The History of Fallen Empires in Stellaris

[@trutwhut6550]

Awakened empires should act like a enforcer based on their ideologies, be able to demand law changes in empires and the galactic community, etc.

[@TheRedKing]

100000% this

[@etiennegarant7545]

I think it used to be a bit more like this, with some Fallen Empires getting angry at you for going full AI and things like that. Its been many years however, my memory might be wrong

[@davarus]

yes, but at the start they are more quiet, and grow louder and louder over time yk as all the other empires progress and get stronger

[@DarkKnight52365]

@@etiennegarant7545 the holy empire will be shocked and pissed if you decide to crack one of the holy worlds and thus declaring a holy crusade against you lol

[@Silamon2]

@@DarkKnight52365 They do the same if you complete cybernetic ascension and turn your pops into robots. Or at least they used to, been a few years since I went that route.

[@juke9674]

Fun fact: all the common interactions with fallen empires have the other side of the interaction fully coded as well. If you use console commands to play the fallen materialists and get the "request scientist from normal empire" event you will find out something new: From the normal empires POV, you always just get a request from the fallen empire that says "hey your scientist is clever, let him come with us to help further our research". However, from their side you will realize they are actually just afraid that he will advance your technology too far and that he will immediately be eliminated once he is given up.

[@TheRedKing]

Very cool!!

[@sussysam2000]

Never trust a xeno.

[@Amoth_oth_ras_shash]

ha! i knew it was for the better to keep them!... only makes it more right when their sure shiny battle fleet was swallowed by countless swarms of my fragile but severly sharped fanged and efficient to produce corvettes later! ^^

[@theonesithtorulethemall]

Ah, i always wundert why they wonted my hive lind sientist for anyways, not like they work without zhe hive

[@DontKnow-hr5my]

What the heck that is so cool, i want to see all these event interaction from the fallen empires PoV

[@kanewilson8624]

I started out as a servitor AI empire, I encountered the Spiritual fallen empire after a while and it seemed that got into some good graces with them cause they noticed I had a habit of terraforming Tomb worlds into Gaia Worlds (had the terraforming ascension), All it took to get max rank with them was to send them tribute of different resources with no counter price. The ambassador stated this to me “Perhaps our initial judgment of your kind was unwarranted and…rash, you've clearly shown that you hold biological life in great reverence. You have our permission to colonise our sacred Gaia Worlds and to move through out borders without consequence.”

[@Madcat1331]

That's so cool! It's great to see that there's a possibility to challenge the Fallen Empire's ideals like that by being an AI bent on pampering living organisms Wonder if one can subvert other FEs' expectations similarly as well. A cybernetically enhanced spiritualist civilisation confronting the Enigmatic Observers, for example...

[@droidnautica]

Yeah it also happened to me, but in my case however, I found their revered leader's head (Zarqlan) on one of the star systems around their border and as a result, we became the "chosen people" which gave us the permission from the Spiritualist FE to colonize all their Holy Worlds (except the border being open to us).

[@kanewilson8624]

@@droidnautica I found their leader's head after gaining access to their borders, it negated the permanent -10 rep for being a machine conciseness

[@dm121984]

We are the Borg. You will be pampered. Resistance is dangerous and we really don't want you to try.

[@kanewilson8624]

@@dm121984 I didn’t actively war against the Galaxy to get bio pops but I did open my arms to accept any refugees that were fleeing from war, even other AI that tried to overthrow my neighbouring ally after they (the AI) got defeated. I was role playing as a civilisation that took up the Mantle (from Halo) and put up the policy of “Love thy neighbour but give them a good spanking if they are fucking around.”

[@leonardoalfonso7080]

I wish Paradox would make interactions with them more dynamics and RNG. I also wish we could mess with them like forcing them to change ideologies to becoming our protectorates.

[@TheRedKing]

I wish once awakened they acted like regular empires diplomatically! I.e. join federations and the galactic senate etc

[@leonardoalfonso7080]

@@TheRedKing I feel the same. By the way, you should experiment with AI art to generate images for your videos. Imaging getting beautifully render images of spaceships, xenos, and orbital bombardments!

[@TheContingency25x]

@@TheRedKing They can form/join federations but I’m pretty sure that’s only for the xenophile awakened empire and when the crisis arrives.

[@TheContingency25x]

I especially wish they would do more with the machine fallen empire since there is a lot that could be done (especially with central processing and when they fought the contingency multiple times cycles ago) because right now they are kind of bland (even more than the others) since the only time they awaken is when the contingency arrive and apart from that they basically just sit there doing nothing. It would be nice if paradox implemented more lore between the contingency and machine fallen empire and maybe make it so that central processing can be restored so that we can see this ancient custodian at its full might. Also correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t the machine fallen empire the oldest of them all.

[@JEP1776AEP]

@@TheRedKing completely agree, I always end up just conquering them then releasing them as a vassal, but its pretty unsatisfying because they lose their special buildings and anything that made them unique. It would be great to have some more diplomatic options.

[@Noctazar]

I like one theory I saw somewhere about the Fallen Spiritualists' Holy Worlds, where it was stated that their Holy Worlds are actually graveyards of their saints and soldiers who died in an ancient holy war.

[@williek08472]

I always thought the Holy Worlds were old colony worlds of theirs

[@thirstyserpent1079]

From what I recall in some cases the Gaia world can spawn with a level 10 singularity. Mind you the fallen empires themselves have I think class 4 singularities on their worlds so the fact a class 10 is sitting there un used is concerning. Especially when you consider a class 30 singularity is the threat the contingency is trying to stop.

