The History of Fallen Empires in Stellaris

my lords today we will discuss the five Empires we have come to know as the Fallen Empires we shall cover who they are what they stand for the historical conflict known as the war in heaven and the reasons for their eventual withdrawal into isolationism who are they starting with the enigmatic observers The Observers are fnatic xenophiles they are a single species spread across Three core worlds cradle mother and brother a broader world called The Preserve also exists within their borders and for an unknown reason the observancy fit to house random species across the Galaxy here in an almost servitore-like fashion the planet is split into six different habitats allowing for a multitude of different species to live and Thrive here we can only assume that these aliens get some pleasure in researching or pampering these citizens it has been known for The Observers to request access to other Empire's population pools in order to house them on The Preserve and it takes a strong Empire to refuse this request The Observers somewhat ironically and not against the use of robots in servitude it appears that they have quite the contingent of domestic machines serving them it's unclear what if any of level of sentience these machines have despite the machine servants The Observers are Keen biologists and who drastically enhance their species genetically their ground troops are genetically modified super soldiers extremely capable of immense destruction should they be Unleashed finally they appear to have a Colossus Planet Killer weapon although unlike other designs this one appears to Shield worlds locking them forever behind an unbreakable Shield terrible punishment for any Empire who stands against them next we have the Holy Guardians a fanatical spiritualistic Empire they occupy two planets celestial throne and Sky Temple would also have four uncolonized and unclaimed Gaia worlds situated near but just outside their territory named pristine Jewel Emerald Mausoleum Walled Garden and prophet's retreat woe before any Empire who lands on these planets without prior permission the Guardians are incredibly protective and overzealous and they've been known to wipe out entire Civilizations for trespassing on their sacred Worlds the Guardians consist of a single species and do not use servants or slaves of any kind all their citizens are incredibly powerful psionics capable of communication with the Shroud and no doubt hold other psionic abilities they have a particular distaste for artificial intelligence and will often demand neighboring Empires cease all AI related research it's worth noting the spiritualism to this Empire does not necessarily mean they worship a deity they simply Revere life organic life despite the lack of an overarching religion they do still tend to place unusual reverence on holy objects their consecrated worlds for example as we've discussed but also something called zakwalan's Head they're quite an unusual Empire as are most spiritualists but how can one become so Advanced and yet still Revere a dead alien's head to the point that Pilgrims from their empire will come and fight for you it makes very little sense like The Observers they also have a planet killing weapon this however does not merely Shield a world it's far worse through some unknown manner it converts the entire planet's population to the guardian's belief system individuals who one moment have entirely opposite ethics can be manipulated and changed within the time it takes to fire the device an extremely distressing thought the third Empire to discuss is the keepers of knowledge fanatic materialists and a race of entirely cybernetic beings the keepers are the antithesis to the Guardians in every conceivable way their beliefs are entirely opposed the keepers occupy the city world or EQ monopolist named Font of knowledge and the Gaia World The Archives the keepers is mentioned at some point ascended to embrace cybernetics having previously been solely organic similar to The Observers they have a small contingent of artificial servants or slaves but clearly seem to place value in artificial intelligence their ground troops are composed entirely of robotic beings although the machine's intelligence is unclear they are thought to be highly effective killing machines finally the keepers have a planet-killing weapon that appears to be the same design of The Observers it locks the target world forever behind a force field the last organic Fallen Empire is the militant isolationists these behave as fnatic xenophobes and are by far the least forgiving and most aggressive of the four even within their relative isolation the isolationists occupied Two Worlds the core and the boundary but within their borders also exist three shielded worlds we wonder if these were shielded by either the keepers or the observer's Colossal super weapons but more on that later the isolationists have no misgivings about slaves they have them and they're nerve stapled interestingly their population consists of a ratio of 50 50 I.E for every citizen there is a nerve stapled slave their armies are made up entirely of the xenomorph variety bat-born aliens designed in a laboratory to be Apex killing machines these ground troops are shown to be horrendously effective and the lack of morality displayed by the isolationists mean they have been used frequently just outside their borders there is a system known as shalash it contains the remnants of a long dead civilization including a tomb World surrounded by six moons in equidistant orbit if we've understood the data collected from digsites this system was once occupied by a highly Advanced pacifistic race this race maneuvered the moons into orbit around their world in a marvelous display of Art the isolationists for some unknown reason destroyed this Empire utterly obliterating their Homeworld a single battle cruiser patrols the system left as a warning to all who would challenge them the final object of note regarding the isolationists concerns their colossal superweapon this is a world cracker a true superweapon of Galactic proportion it is also evident that it's been used given the number of cracked planets just outside the observer's Border but more on that later all four of the organic Empires are imperial by Nature slightly ironic that despite their differences they still maintain that an authoritarian government is the strongest they're also all very dismissive of younger Empires and once first Contact has been achieved they will ignore all attempts at communication via envoys and any requests for trade the last Fallen Empire and the only non-organic one in the ancient caretakers these are a race made up entirely of machines they occupy five systems in total the