Stellaris Wars: A Nemesis Ironman Saga

[Arithmetician]

Now that reinforcements had arrived via the L-Gates, Grand Admiral Reth Unddol engaged another portion of the Prethoryn Vanguard, codenamed Gestalt Pattern Interloper, in the Haramuth System. It was accompanied by Gestalt Patterns Silencer and Despoiler as well.

The Scourge had already begun fortifying the system, so destroying their starbase was the first priority.

Four Super Star Destroyers advanced on the Scourge’s vanguard, though one, the Executor IV, was lost early in the battle.

Moving in, TIEs engaged the enemy Gestalt Patterns.

Simultaneous battles were occurring in the Egouwhyke and Urkhannon’s Maw systems.

The Imperium achieved victory on all fronts...

But only the Prethoryn vanguard had been defeated... and the much larger main invasion force had just arrived...

 

[Macavity116]

The main force is here. It's time for all hell to break loose.

At least you've got an instantaneous solution ready if the Prethoryn manage to infest any planets.

 

[Arithmetician]

While the main invasion force was far from Scyldari space, they were the first of the Imperium’s subject nations, rebellious as they had been, to come to the Empress, begging for her help.

Cynically, the Empress saw the Scyldari scheming for the Imperial Core to weaken itself fighting the Scourge. It didn’t even occur to Darth Vidia to ascribe selfless motives to the Scyldari, as power-hungry and distrustful as she was by nature.

Still, the Scyldari weren’t imploring her to do anything that she wasn’t already planning to, so she could afford to let them think she had fallen for their ploy.

Grand Admiral Reth Unddol led the Imperial Armada in the Second Battle of Haramuth. Fighters launched by both sides engaged in a fierce dogfight as the Imperial and Prethoryn Fleets closed in on each other.

Soon, the leading Super Star Destroyers were in the thick of the dogfight themselves, though they couldn’t accurately target the smaller Prethoryn fighters.

Just behind them was the Imperium’s main line, firing heavy artillery barrages into the main Prethoryn fleet.

At the same time, the Second Battles of Urkhannon’s Maw and Ocheron were raging as well.

Back in Haramuth, the Imperium’s Finalizer-class Star Destroyers had neared point-blank range with the Prethoryn Queens and Broodmothers invading the system. Killing them would do much to hinder the Prethoryn’s invasion.

During the fighting, the Grand Admiral was able to capture the egg of a Prethoryn Brood Queen, and brought it in for study. The Empress was delighted by the gift. She could already imagine feeding her enemies to the young Prethoryn Queen, now that it was safely under her mental domination. Indeed, it promised to be quite the spectacle.

The final pocket of the Scourge was in the Egouwhyke System. The Imperial Armada caught Gestalt Pattern Encroacher and its supporting Prethoryn fleets at the edge of the system, immediately triggering a pitched battle.

But the Scourge’s will to survive was no match for the industry and technology of the Galactic Imperium, which had produced a navy not only capable of stopping them, but utterly crushing them.

Save for the Last Prethoryn, the Queen who would henceforth serve as the Empress’s personal pet, all that was left of the Scourge were charred husks, seared by turbolaser fire.

But jubilant as the people were, Darth Vidia was still the Empress of the galaxy... And she would never be satisfied with just the power she already had...

 

[Arithmetician]

 

[Macavity116]

The Scourge is defeated, and now it's time to party!

Unless you work for the Imperial military. Stop slacking and get back to work!

 

[Arithmetician]

The Pax Galactica had been declared by Imperial decree soon after the defeat of the Scourge, but that didn’t mean the Imperium’s military-industrial complex slowed its production in the least. The Empress continually ordered more and more warships, officially to bolster defenses along the entirety of the Outer Rim, should there ever be another extragalactic invasion like the Prethoryn Scourge.

Of course, that was just a convenient excuse for continuing to build an omnipresent navy that would keep the rest of the galaxy in line through terror. This was evident in the design of the new Victory III-class Star Destroyer, armed with fearsome missiles reverse-engineered from the Scourge itself.

The Imperial Navy was also active in distant systems, vanquishing ancient threats such as the Enigmatic Fortress.

