This episode is sponsored by Paradox Interactive.
A dark age persists across the galaxy.
On ruined worlds, the battered remnants of civilization war against usurpers, mutations,
and corruptions of their own making, desperate to bring some semblance of order to the universe.
Petty factions prey on one another for the scraps of the fallen Star Union, seeking lost
knowledge and power in forgotten places.
The vaults are now open, and terrible secrets await any with the courage to seek them out.
But those who dig too greedily and too deep will find something else waiting for them
in the dark.
At its height, the Star Union controlled the galaxy, but it was hardly the first to do
so.
An ancient power is rising and its prophets have already begun to sway the minds of many.
By their will, a dynasty will be restored and control of all life will rest solely with
the Heritors.
Hidden across a thousand worlds lie the tombs of the Es’Teq.
Before even the ascent of the first Emperors of the Star Union, they had travelled to the
furthest reaches of the galaxy.
The empire they ruled was not built from dreams of discovery or wealth, but from fear of death.
To the Es’Teq, life was the ultimate creational force in the physical universe, and nothing
lay beyond.
To die was to enter a purposeless void, to persist in endless darkness.
Their society devoted itself to the conquest of death, devising methods to entomb themselves
in purgatories of their own creation.
Here they were safe beyond the call of the void and could await the day they might live
once again.
A hierarchy developed among the Es’Teq.
The lives of unbelievers, heretics, and disposables became a source of energy for the those who
anointed themselves “The Eternal”.
Through the transfer of an energy they named “Essence”, life could be prolonged and
entropy staved off.
Essence became the center of their faith, the center of their civilization.
The elite of their society extended their lives many times past normal limits, feeding
on the life energy of the thousands under them.
But this system relied on a downtrodden underclass and the Eternal fell into conflict against
those who found salvation not in Essence, but in technology.
With control over Essence limited to the elite, the less fortunate placed their bodies, or
even just their minds, in stasis, while others uploaded their consciousness into machines
or merged them with artificial intelligences.
Now presented with an alternative to drawing the Essence they could never hope to claim,
untold masses embraced the temptations of a virtual life.
The Eternal declared this “artificial afterlife” an abomination, with AI named the greatest
sin against the sanctity of life.
The theocratic Eternal sought to contain the influence of these reformists, but coexistence
with those who had cast aside religion in favor of technology was unsustainable.
When the inevitable civil war between the two split their empire apart, the doomed Eternal
sealed themselves in hidden vaults.
Only their most worthy were preserved, the devout and loyal, who would wait for the moment
when they could return to the galaxy, unchallenged.
Their priests foresaw a time when an apocalypse would scour AI from existence and with the
Star Union destroyed by a great cataclysm, that time has arrived.
The scions of the Es’Teq have already awakened, anointing themselves the Heritor.
They move with purpose across the galaxy, secretly converting the weak minded or those
amenable to their cause, promising everlasting life in return.
Such promises are empty.
While dormant, the Heritor had no choice but to feed on themselves, linking their Essence
among one another to ensure that the strong could survive off the weak.
The Drained souls the survivors left behind became entropic and lifeless.
So great was their fear of death, the drained clung to their mortal existence at any cost,
becoming the slaves of those who had consumed them.
This is the destiny of all those who swear loyalty to the Heritor, for Essence is just
another form of power and those who possess it are loathe to give it up.
But the Heritor were not the only remnant of the Es’Teq to escape the fate that befell
their empire.
Some vaults were never intended to be opened, used to house the sick and the infirm, criminals
and other undesirables.
They were to be forgotten, forever trapped so their weakness might never infect the remainder
of their race.
But the Cataclysm that ended the Star Union forever changed these vaults as well.
Many were mutated, corrupted; and tombs never meant to open have begun to stir once more.
The Essence of the living is of no use to them, instead they require the Essence of
the dead.
Both the Heritor and the Forgotten have been unleashed across the galaxy.
When they operate in the open, entire armies are drained of life, but they are far more
dangerous when they remain in the shadows.
Of all the forces fighting for a better future, how many truly seek to learn from the failure
of the Star Union, and how many have already been lured by something far older?
The Heritors and their servants believe that the Essence they so greedily desire are shards
of their creator.
Such shards must be seized and closely guarded, taken from the unworthy and preserved inside
the pure.
Together, a new paradise will emerge in the galaxy: a place where death and entropy holds
no dominion, a place befitting the return of their god.
Thanks to Paradox Interactive for sponsoring this investigation into the ancient mysteries
of the Heritors.
Revelations, the first expansion for the critically acclaimed Age of Wonders: Planetfall is out
now, and along with the Heritors and Forgotten, adds a ton of new features.
If you’re planning on buying Revelations so you can influence the factions of the galaxy
to restore the Es’Teq Dynasty, use our affiliate link in the description.