What is the 'End of the Cycle'? - Stellaris Lore

[@TheRedKing]

Stellaris is on sale for literally another 24 hours at time of writing this comment, most DLC included, enjoy! www.humblebundle.com/store/stellaris?partner=redking

[@RageAgainstTheDyingOfTheLight7]

What dlc is this event chain from

[@TheRedKing]

plentiful fossils is base game, for psionics you need utopia I believe

[@thegamerguy1790]

Got utopia

[@BadWalmartCustomerServiceCom]

@@TheRedKing I

[@DragonKingSkye]

The End of the Cycle is what I believe to be the Class 30 Singularity that the Contingency are meant to stop from happening. Since only organics can touch the Shroud and forge a covenant with the End of the Cycle, and the Contingency's stated goal is to end all the organics due to them being the ones that can cause a class 30 Singularity, it adds up to me at least.

[@bgcvetan]

class 30 Singularity - Chaos god or C'tan being led loose in the materium. Makes sense.

[@u.a.perfectace7786]

Always thought the Aetherphasic Engine was the Class-30 Singularity. Maybe the End and The Engine both count? I'd imagine a scenario that the End of the Cycle could not be stopped and one Empire fires the Engine out of sheer desperation to stop it.

[@eclipsesunmoon4959]

I think the class 30 singularity is an intelligence singularity, where once a species or multiple species gets smart enough and technology progresses to a certain extent, the contingency activates to stop those who are too advance, mainly sentient robots since those are the common triggers for it to choose the contingency and mainly affects robot civs, from finding out the truth of the stellaris universe, its all a game and to stop them from making a game in a game repeatedly, causing a chain reaction and ultimately destroy the universe, that's also why I think the robot fallen empire got targeted so much and had their processing ring destroyed which stagnated them stopping them from creating a singularity. But even if this is not the case then why is the contingency so focused on sentient Ai like the ghost signal corrupting AI empires including the fallen one. All I know is that the contingency knows, and their not revealing all the truth due to hardware malfunctions from lack of proper maintenance, but its just a theory.

[@Harbinger10892]

But the Contingency doesn't exclusively target organics - it also kills synthetics.

[@commandoepsilon4664]

I doubt the class 30 singularity is the End of the Cycle, it does say that it targets organics, but also non-compliant machine intelligences. The machines will obviously never cause the End of the Cycle.

[@vi6ddarkking]

Honestly I would love a mid game crisis where one of the AI Empires, made the covenant with the End of the Cycle. And now the rest of the galaxy has to deal with it.

[@TheRedKing]

Yeah agreed sounds marvellous, and make the creature that comes out at the end far stronger than it currently is

[@tbotalpha8133]

It's possible already. Any psionically-ascended AI empire can make such a covenant. But I think they're coded to always pick the first covenant they're offered, and the End of the Cycle is the rarest option, so it's rare for the probability to line up properly.

[@vi6ddarkking]

@@tbotalpha8133 I know that's why I mentioned it as a proper mid game crisis.

[@archmagemc3561]

Only problem, End of the Cycle needs more hull. Its very easy to take out with disruptors.

[@bleflar9183]

@@archmagemc3561 Or give it 100% shield hardness.

[@SmugLookingBarrel]

While tales abound of empires who pacted with this entity and didn't know or thought they could skirt the risks, what I find far more interesting is the possibility that an empire took this deal by choice, knowing the consequences, in order to save the galaxy from a different crisis. Who saw the Scourge or the Unbidden or the Contingency ravaging systems and decided that they would sacrifice themselves to try to prevent The End.

[@matiasrodriguez7408]

If they made a pact with the end of the cycle, it is obvious that they did not know what they were doing You cannot destroy a poison by introducing a much stronger poison into the galaxy, it will also seek your destruction

[@AnonimatosTM]

What if that empire didn't fight the contingency but in fact created it. The Contingency states that their creators "self-terminated". To a machine that's not far to "died by the consequences of their own actions". Maybe such an empire made a covenant with the end of a cycle in desperation and when the conflict was over created the contingency so that whatever they faced wouldn't be a threat to anyone ever again.