[@pumpkin_pants3828]

​@@thirstyserpent1079 the Contingency are wrong, theyre an old remnant of the Cybrex that was left over from before they switched ideologies

[@benjaminknode6268]

@@thirstyserpent1079 Are you by chance getting singularity and anomaly mixed up? They are not necessarily the same kind of thing.

[@johnmajorenos5162]

@@pumpkin_pants3828 the contingency wasnt a part of the cybrex. Both of them have different creators

[@johnthecrazedsskull81]

The interesting thing about the Ancient Caretakers is they were actually what remains of a ancient civilisation trying to survive an unknown crisis by cyro-sleep, but with the destruction of Central Processing, the Ancient Cryo-Chambers failed. Meaning out of all the Fallen Empires, the Caretakers are arguably the only ones whose entire civilisation has fallen into none-existence.

[@Dude-vq3oe]

I like the idea of a fallen empire awakening. It’s kinda like “Oooo, you’ve done it now! You’ve awoken the slumbering beast! You mess with us, you’ll be hurt beyond repair!”

[@manend2]

I think the whole concept is a Babylon 5 reference. when the Vorlons and Shadows, who were like Fallen Empires, awakened, the war between them would've consumed the whole galaxy if not for "The League of Non-Aligned worlds", which is another B5 reference. NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF OUR GALAXY! Both of you!

[@jeffers9001]

The only problem is whenever they wake up my empire and other players/ai empires have already surpassed them, unless you have a really bad start anyway. They need to be expanded upon.

[@sirmikelove]

"oooHHH Now you fucked up!! Now you fucked up! NOW! YOU! FUCKED! UP! You have fucked up now! (Now you fucked up!) x6"

[@kurumachikuroe442]

*laughs as my five world engines swat aside their fleets* gigastructural engineering is OP as hell lol

[@manlyman2624]

*Laughs in 500k fleet•

[@etiennegarant7545]

I really like how you tied many systems and crisis into a broader story, this is now my new headcanon. Very nicely done!

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks Étienne; it was fun putting the puzzle together :) Ketlings made a worthy sacrifice!

[@etiennegarant7545]

@@TheRedKing The Ketlings are a curiosity to me; I was under the impression that those inhabiting the 3 systems were former pets of a fallen species that used to inhabit these old worlds and mutated their way into accelerated evolution thank to all the stimulating junk around them. There's also the Kleptomaniac Rats from the Rubricator questline, and the Racket Industrial Entreprise Caravaneers, im 100% certain there's a story there worth knitting together.

[@frozengrip2609]

@@hansmatos2504 It is hard to say, it is more likely there are multiple timelines rather than one giant timeline involving everything.

[@eiohnanananunu9871]

@@hansmatos2504 I forgot what the anomaly is, but I found a planet where the entire civilization apparently died out preparing for the Gray Tempest. Somehow they learned about it but they never survived for their plans of survival to reach fruition. There's a lot of little quests and such that tie in together and I think this game is brilliant for anyone who wants to write stories and such.

[@grey_apache]

I love the idea of the old guard just being tired, old and broken species who watch the new galactic conflicts and see their own mistakes being repeated

[@patrickstalls3529]

First time I met a fallen empire, it was the militant guys, and I was curious about what would happen if I declared war (isolationist, figured maybe they'd be defensive)... nope, within seconds there was a 100k fleet at my home world completely eradicating me. Never spoke to another fallen empire in following playthroughs ever again

[@TheRedKing]

Ahaha I think we've all been there Patrick :)

[@thirstyserpent1079]

There use to be a hilarious tactic you could use to destroy much larger enemies during the first half of the game. You would claim a system right next to the militant isolationist, then immediately give it to whoever was your opponent. After which you got to watch as they were forced to cede and abandon that system along with a number of other systems effectively breaking their empire. This got changed later on from what I recall by making it so AI would only take a system they had actually put a claim on as opposed to you shoveling any system into their hands.

[@MeJustMe101]

Ahh so I'm not the only one.

[@sargentmonkey5166]

I remember when I played on the console edition pre nemesis changes. If you checked the planet's surface of the spiritualist fallen empire (because it wasn't hidden by intel) they had uniquely named versions of their jobs with a job description that implies they actually do have a religion! For example, their technicians are acolytes of the hydrospanner and the job description mentions Bazagg the shining. Other names mentioned are Saint Mazakudal who defeated "the first wraith", Kazargiel who defeated the thrice cursed demon and Aznakha who wanted to urge people into the workshops

[@squeakdragon9689]

Fun Stellaris Fact! You can still see all those old names/jobs in game (PC) by going into properties and rolling back the game to a different version!

[@plexusGD]

They removed that? Oh man.

[@YourLocalMairaaboo]

@@plexusGD They haven't, just way harder to get the intel to see it.

[@ddpzzp553]

sounds vaguely Zoroastrian to me

[@yehiahuzayyin7972]

In defense of the Observers, they only use actual robots as labor. Synthetics are off-limits. In fact, one of the modifiers in their AI's personality is "Robot Liberator," meaning they consider sapient robots to be as worthy of respect as any other race. Honestly, from an in-universe perspective, being a signatory is easily a very good thing. You've got a powerful ally who'll come to your aid in any crisis. You're still allowed diplomatic autonomy and the right to peacefully expand. And you're still allowed to research whatever tech you want. In other words, they're perfect for Tall empire builders.

[@DT-vh5yw]

But it’s the MESSAGE behind it.

