Quen

"The lesson will be taught in due time, Aloy. Until then, we wait." This article contains heavy spoilers. Read ahead with caution.

Quen
Government	Empire
Territory	The Great Delta

The Quen are a tribe in Horizon Forbidden West. Hailing from a land across the Pacific Ocean, the Quen are an advanced and powerful empire formed around the discovery of the Focus and the recovery of ancient knowledge.

History

Early history

It can be assumed (albeit with a great deal of confidence) that the Quen’s forebears came from a different Cradle than ELEUTHIA-9, with ELEUTHIA-1 being the most likely candidate. Whatever the case, the Quen recovered Focuses in the ruins of their homeland early in their history, granting them substantial knowledge of the ancient past.

Approximately thirteen generations have passed since the first discovery of the Focuses, which came to be entrusted to a select group named "Diviners". The most important Old Ones were deified by the Quen as "Ancestors", and the retrieval of ancient knowledge (which the Quen dubbed "the Legacy"). In that time, the Quen grew to be a massive empire and regional power.

The Eastern Expedition

"This expedition is the most important undertaking of our generation. A quest for knowledge across the gaping sea with nothing less than the fate of our tribe at stake."

―Bohai

As a result of the biosphere’s degradation, the Quen homeland became subject to catastrophic weather, bringing about crop failure, flooding, and drought. At the urging of a relative, the Emperor ordered the launch of an expedition to the ruins of San Francisco, in hopes that data would be found that could liberate the tribe from their crucible. The Eastern Expedition, which took at least seven years to prepare for, was headed by the Emperor’s relative, who was given the title of “Ceo”.

However, the journey proved more perilous than anticipated. Sickness and starvation claimed dozens, and a storm split the expedition in two near the coast. Only half of the fleet reached the intended destination, with the rest becoming shipwrecked in the treacherous Burning Shores further south.

Landing in the Isle of Spires

The expedition was able to uncover the location of Thebes, the final resting ground of the revered Ancestor Ted Faro, and The Greenhouse, an FAS biotech facility along the Pacific coast, but the struggles drove the Ceo to madness, turning his fascination with Ted Faro into deluded obsession.

A breakthrough came at the Greenhouse, where a Quen scouting team chanced upon Aloy, a clone of the Ancestor Elisabet Sobeck. While the soldiers at the site mistook her for a "barbarian" and made the fatal mistake of attacking her, Alva, the Diviner on-site, realized her value, and the two worked together to access the ruin's data core, providing the Quen with thousands of agricultural archives. When reinforcements arrived, the Diviner talked them down, convincing them that Aloy was Elisabet Sobeck reborn and allowing her to leave before the rest of the expedition could take her.

Soon after, however, Aloy journeyed to Legacy's Landfall, the expedition's main camp, in search of Thebes. With her help, the Quen were finally able to enter Thebes. However, it did not contain the answers they sought, and the Ceo's madness would trigger the destruction of Thebes. Alva and Aloy were the only two in the Ceo's party to escape: ironically, the Ceo was crushed by a statue of Faro within the crumbling bunker.

With the Ceo's death, Overseer Bohai took de facto command of the Eastern Expedition and declared Aloy welcome in Landfall. Following the defeat of Far Zenith, Bohai began the voyage home to petition the Emperor for aid against Nemesis, while Alva and a few Quen remained at Landfall.

Landing in the Burning Shores

While the one half of the Eastern Expedition made it to the Isle of Spires, the other half under Admiral Gerrit ended up shipwrecked in the Burning Shores. After a year of being marooned, several scouting parties went missing. Unbeknownst to the Quen, a surviving member of Far Zenith, Walter Londra, presenting himself a Living Ancestor and sole survivor of the Time of Ashes, recruited them into a cult. Taking advantage of the Quen's beliefs, Londra promised to take them to start a colony on another planet to escape a dying Earth, this divine plan was named the Ascension. These devotees would stay in Londra's bunker, Heaven's Rest, where they would worship him. Little did his followers know that he only planned to take a select few to form his "retinue" and to clone genetic material extracted from the Quen, after which he would've brainwashed them into his service.

Fortuitously, Aloy traveled to the Burning Shores in search of a Londra, and allied with Quen marine Seyka, who broke tribal law by taking a Diviner's Focus. Together, they exposed Londra's duplicity to his followers. Following Londra's demise, Aloy helped Seyka get in contact with Alva to help coordinate reuniting their fleets.

Society and culture

The Quen are an advanced and powerful empire, with much of their society and culture shaped by the knowledge recovered from the ancient past. They view themselves as having been "chosen", having been entrusted by the Old Ones with the power of the Focus and with it, the ability to access the Legacy. Of the tribes that have yet been explored, the Quen are by far the most technologically advanced.

