History VideoGame / GigastructuralEngineeringAndMore

* MadScientist: Weeny Pouchkinn, one of the [[CatFolk Katzen]]. He can be hero or villain depending on the timeline. In some timelines, he becomes TheHermit to conduct extremely dangerous research most governments won't allow. In this case, he will gladly join you if you let him in order to take a break from the tedium of unsuccessful TimeTravel experiments. In other timelines, he becomes EmperorScientist of the Katzen, leads them into fallen empire hood, keeps them distracted with BreadAndCircuses, and becomes a crisis as he becomes a GodhoodSeeker. The good news is that his plans to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence won't destroy the galaxy like an Aetherophasic Engine. The bad news is that it will still rewrite the hyperlanes and cause galaxywide earthquakes, resulting in severe societal disruption, not that he cares. Kaiser does not show up in the latter type of timeline.

* VillainExitStageLeft: [[spoiler:Kaiser has an artifact from a previous cycle of the universe where a lot of the laws of physics were very different from normal. If Kaiser is in danger, he will use it to escape to the next cycle of the universe. It will automatically activate if he is brought to the brink of death by surprise. In theory, he can be killed for good if someone somehow figures this out and disables the artifact, but Kaiser will always retreat immediately if he notices anyone trying to figure him out.]]

* MadScientist: Weeny Pouchkinn, one of the [[CatFolk Katzen]]. He can be hero or villain depending on the timeline. In some timelines, he becomes TheHermit to conduct extremely dangerous research most governments won't allow. In this case, he will gladly join you if you let him in order to take a break from the tedium of unsuccessful TimeTravel experiments. In other timelines, he becomes EmperorScientist of the Katen, leads them into fallen empire hood, keeps them distracted with BreadAndCircuses, and becomes a crisis as he becomes a GodhoodSeeker. The good news is that his plans to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence won't destroy the galaxy like an Aetherophasic Engine. The bad news is that it will still rewrite the hyperlanes and cause galaxywide earthquakes, resulting in severe societal disruption, not that he cares. Kaiser does not show up in the latter type of timeline.

** The Fallen Empires are protected against {{Intersellar Weapon}}s by a special shield generator.

*** The highest Aeternum difficulty, where they manage to become a Champion and gain access to the highest tech tier of the ''ACOT'', but proceed no further, making them SemiDivine. On this difficulty in an unprepared galaxy, the Aeternum go on a stampede, very literally deleting occupied planets left and right. Even max difficulty Fallen Empires are subject to a CurbStompBattle.

*** The highest Aeternum difficulty, where they manage to become a Champion and gain access to the highest tech tier of the ''ACOT'', but proceed no further.

* TheRightOfASuperiorSpecies: Most Blokkats have a LackOfEmpathy for other species. If you are a primitive compared to them, then they think of you as mere energy patterns to be harvested. If you are their equal, then they see you as a threat in need of eradication.

*** Stellarite Kaiser, his second highest difficulty, where he, via unknown means, gets ahold of a mysterious LostTechnology left behind by the gods.
*** The highest Aeternum difficulty, where they manage to become a Champion and gain access to the highest tech tier of the ''ACOT'', but proceed no further.

* FlatEarthAthiest: WordOfGod says that in most ''ACOT'' {{Crossover}} timelines, the Aeternum will rationalize away any evidence that the Stellarites (the gods, as defined by ''ACOT'') exist. The highest Aeternum difficulty level is the exception, where they became a Champion, but didn't go further.

*** ACOT unlocks higher difficulties where some of the custom empires get access to the technology defined by the mod.
*** ACOT also unlocks some higher tier giga structures, like upgrading the ludicrous monstrosity that is a Birch World into an even more ridiculous monstrosity called a Supermassive Birch Void Sphere.
*** The gods aren't picky about their methods to fight the Shadow and feel the Blokkats may be worthy of helping them, so as a test for both the local galactic gods and the Blokkats, they will deny access to the Light and restrict the lesser gods to fighting the Blokkats with SufficientlyAdvancedTechnology.

* JustToyingWithThem: In most timelines, Kaiser isn't actually trying very hard. For all of his faults, Kaiser is very patient and has an indefinite number of chances to try again, so he isn't in a rush to win. Kaiser's difficulty setting reflects how seriously he is taking it this cycle. When he is ''actually'' trying to win, indirect options like sponsoring insurrections in his empire are taken off the table.

