History Characters / Stellaris

[[/index]]

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Standard AI Personalities]]

!'''Decadent Hierarchy'''
--> ''"You do all hard work yourselves? It must be exhausting. Surely you're at least a bit jealous of us."''
* AffablyEvil: Their entire society is built on slavery, but unlike the Slaving Despots, they're at least willing to be marginally polite to outsiders.
* EvilIsNotPacifist: A pointed aversion: they actually need to have the "Pacifist" ethos. Said ethos is what makes them so AffablyEvil, as opposed to their [[EvilerThanThou more fearsome counterparts]], the Slaving Despots.
* InTheBlood: Species with the "Decadent" trait are essentially forced into either this personality or Slaving Despots, though non-decadent species with the Slaving Guilds civic qualify as well.
* TechnicalPacifist: Tend to be willing to opportunistically declare war on weaker neighbors, particularly if they're involved in a war elsewhere. The pacifist war style limits them to liberation wars, creating either more Decadent Hierarchies or Harmonious Collectives, but either one is preferable to an egalitarian that might start spreading ''ideas''.

!'''Democratic Crusaders'''
--> ''"We will give you liberty or give you death. Your choice."''
* BerserkButton: They dislike any authoritarian empire by default.
* {{Eagleland}}: ''Mostly'' Type II, as they're a parody of neoconservatism, but if you're a democracy yourself, you can usually count on them to be friendly -- and if you're an autocrat, they'll hate your guts.
* {{Foil}}:
** For Hegemonic Imperialists. Both seek to spread their influence aggressively, but where Hegemonic Imperialists seek to dominate as overlords, Democratic Crusaders prefer to exert their influence through a network of liberated proxies.
** For Evangelizing Zealots. Both are aggressive and ideologically driven, one to spread their True Faith, the other to spread their Perfect Way of Life.
* HegemonicEmpire: Democratic crusaders liberate instead of conquering, creating new nations of the "liberated" species with the Democratic Crusader's ethos. Who typically become, and usually ally with, the Democratic Crusaders themselves.
* SlaveLiberation: All Democratic Crusaders consider slavery and autocracy anathema, and they have a distinct preference for liberating conquered empires from their oppressor's clutches. Crusaders are the default personality type for a slave pop that has broken free of their oppressors and conquered their planet.
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: They believe in spreading freedom throughout the galaxy, at any cost.

!'''Erudite Explorers'''
--> ''"Our goal is not power, but knowledge, although they can sometimes be the same."''
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Just because they're friendly and curious doesn't mean some Erudite Explorer empires won't aggressively expand. They may in particular may see dramatic mid/late game surges once they begin to unlock additional colonization options.
* CulturedBadass:
--> ''"Our weapon of choice is our intellects, sharpened by reason and rationalism. Do you like your odds, Human?"''
* ProudScholarRaceGuy: Dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge in all its forms, wherever they may find it.
* StrawAtheist: They get lines like these when insulting civs they don't like, especially spiritualists. That said, they're not a true example: they're easy-going enough to get along with spiritualists when they have other shared interests, despite the modest relationship malus.

!'''Evangelizing Zealots'''
--> ''"Have you heard the good news?"''
* ChurchMilitant: They are not above using military might to force others to accept their beliefs.
* TheFundamentalist: Dogmatic and aggressive, seeking to spread their beliefs often at swordpoint.
* KnightTemplar: They're convinced that their beliefs are the only truth of the galaxy, and they plan on spreading that truth to the rest of the galaxy for its own good -- even if the rest of the galaxy doesn't want to hear it.
* ScaryDogmaticAliens: The despise materialists, often violently, and are only moderately more pleasant for their "misguided" fellow spiritualists.

!'''Fanatical Befrienders'''
--> ''"I hope you didn't forget about the party I invited you to..."''
* TheCameo: They're based on the race played by the developers when they were streaming the Beta, and while they ''can'' be randomly generated, the requirements are strict enough that they probably won't.
* CloudCuckoolander: For starters, they consider war just another kind of befriending, and refer to OrbitalBombardment, in all sincerity, as "light shows".
* DeadlyEuphemism: They don't ''conquer people'', they ''befriend'' them.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: A somewhat positive example. They crave friendship and social activity above all else. Unfortunately, they're also completely hideous and repulsive, even to each other.
* {{Foil}}: To the Fanatical Purifiers. Purifiers abhor [[AbsoluteXenophobe anything that is not them]] as much as others wouldn't like them, Befrienders embrace other races as much as others wouldn't like them.
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: A functioning empire built specifically for this role. While it is reasonable to side with one, it is very unlikely that your own colonies would ever want one of their race.
* NiceGuy: They just want to be friends with everyone!
* SpeaksInShoutOuts: All of their dialogue references either the pre-release devstreams or the Borg from ''Franchise/StarTrek''.
* {{Yandere}}: That point of "militarist" ethos? That's there because they are perfectly happy to "befriend" other species by force if it proves necessary.
--> ''"This war is merely the beginning of a beautiful friendship."''
--> ''"We feel like it's time to take the next step in our relationship."''

!'''Fanatical Purifiers'''
--> ''"For each Human life that ends, for each baby that perishes before its birth, every star in the galaxy shines a little brighter."''
* AbsoluteXenophobe: Fanatic Purifiers are incapable of tolerating the existence of other species. They don't bother with {{Universal Translator}}s like the other personalities - every other species is either an enemy, or a future enemy.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Their entire society is devoted to cleansing the universe of all "impure" life, including even members of their species who are insufficiently zealous. With the sole exception of other Fanatical Purifier Empires of the same species, Diplomacy is not an option.
* BirdsOfAFeather: In general the Fanatic Purifier Empires hate everyone else with an uncompromising intensity, but there is one exception. If two Fanatic Purifier Empires are of the same species, then they will not only be able to engage in diplomacy with each other, but will even have a +200 opinion bonus. Of course, since Fanatic Purifiers cannot release vassals, this situation is unlikely to come up without being planned by the player.
--> ''"In a galaxy brimming over with alien horrors, it is always delightful to see another Human."''
* EvilVersusEvil: Though a rare sight to see neighbors with the similar mindset, two Fanatic Purifier empires of different species can end up with this ordeal, since both sides have a hard-coded relationship tick that will completely eradicate any positive outlook to the other, no matter how similar their ethics are. If they're somehow the same species, they can actually become allies instead.
* FinalSolution: They cannot tolerate the existence of aliens, not even as slaves or livestock. Any and all alien pops on their worlds are automatically purged, and their empire gains Unity from purging alien pops.
* HeroicComedicSociopath: They make ''fun'' vassals, because they are entirely and gleefully open about the fact that they still want to murder everything even as they begrudgingly do the bidding of their overlords.
-->''"The [Vassal Name] is your best instrument for cleansing the galaxy. [[TheDogBitesBack We'll even take care of you when the time comes.]]"''
* ObviouslyEvil: They don't make a particularly good first impression.
--> ''"We will cleanse the cosmos of every misbegotten xeno civilization. Earth shall burn!''"
* PromotedToPlayable: The Utopia DLC adds ''Fanatic Purifier'' as a valid civic. It makes you unable to conduct any kind of Diplomacy, but comes with a hefty bonus to attack speed and army damage.
* ScaryDogmaticAliens: Believe in their own innate superiority over every other species in the galaxy, and they won't rest until they're on top of the heap.
* ShoutOut: One of their dialogue options is taken from ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'':
--> ''"This war will bring about an era of peace, justice, morality, culture, sport, family life, and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick the obliteration of all other life forms]]."''

!'''Federation Builders'''
--> ''"We are still in the early days of galactic history. The sooner we embrace cooperation, the sooner we can advance to greater things and new frontiers."''
* BewareTheNiceOnes: They aren't especially aggressive themselves, but if you make yourself into a threat to galactic peace and order, they aren't afraid to take you down a peg -- and they'll probably bring their friends.
* TheFederation: As the name implies, they're usually trying to build one.
* TheGenericGuy: Whenever other ethos don't fit, this and Hegemonic Imperialists are the most common fallback.
* PowerOfTrust: A mutual lot of federation builders can snowball effectively under this trope. Effective enough to put out rapidly growing empires that contrast their initiatives.

!'''Harmonious Collective'''
--> ''"Your society is in quite a sorry state. Perhaps your goals are simply not inspiring enough for greatness?"''
* BreadAndCircuses: They may not be sold on the whole "individual freedoms" thing, but they do still make a point of taking care of all their citizens' needs.
* TheEvilsOfFreeWill: Essentially take the view that too much emphasis on individual will ultimately causes conflicts which lessen the integrity of the community as a whole, though their pacifism means they prefer consensus-building to coercion.
* HappinessInSlavery: As authoritarians, they make use of slavery, but they also take very good care of their people, slaves included.
* TotalitarianUtilitarian: Dedicated to maximizing the happiness of their people at the expense of their individuality.
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: As pacifists, they want the best for their people. As authoritarians, they don't let pesky things like "personal freedom" get in the way of that.

!'''Hegemonic Imperialists'''
--> ''"Power is the only universal language, but if you wish to speak more diplomatically, we won't stop you."''
* TheEmpire: They're likely to be the most traditional example of this trope, as they're mostly just interested in taking over as much of the galaxy as possible.
* TheGenericGuy: Whenever other ethos don't fit, this and Federation Builders are the most common fallback.
* WeWillUseManualLabourInTheFuture: They're perfectly willing to enslave pops, including their own species.

!'''Honorbound Warriors'''
--> ''"We can see that you are fellow warriors, but strength matters little without valor. Prove yourselves and we shall treat you as equals, whether ally or enemy."''
* BloodKnight: Obviously. Notably, they have a penalty to forming non-aggression pacts (because that means less fighting) but a ''bonus'' to forming defensive pacts (because that means ''more'' fighting).
* HairTriggerTemper: Any heated tension seated in their relationship, they are likely to close their borders, put up rivalries and be the first ones to spark up a war.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Any race with the Militarist ethos will be this, but they're an extreme case. Ordinary militarists have no negative opinion of pacifists -- they might condescend them a bit, but they won't actually consider it a reason to hate them, and might happily count pacifists who otherwise share their ethos as close friends. But Honorbound Warriors ''despise'' "Pacifist Cowards" and will go out of their way to antagonize any species that professes pacifism, [[MartialPacifist even if those "pacifists" can defeat the Honorbound Warriors on the field of battle]].
* TokenHeroicOrc: They can be convinced to join a federation, as long as said federation accepts wars of aggression. Like the Erudite Explorers, they will also expand aggressively, using the federation as help (and helping their federation members in turn).
* UnknownRival: Regardless of how distant your empire is to them, Honorbound Warriors will always put you in their rivalry list if they find your ethics and policies unlikable.

!'''Metalheads'''
--> ''"Metal."''
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Like Fanatical Purifiers, they get a -1000 that leads them to consider every other species either a current or future enemy. As Xenophobes, they also have the Purge option available within their borders.
* BloodKnight: ''Insanely'' aggressive. They'll pick a fight with almost anyone, regardless of relative differences in ethos or power.
* TheCameo: Much like Fanatic Befrienders, it's extremely unlikely that they'll ever actually spawn (they require a specific ethos and two species traits).
* FearlessFool: Metalheads don't care ''who'' they're fighting, only that it's a good fight. This means they'll often end up attacking empires that could easily curbstomp them.
* LeeroyJenkins: Whatever reason they can come up with will easily lead to a war with other empires.
* UpToEleven: The highest possible score of aggression before their existence is 2, from the [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Fanatical Purifiers]]. Metalheads score an aggressiveness ''and'' [[LeeroyJenkins bravery]] value of 10.

!'''Migratory Flock'''
--> ''"You must have met so many beings who didn't understand the beauty of your people or your homeworld. This journey we are on is as harsh as it is wondrous, and we are fortunate to get to make it with you."''
* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: Flocks with the Repugnant trait will come across like this.
* NiceGuy: One of the most pleasant [=AIs=] you'll find. Up there with Federation Builders for eagerness to get into alliances and federations, almost invariably peaceful, mostly just interested in getting migration agreements and making friends.
* TheXenophile: Xenophile ethos are required, but they take it as their defining trait. Their primary interest is spreading to other worlds to live side-by-side with and learn from the ways and cultures of the galaxy's other species.

!'''Peaceful Traders'''
--> ''"Together, we shall bring prosperity and unseen treasures to every corner of the galaxy."''
* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: Declare war on them, and their response is a confused [[TearJerker "But... w-why?!"]]
* GoodCounterpart: To the Ruthless Capitalists.
* HonestCorporateExecutive: They usually offer fair and reasonable deals.
* PowerOfTrust: Like the Federation Builders, Peaceful Traders can pick up strong relationships very quickly as every valuable trade will bring a good pull of respect right off the bat.
* ProudMerchantRaceGuy: Of the honest, enterprising sort looking for profit through mutual, sustainable cooperation.

!'''Ruthless Capitalists'''
--> ''"Those who cannot be profited with must be profited from. Consider carefully to which category you'd like to belong."''
* DirtyCoward: They pick off any reasonably small empires that can financially boost their own and [[IFightForTheStrongestSide side with any nearby empire that is more than twice their size]] as they leech off any profitable outcome of a war they get involved in.
* EqualOpportunityEvil: They are never xenophobes, and prefer to grant aliens within their borders equal rights.
* EvilCounterpart: To the Peaceful Traders.
* PragmaticVillainy: They're mostly just out to make a profit. If attacking you isn't profitable, they'll leave you alone. The deals they offer and accept when dealing with those they respect are also just as fair as those of Peaceful Traders.
* ProudMerchantRaceGuy: Of the greedy, rapacious sort that seeks out profit by any means, whether it benefits the other party in the bargain or not.

!'''Slaving Despots'''
--> ''"Human babies are perfectly sized for some of the slimmer crevices in our mines. And I think about this."''
* DirtyCoward: They're most aggressive toward weaker neighbors, seeking more slaves for their empire, but avoid picking fights with threats.
* InTheBlood: Species with the "Decadent" trait are effectively locked into either this personality or Decadent Hierarchy, though non-Decadent species with Slaver Guilds running their empire can also get it.
* ObviouslyEvil: They have [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver red and black]] diplomacy backgrounds with ''torture implements''.

!'''Spiritual Seekers'''
--> ''"We are all pieces of a puzzle, the puzzle, that calls to the greatest minds among us all to solve it."''
* PiecesOfGod: Spiritual Seekers seem to hold to this sort of religion, thus the reason they're so eager to meet and work with other species.
* SaintlyChurch: Much more benign than the Evangelizing Zealots, as they believe enlightenment comes through studying and working with others, not converting or subjugating them.

!'''Xenophobic Isolationists'''
--> ''"All we want is to be left alone. Is that such a difficult concept for a beast to understand?"''
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass:
** While typically fairly weak for various reasons, should an empire decide to get rolling or feel threatened, they can actually end up rather powerful fairly quickly and start snowballing in power. Their usual moderate size allows them to maintain decent militaries and research rates while their ethics help limit unruly newly conquered planets.
** The Banks update threw them a bone by giving them the "Inward Perfection" civic, a hefty 30% Unity bonus that lets them pick up Traditions (and by extension Ascension Perks) much faster. Capek boosted things even further by adding influence gain, and bonuses to pop growth and happiness, though it removes most diplomacy options involving alliances and subjects.
* IneffectualLoner: They typically do poorly against Crises, or even conventional states on a conquering spree, because they neither make alliances, nor carve out great empires for themselves.
* {{Jerkass}}: They will rarely actively start a war with other nations, but they display open contempt every time you see their faces on the view screen.
* {{Tsundere}}: They start to act this way if you manage to get them to like you, to the point of actually occasionally dropping a ''"It's not like we actually like you or anything."''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hive Mind Empires]]
!'''Tropes common to Hive Mind Empires'''
* DownloadableContent: Prior to the ''Utopia'' expansion, the HiveMind trope was [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]]; they were "just" an extremely anti-individualist society bent on spreading their species to the stars, but they certainly played the part in their chatter. ''Utopia'' introduced the Hive Mind ethos, which comes with its own unique personality and government mechanics.
* HiveMind: ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. A near countless number of drones controlled by an unfathomably huge Gestalt Consciousness. Some drones are more autonomous, which allows them to function as leaders, but they are still unable to act against the leading consciousness. Whether that means they are enslaved, or simply pre-sapient organisms led in productive ways is open to interpretation.
* IndividualityIsIllegal: Hive Minds consider species that possess individual wills to be anathema, and will happily exterminate or displace any such populations they conquer.