In the “interest of continued economic growth and recognizing the shared willingness of loyal Imperials to do their part”, the Empress formally abolished the Charter of Worker’s Rights, an obsolete piece of legislation that had still been on the books from the days of the Republic.

The hiring of a Vengralian Sales Contingent furthered the post-Scourge economic boom seen throughout the Imperium, while paying for the continued expansion of the Navy.

If one looked at the dominant political factions within the Imperium as the centennial of its founding drew near, it was clear how completely it had been transformed from the days fo the Republic. The Free Thought Committee, which the Empress had been once the leader of, and whose support she had used to become Supreme Chancellor in the first place, had been reduce to but a ghost of itself, so throughly suppressed to be essentially irrelevant in Imperial politics, with the Authoritarian and Militarist factions dominant in its stead, along with a resurgent Spiritualist faction, increasingly centered on Sith ideals and the veneration of the Empress.

The remnants of the Free Thought Committee had long since disavowed Eerabik as their leader, and Scientist Bao Shen, the Imperium’ leading Voidcraft researcher, who had even worked on weapons projects like the Death Star, had long since taken over the position. There was always the worry that he might have try to intentionally install design flaws into his weapons that rebels could exploit, so the Empress kept him in line by holding his entire family hostage. As long as he behaved himself and contributed to the Imperium, his family would be safe and lead comfortable, if closely watched lives. If he stepped out of line and knowingly sabotaged imperial assets, the Empress made it very clear that she would personally torture and murder his entire family slowly in front of him. He was permitted to get away with being the leader of a now seditious political party, because the Empress found having them as an internal enemy useful for justifying her oppressive policies over the Imperium’s citizens, however powerless they were in reality, and because it would be very difficult for her to find another scientist of his caliber.

The celebration of the 100th Imperium Day was a truly momentous occasion throughout the galaxy.

Parades were held across every world of the Imperium, along with lavish displays of Imperial might and progress, serving to instill patriotic fervor into new generations and entice new recruits.

Nowhere were the displays so grand as on Imperial Center, nor as fervent as on Robitron, the Empress’s original homeworld, which had become a site of pilgrimage for many within the Imperium. Even if she bore no personal affection for the place where she had been born a slave, and in fact privately hated it, it served a useful propaganda purpose in permitting such pilgrimages to continue, and doubled as deep well of the emotions that fueled the Dark Side within her.

The Empress herself was just shy of her 181st birthday, and more powerful than ever. It was good to be the ruler of the galaxy.

But peace was a lie.

The Pax Galactica would soon come to and end.

Her work was not yet done.

 

[Nikolai]

The work is not done before she is immortal and worshipped as a god.

 

[Arithmetician]

There were still plenty of wonders in the galaxy. And the Empress recognized the importance of knowledge.

But in the end, it was just another means of gathering power.

The branch offices of Orbis Customer Synergies finally closed their doors as its remaining planets were integrated into the Blorg Commonality. The dissolution of the galaxy’s largest Megacoporation triggered a recession throughout the Imperium and widespread unemployment, as many merchant and clerk jobs simply no longer existed. This also led to a major galactic crime wave, as the Hazbuzan Syndicate was quick to establish new branch offices on the worlds vacated by the now-defunct Orbis.

As always, the Hazbuzi made a wonderful scapegoat for the Empress, and she used their new crime wave as a pretext to suspend the Pax Galactica and declare a state of martial law throughout the galaxy, until order could be restored. And thus, she declared war on the Syndicate and its allies, starting the 3rd Galactic Civil War.

The Imperium’s primary military objective in the war was neutralizing the Blorg fleets in the Gribbon System, which accounted for the bulk of the enemy’s naval strength. As it had at the start of the 2nd Civil War, the Imperium jumped in with overwhelming force.

Between volleys of Neutron Launchers and Scourge Missiles from Star Destroyers, and the swarms of TIE Interceptors that closed in on them, the Blorg fleets rapidly found themselves disintegrating.

But that didn’t stop them from attempting to engage the Imperial fleet in a desperate charge.