[@mrballpython2105]

Last game I played my federation kept getting declared on by the Holy Guardians and I won every war by neutron sweeping one world per war and it was instant win. It felt so fucking good when I eventually took out their capital.

[@elchjol2777]

On one run where I went the Synthetic route I ended up with that relic head and I also got the Numasic shrine building from a caravan. So I ended up as a Synthetic empire,with some organics in it as well, that had priests on every planet and was more or less the fallen empire's guard bots along with being the galactic custodian. Add on defeating both the Xenophile fallen empire and the Grey Tempest it was the best run I've ever had.

[@TheRedKing]

Ha! Always amusing when a materialistic race ends up with the head :)

[@elchjol2777]

@@TheRedKing Well it gave me my best Stellaris story ever so Head +Shrine of Numa+ Synthetics = Win

[@manend2]

"In the name of the holy cog, we the synthetics do here by declare that the great Gods from above command us to fuck them up!"

[@insignificantgnat9334]

Clearly you were the chosen of the Ommnissah.

[@yin6287]

So basically, you guys become the Archotech of Rimworld religion

[@snarst]

The lore for the ketlings specifies that they were not the original civilization on their planets.

[@TheRedKing]

Doesnt it just elude to the fact theyve been living underground for a while, hiding from whatever it was *that wiped them out?

[@risingphoenix02]

@@TheRedKing no i think it said they where the pets of the original owners. And mutated over time as they lived on plannet having their culture as they evolved grow around the idea of scavanging the remains of the civelization from before them.

[@austinheiman6108]

^exactly that. I actually just got said event last night while playing & they’re the evolved pets of the former inhabitants. It does say their evolution was slightly sped up due to being able to access advanced technology, even if they couldn’t fully use it

[@MilutinMujovic]

I really wish we had fallen empires for hive minds, militarists, pacifists, egalitarians, and authoritharians.

[@TheRedKing]

Void Dweller hive mind, with loads of broken megastructures maybe as pacifists?

[@waffleking2276]

@@TheRedKing I also like this idea, maybe some sort of sad backstory of violent self destruction that killed the homeworld, forcing them to live amoungst the stars?

[@justinrice5405]

The only problem I can see with Militarists is that they'd wake up soon. Their society is that of a warrior culture, and they'd either be fighting each other, or beating up other small empires as they rise.

[@brettoelschlager8249]

I feel like the militaristic fallen empire equivalent are the marauder empires.

[@svarf1752]

@@justinrice5405 When I imagine a militarist Fallen Empire, I rather think they would be focused on gladiatorial battles and demand your best admirals and generals, for there are no great challenges in the galaxy.

[@DarkestMirrored]

The way that the Caretakers tie into the Contingency makes it pretty clear to me that there's been a previous activation of the Contingency in the galaxy.

[@asingularhuman]

I made the mistake of declaring war on one of them, I thought because they where a “fallen” empire they where weak… fair to say I got decimated.

[@sagitta98]

"No! I will not allow you to put my people on your zoo." Also me in-game years later. "Let's collect this xeno animal speciments from different systems for our zoo!"

[@FinalArchitect]

1) If I remember, there's a mod on PC called Sins of the Fallen Empire, that allows you to not only be a Fallen Empire, but adds a new and extremely difficult endgame crisis faction known as The Stellarborne(name probably changed, but the concept still exists), the First Ascendancy. 2) The Spiritualists are my favorite Fallen Empire due to Deus Vult crusades. 3) Your videos continue to amaze me. Keep it up.

[@brianmo2965]

You are thinking of two mods called zenith of fallen empires and ancient cache of technology

[@FinalArchitect]

@@brianmo2965 yep, those are the ones.

[@thirstyserpent1079]

What are the stellarborne?

[@FinalArchitect]

@@thirstyserpent1079 They are a endgame crisis from the Zenith of the Fallen Empire and Ancient caches of Technology mods. They are the very first Ascendancy; the very first Fallen Empire. They take the appearance as Elves wearing graceful and advanced silver, white and gold colored armor. Extremely overpowered with ships and technology that can decimate you with zero effort if you are not ready to face them. They will give a chance to submit to them, just like the other Fallen Empires when they awaken. Them awakening will also awaken all Fallen Empire in the galaxy if they haven't already. If, by chance, you do beat them, you get pop up events that will basically turn you and your entire species into literal gods. They are a crisis meant to be extremely difficult, but the reward is so worth it.

[@left9096]

@@FinalArchitect i kind of like the concept of them but the whole "becoming gods" thing is too much lol

[@emjayrogers1987]

One of my favorite things about the fallen empires in general is that the overall concept of them is inspired by the First Ones, specifically the Vorlons and Shadows, from the Babylon 5 tv show. The Vorlons were spiritual pacifists, and the Shadows were militarists. There’s even a bit of flavor text when awakening a fallen empire that is a direct reference to a B5 quote: “Giants on the playground”

[@Tamamo-no-Bae]

The Vorlons were not spiritual pacifists, they were spiritual authoritarians. They believed in strict order and discipline to achieve a prosperous society. The Shadows on the other hand were the opposite, and believed in growth through chaos and strife.

[@NewNewColt]

Paradox should hire you to help with story telling. Recently found your channel and have nearly binged the whole thing at this point.

[@cosmictreason2242]

Well, he’s just synthesizing. He would say as much, that you shouldn’t give him too much creative credit

[@TheRedKing]

I think their writers are waaaaaaaaaay better than me :) alot of what I do is just verbalise their stories and occasionally pad it out a bit; it does depend on the video though

[@tateullock7236]

@@TheRedKing it takes skill to pad out this much this well, you gave the stories skin, blood, and some minor organs, they're fully alive now. Also, why do your walls taste like wafers?