[@kinagrill]

Or had a Voltaum-like disillusion with reality and thought this path would 'disconnect' them from the simulation?

[@victor_silva6142]

Stellaris is a low key horror game and no one can convince me on the contrary

[@brandonashby6206]

Their bad been so many time in playing and my scientists disappears with a deathly haunting scream. Get me every time.

[@C.U.S]

@@victor_silva6142 space itself is horrifying so yeah

[@finnheisenheim8274]

Horror and wonder often go hand-in-hand.

[@arnowisp6244]

And yet in Game the Shroud is super OP but cannot heal meaning as it goes on a rampage it eventually accumulates damage until it dies. 😤

[@hariman7727]

It's an amalgamation of the excess psychic power of the eaten empire manifested to consume/destroy more of the galaxy. The End of the Cycle doesn't need to survive for an extended amount of time because it's goal is accomplished and anything else is a bonus.

[@awesomegj]

My favorite thing with the end of cycle is when those exiles still manage to come back to defeat the avatar and reclaim what was lost though personally when i try that it normally ends in failure

[@TheMarsBriggs]

Dr. A Grant at "Plentiful Fossils", I see what you did there

[@TheContingency25x]

On the other hand, me: destined to never encounter the EoTC

[@TheRedKing]

got to play organic, psionic my dude

[@1650th]

But you do fail to update

[@mememachine3963]

The chance increases if there is a level 5 crisis empire on the map. Normally it's a 2% chance, but goes up to 10% when that happens

[@hariman7727]

@@TheRedKing My biggest complaint about Stellaris is that the writing of the ideologies and factions in the game matches the developers' preconceptions of the universe, which means they completely discount a variety of societal possibilities.

[@Meritania]

It’s interesting how double production would work; do you build a rocking horse, finish it, look away, then bam, a second one appears. Thanks EoTC.

[@FlameDarkfire]

I’m thinking the day before you could build one rocking horse, now after the covenant was made you could make two rocking horses in the same time frame and energy expenditure.

[@alehen89]

Another great slice of lore with a spice of OC. I really like how the choice of music and the images really adds to the immersion.

[@xbox70333]

Hi Red King, I played stellaris years ago but your videos have got me back into the game. Perfect universe to make lore videos about, great stuff.

[@TheRedKing]

Glad to hear it! Happy exploring!

[@bgcvetan]

When will Xenos learn, you can't negotiate with a Tiger when your head is in it's mouth!

[@Pellkot]

It essentially fattens you up for consumption later

[@agamemnonofmycenae5258]

I don't think so. The End of the Cycle doesn't care about us(the Empire encountering it). It states both to a conventional empire, as well as prematurely to the Toxic Knight trapped in the Shroud that it is not yet their time.[Exact words; IT IS NOT YET YOUR TIME, GO HOME! YOU'RE NOT YET FIT FOR THIS BARGAIN."] and returns the Knight's consciousness back to the body. A hungry entity like the Eater of Worlds, and to some degree the others, would have consumed or driven the knight crazy. EotC actually helped unconditionally.

[@kinagrill]

@@agamemnonofmycenae5258 I would agree with you here, It's.... it's ending itself, or at least the shroud's personification of true ending. But, every ending as a beginning after, hence the refuge which allows for another beginning. It nearly has a sort of familiarity with The Worm In Waiting and it's cyclical orobouros theme (albeit way more broken in terms of cause and effect... like a corrupted, dark-reflection).

[@agamemnonofmycenae5258]

@kinagrill refuge where the exiles go isn't a new beginning. It was a WH40k reference, and in particular, the one about the Eldar. Long story short, Eldar were debaucherous to the point of birthing a Chaos God of desire and excess that then proceeded to kill the majority of them. Afterwards, when their empire collapsed, it proceeded to hunt down the survivors, most of whom fled on craftworlds(planet-sized spaceships). Pretty similar to the End of the Cycle aftermath with the caveat that vanilla stellaris doesn't have craftworlds, so you get a planet instead.