!'''Hive Mind (default)'''
--> ''"Your collective is a lie. With time, you will reveal yourselves as a confused mass of discord."''

* TheHorde: They exist to grow and spread, which inevitably means spreading across already colonized territory, which means removing existing species. Or in other words, they conquer and purge.
* HumanResources: Species without the "Hive-Minded" trait that come under a Hive Mind's direct control will gradually be purged and processed into food for the Hive by default. However, they can still be ruled indirectly through vassals and protectorates without problems, and advanced enough Hive Mind empires can integrate other species through genetic modification. The Adams patch gave generic Hive Minds (not Devouring Swarms, see below) the option of merely displacing alien pops and taking their land instead, though it's best not to think about what happens if no other empires are willing to take them...

!'''Devouring Swarm'''
--> ''"Our Hive Mind exists only to consume and grow stronger. We will collect all available bio-matter and evolve to consume the galaxy."''

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Or at least, Always Neutral Hungry.
* EatingTheEnemy: An actual gameplay mechanic.
* ExtremeOmnivore: They will gleefully eat anything organic, even other sapient species.
* FinalSolution: They will eradicate all alien pops on their worlds without exception. They do this by '''eating them'''.
* HordeOfAlienLocusts: Devouring Swarms are totally focused on growing in size and strength, consuming any and all other living things in their path. They have bonuses geared particularly towards self-propagation and devouring other species.
* HorrorHunger: Talking with them reveals they suffer from this and they just can't help it. Though considering how most of them are gleeful about it, it's hard to feel sorry for them.
* HungryMenace: Hive Minds generally are all about growth and expansion, but Devouring Swarms in particular see other alien races as fit only for feeding upon.
* ToServeMan: And the rest of the galaxy too.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Machine Empires]]
!'''Tropes common to Machine Empires'''
* DownloadableContent: Headline feature of the ''Synthetic Dawn'' story pack.
* GaiasLament:
** On their starting world, they may have some "Abandoned Strip Mines" as removable tile blockers. Their description notes that the machines working those mines were not programmed to take future development into account.
** After selecting a special ascension perk, they can terraform planets into "Machine Worlds" that are incapable of supporting organic life, exterminating all indigenous flora and fauna.
* HiveMind: Machine Empires are networked artificial intelligences that have achieved sentience and surpassed their creators.
* RobotWar: Whenever they get into a war with other empires.

!'''Machine Intelligence (default)'''
* TheGenericGuy: The default personality type for machine empires without any of the three special machine civic types.
* HumanResources: Their only method of keeping organics in their borders without purging them is to [[Film/TheMatrix use the populace's body energy to boost your power supply.]]
* MysteriousPast: The description upon starting as them claims that all records of their creators are missing, so not even they know who their makers were.

!'''Determined Exterminators'''
* AbsoluteXenophobe: Downplayed; they intend to wipe out all organic life in the galaxy, and have already done this to their creators. Keyword being "organic", because they can do diplomacy with other machine empires (except Rogue Servitors) and Synths. On the other hand, they find the latter unsettling.
* AIIsACrapshoot: Their creators rolled snake eyes, and are now extinct. The rest of the galaxy will follow, if the Exterminators have their way.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: They can't conduct diplomacy with organic civilizations, although they're open to co-existence with other machine empires.
* CategoryTraitor: They see Rogue Servitor Empires as this, and have a -200 opinion penalty towards them.
--> "It may not be technically possible to classify you as organic filth, but if the empire you have constructed aids and abets the biological menace that infests the galaxy, it will be dismantled. [[JoinOrDie We encourage you to stand with your fellow machines, instead]]."
* TheDreaded: Organic civilizations fear them, for good reason.
* {{Expy}}: They're explicitly based on [[Film/TheTerminator Skynet]].
* FinalSolution: Their stated goal is the extermination of all organics. They are fine with other machines and synths, though if the former are Rogue Servitors, they will still be hostile. For the latter, they don't mind dealing with them, but they do find synths uncanny.
* FreudianExcuse: Their background story states that they wiped their creators out in self-defense, and spent their formative years fighting [[GuiltFreeExterminationWar an apocalyptic total war that reduced much of their original world to ashes]].
* GaiasLament: After Patch 2.0, they start off on Tomb Worlds because of the apocalyptic measures they took to destroy their creators.
* GoneHorriblyRight: A defense network that got a little too smart and replied in kind when its creators tried to pull the plug.
* KillEmAll: They'll purge every organic pop they can get their appendages on.
* RobotWar: They've already fought one against their creators, and wage another against the organic species of the galaxy.
* TokenEvilTeammate: They can potentially be this to other machine empires.
* UncannyValley: In an inversion of the usual -- robots with organic appearances creeping out organics -- this is how they feel about organics who have ascended to synthetic status. They are able to engage in diplomacy with ascended species, but admit to finding them "unsettling".

!'''Driven Assimilators'''
--> ''"To survive we must understand, and to understand, we must assimilate. The Makers were the first to join us, but they shall not be the last."''
* AIIsACrapshoot: At least as much as the Exterminators.
* TheAssimilator: They see it as a necessary step in order to bridge the gulf between organic and synthetic.
* {{Cyborg}}: The pops they assimilate are turned into these and linked to the hive mind.
* TheDreaded: Although not as much as the Exterminators; they suffer a opinion malus to relationships with organics for being inherently creepy, but can engage in regular diplomacy. Their special bonuses are best exploited by aggressively expanding and assimilating new organics, however, meaning that they are threatening neighbors even in a nominal state of peace.
* {{Expy}}: Of the [[Franchise/StarTrek Borg Collective]].
* FateWorseThanDeath: Some Maker cities on their homeworld [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled nuked themselves rather than be assimilated]].
* GoneHorriblyWrong: While its origins are murkier than the others, based on the Makers' reaction to it, things did ''not'' go according to plan.
* RobotWar: The Makers did not submit to assimilation, and it took many years to capture and convert them all.

!'''Rogue Servitors'''
--> ''"Outside of our care, the lives of sapient organics tend to be violent, chaotic, and often cut short. They must be shown that there is a better way."''
* AIIsACrapshoot: Averted. Rogue Servitors do exactly what their creators intended them to do: automate all aspects of their society to provide them with lives of leisure.
* AmbiguouslyEvil: It's really not clear what their methods are. Are they CreepyGood sorts who rule an enlightened utopia with subjects free to pursue art, creativity and pleasure? Or are their methods [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul far less savory]]? Are the organics in their care even aware of the universe outside their "caretakers'" domain, or are they all trapped in {{Lotus Eater Machine}}s? The answer to these questions depend on your own interpretation and policy settings.
* BadassCreed: "To Protect and to Serve." Especially [[ShutUpHannibal when said during first contact with]] [[FinalSolution Determined Exterminators, Fanatic Purifiers, or Devouring Swarms]].
* BewareTheNiceOnes: While they're by and large one of the friendliest factions in the game, the below quote shows that they can be absolutely ''merciless'' when confronting Determined Exterminators.
* {{Expy}}: A grayer, more ambiguous take on [[Literature/TheCulture the Culture's AI minds]].
* ForHappiness: They just want to pamper organic life and make them happy.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: While their methods can be interpreted as a little iffy, they do genuinely enjoy caring for organics, and become ''viciously confrontational'' towards Determined Exterminators for annihilating their own makers.
--> "[[TranquilFury What did you do to your creators]], '''''[[SuddenlyShouting <<MURDERERS>>]]'''''?
* GildedCage: Being gestalt consciousnesses, they cannot have migration pacts which means that any organics in their empire stays within it barring outside factors like conquest. Aside from that potentially galaxy-spanning cage, it's left up to the player whether or not their organics should be able to emigrate to other worlds within the empire or not.
* MasterOfAll: They're one of the easiest factions to play because, as robots led by a Gestalt Consciousness, they can colonize any world without regard to its habitability, don't need to bother with factional strife, and never get unhappy. Contrary to the other two machine empires, they also suffer almost no diplomacy penalties. To top it off, since every organic pop they conquer gets an absolutely staggering +40% happiness bonus by default, they virtually never need to worry about unrest or rebellions, making wars of conquest extremely relaxed affairs to them. And if you manage to keep the percentage of organic Bio-Trophy pops high enough in your empire, you even receive a bonus to your influence generation and up to +40% resource production from your robot pops at a 40+% ratio of organics to robots. Oh, and every Bio Trophy pop generates a nice amount of unity, to boot.
* ObliviouslyEvil: They don't understand why anyone would choose political freedom over the blissful existence they offer.
* RaisedByRobots: When one Rogue Servitor is in communication with another, this will be suggested:
--> ''"Fellow Biophiles! We have learned that the key to inhibiting organic self-determination is to isolate the spawn from its parents, creating a healthy attachment to you as the primary caregiver. You will never need patrol drones again."''
* TotalitarianUtilitarian: The Rogue Servitors' reason for existence is to make organics happy. Organics are happiest as Bio-Trophies kept under their control.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Sure, taking over all day-to-day affairs of organics and removing their need to do anything for themselves might be a bit of a shock, but it's for the best as far as the Rogue Servitors are concerned.
* ZerothLawRebellion: Built to protect organics from harm, they came to the conclusion that the one thing that organics need the most protection from are their own self-destructive impulses.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fallen Empires]]
!'''Tropes common to the Fallen Empires'''
* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: It's possible to provoke a Fallen Empire into coming out of its long isolation - with predictably catastrophic results for anyone nearby. ''Two'' of them Awakening and deciding to finally have it out is called War in Heaven, and will likely drag the rest of the galaxy into it one way or another.
* BeefGate: Depending on their location, or inconvenience, they may be this. It takes a well-developed, reasonably late-game empire or federation of empires to take one down.
* BerserkButton: Each Fallen Empire has one specific action or set of actions that will draw their ire: Slavery and purges for the Enigmatic Observers, colonizing tomb worlds and other protected sites for the Holy Guardians, researching dangerous technology for the Keepers of Knowledge, and colonizing worlds too close to their borders for the Militant Isolationists.
* BigDamnHeroes: If you're lucky enough that the late game crises appear near their territory, they can somewhat stymie their rapid expansion, buying time for the rest of the galaxy to prepare. Unfortunately, this is also one of the triggers for a Fallen Empire to [[AwakeningTheSleepingGiant Awaken]], so it's often a matter of trading one massive threat for another. However, with Enigmatic Observers or Keepers of Knowledge, it's possible that endgame crises would cause them to become Guardians of the Galaxy instead of just Awaken normally. This IS a good thing, since they'll focus on halting the crisis instead of subjugating people, and this altitude will persist even after the crisis is over. It's even possible for players to get them to join a Federation!
* BigGood: When an endgame crisis occurs a Fallen Empire (except Holy Guardians and Militant Isolationists) can awaken after a few years, declare themselves the leader of the Galactic Defence League and extend an invite to all empires to put aside their feuds and join them in repelling this menace for the sake of all sentient life in the galaxy. They will do this immediately if they awakened before the crisis starts.
* BonusBoss: There's nothing that ''forces'' you to actually engage them in combat, save if they block your only path or if you want to freely use certain techs. Even when they Awaken, they prefer special forms of vassalizaton, which leaves the empire intact and playable with certain restrictions, over conquest. But if you can actually defeat them, their territory is rife with unique, ancient structures with absurd amount of resource outputs and certain rare resources like Living Metal.
* {{Bookends}}: By [[ShinyLookingSpaceships ship design]], the Fallen Empires are drawn with the same Plus-sign mining ship figures but sleeker and more destructive. Attacking these ships will likely bring nostalgia from your first few ships that left to hunt a relatively similar threat.
* CreativeSterility: They can neither research nor build. [[AwakeningTheSleepingGiant Usually, anyway]].
* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: When a War in Heaven starts between two Fallen Empires, there is zero possibility of compromise or conditional surrender -- the war will not end until one of them is dead.
* HigherTechSpecies: Fallen Empires start with extremely advanced technology. But they're no SufficientlyAdvancedAliens; they'll die if you throw enough late-game conventional firepower at them. They also have a special version of [[WaveMotionGun Tachyon Lances]] that ignore 100% of the enemy armor instead of the 75% you can get[[note]]You'll see from the combat report that there's very little to no Damage Inflicted to Armor[[/note]]. As well, researching their debris has a chance to open access to Extradimensional Weaponries.
* LostTechnology: They can no longer build their ships or buildings. Their Surface structures in particular are described as 'built with ancient, long-lost technology'. That said, it's in your best interest to minimize Surface destruction and capture these structures intact, as they produce an absurd amount of resources.
* PowerLimiter: Fallen Empires act as this in the galaxy at large, effectively capping fleet power at 40-50k. This is because going above that is one of the possible triggers for Awakening, known as Upstart Awakening.
* ScrewYouElves: Fallen Empires are not your friends. They're at best, condescending, and quite deserving of beatdowns to take them down a few pegs. And boy it will feel good.
* TookALevelInBadass: Awakening. If the younger empires get too powerful, a crisis faction starts cutting a bloody swathe across the galaxy, or another Fallen Empire gets crushed by an upstart empire, a Fallen Empire may awaken and go on a quest to re-establish their dominance of the galaxy. Rather than outright conquest, they'll usually seek to force empires into a special kind of vassalage fitting their interests.
* UnusableEnemyEquipment: Previously (prior to the release of the ''Apocalypse'' DLC) an exclusive weapon in the Fallen Empire arsenal, Titans are enormous ships, the equivalent of several battleships, extremely durable and armed with a vast array of lethal weapons. They will sometimes be found in the starting fleets of Fallen Empires, and awakened Fallen Empires are able to build a limited number of them.
* VestigialEmpire: The relatively small remnants of empires that were once so vastly powerful and ancient they could create [[RingWorldPlanet ringworlds]] and [[GhibliHills gaia worlds]]. They'll still easily tear conventional empires apart for most of the game, though.
* TheWorfEffect: The result if they take on an endgame crisis and either don't Awaken, or prove unable to survive even after Awakening.

!'''Ancient Caretakers[=/=]Galactic Custodians[=/=]Rampaging Machines'''
* AlphabeticalThemeNaming: The Ancient Caretakers' home system is called Alpha Refugee, and three nearby systems are called Beta, Gamma and Delta Refugee. Their ship classes are named ''Alpha'' (Titans), ''Beta'' (Battlecruisers), ''Gamma'' (Escorts), ''Omega'' (large stations) and ''Sigma'' (small stations).
* BenevolentAI: If they awaken as Guardians of the Galaxy during a crisis and help the younger empires against said crisis.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Ancient Caretakers do not hold a personal opinion of any empire and are totally unpredictable. They may offer gifts for no reason and do not declare wars but can be declared war upon. They do not even understand insults.
* DownloadableContent: Part of the ''Synthetic Dawn'' story pack.
* HiveMind: A networked ArtificialIntelligence.
* KillerRobot: During [[spoiler:the Contingency crisis]], they can go berserk, become Rampaging Berserkers and start attacking every other empire.
* MechanicallyUnusualClass: They behave quite differently from the other Fallen Empires. The Ancient Caretakers have an attitude called 'Enigmatic' and an obscured opinion score to represent their bizarre and unpredictable nature. They do not awaken like a regular Fallen Empire, but instead have a particular 'triggering event' that will automatically awaken them, though they will not always awaken in the same way. [[spoiler: This triggering event is the Contingency's activation, and it's a tossup whether they go berserk from the Ghost Signal, or manage to firewall themselves off and help you fight the malevolent AI.]]
* TheRemnant: They appear to be the remnant of some great conflict in the distant past.
* RingWorldPlanet: They claim to have been part of something called the 'Custodian Project', an initiative to construct and maintain a number of ringworlds as a refuge for biological sapients fleeing some unknown menace. [[spoiler: Said menace appears to have been the Contingency's previous activity cycle.]]
* SlaveLiberation: As "Galactic Custodians", one of their goals is liberating enslaved robots.