Government and law

The Quen appear to have a loose caste system. The tribe is headed by an Emperor, and “Imperials” presumably serve as nobles. Beneath them are commoners, with peasants being the lowest rank. By all indications, Quen society is authoritarian: publicly available information is extensively monitored and controlled by the government, especially regarding the Legacy. Any disobedience or malcontentment is to be reported to enforcing Compliance Officers. Family members or neighbors are encouraged to report, with the perpetrator being taken away and ruthlessly interrogated. The Quen are also known to practice kin punishment, an act of collective punishment (usually execution) for the families of individuals found guilty of certain crimes, in addition to the culprit themselves.

Because only Diviners are allowed to use Focuses, it is considered a capital crime for anyone else to use or steal one from a Diviner.

Despite these authoritarian tendencies, social ranks appear to be moderately flexible. It is possible for Quen to obtain higher status than they were born with (as evidenced by Alva), and occupations are not strictly tied to class. Same-sex marriage is also acceptable within the tribe, such as Kristia who married her wife Meandra.

The Legacy

Main article: The Legacy

"It is the duty of the Quen to seek out the Legacy and defend it from the ignorant and envious."

―Alva

Quen society is tied firmly to the Legacy, the body of recovered ancient knowledge. The Legacy is considered the ultimate truth, and the most important Old Ones are deified by the Quen as "Ancestors".

Foreign relations

"...back home, other tribes only mean us harm. And we were told the same was true here."

―Alva

The Quen are nationalist and isolationist, viewing other tribes as ignorant “barbarians” envious of their knowledge. This is informed at least in part by hostility from neighboring tribes.

Quen relations with the observed tribes in the world are effectively nonexistent, although their default attitude of suspicion and aggression carries over to them.

Locations

The Quen homeland, known as “the Great Delta”, is located across the Pacific Ocean. Little can be used to pinpoint the exact location of their homeland, as there are several river deltas in Asia that the Great Delta could refer to.

The settlements listed below are part of the Eastern Expedition, and are presumably nothing more than temporary encampments.

• Legacy's Landfall
• The Digsite
• Fleet's End

Members

Alanda Alva Areus Artor Atrud Aunia Bohai Borge Brenik Cai Ceo Elika Emperor Enki Fedder Federa Gerrit Jomar Harriem Helayna Jeel Kari Kelva Khita Kina Kiral Kristia Lan Laures

Leena Malva Meandra Nikeri Nirik Oris Otosu Peera Pirik Rheng Rokomo Seyka Sonkai Sunore Theoa Ulrey Vai Valea Veter Zeth

NPC archetypes

• Ceo's Bodyguard
• Devotee Champion
• Devotee Guard
• Devotee Lieutenant
• Devotee Marine
• Devotee Ranger
• Former Devotee
• Quen Devotee
• Quen Forager
• Quen Guard
• Quen Imperial Guard
• Quen Manager
• Quen Marine
• Quen Officer
• Quen Prisoner
• Quen Sailor
• Quen Soldier
• Quen Supervisor

Battle stats

All hostile Quen encounters in the base game are Tier 2, while they are Tier 4 in Burning Shores.

• Quen/Devotee Marine
• Quen Guard/Devotee Ranger
• Quen Imperial/Devotee Guard
• Devotee Lieutenant
• Devotee Champion

Standard Soldier-archetype for the Quen using bows, melee weapons, and fuse bombs.

Stats

Level	HP	Armor HP/Tear	Helmet HP/Tear	Additional Info
25	175/200	80/80	170/85	Equipped with up to 13 armor pieces. Vulnerable to Fire and especially Plasma.
45	325	220/220	450/225
50	350

Attacks

Attack Type	Damage	Trigger Range	Description
Short range slash combo	56/66/99 Melee (Tier 2)	0m - 4.5m	Short range 3-hit combo. Variant when running (from 5.5m).
	108/126/189 Melee (Tier 4)
Medium range slash combo	56/66/99 Melee (Tier 2)	3.5m - 6m	Medium range 3-hit combo.
	108/126/189 Melee (Tier 4)
Jump Strike combo	99/66/99 Melee (Tier 2)	5.5m - 8m	A long range 3-hit combo. Starts with a slow but powerful jumping strike with two variants.
	189/126/189 Melee (Tier 4)
Power Slash combo	99 Melee each (Tier 2)	5m - 8m	A powerful long range 3-hit combo.
	189 Melee each (Tier 4)
Push Back	56 Melee (Tier 2)	0m - 3.5m	Pushes back opponent immediately after blocking their attack, exposing them to a counter-attack.
	108 Melee (Tier 4)
Counter-attack	66 Melee (Tier 2)	0m - 4.5m	Can be used after a push back.
	126 Melee (Tier 4)
Backward slash combo	66/66/99 Melee (Tier 2)	0m - 4m	Turns around with a horizontal slash and may followup with a combo.
	126/126/189 Melee (Tier 4)
Grab Attack	197 Melee (Tier 2)	0m - 4.5m
	380 Melee (Tier 4)
Direct Shot	66 Ranged (Tier 2)	17m - 26m
	126 Ranged (Tier 4)
Close Shot	66 Ranged (Tier 2)	0m - 17m	Faster than the Direct and Volley Shot.
	126 Ranged (Tier 4)
Volley Shot	79 Ranged (Tier 2)	25m - 100m	Fires in a high volley.
	161 Ranged (Tier 4)
Fuse Bomb	263 Explosive (Tier 2)	10m - 60m	Throws a fuse bomb that explodes on impact. Mainly used if target is unreachable with other weapons.
	505 Explosive (Tier 4)

