The Old Empire are the remains of the ancient civilization that once controlled the entire world. Their written language is now unrecognizable to modern eyes. What is left of their civilization are the scattered Lost Libraries and Armories around the world, where the player may find Ancient Science books, AI cores, robotic spiders and skeletons.
How this mighty empire was destroyed is unknown, but it is speculated that it was their own weapon systems or possibly Skeletons that destroyed them.
A successor empire simply known as the "Second Empire" sprang from the Old Empire's ashes, notably being much smaller in scale and controlled by Skeletons.
Trivia[]
- While this page refers to the "Old Empire" exclusively as the "First Empire", There are several locations in Kenshi that have "Old Empire" in their name (i.e Old Empire Watchtower, Old Empire Supply Outpost) but have Second Empire as their faction label instead of The Old Empire (which is a cut-content faction). They could be named eponymously so because both civilizations are considered to be "Old" by modern standards, be it the "First Empire" or the "Second Empire".