izigame.me

Axel was a former slave. Having managed to escape his fate through sheer good fortune, he vowed to free others from slavery. But that was no easy task when he struggled to even simply feed himself. He had no space for pride; he did what he had to to survive, to support and arm himself and, soon, his allies. He gathered those who were outsiders. Shamed warriors, exiled hivers, former bandits, and sought to build them a home. Through great hardship he built a camp, then a village, then a city. 'Freedom', a home to all, safe and fortified, with food, water and shelter aplenty, even amidst an arid wasteland.
For a while, he was proud and satisfied, but one day, he realised he had lost sight of what he had once set out to do. He had made a safe place for people like him, yes, but there were so many still in captivity. So he left his city in the hands of Logan, his first companion, and took off into the deserts. Under the veil of night, he snuck into one of the slaver camps. With half the guard distracted by attacking Skimmers, he stalked the other half, taking them out one at a time and locking them in their own cages. He freed the slaves and had intended to go after the slave master, but found her guards to be too wary and too powerful. When a wandering patrol passed through the camp as well, he was forced into retreat, but even in that defeat, he brought almost twenty men a newfound freedom. Six of them remained by his side, motivated by honour, vengeance, bravery, security or adventure. He looked over these gathered six - their bodies worn, their muscles weakened, their stomachs empty. He had been just like them once. There, he made a decision.
They would be his Chainbreakers.
He would stop building cities and start building armies. He took these six to the edge of the desert, finding refuge with the Tech Hunters and started to train them. They would strike out at bandits and slavers patrols and take their equipment. With little to no experience in combat, they struggled, but Axel always ensured they'd all return home safely, even if not always whole. When they gained in power, they set out to build a camp in the middle of the desert to strike out from. Now out on their own, however, they found themselves beset on all sides. Raids by the slavers that learned to hate them. Attacks organised by the Trader's Guild when they refused to pay for 'protection'. When they almost lost the outpost itself to Reavers, Axel had them retreat, to build a safe place on the edge again.
But even as his Chainbreakers started to build a new community, he realised that he was doing it again. He'd wanted to keep the people who trusted him safe, but that wasn't even what many of them wanted. He stopped them in the middle of their work and brought them back to the camp they had been building with a simple declaration.
They were going to war.
He left for Freedom, the safe place he had once made, to seek recruits for his new war. He returned with an army. The small camp became his second city, Liberation, a citadel built for war. Inspired by his newfound fire, his Chainbreakers pushed themselves. Brave Metaru sacrificed his own limbs, replacing them with steel, so he could better protect others. Vengeful Hew built a prison for their enemies and an arena for training - and to make them bleed. Honourable Harp built a home and a hospital, to keep their own safe. Once fearful Hengu took the animals under his wing, leading his pack into battle. Scheming Maggie saved the bandits that had once attacked them from starvation by trading their cell for one in the United Cities, letting the slavers fund their own downfall. And manic Dirt ensured that none could approach their citadel, setting traps and defences that annihilated almost anyone before they could breach the gates.
When the United City taxmen next came, they were faced with walls that were bristling with turrets and Axel waiting for them by the gate. There would be no more hiding, no more cowering. He would no longer appease them to stay safe, hoping that "one day" he would finally strike back. Nothing more would be given. Not one cent. Not one inch.
Until all were free, the desert sands would run red.
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This is the story I have written - and am still writing - in Kenshi. I didn't go in intending to do so and I don't normally do so, it just... Happened. Because while many games like to tout that you can 'do anything' and 'play it your way', Kenshi makes true on it. It will not be for everyone. It is best played by accepting loss, because you will see a lot of it, but the more hardship you face, the more you will grow. Your characters will be beaten and robbed, will have their limbs chewed off by wild animals, find themselves captured and enslaved and yet in Kenshi it is not just possible, but basically expected that you will recover from all of that.
The game is buggy and slow to load, many of the aesthetics aren't pretty (often deliberately, I think) and the balance in the game is all over the place. Yet I keep finding myself returning. Because there really is nothing like it.