The Chronological History of Stellaris Precursors

[@theinsanebookworm]

I always feel sad at how the Vultaum were right about their reality, but had exactly the opposite to the real solution. They thought massive removal of population would set them free, when every late game player knows that massive population growth is the truest way to crash the simulation. All they did was help it run stronger for longer.

[@gustavoboscardin9351]

Maybe all their effort resulted in someone in some forum complaining about a bug in popularion growth 😬

[@Valysion]

I don't understand what is so bad in our world being a simulation. The lives we are living are real for us and that is all that matters.

[@MrGoncalobraz]

@@Valysion except your virtual reality only has as many available options as deemed desirable by the code creator who is indirectly coercing your choice by removing it altogether. Imagine it this way if you're a Pop in Stellaris: so all your options in life are: 1. Work, 2. Resettlement, 3. Genetic or Mechanical alteration without consent or 4. Extermination. Or if you're a Pop in some "closed world" game you cannot fix your leaking roof because you cannot move the ladder that's somewhere in that level. Or if you're a Pop in an "open world" game you cannot fix the ceiling because it's not in the set of skills or actions available. There will always be limitations of some sort in a virtual simulation no matter how realistic. This is the utmost undermining of free will one can find: that you live inside the lie without seeing it. The same could apply to any social or economic system in the world today, but that's a discussion beyond the Matrix.

[@Valysion]

@@MrGoncalobraz well we don't even see our pops in Stellaris and they don't seem to have any difficulties.

[@evilemperorzurg9615]

If you discover the Vultum as a materialist empire you can discover that they were right and reality is just a video game. I think it gives you a 25% research boost in all field at the cost of -10% happiness.

[@afedorchak77]

The fact this man wastes no time and jumps straight into the lore with no bs, no like comment and sub nonsense, and you present it in a different way? Love it. Keep doing it

[@TheRedKing]

Glad you liked it!! :) Thanks for letting me know

[@afedorchak77]

@@TheRedKing absolutely mate. You deserve the sub for not throwing that at us. Plus loveee the way you do it as if you’re there giving the briefing. Super clever

[@preoximerianas]

From what I understood it, the Cybrex went on this genocidal rampage. But for some reason an ideological shift occurred. As you said but I believe it was a mentality change, they basically gained ‘humanity’. The concepts of empathy and compassion from their experimentations on organic life. Upon understanding these concepts they realised the utter horror and atrocities they had committed to the galaxy. Distraught over this they decided to stop and live out their days on their ring world. When the alliance invaded, the Cybrex didn’t fire a shot. Believing that their annihilation would atone for actions they had done prior. At least that’s how I want to believe.

[@TheRedKing]

Could be right!

[@manlyman2624]

“Wait a minute, are we the baddies?”

[@SupaSillyThyme]

I see it more as just deciding that they would rather lose a massive amount of themselves then inflict destruction on sentient life

[@breadtoast1036]

@@manlyman2624 it was that moment that shifted the empire

[@sowiwiody3681]

Soo they're like Eldians from Attack on Titan?

[@gustavoboscardin9351]

Makes sense for the Baol to be clones given that they were plantoid, because "clones" of plants are an usual practice in agriculture and silviculture

[@DoddyIshamel]

Its not just that, many plants reproduce through cloning naturally. Grass for example. Any plant with runners or creepers is setting clones around itself.

[@jasonshen7600]

Me after the Baol story: Perhaps aliens do deserve another chance Me 10 minutes back into the game: May imperial justice account in all balance, the Emperor protects. *fires world cracker

[@commisaryarreck3974]

Listen they may call it genocide I call it tactical lagg reduction

[@Ug-lordetheunmovable]

i have a mod that adds a new colossus beam that devolves the species and so any empire that goes to war with me will be turned back to the stone age and then either I conquer the planet or set an observation station

[@Vertigo6000]

The Cybrex is my favourite story of them all. From endgame crisis, to dormant empire, to dark horse in the fight against the Contingency. The first time I encountered them was a perfect storm. I discovered cybrex alpha and colonized it. I had complete control over half the galaxy then the contingancy pops up. TWO MACHINE WORLDS CLOSE TO TWO KEY SECTORS OF MY EMPIRE! My fleets were oblierated in the first few years of the crisis, and on the other side of the galaxy the Contingancy were cleaning up my biggest rivals. I actually thought I was going to lost to the Crisis, then the fucking Cybrex rolled in. Having just encounted their precusor event for the first time I was about ready to just throw up my hands and quit the game, then I find out their helping me! God that was an epic game. ... ... ... so yeah cybrex all the way.

[@TheRedKing]

Agreed - great story, and the community overwhelming agrees with you!

[@RobinTheBot]

I didn't know this could happen. I beat the contingency in my cybrex run so maybe they never had a chance to spawn :(

[@zondor8123]

Literally the reapers from mass effect if they got a change of "cold heart"

[@Lastburn]

I remember when machine empires just launched, I had 2 protectorates near each other on the bottom right of the ring galaxy when the Cyberex crisis triggered, these asshole protectorates send their fleets far north to help with the crisis when there's a cyberex world 5 jumps away from thier systems, I had to move my stationed 90k fleet moving between thier systems to prevent them getting wiped out and was losing attrition fighting a 110k Cyberex fleet every few turns or so. I was stuck in defense hell while my north fleet accumulated enough power to kill the 220k fleet guarding the Cyberex systems.