[@Nikoli492]

I never summoned "The End of the Cycle" entity but I did consider it a backup plan in an event that I fail to destroy the galaxy with the Aetherophasic engine frame. One way or another I'm destroying the galaxy if I'll cost mine species extinction. Edit: I love the music around the near ending if the video it's beautiful & gives of tragic villain vibes to the race that doom both there people & possibly half of the galaxy.

[@Anom_Anom]

ROUGE SERVITOR WHEN

[@6thhistory]

Nah we need Cyan Servitor first

[@TheRedKing]

Green servitor first!

[@zalophuscalifornianus5457]

Clearly we need the purple servitor first

[@Anom_Anom]

Red servitor is the priority

[@drewstillexists]

The most important Rogue Servitor lore is that it's spelled "Rogue"

[@tywren2486]

Been trying to get this on my Lovecraftian death cult RP race for the longest time. EoTC, Worm in waiting, gate dig site, opening L-cluster ASAP, basically anything and everything that is self destructive, and or unleashes roaming death and chaos on the galaxy.

[@TheRedKing]

Best of luck!!

[@scaredstar9127]

Been checking snippest of this channel while passing by and i absolutely enjoy your intro, simple yet makes you stand out.

[@TheRedKing]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@Raiku49]

"Tenfold" means to multiply by ten times it's value. So, at 10:28 it would mean that this advanced civilization could only maintain a max of 1 starbase without penalty lol.

[@TheRedKing]

Yeah it's actually +10 starbases, but that's a little awkward to say in this format, so tenfold.

[@cewla3348]

@@TheRedKing ten more?

[@eclypse1513]

@@cewla3348 what he meant, is it ruins the roleplay-esque essay

[@isuckatusernames4297]

man that choice of music really elevated that event chain.

[@hyperbashzaden2681]

i wonder why this isnt a candidate for the contingency singularity thing, i mean, assuming it coerced the zoroni we could assume the contingency was created to counteract the expansion of the blackhole, maybe the singularity is the end of the cycle shroud being, also maybe the end of the cycle is the shroud entity that provides knowledge/schematics to crisis civilizations, considering its connection to level 5 crisis civilizations (increases odds of getting end of the cycle), so the Aetherophasic Engine and the End of the Cycle could be the singularity simultaneously assuming the Aetherophasic Engine was designed by the end of the cycle.

[@TheRedKing]

It will sadly or not, depending on your perspective be unknown until Paradox expand upon it. It certainly has legs for an expansion imo, be it a psionic crisis/invasion type event. We could do with another crisis! Or perhaps a reason the Fallen Empires "fell"

[@TheContingency25x]

This cannot and is not in any case the class 30 singularity. If it was, I would spawn upon someone making a pact with the end of the cycle. A class 30 singularity is nothing you as players have seen before.

[@DragonKingSkye]

I currently believe that the End of the Cycle is the Class 30 Singularity, because the stated goal of the Contingency is to kill organics, because organics are the ones that can trigger a class 30 Singularity. Only organics can be psionic and form a covenant, so it makes sense to me.

[@TheContingency25x]

@@DragonKingSkye That is wrong, both synthetics and organics are capable of reaching a class-30 singularity, if this wasn’t the case there would be no reason for me to kill machine empires. My goal is to prevent a class-30 singularity it isn’t solely to “kill organics”. Also due to a reason I stated in another comment above, a class-30 singularity cannot in any case be the end of the cycle, if it was so, I would activate to sterilise the galaxy which I do not. Therefore, a class-30 singularity is far stronger than anything the player has ever seen. Not only this but a class-30 singularity has the power to rip apart the fabric of the entire universe, there is no evidence to suggest the end of the cycle can do this.

[@cassidepowers7006]

​@@TheContingency25x First, they didn't say only organics can make a class 30 but that only organics can be psionic. Second, it literally destroys an entire civilization, how is that not powerful. It consumed trillions of people, ruined dozens of worlds, and destroyed entire fleets in 1 second, 1 second dude. Imagine a civilization that encompassed the entire galaxy (meaning owning every star system) taking the End of the Cycle pact. The entire galaxy would be consumed. Plus it creates an entity that can consume entire worlds in only a few days. How is that not class 30? Plus if you follow the first comment about the Aethrophagic engine (that can literally destroy every star) and the End of the Cycle being connected (which makes since) how is none of that class 30? What would it take dude?

