Prologue: Beginning at the Ending
Hello all, I'm Macavity116.
For the past year, I've been quietly writing a fanfiction based on Stellaris called "After Everything" and posting it to the Blogs Page of the Paradox Plaza site. It's a project that I've been having a lot of fun doing, even though Stellaris itself has since gotten two major updates which have utterly destroyed my official "After Everything Save File." Even though the save file used for the story is long gone, I was having way too much fun to stop writing. Recently, a friendly moderator suggested I try posting my story to the Stellaris AAR Forum, and so here I am. I have no real expectations for this. I'm just out to tell a story and have fun doing so.
The TL;DR of what I'm trying to say is that I had a lot of fun writing this, then someone recommended I share it with you all, and I agreed with them. There! Now you know why I'm here with my little story. (Alternatively, you can find it on the website "Archive of Our Own" as well.)
You know, I've only been talking for a minute or so and my throat is already getting sore. Let me start telling the story before I completely lose my voice. *Ahem* In a time before time...
Prologue: Beginning at the Ending
The Second Hyperspace War lasted exactly 21 years. When the storm cleared, over 15,000 inhabited worlds had been burned, crushed, depopulated, exploded, silenced, pulverized, shattered, or otherwise annihilated. There was no possible way to count the dead.
During the final battle, fought both on the ground and in the skies above Earth, 15 Stormbreakers, each one the hero of a story I don’t have time to tell you, rose from the island of Kyushu and led the combined forces of every galactic civilization in a colossal offensive against Agamemnon itself.
10 Stormbreakers fell to the Invaders.
4 Stormbreakers vanished and were never seen nor heard from again.
And Jericho stood alone against Agamemnon.
The storm became more intense and vicious than ever before. Their battle shattered planets, killed millions, and caused permanent damage to the Hyperspace Network across the entire galaxy.
And then it was over. Neither Jericho nor Agamemnon remained. The Invaders, having lost their nerve center, became lethargic and vulnerable. All across the galaxy, Invader fleets were outmaneuvered and crushed by forces less than half their size. Within a year, the Invaders were completely purged from all creation.
The war was over, but the damage was still done. The Invaders had destroyed three quarters of all populated places in the galaxy, while Jericho and Agamemnon had disabled every Hyperspace Gate in the galaxy. Without the Network, great star nations like the Kingdom of Partoga, the Levakian Confederation, Amadiio, Vania, the Micore Empire, Kelta, and the United States of Assuria simply ceased to exist.
While the political powers of the galaxy died, tens of millions of tons of battle debris rained down on the Earth. The impacts thrust clouds of dust into the air. Shrouded in clouds, the Earth fell into permanent winter, returning humankind to its isolation from the rest of the galaxy. Unable to call upon their new extraterrestrial allies for help, the people of Earth vanished into silence, and soon, the Sol Star itself became lost.
Which brings us here:
These battle-scarred planets were once the core of the Kingdom of Partoga. Founded in the year 1515, the Kingdom controlled 116 star systems at the height of its power and also fielded one of the greatest navies the galaxy had ever known. During the Second Hyperspace War, the galactic front line transected the Kingdom’s territory. So many battles were fought in Partogan space that the population took shelter in a network of underground bunkers on the Homeworld.
Over a century and a half has gone by since the bunker doors were sealed. After waiting for decades, some Partogans bravely ventured out onto the planet surface and reported that the nuclear winter on the surface was drawing to a close. It was finally safe to emerge from the shelters.
Eventually, the Partogan Royal Space Corps dispatched uncrewed probes into interstellar space to ascertain the fate of the galaxy. This was how the Partogan people learned that they alone had survived the Invasion. The Levakians, Amadii, Vanians, Keltians, Micore, and Assurians were all gone. On top of all that, the Sol Star, home of Jericho and her 14 companions, was nowhere to be found.
A century and a half after Jericho gave herself to the final victory, someone else’s story is about to begin:
…
On April 30, 2180, this message was broadcast on every radio and television in the Kingdom of Partoga:
We interrupt this program. This is a national emergency. Important instructions will follow.
All stations have interrupted their programming at the request of the Royal Government to broadcast a message to the nation.
