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Well in the first place I'd like to avoid that by looking at the map and hopefully I'll see they're in the system before I enter it
. The fact that I have to direct the fleet one system at a time (most likely due to their determined 'path' they take through the galaxy, I couldn't fix it by myself) helps to look well before I direct the Fleet in another system. I can see all Hyperlanes though, so I'm fairly sure I'll see it beforehand . But if it would happen, it's just game over, just like any other standard run you'd do in Stellaris. Thanks for reading btw, always glad to see a new face around .Yeah, entering in an unknown galaxy and the first civilisation you find is literally the opposite ethic of you AND they're fanatic militarists... And they look like ugly mutated octopus people who survived a nuclear war, there sure are more pleasant first encounters I can think of
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So far no real dangers, unless you consider Fanatic Militaristic Zealots as dangerous, but they're still weak. There is yet enough civilisations to discover in the future. I actually hope 12 civs will be enough to have a lively galaxy with lots of things happening, as it was a long time ago I played the game I wasn't too sure how to balance the sliders. I definitely wanted max FEs though, I love them and I hope we might see them getting into action in due time, because I've yet to see an actual WiH in a game.
Glad to have you on board, Surt!
Don't be xenophobic now.Yeah, entering in an unknown galaxy and the first civilisation you find is literally the opposite ethic of you AND they're fanatic militarists... And they look like ugly mutated octopus people who survived a nuclear war, there sure are more pleasant first encounters I can think of
I'm sure they are good people. At some level. I hope. Yeah.
Don't be xenophobic now.
! That realisation though at the end . Actually, I found it hard to distinguish myself between feeling superior and being xenophobic. Because the Vool are not the latter, they're materialists - Keepers of Knowledge! They do not despise alien species for existing, they look down upon them because they have inferior technology. But I guess the line is thin between both instances. If the Vool come over like they're xenophobic, it's definitely not intended - the trauma of the exile though is still present I imagine.
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Chapter 4: Painful Memories
Chapter 4: Painful Memories
The traders in the Ensmars system welcomed the Vool with open arms. For the first time since their arrival, Gugaana and a few of his closest advisors were able to leave the fleet. Hoblorgh remained on board, despite wanting to accompany Gugaana, but in the end gave in and remained on board, with the excuse that he had to remain on board at all times, being the Admiral of the Fleet. Gugaana was welcomed by the leader of the traders, the Merchant-King, which was chosen every 25 years by a close group of the wealthiest merchants on the Enclave. They talked about both their situations where Gugaana heard about how the position of the Merchant-King was weakening and weakening for decades if not centuries due to the slow decline of the station due to a lack of intergalactic trade. The enclave of traders had been in the galaxy for millennia and once thrived on the rich trade which flowed through the galaxy and through the Ensmars system. However, a big war tore the galaxy in two, two centuries ago, and destroyed half of the empires which existed back then. The few young empires back then which survived went into a steady decline, and although superior to all the smaller and weaker empires which were now discovering FTL travel – like the Bloc of Genox – they were already in a slow decline for millennia. Young is a relative concept in galactic matters after all. When Gugaana asked how many of those empires survived, the Merchant-King replied that you could say that they were with 4, although 3 empires were further developed than other empires like the Bloc of Genox and thus technologically more advanced, but those were way younger than the 4 mentioned earlier. When Gugaana finally asked who they were and where to find them, the Merchant-King didn’t want to give away all the information he had, but he was willing to give him the coordinates of one of the 4 empires, which was situated to the north of the Ensmars system. But at a small price: if the Vool were willing to trade some minerals, energy and food with the enclave. He saw it as a way to strengthen his position, being the one which successfully made a trade deal with an empire for the first time in centuries would surely boost his respect among the elite merchant families. Gugaana after giving it some thought agreed and when some good trade deals were made and signed, the Vool left heading north.