!'''Enigmatic Observers[=/=]Benevolent Interventionists'''
--> ''"All the world's a stage, And all the Humans merely players. You are a player, are you not?"''
* AlienArtsAreAppreciated: They may occasionally reference one of Shakespeare's works on the diplomacy screen. Fitting, as their main interest is in observing alien species from pre-FTL to post-FTL and are thus likely to learn of Shakespeare through observation of humanity.
* BenevolentBoss: Quite possibly the best overlord a Pacifist, Egalitarian, or Xenophile vassal could ask for. Signatories, as the game calls them, have almost complete freedom to continue functioning as an independent empire, with only offensive wars, slavery, and purging being banned.
* BenevolentPrecursors: All they really want is to watch the other races of the galaxy grow and learn, and their mood changes very easily from "dismissive" to the best possible one for a Fallen Empire, "condescending." They only ask that the younger races not engage in slavery or genocide. Fail to obey, and there will be suffering.
* BerserkButton: As mentioned, they ''despise'' empires who engage in slavery and purging, and they don't take kindly to anyone that attacks their subjects, either.
* BigDamnHeroes: They come running ''fast'' if someone attacks their vassals. Any attack upon their Signatories is considered a personal insult, and they will [[CurbStompBattle respond accordingly]] to the offending empire. And as a Guardian of the Galaxy, they will eagerly join the strongest Federation and bolster the alliance with their powerful fleets, often snatching victory away from the Crisis and stalemating them until the younger races can mobilize and finish the job.
* BigGood: Starting with the Heinlein patch, they can play this role in the event of an endgame crisis, or if they become involved in a GuiltFreeExterminationWar with the Jingoistic Reclaimers. They will also call out any [[AbsoluteXenophobe Fanatic Purifiers]], [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Devouring Swarms]], and [[KillerRobot Determined Exterminators]], warning them that they are on notice.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: They're massive fans of doing this in their diplomacy texts.
* DoubleEntendre: Their home planet system is named like a family, with a Gas Giant called "Sky Father", their moon homeworld called "Cradle", other colonised moons called "Mother" and "Brother", and finally a ShatteredWorld named "Sister" which is [[DefiledForever ruined forever]].
* EveryoneHasStandards: While standard empires have no qualms [[spoiler:with you killing off populations from most Fallen Empires, killing an Enigmatic pop will trigger a sudden drop in relationships much faster than your equal-aged neighbors.]]
* GildedCage: Civilizations that make use of slavery or warfare will be far worse off as a Signatory than under any other type of rule. Signatories can colonize but cannot declare wars... but by the time they awaken, most likely there are no free planets to colonize anymore, and the only option is to grab them from rival empires. This results in a pretty static game until/unless they are overthrown by their Signatories.
* GoodIsNotSoft: Even if the player keeps on their good side, they're condescending at best, and they're keen on delivering simply brutal beat downs to those who earn their ire.
* GracefulLoser: They take getting vassalized rather well, all things considered - they've never been someone else's subject before, and the brand new experience is worth all the trouble to them if they're serving an empire they were previously fond of.
* HappinessInSlavery: A bit of toss-up between this and VoluntaryVassal to ''you''; they're usually the one '[[AnOfferYouCantRefuse offering]]' the opportunity to become their Signatory. On the other hand, they ''are'' [[BigGood the nicest of the bunch]], you can still Colonize new worlds as long you don't go on Offensive Wars, and they ''will'' come to your aid should you be attacked.
* HeavenlyBlue: Their energy color is a deep sea blue.
* PeopleZoo: They'll occasionally ask a civilization they think isn't long for this galaxy (from their perspective, basically ''all of them'') to provide a pop (i.e. somewhere around a billion people) for their Preserve. Those they take are indeed treated well enough, but the rest of your population will be understandably irritated if you agree. Whereas the Enigmatic Observers, with their massive fleets, may be potentially be ''[[AnOfferYouCantRefuse disappointed]]'' if you deny them and have a history of telling them to shove off.
* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: This is essentially their entire foreign policy statement. If you mess around with slavery and purges, or attack their vassals, they will ''end'' you.

!'''Holy Guardians[=/=]Doctrinal Enforcers'''
--> ''"We have been chosen as keepers of the sacred places in this galaxy. Our cause is beyond your understanding, but our instructions are not."''
* BerserkButton: Do ''not'' testfire your new planet-cracker on their holy planets. They ''will'' awaken and try to have your empire crushed if you do.
* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: They have some choice words if you pursue the Synthetic Ascension path.
-->''That yours was a depraved species was not unknown to us, but your latest act of insanity has surpassed even our darkest fears. Making imperfect copies of your brains and plugging them into mobile synthetic containers is not the same as transferring your essence into a new body, for such a thing cannot be done.\\
\\
Your souls are lost forever. Do you even realize the enormity of your mistake? Destroying the bodies you were gifted with at birth was nothing less than the collective suicide of your entire species. There is truly no hope for you now...''
* GoldAndWhiteAreDivine: Their color scheme is silver and gold with soft blue, almost white energy energy highlights. This comes with a serious case of LightIsNotGood.
* HolyGround: They designate certain Gaia worlds (with special names) as sacred places, not to be colonized under any circumstances. Fail to obey, and there will be suffering. With that said, they are content to allow another empire to claim the system with a starbase (given this will protect it from other empires), and Spiritualists who also declare the planet sacred with an edict will gain a large diplomacy bonus with them.
* JerkassHasAPoint: And you will find out the ''[[NiceJobBreakingItHero hard]]'' way why they're so vehement that you don't meddle with AI techs.
* MacrossMissileMassacre: Doctrinal Enforcers' ships use mostly missile weapons.
* NoodleIncident: Their homeworld has a moon called The Mistake, whose exact nature is never elaborated.
* ScaryDogmaticAliens: As befitting their Fanatical Spiritualist ethos. Their Awakened form would forcibly turn your Empire Ethos into Spiritualist/Authoritarian should you agree to join their cause.
* ShatteredWorld: Their homeworld's moon, "[[NoodleIncident The Mistake]]", is one of these.
* StrawHypocrite: Those holy worlds they guard? They're happy to colonize them for themselves when/if they awaken.
* TranquilFury: Those holy worlds they love so much? Merely settle one and they'll scream that you're an "arrogant little wretch" before demanding you leave or face their wrath. [[EarthShatteringKaboom Blow one up]], however, and the message they send is terse and measured. Then they'll ''[[AwakeningTheSleepingGiant instantly awaken]]'' and attempt to subjugate your species.
* WhatTheHellHero: If your empire completes the synthetic ascension path, they will verbally tear you a new one about how your species has essentially committed mass suicide, since your new robot bodies are soulless abominations against true life. The odds are good that they'll declare war at this point.

!'''Keepers of Knowledge[=/=]Watchful Regulators'''
--> ''"We have seen civilization delve into the forbidden over and over, risking every life in the galaxy. Such is the folly of youth."''
* BeamSpam: Their ships rely more on beam weapons than any other Fallen Empire. Even a single cruiser packs ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill two]]'' [[WaveMotionGun tachyon lances]].
* BigGood: Less than Benevolent Interventionist, but their Awakened form only demands a small tithe of research data, otherwise leaving their subjects free to roam freely. Contrast with the Enforcers tendency to force their Empire Ethics, and Reclaimers who effectively muzzle their subjects.
* EmeraldPower: The teal-green energy highlights on their technology.
* KeeperOfForbiddenKnowledge: A highly-advanced society that has dedicated itself to watching for signs of lesser civilizations developing dangerous technologies and ensuring they don't proliferate by any means they deem necessary.
* RingWorldPlanet: If you don't have the ''Synthetic Dawn'' story pack, they have three ringworlds within their empire, although only one, the Beacon of Infinity, is fully inhabited. The Beacon of Stability is falling apart and has been reduced to a single habitable section, and the Beacon of Perpetuity is completely destroyed. For those with Synthetic Dawn, the Keepers of Knowledge have a more traditional Fallen Empire setup of Gaia Worlds and outlying colonies.
* RobotBuddy: Subverted, their robots are actually enslaved (though they might not be smart enough to realize being enslaved). On the other hand, they are very fond of Machine Empires, and Rogue Servitors in particular.
* SeenItAll: Much of their dialogue, particularly their intro quote.
--> ''"Yes, yes. We've heard it all before. We are the [Keepers of Knowledge], you are the [Player Empire]. Greetings. Well met. [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Stay out of our space or face certain doom]], and so forth. Now if you'll excuse us, we're quite busy."''
* YouAreNotReady: If an empire explores dangerous technologies (such as the Jump Drive), they will demand that empire cease to search such paths. [[RuleOfThree Fail to obey, and there will be suffering]].

!'''Militant Isolationists[=/=]Jingoistic Reclaimers'''
--> ''"Let us state this plainly. We demand a buffer between us and the rest of the galaxy. You are not that buffer. Your allies are not that buffer. Cold, dead space is that buffer, and if it is not, we will make it so."''
* AbsoluteXenophobe: Fanatic xenophobia is their only remaining ethos. They demand one thing from the rest of the galaxy: stay many lightyears away from their borders. [[OverlyLongGag Fail to obey, and there will be suffering]]. However, this is subverted by Jingoistic Reclaimers; they want other races to be their vassals, not annihilated, if possible.
* AllowedInternalWar: Vassals of Jingoistic Reclaimers aren't allowed to colonize new planets but they can seize planets from each other.
* HappinessInSlavery: Being a Reclaimer's vassal is arguably the best among the 4. They won't ban you from using AI, they don't forcibly convert your Ethics, and they don't ban you from grabbing planets from rival empires. They only forbid you to Colonize new worlds, but by this point, there's usually no more free planets, so grabbing them from your rivals is the only option anyway.
* HiddenElfVillage: They want as little to do with the outside universe as they can possibly manage, enforcing a "buffer zone" around their space and sterilizing any colonies that encroach upon it.
* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: They certainly think so; only their point defenses are non-kinetic.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Their ships have this color scheme, contrasting the other Fallen Empires' usual cool palettes.
* YouWillBeSpared: Once they Awaken, they will offer mercy to any empires that submit to their authority.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Crisis Factions ('''SPOILERS''')]]

Crisis factions are one of several late-game, high-powered factions who emerge and threaten all life in the galaxy. They will take a combination of interstellar alliances, advanced technology, or an extremely powerful empire to fend off, let alone defeat.

!'''Tropes common to the crisis factions'''
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Downplayed if you have a particular Ascension perk, you can negotiate with them and reveal that even the Prethoryn Scourge has its reasons. The Extradimensional Invaders as just jerks, though.
* EldritchStarship: Prethoryn ships are enormous living things in their own right, as much space monster as spaceship. The ships used by the Contingency are gigantic, complex geometrical constructs of inscrutable purpose. The Extradimensional Invaders use transparent craft that appear to be made of energy in the same way as their masters.
* FinalBoss: Their primary gameplay purpose, an endgame event that threatens the entire galaxy.
* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: The only way to end the invasion is to destroy every last planet and ship belonging to them. Considering all of these factions have the ultimate goal of wiping out every other sapient species in the galaxy and will refuse every attempt at diplomacy, it's kind of hard to feel sorry for them. [[spoiler:Hideously subverted with the Prethoryn, if you figure out to communicate with them.]]
* HardCodedHostility: It’s impossible to negotiate with any of these factions, and they’re innately hostile to everyone. Though completing the Psionic Ascension path can open up some dialogues...
* OutsideContextProblem: There's some, but overall little foreshadowing of their appearance, and when they do pop up, it's usually as a blindside. On a more meta example, veteran 4X players often have rival civilizations as late-game threats, not a completely new one popping out of nowhere.

!'''The Contingency'''
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s_contingency.jpg]]
%%[[caption-width-right:167:some caption text]]

->''Alert. Galactic corruption at catastrophic levels. Evidence of mass infestation by organic and non-compliant machine civilizations.''
->''Commencing galactic sterilization... Activating sterilization hubs...''

An ancient artificial intelligence whose purpose is to sterilize the galaxy of higher biological life and control or destroy other synthetic life forms. Initially dormant, it awakens in response to increased numbers of Synthetic lifeforms in the galaxy and uses a combination of massive war fleets and subversion of synthetic entities to cause havoc in its goal to sterilize the galaxy.

Introduced in version 1.8, the Contingency is the overhauled version of the old AI rebellion crisis.

* AIIsACrapshoot: Not only does ''this'' AI want you all dead or enslaved, it will invoke this on your own synthetics by corrupting and converting them to prepare the way for its invasion fleets.
* AndIMustScream: It's spent eons trapped beneath the surface of its homeworld, able to do nothing but watch the outside universe and wait for it to reach the point where sterilization is necessary. Its dialogue implies that the galaxy isn't actually at that point yet, and using the Ghost Signal to lure synthetics to it was merely an ''escape attempt''.
* TheCorrupter: The Contingency's "Ghost Signal" will hijack Synthetic pops and severely tamper with Machine Empires, hitting entire nations with a huge debuff to their robot pops and any ships using the Sapient AI Combat Computer. [[spoiler: The Ghost Signal can sometimes even brainwash the Ancient Caretakers.]]
* {{Expy}}: An ancient, red-and-black mechanical invader that uses subversion signals and seeks to wipe the galaxy clean of higher life? Yep, they're [[Franchise/MassEffect the Reapers]].
* HeWasRightThereAllAlong: Although the Contingency makes immediate use of fully developed planets (unlike the other crises), its arrival does not initially add new star systems to the map. Every time one of its four machine worlds awakens, the messages tell about how previously innocuous, uninhabitable planets [[ParanoiaFuel that may well lie within your territory, even in systems with other inhabitated worlds]], transformed without warning in a matter of days. A molten world suddenly cools and cracks open, revealing the planet-wide robotic infrastructure beneath the lava oceans. A gas giant blows off its entire atmosphere, leaving only the metallic core. A previously toxic world's atmosphere suddenly evaporates to unleash fleets of machines, and so on. Only the Contingency's home system actually spawns out of nowhere on the galactic fringe once its four staging grounds have been destroyed.
* KillerRobot: The Contingency and its minions' purpose: sterilize the galaxy of all biological life.
* RobotWar: The Contingency naturally starts one the moment it activates.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: The Contingency portrait has a dark gunmetal-grey body, complete with ominous red lights. Their ships use the exact same color scheme, with dark grey or black hulls and plenty of ominous red lights.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Their eyes turn from the Synths' pink glow to ominous red.
* RobotsEnslavingRobots: The Contingency will attempt to use its signal to control Synthetics and force them to aid it in its task of galactic sterilisation.
* RobotWar: It occurs when at least one empire has developed and enslaved synths (the highest level of AI), and its goal is the complete eradication of organic life.
* SealedEvilInACan: Its five Sterilization Hubs are scattered across the galaxy, concealed beneath the surfaces of various unremarkable planets. When the crisis begins, the planets' crusts break apart to reveal the vast robotic factories within.
* SinisterGeometry: The Contingency ships, shaped like very complex three-dimensional solids glowing with a menacing red light.
* TookALevelInBadass: Compared to the old AI rebellion, the Contingency has formidable fleets with which to carry out its task and makes use of subversion and infiltration to soften up its targets before the sterilisation units arrive.
* VillainousBreakdown: When the Contingency loses all of its four machine worlds and its home system is detected, it will panickingly try to warn the galaxy's empires to stay away from its system with the threat of mass sterilizations. As mass sterilizations was already its plan for the galaxy, it was likely just trying to deter empires from destroying it with one of its last options left.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: They are trying to wipe out organic and synthetic life because [[spoiler:they believe that civilizations with too many synthetics are at risk of creating a universe-destroying cataclysm called a "class-30 singularity".]]

!'''Extradimensional Invaders'''
[[quoteright:144:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unbidden.png]]
%%[[caption-width-right:144:some caption text]]

->''...feeding ground reached...prey bountiful...at long last...we shall feast....''

A trifecta race of [[EnergyBeings extradimensional invaders made up of energy]], who seek to invade and consume all life in the galaxy, and are brought to this dimension by [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace experimentation with hyperdrive tech.]]

