For untold millennia, the galaxy bore witness to a vast and endless cycle.
A nation would rise, conquer the stars within their reach, and eventually unite every world
through the might of their armies or the efforts of their diplomats.
Yet such triumphs were never to endure.
Their glittering cities would become wracked by plague, a civil war would shatter their
planets, or in their arrogance, their civilization would be overcome or subsumed by machines
of their own design.
Any survivors would be forced to retreat into isolationism, lone bastions from which to
observe the greatest works of their fallen empire be pilfered by usurpers or simply fade
into legend.
Yet for the first time in recent memory, when the cycle began anew, the wonders, terrors,
and mysteries of the galaxy were not left to a single nation to inherit.
Whether by a simple act of fate or some cruel design, a multitude of nations took to the
stars within mere years of one another.
Some in the pursuit of utopian ideals, others merely for profit or plunder.
As this new age began, none could say whether these powers would cooperate together in an
unprecedented display of harmony or if the galaxy would descend into war until a single
banner flew above the ashes of the others.
For a time, the young races merely analyzed and cataloged the stars around them, ignorant
of their place in the universe and the presence of one another.
Across the galaxy however, their ships slowly made contact and confirmed the suspicion that
they were not alone.
In no instance were these initial meetings more devastating than first contact between
the Omni Codex and The Way.
A boundless machine intelligence that had long ago subdued and archived their creators,
The Omni Codex was relentless in its pursuit of cataloging and preserving selections of
all life in the galaxy.
The humanoid Varghal were to be no exception.
Their homeworld had been brought to ruin by their own violent tendencies and it was only
through the arrival of a great prophet that the desperate survivors had been saved.
Now they searched for a perfect form of existence known only as “The Way”: a state of being
that would transcend the very fabric of the universe and the namesake of their Celestial
Empire.
Between such antithetical ideologies there could be no peace.
As the struggle for resources and territory intensified, or perhaps driven by their unstable
programming, the Omni Codex declared war on the followers of The Way.
Other contacts were relatively peaceful with some even resulting in declarations of non-aggression
or trade.
For the United Nations of the Galaxy however, first contact brought with ait uncomfortable
memories from the past.
The UNG was the result of humanity finally overcoming the divisions and ignorance that
for so long had defined their species.
Ideological struggles had been replaced with a free and open society, one built on the
dream of achieving a prosperous galaxy.
In a bitter irony, it was the Union of Supreme Synthetic Republics that the UNG first encountered,
a nation built on the immortal concepts of socialism and the overriding belief that “the
flesh is weak”.
Star systems linking the two nations were quickly fortified, and a race to claim the
advantage erupted across their border territories.
The ideals of socialism had reached as far as the Zhakira Patch and here the Asphodel
Anarchist Collective embarked on an aggressive campaign of expansion.
Inherently opposed to any form of statism, Asphodel had granted its citizens unrestricted
personal freedom, but its outer colonies were soon overrun with crime and narcotics.
It was quickly determined that the anarcho-socialist model was not at fault, but rather the insidious
machinations of a vast criminal enterprise.
Known only as “ The Family,” this underworld empire operating under the guise of a mega-corporation
had spread its illicit operations to Asphodel worlds.
As more and more powers came into contact with one another, the war between the Omni
Codex and The Way continued.
In the strategic Qabji System, the Omni Codex seized a critical starbase and quickly fortified
it against any eventual counter-attack.
In propaganda broadcast throughout local space, they coldly declared that there would be “no
way through”.
But conflict could not be confined merely to this corner of space.
When the world of Wegmore, home to the comparatively primitive Zaacplot civilization, was seized
by the Termitoidae Collective, the response was swift.
An unknowable gestalt consciousness, the Termitoidae could not be entrusted to keep the Zaacplot
free from domination and the Sozialistische Räterepublik was forced to intervene.
Pledging to liberate the oppressed workers of the galaxy, their fleet of warships entered
the star system and quickly destroyed the local Termitoidae garrison.
A Termitoidae counter-attack was again beaten back, albeit with heavy losses and each side
agreed to end hostilities.
The Zaacplot had been saved, and was soon clandestinely indoctrinated with socialist
propaganda.
The UNG likewise found itself the target of those who see the workers of all worlds unite.
After decades of tensions, the Sozialistische Räterepublik launched an attack into the
UNG’s border systems, annexing several and pressing their advantage to force humanity
to come to terms.
The defeat was a blow to the UNG’s morale, but proved to be a catalyst for the galaxy’s
first major alliance.
Eventually, PlatyCorp, a corporate authority obsessed with the need for self-improvement
and perfection, the Cupitor Technocracy, a science directorate which aimed to achieve
immortality through cybernetics and the Obadin Republic, a machine intelligence formed from
an autonomous service grid, joined together to serve as a bulwark against the hostile
forces of the galaxy.
Their victories over The Way had emboldened the Omni Codex and in its continued bid to
catalog all life, declared war on Rephlex Inc.