But the fact remained that the Blorg were massively outgunned, and only a few heavily-damaged vessels would manage to escape the system.

With the Blorg fleet demolished, the Death Star moved on the planet that was the industrial heart of the system, Gish, the conquered Prikikiki-Ti homeworld, which was now one of the Blorg’s most advanced remaining worlds.

“The Prikikiki-Ti are a menace to galactic civilization itself,” the Empress declared. “If they are not destroyed, one day they will rise up against us, and try to exterminate us all. We must annihilate them first."

Of course, the Prikikiki-Ti posed no real threat to the Imperium at this point, and the Empress knew that. But with her declaration, their fate was sealed.

“Commence primary ignition."

(The actual graphical destruction of Gish bugged in-game, so I wasn’t able to get a proper screenshot of it, but let the above suffice).

The Death Star’s superlaser fired, shattering Gish and killing over 45 billion sapient beings, including two-thirds of the the Prikikiki-Ti’s total galactic population.

The surviving remnants of the Blorg fleets from Gribbon were hunted down in the Avalam System soon afterward, while the Mega Shipyard that the Scyldari were attempting to build in the Carynno System was captured.

The Blorg colony of Hesperos, once known as the Emerald Mausoleum, a Holy World to the former Eruxo Watchers, was destroyed next.

It was followed by the Scyldari base known as Hidden Pearl, in the Betelgeuse System.

Any remaining resistance against the Imperium quickly collapsed.

The Blorg’s power had been forever broken by the end of the war, and Hazbuzan branch offices were forcibly shut down throughout the Imperium.

They, and in turn the Scyldari Confederacy and the Xanid Suzerainty, were vassalized by the Lokken Mechanists.

And so the Empress’s attention would turn to them...

 

[Arithmetician]

 

[Macavity116]

The Blorg colony of Hesperos, once known as the Emerald Mausoleum, a Holy World to the former Eruxo Watchers, was destroyed next.

A Holy World blown to bits. Not even the most sacred of sanctuaries are safe...

unless whoever is running the Archive quietly removed Emerald Mausoleum from the list of protected sanctuaries when I wasn't looking, of course. Not like the Fallen Empire can protest anymore.

 

[Nikolai]

The Lokken sure looks suspicious.

 

[Arithmetician]

As the leaders of a disparate coalition of nations across the Galactic South, the Lokken Mechanists had fully embraced the ideals of xenophilia in their government. However, their democratic system of government was largely a sham. Lokken Society was controlled behind the scenes by a powerful shadow council, and a large secret police force served to monitor their populace to stifle dissent.

Still, with three fully-competed Megastructures, the Lokken possessed wonders that most of those outside of the Imperial Core could scarcely dream of constructing on their own, and many did flock to their society to partake. Repressive as it was, it was less overtly oppressive than the Empress’ government.

However, it was the Lokken’s ongoing mega structural projects that provided the Empress with the perfect excuse to declare them a ‘Galactic Crisis’. Falsely claiming that the Lokken were beginning construction on an engine that could detonate every star in the galaxy simultaneously, she unilaterally stripped all protections that the Lokken had once been entitled to as members of the Galactic Imperium, and announced that the Imperial Core was in a state of total war against the Lokken and their vassals.

Naturally protected as Lokken space had been by the relatively few hyperplanes that led into it, that meant nothing against the Jump Drives that the Imperium’s Star Destroyers were equipped with. Four enemy fleets were quickly ambushed, flanked, and pummeled in the Tiuz System.

While Reth Unddol remained Grand Admiral of the Imperium, the commander at Tiuz, Admiral T’Maku was a rising star in the Imperial Navy. A fellow Ozkox, like Empress Eerabik, T’Maku was one of her new favorites, and in many ways reminded the Empress of her earlier days in the Navy.

Meanwhile, Grand Moff Jamshidi brought the Death Star to Lokkur, the Lokken homeworld, and destroyed it. The surviving orbital habitats in the System were quickly brought under Imperial occupation.

The Imperium continued to pursue the scattered Lokken forces at the Battle of Jundius.