* {{Expy}}: Perhaps fittingly, given ''Stellaris'' is very much a SpiritualAdaptation of the ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'''s Space Stage, the Aeternum are quite similar of The Grox Empire. A powerful, mysterious, ancient, reclusive and extremely technologically advanced (even compared to the late-game player's empire) empire that gives little information about itself to other empires, has a seething hatred for other species, resides in the galactic core, and stays inactive until a war starts, at which point there is no turning back, and no peace to be made. About the only real difference is that unlike The Grox, the Aeternites will eventually [[OhCrap declare war on the entire galaxy with the intention of exterminating them,]] serving as an alternative FinalBoss to the other endgame crisis'.[[note]]Unless you fight the Blokkats[[/note]]

* ThoseWereOnlyTheirScouts: In the default Gigastructures timeline, the Blokkats are the most advanced civilization around. The Grand Intergalactic Federation is the only civilization capable of matching them. The different difficulty levels are based on how seriously the Blokkats are taking your galaxy. Most galaxies are too primitive to pose any threat at all, so the Blokkats consider it more cost-effective to send what is their equivalent to a civilian ship to harvest most galaxies. The highest difficulty setting is unlocked in ''Ancient Cache of Technology'' mod {{Crossover}}s, an intersection of timelines where worthy civilizations have ascended into low ranking divine beings, forcing the Blokkats to go all out to kill them.

* AndManGrewProud: At their peak, the Aeternum were poised to become an extragalactic civilization, with aspirations to conquer the entire universe. In order to see this through, Empress Alice II became a GodhoodSeeker. Their civilization managed to create an artificial dragon with the peak of their technology. The Empress intended to then transfer her consciousness into it, but the project held an [[CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen unintended consciousness of its own]]. It proceeded to punish its creators for their hubris before departing to parts unknown, causing the Aeternum to collapse, with the survivors consolidating in their birchworld.

* VillainExitStageLeft: [[spoiler:Kaiser has an artifact from a previous cycle of the universe where a lot of the laws of physics were very different from normal. If Kaiser is in danger, he will use it to escape to the next cycle of the universe. It will automatically activate if he is brought to the brink of death by surprise. In theory, he can be killed for good if someone somehow figures this out and disables the artifact, but Kaiser will always retreat immediately if he notices anyone figure him out.]]

* AdaptationalBadass: In vanilla Stellaris, The End of the Cycle is already the strongest Shroud entity, but it was presumably born from the Zroni and is local to the playable galaxy like all of the others. In Gigastructures, it is a TimeAbyss that predates countless cycles of the universe and a Deep Shroud deity existing at the level of the multiverse. Gigastructures also makes it the true mastermind behind the Aetherophasic Engine, a machine that promises godhood to its builders, and has a probable chance of working in vanilla, but explicitly doesn't in Gigastructures, being a trap to feed the End.

* OurSoulsAreDifferent: As in vanilla Stellaris, all beings have a presence in the Shroud that persists upon death. Even robots have souls, albeit ones far weaker than those of organics. Some of the most advanced races, such as the Aeternum and the Blokkats, have even developed tech revolving around souls.

* OverflowError: Stellaris mostly uses [[UsefulNotes/PowersOfTwoMinusOne 32 bit variables]]. Gigastructures is one of the stronger mods, and while it will not by itself cause an overflow error, synergizing it with certain other overpowered mods will give you numbers so high that they will overflow right into the negatives.

** The mod offers the ability to surround the vanilla Stellaris ringworld with more rings.

* TheCakeIsALie: In vanilla Stellaris, civilizations can decide to become a [[GodhoodSeeker Crisis Aspirant]] in order to attempt to follow in the divine Zroni's footsteps, building the Aetherophasic Engine and sacrificing the galaxy to presumably AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence. In vanilla, it isn't explicitly shown whether it works as advertised or not, but it explicitly ''doesn't'' in Gigastructures lore, where it is treated as a delusional mass suicide on the Crisis Aspirant's part. In Gigastructures, the Aetherophasic Engine is nothing but a trap, planted in the minds of the Crisis Aspirant by a Deep Shroud deity, the End of the Cycle. Instead of receiving the promised godhood, the Crisis Aspirant simply ends up delivering their galaxy to the {{Eldritch Abomination}}'s stomach.

** Other mods will unlock new insults from the Blokkats, where they mock the "Ascended" Empires that have reached their "Zenith".

* JustToyingWithThem: In most timelines, Kaiser isn't actually trying very hard. For all of his faults, Kaiser is very patient and has an indefinite number of chances to try again, so he isn't in a rush to win. When he is ''actually'' trying to win, indirect options like supporting insurrections in his empire are taken off the table.