alpha the beta the Delta and the gamma refuge and finally a black hole system designated central processing beta and gamma both House of broken ringworms while Alpha holds a partially active one whatever was once in the central processing system has been utterly destroyed and perhaps provides insight into why the machines now behave the way that they do they're clearly lacking in the Computing Department as all communication with them is broken and Scattered which brings us into the Fallen Empire's history and what we think happened prior to their Collective withdrawal from wider Galactic affairs the war in heaven our information on the war in heaven is patchy at best my lords and this is educated speculation we believe a hundred thousand years ago why humans on Earth were busy chilling in the paleoethic period I.E working out how to use Stone and Bone tools The Wider Galaxy was in a state of Total War at this point in time approximately 27 major Empires existed throughout the wider Galaxy five Fallen Empires The Observers Guardians Keepers isolationists and caretakers were all active and in similar states of power and Technology all Empires were vying for power in a similar manner to what we see happening today Across The Wider Galaxy Earth was fortunate enough to be within the observer's domain our primitive species was protected from the ravages of space and bandits of The Wider Galaxy we were lucky other civilizations were not all in such a fortunate position two major conflicts were starting to brew and they hinged on two major events the keepers embracing cybernetics and the isolationist genocide of shalash the Guardians and the keepers of knowledge have both built up a small Federation of like-minded Empires and for the most part were happy to keep within themselves the Guardians were certainly the more aggressive of the two empires there had been some small diplomatic Rumblings when the Keeper's Homeworld the font of knowledge had been converted into an EQ monopolist however once the keepers embraced cybernetics all diplomatic relations fell apart the guardian saw this as an affront to life and when it became clear that others in the Keeper's research Focus Federation would follow suit the Guardians declared a total war it was going to be a highly Crusade the like of which the Galaxy hadn't seen for several millennia far across the Galaxy well away from the keepers and the Guardians The Observers I.E the xenophiles had also Federated with a number of smaller Empires all following more or less similar ethics they operated in an egalitarian League a true meritocracy species age gender nothing mattered other than your ability and will to rise there was little in the way of poverty the sick and the injured were well cared for and they made use of robotic life to assist their excellent living standards it could be and was considered by many to be a utopian existence The Observers were constantly looking to expand their Federation and bring new empires and civilizations into the fold their cultural opposite the isolation of xenophobes had a much looser moral compass not only were they hyper aggressive they were incredibly ruthless in Victory conquered races were purged or enslaved and should they be enslaved they are promptly nerve stapled this was effectively an advanced lobotomy and it was not a pleasant time to be a neighboring Empire for many decades The Observers and the rest of the Galaxy knew of these practices but were never in a position to bring challenge diplomatically or through Force however that all changed after the genocide at shalash the shalash system was occupied by a race known as the Roshan they were an advanced hyper-intelligent race who followed a doctrine of fnatic pacifism the Roshan had absolutely no interest in military matters they lived for the Arts and they operated on a literal different level when I say different level I really mean it the Roshan had systematically reordered the planets in their solar system into an equidistant orbit around their Homeworld a truly magnificent feat The Observers were very keen to add the rosham people to their Federation beyond the obvious reasons it would represent a real shift in power should an Empire so close to the isolationists join their Federation sadly for the Roshan people they had no interest in joining any form of military Alliance the Clause surrounding defensive packs went against their entire belief system and as such no agreement was ever finalized it's unclear precisely what angered the isolationist it may be that the Russian just had the unfortunate lack of being a few short jumps away from their territory it may be that the isolationists caught wind of the observer's attempts to Federate them the isolationist without warning and without any form of provocation attacked shalash there was no real battle to speak of the isolationist fleets swept aside the single defensive star base and within minutes the xenomorph armies were Unleashed on the planet not a single slave was taken that day the entire world billions of roshans were slaughtered dismembered by the sheer brutality of the Xenomorphs assault and as if the job wasn't finished a week after landfall the xenomorph armies were collected and the isolationist battleships moved into bombardment positions the planet was racked by orbital bombardment until the tectonic plate shattered a volcanic residue seeped out poisoning the atmosphere within two standard Earth weeks every Roshan male female and child had been utterly destroyed by the time the observers and the Allies found out what was going on the damage had already been done and the isolationists were already returning back into their systems to The Observers the atrocities committed here were so reprehensible they could not go unpunished and thus The Observers and their allies declared Total War on the isolationists as such the Galaxy was left in the state of Total War the more fanciful historians named this period the war in heaven records of the war are fleeting but we do know that all sides committed horrendous atrocities in the name of their cause concerning the conflict between the keepers and the Guardians we know very little other than they both seem to hold their ground the guardian Zeal was fully matched by the Keeper's immense technology and cybernetic prowess meanwhile the isolationists and observers were locked in a Titanic Clash we know that the isolation is cracked multiple worlds with their colossal super weapon and we know that at least two of the isolationist planets were sealed behind impermeable Shields locking them away in Time Forever during the war in heaven the artificial intelligence the caretakers had not picked aside it continued with its calculations content within its five systems and at