[@vidicul9109]

@@TheRedKing hey man imo you’re way better than their writers. You really made the stories feel alive, in a way that I can’t really explain.

[@crazyhercules9442]

I didn’t know Stellaris even had it’s own lore. I like it.

[@TheRedKing]

Happy to hear it!!

[@jeremieherard2166]

0:18 Observers 1:43 Holy Guardians 3:37 Keepers of Knowledge 4:30 Militant Isolationists 6:45 Ancient Caretakers

[@stiulete3738]

So in the end, our crisis and war in heaven is the equivalent of World War 2 and the notion of history repeats itself?

[@TrippaMazing87]

That story about the war in heaven makes me want a mod that takes place when they all controlled the galaxy together

[@TheRedKing]

Wouldn't be suprised if there was a mod out there for this already, maybe one where you start as a Fallen Empire?

[@manend2]

@@TheRedKing Play with ZOFE and ACOT, and you get to grow into an Ascended Empire on par with or even above the Fallen/Awakened Empires. Include GSE if you want to throw in weaponized planets too

[@venomdragon7853]

@@manend2 What's ZOFE?

[@Xcyiterr]

as someone who did not even realise there was a system like the one the fanatic pacifists had, I wish there was a possible timeline where they survived and became a fallen empire like the rest, keeping that beautiful core planetary system of 1+6* worlds I'd love to see what they would be like as an actual empire in game honestly;;

[@TheRedKing]

The system exists in the game, but yes sadly the empire died many years ago

[@KenshiImmortalWolf]

What i find interesting is that you didn't bring up that the caretakers lost the very creators they where suppose to be caring for. Their refuges have massive cryo stations with billions of pods, all of which house dead organics. Taking up a ton of useable space.

[@TheRedKing]

Its coming :) watch this space, couple weeks!

[@KenshiImmortalWolf]

@@TheRedKing interesting. though that does explain why they are glitched out, you have to wonder if there will ever be a quest to try and restore their creators, there are some event chains where you can revive dead species

[@amongusus47825]

​@@TheRedKing liar

[@thatguywhosenameyoukeepmis9450]

I was surrounded by two fallen empires on my first playthorugh and after destroying the Unbidden(which spawned in my empire and were promptly annihilated by my advanced kinetic tech[and also because I was playing Commonwealth of Man and had stacked almost 100% ship fire rate bonuses]) both fallen empires awakened and invaded me, I held on for about two decades but then they destroyed my death stack and I fell 10 years later completely. I didn't have the right DLC to get War in Heaven so the galaxy didn't unite behind me, instead they just beat me up until I had no more ships and Unity captured.

[@greggreg2458]

I like the fallen empires very much, i fell in love with ACOT mod, being able to surpass them is always a key moment of any run i do. I still remember the first time i won a war against a fallen empire.

[@spawnkeeper999]

Dude this video is so well done. The pacing, story telling and the overall ambiance achieved through sound. Amazing job!!!

[@TheRedKing]

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

[@jamesdreads7828]

I was just lamenting the lack of decent content on my youtube feed, and here you are to save the day..

[@TheRedKing]

Aha hope it delivers 🙂 good to see you James!

[@nialljones3227]

@@TheRedKing I'm just sitting and waiting for a multiplayer game to start whilst designing my new empire

[@jamesdreads7828]

@@TheRedKing awesome vid, as ever man. Thanks a lot

[@TheRedKing]

May the lore inspire you to a wonderful victory!

[@nialljones3227]

@@TheRedKing I've had my fleet decimated in the first 20 years

[@Dandroid_1]

I like playing as a Machine empire, once you start amassing minerals and rare resources, you can actually pull off some deals with the caretakers and sometimes the observers, to bolster your energy income, which can really help in the early + mid game. It's always hilarious with the fanatical empire though, my Ro-bros typically just play it cool and neutral, so I feel no shame in commencing extermination when they pull the first punch. My empire's endgoal was just to figure out how to make themselves organic bodies, so they could ascend beyond the material realm, which just makes it even more ironic that they tried to destroy me. Their worlds now serve as bio-farms for reactors and trade with organics.

[@danielk5780]

Scrap that "sometimes". You can always rip off the Caretakers and the Xenophiles for huge amounts of Alloys if you offer them strategic resources - motes, crystals and gases. Dark Matter holds a special place in their hearts as well. Something like ~1000 Motes for 10000 Alloys. I even managed to trade some of those resources into Living Metal with the Caretakers in order to keep my Living Metal Megaconstruction Edict running for the Atherophasic Engine.

[@damonedrington3453]

Organic beings- make machines to do things organically can’t Machines: “I want to be organic”

[@jasonshen7600]

Fallen Empires in the early game: Obey or die mortal. 2 hours later Player: HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TEACH YOU THIS LESSON OLD MAN?

[@aful3091]

This one was amazing, possibly your best video to date. I almost forgot I was watching a Stellaris video and was totally immersed in the story of the War In Heaven. I've put together a lot of the game's context clues on galactic history myself but you lay em out very well.