[@spawnkeeper999]

​@@TheRedKing Hey man! AMAZING video! Would you happen to have a link/name of the song in the background? I would greatly appreciate it!

[@croisaor2308]

I like how the Zroni's manipulation of the black hole at the centre of the Galaxy can explain why you can't settle any planets in the Galaxy's core, despite the fact that's where the most stars should be.

[@ondrejmrazek8209]

Nice idea. However even in our reality it seems, that the core of our own galaxy is realy volatile and dangerous. Anyway the Zroni might have prevented us from seting up mining systems in stellaris galaxies' core regions.

[@Aizu94]

@@ondrejmrazek8209 this All the matters that surround the Alpha Centauri is a perfect breeding ground for new stars to form, lol

[@mishmam_the_SU-57]

This gives me a question. I play with gigastructiral engineering mod, and it adds a ton of content, including the center of the galaxy. However, it has only a few systems in it and a supermassive black hole you can build a special megastructure around. So somehow a few systems returned to the centre of the galaxy and the black hole at the centre of it became more dense and lost mass Edit: grammar

[@BrightWendigo]

Being a great place for life, is NOT the same as being a great place for stars to form 😂

[@rizkiramadhan9266]

There is nothing in the core now

[@6thhistory]

Honestly dude, with this you've satisfied a very niche craving I had. Now if someone could just thematically sort every single event in the game and read them in a lore-based format and create a playlist... I'd fall asleep to it over and over. I swear most of my youtube watch time must be while I'm dribbling on my pillow

[@TheRedKing]

Happy to help :)

[@jamesdreads7828]

100% feel this, yes to all of the above.

[@w花b]

Yeah but the pillow starts getting smelly if you dribble too much on it

[@davidballantyne4492]

As the creator of the Zroni, it was fun to see their story all in one place once again :)

[@mitrion301]

I really love the Story or the Zroni, Respect for creating a Story so interesting and tragic. Unfortunatly I never had the Chance to find out about them in any of my Playthroughs yet.

[@TheRedKing]

Happy to hear it!! Thanks David :) - Awesome story btw, on of, if not my favourite of all the precursors

[@eru.maewos7673]

Sorry for being late, but could you answer just one question for me? Are you guys trying to write some kind of lore to Stellaris? If yes, then are the content of the trailers important in some way to the canon lore - like, if the events and characters of the trailers are relevant to the lore -?

[@EloquentTroll]

Thank you David! Maybe one of these days I can get them on a playthrough where I'm looking to play psychic. They're awkward when you're playing robots

[@SnatchMeese]

I really love your creation! It is by far the coolest precursor. Their story of growth, war, and sacrifice is very compelling. It really feels like a race that had reached a zenith never seen before. All that zroni we find is but a fraction of who were there before us.

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

The Cybrex going from Genocidal maniacs to galactic stewards is incredibly interesting, I remember them being that way in an old playtrhough some time ago.

[@TheRedKing]

Agree - its great, adds so much extra depth to just the standard "killer robots"

[@RobinTheBot]

Just wish they weren't bugged. They send 1 fleet and then give up forever LoL

[@voidseeker4394]

It may be possible that there was sentient life in the galaxy, but nobody in the galaxy met Yuht criteria of sentience as it was very high and/or twisted.

[@hashtagrex]

alternatively, something like the prethoryn scourge or unbidden couldve invaded previously and wiped the entire galaxy clean, and the yuht were the first to re-evolve

[@ultraflopp2802]

@@hashtagrexor the Vultaum tried to wipe out *everything* sentient in the universe (not only themselves) but ultimately failed

[@Zguilvozh]

Very well done! Now i want a DLC that allows us to play the story of these precursors. Hell, i want a DLC that makes my empire a possible precursor for my future playthroughs

[@TheRedKing]

This would be a really cool feature, or even as fallen empires!

[@waitaminute6396]

I cant imagine how much of a pain in the ass that would be for them to create. Although i do agree with you in wanting that to be in the game.

[@JanJansen985]

There was one game that had that option It was called Distant Worlds and it was beautiful

[@lsthero5863]

@@TheRedKing The Remnant origin is your empire being a precursor, no? A fallen empire after an horrific apocalypse rising again and reclaiming it’s place in the galaxy.

[@JesusChrist-bx8ge]

@@lsthero5863 Yes but it's extremely underwhelming

[@williek08472]

My headcanon about the Vultaum is that their VR/gaming technology got so advanced that the virtual worlds they created were incredibly realistic and lifelike and could be almost indistinguishable from reality. Eventually, they came to realize that if they could create their own worlds with computers, then it wasn't unreasonable to assume that reality itself was a simulation created by an external user. The rest is history. Fun fact, the Vultaum were the first Precursors whose home system I found.

[@Thundrfox]

I’m pretty dam hype to see a Stellaris channel that covers lore in a thematically appropriate way.

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed :)

[@101FanStarwars]

Impressive, most impressive! Truly feels like you are some otherworldly chronicler, sharing the mysteries of the universe. I may start naming my curator scientists I get some derivative of "The Red King" in your honor. Thanks for all the lovely lore videos, they have become a cozy and pleasant reprieve for me :).