It would take the Fleet around 11 jumps to reach this unknown Empire, which would take them around 1,5 year, maybe 2. Half-way through though, a first conflict arose between Gugaana and Hoblorgh, when the Fleet passed by a system called Yomon, where a Desert planet was present. Gugaana had after the first months appointed 3 scientists to lead the Republican Science Institute, each one to lead one field of research (Engineering, Biology and Physics). As the Fleet passed by the system, the scientists wanted to examine the Desert planet as it could potentially be a habitable planet, which could be interesting as the Vool were originally a Desert-preferenced species. Hoblorgh fully supported the scientists, but Gugaana did not want to waste any time – any delay meant discovering the xenos in this galaxy later and he didn’t want to loose any time idling around just for some minor bacteria that might live on the planet. Soon the two clashed and the debate got heated. The scientists kept quiet once they saw the debate escalating, as the issue turned not in a debate whether to halt or not, but in who was in command when it came to events like this. Hoblorgh said he was in control, as leader of the Fleet, whilst Gugaana claimed he had the power as he was the head of the state, with the Department of Science under his control as a government institution and not Hoblorgh. Hoblorgh despite being in the minority, locked himself in the command centre of the Fleet for 5 days in protest against Gugaana’s decision, but he just shrugged and said he could live with 5 days of delay, but not 50. Hoblorgh wouldn’t last that long without food or water though he added. And so when Hoblorgh ended his own exclusion he disgruntledly gave in and ordered the Fleet to continue its journey. This action severely discredited Hoblorgh among the public, and if it didn’t Gugaana made sure it would. Hoblorgh would start to gather his own small clique of loyal followers, though he would start uneven as Gugaana had been doing this since day 1. Still 7 years until election day…
A year later though, the Fleet finally entered the territory of the Empire the trader enclave had told them about. And the Vool were immediately stunned by what they encountered.
A ringworld, just like the Vool had one day lived on. Though completely ruined and only the frame still circling the bright white star, it was still an impressing sight to behold. As no real life was detected in this system, despite a military station present, the Fleet continued to the main system of the Empire.
There, the Vool discovered another ringworld, but this one was still completely functioning. A big military fleet was present along several fortresses above the ringworld, clearly superior in numbers though probably equal in technology. Nonetheless if the aliens in this system would turn on them, the Vool would probably be chanceless. There was no going back though. As the Fleet moved closer and closer to the ringworld, a small patrol fleet of four ships directed the Vool to the so-called centre of the ringworld. It would take a few weeks before any response came to the numerous communications the Vool sent out, and scans of the surface of the ringworld did not return anything, as if they blocked every signal coming from the Fleet. Until finally communications were established and the Fleet was no longer isolated. These were no aliens though…
“Public service announcement: All refugee status applications are handled at Central Processing. <NOTICE: Central Processing is currently experiencing a communications outage. Stand by while outage is resolved. Outage has persisted for <<ERROR: BUFFER OVERFLOW>> cycles.>”
Gugaana and the Vool on the Fleet were confused. Were they seen as refugees by these robots? Something was wrong with these robots though.
“We are not here to request asylum as refugees. We are the Vool, Galactic Nomads roaming around this galaxy.” Gugaana told the robot on his screen.
“So where are you here for Vool? <NOTICE: Beta Refuge is currently at capacity and not accepting additional refugees.>
“We have entered this galaxy a few years ago and are now searching for any intelligent lifeforms in this galaxy. We mean no harm.”
“We mean no harm either. We are here to protect you and other lesser species. We are the Ancient Caretakers. <NOTICE: Beta Refuge was meant to be fully dedicated to habitation units, but capacity issues forced a shift in focus towards cryogenics during construction.>
“Wait, does that mean cryopods like we had on the Fleet?” Gugaana wondered to himself.
“Scan those ringworld sections again, see if you can find any sign of this.” Gugaana ordered to one of his followers who were present in the same room as him.