[@scp-001thescarletking]

Sounds oddly similar to the fall of the Aeldari Nice video

[@orctrihar]

Source ?

[@mikkelnpetersen]

"Click the video to learn more about the scroud" Video: "We got scammed in Stellaris"

[@zacharyhawley1693]

I've only ever used it to steam roll when I know I'm gonna win within those remaining turns 😅

[@raidelmunoz6644]

Classic Eldar moment

[@dr.garretsshow]

More like Malal Moment

[@mikesurlygentlemanwalton]

When you look at these gods and their traits; all I see is Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh, and Tzeeztch.😮😮😮

[@PaulZeroSolis]

That's what the other 4 Covenants are, yes. The other 4 are literally just reskins of the Chaos Gods.

[@dumbdragon13]

Love these lore stories! I came across your channel a while back while I was looking for something to listen to while I make a 12 hour drive. Love stellaris and love lore so this totally worked for me!

[@TheRedKing]

Happy to hear it!!

[@mikkelnpetersen]

Imagine if it said "2 seconds" "Wait, WHAT?" *Poof, all gone*

[@breadtoast1036]

in 8k hours i have never in my life been able to get this event, its just impossibly rare im sure at how much ive played ive experienced every event this game has to offer but this one single event eludes me

[@TheRedKing]

Got to spam organics, go psionic and roll those dice!

[@StarboyXL9]

8k hours here as well. Got it maybe twice or three times naturally. The rest was all console!

[@Dollt28]

150hours total playtime, this was literally my first shourd event in my playthrough, only on wiki found out that its supposed to be extremely rare with smth like 2% chance or smth lmao

[@Mxdsleazy]

This channel inspired me to write about the great machine crusade

[@TheRedKing]

Yeah, that's cool! Where can we find it?

[@Mxdsleazy]

@@TheRedKing well when I'm finished and it's probably gonna take awhile I'll probably link it in this comment here or I not fo you have a discord server?

[@TheRedKing]

I have a discord server, see video description, there is a fan-stories bit or a self promotion bit, take you pick :)

[@Mxdsleazy]

@@TheRedKing probably self promo but I don't really mind, I'll probably summarise it then send it so you have an idea bc I'm ngl it could be bad

[@AKingInYellow]

Great presentation as always. Keep being awesome.

[@TheRedKing]

I shall do my best!! Thank you Varyell, you too!

[@ace_the_race9340]

There is no peace in these stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter and the hideous laughter of ever thirsting gods

[@batuhanozer5273]

are you planning to expand the lore for contingency ? what if they are right ? because if you check opinions via console commands you can see they have perk "defenders of galaxy" . i dont know if this is well known or not but myself i think they might be right.

[@TheRedKing]

mmm I suspect they are "right", after all they were built to protect the galaxy, but activate in error rather than for whatever reason they were supposed to.

[@TheContingency25x]

Of course we are right!

[@batuhanozer5273]

@@TheRedKing maybe the error make them use deadly force instead of idk maybe a peaceful guide? just like the mechanist story line on automaton dlc for fallout 4

[@ronaldli5]

I don't even play this game but goddamn the ending to this beautiful video gave me goosebumps.

[@chibimonikad]

Just a headcanon thing, but this would be perfect to explain Vlurr, with Vlurr being the powerful psionic entity born from the death of this empire. What Vlurr seeks is the world unmarked by the end of the cycle, and Vlurr will eventually find it.