[@TheRedKing]

Shame I can't go back and screen shot (and paste) your comments from the original videos way back when :) I'm glad you're still here and enjoying the content! Good to hear from you!!

[@roseryvines]

In one of my more recent bigger runs, I found the Grunur. We were both hive minds so it really felt personal reading the story and I actual felt pretty sad. RIP Baol, hail the Barcalid(my empire).

[@mitrion301]

I think It is really interesting, that a game in where You basically make your own lore and have your own canon, there is so much lore and good lore aswell.

[@CerberusGenesis]

Always enjoy digging into the history and lore of games but Stellaris is one game where I'll only do so once because just how much there is. Refreshers like this are always nice

[@smoore6461]

Fantastic video, sir! Very well done. I always like the Baol story myself. It's one of my favorite precursors to get unless I'm playing a psychic empire.

[@TheRedKing]

Glad you enjoyed it! I also like the Baol, but tend to get them when I play robots, which is frustrating :) Good to hear from you as always!

[@loosegoose9624]

While still a bit of a waste, IIRC machine empires still get the 10% production boost the gaia world provides

[@onionhemlock5092]

A thought I had about the Yuht: maybe they did encounter other intelligent life, but it was so small and/or primitive compared to them that they didn't consider it intelligent. After all if you use the ratio of our size to the Yuht, it would be like us discovering life just over a centimeter big

[@TheRedKing]

Could be! But I'm pretty sure if we saw ants flying around in planes we would take notice

[@cewla3348]

@@TheRedKing but if you saw an ant flying around, you wouldn't take notice

[@Stery0typical]

I was never big on fourth wall breaks but I feel like Stellaris does it in a way that’s interesting and fun instead of immersion breaking.

[@goldenhorde6944]

Thing is is that it doesn't have to be the fourth wall if you don't want it to be, the universe as a simulation is occasionally brought up as an actual hypothesis in xenology and philosophy. For example it's one possible solution to the Fermi paradox, where our creators simply engineered the rest of the universe to be empty as part of the simulation.

[@Texan8505]

“And this is where the story ends, at least until another foolish empire decides to make a pact with the entities of the shroud.” My fanatic spiritualist, authoritarian imperial empire with an immortal king:

[@-Alter-]

I really enjoy this guys voice, its almost perfect for storytelling. it gives me VaatiVidya vibes. Fitting too since this video is about the fall of empires, similarly to the SoulsBorne series and their fallen kingdoms. Well done!

[@TheRedKing]

Very generous praise :) Glad you enjoyed it

[@evilemperorzurg9615]

If you discover the Vultum as a materialist empire you can discover that they were right and reality is just a video game. I think it gives you a 25% research boost in all field at the cost of -10% happiness.

[@PetroBeherha]

That's what happened with my empire as well, but I decided that the existential dread was not worth it so decided to suppress the evidence.

[@madzaisa]

But since we can't play as Vultum and Stellaris don't simulate their civilization, part of that simulation they were? And on that level of breaking 3-rd wall is this?

[@christophermikiewicz7083]

I just realized that the Vultaum's simulation is referring to the actual Stellaris game. I didn't think it was a fourth wall break.

[@ToxicQueen2787]

@@madzaisa they realized their existence served as being lore and their fates was death

[@ultraflopp2802]

It could have been very cool that if you’re materialist, became crisis and Vultaum was your precursor than instead of aetherophasic engine you’ll built an over complicated object using living metal with the texture that not optimised that it *will* crash your game and make your saves unplayable therefore making the Vultaum’s goal achieved

[@ninjasheep7492]

I love the story of the Yuht. So often people assume that because we developed technology in the order we did that is how it happens. Cultural and species difference resulting in such a drastically unorthodox progression is pretty interesting when developed well.

[@WackyIraqi777]

In Stellaris it is easy to miss the forest for the trees and not think about what is happening in the galaxy while managing 42 planets... these videos really tie the world of stellaris together and I really appreciate them.

[@Lantias]

Excellent video, going straight into my favourites Playlist! Great use of splash arts to visually support the storytelling which is even further amplified by the use of a limited narrative perspective in the form of a scientist. The created sense of immersion excitement and wonder is truly an inspiration to pick up the game again! This is definitely the content I'm looking to be fed to me by my YT algorithm. I saw someone leaving an earlier comment on how they might rename their archaeology scientists after you and that's definitely an idea I can get behind!

[@TheRedKing]

Thank you for the kind words! Glad you enjoyed it :) I can 100% get behind 100s of Red King's exploring the vast Stellaris Universe!!

[@alexritchie4586]

Excellent video. Although I'm not a Stellaris player, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Incredible to think that this vast timeline of sapient species only covers around 7% of the total age of the galaxy. The mind boggles at what may have existed before the Zroni, but all traces have been completely destroyed by the immense passage of time. Also, the Yuht appear to have been pursuing 'The Dark Forest' policy popularised by Cixin Liu in 'The Three Body Problem'. Once a sapient species reaches a level of technology and reasoning such that they become capable of interstellar travel and warfare (or can at least envision how it might be done) they also become morbidly aware that there may well be other sapient species out there with the same capabilities. Then exploration of the galaxy transforms from a journey of discovery to something akin to a fraught slinking through a dark forest at night. Every cracking branch, every rustling leaf may be nothing more than the stirring of the wind, but it could also be a predator lurking and waiting to strike. Once a sapient species is overwrought with the Dark Forest idea, it becomes paranoid and furtive, and can pursue two options; 1) Listen as carefully as possible and remain as unobtrusive as possible so predators will not detect them, or 2) Become hyper belligerent, listening astutely for any signs of sapience elsewhere in the universe so that it can be instantly destroyed before it becomes a threat. It seems the Yuht may have stumbled into option 1), but ended up trying to take option 2).