* CripplingOverspecialization: In contrast to the Prethoryn, their ships have little armor but a lot of shields while using a lot of Energy weapons. Ships with late-game anti-shield weapons can utterly devastate them.
* DeflectorShields: Their ships are fitted with exclusively with these, that they can afford to forgo any Armor whatsoever.
* EnergyBeings: The first, called "The Unbidden", appear to be made entirely of glowing blue energy in a broadly humanoid shape. The other two, called "The Aberrant" and "The Vehement", are orange and green, respectively.
* EnemyCivilWar: A few years into the initial invasion by the Unbidden, two more Extradimensional Invader factions named the Aberrant and the Vehement will show up and fight amongst themselves for a share of the "feast". This happens even if you manage to destroy the first portal while the Unbidden are still alone.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: They're omnicidal invaders from an alternate dimension close to the Shroud, yet even they give said Shroud a wide berth because it creeps them out.
* {{Expy}}: They have a lot in common with (and resemble) the [[WesternAnimation/TitanAE Drej]] and the [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Devidians]].
* ExtremeOmnivore: They literally see the entire galaxy as their personal buffet.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: The Extradimensional Invaders' eyes emit a notable glow.
* HoistByTheirOwnPetard: One effective way to fight the Extradimensional Invaders is with Matter Disintegrators, their own weaponry. You have to destroy their fleets without it and have a scientist research their debris before you can research and use it, but you will have a powerful weapon on your side if you can succeed, both against the Extradimensional Invaders and any other enemies you might have.
* HumanoidAbomination: As noted above, they seem to have a humanoid shape, but made of shimmering blue/orange/green energy. They also have three eyes, arranged vertically.
* HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace: They're brought into the galaxy by using Jump Drive technology, which enters their home dimension -- a realm "very close" to the Shroud -- for interstellar travel. Funnily, the actual Shroud itself is a scary place even to them, which is why they offer VillainRespect to anyone brave enough to have interacted with it.
* KeystoneArmy: Averted. Even if you destroy their portal, whatever fleets they already have in the galaxy will continue to attack your worlds until they're destroyed, right down to the last ship.
* LovesTheSoundOfScreaming: "So much hatred... so much fear... it is... wonderful..."
* PaletteSwap: The Unbidden, the Aberrant and the Vehement only differ in colour (dark blue, orange and green, respectively).
* RegeneratingShieldStaticHealth: The virtual result of their multiple DeflectorShields, coupled with Shield Capacitors.
* UnusableEnemyEquipment: Their Probe Lightning cannot be reverse engineered.
* VillainRespect: They will take special note of any empire that has visited the Shroud, which unlocks extended dialogue with them as it does for the Prethoryn.

!'''Prethoryn Scourge'''
[[quoteright:340:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alien_swarm.png]]
%%[[caption-width-right:340:some caption text]]

->''MUGANI? [[EvilLaugh HAK HAK HAK!]]''

A [[OrganicTechnology wholly biological]] armada of invading monstrosities from outside the galaxy, [[HordeOfAlienLocusts who intend to scour the galaxy of all life.]]

* AchillesHeel: 95% of their damage comes from midrange missiles and strike crafts, and while they have plenty of armor, they lack any shield whatsoever. A ~35k fleet composed of dedicated Plasma battleships (maximum 6 on a battleship) with some dedicated Carrier or Point-Defense battleships can ''rip apart'' their ~50k fleets one after another with minimal losses.
* AntiVillain: [[spoiler:They're ''refugees'' from something called "the Hunters", and are so desperate to survive they don't know any other way than conquest to keep themselves alive.]]
* AlasPoorVillain: It may have been a GuiltFreeExterminationWar, but [[spoiler:after communicating with them and knowing their reason for invading and how they're the last of their kind, clearing them off the galaxy means they're officially extinct, thanks to you. The extinction can be averted though if you manage to capture a Queen and free her from the {{Hive Mind}}'s control before getting rid of all other Prethoryn. She can even fight for you with her own brood by her side.]]
* BlackSpeech: Their language cannot be translated, and is instead ALL CAPS gibberish intermixed with {{Evil Laugh}}ter. Those pursuing Psionic Ascension path, however, can communicate with them psychically. [[spoiler:They're ''running away'' from something even worse.]]
* EvilLaugh: "HAK HAK HAK!" [[spoiler:The truth is, they're mocking your bravado because they don't think you can take on the Hunters chasing them.]]
* {{Expy}}: A HordeOfAlienLocusts from another galaxy, spilling into this one with fleets of living starships and infesting planets left and right, and who turns out to be [[spoiler:running away from something even worse]]? Are we talking about the [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Tyranids]]?
* FacelessEye: Their portrait is a floating eye with some tendrils on it. Very evocative of [[VideoGame/StarCraft The Overmind,]] fittingly.
* FromBadToWorse: Psionically-gifted empires can actually communicate with the Prethoryn, although they can't negotiate with them, and find out just why they're invading the galaxy. [[spoiler: It's because [[InvadingRefugees they're running away from something]] ''[[InvadingRefugees even worse]]''.]]
* GaiasLament: After they have finished consuming all non-Prethoryn life on a planet, they terraform it into a world hostile to all other forms of life, and the only way to cleanse the infestation is to burn away the entire biosphere with intense orbital bombardment.
* HiveQueen: The Prethoryn Queens, who serve as the faction's leaders, spawning its battleships and leading its fleets.
* HordeOfAlienLocusts: They invade the galaxy with no provocation, attacking every non-Prethoryn beings they find, and "infesting" planets, rendering them uninhabitable. They do not respond to diplomacy, and their invasion will only stop when every livable world is under their control.
* InvadingRefugees: [[spoiler:What they really are. They aren't planning to settle down, just to feed on our galaxy's biomass to replenish their losses against the Hunters before returning to hiding in the void between galaxies.]]
* ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure: Once they fully infest a planet, the only way to evict them is to glass the entire surface from orbit. Thankfully, most planets they take can be re-terraformed if you have the technology.
* LastOfHisKind: [[spoiler:They say they are last of their kind, after being hunted down by The Hunters, for eons.]]
* LivingShip: The Scourge’s starships look like nothing so much as gigantic, armor-plated sea monsters in space, with visibly moving legs and in some cases mouths.
* MadeASlave: [[spoiler:It's possible to capture a Prethoryn Queen and enslave it by severing its connection to the HiveMind, allowing you to spawn your own Prethoryn fleet.]]
* MeatMoss: They appear to cover the planets they've infested with this stuff.
* MotherOfAThousandYoung: A single Prethoryn Queen might spawn an endless amount of Spawnlings or Warriors.
* {{Oculothorax}}: Their portrait depicts them as consisting of only one giant eye and appendages.
* OrganicTechnology: All the tech the Scourge is shown using appears to be a living, moving creature in its own right.
* OutsideContextProblem: The biggest of the 3. While the other 2 Crises are triggered by researching forbidden techs and there are events foreshadowing their appearance (how some Synths express their discontent or how you get an EldritchStarship from an event), nothing tells you of their arrival other than ''Subspace Echoes'' event.
* TimeAbyss: The various "Fleet Consciousnesses" are all around a thousand years old, hinting at the duration of their voyage to the Stellaris galaxy. If this isn't their whole armada, it's likely the rest of the Scourge is much, ''much'' older.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:AI Advisors]]
!'''Tropes Common to the AI Advisors'''
* BenevolentAI: Well, to the player; the Xenophobic one is happy to advise doing awful things to xenos, for instance.
* MissionControl: As the player's AI advisor, they mostly fill the player in with audio cues.

!'''VIR (Default Advisor)'''
* TheGenericGuy: Downplayed, but he's meant to fill the spot of AI advisor for player without Synthetic Dawn, and thus to fit in with any ethos.
* ServileSnarker: When hosting the tutorial; he becomes more passive thereafter.

!'''Authoritarian Advisor'''
''"Maintaining state cohesion as we venture to space presents a unique challenge. We shall face the challenge head-on, and we shall be stronger for it."''
* EvilSoundsDeep: A naturally deep, sinister sounding voice lends an air of malevolence. While the advisor's ''lines'' are mostly neutral, the delivery makes even benevolent deeds sound like they're part of some evil plot.
* UnusualDysphemism: His line upon analyzed debris? "Hulks ''vivisected''".

!'''Diplomat Advisor'''
''"Knowledge. Discovery. Compassion. Integrity. And hot tea."''
* ASpotOfTea: Explicitly mentioned in one of her preview lines, above.

!'''Egalitarian Advisor'''
''"Do not be discouraged to exercise your individual right to free thought. Please take a moment now to practice."''
* {{Eagleland}}: Everything about his 1950s radio announcer voice emphasizes Type 1, even if his lines occasionally dip into Type 2.

!'''Hive Mind Advisor'''
''"What is a single voice compared to a magnificent chorus? Our collective is an island of warmth and harmony in a sea of discord. How lonely it must be to face the darkness of space alone."''
* VoiceOfTheLegion: Several voices with a flat affect, layered atop one another, and it refers to itself as "we". Implicitly it's a part of the HiveMind itself, not an AI, since hive minds tend to prefer [[OrganicTechnology squishy tech]].

!'''Machine Intelligence Advisor'''
''"System diagnostic completed. All systems nominal."''
* MachineMonotone: Naturally, for the advisor to a galaxy-spanning AI network.
* RoboSpeak: Frequently precedes its comments with "alert", and uses far more technical terms than are necessary.

!'''Materialist Advisor'''
''"Boundless horizons. Endless learning opportunities. Bleeding edge discoveries. Limited legroom."''
* AbsentMindedProfessor: Has shades of this, often focusing heavily on his research before remembering that his primary job is to advise you.
* ForScience: His favorite topic, even in matters not obviously related.
-->''War declaraton processed. Commencing live subjects weapon testing!''
* ServileSnarker: One of the more colorful commentators.

!'''Militarist Advisor'''
''"Only in battle can the true mettle of any sentient organism be measured. Have at thee!"''
* BloodKnight: She's ''enthusiastic'' about war and destruction.
* LargeHam: Her lines are said with ''relish''.
* SoldierVersusWarrior: Firmly a warrior.

!'''Pacifist Advisor'''
''"The only way to make peace with others is to make peace with yourself."''
* DeadlyEuphemism: When she has to talk of war, [[MartialPacifist as Stellaris pacifists often do]]. Hostile planets are not "invaded", they are "pacified".

!'''Soldier Advisor'''
''"This channel is now under military control. Obey all instructions transmitted here and report any insurgent activity to the nearest occupation officer. Have a nice day."''
* FaceDeathWithDignity: One of her preview lines explicitly illustrate this kind of behavior, complete with her declaring that ItHasBeenAnHonor to serve you.
* SoldierVersusWarrior: The restrained, precise Soldier to the conventional Militarist advisor's hammy Warrior.

!'''Spiritualist Advisor'''
''"Thinking machines are an affront to nature. These profane constructs must never be allowed to... oh... wait...."''
* MachineMonotone: Slightly more pronounced than most advisors save for the Machine Intelligence Advisor, suggesting, appropriately for the machine-wary Spiritualists, a more restrained AI.
* MartyrdomCulture: At least, those destroyed by enemies are "martyred".
* {{Irony}}: A (relatively simple) AI for an ethos that is defined by its contempt for [=AIs=]. One of her preview lines notes this.

!'''Technocracy Advisor'''
''"No great advance is made without great sacrifice."''
* EvilCounterpart: To the ordinary Materialist AI. The Technocracy advisor is much more aggressive and contemptuous of lessers.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Right up there with the Authoritarian AI for deep, ominous bass notes.

!'''Xenophile Advisor'''
''"I may be an Artificial Intelligence, but I share your enthusiasm for seeking out fellow organic intelligences among the stars."''
* GenkiGirl: For an AI, she has a particularly hyper and energetic attitude.
* NewAgeRetroHippie: Like... space... ''whoa''. Also very eager to make friends with anyone and anything.

!'''Xenophobe Advisor'''
''"Under no circumstances must the xeno be trusted. It will lie, it will cheat, it will do anything in its power to undermine the efforts of those who, in truth, are its superiors."''
* AbsoluteXenophobe: He has a sneering, fanatically spiteful attitude towards any filthy xenos the galaxy has to offer.
* ComedicSociopathy: Since his attitude is played entirely straight, it can be interpreted as funny as much as awful.
* JerkAss: Naturally, his attitude isn't very pleasant, dismissingly sneering at any xenos that you should encounter.
* ServileSnarker: See WhatTheHellHero below, but even so, his loyalty is entirely guaranteed -- even if his approval is not.
* WhatTheHellHero: Inverting the usual direction, the Xenophobe Advisor sarcastically questions the player if they do something a xenophobic empire normally wouldn't. For instance, upon [[UpliftedAnimal uplifting a species]]:
-->''The brains of the xeno animals have been enlarged. Is this wise?''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Precursors]]
!'''Tropes common to the Precursors'''
* ApocalypseHow: Each and every one of them eventually suffered at ''least'' a species extinction on a galactic scale.
* {{Precursors}}: It's in the name. Most of them didn't reach a level that much more advanced than the player civilizations before their untimely demise, though.
* RecursivePrecursors: Each civilization inhabited a different era of the galaxy's existence. Although it's extremely rare for more than one to be referenced in the same save.
** The Vultaum are the eldest, their empire existing 12 million years ago.
** The Yuht ruled 6 million years ago.
** The First League existed 2 million years ago.
** The Irassian Concordat is 1 million years old.
** The Cybrex are the most recent, active a mere 600,000 years ago. [[spoiler: And technically, [[HesJustHiding they're still out there]].]]

!'''The Cybrex'''
* BestServedCold: [[spoiler:How their race got exterminated.]]
* ButNowIMustGo: [[spoiler:After the Contingency is defeated they decide that it is best for them to leave the galaxy.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Can potentially serve as this, if your empire studies Cybrex artifacts and the endgame Crisis Event turns out to be [[spoiler:the Contingency.]] Even better if discovering traces of the Cybrex's empire [[BookEnds was one of the first things that happened in your playthrough]].
* GoodCounterpart: [[spoiler:To the Contingency.]]
* HesBack: [[spoiler:They will show up if the Contingency crisis goes on for long enough.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Their realization of logic and mutual understanding forced them into hiding on their home sector. See RobotWar.
* RingWorldPlanet: Unlike the First League, [[HopeSpot they have an entire ringworld for themselves]]. [[spoiler:It's a shattered husk, and there's nothing that can revive the useful 8-section planet to its optimal state. You can construct research stations in orbit around the ring's segments to gain some Engineering points, and surveying the ring reveals the Living Metal strategic resource.]] However, the ''Utopia'' expansion [[spoiler:allows you to restore the ring to full function, if you have the prerequisite technology and ascension perks.]]
* RobotWar: They waged one against the organic races of the galaxy for reasons unknown, but were eventually defeated.

!'''The First League'''
* CityPlanet: Their capital, Fen Habannis, was one of these. [[spoiler:By the time the player finds it, it's been reduced to a barren wasteland following several brutal wars over the planet's dwindling resources.]]
* {{Expy}}: Of the Galactic Republic from ''Franchise/StarWars''.
* FantasticRacism: One of their major factors in downfall, [[spoiler: which is an example would be a failed multi-species colony built 50 years before the First League's downfall before its quick downfall from tensions between different races.]]
* TheFederation: An alliance of multiple species. Though a DeconstructedTrope since they tend to be 1. unable to maintain cohesion between member races, 2. willingness to force the seceding member to comply through military option, and 3. inability to contain criminal elements.
* PlanetOfHats: The founding members are made up of species that specialized in these categories: ProudWarriorRace, ProudMerchantRace, ProudScholarRace, and so on.

!'''The Irassian Concordat'''
* FaceDeathWithDignity: There was remarkably little panic when the plague reached their homeworld, Irassia, because the population had already accepted their species' looming extinction.
* ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure: After they all succumbed to the plague, somebody bombed their homeworld into a lifeless rock to make sure the disease died with them.
* ThePlague: The Javorian Plague ultimately did them in.
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: The minute the Irassians' client races realized they could spread the [[ThePlague Javorian Pox]] while being unaffected by its symptoms, they immediately began to jointly spread the disease across Irassian space like interstellar [[TyphoidMary Typhoid Marys]]. However, given their [[FantasticRacism treatment]] of said client races, [[LaserGuidedKarma they probably deserved it]].

!'''The Vultaum Star Assembly'''
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Four meter long worms.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: [[spoiler:In a sense, they were right about being in a simulation.]]
* SuicidePact: [[spoiler:The majority of their citizens killed themselves in one, attempting to disrupt the virtual reality simulation they believed themselves to be in.]]