this point all Ringworld habitats what the caretakers had noticed however was the sharp increase in the proliferation of potentially dangerous Technologies all of the strongest civilizations have begun drastic experiments into Dark Matter Tech including attempts to extract increasing quantities from black poles the keepers had begun to conduct extra-dimensional experimentation in the hope to harness other dimensions as a power source and all but the Guardians had begun fitting their military ships with Sapient combat computers and jump drive Technologies a technological Beacon had been lit and it would shine throughout the cosmos waiting for someone or something to notice the caretakers sent a galactic-wide communique requesting the removal of such Technologies they knew what had come before and predicted it would happen again sadly for them and The Wider Galaxy the caretakers were correct in the black hole system We Now call the great wound space was torn apart in a Monumental surge of power and a mighty Fleet of extra-dimensional Invaders emerged from the gaping wound left in space an outgoing signal was intercepted being broadcast back into the portal it said beating ground reached pray Bountiful at long last we shall feast the unbidden had come this new threat surged outwards their individual fleets split like spokes on a wheel the first Empire in the invader's path was the ketlings a diminutive mammalian race with multiple worlds they focused mainly on trade but nevertheless had a significant Defense Force they operated as a neutral in the war in heaven preferring to trade with all sides as amicably as possible this meant two things the Defense Force was undamaged and fresh but they had no allies ready to assist in their defense the unbidden fleet was a Marvel of Technology their ships gliding gracefully through the void of space their technology completely alien to our galaxy The unbidden themselves were a mysterious and enigmatic species The Ore did not last for long the unbidden fleet began to maneuver their ships changing positions and formation with stunning speed and precision the ketlings quickly realized that this was no mere exploration Mission but a full-scale invasion the kettling Defense Force was quickly swept aside the unbidden's Weaponry appeared to bypass all physical defenses armor was useless and once the kettling's Defense Force had been removed the unbidden setup in a standard Annihilation pattern above the kettling worlds and commenced bombardment until the Seas boiled and the tectonic plates cracked despite the kettling's brutal demise the larger Empires mostly ignored the event after all the breach point was not necessarily an immediate threat to them and at that time they were locked in total war with each other the unbidden's next Target was the artificial intelligence the Fallen Empire we know as the caretakers the caretakers had rigorous defensive capabilities a frontal assault was highly likely to fail the caretakers had systems with multiple orbital Rings armed with a multitude of advanced kinetic Weaponry perfect for dealing with extra dimensional Invaders their weakness however was the central core system and The Ringworld occupying this system that Ringworld held the vast majority of the ai's Computing cause its destruction would effectively disable the caretaker Empire the unbidden demonstrated real guile and tactical acumen the central core system had no access bar two hyperlanes which connected to heavily defended caretaker space so the unbidden bypassed them entirely using a hyper Advanced jump drive they punched holes in real space and appeared within the caretaker's defensive Network inside the central core system the unbidden fleet in a truly genocidal act knowing they did not have time to systematically bombard The Ringworld sent their Fleet towards the system star in an act of Galactic barbarity they set one of their ships jump dry Fusion cores to detonate in close proximity to the star just before the rest of the fleet jumped out of the system the subsequent explosion caused the Cascade failure in the star's internal reaction leading to an intense Supernova which completely annihilated the entire system in a wave of solar energy all that remained was a black hole that formed after the star's explosion the destruction of the caretaker's central core had the desired effect it broke them leaving them reeling in an attempt to fix computational errors for millennia it was at this point the rest of the Galaxy took notice the subsequent events of the battle against the unbidden are not clear but we know that over the next Century or two much of the Galaxy was destroyed and purged of sentient life the Fallen Empires did set aside their differences at some point and a full Galactic crisis was declared technology was shared between Empires and old differences were set aside at least for the time being between them the Fallen Empires were able to beat back the unbidden driving them back to the Great Moon star system and eventually destroying the extra-dimensional apparatus holding the portal open it would seem that a century or so of Total War on top of the unbidden invasion had exhausted all the empires involved the caretakers were left in complete disarray unable to function and it would take Millennia before they would be able to repair the damage the four organic Fallen Empires still had huge contempt for one another their ethics still being completely opposed but they were far enough away from each other that they could co-exist in relative Solitude after all the unbidden invasion had left them with significant living space and this is how they remain to date in Decline unable to bring themselves out of their self-imposed isolation Perhaps it is for the best should one of these Empires ever decide to awake it is highly likely we could see another war in heaven plunge the Galaxy into chaos thanks for watching folks I hope that was informative and enjoyable if you made it this far I urge you to come and join the discussions on Discord the link is in the description and as ever if you want to hear another story please click the video on screen now

Channel: The Red King

Views: 308,875

Keywords: stellaris lore, paradox interactive, stellaris precursor, stellaris, stellaris army, stellaris federations, stellaris gameplay, stellaris guide, stellaris megastructures, stellaris planets guide, stellaris tutorial, stellaris utopia, Stellaris lore, Fallen Empires, Stellaris Fallen Empires, stellaris red king, red king, fallen empires stellaris, zenith of fallen empires stellaris, fallen empires stellaris reddit, stellaris unbidden lore, Unbidden, Lore, fallen empires

Id: Rk3f54oHJUw

Length: 20min 3sec (1203 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 05 2023