The History of Fallen Empires in Stellaris 

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.”

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.

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

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.

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.

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!”

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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”

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;;

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

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.

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.

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

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

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?

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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?

Don't poke the sleeping space bear.

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

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.

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

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

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

That was some sweet use of stable diffusion. Very sleek

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

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.

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.

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!

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

I think It would be more likely for the contingency to be the crisis that targeted all galaxy, we know it is cyclical so it would make sense if they were the treat, also, the unbiden act like if this was the first time they enter the galaxy, while the contingency is just following an old rutine. Also, I think caretakers weren't an empire before the crisis, they call themselves the custodian proyect, a proyect, not an empire, likely to be made by the other fallen empires as a contender against the contingency, that's why it reacts when the contingency awakes guarding the galaxy or in the worst case scenario fighting against it. The rest of the data seems correct, the empires fought eachother then the crisis arrived the caretakers were built and later disabled. At least that's my opinion

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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!

This was fantastic. Very enlightening and informative. Thanks

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

Such a great channel! Cheers!

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.

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.

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.

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.

This is the first video I've seen from you. Subscribed. Great voice, good narration looking forward to more

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

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.

Just found your channel, I love it!

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)

Love your content!

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

Love this kind of stuff. Very nice

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Amazing video!

So does that mean that for every galaxy a crisis and a war in heaven both happened... If so, then what does that mean for Blorgs bane

funny that the fallen caretaker used as portrait is the one that in my games, I use all the time as a driven exterminator empire

Another great video

Thank you for the lore

thank you 😊 🙏

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

Thanks again friend.

Would be great if they had an option to have a second galactic community led by or with members of the e fallen empires in them

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

I once accidently settled prophets retreat not having found or known about the fallen empire

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.

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.

I love this channel