[@normankolibaba9605]

I think it would be awesome to be able to interact more with these AI factions

[@TheRedKing]

100%

[@UnholyWrath3277]

I always put the fallen empires in a bubble. Like you wanted to be left alone and now you will be :)

[@landeretxabarrigomez8382]

0:22 fanatic xenophile (enigmatic observers 1:44 fanatic espiritualists (holy guardians) 3:38 fanatic materialists (keepers of knowledge) 4:32 fanatic xenophobe (militant aisolationists)

[@Kelorel]

This was a very cool look into the Fallen Empires. I like to think that these Empires were each the pinnacle of civilization at their height, but the magnitude of their failures that lead to their subsequent collapse was such a burden that it send them each into a collective state of depression, hidden away on what's left of their once proud civilization. They sit and watch as other empires rise and fall around them for thousands of years, content with doing nothing because they know how it ends for them all. It adds a lot of weight to what it takes for a Fallen Empire to awaken from such a state.

[@aslysa2277]

Finally a channel that covers stellaris lore !!!!!! Always been wanting to know more and get into the games universe

[@TheRedKing]

Hope it delivers :)

[@dr.veronica6155]

I really wish you could interact with them more. As it is, I usually just ignore them completely until the beginning of the endgame, where I'll declare war on one of them and beat them up until they'll accept a Status Quo end to the war so I can study the wreckage of the ships I destroy and have Dark Matter tech for the Endgame Crisis. I never let them make me a subject though. Even if it's the benevolent ones who just want galactic peace. Being the protector of the galaxy is a job for *me* because *I* am the Custodian, thank you very much. As that one ascension perk says, they are simply decrepit old empires clinging to the ruins of their once-great civilizations. Their time has long since passed, and the Foundation will not be bullied by ancient fools with delusions of granduer who believe that being in charge once means they have a mandate to be in charge forever. Also, this has nothing to do with Fallen Empires, but I wish the game didn't consider spiritualist and materialist as violently opposed to one another and impossible to have together. Let me make my techno cult. I want to be the Church of the Broken God.

[@TheRedKing]

100% agree with both points, particularly the last one. Tech priests please!

[@RobertDrane]

It's definitely not going to be easy to workaround the mutual exclusivity, but I wondered about how this would work for a while and stumbled on the idea of faction demands and rewards linked to civics.

[@Vasilefs_Terranorum]

I think the ethics and civics mod has allows for a tech-priests civic, which actually causes some pretty substantial changes to play style.

[@Jenna_Talia]

My last game had the prethoryn spawn behind a dormant fallen empire. Couldn't get to them, so I waited for them and I got this pop up from a hivemind that said "my liege, the prethoryn are invading! You must protect us!" (I was galactic empress) I've never seen that pop up at all, confused the hell out of me. Either way, the prethoryn rolled over that fallen empire and an awakened one managed to hold them at bay for a while until I put together good fleets.

[@fedorustimenko3057]

Someone played as a spacefaring SCP Foundation, huh. Gotta try it myself. If you please, can you tell what civics/origins you used?

[@Naymy]

Anyone think it was likely, that, at some point in time, the Xenophile Fanatic's went to war with the Fanatic Purifiers, the Prikkiki-Ti and Shielded their world in a time bubble?

[@TheRedKing]

Very likely!!

[@kermitthefrog1176]

recently i played rogue servitors with the broken ring origin, i got the cybrex precursor event, and the caretakers that spawned next to me got killed off by an empire, so i took their systems and ended up with 4 ringworlds without actually having the tech for it

[@koiosdamocles1090]

Shalash is my favorite system to restore through the worm event and remake into a paradise system.

[@angelopueyygarcia43]

The one thing I hate the most about Stellaris is that if you choose remnant, which basically makes you the last of an empire the same as the fallen empires. They don't react to this or even acknowledge this fact. I value RP over anything else in this game and to me this is my biggest disappointment

[@Trooper50000]

With being a remnant, you were possibly a remnant of a civilization older then them or the current people of them in charge have no knowledge of the other empires that weren't their old enemies, so basically you can be a forgotten remnant and your people play along to avoid a repeat of what made them that in the first place

[@dm-rj2zg]

I like how you mixed in some ai-generated portraits and stuff, adds some nice flavor

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks Dom !

[@brothbjibbajab6217]

@@TheRedKing If you are using Midjourney you can add --ar 2:3 to make the results widescreen

[@TheRedKing]

Aha I shall do this, thank you ! I'm a total noob and have not had the time to really experiment beyond the basic image generation

[@TheContingency25x]

Shouldn’t the contingency replace the unbidden as it is stated by the machine fallen empire that they have fought the contingency multiple of times and won but they have not stated that they fought the unbidden.

[@TheRedKing]

mmmm - Maybe, but I figured the unbidden fit the story nicely

[@TheContingency25x]

@@TheRedKing They kind of do. They fit a lot more than the prethoryn scourge do at least.

[@Cevonis]

@@TheRedKing when the contingency happen the caretakers awaken to help defeat them and say that they've fought the contingency multiple times but were beaten time and again and that this time would be their last, or something like that.

[@TheContingency25x]

@@Cevonis Either that or they go berserk. One mystery we may never know is where the caretakers go after the contingency is defeated. It is said that they go to the heart of the galaxy but what lies there?

[@crim1188]

@@TheContingency25x Contingency I'd guess

[@zacharycarver2735]

I have over 600 hours played and now only realize that there’s only 5 fallen empires…

[@alvarohernani6645]

0:11 oh i know this one, the Necrons vs the Old ones, a cataclysmic war of galactic proportions

[@internetzenmaster8952]

4:40 "Militant Isolationists" An entire civilization that operates on the "Hippity Hoppity _get the fuck off_ my property/lawn" mindset. Brutal, but effective. Doubly so when they have damn xenomorph-style shocktroops.