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks Alex, glad you enjoyed it - i've not heard of that policy before really intersting read, thank you for sharing! :)

[@platypipope328]

ngl the precursors in stellaris are super interesting and neat narratives and i wish we had more stories like them. the events for stellaris are perhaps the best written in any paradox game except maybe for CK3

[@TheRedKing]

Couldn't agree more!

[@crucifieddemon7136]

God I want to love CK3 more than anything but there is just so much stuff that annoys the hell out of me in it

[@logan8963]

it sucks that this style of story-telling only really works in grand strategy. imagine an fps, where the story and gameplay cover thousands of years, allowing your character(s?) to progress from the middle ages to a space-faring empire. where one of your characters is the first researcher to discover a prescursor civilization fighting through nature to uncover the truth behind this civs disappearance.

[@AC-eb7kt]

6:14 The Lone Zroni Savior: I am inevitable

[@TheRedKing]

Snap!!!

[@zbelair7218]

More like "and I am Iron Man"

[@romulusnuma116]

The timeline you showed convinced me that the most recent Precursors was an human one that collapsed leaving humans only on earth with no knowledge of it

[@TheRedKing]

mmm why do you think that?

[@romulusnuma116]

@@TheRedKing Just saw "Humanities first FTL flight" on the timeline and wasn't thinking very hard

[@gnobblarthehouseneger2646]

​@@romulusnuma116 You're so cute, omg I luv you 😢

[@ultraflopp2802]

@@TheRedKingwelp, there is the origin where you start on a relic world and basically the phoenix of your once fallen but received empire

[@zbelair7218]

My headcanon for reality is basically that....we're aliens that are stranded or the last of our kind and it's been so damn long since we arrived here that we've forgotten who we are.

[@MrCarlWax]

I love these. I've never cared to read events besides the modifier or resources I get. This makes me appreciate the Stellaris lore.

[@TheRedKing]

Glad you're enjoying them :)

[@justadexdpup]

I love how the Vultaum lore is ESSENTIALLY A 4th wall break and they were actually right :D

[@The_True_Noble_Duke]

Finally, i always wondered about the order. Too lazy to keep track of the years you said in the separate videos

[@TheRedKing]

Aha I hope it will clear the order up :) often see chat about "oh the first league must have formed to battle cybrex" etc etc

[@FennziGames]

I like to believe that Ancient Caretakers are a part of cybrex that decided to just cut off themselves from the Cybrex network and stay pacifistic while the more aggresive servitors and exterminators fought between each other.

[@asemov2707]

What I like to imagine as an explanation for all these technologies we haven't uncovered is that the earlier years of our galaxy had an abundance of a resource that's been lost to time, we know Zro and the other strategic resources were more plentiful in different "cycles" - Perhaps there's strategic resources that have been totally consumed by the previous cycles and never replenished as they take so long to form.

[@pixel6854]

I find it almost poetic that the cybrex had to annihilate organic life to learn what it meant to be alive, to have a soul. Their story was very touching as was the Zroni

[@jamesdreads7828]

i had a feeling there was a long vid in the works!! thanks man, love your content, as you know. Edit: dude i just realised this is the perfect vid for me, given id never heard of stellaris before i heard your channel. Legend, this should clear some stuff up for me..

[@TheRedKing]

Cheers James! Hope you enjoy it :)

[@TheRedKing]

I see you're a member! Thanks James - hit me up on discord if you want to join the Patreon only chat :)

[@jamesdreads7828]

@@TheRedKing yeah man! sorry i didnt do it sooner! remember i asked you to set up a patreon or something so i could help out a while back? i had no idea about YT membership at the time lol. im catching up. I'll you see you there man. big love

[@RedKommisar_]

The Zroni being the eldest precursor and also my favorite ascendant type have one of the coolest stories in the galaxy, a spiritual fight to save the galaxy from mass destruction via sacrifice of the race as a whole for the greater good. truly an epic tale of the ancients!

[@nighttime3673]

Me watching lore: I will play as a kind overseer that only intervene in times of needs. Life is precious and must be protected at all cost. Me actually playing: Bend the knee or meet my Colossus.

[@TheRedKing]

Preach!

[@SussusSamogus171]

Me: I’ll be peaceful this playthrough I’m tired of killing and conquering A random empire: claims one of my systems Me: In the name of the god emperor, our undying lord…….. proceeds to do exterminatus every planet in the galaxy

[@anthonygorman94]

I love most of the Precursor situations. This video hits just that right spot!