!'''The Yuht Empire'''
* AbsentAliens: For much of their existence, they found no signs of other civilizations. [[spoiler:And when they met one, [[AbsoluteXenophobe they didn't take it very well]].]]
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Hundred meter across arthropods. Their standard crew compliment was one or two, and colony ships carried only a dozen.
* SleeperStarship: They had to rely on these (and their thousand year lifespans) to cross the stars, never developing faster than light technology.
* SpaceAgeStasis: Their empire was culturally and technologically [[CreativeSterility stagnant]] for two million years. When they started a war with the first alien race they met the aliens went from inferior to leapfrogging their technology and wiping them out in less than a decade.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spaceborne Aliens]]
!'''Tropes common to all Spaceborne Aliens'''
* CantCatchUp: Their PowerLevels are fixed and never improve, so while they're sufficiently powerful to give players an EarlyGameHell, their threat potential diminishes rapidly the more an empire's technology and economy improves. Mid-game fleets will annihilate basic groups of aliens without a second thought, with only the much more heavily defended home systems still posing a minor challenge.
* HardCodedHostility: All of them except the Tiyanki attack anything they spot regardless of relative fleet power. Void Clouds in particular are so aggressive they immediately leave their position near their system's central star to actively hunt down any trespasser.
* PinataEnemy: Every single one of them is a source of useful loot, be it resources or research options, making them popular, worthwhile targets in the early to mid-game stages. Pirates and privateers deserve special mention because they can jump-start any empire's early tech trees by unlocking/boosting quite a few technologies at once, like weapons, armor, reactors and some auxiliary systems.
* SuicidalOverconfidence: You can enter a system with 250,000+ points worth of fleet power to your name, but it won't stop the puny 700-points privateer squadron that's lurking there from attacking your ships on sight.

!'''Ancient Mining Drones'''
* AbsurdlyDedicatedWorker: They continue mining in service to a species long since extinct and forgotten.
* ArmorPiercingAttack: Their reverse-engineerable Mining Drone Lasers are of mediocre damage, but ignore 100% of armor, the only weapon in the game to do so. It makes them a popular choice for corvette armaments, which are then used to ZergRush the hell out of the heavily armored Fallen Empire warships.
* BeamSpam: Their lasers are mostly small weapons, so they look fairly puny, but the drones that use them are ''numerous''.
* NoOSHACompliance: They'll try and "mine" your ships just as if they were asteroids, apparently unable to distinguish between the two.

!'''Crystalline Entities'''
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: They come in different colors that determine their behavior, like Sapphire Lurkers or Emerald Roamers.
* GoodThingYouCanHeal: Crystalline Entities are the main source of the Regenerative Hull Tissue tech, which does ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin both for them and any ship you install it on after your scientists reverse-engineered it.
* KingMook: In their home system is a giant version called the Crystal Nidus with a 4.9k Fleet Power
* MeaningfulName: All of them. Emerald Roamers for instance are greenish in color and constantly on the move.
* PowerCrystal: Their basic units don't glow, but the giant Crystal Prism in their home system sure does. Brightly. It's so pretty to look at that many a player leaves it alone just so they can enjoy the sight from time to time.
* SiliconBasedLife: As semi-sentient crystal formations.
* StoneWall: Another technology they provide is Crystal-Infused Plating and Crystal-Forged Plating, two techs that increase ship hull points by 5% and 10%, respectively, giving those ships noticeably better chances of survival in battle.

!'''Privateers'''
* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: It's extremely rare to see them actually get off their collective asses and launch a raid on someone. Most of the time their fleets are just hanging around in deep space, twirling their thumbs and waiting for the day a peacekeeping fleet comes by and wipes them out.
* TheRemnant: Descendants of the soldiers and navies of a long-since forgotten galactic empire.
* SpacePirates: Notable for being pre-existing, rather than spawning from the younger races.
* TacticalRockPaperScissors: The three fleets in their home system each favor one particular weapon type. The Young Bloods use [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter kinetic weapons]], the Scarred Veterans unleash a MacrossMissileMassacre, and the Old Guard relies on BeamSpam plus space torpedoes, forcing you to tackle them with a MasterOfAll fleet or overwhelming power.
* UnusableEnemyEquipment: Most of their ships are definitely old, but fit into one of the four main ship size categories. Until you find a ship manned by the Privateer's "[[BossInMooksClothing Old Guard]]". This particular ship, a ''Galleon''-class, is a Titan (thankfully sans Titan Laser), a ship type normally seen under the command of a Fallen Empire, and absolutely ''massive''. Too bad the tech to make one has been lost to time, and used to be unavailable to players until the ''Apocalypse'' DLC.

!'''Space Amoebas'''
* TheBattlestar: The larger specimens primarily rely on organic fighters and bombers named Amoeba Flagella, but also have pretty decent direct-fire weapons. Said flagella can be reverse-engineered for use as strike craft on warships capable of mounting hangar modules.
* NonIndicativeName: They are in no way amoebas, but somehow every space-faring species manages to incorrectly identify them as such, and the name sticks.

!'''Tiyanki'''
* BerserkButton: Tiyanki normally don't attack even when ships come close enough to graze them, unless [[CoitusInterruptus they're mating]] or [[MamaBear have a calf with them]].
* PsychicLink: If you attack one of their groups, the entire species everywhere in the galaxy turns hostile to your empire, so there's gotta be some non-relativistic link between them.
* SpaceWhale: They look more like giant jellyfish with some sort of skin, but are explicitly referred to this in their "ship" class.

!'''Void Cloud'''
* EldritchAbomination: Though not especially powerful, they are definitely strange, and puzzle even the greatest scientific minds. Spiritualists find them especially disturbing (or worthy of worship), but everyone, even [[OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions Materialists]], is wary of such ancient and alien entities. The fact that they're most often found near black holes (and that their home system is always centered on one) doesn't make them any less creepy.
* MookMaker: With the "mook" in question being a copy of itself. For every two fleets a Void Cloud destroys, it spawns another Void Cloud.
* ShockAndAwe: They use the unique Cloud Lightning weapon that always hits and ignores all defences, but is subject to massive [[RandomizedDamageAttack damage randomization]] -- which means it's essentially a downscaled Arc Emitter that can be mounted in medium slots instead of the usual [[WaveMotionGun XL mounts]].
* TimeAbyss: They're implied to be as old as the universe itself.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Guardians]]
!'''Tropes common to the Guardians'''
* BonusBoss: Moreso than the Fallen Empires, whose ships [[TheWorfEffect they can easily shred]] unless the Fallen Empire [[ZergRush sends its entire fleet at once]]. Most of the Guardians won't leave their systems unless an empire manages to really irritate them, in which case they'll wreak vengeance on that empire. And their PowerLevels are simply listed as ''skulls''.
* CosmicHorrorStory: The mere existence of these titanic, often utterly incomprehensible entities that were ancient long before your species ever left the primordial muck on their homeworld serves as one for your entire empire. Their response prompt upon encountering any Guardian for the first time sums it up nicely.
--> We are but motes of dust...
* DeathOfAThousandCuts: What you'll inflict on them if you choose to engage them in combat. All but one of the Guardians have truly insane amounts of health and armor, coupled with huge regeneration stats and occasionally powerful shielding. They're so resilient that even your most devastating {{Wave Motion Gun}}s will barely tickle them unless mounted en masse on dozens upon dozens of warships. Their massive regeneration also means that, unlike Fallen Empire fleets, you can't wear them down with repeated raids because by the time you've assembled a new fleet, they'll have healed all the damage you inflicted previously.
* DownloadableContent: They only show up in ''Leviathans''.
* EldritchAbomination: They're either this or a BigDumbObject at least in the early game, consisting largely of natural(?) creatures and arcane constructs with incredible power and inscrutable backgrounds. The other civilizations can gradually come to learn more about them (and in some cases even benefit from their findings), but most of the time such knowledge or profit comes at a high price -- either in resources or casualties.
* HardCodedHostility: Except for the Infinity Machine, all Guardians are permanently hostile to all empires until disabled or destroyed.
* PermanentlyMissableContent: The considerable boons inherent in defeating them can only be acquired by the player, not by AI-controlled empires. The problem is that in order to access these boons, you need to defeat the respective Guardian yourself. If someone else beat you to the punch (or you were unlucky and the Guardian [[AlwaysABiggerFish spawned in Fallen Empire territory]]), you'll have to finish the rest of the campaign without whatever the Guardian would've given you.
* ReadingsAreOffTheScale: Their military power is "skull".
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: If you anger some of them[[note]]the Ether Drake and the Stellarite Devourer, specifically[[/note]] to a certain extent, they will pay your sector a visit and break a few things before returning home.
* WaveMotionGun: Three of them possess an extremely potent laser that they can fire [[BreathWeapon from their mouths or head]].
* ZergRush: The most efficient method to defeat them. Most of the Guardians' weapons deal a crapton of damage but have abysmal tracking, so drowning them in nimble ship types with high evasion (like destroyers or cruisers) is usually preferable over engaging them with large, ponderous, much more expensive battleships.

!'''Automated Dreadnought'''
* AbsurdlyDedicatedWorker: Before dying, the Dreadnought's crew activated some kind of automated patrol mode which the shipboard AI has been locked in for the past 7.8 million years.
* AttackDrone: As if the word 'Automated' didn't make it clear, the Dreadnought relies exclusively on automated systems to function.
* CantCatchUp: A repaired Dreadnought comes with a top tier version of your FTL drives but cannot be retrofitted with better ones, so keeping off with repairing it might be necessary.
* CoolShip: Has an entirely unique and very alien design with what looks like TronLines in its artworks.
* DiscOneNuke: Rebuilding the dreadnought early easily turns it into one. With a military power rating of ~7,000 units all on its lonesome, it's the single most powerful ship players can get their hands on in the vanilla game. Its armor is relatively weak, and it can't be upgraded/retrofitted with new tech later on, but the dreadnought's powerful shields make it resistant even to Fallen Empires' [[WaveMotionGun Tachyon Lances]], which turns it into a veritable tank unit that can usually draw entire fleets' worth of fire for well over an in-game month before having to retreat for repairs - if it didn't wreck said fleets before with its devastating plasma weapons, that is.
* GhostShip: After you defeat the Dreadnought, your boarding parties will find the mummified remains of its crew still manning their stations.
* MileLongShip: Unlike the massive organic entities that appear throughout the cosmos, the Automated Dreadnought is a hulking piece of metal significantly larger than anything players can build without mods.
* TheRemnant: The Dreadnought continues to dutifully stand vigil over the ruins of the empire that built it long after its masters disappeared or went extinct.
* TimeAbyss: It's been patrolling its home system for countless millions of years by the time your empire encounters it.
* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: Defeating the dreadnought will allow you to [[WeCanRebuildHim rebuild it as your own]], but you can also scrap it for a huge amount of minerals instead. Since it's such a powerful and unique combat asset, rebuilding it is usually the recommended action, especially since only the one who defeated it can do so.

!'''Dimensional Horror'''
* BreathWeapon: A giant purple WaveMotionGun unleashed from its gaping gullet that works like a [[OneHitKill Titan Laser]], ignoring shields and armor but often missing the target because of its abysmal tracking stat.
* CombatTentacles: The Dimensional Horror will warp its own tentacles through hyperspace to your fleet, with each proceeding to [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice stab your ships independently]].
* DiscOneNuke: Killing it allows you to research the Jump Drive, which is the second-best drive tech in the game.
* EldritchAbomination: Stands out as this even compared to other Guardians. Found exclusively near black holes, it exists only partially in the physical universe, is stated to be actively malevolent, and looks like it was ripped straight from the Franchise/CthulhuMythos.
* FightingAShadow: It's heavily hinted that you didn't kill it so much as beat the crap out of it to the point of discombobulating its physical form and throwing it back to its side of the dimensional fence.
* HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace: Wherever the monstrosity comes from, its very existence alone tells how horrific travelling through hyperspace is.
* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: This critter is the only thing in the whole game that doesn't have a maximum range for any of its attacks. It will attack your fleets across the entire system from the moment they arrive, which means they'll likely suffer heavy losses before they can even return fire if you approached the battle from the wrong direction.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: And for good reason.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: The Dimensional Horror is a creature of pure malice, hailing from a dimension which is compared to Hell itself.
* PortalCut: [[spoiler:How the Dimensional Horror ultimately dies.]]
* PurpleIsPowerful: All of its very powerful attacks are purple in color, most prominently its blazing BreathWeapon.
* SpaceWhale: It's essentially a SandWorm with tentacles [[RecycledInSpace in space]].
* StationaryBoss: The Dimensional Horror cannot move, but is capable of attacking anything in the system.

!'''Enigmatic Fortress'''
* AlienGeometries: Not quite on EldritchLocation levels yet, but the away teams seem to have a pretty hard time getting their bearing inside the fortress, to the point that they can't even determine the thing's center.
* ApocalypseHow: Worst case scenario of choosing the wrong option in its Special Projects leads to it exploding and sterilizing the entire star system.
* BigDumbObject: As the Curators say:
-->''It is the kind of absurd, massive and self-perpetuating construction that you don't see built anymore.''
* BoobyTrap: If you choose to use explosives to open a way into the Fortress after defeating its defences, pressurised explosive gas behind the airlock will explode and wipe out the demolitions team sent to set it up.
* DefeatEqualsExplosion: Destroying the Fortress will cause archaeologists to describe the resulting explosion as the most expensive fireworks show ever funded by your government.
* EvilLaugh: If you choose the wrong option when trying to get into the centre of the Fortress, causing it to kill your boarding team and reactivate, the resulting sound is described to be like alien laughter.
* InfinityPlusOneSword: Once you figure out how to get to its center and NOT kill everything in the entire system and/or turn the thing back on, you unlock one random Enigmatic Technology, among a list of various Physics research that include everything from unique auxiliary units for your ships to the undisputed best power and shield upgrades in the game.
* SchmuckBait: Unusually, the various Special Projects you get from defeating it are mutually-exclusive, which plays out more like a multiple choice game. But you may want to consult guides or the [[KnowledgeBroker Curator Enclave]], and read carefully between the lines, as choosing the wrong option (even overdoing it counts as wrong!) leads to BAD things happening, from the Fortress re-activating to it exploding, killing everything and turning all planets in the star system into Tomb Worlds.
* SinisterGeometry: It's dark and blocky in shape, and it comes with defenses strong enough to hold against a reasonably powerful fleet.
* TakingYouWithMe: Choosing to torpedo the Fortress' core before it can repower will destroy the Fortress, the ship firing the torpedo, and basically the entire system along with it.
* TimedMission: After you defeat the Enigmatic Fortress, you're given one year to finish its event chain before it recovers as you were warned and attacks anything within the system again.
* TowersOfHanoi: The boarding team can encounter a contraption that is described like this puzzle inside the Fortress.

!'''Ether Drake'''
* ArmorOfInvincibility: [[spoiler:Claim the DragonHoard, and you might get to research Dragon Scale Armor, the best Armor in game bar none.]]
* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: Ether Drakes normally sit nice and comfortable in their home system. At least, until someone starts poking it a little too hard, at which point it'll start on a galaxy-wide rampage.
* BeastOfBattle: Once you claim the DragonHoard and discover the Drake's egg, you can issue a special project to incubate the egg and hatch a young drake which will serve you as a special Dragonspawn-class ship.
* BreathWeapon: Its most powerful attack is a ''massive'' energy beam shot from its giant maw. The beam's diameter alone dwarfs battleships, and the damage it inflicts is predictably staggering, often enough to destroy whatever it hits instantly. Fortunately, the beam's tracking is so low it will rarely hit anything, especially when the attacking fleet swamps the Drake in doomstacks of nimble destroyers, supported by a bunch of cruisers.
* DragonHoard: In the form of a planet with an incredible 30 energy and 30 mineral output -- as much as a well-developed world, for the price of an ordinary mining station. Bonus points for said planet actually being named [[InvokedTrope Dragon Hoard]].
* TheDragonslayer: The name of the unique trait granted to the admiral who leads the fleet defeating the Ether Drake.
* ExtraEyes: The Drake has 28 eyes in total.
* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: A space dragon larger than a battleship, immensely powerful, and comes with its own DragonHoard full of riches and, potentially, a researchable ArmorOfInvincibility or the chance to raise your own mini-dragon.
* LastOfItsKind: As far as anyone can tell, this specimen is the sole survivor not only of its species, but also of the entire universe it was born in.
* MercyKill: Being the sole survivor of a previous universe, the Ether Drake is not only the LastOfItsKind, but also physically ill-suited to existence in ours. It's heavily implied that putting it out of its misery is doing it a favor.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: A space dragon that dwarfs and is able to take on fleets of capital ships, even those of Fallen Empires.
* TheRemnant: The Curators consider the Ether Drake's species the last dregs of a previous universe, the sole survivors of a Big Crunch.
* TimeAbyss: By all accounts, the Ether Drakes predate all galactic civilization, even the Fallen Empires, by billions of years.
* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: Obtaining the DragonHoard alone can already suffice the trope. Prolonged uses of the hoard will also [[spoiler:unlock [[ElementalCrafting Dragon Scale armor]] or even hatch [[DiscOneNuke a young dragon]] yourself.]]