[@thorshammer7883]

This was a good video. I find it a bit hard to believe though that the Fallen Empires would just do absolutely nothing and just stay stagnant for thousands of years and choose not to recover entirely. By the way I found art for a gigantic creature called a Omega Karyon by SwarmCreator. It is huge and seems like it would fit perfectly in Stellaris.

[@TheRedKing]

That beast looks like it would fit right in the Stellaris universe!! Terrifying!!

[@thorshammer7883]

@@TheRedKing The Beast a size of planet would be excellent material for a Leviathan event. Considering all the details SwarmCreator made for it, it seems like it could be a mothership too carrying all sorts of creatures on it's body. Imagine what the rewards and event icons would be like.

[@Ledecral]

Perhaps they feared the return of the unbidden if they spread again. The caretakers had kept to themselves after all, and warned them about their advancements.

[@MisterDevel]

I've watched about 10 of your videos in one night and I must say, I'm quite the fan! Love the channel mate.

[@TheRedKing]

Happy to hear it! Glad you're enjoying the videos

[@joyboy1468]

Wow I caught this one early, I am always up to watch your amazing videos

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks JoyBoy! Glad you're enjoying them :)

[@Liam-iv7wk]

That was some sweet use of stable diffusion. Very sleek

[@TheRedKing]

AI art for someone like me with 0 artistic talent is absolutely game changing - i love it

[@salvof.8880]

It's the first of yours video I watch: it was like listening to an audio book, fantastic voice and narration qualities. Keep up the good work

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks Salvo!! Very kind words, appreicate the support :)

[@athullnexus5450]

I randomly found this video in my sidebar and I am so happy I did. Your voice is amazing as a narrator. Cadence, tone, word choice. It is all perfect! Amazing job! This video also reignited my intrest in Stellaris again. Thank you for that. Can't wait to see your other lore videos too!

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks!! Glad you enjoyed it :) hope you like the other videos as much

[@Nikoli492]

Thank you for doing a lore video on fallen empires I always wonder what their history is & I find them fascinating. Tho whenever I play as an evil empire I hate them with a passion for constantly humiliation me & forcing me to not genocide lesser alien.

[@isuckatusernames4297]

try the ancient cache of technology mod. on top of being z coo mod, it also gives some hinsight on the fallen empires

[@cmdrtianyilin8107]

After a long time, returning to the Red King is really a refreshing experience. Thank you for the continuous upload.

[@TheRedKing]

Welcome back!! I was actually thinking of you the other day, I think the last message you left was that you'd either had surgery, or were recovering from it. Hope all is alright and glad you see you back :)

[@cmdrtianyilin8107]

@@TheRedKing thank you very much for your thoughts. I was actually recovering and in the process of getting my old job back.

[@TheRedKing]

Well hope all is good, or getting better now :)

[@dustyrussell6939]

Ive never had the war in heaven begin and ive played 200 hours more or less. I did have a fallen empire rise and try to force a non-aggression pact on the galaxy along with making us all their protectorates. I was right beside them and refused thinking i was about to be in a hell of a war but they maintained peace with me the entire game. Good thing to because the scourge popped up in the strongest empires borders and even with my rush to exterminate them they were wiped out.

[@TheRedKing]

Stick with it, at least two fallen empires in the game and it will happen eventually

[@tredausmaxima]

Sometimes it happens. Sometimes it doesn't happen. I encountered the war in heaven at least twice.

[@chairothechair]

I got the War In heaven in my first serious game man.

[@austinmatney4707]

I really enjoyed you video! Keep it up! I won my first War in Heaven not to long ago. It was an almighty slugging match. Along with the Unbidden arriving during the half way mark of the War in Heaven. It stunk. I had to trade time and space with the Unbidden. So that I could deal with the awakened empires. I eventually had to make peace with one of them so that I could recall a couple of my fleets back to deal with the Unbidden who were getting too close to my territory for comfort. Eventually the Unbidden were mopped up by a joint effort between me and my allies. I was then able to clean up the remaining Awakened Empire I was at war with and waited out the truce with the other Awakened Empire before coming down hard on their last few remaining fleets and systems. So many worlds were shielded and many worlds were cracked in that God forsaken war. In my personal opinion, the War in Heaven is the hardest thing to deal with. You lose so much infrastructure and planets that you are unable to reclaim. All the other crisis are easier to deal with because they hit the galaxy hard in the beginning, but spread out to a point where they can't mutually support one another and if you can get your fleets together effectively, you can defeat them in detail. Along with that you can reclaim the lost territory and rebuild your infrastructure as you continue to fight the war. The Awakened Empires on the other hand, their fleets never seem to operate far from their territory and are able to move insanely fast to react to any in roads that are made into their territory. Not to mention their main star bases can be over 150,000k plus. Which takes a toll on your fleets. Pending on where they are and you are, fleet reinforcements can take up to a few weeks to a few months to arrive in time to bring the fleets back up to strength. By then you've already fought off the Awakened Empire fleet that has come to exact another toll on your already weakened fleets. I've lost more ships to Awakened Empire wars than I have to any crisis factions.