The Archer-archetype of the Quen, preferring to stay back and attack from range.

Stats

Level	HP	Armor HP/Tear	Helmet HP/Tear	Additional Info
25	193/220	80/80	170/85	Equipped with up to 13 armor pieces. Vulnerable to Purgewater and especially Plasma.
45	358	220/220	450/225
50	385

Attacks

Attack Type	Damage	Trigger Range	Description
Emergency Dagger Swipe	99 Melee (Tier 2) 189 Melee (Tier 4) 100 Acid buildup	0m - 4.5m	Breaks out of stagger and attacks target with dagger. Triggers when staggered repeatedly by melee attacks.
Grab Attack	197 Ranged (Tier 2)	0m - 4.5m	Used to create distance.
	380 Ranged (Tier 4)
Direct Shot	99 Ranged (Tier 2)	18m - 100m
	189 Ranged (Tier 4)
Triple Volley Shot	99 Ranged (Tier 2)	15m - 70m	Shoots a burst of 3 arrows in a high volley.
	189 Ranged (Tier 4)
Elemental Shot	58 Ranged 73 Elemental Damage 59 Elemental buildup (Tier 2)	15m - 70m	Shoots an elemental arrow at a high volley. Leaves an elemental area of effect on the ground.
	105 Ranged 147 Elemental Damage 71 Elemental buildup (Tier 4)
Ducking Shot	99 Ranged (Tier 2)	0m - 100m	Ducks in place while firing.
	189 Ranged (Tier 4)
Side-Dodge Shot	99 Ranged (Tier 2)	0m - 100m	Dodges to the left or right while firing.
	189 Ranged (Tier 4)
Static Burst Shots	66 Ranged (Tier 2)	12m - 20m	Shoots three consecutive arrows, with a short delay before the third.
	123 Ranged (Tier 4)
Aggressive Burst Shot	99 Ranged (Tier 2)	14m - 25m	Jumps forward and fires a wide burst of five arrows. Will always stagger Aloy.
	189 Ranged (Tier 4)
Defensive Burst Shot	66 Ranged (Tier 2)	0m - 20m	Shoots an arrow, then dodges backward and fires two more.
	123 Ranged (Tier 4)
Evasive Burst Shot	66 Ranged (Tier 2)	12m - 20m	Shoots three consecutive arrows while moving sideways.
	123 Ranged (Tier 4)
Spin-Back Shot	99 Ranged (Tier 2)	0m - 20m	Moves back with a spin and shoots an arrow.
	189 Ranged (Tier 4)
180 Shot	99 Ranged (Tier 2)	0.5m - 10m	Turns around and shoots an arrow behind them.
	189 Ranged (Tier 4)

Heavy ranged weapon users. All Devotee Guards are encountered wielding Deathbringer Guns.

Stats

Level	HP	Armor HP/Tear	Helmet HP/Tear	Additional Info
25	245/280	245/245	490/245	Vulnerable to Plasma and especially Frost. Virtually immune to Purgewater. Enters a rage state that lasts for 25 seconds at 50% HP or below, increasing damage resistance and damage dealt.
45	455	665/665	1330/665
50	490

Attacks

Attack Type	Damage	Trigger Range	Description
Deathbringer Gun	19 Ranged per bullet (Tier 2)	3m - 11.5m	Aims directly at target and shoots with moderate bullet spread.
		11.5m - 70m	Shoots from the right or left of target and progressively catches up.
		5m - 30m	Sprays bullets from right to left to cover a large area.
	37 Ranged per bullet (Tier 4)
Firespitter	65 Fire per second 117 Fire buildup	2m - 34m	Shoots from the right or left of target and progressively catches up.
		24m - 70m	Single long range elemental grenade.
Plasma Bomb Launcher	65 Plasma 117 Plasma buildup	2m - 24m	Shoots a single grenade.
		2m - 24m	Shoots three grenades consecutively.
		3.5m - 50m	Three grenades fired in one shot.
Weapon Bash	56 Melee (Tier 2) 108 Melee (Tier 4)	0m - 3.5m
180 Weapon Bash	56 Melee (Tier 2) 108 Melee (Tier 4)	0m - 3.5m
Grab Attack	197 Melee (Tier 2) 379 Melee (Tier 4)	0m - 4.5m

Heavily armored melee users that use shock hammers in combat.

