Since the dawn of their empire, the Flaarghi race had gazed upwards towards the stars,
awaiting the return of The Veiled One, Flag'hashi Haahrgl.
When this messiah finally returned, he was known across the galaxy as Steve, and in death,
became a martyr that rallied the universe against the Great Chirpy Khan.
Again deprived of their most holy prophet, the Flaarghl Star Gazers turned inward, searching
new realms of existence for Steve.
What they found instead, or perhaps, what found them, was The Shroud.
With the importance of this discovery unappreciated, the last semblance of order and stability
in the universe was once more shattered.
Nations united against the Khan turned on one another, seemingly without reason.
The Church of Chains marshalled its power against the 5th Interstellar.
Time and time again it’s fleets smashed against the Sozialistische Räterepublik and
the UNG, seeking first to liberate systems taken decades ago from the Termitoidae Collective
and later to subjugate the 5th Interstellar entirely.
The Cyber Equestrian Collective, having fully embraced cybernetics and now known as the
Omnihorse Codex, moved against the extragalactic Dessanu, destroying their entire civilization
in a single horrific chain reaction.
With this victory, control over the “L-Cluster” was theirs and all the hidden secrets it possessed.
While the wars fought by these and other petty tyrants had the potential to upend the galaxy,
it was the Union of Supreme Synthetic Republics that remained the most dangerous.
Long feared, their rapidly destabilizing programming had caused the USSR to act erratically, increasingly
striking out against their neighbors.
The war of extermination they unleashed against the long suffering Valtun Kingdom was an unparalleled
shock to the galaxy, even one so familiar with endless carnage.
When the last Valtun world was finally taken and their Kingdom ceased to exist, the USSR
began liquefying billions of Valtun citizens into energy.
This act galvanized the other great nations of the galaxy, and one by one they declared
war upon the USSR, to finally put an end to its robotic cruelty.
The nations of the 5th Interstellar, the Church of Chains, the Family, the Council of Seekers,
and the newly formed Non-Aligned Treaty Organization consisting of the Cuptior Technocracy, Omnihorse
Codex and UNG launched a great offensive into the USSR.
What began as a war of liberation quickly turned into an interstellar carrion field
however, as idealistic intentions gave way to pragmatic greed.
This was epitomized in the actions of the UNG, a nation that, since its founding, had
abandoned every ally and surrendered at every opportunity, bold, yet spineless.
It was the UNG that struck the final blow, seizing the capital of the USSR and ending
an ideological struggle centuries old.
Yet the victory here accomplished nothing.
Nations that had long feared reprisal from the USSR now acted with impunity and the galaxy
descended further into chaos.
Rephlex announced its intention to annex the Family, the Family declared war on the Council
of Seekers, the Council of Seekers launched an attack into the Sacrosanct Shrimpali Council.
Each month brought new revelations, new disasters, new triumphs but each only served to further
inflame the galaxy.
Where once distant stars had served to inspire and motivate, now they were simply lonely
lights in an ever faster swirling kaleidoscope of insanity.
Even the old powers, forces that had once shaped the fate of existence, could not endure
this growing madness.
In both the territories of the Lagan’Chuuz and the Sinrath, fallen empires that had until
now remained dormant, fleets began mobilizing and plans made to impose on the universe a
new form of rule.
But even the power of the old ones paled in comparison to the reckless determination of
the younger races.
As the Sinrath prepared to unleash a new crusade against those they considered unworthy, the
Non-Aligned Treaty Organization struck first.
In a preemptive strike, the armadas of the Cuptior Technocracy, Omnihorse Codex, and
UNG assaulted the Sinrath before they had fully prepared, ending their nascent recovery
before it had even begun.
Across the galaxy, fallen empires that had once stood as impenetrable bastions of hidden
knowledge were now looked upon with envious eyes.
Eager for whatever advantage they might possess, the younger races fell upon the old, until
the oldest fires of the universe were finally extinguished.
With the age of the Old Ones finally ended, the time of great omens began.
Sensors across the galaxy began registering a faint signal which soon intensified at an
alarming rate.
Broadcast between hidden relay stations, it seemed to have a particular influence on synthetic
constructs, who abandoned whatever masters they served en masse and disappeared to regions
unknown.
When the purpose of this “ghost signal” was finally realized, it was nearly too late.
Massive energy spikes appeared in seemingly random star systems and the surface of entire
worlds split apart to reveal ancient, planetwide factories.
The first appeared within the territories of the Aeternum, the second, within PlatyCorp,
the third rocked the foundation of the Omnihorses while the fourth mercifully appeared on the
borders of the galactic core.
From each new machine world sprang fleets of AI controlled warships, determined to wipe
out all life in the galaxy.
Of the nations affected by this unprecedented crisis, it was the Omnihorses who had prepared
the most effective response.
Now a machine intelligence themselves the Omnihorse Codex, together with the UNG and
the Cupitor, immediately counter-attacked the machine world within their space, blasting
apart the machine world before it’s threat could spread.
PlatyCorp was not so fortunate.
Waves of AI warships fell upon their star systems and their old rivals were quick to
take advantage of this new calamity.
Even as their populace was massacred by armies of machines, the Dredge, The Way, and the
Flaarghi carved up what remained between them.
Only the Terkardian Utopia resolved itself to the defense of PlatyCorp, but by the time
they arrived, solely barren worlds remained.
The galaxy had truly entered into the End Times, but there was seemingly nothing in
the universe that could end it’s mindless, petty conflicts.
While AI fleets stalked across the galaxy, NATO, the 5th Interstellar, the Church of
Chains, the Cupitor Technocracy fell deeper into the abyss of endless war.
The battles they waged resolved nothing, serving only to give the UNG yet another opportunity
to surrender and join a new alliance, this time as a vassal under the spiritual guidance
of The Way.
So complete was the absurdity that gripped the galaxy, the approaching objects from beyond
the outer rim were barely noticed.
The Sacrosanct Shrimpali Council, which for so long had avoided the worst impulses of
its neighbors, became the first victim, nourishment for an extragalactic predatory species.
When salvation arrived, it came from the Shroud.
The Flaarghl Star Gazers had been the first to probe it’s depths, but it was The Way
that embraced it fully.
The Covenant they entered into with the Shroud delivered unto The Way untold power, but they
and their allies were forever marked.
The influence of the Shroud spread across The Way, the Flaarghl Star Gazers, the Aeternum
and even the UNG, and all were blind to the approaching doom.
The price the Shroud demanded for the power it bestowed was terrible.
In an instant, the nations it had marked were destroyed utterly, reduced to a scattered
few exiles who fled to the safety of forgotten worlds.
Through their sacrifice arrived the Third Coming of Steve.
Steve the Stevearzian, Steve the Traveller, Steve the Destructor.
The insight provided by the Shroud revealed to Steve that the galaxy was too sick to survive
and only through its complete annihilation could balance be restored.
Avatars of Steve appeared in orbit of doomed worlds, delivering swift judgement, while
Steve himself presided over all, bringing to the galaxy a new utopian age that could
never be undone…
until he was killed by the Family and Rephlex Inc.
Thanks to Paradox Interactive for allowing us at The Templin Institute to investigate
and document the many empires in their intense and unpredictable Dev Clash series.
This is the last of our videos covering the events of the Dev Clash but if you’d like
to enter the universe of Stellaris yourself, you picked the right moment.
In celebration of the game’s 3rd anniversary, it is free to play this weekend!
You’ll find more details in the description.