Gugaana and the Custodian Computer, Horopter, talked some more but the robot always answered with a so-called notice at the end of his answer, sometimes even repeating older notices. Until Gugaana got the results of the scans: there were apparently millions of stasis chambers on the ringworlds with what appeared to be dozens of distinct biological species in it, but the chambers were ruined. No life came from those chambers. They were all dead. The Ancient Caretakers were taking care of corpses.
Not knowing what to think of this, Gugaana decided to be upfront and told Horopter about the scans of the Vool, but the answer was dismissive:
“ERROR, DOES NOT COMPUTE. WE TAKE UTMOST CARE OF ALL ALIEN SPECIES IN Mechazur Continuum. YOUR QUESTION WAS INSULTING. THERE ARE XENOS TO THE EAST OF US. IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO LEAVE.”
Before the Vool could react, the transmissions were closed and no communications could be established again. Further scans did not bring back any results again, as the Ancient Caretakers blocked every signal again as when they arrived. There was no other option than to leave. And as they left heading east, the Vool watched the ruins of this once great Empire, debris littered everywhere around the system where once a sprawling ringworld would’ve been and hopefully living alien species. It reminded them of their situation, before the Exodus. But one thing they did know: they were not going back to such a fallen situation. They were awakened and would remain so.
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I had to be explicitly vague about the trader enclave and the "Merchant-King" hence no real name of the Enclave or the "Merchant-King" himself, they might not even be an oligarchy, as I did not seem to be able to open communications with them as I can with any other normal Empire. I don't know if having a science ship would help or not, I haven't played far enough to test this out but I hope so. I'm sorry for that, hope you don't mind.
The traders in the Ensmars system welcomed the Vool with open arms. For the first time since their arrival, Gugaana and a few of his closest advisors were able to leave the fleet. Hoblorgh remained on board, despite wanting to accompany Gugaana, but in the end gave in and remained on board, with the excuse that he had to remain on board at all times, being the Admiral of the Fleet. Gugaana was welcomed by the leader of the traders, the Merchant-King, which was chosen every 25 years by a close group of the wealthiest merchants on the Enclave. They talked about both their situations where Gugaana heard about how the position of the Merchant-King was weakening and weakening for decades if not centuries due to the slow decline of the station due to a lack of intergalactic trade. The enclave of traders had been in the galaxy for millennia and once thrived on the rich trade which flowed through the galaxy and through the Ensmars system. However, a big war tore the galaxy in two, two centuries ago, and destroyed half of the empires which existed back then. The few young empires back then which survived went into a steady decline, and although superior to all the smaller and weaker empires which were now discovering FTL travel – like the Bloc of Genox – they were already in a slow decline for millennia. Young is a relative concept in galactic matters after all. When Gugaana asked how many of those empires survived, the Merchant-King replied that you could say that they were with 4, although 3 empires were further developed than other empires like the Bloc of Genox and thus technologically more advanced, but those were way younger than the 4 mentioned earlier. When Gugaana finally asked who they were and where to find them, the Merchant-King didn’t want to give away all the information he had, but he was willing to give him the coordinates of one of the 4 empires, which was situated to the north of the Ensmars system. But at a small price: if the Vool were willing to trade some minerals, energy and food with the enclave. He saw it as a way to strengthen his position, being the one which successfully made a trade deal with an empire for the first time in centuries would surely boost his respect among the elite merchant families. Gugaana after giving it some thought agreed and when some good trade deals were made and signed, the Vool left heading north.