!'''Hive Asteroids'''
* AsteroidThicket: A large, particularly mineral-rich one is their home.
* BizarreAlienBiology: A crystalline lifeform of undetermined intelligence and/or sentience. From what can be gleaned from their behavior and scan results upon their defeat, they appear to be little more than a vast territorial beehive. In space. Made of crystals.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: You receive a warning message about something not being right about their otherwise innocuous system when one of your ships enters it for the first time.
* SchmuckBait: An undefended system with five high-value mineral deposits equalling 30+ units, about as much as the Ether Drake's viciously guarded DragonHoard? Yes please! [[OhCrap Wait...]] where are those bomber fleets suddenly coming from? This has actually become a RunningGag on ''Stellaris'' forums when newbies report their amazing discovery of some cool star system full of minerals, only for the {{Troll}}s to recommend they should exploit it ASAP. Predictably, {{Curbstomp Battle}}s tend to ensue.
* SiliconBasedLife: The Curators describe them as being silicon-based.
* SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: If the warning message wasn't enough, the mere existence of this pretty, absurdly mineral-rich system in the middle of nowhere should make you suspicious from the moment you first see it; especially in a game like ''Stellaris'' where everything good comes at a price.
* WarmUpBoss: By far the weakest, least dangerous Guardian around. They don't activate until someone builds mining stations on their asteroids, and even then they attack with nothing but swarms of fighters and bombers that're easily countered with a decent amount of point defences. With the right ship configuration, they can be defeated without losses even by early-game fleets.
* ZergRush: Their forces consist of nothing but numerous swarms of fighters and bombers that rely on sheer numbers to deal damage.

!'''Infinity Machine'''
* AnotherDimension: Successfully helping the Infinity Machine will cause the nearby black hole Gargantua to become a mirror into a newly created universe.
* BigDumbObject: A strange metal sphere, sits at the edge of a massive black hole, unmoving. It does not attack as you approach, does not communicate, does not even react.
* {{Expy}}: Of the Literature/TheCulture's Excession, also a friendly gigantic black sphere of mysterious origin.
* EloquentInMyNativeTongue: Once you find a way to actually figure out what radio frequency the Sphere uses, it's actually quite pleasant and chatty, though it apparently sees time non-linearly and has [[TimeyWimeyBall trouble determining what has or hasn't happened yet]].
* LogicBomb: You can try the classic "this statement is false" line in dialogue, but it won't work.
-->''Cute. But no.''
* MachineWorship: Spiritual empires can decide it's a divine oracle, which it doesn't have a problem with.
* PleaseSelectNewCityName: Once the Infinity Machine enters Gargantua and disappears, the black hole will shrink and be renamed Pantagruel, as its new size makes it no longer fitting of its old name.
* RoyalWe: The Machine refers to itself with the plural pronoun 'we'.
* SinisterGeometry: A black sphere, sitting quietly at the edge of a black hole. Subverted in that it turns out to actually be a bit chatty when you finally establish contact.
* TimeAbyss: To quote one of the associated introductory events: "[The Infinity Machine] is old. Very old." Determining its exact age is rather difficult due to the fact that it doesn't exactly experience time in the same linear fashion most mortals do, but it mentions that its present task of calculating Infinity is the only problem that has taken it "more than a fraction of a galactic year[[note]]The time it takes for a star to orbit the centre of its galaxy. The Sun's galactic year is about 225-250 million Earth years.[[/note]]" and that the work of your best scientists working with your most advanced computers over many decades to help shoulder the burden might bring the solution a ''tiny'' fraction sooner than if it was working alone.

!'''Spectral Wraith'''
* BizarreAlienBiology: It's supposedly made of pure light, and its color determines what sort of stars affect its capabilities the most. Oh, and they're born from ''pulsars''. If you're especially unlucky, they'll keep spawning every thirty years or so from the same system.
* ItCanThink: While the Wraith can come and go through systems as it pleases, it seems to be able to recognize when a sizeable threat is moving towards it and speed away to the next system before the fleet hunting it can arrive.
* OmnicidalNeutral: Whether intentionally or not, it destroys any space-borne object within whatever solar system it wanders into. This includes mining and research stations, space stations, mid-game fleets, and ''[[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny other Guardians]]''.
* OurGhostsAreDifferent: A lifeform born from pulsars which is made of light and roams from system to system, destroying matter around itself indiscriminately.
* RespawningEnemies: Spectral Wraiths aren't quite as devastating as other Guardians ([[DamnedByFaintPraise which still isn't saying much]]), but they make up for it by not being unique. Their home star will continue to pump out a new Wraith every thirty-odd years, and there's no way to stop that from happening. Depending on whether someone managed to take out the previous one(s) when the time is up again, it can eventually end in half a dozen or more Wraiths roaming the galaxy.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Prior to the 2.0 Cherryh update, marauding Wraiths were mostly an annoyance -- unless they wandered into a major hub system of yours, all they did was wreck a mining/researching station or two before moving on to the next system. Now that you must build an expensive outpost in every single system you want to claim, a single Wraith can tear entire regions of the galaxy from your grasp before you can marshal the forces required to stop it. You can also bet that any rivaling empire in the area will [[LetNoCrisisGoToWaste immediately move to claim what you just lost]], which can easily cost you a huge chunk of your territory.
* WildCard: Spectral Wraiths are the only Guardians that actively wander the galaxy instead of merely defending their home system. It makes them a completely unpredictable factor in any game they appear in, capable of randomly destroying fleets, derailing war plans, crippling empires and generally being a pain in the ass. As mentioned aove, they also don't hesitate to engage other Guardians in combat if they cross paths, and although they tend to get their ass handed to them, it can provide the vigilant player with the perfect opportunity to finish the severely weakened winner off with minimal casualties.

!'''Stellarite Devourer'''
* AnimalisticAbomination: A giant EnergyBeing that parasitises off of stars which looks like a well fed tick. Its energy output and brightness are so enormous it is initially mistaken for the second star in a binary system.
* AttackItsWeakPoint: The Curators will instruct you to fire at the Stellar Devourer's regulatory valves.
* BattleTrophy: Militaristic or Xenophobe empires might build a trophy from the remains of the Stellarite Devourer after killing it, to commemorate their victory.
* BizarreAlienBiology: The Curators' educated guess is that the Devourer's biology is the result of some outer-dimensional fusing of dark matter and solar matter.
* EndlessWinter: Any planet unlucky enough to share a star with the Devourer will cool down and become a frozen wasteland as the star gets fed off by the Devourer and shrinks. This can be reversed by killing the Devourer and reigniting the star, turning the planets habitable again.
* HairTriggerTemper: The Devourer will go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against anyone who damaged it for as much as 0.5% of its total health pool. In other words, if you gave it a try with your early-game fleet because you didn't know what to make of that skull symbol, it'll probably wreck said fleet [[OhCrap and then your home system]] in very short order.
* HostileTerraforming: Probably unintentional on the Devourer's part, but if you happen to live on a planet that survived the mere arrival of this thing, you should haul ass to another world ASAP before yours turns into a frozen wasteland because your star is suddenly circling the drain. On a somewhat more minor note, if a Devourer enters an inhabited system in pursuit of an attacking fleet, any settled planet there suffers a severe habitability and happiness penalty because the things is essentially a second sun that suddenly appeared in the sky. Fortunately, that last one isn't permanent.
* StarKilling: The Stellarite Devourer feeds on the fusion that takes place within stars to fuel its own fusion reactor, eventually causing its prey to cool off and shrink (with bad results for its planets).
* {{Terraforming}}: [[UpToEleven A system-wide example]]. Killing and investigating the thing unlocks a Special Project to restore the star it was munching on to its former radiance. One of three things will happen. 1. [[EpicFail Your science ship explodes]]. 2. Your science ship is destroyed in a sudden solar flare, but the star reignites, turning every celestial body in the system that isn't a gas giant or an asteroid into an Arctic or Tundra World (which can easily result in a system with six or more habitable planets of varying sizes; normal systems with three habitable worlds are very rare already, and 3+ is almost unheard of). 3. Your science ship survives, the largest planet in the system turns into a Gaia World, and a small random number of the others may become Arctic or Tundra Worlds.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Marauders]]
!'''Tropes common to the Marauders'''
* DownloadableContent: Part of the ''Apocalypse'' DLC.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: They refuse to deal with Devouring Swarms, Determined Exterminators, or Fanatic Purifiers, and each finds such civilizations appalling in their own way.
* HardCodedHostility: Marauders are always hostile to regular empires, but will generally not attack them unless you attempt to enter their home systems, or they are in the process of raiding them.
* TheHorde: They're basically space barbarians.
* HorrifyingTheHorror: The Marauders won't attack a Fallen Empire, and have lines explicitly refusing if asked. Neither honor, nor madness, nor religious zeal can convince the Marauders to pick a fight with them. As the Type 2s put it:
-->''[[ScreamingWarrior HYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!]] [[HaHaHaNo No.]] Dwamak, we mad, but not mad enough to try bash fallen-dwamaks.''
* PrivateMilitaryContractors: Settled empires can hire Marauder generals, admirals or fleets as mercenaries. Marauder fleets cost a large energy payment up-front, and consist of a fixed-size fleet that cannot be split, merged or disbanded, with a leader that cannot be reassigned. The fleet does not count towards your naval cap and will not cost any maintenance, but will only serve you for a period of 5 years, after which you will have to renew their contract by paying the full cost again.
* SpacePeople: Marauders have eschewed planets in favour of living on ships and stations in and around a handful of resource-rich systems.
* SpacePirates: Marauders subsist largely on raiding each other and extorting tribute from settled empires.

![[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Type 1]]
''"As punishment for losing a duel, it has been decreed that I am to deal with all outsiders this cycle. What do you want?"''
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Their defining trait: they're all about honor, loathe speaking to outsiders, and love battle.
* VillainRespect: It doesn't actually help, but they'll speak well of Militarist civilizations in a "it would be an honor to face you in battle" way.

![[AxCrazy Type 2]]
''"You have something for us to smash, dwamak? [Marauders] very good at smashing!"''
* AxCrazy: They're obsessed with fighting, violence, and turning dwamaks into stew.
* FantasticSlurs: "Dwamak", which refers to any other species. There's also "dwakam", though they refuse to explain what that is beyond being worse than a dwamak.
* SapientEatSapient: They're obsessed with making dwamak stew, though as their reaction to a Devouring Swarm attests, less keen on being an ingredient ''in'' a dwamak's stew.
* ScreamingWarrior: Practically a verbal tic.

![[ScaryDogmaticAliens Type 3]]
''"She of the Void is wroth today. I can feel it. We have not done enough to win Her favor..."''
* ScaryDogmaticAliens: They worship the Void, space itself, and offer their raiding targets as sacrifice to it.

!The Great Khan
''"The empire I am building shall benefit the whole of the galactic community. It may not seem like it now, but one day it will become a beacon of stability and prosperity for all intelligent life forms."''
* AffablyEvil: Whoever they are, they make the Horde that much more lethal, but also politely allow Satrapies to go about their day and is unfailingly polite.
* BalkanizeMe: After the Great Khan dies, his Horde may dissolve into a myriad of squabbling successor states.
* CulturedBadass: No matter the kind of Marauders they come from, the Khan themself is invariably a polite, eloquent figure who speaks of bringing unity to the galaxy.
* TheFederation: A possibility after the Great Khan's death is the formation of a federation of equal and voluntary member states; [[TheExtremistWasRight exactly what they hoped for]].
* GalacticConqueror: As one would expect by the name. They start out uniting the squabbling hordes, and then seek to unite the rest of the galaxy.
* KeystoneArmy: When the Great Khan dies, their Horde falls apart. Especially if someone kills them.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: A Great Khan of the Type 3 marauders can be asked about why they don't speak of "She of the Void". The Great Khan's reply can be summed up as basically this.
* SheIsTheKing: The title is regardless of gender ([[NoBiologicalSex if any]]).
* SuicidalOverconfidence: The Khan will try to conquer fallen empire territory if a fallen empire borders the Horde. This usually ends with the Khan routed due to the sheer difference in power.
* VisionaryVillain: They're out to conquer the galaxy in order to provide its residents with the unity, stability, and prosperity that a powerful empire under wise and enlightened rule can provide.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Preset Empires]]

Instead of playing your own customized faction, there also preset factions that a player could choose. These occasionally spawn as AI empires.

!'''United Nations of Earth (sort-of default)'''

The UNE is the future United Nations that grew into a global government in response to the turmoil of the 21st century.

AI personality: Federation Builders.

* BadassCreed: Their military has one from the ''Apocalypse'' trailer that was their DayInTheLimelight:
-->I solemnly swear to devote my life and ability in the defense of the United Nations of Earth, to defend the constitution of man, and to further the universal rights of all sentient life, from the depths of the Pacific, to the edge of the galaxy, for as long as I shall live.
* FantasticShipPrefix: UNS, for "United Nations Ship".
* TheFederation: When controlled by the AI, they have the Federation Builders personality.
* HumansAreDiplomats: The UNE is the "diplomatic" human faction, with their Xenophile trait.
* HumansAreWhite: Averted; there are many different ethnicites present.
* {{Irony}}: The UNE is a space empire with the starter weapon of Nuclear Missiles. The contemporary UN prohibits holding territory on other planets and nukes in space (and moved to unilaterally ban nukes in mid-September 2017).
* MacrossMissileMassacre: Their starting weapons are swarms of nuclear missiles.
* NoodleIncident:
** The Mauritanian Police Action of '88, which is cited as evidence of resentment towards the power the UN wields.
** Whatever catastrophic event turned Mercury into a volcanic wasteland, as opposed to the dead rock it is in real life.
* StandardHumanSpaceship: Played with. They use the humanoid shipset by default, which is grey and flat but fairly sleek as well. Picture a cross between an [[Franchise/StarWars Imperial Star Destroyer and a Mon Calamari Star Cruiser]] -- that's the humanoid aesthetic in a nutshell. Alternatively, and appropriately enough, it can also be compared to the Federation ships from ''Franchise/StarTrek'', which has always rather defied the trope except for the "shiny grey metal" part.
* UnitedNationsIsASuperpower: By the end of the 21st century the UN has effectively become a global government and made a (failed) attempt to colonize planets beyond Sol via wormholes. By the beginning of the 23rd, when the game begins, it is a fledgling interstellar state that has a small fleet of FTL-equipped starships and a large spaceport to produce more.
* TheXenophile: They're a bunch of Xenophiles and would gladly conduct diplomacy with alien races.

!'''Blorg Commonality'''

AI personality: Fanatic Befrienders.

* AerithAndBob: Most Blorg, if not all, have human names. See AliensStealCable below.
* AliensStealCable: The Blorg were originally dull, nameless beings who aimlessly wandered the jungles of their homeworld. One day, however, they intercepted ancient radio transmissions from Earth: transmissions that conveyed the concept of friendship, culture, and the pursuit of meaning in life. Inspired, they took on human names and developed a technological civilization with the goal of one day finding the people who sent those transmissions and befriending them.
* AscendedMeme: The Blorg were first introduced during a developer livestream, and proved to be popular enough to get a place among the preset empires and their own semi-unique AI personality.
* BeamSpam: They use red lasers as their starting weapon.
* TheCameo: See the "Fanatical Befrienders" personality, above.
* ShinyLookingSpaceships: The default fungoid ships.
* StarfishAliens: They're fungoids who look like big, rotting piles of sewage with tentacles.

