I did not read it when I realized it.Did someone say "Contracts"? /人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\
In all seriousness, that chain looks pretty great. I'd stay away from the End, though. I'm expecting your stuff to turn into Unbidden and spawn them right on top of your empire after that period of time. Or the End going full Orz (from Star Control 2) against you and basically erasing your empire from existence.
I have to ask, these are pretty clearly teasers from the upcoming update. If you don't want any spoilers, why did you even read this thread? By definition, it's all spoilers.
Why does it say "do not do this"? I mean I only see benefits there.
It's really only spoilering some (far from all) of the things you can encounter in the Shroud. We're not going to spoil the outcomes of those encounters.
RE: The End of the Cycle. Worst it could do (outside of some sort of obnoxious meta-y gimmickry, but that's not Paradox's style) is give a total game over in month 601. No fleet/leviathan to battle, no event chain to slip out of, just a black splotch on the map filled with empty, silent cities where your empire used to be.
Anything else is just a challenge to be conquered.
It's really only spoilering some (far from all) of the things you can encounter in the Shroud. We're not going to spoil the outcomes of those encounters.
Looking at the Domination Traditions. I love the bonuses except that there isn't anything to help with unity. I compare this to Harmony, Diplomacy and Prosperity which offer an option to get a 2 unity building that can be built on every planet. I see a metagame where people rush these traditions to maximize unity gain. Especially the Harmony and Prosperity ones because the buildings that produce the unity contribute to the gain of resources (food and energy respectively).
Alexis has taught you well, Young Anward.