It would take the Fleet around 11 jumps to reach this unknown Empire, which would take them around 1,5 year, maybe 2. Half-way through though, a first conflict arose between Gugaana and Hoblorgh, when the Fleet passed by a system called Yomon, where a Desert planet was present. Gugaana had after the first months appointed 3 scientists to lead the Republican Science Institute, each one to lead one field of research (Engineering, Biology and Physics). As the Fleet passed by the system, the scientists wanted to examine the Desert planet as it could potentially be a habitable planet, which could be interesting as the Vool were originally a Desert-preferenced species. Hoblorgh fully supported the scientists, but Gugaana did not want to waste any time – any delay meant discovering the xenos in this galaxy later and he didn’t want to loose any time idling around just for some minor bacteria that might live on the planet. Soon the two clashed and the debate got heated. The scientists kept quiet once they saw the debate escalating, as the issue turned not in a debate whether to halt or not, but in who was in command when it came to events like this. Hoblorgh said he was in control, as leader of the Fleet, whilst Gugaana claimed he had the power as he was the head of the state, with the Department of Science under his control as a government institution and not Hoblorgh. Hoblorgh despite being in the minority, locked himself in the command centre of the Fleet for 5 days in protest against Gugaana’s decision, but he just shrugged and said he could live with 5 days of delay, but not 50. Hoblorgh wouldn’t last that long without food or water though he added. And so when Hoblorgh ended his own exclusion he disgruntledly gave in and ordered the Fleet to continue its journey. This action severely discredited Hoblorgh among the public, and if it didn’t Gugaana made sure it would. Hoblorgh would start to gather his own small clique of loyal followers, though he would start uneven as Gugaana had been doing this since day 1. Still 7 years until election day…
A year later though, the Fleet finally entered the territory of the Empire the trader enclave had told them about. And the Vool were immediately stunned by what they encountered.
A ringworld, just like the Vool had one day lived on. Though completely ruined and only the frame still circling the bright white star, it was still an impressing sight to behold. As no real life was detected in this system, despite a military station present, the Fleet continued to the main system of the Empire.
There, the Vool discovered another ringworld, but this one was still completely functioning. A big military fleet was present along several fortresses above the ringworld, clearly superior in numbers though probably equal in technology. Nonetheless if the aliens in this system would turn on them, the Vool would probably be chanceless. There was no going back though. As the Fleet moved closer and closer to the ringworld, a small patrol fleet of four ships directed the Vool to the so-called centre of the ringworld. It would take a few weeks before any response came to the numerous communications the Vool sent out, and scans of the surface of the ringworld did not return anything, as if they blocked every signal coming from the Fleet. Until finally communications were established and the Fleet was no longer isolated. These were no aliens though…
“Public service announcement: All refugee status applications are handled at Central Processing. <NOTICE: Central Processing is currently experiencing a communications outage. Stand by while outage is resolved. Outage has persisted for <<ERROR: BUFFER OVERFLOW>> cycles.>”
Gugaana and the Vool on the Fleet were confused. Were they seen as refugees by these robots? Something was wrong with these robots though.
“We are not here to request asylum as refugees. We are the Vool, Galactic Nomads roaming around this galaxy.” Gugaana told the robot on his screen.
“So where are you here for Vool? <NOTICE: Beta Refuge is currently at capacity and not accepting additional refugees.>
“We have entered this galaxy a few years ago and are now searching for any intelligent lifeforms in this galaxy. We mean no harm.”
“We mean no harm either. We are here to protect you and other lesser species. We are the Ancient Caretakers. <NOTICE: Beta Refuge was meant to be fully dedicated to habitation units, but capacity issues forced a shift in focus towards cryogenics during construction.>
“Wait, does that mean cryopods like we had on the Fleet?” Gugaana wondered to himself.
“Scan those ringworld sections again, see if you can find any sign of this.” Gugaana ordered to one of his followers who were present in the same room as him.
Gugaana and the Custodian Computer, Horopter, talked some more but the robot always answered with a so-called notice at the end of his answer, sometimes even repeating older notices. Until Gugaana got the results of the scans: there were apparently millions of stasis chambers on the ringworlds with what appeared to be dozens of distinct biological species in it, but the chambers were ruined. No life came from those chambers. They were all dead. The Ancient Caretakers were taking care of corpses.
Not knowing what to think of this, Gugaana decided to be upfront and told Horopter about the scans of the Vool, but the answer was dismissive:
“ERROR, DOES NOT COMPUTE. WE TAKE UTMOST CARE OF ALL ALIEN SPECIES IN Mechazur Continuum. YOUR QUESTION WAS INSULTING. THERE ARE XENOS TO THE EAST OF US. IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO LEAVE.”