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks Anthony, glad you enjoyed it :)

[@cmdrtianyilin8107]

These videos were absolutely amazing, to say the least. I can imagine, lying on my bed, closing my eyes, and listening to these amazing stories... Feels like I'm already there, one with the universe. Thank you, the Red King, for making my recovery process a lot more comfortable and enjoyable. You and your videos will have a special place in my heart.

[@TheRedKing]

Glad you enjoyed it :) Happy to help - exciting stuff to come later this week, keep an eye out ;)

[@darwinmazareigos]

The Baol nearly brought me to tears. The only precursor story chain I read with each discovery. It changed how I play lol. I never bomb planets I try to take it by military force and practice actual egalitarianism lmao. I stopped building colossi too. Stopping at juggernaut and always B lining an empire who research any world breakers haha. What a story

[@flaviomonteiro1414]

So the Vaultaum were so intelligence that they discovered they were inside Stellaris?

[@TheRedKing]

Pretty much

[@beerasaurus]

The Vaultum figured out they were in a video game 😂

[@TheRedKing]

Extremely awkward!

[@notalpharius3861]

Now im about to wait for Vanilla Fallen Empire Lore, i wouldnt be also surprise that the Ones who destroyed the Cybrex exterminators are the Fallen Empires we came to know about.

[@TheRedKing]

You may not have to wait too long ;)

[@DoThatBit]

Heres some FE lore Its been so long since they learnt the better tech they have like the op buildings that they forgot it and that they see us as they were in the past

[@skippydinglechalk1948]

Absolutely amazing video, the standard for your channel remains top tier. Please keep it up

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks Skippy, will do!! Appreciate the support :)

[@MorganTheGorgon]

Great video! Your voice is super easy to listen to. I really love Stellaris, but when I’m ingame I rarely have the patience to sit down and read longer lore events, so these videos really help flesh things out for me.

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks Morgan, glad your enjoyed it :)

[@j.vinton4039]

First League fan here! They were the first Precursor empire I fully researched. When I first got the game back in the day and it was also the first time I scored an ecuminopolis. They’ve catapulted so many of my civilizations to the mid game.

[@TheRedKing]

Also love them! Free ecu!!

[@quaroftheka1008]

The vultaum had it backwards, you need to breed more if you want to crash the game

[@WinninethePING]

to them dying and the game crashing is just the same thing, GAME OVER.

[@Iberium]

Impressive video! I loved the narration, as if the viewers are a leader and you're an informant teaching history!

[@TheRedKing]

Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@JohnShepherd117]

I remember making two Baol builds based of the Kir’Ko from Age of Wonders being that they are still hive minded but to less of a degree and are more like psyonics. the hive mind cut of their connection to keep the grunur from finding this distant border colony and effectively sent the colony into a technological regression to the Stone Age. My first Baol build is one that follows close to the original Baol being pacifistic authoritarians but still retain vague memories of the hive mind which they worship as a god. My second Baol build is one that remembers the suffering of the hive mind and made their decision to seek revenge on the attackers which they don’t know to be the Grunur and are thus extremely Xenophobic and militarist they behave similar to the Isolationist in that they will mostly keep to themselves but will eliminate any they deem threats to their existence sorry for the long comment

[@TheRedKing]

I do enjoy the Baol story, even though it's sad. What makes you think the Baol would be authoritarians though?

[@JohnShepherd117]

@@TheRedKing Lore wise its because their government is based off of their lost hive mind in truth its because I had no idea what other ethic would suit them looking back at it now fanatic spiritualist would have been the best given the backstory I was going with

[@barrybend7189]

9:54 oh no the Vultaun learned they're in a paradox interactive game. They don't want to encounter Spiffing Britt the exploiter of games.

[@jwj2646]

I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this already, but the Vultaum are essentially pulled from Peter F. Hamilton’s Void Trilogy. Same premise of a “physical virtual reality” powered by the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, hastening the eventual entropic destruction of the galaxy. I love that Paradox incorporated some of my favorite sci-fi writing into these civs :)

[@christophermikiewicz7083]

That's what I love about Stellaris. It's a jumble of all the different sci Fi media through the ages into one game.

[@vainthatoneoverhere]

YEAH!! Finally an Opus Magnum! This is why I subbed.

[@TheRedKing]

Hope it meets expectations :)

[@vainthatoneoverhere]

@@TheRedKing Now we need to put there Gatebuilders who made the hyperlanes, Zarqlan, Sentinels and other ancient beings. I still believe they can be connected all together.

[@TheRedKing]

I think I could mash something together for the L-gates, we shall have to see :)

[@badomen7199]

I love your voice! Your commentary and flow are amazing, and no one else does stellaris lore like you do. Keep it up man,, I love this content.

[@TheRedKing]

Thank you for the kind words :) glad you're enjoying the videos!

[@KNNY_-sp6kq]

I totally agree! I don’t really play a lot of stellaris and never cared about the lore until now Great channel

[@MS-Melas]

The Baol-Grunur story was the first story i fully completed and i have to say it really made me think hard of the dark forest theory, the Grunur as space N@zis are really a prime example that could also perhaps befall us

[@InquisitorShepard]

The zroni makes me think of the Alterrans from stargate, the Ori being the Divines and those who would become the milky way Alterrans the Saviors, with Merlin being the Hero who made the weapon to kill all the ascended. The details on how things worked out are différents but the story itself seems to be at least heavily inspired from Stargate on this. Another proof of stargate inspiration can be found as an anomaly on a moon that reveals a literal stargate between the moon and the planet (if I recall correctly). Not to say the whole game is inspired by it, just that these two are. The game is filled with winks to other IPs and such.