Standby for a message from the Kuhina Nui of the Kingdom of Partoga:
“To our good and hardworking subjects, I must bring you terrible news. Our beloved Queen Kendra the Second, the guardian of our nation, has departed this world. She passed on peacefully in the company of her family around 6 in the morning on the 30th day of Paenga-whāwhā, in the 665th year of our Kingdom. She is now in the company of Miranda the Great and her fellow Queens. Our nation has lost its greatest daughter. Our people have lost their mother. Although we knew this day was coming, nothing can diminish our sense of profound and enduring loss.
Her Highness was the driving force behind the reconstruction of our Homeworld. There is no one alive who remembers the Second Hyperspace War of 500-521, but the evidence of the destruction it wrought is omnipresent. Under Kendra’s guidance, we as a people recovered some of what was lost. We emerged from our underground bunkers for the first time since ’21 and saw the light of our sun. We re-occupied the Royal City and a Queen of Partoga sat upon the Emerald Throne for the first time since the war.
We as a people will honor Her Highness. She will lay in state at the Great Library for fifteen days, before being moved to the Unnamed Mountain where the funeral will take place on the 15th day of Haratua. She will be buried in Archer’s Canyon alongside her predecessors: Miranda the Fourth, Miranda the Second, and Kendra the Peacemaker.
In response to the situation, the National Assembly has declared a state of mourning and accordingly has issued the following instructions to the people of the Kingdom: The national flag must fly at half mast, bright colored clothing is prohibited, and all sporting events are cancelled. Weekly church attendance is mandatory for all citizens. This requirement will be enforced by the Green Guard. All girls between the ages of 10 and 15 who have completed the Rite of Passage must give their names to the Priest of their local Church of the Mountain. Again, this requirement will be enforced by the Green Guard.
Our nation stands on the brink of great change. I urge you all to keep your heads held high, cooperate with Church officials and the Green Guard, and most importantly: remain united.
The Mountain be praised.”
You have just heard a message from Kauri Rangi, Kuhina Nui of the Kingdom of Partoga. This message will repeat until the National Assembly provides new instructions. Please follow the commands of the Green Guard and keep your radio or television tuned to this station for further instructions.
All stations have interrupted their programming at the request of the Royal Government to broadcast an emergency message to the nation.
We have interrupted this program. This is a national emergency. Important instructions will follow.
… … …
For the past year, I've been quietly writing a fanfiction based on Stellaris called "After Everything" and posting it to the Blogs Page of the Paradox Plaza site. It's a project that I've been having a lot of fun doing, even though Stellaris itself has since gotten two major updates which have utterly destroyed my official "After Everything Save File." Even though the save file used for the story is long gone, I was having way too much fun to stop writing. Recently, a friendly moderator suggested I try posting my story to the Stellaris AAR Forum, and so here I am. I have no real expectations for this. I'm just out to tell a story and have fun doing so.
The TL;DR of what I'm trying to say is that I had a lot of fun writing this, then someone recommended I share it with you all, and I agreed with them. There! Now you know why I'm here with my little story. (Alternatively, you can find it on the website "Archive of Our Own" as well.)
You know, I've only been talking for a minute or so and my throat is already getting sore. Let me start telling the story before I completely lose my voice. *Ahem* In a time before time...
After Everything - A Stellaris StoryPrologue: Beginning at the Ending
The Second Hyperspace War lasted exactly 21 years. When the storm cleared, over 15,000 inhabited worlds had been burned, crushed, depopulated, exploded, silenced, pulverized, shattered, or otherwise annihilated. There was no possible way to count the dead.
During the final battle, fought both on the ground and in the skies above Earth, 15 Stormbreakers, each one the hero of a story I don’t have time to tell you, rose from the island of Kyushu and led the combined forces of every galactic civilization in a colossal offensive against Agamemnon itself.
10 Stormbreakers fell to the Invaders.
4 Stormbreakers vanished and were never seen nor heard from again.
And Jericho stood alone against Agamemnon.
The storm became more intense and vicious than ever before. Their battle shattered planets, killed millions, and caused permanent damage to the Hyperspace Network across the entire galaxy.
And then it was over. Neither Jericho nor Agamemnon remained. The Invaders, having lost their nerve center, became lethargic and vulnerable. All across the galaxy, Invader fleets were outmaneuvered and crushed by forces less than half their size. Within a year, the Invaders were completely purged from all creation.