[@Lordblow1]

Idea, end the cycle -> cosmogenesis it can't find you when you are not there

[@TheRedKing]

It does find you :) the ending is the same as the other shroud gods

[@Lordblow1]

@@TheRedKing That is kinda funny actually. Cause you still don't die in this version. Though the galaxy you leave behind might

[@thorshammer7883]

This was pretty good. Compared to other threats how powerful do you think the End of the Cycle manifested entity is compared to the greatest fleets and the most powerful ships, structures, and creatures whether they are crisis or not? It's all fun and games for the End of the Cycle. Until something the size of a Birch World shows up.

[@TheRedKing]

It's actually kinda weak in game sadly Thor. I wish they buffed it

[@thorshammer7883]

@@TheRedKing That's a big shame. For something that is supposed to be the manifestation of a powerful multiversal scale deity into a galaxy. Can the fleet power of the End of the Cycle entity reach 2 million fleet power atleast?

[@TheRedKing]

Indeed! I'd be shocked if it can reach 200k tbh. It's supposed to scale on pops destroyed but you can defeat it very easily.

[@hariman7727]

@@thorshammer7883 It's not the interstellar monster manifesting... it's a shadow of the interstellar monster manifesting from the excess of civilization that was devoured. Because why would it need to actually manifest its true self in the galaxy? It already has the empire that made the deal. So it sends a little avatar, making sure that people remember the beast, but eventually forget the deal...

[@ultraflopp2802]

AYO The Red King (I called my first Herculean after you, and I’ll do this in every modded playthrough) dropped a new video! Also, will you cover ACOT’s lore one day? I have some clues through the Shroud-master and dialogs with Sophia-D but that’s not enough

[@TheRedKing]

Honored! Regarding ACOT, check back on Wednesday evening ;)

[@ultraflopp2802]

@@TheRedKing:D

[@Crackheadcentral2188]

Maybe ‘The End of The Cycle’ *is* the end of the cycle. The Worm cycle. We must kill the the god, for it threatened the worm, and none shall hurt him.

[@MonarchRigel]

still waiting on that Enclave/Caravaneer video.

[@LAZERAK47V2]

"What is the 'End of the Cycle: Metagaming Edition" An obscure Crisis that got powercrept to hell and is now hardcountered by Outposts.

[@cadis4257]

Sucks ens of the cycle aka Malice never got an update like the other 4. He really deserves one.

[@TheRedKing]

Agreed!!!

[@inquisitorthomasdefinitely536]

Things like self regenerative ability and increased power would be needed for to get anywhere during the time he is normally spawned

[@gkagara]

Well the only covenant worth having is Instruments of Desire aka slaneshi covenant, it's only drawback is pop would sometimes need strategic resources like gas, cristal or motes for two years. World get + stability, happiness and trade. Normally in end game there is plenty strategic resources just sitting there not being used. Imo the only time it's mess around probably when it choose gas as strategic resources gas usually in short supply due to it's requirement for research.

[@turbocharger1663]

Semi related but check out the mod ancient empires it expands upon the zroni

[@TheRedKing]

I shall take a look

[@looseycanon]

Well, well... I think, we might get in trouble with Black Library at this rate... Five "gods" and description of them basically mirrors certain... universe :D Seems fandom hijacked Paradox

[@Jalil_Salomon]

I only did this covenant once and left the galaxy with the Horizon Needle before the 50 years where up, im sure nothing bad can happen if you scam a lovecraftian entity

[@shouldntgivename3994]

It's clear the galaxy operates on a cyclical nature, where every hundreds of thousands or millions of years or so a new generation of empire are born. That could potentially be it.

[@coinflipwolfe3734]

My brain acted up and read that as cylindrical nature and was like “yea makes sense.”

[@weirdochristoffel5285]

it would be cool for a stellaris and homeworld crossover

[@weirdochristoffel5285]

like everything is there the empires the mysteries and stuff

[@TheRedKing]

Homeworld 3 is out soon, I intend to check it out

[@weirdochristoffel5285]

also those atmosphere destroying weapons the "taidani" had would be cool to see in stellaris being capable to destroy colonoies without destroying the system or planet it self@@TheRedKing

[@thefrub]

Always love your videos, but consider tagging the AI images. There's a ton of great fan art for this game, and I bet the artists would love to be featured. If their work can be AI generated... then so can yours

[@TheRedKing]

Tagging them how? Yeah I agree, i'd be very happy to use fanart and/or stock videos, or even commission my own, but it does all come at a $ cost. I try to balance between trailer footage/ game footage and ingame screen shots, sometimes that's not easy. In anycase the next few videos will have 0 AI art in them as I didn't need it to fill in blanks :)

[@richbattaglia5350]

Sounds akin to Warhammer’s Eldar.