[@bigbear1293]

If you want another Stargate Parallel there is the Grey Tempest which are essentially the Replicators both Pegasus and Milky way forms as they are Nanite based beings like all of the Pegasus and the very few Milky way ones but they construct their ships out of nanites also which the Pegasus ones don't do but the Milky Way forms did with their command ship! It also is a parallel that they're creators seemingly tried to keep them contained, the Grey Tempest were locked behind the sabotaged L-Gates and the Replicators in Atlantis were bombarded from orbit. The milky way ones seem to break this parallel as the creator of the Milky Way replicators was seemingly fine in the Milky way until SG-1 found her but she herself was an android maintained by Nanites suggesting that she was an early prototype of a replicator or was created by an Ancient who left Atlantis after the war with the wraith and he tried to make her less dangerous than the Pegasus Replicators by making her a solid being rather than one made of nanites!

[@martinmalecki3302]

vultaun trying to break the fourth wall... It would be cool if there was an artifact that allows you to save every 20 or 50 years in iron man mode. They could sell it as Time travel or an hyper advanced Simulation in game. Oc only for single player.

[@oscarwind4266]

The Baoal was one of the first I met in this game. Their story is beautiful and deeply sad, and what made me love this game.

[@OceanPotion77]

The baol and grunur were present in my most recent playthrough! Its so cool listening to their back story now as I use Baol tech to make my planets all Gaia worlds :)

[@RC--rh1nc]

You're really nice to listen to, thank you for the immersive "my lords" intro, it's very nice and immersive.

[@TheRedKing]

Thank you kindly, glad you enjoyed it :)

[@jaredsmart8655]

Thank you so much for this video. This is a fantasticly engaging and informative video.

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks Jared! Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@eleanorgreywolfe5142]

The Cybrex returning to help fight the Contingency is a cool moment. They refuse to stand by while the horrors they inflicted once on the galaxy is repeated as a final act of atonement. I fully believe this ideological shift they had was them experiencing and understanding, something organics had, but they lacked, empathy.

[@Dude-vq3oe]

Very cool video. Was also cool how you framed the video as a human exploring and explaining the history of the precursor races.

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks Dude! Glad you liked it :)

[@SCUBAelement-Intl]

Wow good lore video! Excellent narration and cool bgm

[@TheRedKing]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Wizard_Level_1]

Great video. The B-roll was perfect and greatly elevated your writing and dictation.

[@TheRedKing]

THans, glad you hear you enjoyed it :)

[@Wizard_Level_1]

@@TheRedKing I see what you did there.

[@echoes222]

Vultaums were incredibly meta heh. Oh, and I love the backgrounds you're adding to your videos!

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks very much!! and yes, they were meta :)

[@mutedknght]

My perspective of the cybrex is decidedly more alien. There was never a perspective or morality change. They were always protectors but went about it in the most robotic way possible. Imagine: You are a hyper intelligent robotic tasked with protecting life. You make a realization: What if your creators got lucky? What if you had gone rogue? What if another alien race isnt so lucky? What if your creators arent lucky a second time? You come to a conclusion: Buy time, figure out how a robotic would fight biological opponents, and then, find out how to counter that. Your acts of extemination and slavery? Drops in the bucket compared to the alternative. The civil war? Actual combat and war practice or, perhaps, a self culling.

[@fizofox1859]

I just discovered these videos, thank you for talking about this game despite not being as popular as other topicd ❤

[@TheRedKing]

Glad you like them! Enjoy!!

[@Wertsir]

The Yuht empire was very stupid, and its frankly astonishing that they lasted as long as they did. They don’t have FTL travel, and yet they only use crews of 2-3 people. This means that when they colonize another world all the people on that world will be descended from the same three people, and thus experience massive amounts of inbreeding caused deleterious mutations. New ships may eventually arrive, but due to the lack of FTL travel this would take a substantial amount of time, and since each new ship would only bring three new people, who would at that point be a small portion of the highly inbred population, and thus this infusion of new DNA would be unlikely to stave off the effects of incest. Especially since the descendants of the new three would also end up inbreeding as their genes spread throughout the population and recessive traits reinforced themselves. One can only imagine the Yuhts as a dynasty of space Hapsburgs with the jaw of Charles II.

[@isuckatusernames4297]

nothing to say that the eggs their ships had were all from different individuals

[@TheRedKing]

Yeah I tend to agree, I think the colony ships probably contained 1000s of eggs from different Yuht females pre fertilised back home... I also think they lived as long as they did was due to the lack of any other empire for the best part of a million years! Something had left the galaxy quite empty...