Nichash, the Lokken’s new capital, was also destroyed in 2434, sending the Mechanists further into disarray.

The Imperial Legions and Inquisitors took the final Lokken colony, the orbital habitat of Xirsh, near the start of 2435.

All remaining Blorg and Scyldari worlds had also been occupied, bringing an ultimate end to three of the galaxy’s former great powers.

Yet the Empress wasn’t about to let the Xani or Hazbuzi escape her wrath...

 

[Arithmetician]

In a surprise move, the Empress granted the First Order increased autonomy shortly after the end of the Lokken Crisis War. They would still be members of the Galactic Imperium, and ultimately subject to her rule, but they would no longer have the formal obligations of a vassal toward the Imperial Core. Officially, this was in recognition of their contributions to the Imperium’s war efforts and their example as the sort of society that others still outside the Imperial Core should aspire to. Unofficially, the First Order was rumored to have gotten their hands on a wondrous relic known only as the ‘Galatron', granting tremendous influence to any who possessed it... A relic that the Empress eyed covetously.

In spite of the annihilation of Lokkur by the Death Star, the Dal-Lokkur sector had already taken its place as the fifth-most populous sector in the Imperium, specializing in research and energy production. The Coruscant Sector, though it was increasingly referred to as the Imperial Sector, was once again led by Grand Moff Jamshidi, and was of course the heart of the Imperium and home to its most densely-populated worlds, leading in mellaturgical and research output. Rothana provided an abundance of minerals for the Imperial foundries, while the ringworlds taken from the Cydran Continuity provided a technological base capable of competing with that of the Coruscant Sector. Salluria, with the Kuat Ringworld, was an industrial hub, while Slephus provided a surplus of food and an abundance of trade value to the capital.

While Imperial Intelligence had long since concluded that the Xanid Suzerainty lacked the infrastructure to actually translate their plans for a Death Star into reality, that was more than enough for the Empress to declare war on them, and use her Death Star to wipe Xanth from existence.

It was poetic, really. Just as she had suggested to the engineer whom she had murdered so long ago, a weapon conceived by the Xani was used to obliterate their homeworld.

Simultaneous invasions were launched across other Xani worlds. The Xani’s droid armies were no match for the Imperium’s Cloned Stormtroopers.

High King Caretaker AX7-b was defiant right up until the moment that he was scrapped by blaster fire.

With the Xani defeated, the full might of the Imperium toward against the Hazbuzan Syndicate, launch invaded the Manward System, home to the heavily-populated planet of Seradul.

Treacherously, the First Order chose to offer a guarantee of independence to the Hazbuzan Syndicate, as meaningless as a gesture as it was at that point, other than signing their own death warrants.

Seradul fell, and the Imperium moved on to Nadex, the Hazbuzan Syndicate’s last colony, an orbital habit in the Hykkan System.

The Hazbuzan Chief Executive, Nish na-Siben, a Cyzrni, was captured and executed when Nadex’s defenses were overrun.

Like the Caretaker, na-Siben was defiant to the end. But with his death in 2443, there remained only two powers in the galaxy: the Imperial Core, and the First Order.

 

[Arithmetician]

 

[Arithmetician]

The Manifesti saw an inexplicable revival in 2445. To Darth Vidia, alias Empress Eerabik, it seemed like her former Master was mocking her from beyond the grave.

Needless to say, they were ruthlessly crushed. New Thought Enforcement measures carried out by Darth Vidia’s inquisitors would root out the Manifesti traitors wherever they were.

The Dimensional Horror that had long lurked near the Hell’s Maw Black Hole was banished by the Imperial Navy later that year.

And then, on 2446.12.05, by proclamation of Empress Eerabik, the Galactic Imperium was reorganized into the Sith Eternal Empire. Henceforth, Eerabik would openly rule as the Sith Empress, Darth Vidia, and an official religion was instituted throughout the Empire - namely, the tenets of the Sith Order. Darth Vidia herself was officially recognized as a living goddess and the embodiment of the Dark Side of the Force.

With their lack of vision, the First Order stubbornly clung to its particular interpretation of the Dark Side.