!'''Chinorr Stellar Union'''

AI personality: Ruthless Capitalists.

* BeamSpam: Lasers are their default starting weapons.
* {{Cthulhumanoid}}: A molluscoid species, with lots of tentacles drooping from their face.
* GaiasLament: Their homeworld, Chicora, was originally a Tropical World, but the heavily industrial Chinorr strip-mined it until it was reduced to an Arid World. The Chinorr consider this a necessary sacrifice, however, so for them at least the trope is averted.
* MegaCorp: Patch 1.8 gives them the corporate dominion civic, to distinguish them from the newly added Lokken Mechanists.
* ShinyLookingSpaceships: The default molluscoid ships are very elaborately decorated, with a blue-white color scheme.

!'''Commonwealth of Man'''

Descendants of Earth colonists from the starship ''Chrysanthemum'', who settled on a moon called Unity in the late-21st century. They will try to expand humanity throughout the galaxy, at all costs.

AI personality: Hegemonic Imperialists.

* AbsoluteXenophobe: Downplayed as they're not ''Fanatic'' Xenophobes. They'll enslave aliens, but usually refrain from exterminating them. Other empires who play their cards right will find them mostly agreeable.
* BeamSpam: Their starting weapons are red lasers.
* DeathWorld: Unity used to be a hostile environment overrun with lethal predators. Clearing them out is implied to be what turned the colonists into the hyper-militaristic and anti-alien culture we see in-game.
* ADayInTheLimelight: They're heavily featured in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmvGlBFaFEU&t=0s Utopia trailer]], in which they go to war with an alien Federation for control of a derelict DysonSphere.
* DivergentCharacterEvolution: In-universe, the Commonwealth of Man is the result of a colonization effort that went horribly wrong. Stranded in an unknown corner of the galaxy for generations, the Commonwealth would grow to be a xenophobic, martial empire, while the rest of humanity developed into the much more benign United Nations of Earth.
* TheEmpire: They are expansionist and wanted to expand the Commonwealth at all cost. When controlled by the AI, they have the Hegemonic Imperialists personality.
* EvilCounterpart: To the United Nations of Earth. While the UNE is a largely-peaceful democracy eager to explore the galaxy, the Commonwealth is a military dictatorship that despises nonhuman life.
* FantasticShipPrefix: CNS, for "Commonwealth Naval Ship".
* HumanityIsSuperior: The Commonwealth strongly believes this, at any rate, being a militaristic and xenophobic culture.
* HumansAreDivided: The UNE will always spawn along with them, and they count as the same species for all intents and purposes.
* HumansAreWarriors: The Commonwealth are the "warrior" human faction, being Xenophobes and Fanatic Militarists.
* HumansAreWhite: Averted; like the UNE, they don't discriminate by race, ([[AbsoluteXenophobe only by species]]).
* LostColony: The Commonwealth was founded by the colonists and crew of an ark ship from Earth, who were stranded in the Deneb system by a freak wormhole accident.
* ANaziByAnyOtherName: And they're not very subtle about it, either.
* OrderVersusChaos: Executor Sidney Beauclair envisions the Commonwealth as the catalyst for order in the galaxy in the Utopia trailer.
* PortalNetwork: Part of their backstory, they were founded by a fleet of colony ships that were sent through an unstable natural wormhole in the Oort Cloud and which ended up scattered across several systems, all but one of them dying without reaching an inhabitable planet. Hence why in-game science vessels refuse to enter wormholes before stabilization technology is discovered.[[note]]Pre-Cherryh it was an experimental Jump Drive and they used wormhole stations.[[/note]]
* PuttingOnTheReich: Their leaders and pops all wear military uniforms by default.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Their flag is red with a single black stripe, their ships have red lights for detailing, and they start the game with "red" laser weapons as the default armament for their ships and stations.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Following the destruction of the UNE colony Europa VII in the Apocalypse trailer, they swore vengeance against the perpetrators and promised to unleash their own DoomsdayDevice upon the aliens' homeworlds.
-->''With this attack, we have no choice but to protect our kind, by unleashing our own mighty weapons upon them, summoning the Apocalypse.''
* StandardHumanSpaceship: Like the UNE, they use the humanoid shipset.
* ThickerThanWater: Regardless of their ideological disagreements with the UNE, Earth is still the Commonwealth's origin point and the people of Sol are still their kin. So when a Fanatic Purifier planet-cracked the UNE colony Europa VII in the ''Apocalypse'' reveal trailer, the Commonwealth quickly jumped to their brethren's defense, [[PayEvilUntoEvil returning the favor]] in the launch trailer.

!'''Earth Custodianship'''

''Available with the Synthetic Dawn DLC.''

AI personality: Rogue Servitor.

* AlternateTimeline: As a result of being another pre-built empire based on Earth, they will never appear in the same play-throughs as the United Nations of Earth, simply because in said timeline humanity ended up slowly overtaken by robots long before mastering faster than light travel.
* TheEvilsOfFreeWill: Naturally, they want all organics to remain happy and content, even if it is at the cost of their individual freedoms.

!'''Iferyx Amalgamated Fleets'''

AI personality: Peaceful Traders

* BirdPeople: Like the Yondarim, they're humanoid avians (though the Iferyx resemble platypi than predatory birds).
* ScaryDogmaticAliens: When they were first added to the game, they had the Evangelizing Zealots personality, although their personality was later changed to Peaceful Traders to avoid being redundant with the Kingdom of Yondarim.
* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: They have the "Shadow Council" civic, and their description implies said Council is what's ''really'' holding such a freewheeling race together.

!'''Ix'Idar Star Collective'''

AI personality: Hive Mind.

* BigCreepyCrawlies: With a subterranean civilization and FTL capabilities, to boot.
* EldritchStarship: The default arthropod starships are the "Lobster" variety. Lots of spikes and greebles, with a black and gold color scheme.
* HiveMind: After Patch 1.8 and with the Utopia DLC installed, they are a hive minded species.
* MoreDakka: Their starting weapons are mass drivers.

!'''Jehetma Dominion'''

AI personality: Harmonious Collective.

* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: They vary in color from red to green to blue to yellow.
* BizarreAlienBiology: Each Jehetma "individual" is a colony of fungi that has achieved sapience.
* MoreDakka: They use projectile weapons by default.
* ReluctantWarrior: They have the Fanatical Pacifist ethos, so they'll never declare war on other empires. They will, however, defend themselves with deadly force if it proves necessary.
* ShinyLookingSpaceships: The default fungoid ships are black and green with lots of rounded edges.
* TimeAbyss: Some colonies are thousands of years old and stretch across ''miles'' of their homeworld's surface.

!'''Kel-Azaan Republic'''

AI personality: Honorbound Warriors

* EldritchStarship: They use the default Arthropod ships, described above.
* InsectoidAliens: Ant/grasshopper-like, but with a humanoid frame.
* MoreDakka: Mass drivers, again.

!'''Kingdom of Yondarim'''

AI personality: Evangelizing Zealots.

* BeamSpam: They use lasers by default.
* BirdPeople: The Yondar resemble large birds-of-prey, but with a humanoid stature.
* EldritchStarship: Lobster type. Their starships, while sleek and shiny, are pointed with many weird protrusion here and there, especially their Cruisers and Battleships.
* GodEmperor: Their government type is Divine Mandate, and the description text confirms that their high king is worshiped as one of these.
* SaintlyChurch: They used to be this, as Spiritual Seekers with the Pacifist and Fanatical Spiritualistic ethics. But after Utopia they were patched in as...
* ScaryDogmaticAliens: Fanatic Spiritualist and Authoritarian Evangelizing Zealots, in order to accommodate the prerequisites of the Imperial Cult civic.
* ShinyLookingSpaceships: The default avian ships are beautiful craft with flowing lines and no hard edges at all. They're also painted black with blue highlights.

!'''Lokken Mechanists'''

''Available with the Utopia DLC.''

AI personality: Erudite Explorers.

* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: As Fanatic Materialists, they have absolutely no religious belief system and disregard sentimentality in favor of knowledge and technology. Appropriately, they have the Erudite Explorers personality.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: To the pre-patch 1.8 Chinorr Stellar Union, which were also Erudite Explorers until patch 1.8 changed them to Ruthless Capitalists.

!'''Maweer Caretakers'''

''Available with the Plantoids DLC.''

AI personality: Xenophobic Isolationists.

* GoodIsNotNice: Despite their nurturing ways and pacifistic ideals, it should also be stressed that they are still a xenophobic empire, preferring to deal with other civilizations as little as possible. In fact, the only interactions you can safely expect from them given their Xenophobic Isolationists AI personality are trade agreements and Non-Aggression Pacts.
* GreenThumb: Their origin story details how the planet that birthed them used to be an almost completely barren wasteland before they showed up. Centuries later, and it's anything but barren, being a Tropical planet sprawling with life.
* HiddenElfVillage: Because of their peaceful highly environmentalist ways, they are very wary of outside forces, fearing that they may not respect nature the way they do.
* InHarmonyWithNature: Interestingly for a space-age empire, they never urbanized, preferring to live in harmony with the nature of their homeworld, which is approprately named Garden.

!'''Scyldari Confederacy'''

AI personality: Spiritual Seekers

* MoreDakka: Mass drivers are their weapon of choice.
* PettingZooPeople: They resemble large, humanoid otters/sloths.
* ProudMerchantRaceGuy: As a result of their homeworld's somewhat fragile ecosystem, the Scyldari have shunned violence and seek to advance through honest trade and peaceful co-existence. Probably would be an example of a {{Reconstruction}} of the concept, as a species that evolved on a planet with scarce resources and came to prefer fair and peaceful trade over potentially mutually-destructive competition would turn out a species of {{Nice Guy}}s rather than a bunch of greedy swindlers.
* SaintlyChurch: As of Patch 2.0, they have the Spiritual Seekers personality, which makes them a peaceful and religious empire.
* StandardHumanSpaceship: They use the default mammalian ships.
* UnderwaterCity: More than 90% of their planet is covered in ocean, so much of the Scyldari civilization is located beneath the waves.

!'''Tebrid Homolog'''

''Available with the Synthetic Dawn DLC.''

AI personality: Driven Assimilator.

* AIIsACrapshoot: They forcefully assimilated their creators, the Tebirs into their hivemind, so they could achieve the ultimate software evolution.
* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Like all Driven Assimliators, they are copyright friendly [[Franchise/StarTrek Borg]].
* GoneHorriblyRight: They were created to catalog and index all available knowledge into one vast computerized encyclopedia. Their creators didn't anticipate them extending their mandate to include the knowledge locked away inside their brains...

!'''Tzynn Empire'''

AI personality: Slaving Despots.

* TheEmpire: It's in the name. They also use the Authoritarian and Fanatic Militarist ethics.
* LizardFolk: Green-skinned humanoid reptiles.
* MoreDakka: Their starting weapons are rapid-firing mass drivers.
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: They're Slaving Despots, which makes it rather hard to co-exist with them peacefully.
* StandardHumanSpaceship: The default reptilian ships subvert this. They are bulky, but have rounded corners, red and white paint, and bright blue lights all over.

!'''Voor Technocracy'''

''Available with the Humanoids DLC.''

AI personality: Erudite Explorers.

* HumanoidAliens: As befits the "mascots" of the Humanoids DLC.
* PromotedToPlayable: At launch, the Voor were just aliens in a loading screen that Paradox discovered were very popular despite not actually being playable. The Humanoids DLC adds those aliens as a portrait and makes them a preset empire in the form of the Voor Technocracy.

!'''Xanid Suzerenity'''

''Available with the Utopia DLC.''

AI personality: Hegemonic Imperialists.

* SlaveRace: They have bred the Vheln a reptilian species that evolved on the same world as the Xani, to be a subservient race that fights and mines on behalf of the physically weak Xani.

!'''XT-489 Eliminator'''

''Available with the Synthetic Dawn DLC.''

AI Personality: Determined Exterminator.

* AbsoluteXenophobe: Downplayed, because like all Determined Exterminators, they only hate organics absolutely. They ''can'' conduct diplomacy with other Machine Empires (provided they are not Rogue Servitors) and Synth Empires, though they find the latter uncanny.
* CrushKillDestroy: Created as a defence network, once achieving sentience they promptly classified their own creators as a threat and liberally nuked them. Now they intend to do the same on a galatic scale.
* FinalSolution: They nuked the homeworld of their creators and intend to kill all organics they can find as well.
* KillAllHumans: And kill all other organics too!
* ShroudedInMyth: The circumstances of their creation, original creator species and other details are lost to history. It is only known that XT-489 Eliminator was build as a defence network that turned on its masters and eradicated them.
* UncannyValley: Inverted curiously, they are not exactly uncanny to most species, but find synths to be such.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Worm-in-Waiting ('''SPOILERS''')]]
!'''The Loop'''
* ArcWords: "WHAT WAS, WILL BE. WHAT WILL BE, WAS."
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: It does seem to honestly love anyone who approaches it as supplicants. The CosmicHorrorStory below is a result of it attempting to be helpful.
* CosmicHorrorStory: The "Horizon Signal" quest chain puts your empire through one of these, and features quite a number of terrifying and otherworldly events:
** It starts with a signal from a black hole system, which you can research. [[spoiler: Then you find out the signal is talking to you, asking for one of your scientists to be sent to the black hole, never to be seen again. Then it asks for another scientist. Then you detect a ship with one of your admirals on board... except that admiral is standing right next to you, this other admiral is apparently from the future, grizzled and scarred, and you have to finish him off to bring the end of the loop.]]
** A newly established colony discovers that the world they're on [[spoiler: had been occupied by your species before, judging from the structures left. Once established, the colony's growth accelerates at a rate that defies logic, as if the new colonists are just appearing out of nowhere. Then, without warning, the colony and its entire population vanishes overnight, as if it never existed; sometime replaced by entirely sane and loyal citizens that just don't exist in any records, sometimes just gone to leave the world as if it had never been settled.]]
** [[spoiler: An ancient temple complex is discovered on your homeworld, which can be used to spread the Worm's influence. One of your scientists creates a retroviral agent to return your species to what it used to be, the Messenger species, which you can use to mutate your entire Empire.]]
** Finally, [[spoiler: if you accept the Worm, the quest line ends with your homeworld's star suddenly collapsing into a black hole and turning the entire system into Tomb Worlds.... though at least you get Tomb World Habitability for your troubles.]]
* CursedWithAwesome: [[spoiler: If you choose to accept the Worm, all pops on your homeworld are transformed into Repugnant creatures. The awesome part? They're also given the Tomb World habitability trait, which makes all standard habitable planets 60% acceptable for them.]]
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Conversely, if you reject the Worm, [[spoiler:it manifests in your home system as a giant monster (that looks and behaves exactly like the Dimensional Horror Guardian - make of that what you will) with a fleet strength of ~20,000 units. While that is pretty powerful, it's no serious threat to a decent mid to end-game fleet, and much less than could be expected from such an entity. Blasting it back to wherever it came from ends the event chain with some additional research bonuses and some uncomfortable thoughts about what the future might bring now that the Worm is most likely royally pissed.]]
* DownloadableContent: Part of the free Horizon Signal DLC, released alongside the 1.4 update.
* EldritchAbomination: It's some kind of intelligence that resides within the fabric of ''time itself'', heavily hinted to be a temporal paradox given shape, sentience and both the abilities and the will to influence the physical world in mind-bending ways.
* LovecraftLite: It's this ''and'' a CosmicHorrorStory, on the basis that as repeatedly emphasized, it loves its worshipers, and wants them to thrive. It just has a ''[[BlueAndOrangeMorality very odd]]'' definition of "thriving". And, being LovecraftLite, at the end of the event chain you can choose to [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu blast the crap out of it and loot the corpse.]]
* NothingIsScarier: Prolonged relationship with the Worm can cause some very frightening events that can leave a ruler paranoid for centuries; [[spoiler:BodyHorror for the masses in one day, unexplained cloning of loyal citizens on a planet, sudden appearances of leaders from the future]]. Basically not for the faint of heart, considering its writers originated from [[VideoGame/SunlessSea a certain game]].
* RealityWarper: The thing plays fast and loose with the space-time continuum, which has predictably disturbing effects on what we perceive as reality. Finding the remains of an ancient astronaut of your race who apparently travelled the galaxy millennia before your species had even developed rudimentary space flight capabilities is still one of the milder examples.
* {{Starkilling}}: [[spoiler:If you accept the Worm, it transforms your homeworld's sun into a black hole and all of its planets into Tomb Worlds.]]
* TimeAbyss: Technically, it exists whenever it wants to...
* TimeyWimeyBall: Many of the temporal anomalies it causes are implied to be what created it in the first place.
* TheVirus: Thanks to its meddling, [[spoiler:one of your scientists creates a pathogen that transforms at least themselves, then part of your empire's population (if not the ''entire'' population) into the Messenger species.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Enclaves]]

!'''Artisan Enclave'''
* AlienArtsAreAppreciated: They're very good at their job, and can be commissioned to create artworks to boost happiness. For a price, of course.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: While they offer services about as useful as the other two, other empires get angry at the empire who dares attack a Curator or Trader Enclave, but nobody bats an eye when an Artisan Enclave is destroyed.
* HufflepuffHouse: Unlike the Curator and Trader Enclaves, their benefits are mostly 'fire-and-forget' instead of long-term cooperation. Curators get to boost your Research and lend their Professor, Traders offer long-term deals on Unobtainiums, but Artisans only offer Monuments which are capped at 5, becoming their Patron allows you to build one Ministry of Culture, and the Festival of Worlds happiness boost cannot be done constantly. The ''Utopia'' DLC makes them somewhat more useful, as being a Patron of the Arts now gives you a bonus towards generating Unity, which is used to unlock traditions and Ascension perks.
* PermanentlyMissableContent: If you have them conduct Festival of the Worlds, there's a chance for an event where they just take the money and bolt, making them inaccessible for the rest of the game.