The war was over, but the damage was still done. The Invaders had destroyed three quarters of all populated places in the galaxy, while Jericho and Agamemnon had disabled every Hyperspace Gate in the galaxy. Without the Network, great star nations like the Kingdom of Partoga, the Levakian Confederation, Amadiio, Vania, the Micore Empire, Kelta, and the United States of Assuria simply ceased to exist.
While the political powers of the galaxy died, tens of millions of tons of battle debris rained down on the Earth. The impacts thrust clouds of dust into the air. Shrouded in clouds, the Earth fell into permanent winter, returning humankind to its isolation from the rest of the galaxy. Unable to call upon their new extraterrestrial allies for help, the people of Earth vanished into silence, and soon, the Sol Star itself became lost.
Which brings us here:
These battle-scarred planets were once the core of the Kingdom of Partoga. Founded in the year 1515, the Kingdom controlled 116 star systems at the height of its power and also fielded one of the greatest navies the galaxy had ever known. During the Second Hyperspace War, the galactic front line transected the Kingdom’s territory. So many battles were fought in Partogan space that the population took shelter in a network of underground bunkers on the Homeworld.
Over a century and a half has gone by since the bunker doors were sealed. After waiting for decades, some Partogans bravely ventured out onto the planet surface and reported that the nuclear winter on the surface was drawing to a close. It was finally safe to emerge from the shelters.
Eventually, the Partogan Royal Space Corps dispatched uncrewed probes into interstellar space to ascertain the fate of the galaxy. This was how the Partogan people learned that they alone had survived the Invasion. The Levakians, Amadii, Vanians, Keltians, Micore, and Assurians were all gone. On top of all that, the Sol Star, home of Jericho and her 14 companions, was nowhere to be found.
A century and a half after Jericho gave herself to the final victory, someone else’s story is about to begin:
…
On April 30, 2180, this message was broadcast on every radio and television in the Kingdom of Partoga:
We interrupt this program. This is a national emergency. Important instructions will follow.
All stations have interrupted their programming at the request of the Royal Government to broadcast a message to the nation.
Standby for a message from the Kuhina Nui of the Kingdom of Partoga:
“To our good and hardworking subjects, I must bring you terrible news. Our beloved Queen Kendra the Second, the guardian of our nation, has departed this world. She passed on peacefully in the company of her family around 6 in the morning on the 30th day of Paenga-whāwhā, in the 665th year of our Kingdom. She is now in the company of Miranda the Great and her fellow Queens. Our nation has lost its greatest daughter. Our people have lost their mother. Although we knew this day was coming, nothing can diminish our sense of profound and enduring loss.
Her Highness was the driving force behind the reconstruction of our Homeworld. There is no one alive who remembers the Second Hyperspace War of 500-521, but the evidence of the destruction it wrought is omnipresent. Under Kendra’s guidance, we as a people recovered some of what was lost. We emerged from our underground bunkers for the first time since ’21 and saw the light of our sun. We re-occupied the Royal City and a Queen of Partoga sat upon the Emerald Throne for the first time since the war.
We as a people will honor Her Highness. She will lay in state at the Great Library for fifteen days, before being moved to the Unnamed Mountain where the funeral will take place on the 15th day of Haratua. She will be buried in Archer’s Canyon alongside her predecessors: Miranda the Fourth, Miranda the Second, and Kendra the Peacemaker.
In response to the situation, the National Assembly has declared a state of mourning and accordingly has issued the following instructions to the people of the Kingdom: The national flag must fly at half mast, bright colored clothing is prohibited, and all sporting events are cancelled. Weekly church attendance is mandatory for all citizens. This requirement will be enforced by the Green Guard. All girls between the ages of 10 and 15 who have completed the Rite of Passage must give their names to the Priest of their local Church of the Mountain. Again, this requirement will be enforced by the Green Guard.
Our nation stands on the brink of great change. I urge you all to keep your heads held high, cooperate with Church officials and the Green Guard, and most importantly: remain united.
The Mountain be praised.”
You have just heard a message from Kauri Rangi, Kuhina Nui of the Kingdom of Partoga. This message will repeat until the National Assembly provides new instructions. Please follow the commands of the Green Guard and keep your radio or television tuned to this station for further instructions.
All stations have interrupted their programming at the request of the Royal Government to broadcast an emergency message to the nation.
We have interrupted this program. This is a national emergency. Important instructions will follow.
… … …
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