A megacorporation built on exploitation and tyranny, Rephlex Inc. was helpless as one
of its worlds was conquered and its population sent back to the Omni Codex homeworld for
dissection and cataloging.
True to their nature, the Omni Codex relinquished control over the planet once their gruesome
task had been completed.
Elsewhere in the galaxy, in a rare victory for diplomacy, albiet diplomacy conducted
at gunpoint, PlatyCorp accepted the demands made by the Sozialistische Räterepublik,
adopting a type of social welfare for all its citizens.
As if to emphasize their continued successes or perhaps boast of the inherent superiority
of the socialist system which they had for so long claimed, the Sozialistische Räterepublik
announced the establishment of a galactic marketplace, becoming the unofficial center
of the galactic economy.
This achievement motivated the other socialist nations of the galaxy, the Union of Supreme
Synthetic Republics, the Asphodel Anarchist Collective and the Cooperative Commune of
Crustacean Planets, whose homeworld had long suffered under the rule of capitalism before
their own glorious revolution, to form the 5th Interstellar.
In a single stroke the alliance founded by the UNG had been overtaken as the most powerful
combined force in the galaxy.
The formation of two competing power blocs was not enough to stem the tide of conflict
however.
The Way continued to escape the grip of the Omni Codex, only to have their homeworld occupied.
Forbidden from accepting peace by the doctrines of their faith, The Way continued their possibly
futile struggle.
Sensing weakness, the Baatezu Empire, a bandit kingdom of slavers, seized the opportunity
to attack The Way’s remaining colonies, abducting their populace before retreating
behind the safety of their borders.
The Aeternum, a hive mind that had so far lingered beyond the periphery of known space
also took advantage of the situation.
It’s ships launched a daring attack in the outermost systems of the Omni Codex, aiming
to cut off its line of advance before the Aeternum’s drones could be added to the
Codex’s collection.
Even the newly founded 5th Interstellar was not above the threat of war.
The Holy Valtun Kingdom, led by religious fanatics who viewed the galaxy as theirs and
theirs alone declared war on the Asphodel Anarchist Collective.
Their initial raids achieved little and after a fierce counterattack by the Asphodel destroyed
much of the Holy Valtun’s fleet, the conflict stagnated with neither side able to breach
the defenses of the other.
Only after a hidden military buildup of warships specifically designed to nullify the weaponry
of their opponent was the Asphodel Anarchist Collective able to decisively beat the Holy
Valtun Kingdom in open battle, and force a white peace, one in which both sides declared
victory.
In an attempt to compete with the 5th Interstellar and enforce their will upon the galaxy, the
UNG’s own alliance, after much deliberation, declared war upon the Dredge.
An enormous colony of drones united under the will of their Hive Queen, the Dredge had
long been a threatening presence in their region of the galaxy, even going so far as
to destroy an alien derelict known as the Infinity Machine before the scientists of
Platycorp could fully unlock its secrets.
As such conflicts captured the attention of the galactic community, other nations were
content to remain within their borders or enact their plans through less obvious means.
The uppermost leadership of The Family was rumored to have spent much of their time aboard
the opulent casino starbase run by the migrant Cavaneers, reportedly boasting “the family
rolls the dice, the universe answers every time”.
Their winnings were used to spread their network of crime and piracy across the galaxy and
their targets struggled to find a way to contain their hidden influence.
In a battle fought through engineering, the Terkardian Utopia, an isolationist power that
longed for nothing more than calm and peaceful inward perfection, defeated the Union of Supreme
Synthetic Republics in the race to construct the first large scale artificial habitat.
It was in a remote and largely forgotten region of the galaxy that the strangest incident
occurred.
In the earliest days of the new age, as the other nations of the galaxy encountered one
another amongst the stars, the Cybercownetic Collective, former livestock that had broken
their shackles and now worked towards the mastery of technology, made contact with something
vastly different.
After several of their greatest scientists were lost within the Geltauri Black Hole,
the Collective was approached by a being of unfathomable intelligence known only as The
Worm.
Through the light of the worm, and the ominous mantra that “what was, shall be” the Cybercownetic
Collective was reborn, every citizen utterly and mysteriously transformed.
The new age of opportunity and danger that unfolded across the galaxy challenged every
nation within it.
Mighty alliances have formed but whether they will remain united in the face of adversity
or are merely pacts of convenience has yet to be tested.
Conflicting ideologies have created battlefields out of star systems, perhaps the first step
to victory or future graveyards of empires.
Powers vying for the mantle of leadership have made their names known across the galaxy,
but do they have the will to move the wheel of history, or are they merely targets for
those who have yet to step out from the shadows?
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.
We’ll be providing a summary of the events of their streams every few weeks but if you
would like to watch the Dev Clash live streams as they happen or stay up to date with the
latest news on Stellaris and its upcoming MegaCorp expansion, follow them on Twitch
& YouTube.
There’s a link in the description.