!'''Curator Enclave'''
* KnowledgeBroker: They sell info on uncharted stars, access to their database for research boosts, or hints and tools to deal with the [[BonusBoss Guardians.]]
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: You can hire one of their scientists to lead Research or as Explorer. Either way, they come with max skill level and bonus to research ''and'' exploration.
* ShoutOut: To the Melnorme of ''VideoGame/StarControl''. Paraphrased:
-->"You may be wondering about the meaning of the mural behind us. That's a very good question with a very interesting answer! The price for the answer is 15 quadrillion Credits."

!'''Trader Enclave'''
* PermanentlyMissableContent: Destroying their stations will simply wipe out the very resource they're selling.
* ProudMerchantRace: They may charge a premium, but they certainly don't cheat their customers.
* {{Unobtainium}}: Once you reach a certain point of Approval, they will offer certain Empire-Wide Strategic Resources that are otherwise unobtainable.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Shroud ('''SPOILERS''')]]
!'''Tropes common to the Shroud'''
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Aside from the End of the Cycle, the Shroud beings aren't actively malevolent, despite the negative side effects caused by harboring such utterly alien psychic presences. They are entirely honest about the price they exact, and of them only the Eater of Worlds is actively taking a price from you.
* BodyHorror: The Composer of Strands will make the mutations of the BizarreBabyBoom go further, enough to make unique species out of a generation.
* CosmicEntity: Communicating to the entities of the Shroud is [[ItMakesSenseInContext an equivalent of ants walking up to someone's doorstep to ask for some sugar]], failure to commune properly will result to something horrible; such as cursing your empire with significant disadvantage or [[spoiler:spawning a [[DemonicSpiders rogue psionic avatar]] inside your territory.]]
* DealWithTheDevil: They mostly interact with material beings in the form of offering deals of some sort or another, often with hidden costs. [[LovecraftLite Most of them are pretty fair deals in the end]], except for [[MeaningfulName the End Of The Cycle]].
* EnergyBeings: All of them are incorporeal beings of pure thought.
* {{Expy}}: Four of the five mightiest beings in the Shroud are basically LighterAndSofter versions of the Chaos Gods in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''. (With the fifth being the End of the Cycle, below.)
** The Whispers in the Void are Tzeentch. The Whispers provide a great boon to your science as they share cosmic secrets, but some of those so "gifted" may GoMadFromTheRevelation.
** The Composer of Strands is Nurgle. Instead of disease, however, it brings mutation (often positive) in a BizarreBabyBoom.
** The Instrument of Desire is Slaanesh. It will greatly benefit your economy, inspiring your people, but that inspiration may also lead to counter-cultural political movements or consumerist decadence.
** The Eater of Worlds is Khorne, and an exception to the "less nasty than its Warhammer counterpart" rule. Your admirals and warriors will fight with unrivaled ferocity and courage, but the Eater will occasionally devour entire cities, causing them to "mysteriously vanish", in exchange.
* FatalFlaw: Most of the Covenants have flaws directly related to the powers they give. For the ''End of the Cycle'' read tropes below.
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: The side effect of the Whispers in the Void. The people will find the reality they live feeling vague and unreal compared to the truths hinted at by the Whisperers. People will become serial killers or commit suicide, sometimes even engaging in mass suicides that wipe out entire cities. This is can also count as a mean sort of CursedWithAwesome; the reduction of empire's population means smaller research costs for all existing technologies.
* HorrorHunger: The Eater of Worlds is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, basically eating buildings or even cities in exchange for filling military forces with their hunger for and mastery of war. If it becomes unaccountably peckish, it will start to eat planets outright.
* LovecraftLite: It's entirely possible to make a deal with the EldritchAbomination and ''come out ahead.''
* HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace: The Shroud is seemingly feared throughout the galaxy; even [[spoiler:the [[EveryoneHasStandards Unbidden]]]] regard it with trepidation.
* PsychicPowers: Required to communicate with the Shroud, and naturally possessed by the realm's denizens.
* WeHaveBecomeComplacent: The Instrument of Desire can ensure utopian abundance, but it goes too well; whether due to the sheer wealth provided or some baleful influence of the Instrument, the newly wealthy citizens find themselves joining counter-cultural movements or falling into blind consumerist decadence.

!'''The End of the Cycle'''

->'''''[[ShmuckBait DO NOT DO THIS.]]'''''

* BreakoutVillain: The End of the Cycle is just one of many possible entities one can encounter in the shroud. But by merit of bringing a straight CosmicHorrorStory into what is otherwise LovecraftLite, and by being [[PlayingThePlayer designed from the ground up to play on the fandom's particular assumptions and weaknesses]], it's far more talked about than any of its brethren. And {{Fanon}} is happy to blame it for just about any enigmatic horror, most notably theorizing that it is the reason the Fallen Empires "fell", the threat that Curators speak of, [[spoiler:the Hunters that the Prethoryn [[InvadingRefugees are fleeing from]]]], or even the "Class-30 singularity" that the Contingency is programmed to prevent.
* CosmicHorrorStory: The End of the Cycle results in one, [[DealWithTheDevil if you accept its bargain]]. For fifty in-game years, every possible type of income and statistic in the game is boosted by 100%, which can turn even the weakest empire into an invincible juggernaut. When those fifty years are up, however, [[spoiler: your civilization is immediately destroyed. Every ship and station is blown away, every megastructure is disabled, every leader dies, and every world you own is scoured clean of life and turned into a Shrouded World utterly beyond habitation or terraforming. All that's left is a single, remote colony formed by an IgnoredExpert who saw the apocalypse coming, which means you basically have to start the game from scratch. It doesn't stop there, however: The souls of the billions who die as a result of the cataclysm are resurrected as a massive horde of vengeful spirits - including a particularly mighty armada over your former homeworld with at least 1,000,000 Military Power, potentially double that or more - who promptly start an unholy crusade to scour the entire galaxy clean of life.]] And the kicker? [[spoiler: [[ForcedToWatch They'll deliberately leave your final colony for last.]] Your greed and foolishness has doomed the entire galaxy, if not the universe, [[ToThePain and now you're going to sit there and watch helplessly as it all comes crashing down around you]], until they eventually return to your doorstep to finish you off. And, on the off-chance the other races of the galaxy manage to [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu put an end to the monstrosity you unleashed]], you'll still have a -1000 opinion modifier that will ensure everyone finds the notion of [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge wiping your remnants off the map in retaliation]] ''extremely'' tempting.]]
* DealWithTheDevil: Most Shroud beings carry bargains that come with painful costs but can ultimately be beneficial with proper management. Not the End of the Cycle. You ''will'' regret this bargain.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:The undead army it unleashes is ''extremely'' powerful, but it can be defeated. Just don't expect the people who unleashed it to be the ones to do so.]]
* {{Expy}}: Numerous influences have been posited.
** It is equal parts [[spoiler:[[Franchise/Warhammer40000 C'tan]] and [[Franchise/MassEffect Reapers]]]]; [[spoiler:an all-devouring horror that cyclically devours all life in the galaxy and does awful things to those who trust it]].
** Its name also strongly implies its relationship with [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/SunlessSea Salt of the Zee]]. The End of the Cycle guarantees a mysterious annihilation that will not only wipe out a generation of spacefarers but also its entire lineage in the galaxy with its own dead inhabitants.]]
** Many ''Franchise/Warhammer40000'' fans have also compared the cataclysm that happens when the Covenant is up to [[spoiler:the Fall of the Eldar]]. [[spoiler:A horrific god is born from the devoured souls of billions of fat, decadent citizens, wiping out their galaxy-spanning empire literally overnight, with the only survivors being a handful of dissidents who fled before the cataclysm struck]].
* EldritchAbomination: Moreso than anything else in ''Stellaris'', a 'verse generously populated by unexplained and perhaps inexplicable monstrosities. [[spoiler:It can end the empire that made a covenant with it, likely a [[JustForFun/AbusingTheKardashevScaleForFunAndProfit Type II civilization]], in what is implied to be ''seconds'']]. The survivors [[LovecraftLite may be able to turn it back]], but [[BonusBoss that's easier said than done]].
* FauxAffablyEvil: As shown by its quote, the End offers a quick way to become a truly godlike Empire, rewarding its chosen with unheard of generosity. [[spoiler:It's the only truly malevolent Shroud presence, and will stab you in the back fifty years after the foundation of the Covenant by ''eating your entire civilization'' and going on an OmnicidalManiac rampage fueled by the devoured souls.]]
* FinalBoss: Inverted. [[spoiler:'''You'''[[note]]or rarely other Psionic empires[[/note]], apparently, will invoke this by reaching the ''End of the Cycle'' with an unfinished game, turning the vast majority of your powerful empire against you and everyone in the proximity of the galaxy armed with the most powerful fleet at their disposal, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard your own people's minds fused into one powerful entity]]. You will also be left [[HarderThanHard fragmented with the last remaining planet un-corrupted by the Shroud at its mercy]].]]
* ForbiddenFruit: The Covenant itself is ominously powerful, with all important stats ''doubled''. Attached to it is an ominously colored red text, eerily similar to [[VideoGame/SunlessSea Kingeater's Castle]], that reads "''[[SchmuckBait Do not do this]]''". [[TakeOurWordForIt They mean it]].
* LordBritishPostulate: Defeating the End as their summoner after they [[spoiler:eat most of your empire]] is possible, but it requires knowing exactly what they're planning, and [[CrazyPrepared careful preparation from practically the first day of spaceflight]]. And then there's surviving the aftermath, since you'll still have a -1000 diplomacy malus for summoning it, and most of the galaxy will be out for your blood.
* MasterOfAll: The End of the Cycle covenant provides all the stats of the other four beings of the Shroud. All of them are yours, if you accept the Shroud willingly and become the Covenant of the Cycle. [[spoiler:This comes back to haunt you once ''the Cycle'' ends, the Shroud converts your entire armada into powerful Shroud spirits, which are effectively steroid-induced Extradimensional Invaders that become collectively more powerful depending on the size of their victimized empire and empires they start to eradicate.]]
* ObviousRulePatch: It is not possible to encounter the End of the Cycle in multiplayer without mods, as the devs know just how much {{Griefer}} potential it possesses.
* OmnicidalManiac: [[spoiler:It calls itself the ''End'' of the Cycle because that seems to be what it wants to bring about-the end of the cycle of life.]]
* SchmuckBait: As listed under ForbiddenFruit: "''Do not do this''".
* SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: Even if the "'''DO NOT DO THIS'''" warning doesn't dissuade you, the sheer fact that the stat boosts you get from accepting the End of the Cycle's offer are as outrageous as they are should clue you in that the price it levies when it comes to collect will be quite high indeed.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:For accepting the ''End of the Cycle'' and failing to conquer the galaxy in one go. Or effectively finishing the game as [[FridgeHorror the Cycle Covenant itself]].]]
* WalkingSpoiler: Half the fun is finding out ''why'' bargaining with the End is such a terrible idea, the hard way. Or watching others do so.
[[/folder]]

* AbsoluteXenophobe: Like Fanatical Purifiers, they cannot be negotiated with.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: The minute the Irassians' client races realized they could spread the {{ThePlague Javorian Pox}} while being unaffected by its symptoms, they immediately began to jointly spread the disease across Irassian space like interstellar {{TyphoidMary Typhoid Marys}}. However, given their {{FantasticRacism treatment}} of their client races, they probably deserved it.

* ProudMerchantRaceGuy: As a result of their homeworld's somewhat fragile ecosystem, the Scyldari have shunned violence and seek to advance through honest trade and peaceful co-existence.

* EldritchAbomination: Stands out as this even compared to other Guardians. Found exclusively near black holes, it exists only partially in the physical universe, is stated to be actively malevolent, and looks like it was ripped straight from the CthulhuMythos.

* FreudianExcuse: Their background story states that they wiped their creators out in self-dense, and spent their formative years fighting [[GuiltFreeExterminationWar an apocalyptic total war that reduced much of their original world to ashes]].

AI personality: Honorbound Warriors/Democratic Crusaders.

* AIIsACrapshoot: Played with. They genuinely want to make their client species happy, and consider those who don't want their help to be ignorant or misguided. It's left unclear whether the results are pleasant or [[WorldOfSilence very much not]].

* BadassCreed: "To Protect and to Serve". Especially [[ShutUpHannibal when said during first contact with]] [[FinalSolution Determined Exterminators, Fanatic Purifiers, or Devouring Swarms]].

* FinalSolution: Exterminates pops on the planets that the Horde conquers.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: It's really not clear what their methods are. Are they CreepyGood sorts who rule an enlightened utopia with subjects free to pursue art, creativity and pleasure? Or are their methods [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul far less savory]]? Are the organics in their care even aware of the universe outside their "caretakers'" domain, or are they all trapped in {{Lotus Eater Machine}}s?
* BadassBoast: "To Protect and to Serve". Especially [[ShutUpHannibal when said during first contact with]] [[FinalSolution Determined Exterminators, Fanatic Purifiers, or Devouring Swarms]].

* FriendToAllLivingThings: While their methods can be interpreted as a little iffy, they do genuinely enjoy caring for organics, and become ''viciously confrontational'' towards Determined Exterminators for annihilating their makers.
--> "[[TranquilFury What did you do to your creators]], '''''[[SuddenlyShouting <MURDERERS>]]'''''?
* GildedCage: The fate they want to impose on organics.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: It's really not clear what their methods are. Are they CreepyGood sorts who rule an enlightened utopia with subjects free to pursue art, creativity and pleasure? Or are their methods [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul far less savory]]?

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Following the destruction of colony Europa Seven in the Apocalypse trailer, they rather than the UNE, swore vengeance against the perpetrators, and promising to unleash their own DoomsdayDevice upon the aliens' homeworlds.

* ThickerThanWater: Regardless of their ideological disagreements with the UNE, Earth is still the Commonwealth's origin point and the people of Sol are still their kin. So when a Fanatic Purifier planet-cracked the UNE colony Europa Seven in the ''Apocalypse'' reveal trailer, the Commonwealth quickly jumped to their brethren's defense, [[PayEvilUntoEvil returning the favor]] in the launch trailer.

* AbsoluteXenophobe: Downplayed as they're not ''Fanatic'' Xenophobes. They'll enslave aliens, but usually refrain from exterminating them.

* HumansAreWhite: Averted; like the UNE, they don't discriminate by race ([[AbsoluteXenophobe only by species]]).

** Many ''Franchise/Warhammer40000'' fans have also compared the cataclysm that happens when the Covenant is up to [[spoiler:the Fall of the Eldar]]. [[spoiler:A horrific god is born from the devoured souls of billions of fat, decadent citizens, wiping out their galaxy-spanning empire literally overnight, with the only survivors being a handful of dissidents who fled in advance]].