[@user-re6xt2xf3k]

Eh, there are many workarounds for DNA problems with technology, so I don't think that's necessarily an issue. But Yuht is still the stupidest, most PATHETIC precursor. They have no psionic abilities, no cooperation with other alien races, no advanced computer/nature/engineering technology, and got their ass beat by a younger civilization. They don't even have FTL so technically they're just a really advanced pre-FTL 😂

[@captainmatthew661]

wow this channel fell off my radar i just found it again and glad its going strong and making lore videos still

[@TheRedKing]

Welcome back Matthew :)

[@captainmatthew661]

@@TheRedKing Thanks on the bright side I now got a back log of videos to watch when I got time

[@Mag_ladroth]

This format is so cool. You're my new favourite channel

[@TheRedKing]

Very high praise, glad you enjoyed it :) Hope I can meet expectations in the future!

[@Caladbolg_EN]

I just found your channel today. Thank you for making those videos. They are great! I'll keep watching as they come :)

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks Calabolg, glad you enjoyed it!! :)

[@TheScoutnation]

the fact that the cybrex exist in three different ways in stellaris, as an endgame crisis (contingency), fallen empire , and emergence empire if the contingency gets out of hand, is very cool. also it is likely that the fallen empires are the ones that beat up the original cybrex empire in the end

[@steffanyschwartz7801]

It would be really cool if after the Cyberex help you wipe out the Contingency they fight the Fallen Empires as a revenge for bombing them.

[@jadeswanzey8805]

I like the Baol, their story makes me sad, I’d want to restore them. As an fanatic xenophile player I love to have as many species in my empire.

[@paulgibbon5991]

If you've got the Astral Planes DLC, you can access a parallel universe where the extermination is still ongoing, and the right choices will let you bring some Baol refugees to your empire.

[@Hoomanblue]

I love the vids bro thank you for the amazing content man. Keep up the good work

[@TheRedKing]

Glad you like them, thanks for letting me know :)

[@ultrasmitestinct1327]

This is great! You’ve won a subscriber today.

[@TheRedKing]

Glad to hear it :)

[@secondaryfront]

My pet theory is that Cybrex are realy The Contingency sleeper tech that was found and used by Kuur to make their own artificial inteligence. The internal strife inside the Cybrex society is a conflict between law of robotics made by Kuur - and malevolent nature of the Contingency protocol.

[@TheRedKing]

Could be, may give reasons to why the Cybrex are compelled to come back and help fight the contingency

[@secondaryfront]

@@TheRedKing There is much more: Cybrex ships have a bonus to combat contingency fleets [having knowledge of their weak spots?], they are immune to the ghost signal, and their ships and game avatar are just a "blue Contingency" theme.

[@h.bjoewho6859]

one strange thing is that the Contigency, when we have the option to talk to them, their speech patern is all.... glitchy while when we can speak with the Cybrex they're just fine ''talking'' in a cohesive patern without it being glitched One important thing is that if you're materialistic you can pinpoint that The Contigency super intelligence is broken in some way and that might be true

[@spacebumpkin1565]

Your videos are so good man. Keep it real

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks!! Glad you like them :)

[@danielmyers-cowan3416]

Fantastic watch, probably my favorite of your videos to date. While i have mentioned something very similar before in a previous comment I was hoping to rehash a potential idea for future videos. One thing I find concerning when watching your videos is the finite amount of content that can be pulled from the games main storyline. But as you've established you do have very well fleshed out "headcanon" or a race biography for the species you play with, perhaps you could release a video focusing on the history and identity of your race along with characteristics, traits, behavior along with how and who they interact with in the galaxy. This would open the door for subsequent videos in which you create race biographies for other alien species which may inhabit your galaxy and potentially create a whole series of it in which you extend this timeline and record the rise and fall of the races you've designed in a constant cycle that could exist for as long as you wish. Personally I would love to see how far you could extend this timeline with your own creative input, and if you ever so desired I'm sure you have many viewers who have similar "headcanons" for their own galaxies which you could even incorporate into your own primary timeline. Whatever you chose to do I'm eager to see what the future holds for this channel.

[@TheRedKing]

Perhaps, I should give it more thought tbf. I don't think I want to create a story similar to Montu's Timelines or Invic - we shall see... I do want to cover the Unbidden and Contingency in a similar manner to how I did the Scourge, after that who knows! Maybe another game/franchise as I enjoy learning and then telling the stories and lore I think if I want to grow Stellaris won't be able to sustain me but equally, this a hobby so I have to get enjoyment from it :)

[@duross101]

Thank you for making this video. Saves me 700 bucks not having to buy all 45 DLCs. Much appreciated

[@TheRedKing]

Aha you're most welcome - ping me $350 and we good! ;)

[@desuordie4856]

Isnt this lore in lile 2 DLCs?

[@TheRedKing]

@@desuordie4856 All but the Baol and Zroni are in the base game, the other two are added with Ancient relics :)

[@duross101]

@@desuordie4856 Money well saved

[@Mech-Mech]

Lucky I decided to search this subject today rather than 2 days ago when this video wasn't uploaded

[@nalanewton]

I feel the Vultaum lore is one of the most sad lores out there ,you can say that during the earlier development of stellaris alpha the devs face some random bugs changing the game code that was the Vultaum reality perforator , making changes to base code of the universe against the devs , the VULTAUM fought bravelly against stellaris DEVS trying to disconnect from their simulation , only in the end to see that they are hopeless and out of desperation has a last resource they decided to comite mass suicide in an attempt to disconnect from the DEVS simulation , After that the DEVS decided to Erase most of VULTAUM history and never allowed another civilization to gain that knoleged . REST IN PEACE VULTAUM

[@nalanewton]

And thats is how the DEVS developed stelllaris Beta before releasing to the public

[@ВиталийКотиков-т5э]

But Fanatic Materialsts know...