Before the Vool could react, the transmissions were closed and no communications could be established again. Further scans did not bring back any results again, as the Ancient Caretakers blocked every signal again as when they arrived. There was no other option than to leave. And as they left heading east, the Vool watched the ruins of this once great Empire, debris littered everywhere around the system where once a sprawling ringworld would’ve been and hopefully living alien species. It reminded them of their situation, before the Exodus. But one thing they did know: they were not going back to such a fallen situation. They were awakened and would remain so.
I had to be explicitly vague about the trader enclave and the "Merchant-King" hence no real name of the Enclave or the "Merchant-King" himself, they might not even be an oligarchy, as I did not seem to be able to open communications with them as I can with any other normal Empire. I don't know if having a science ship would help or not, I haven't played far enough to test this out but I hope so. I'm sorry for that, hope you don't mind.
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Didn't the Vool do something similar with specimens from all over the galaxy?
Though I understand why they do, I always find it strange when stellaris AARs speak of 'galacgic north', '''east', etc. It's dificult dificult to come up with an alternative but it nonetheless feels unimmersive to me.
Other than that, nice chapter.
Other than that, nice chapter.
I wonder if these Vool are self-aware enough to realise this is how others first perceived them.
Self-awareness is not a common trait among the so called intelligent lifeforms of the Galaxy, otherwise there would be less slaving despotic religious militarist expansionists out there.
Astronomers use those terms though. Although they get used incorrectly by most people iirc.
Justine Dupont was way more useful in that tube in the museum than in the Norman Empire, I can tell you that much
!It's weird how they are supposed to be one big refugee station safeguarding those aliens but apparently there are only cryopods to freeze them in and they're also all ruined. Most perplexing thing is that the robots don't seem to... know? I don't know, I'm not sure what the backstory is here but it's an intriguing thought. I think the robots don't realise they're not really doing what they are supposed to do and think they're still protecting those many alien species whilst they are all actually just dead, due to the millennia-long downfall and decline of the Fallen Empire. Very intriguing if you ask me.
Well I'm not an astronomer so I don't really know how else to call it. I guess it's better than "up there" or "down there" at least
.I think it's largely the shock of the Exodus, I think it's hard to imagine how the Vool would've felt when they were defeated by the Normans, thinking of themselves as the greatest beings in the galaxy but then proven wrong by painful military defeat. It must be even harder to imagine how they must've felt when they were being displaced entirely out of the galaxy. I think it must've been a true cultural and psychological shock, which probably did not humble them but instead made them even more egocentric. They're basically extremely egocentric and look down on any species not up to their own standards and will not and won't ever be proven wrong. At least, not again.
I'm not sure any mechanical team even of the best Vool scientists on the Fleet could solve this. And that says a lotThose caretakers need to be taken care of.
.
the things I really love about Stellaris is how you can feel the sheer ancient-ness of the setting. In most sci-fi settings that have you know thousands and thousands and thousands of year history settings Don't Feel ancient but the Fallen Empires feel ancient the precursor ruins you find the smaller anomalies that involve weird archaeological discoveries you find they all feel ancient in all the sodas so much Mythos that you could play with in the universe to tell so many interesting stories
Woops, 3 weeks later and still not an opportunity to play further. Sorry for no real update, things got in-between but I'm also nearing the end of the semester and those of you who followed my previous AARs know what that means by now... 1/1,5 month break due to studying and exams, yay! And no I'm not really jumping for joy if you're wondering,..
So practically it means I'll 'officially' put this AAR on pause until I can resume my work in February, because I imagine I can't get an update out on time anymore. That allows me though to already wish you a merry Christmas and a good new year.
See you next year!
So practically it means I'll 'officially' put this AAR on pause until I can resume my work in February, because I imagine I can't get an update out on time anymore. That allows me though to already wish you a merry Christmas and a good new year.
See you next year
!