The arrival of Space Storm Darsh in 2452 was seen by many as a harbinger of the carnage to come.

And in 2456, Darth Vidia declared the First Order a Galactic Crisis, mobilizing the faithful of the Sith Eternal Empire for war once more.

 

[Arithmetician]

The Imperial Armada swiftly invaded the L-Cluster, made even more eerie by the spatial disturbances of Space Storm Darsh.

Sith ships quickly made work of the starbase defenses.

The Empire eventually moved to the Girtab System, where it fought a short but intense battle with the First Order’s main fleets.

It was a resounding Sith victory.

During the battle, the Empire captured young man who knew the secrets to the temple where the First Order had hidden the Galatron.

He was brought before Grand Admiral Unddol on the bridge of his personal Star Destroyer.

“We won the Galatron”, its guardian said defiantly “You don’t deserve it, or our worlds!"

“Who deserves what is irrelevant,” Unddol replied. “What matters is who has power. But evidently the First Order didn’t teach you well enough, so I’ll take you to someone who will."

The Grand Admiral led the young man forward with a powerful hand. It was impossible to escape his grasp.

“My Empress,” Unddol announced as they entered a large hold in the Star Destroyer, containing a structure that looked eerily like the entrance to the Temple where the Galatron was stored. “I have brought you the Guardian of the Galatron."

“My dear boy, I’ve so wanted to meet you,” a shimmering figure said in a warm, grandmotherly voice.

The figure, a hologram, turned around, revealing the visage of Empress Eerabik, now known to the galaxy as Darth Vidia, clad in pristine and simple white robes.

“And here you are... at last,” the Empress said.

 

[Arithmetician]

“That will be all, Grand Admiral,” the Empress said.

Unddol bowed, and then turned to leave the Guardian of the Galatron alone with the Empress.

“I apologize for not being there to meet you in person,” the Empress said, “but governing the galaxy takes much of my time."

“I know who you are - and what you are!” the Guardian shouted back.

“You misjudge me,” the Empress said ever-so patiently.

“I see part of the Temple of the Galatron, which you looted from our world."

“I had this portion of the Temple brought here stone by stone... for you,” the Empress replied. “Forgive me, but I would have thought you would have thanked me for this effort."

The young man stared at the Empress incredulously. “Thank you? For destroying the temple? For waging war against my people? For stealing everything we had?!"

“The galaxy requires a firm hand if it is to know order and stability,” the Empress said in a tone that brooked no argument. “Your people are no exception to that rule." Her tone softened once again. “But to show you that I truly bear you no ill will, allow me the chance to show you the limitless possibilities that stand before you."

The empress extended one of her wings, beckoning the guardian forward into the Temple.

“The Galatron lies beyond here,” the Empress said softly. "The First Order had you guard it for so long, but they never allowed you to touch it, much less set eyes upon its light, did they?"

“I was told that I mustn’t-“ the Guardian started.

"With its inscrutable power, you can make your every dream a reality..."

“That can’t be!” the Guardian protested.

“Yes it can,” the Empress replied, sounding both gentle and wise. “But you must choose to make it so. You alone know the key to unlocking the way to the Galatron."

Slowly, the Guardian began to walk forward. A portal formed between the doors to the temple.

The Empress followed behind him.

“That’s it,” the Empress said softly. “You have taken the first steps to opening the path to the Galatron. But the gateway will not be open forever. Go now, before it’s too late."

“No... this is wrong,” the Guardian hesitated.

“So few sapient beings are ever blessed with the light of the Galatron,” the Empress said, ever so reasonably. “Why deny yourself?

Slowly, the Guardian began walking forward again.

“Good,” the Empress said. With a thought from her, the cuffs on the Guardian’s arms that had been placed there upon his capture opened and fell off. “There are the controls. Open the final doorway to the Galatron. Anything you desire will be within your grasp."

“Even if I wanted to put an end to this war?” the Guardian asked.

“A true Sith does not shirk from fighting,” the Empress gently chastised him. "But if you were to open the path ahead, there would be no need for this destructive conflict, and you would be able to claim your place at my side. Now go on... you deserve the Galatron, and its light."