[@ViIgax]

I proudly align myself with the unapologetic Isolationists, those who grasp the harsh and unyielding nature of the galaxy. The cosmos isn't some whimsical, star-studded utopia where everyone gathers around a campfire, holding hands, singing kumbaya, and living in blissful harmony. No, it's a brutal, cutthroat battleground where only the fittest and most cunning survive. Believing in some utopian fantasy of everlasting peace is not just naive, it's catastrophic. We Isolationists understand that in a galaxy teeming with countless civilizations, each vying for supremacy, there is no room for complacency or misguided idealism. It’s a world dominated by the principle of "conquer or be conquered". There is no cozy middle ground where diplomacy alone can guarantee security and prosperity. If you're not prepared to rise to the occasion, to assert your dominance, and to defend what is yours, you'll find yourself quickly overrun by those who are less naive and far more ruthless. This is the unforgiving reality of our galaxy, a reality we must confront head-on without any sugar-coated illusions. We understand that power and strength are the only currencies that truly matter. In this vast expanse, those who cling to whimsical notions of universal peace and brotherhood are doomed to be trampled by the relentless march of those who know better. So, let's dispense with the fantasies and face the stark truth: survival demands strength, strategy, and an unwavering will to prevail.

[@williamclementsii3644]

One Fallen Empire, don't remember which, fought me over a border dispute, then killed my head leader every time I lost a battle with said Fallen Empire

[@verty6006]

Love your videos! soothing, calming and at the same time entertaining. Its like m being told a bed time story!

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks Verty :) Happy to hear it, glad you enjoy them

[@Bellio_]

Got zarqlan's head mid-late game. Doesnt do much at that point, but the dialogue is so god dang funny. They truly are fanatics

[@RobertDrane]

I haven't done any Stellaris modding before but your content makes me want to get into it. Hearing that this bombing cracked a tectonic plate and triggered a volcanic reaction I was imagining what possibilities would open up if bombing was handled through a situation rather than through the devastation mechanic

[@TheRedKing]

Do it! :)

[@mobuj5947]

This was fantastic. Very enlightening and informative. Thanks

[@TheRedKing]

Glad you enjoyed it! :)

[@Emanon...]

Such a great channel! Cheers!

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks AJ! 👍

[@MorpheussUK]

Thank you for these videos, since starting your playlist I've been hooked and since I suck at Stellaris I'd most likely never come across and learn about these things without you :D Love this style of naration by the way, keep it up.

[@TheRedKing]

Happy you're enjoying them!! Thanks for letting me know :)

[@chrispines3477]

I’ve watched your vids for a while now and it’s really awesome to see you getting so many views! Congrats king, looking forward to more.

[@TheRedKing]

Cheers Chris!! :)

[@wattz9580]

Fun fact:a warhammer 40k reference is the war in heaven,which in 40k refers to galactic battle of the same name

[@settratheimperishable4093]

Meanwhile the unbidden spawned 2 systems away from my massed fleets who had just finished repairs at the mega shipyard after a war. Didn't even get any events on them before they were dead. Even had it at a stronger setting.

[@ShionWinkler]

"The War In Heaven" is used a lot I have noticed, here, 40k lore, Dr.Who lore...

[@TheRedKing]

The Bible as well, it's been throughly used!

[@Gizz101]

War in heaven seems to be used often for wars of unimaginable scales in many games

[@AmanD5001]

Just found your channel, I love it!

[@TheRedKing]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@greeny3x399]

Great video, but wouldve loved a note on the reawakening of the caretakers in case of the contigency crisis, as that could give insight into why the caretakers were created.

[@TheRedKing]

Maybe i'll do something on them specifically :)

[@greeny3x399]

@@TheRedKing that would be very cool :) The Contigency in general has very cool Lore implications, my theory has always been that it was created to prevent the "End of the Cicle" to happen

[@smity739]

Don't poke the sleeping space bear.

[@TheRedKing]

It pokes back !

[@imperiumCirca41]

I am the one who pokes -Waltuh,but in space

[@nfwrambo]

I’ve been looking for something like this ever since the spiffing Brit ascended

[@TheRedKing]

All hail Spif, the God of Tea

[@chattychatotchannel]

I appreciate you explaining and reading this stuff aloud. I have trouble with reading the Stellaris archeology sites and other swathes of text which aren’t broken up. The text to speech makes me anxious. I also think it’s awesome how you discuss stuff that is not so obviously stated and more implied or garnered from the empires. Thank you!

[@TheRedKing]

Thanks for the kind words Lily!! Glad you're enjoying the videos :)

[@whydidyoutubeaddthis]

Love this kind of stuff. Very nice

[@TheRedKing]

Thank you!

[@thainemartin5766]

I just listened to the XT-489 video right before this so the Caretakers got a chuckle out of me

[@TheRedKing]

Aha yes ! The continuation of a solid lore structure is lacking, nevertheless it makes for good stories and lots of speculation :) hope you enjoyed it

[@panmopsel]

I once caused religious crisis in holy guardian’s empire, i was machine empire and got zarqlann’s head. Your chosen is machine you hate XD

[@toasteroven5636]

In my first play through as a normal machine empire I found the holy head shortly after the holy guardians woke up. They were always friendly because of that and even once sent me a gift.

[@odinthegenericproto7075]

i feel theres probably something more. like something todo with the contingency or the precursors (especially the cybrex as they can comeback if the contingency meets a certain goal)

[@Ausfailia]

The war in heaven is so rare these days, it rarely triggers for me

[@TheRedKing]

Agreed, I find it works best on a small map with 2 fallen Empires only.

[@Ausfailia]

@@TheRedKing I'll give that a go

[@bocktordaytona5656]

So basically this is warhammer mixed with mass effect with less space demons, but more half life Combine. I just fell in love with this I think.

