance to supplies You do not have to leave the region to resupply: Hive Village traders sell Iron Plates and Building Materials, and will also buy your base's output.[V3 0:06:13]
- Defensible terrain The terrain is steep ridges around the region's edges, sloping gradually down toward the river in the middle; trees and bushes crowd the riverbanks and block your line of sight, and Paul Rogers warns you to watch for ambushes while moving.[V3 0:01:08]
- Distance to supplies You do not have to leave the region to resupply: Hive Village traders sell Iron Plates and Building Materials, and will also buy your base's output.[V3 0:06:13]
- Distance to supplies The Hive Villages also offer cheap prosthetic limbs, books, food and medical supplies, and even Skeleton Repair Beds; Paul Rogers likens them to Tech Hunter waystations and says living in Vain is like being close to several waystations at once.[V3 0:06:45]
- Other The local wildlife drops a great deal of Animal Skin, which sells well on its own and can also be turned into Leather and then into leather armour — Paul Rogers says this is a money-maker he uses in every playthrough.[V3 0:07:18]
- Other As for where exactly to settle: pick the coast if you want to stay away from other factions, or along the river. Paul Rogers says he has two personal favourite spots, but he only lights them up on the map in the video and never says the place names out loud.[V3 0:08:25]
See also
Video citations
- Why is Vain Red? - The Science of KenshiHeroInHisHead
- The Origins of the Preacher CultHeroInHisHead
- Why You Should Settle Vain | Kenshi Location GuidePaul Rogers Gaming