The Guardian reached out, and then stopped. “No. I can’t. If I open the path to the Galatron for you... you’ll just use it to destroy everything. I’m sorry, but... I have to let it go!"

Sweeping his hands to the sides, the temple and the mechanism leading to the hidden Galatron began to collapse.

The Empress’s hologram began to flicker.

“No!!!!” she shouted.

But it was too late.

The path to the Galatron had been lost.

 

[Arithmetician]

The Empress’s hologram stopped flickering. It now appeared in her true form as Darth Vidia.

“You fool,” the Empress sneered, no longer seeming at all friendly. “You could have had everything you could ever want."

“Not for what it would have cost."

“Such selflessness,” the Empress growled. “You remind me far too much of the Jedi whom I wiped from the face of this galaxy. How did someone like you manage to survive so long in a regime like the First Order, let alone come to be entrusted with the Galatron?"

“Maybe it’s because they knew I wouldn’t let you have it."

“You seem to think you have beaten me,” the Empress said. “Yet this is but a momentary setback. One way or the other, the Galatron will eventually be mine."

“Face it, you’ve failed Your Highness,” the Guardian. “You’ll never get the Galatron now."

“No... that cannot be,” the Empress said.

“The Empire worships you as a goddess, but even you couldn’t foresee that I wouldn’t fall for your tricks. You’ve won for so long that you’ve grown overconfident, and that’s your weakness, Your Highness. You don’t know how to handle losing for once in your life."

“So be it, Guardian,” the Empress said, her voice dropping dangerously.

The hologram advanced forward.

“If you will not give me the Galatron,” the Empress said slowly, as she raised her wings... “you will be destroyed!"

Suddenly, lightning appeared out of thin air, and began to electrocute the Guardian.

“Young fool,” the Empress said. “If I could open your cuffs from across the galaxy, why would I not also be capable of this?” She chuckled as the guardian writhed in pain. “But only now, at the end, do you understand. Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the Dark Side Incarnate!"

Lightning shot forth again, causing the Guardian to cry out in agony.

“You have paid the price for your lack of vision!” the Empress sneered, channeling her anger into the hapless Guardian.

There was no one to help him, no matter how much he cried.

“Now young Guardian...” the Empress said softly. “You will die.”

Force lightning continued to excruciatingly drain the Guardian’s very life force away, until it was finally gone.

The Empress continued shooting Force lightning into the corpse of the Guardian for far longer than was necessary

She then stood there, staring silently at his body, but nothing could abate the rage that she felt inside. A thousand deaths would never be enough for the one who had denied her the Galatron and so brazenly defied her.

Still, that anger made her more powerful. It gave her focus.

This was not the end.

She would find the Galatron, no matter how long it took.

And in the meantime, she had the resources of an entire galaxy to aid her search...

 

[Arithmetician]

The First Order collapsed soon thereafter. The only remaining political power in the galaxy was the Sith Eternal Empire and its vassal states, which would be integrated into the Empire proper, one at a time.

Four year’s later, Eerabik's son and nominal heir, Reetril, was killed when he tried and failed to usurp the Empress by seizing ultimate power, which his body could not contain, for himself.

“He was weak, and deserved to die,” Darth Vidia sneered contemptuously.

Following an incident of thievery by the Carvaneers, Sith Empress Darth Vidia ordered that they were to be exterminated. Trade Station Tungle was destroyed by a fleet of Star Destroyers, and then the rest of the Caravaneers' merchant fleets were systematically hunted down.

The Sith Navy continued to expand ceaselessly. Soon, there were enough warships for every claimed system to have an average of almost two Star Destroyers assigned to it, more than enough to immediately subjugate almost any rebellious system.

And on 2473.10.04, the Sith Eternal Empire completed the integration of its last vassal state...

Yet so much work remained to be done.

Not only was the Galatron still lost, but the Empress was not satisfied with the instruments of terror that she had constructed. It was awfully clumsy having to rely on a single battle station to destroy rebellious planets. One day, perhaps planet-cracking technology could be miniaturized, and mounted on individual Star Destroyers... Then she could have a fleet of Star Destroyers, every one of them a planet-killer, able to hold every planet in the galaxy hostage with the threat of utter annihilation, as opposed to just mere orbital bombardment. That was certainly a way off, but with ever-advancing medical technology and her mastery of the Dark Side, she was functionally immortal.