[@Kaador]

These days there are a lot (A LOT!) mechanics in the entire game. What a jewel it is now. But the other ethics-fanatics sc hould be possible FE too. And more than 3 + 2 secret endgame crisis would be very nice

[@RayRay2Savage]

an extremely well put together video that i enjoyed immensely. thank you for taking the time to put this together.

[@TheRedKing]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@wubbalubbadubdub5867]

I was surprised an saddened that the isolationist/militarist agressors didnnt attack or get attacked the unbidden. It would not only make sense but would 100% be karma for their senseless agression

[@franziscoschmidt]

Love your content!

[@TheRedKing]

Glad to hear it! :) Thanks for letting me know!

[@gamergirlbathwater7605]

War in Heaven? Fallen empires? This is more like 40k than I thought.

[@TheRedKing]

It has similarities :)

[@nanosum1]

Amazing video!

[@TheRedKing]

Glad you think so!

[@ranger6609]

Interesting how every game of stellaris is just a repeat of what the Fallen Empires went through. Just a cycle of empires getting too powerful till eventually something snaps by them stretching the limits.

[@TheKingSalty]

"So you're the Fallen Guardians eh? What's your Doomsd..." "WOLOLO! "

[@chloekaftan]

we pretty much know why the Enigmatic Observers have a keen interest in populating the Preserve with the various species of the Galaxy, the reason is twofold, the first is because they use the Preserve in a very similar fashion as the Ancient Caretakers, using the population to reseed the Galaxy whenever something erases all life in it occurs; except unlike the Ancient Caretakers the Enigmatic Observers are not wholly benevolent in this pursuit, since it has been implied that the second reason the Enigmatic Observers do this is to pleasure themselves with the various species of the galaxy (keep that in mind next time you are forced to surrender your pops to them, since 1 pop = 500,000,000 people). the calculation is based on the starting population of Earth in 2200 (game start) which is at 32 pops, if the figure is 500,000,000 per pop then we are sitting at 16 billion people at the year of 2200, which is a fairly reasonable figure. we unfortunately can never know for sure if its accurate since the metrics can change dramatically based on species, fertility, and %%% drive, long lived species also tend to reproduce far less, while short lived species tend to reproduce many times faster and with whole clutches of spawn, where humans rarely ever have twins or triplets, many reptilian and avian species can have as many as 20 to 30 children at once. economies of scale also factor in since at least for humans raising a child is prohibitively expensive, but for aliens it could be very cheap since things like education isnt institutionalized, or their martial traditions expect them to survive at a very young age, some may even have behavior similar to sharks, toads, or spiders who follow the universal law of survival of the fittest (if you know, you know).

[@MasterBot98]

Spiritualism is quite real in the realm of Stellaris(psionics+unbidden). What exactly is the difference between materialism and spiritualism is up for interpretation though. Also there is a mod for a fallen hive-mind.

[@oscarwind4266]

An interesting thought is that your empire becomes the fallen Empire next game.

[@KleptomaniacJames]

One critique I have, is that instead of the unbidden coming and saying, “at last we feast”, it should’ve been the aberrant or the vehement. I can’t recall where, but it is implied that the unbidden are recent losers of a grand competition for resources between the three forces. Hence why they are the first to show up. The idea that, perhaps at one time it was one of the other more dominant forces that was the underdog between the three is quite interesting to me. Another is the Ketlings. If I recall correctly, the rats are not actually the civilization we see from orbit, but rather what has become of their pets. From what I understand, the original denizens of the star pack were very well-versed in gene editing, and kept many exotic pets before their demise. it was only millennia after they fell that the rats took over as the scavenging people of the worlds.

[@TheRedKing]

The Unbidden literally say that when the enter our galaxy; its not said anywhere or really even implied that they are the weakest of the three but you can just speculate. The Ketlings were pets, but who's to say the original inhabitants were not also called ketlings and their pets embraced the name - all just speculation :)

[@KleptomaniacJames]

@@TheRedKing The vehemet and abberant spawn with stronger fleets, but reinforce with less iirc. I could be wrong, last time I fought all three 25 pops was a lot for one world

[@radiofish5649]

Thank you for the lore

[@TheRedKing]

Thank you for watching :)

[@vasheroo]

Decided to watch this just after the xenophile and materialist FEs have started the war in heaven in my galaxy. I'm an inward perfectionist void dweller with a large swath of territory isolated to two chokepoints, a wormhole and two L-Gates (I control Terminal Egress). Inward Perfectionist is a bit weird, but I thought my best RP would be to give the whole galaxy the cold shoulder and focus on my kingdom. Earth and the other great powers joined together in a Federation of Non-Aligned Empires to resist the Fallen Empires. I had already eschewed the galactic community, focusing on my great Romulan Empire. To my surprise the Awakened Empires declared war on the Federation instead of my independent Empire. We will see what fate has in store for the galaxy!

[@RovingTroll]

I would love a video, even a short, about VLUUR

[@TheRedKing]

I briefly covered it in the space fauna video, but there isn't alot to say sadly

[@basedimperialism]

The Holy Guardians worshipping the Head of Zar'qlan makes sense. Religions often place great spiritual importance on things related to a holy figure. For instance, Muhammad's banner and sword, or the Lance of Longinus that pierced Jesus' chest while crucified. The Head of Zar'qlan is the equivalent of sameone having the preserved body of Abraham himself.

[@j.vinton4039]

When I score the Head of Zar’qlan with the Guardians near by I always get a bit giddy. They basically allow you to field an extremely advanced fleet at all times as long as you got the influence to accommodate it. I always name their fleet “Warriors of Zar’qlan” and they can be a serious force in your military.