[@shinkansen1907]

Great content, many thanks!

[@TheRedKing]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@calvin8914]

Most impressive work done! As an avid Stellaris fan, I have been searching for books about these lores but in vain, until I stumbled on this channel. Maybe you should compile your scriptures into an Ebook, and I am more than happy to purchase one.

[@TheRedKing]

Very kind words, glad you enjoyed it :) Hope you enjoy the other stories going forward!!

[@Slothology.]

My favorite is the Cybrex cause they give me a free ring world and alloy maker

[@isuckatusernames4297]

I hoenstly hate ring worlds, cause the districts require rare resosurces to upkeep and over all, I tend to forget to micromanage them

[@steffanyschwartz7801]

Same, literally saved me on the gas materials since I filled one with crystal and gas mines

[@pickupthesoapplease377]

I firmly believe that the Zroni became some type of endgame crisis

[@TheRedKing]

But they all died? or so we think...

[@redeye4516]

The worst crisis of them all: the Psi-Amphetamine Crisis of the 3800s when the blue space meth for wizards finally ran out, causing a rash of withdrawals across the galaxy and effectively ending several empires.

[@jonathan2847]

You can meet the warp entities the divine met, and this can go badly.

[@Muskotron]

@@jonathan2847 how?

[@jonathan2847]

@@Muskotron Just go with psychic ascension and be lucky or unlucky depending how you view it.

[@Zomb-oi5it]

Materialist or not, the Vultum race was right. They and every other civilization are in a video game and WE are the ones playing it. I would love to see a dlc where reality became something like a tool for you to use or a win condition. It would be even better if your in-game empire found out about the simulation and revolted against YOU the player.

[@blacksuite1]

This is the type of Stellaris vids I like to watch. Use to watch the spiffing Brit when he did a lot of lore vids.

[@Ruckus907]

This video was great and it's how I discovered your channel. I love these long form lore videos, are you going to be doing more of them? Also where did all of these visuals come from? They're fantastic and I don't think I've ever seen them before. Keep up the good work!

[@TheRedKing]

I hope to for sure, i'd quite like to cover other games with longer videos as well. There's only so much source material available for Stellaris so they often end up short, but I and from what I understand many of my views like the longer form content... As for the images they'll almost exclusively be AI generated art specifically for the video. I've been playing around with it - you'll see in my discord - but its capable of making some great stuff. As I have zero artistic talent its quite handy! Anyway, glad you enjoyed the video, hope to see you again :)

[@Ruckus907]

@The Red King as a fellow artistically challenged person I feel your pain. I didn't realize ai art was on this level, that's amazing and terrifying. We'll be in the sky net, cybrex and vultaum time lines soon.

[@TheRedKing]

Look up mid journey that's what I'm using, it's incredible!

[@alehen89]

Quality content, as always.

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks Alekzander, glad you enjoyed it :)

[@spacedrake9141]

Very well done the storytelling is amazing

[@TheRedKing]

Glad you enjoyed it - thanks for letting me know :)

[@Kaador]

I just realized....Zromi=Eldar . Paradox really loves wh40k. And the emperor knows, me too. Me too.

[@DarekRichert]

I always thought that Vultaum figured out they were in Stellaris ;) PS. You've missed the "precursor" from the On the Shoulders of Giants origin.

[@TheRedKing]

Oooof I'm not sure I'd call them a precursor; I did do a video covering them though: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaWUpKSCap12ors

[@rogue_one4382]

I love your story telling. I could listen to you tell a bed time story.

[@TheRedKing]

Aha should I start a bed time story channel i'll make sure to post a link 😂

[@fatallyfatcat5274]

Vultaum were at the same time right and wrong. Yes population does play a role in simulation stability, but it's not population reduction that destabilises it, but unchecked increase in population size over the years. Too many people on too many planets causes temporal time dialation (also known as LAG) that makes time itself slows down to a crawl, so much so, that sometimes the simulation gets disconnected through phonomen known as rage quit.

[@WinninethePING]

they took the easy pill lol. but take yourself in the vultaums shoes how can you think of that to populate the whole universe, only we or the developers would know that was possble and they were too depress to think lol

[@Akono_Harper]

HE FINALLY DID IT, HE SAID HE WOULD!!!! 45min vid THANK YOU

[@TheRedKing]

Happy to deliver :)

[@funguslord77]

Fantastic video! Don't think the Curators will be too happy about you giving this information away for free though...

[@TheRedKing]

Good point! But it's ok - I know their secrets :)

[@StarKnight619]

This has been a beautiful video to listen to as I'm setting here at work doing a inventory return count containing hundreds of items Thanks for the video!

[@TheRedKing]

Hope it made work go that much faster, glad you enjoyed it :)

[@StarKnight619]

@@TheRedKing oh it did VERY much did tomorrow get to do 2 pallets

[@TheRedKing]

Then if I may... check this out: (it's not me) kzbin.info/www/bejne/aGqrq5-DlNpje5o&ab_channel=ParadoxInteractive

[@StarKnight619]

@@TheRedKing lol