And there were Unknown Regions still undiscovered beyond the galaxy...

Perhaps one day, she would go on a journey, and conquer other galaxies... perhaps all of existence itself. And then, when the last other thing died, only she would remain, to watch as the cycle began anew. She had all the time in the universe...

But she was certain there would always be wars among the stars, and no matter what happened... she would always return, as the Dark Side itself.

Fin.

(That’s the end of this AAR! It’s been great fun writing this account of what was, beyond a doubt, my most successful campaign, and my first full ironman experience! Thanks to everyone who has read this After-Action Report over these months!)

 

[Arithmetician]

Now that the AAR proper is over, some thoughts on the run, from an out-of-character perspective.

Though for the purpose of the story, I worked her into a devious mastermind, and she fit quite nicely into the broader narrative that I had planned from the start, Eerabik’s ascension to Supreme Chancellor/dicator and then Galactic Empress was actually an accident. I had been trying to make Jamshidi dictator and then Galactic Emperor, and I (incorrectly) got it into my head that I could rig/suspend elections simply by reforming into a Dictatorship in the middle of an election. This resulted in Eerabik randomly being elected instead. But given how she was the Egalitarian faction leader at the time, it worked just too well for “I love Democracy, I love the Republic”, so I rolled with it. All in all, it was a happy accident in the end, and that Eerabik seemingly seized power over my government out of nowhere served to make her even more memorable to me.

Eerabik never actually outwardly displayed the Pyschic trait in-game, even after I modified her entire species to be Psionic. RP-wise, I simply decided to chalk this up to her concealing her powers, much as Palpatine/Darth Sidious hid his immense powers in the Dark Side from most of the rest of the galaxy.

Reth Unddol has had a prominent role in many of my games where I have fought the Tiyanki Matriarch. In an old Rebel Alliance game I did some years ago, an another version of Reth Unddol even became my ruler for several consecutive terms, and could fairly be considered to have grown into a heroic role. However, this time, he became an outright villainous figure, given the regime that he supported. That he became both a Level X admiral and the leader of the Isolationist Xenophobe faction, and was an alien on top of that made him a natural fit for a Grand Admiral Thrawn expy. With Eerabik as my Palpatine/Sidious, and the militarist leader, Governor Jamshidi, as my Grand Moff Tarkin, I was very pleased with how my triumvirate of evil worked out.

I don’t know when the Artisan Headmaster Mynach Konning actually died in-game, since I didn’t screenshot that, but with his appearance as “Jeff”, it was only natural that I would use him as “Darth Jefferius”, and the rest from there was memes and artistic license for my AAR narrative.

Obviously, I had reached a point of overwhelming power well before the end of the AAR, and no empire could have been a credible threat to me after a point, but because of how well the RP of the match going, I was able to keep playing, to the longest end date that I have ever gone to in Stellaris. While I could have definitely been more powerful if I hadn’t murdered countless billions with the Death Star, that likely also contributed to how I was able to keep playing for so long without it feeling like too much of a drag, as it cut the lag somewhat.

In retrospect, the Crisis Strength should have been set higher than 5x, given how easily I curb stomped the Prethoryn Scourge. However, given that this was after the pop growth changes for 3.0, I didn’t know how powerful I would be by end-game.

Actually, I have since done four ironman games since 3.0 by now... the Republic/Imperial Core, as documented here, Calamitous Birth Terravores (where I became the Crisis), a Criminal Syndicate that became the Galactic Imperium and inadvertently became the “good guys”, relatively speaking, in saving many species from Fanatic Purifiers (though I wasn’t able to finish that run with the 3.1 update), and the Blorg Collective (Driven Assimilators), which I have also started to document in a separate AAR. But none of those empires were ever quite as powerful as my Galactic Imperium in this AAR was at comparable times of the play through.

All in all, this was one of my most memorable Stellaris campaigns to date!