Stats

Level	HP	Armor HP/Tear	Helmet HP/Tear	Additional Info
45	488	665/665	1330/665	Vulnerable to Plasma and especially Frost. Resistant to Shock and virtually immune to Purgewater. Enters a rage state that lasts for 25 seconds at 50% HP or below, increasing damage resistance and damage dealt. Each melee strike inflicts 40 Shock damage and 10-15 Shock buildup
50	525

Attacks

Attack Type	Damage	Trigger Range	Description
Hammer Swing Combo	111/111/176 Melee	0m - 4.5m	3-hit combo
Hammer Swing Combo (Enraged)	111/111/176/11/176/176 Melee	0m - 4.5m	When enraged, this combo has 6 hits.
Ground Strike Combo	176 Melee + 40 Shock and 80 Shock buildup 111/176 Melee	3m - 5.8m	3-hit combo that starts with a ground strike
Ground Strike Combo (Enraged)	176 Melee + 40 Shock and 80 Shock buildup 111/176/176 Melee	3m - 5.8m	Used when enraged, adds an additional spinning attack to the end of the combo.
Hammer Spin	111/176/212 Melee + 40 Shock and 80 Shock buildup	0.5m - 6.5m	Uses hammer propulsion to spin while moving forwards, ending with a ground strike that creates a Shock area-of-effect.
180 Hammer Spin	111/212 Melee + 40 Shock and 80 Shock buildup	0m - 3.5m	Swings hammer around to hit target behind them. Can continue with a ground strike that creates a Shock area-of-effect.
Kick Combo	111/111/176 Melee	0m - 3.5m	3-hit combo starting with a kick and following up with hammer strikes.
Kick Combo (Enraged)	111/111/176/176 Melee	0m - 3.5m	When enraged, additional spinning attack occurs at end of combo.
Charge Combo	212/212 Melee + 40 Shock and 80 Shock buildup	5.5m - 8.5m	Runs towards target and swings upwards, then follows up with a ground strike that creates a Shock area-of-effect.
Grab Attack	379 Melee	0m - 4.5m
Rock Throw	505 Ranged	15m - 70m	Only used if target is unreachable or keeps running away.

Fully armored elite soldiers equipped with longswords and an energy shield that blocks melee attacks and reduces damage from incoming projectiles.

Stats

Level	HP	Armor HP/Tear	Helmet HP/Tear	Shield HP	Additional Info
45	423	445/445	945/445	390	Vulnerable to Shock and especially Plasma.
50	455

Attacks

Attack Type	Damage	Trigger Range	Description
Short Range Slash Combo	126/126/189/378 Melee	0m - 4.5m	Short range 4-attack combo.
Medium Range Slash Combo	126/126/189/378 Melee	3m - 5.5m	4-hit combo. Variant from running.
Shield Bash Combo	189/126/252 Melee	5.5m - 9.5m	Runs towards target and shield bashes followed with a sword double hit.
Leap Strike	303 Melee	8m - 13.5m	Leaps towards target and performs a powerful spinning strike upon landing.
Parry	126 Melee	0m - 3.5m	Parries opponent's attack, exposing them to a counterattack.
Counter-Attack	252 Melee	0m - 3m	A powerful vertical attack that can be used after a parry.
Backwards Bash & Slash Combo	189/126/126/126/252 Melee	0m - 3.5m	Turns around with a shield bash and can continue with a combo.
Grab Attack	380 Melee	0m - 4.5m
Explosive Grenade	505 Explosive	10m - 70m	Throws a grenade that triggers a powerful explosion on impact. Mainly used if target is unreachable or keeps running away.

Trivia

• Quen swords and spears that can be seen on hands of NPCs, on the Settlements or concept art seem to be inspired by shark tooth weapons of Polynesian cultures and native Hawaiians. These weapons used a wooden shaped sword, dagger, lance, axe, club and had shark teeth attached to the edge of these wooden weapons by rope. In a similar fashion, the Quen Sword and Quen Spear have metal pieces similar to teeth attached to their wooden and metal weapons attached by rope.
• The Quen ship is also inspired by trimarans, which ultimately have their origins in Polynesian boats.
• While not initially available in the base game, the Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores DLC features Quen outfits available to purchase and wear.

Gallery

Quen marines

Fleet concept art from KARAKTER studio

Figurehead by Tom Kolbeek

Prop concept art by Lisa Plokker

Civilian concept art by Choro Choi

Marksman concept art by Choro Choi

Soldier concept art by Oscar Römer