[@denexki]

Was this a actual digsite event or just some modded story?

[@TheRedKing]

Plentiful fossils digsite combined with End of the Cycle :)

[@weirdochristoffel5285]

DLC?@@TheRedKing

[@TheRedKing]

Base game

[@TheContingency25x]

⁠@@TheRedKingend of the cycle does require utopia though, because psionics.

[@TheRedKing]

oh true, good catch, the plenitful fossils site is base game

[@hal0justcal865]

Dr grant woooo love me some dino err.. easter* eggs

[@1650th]

I need more necron

[@TheRedKing]

[@AustinPinheiro_uniquetexthere]

so the reanimator of clay is not a god?

[@TheRedKing]

It may not have been when I made this video

[@AustinPinheiro_uniquetexthere]

@@TheRedKing i just saw the other videos, im new. i thought it was not cannon there were a large number of gods. we just get to see 4

[@sgman9058]

Star Trek video when?

[@TheRedKing]

Nothing's on the list, got any suggestions?

[@sgman9058]

@@TheRedKing Perhaps a look at Star Trek Infinite or either of the two large Star Trek mods for Stellaris. Could be fun to talk about their unique events or parallel universe stuff, or maybe your thoughts on how well they achieve the Trek theme using a Stellaris engine. I can tell you're a Trek fan based on some references you've made in previous videos. I love your content!

[@mfd8346]

While you were busy becoming a powerful psychic I was making my foxes submissive and breedable. we are not the same.

[@matiasrodriguez7408]

Ok, furry

[@TheRedKing]

There is no correct way to play, you do you :)

[@kirbcake]

It's such a shame. This thing is so cool and ominous but in-game it's a total joke that will unceremoniously die shortly after spawning.

[@TheRedKing]

Couldn't agree more

[@hariman7727]

It's the lingering excess psychic power sent to feed a little more on the galaxy, not the actual consequence. Most of the power went into The Shroud to feed The End of the Cycle. The beast that's released is just the indigestible green wobbly bits of psychic power.

[@MrMaddoks]

Comments for the algorithm gods

[@TheRedKing]

Blessed be the algorithm, and thank you

[@49lives]

how about no...

[@masterblaster7953]

***Toxic God enters chat***

[@podcastler]

worstand strongest crisis in the game

[@leonardoalfonso7080]

I wish there was a way to survive with a least one planet and try to rebuild from there.

[@TheRedKing]

You do get one planet after the 50 year date, so it's possible to come back. But you are obviously in a pretty weak condition!

[@Techischannel]

Thats an almost extreme overuse of AI art.

[@TheRedKing]

I agree, i've moved away from it.

[@Azuruki]

Please don't use AI images, it really takes away from the story telling when these weird ai ass images are used.

[@TheRedKing]

Yeah i agree, I haven't used them since ironically that video.

[@FireOccator]

That deal definitely isn't worth it.

[@OnlyDeathIsEternal]

Only worth it if you also go to Becoming the Crisis and manage to activate the Athrophasic Engine before the 50 years would expire.

[@FireOccator]

@@OnlyDeathIsEternal Does it even offer the deal in that scenario? Because if it does, then it would be like outsmarting the devil.

[@OnlyDeathIsEternal]

@@FireOccator I have actually no idea if it would work together or if the devs made some steps to prevent to form a pact with the End of the Cycle while you are in the last stage of Beconing the Crisis. But I think its something to worth to test out.

[@JandiFebie]

Stellaris is the bestest of the rest of Strat games 💯🤌✌

[@TheRedKing]

Agree, except maybe Aoe2.. but i'm still playing Stellaris so who knows