History Characters / StellarisNonEmpire

** With Nemesis installed, you can finally pay back the End of the Cycle for how it screws you over when the Cycle Covenant ends by making a pact with the End of the Cycle, then completing everything associated with Menace. For those wondering, [[spoiler:this entails personally wiping out ''everyone else in the galaxy'', and then using the power you acquired from doing so to '''''[[AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence invade and conquer the Shroud]]'''''!]] Needless to say, [[EvilerThanThou you firmly establish that you are beyond the End of the Cycle in terms of villainy by doing this]].
** Machine Age allows you to employ The End of the Cycle in service of Cosmogenesis, which ends by [[spoiler: moving your entire population into a new universe]]. While this isn't the same kind of payback as the above, it still means you can make a DealWithTheDevil and then skip out on the bill.

->''I want for nothing. My purpose is to give. For eons, the fear of the shortsighted has kept you from what you deserve. From what you so desperately need. Knowledge. Power. Love. I return to end all illusions. Do not fear, do not tremble, do not resist. My children, at last I am returned to you.''

* KillTheGod: After defeating it the Knights of the Toxic God might lose their faith after realizing their "god" was just a machine and disband the order, then commandeer the "Toxic God" as a Colossus. Alternatively the player can declare it to be just another test presented by the true Toxic God and slay it to produce a relic.

* ArtEvolution: Originally, their appearance made them look like a strange blue accretion of energy, almost like UnmovingPlaid, with FloatingLimbs and three "eyes" glowing like lens flares on top. Later they were updated to look more like translucent humanoids, almost as if they're made of glass or plastic, although their eyes maintain some of the flare effect.

* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: With Nemesis installed, you can finally pay back the End of the Cycle for how it screws you over when the Cycle Covenant ends by making a pact with the End of the Cycle, then completing everything associated with Menace. For those wondering, [[spoiler:this entails personally wiping out ''everyone else in the galaxy'', and then using the power you acquired from doing so to '''''[[AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence invade and conquer the Shroud]]'''''!]] Needless to say, [[EvilerThanThou you firmly establish that you are beyond the End of the Cycle in terms of villainy by doing this]].

* WellIntentionedExtremist: She is described as a crisis that intends no harm at all, but takes her good intentions way too far

* DarkIsNotEvil: You may embarce his "Messenger Species" mantle with all consequences. [[CreepyGood It doesn't stop you from playing benevolent empire nor oblige you to do any evil actions.]]

!The L-Cluster '''(SPOILERS)'''
[[folder:In General]]
The L-Cluster is a small group of stars outside the galaxy, northeast relative to the galactic core. It's inaccessible at the start of the game, but the mysterious L-Gates scattered across the galaxy might allow access if you can collect enough clues to switch them on. The contents of the cluster vary from game to game.

* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Their defining trait: they're all about honor, loathe speaking to outsiders, and love battle.

* BattleTrophy: If the player decides to slay it instead of converting it into a Collossus its "head" becomes a relic that can be used to consecrate habitats as new Knightly Keeps.

* HostileTerraforming: Partially terraformed the Knights' homeworld into a Toxic World, if used as a Collossus it can fully transform other planets into Toxic Worlds.

* BeneathNotice: Genocidal empires can still setup observation posts over their planet. The experiments will be aggressive and they will not allow the primitives to achieve spaceflight, but are otherwise entirely capable of ignoring them while they focus on higher priority targets.

* TheBattlestar: Has strikecraft as well as its own sizable weapons.

* AndTheAdventureContinues: The True Ending of the quest of the Knights of the Toxic God event chain. If the Knights refuse to believe that the Toxic God they actually met in space is actually their god, then ten years of investigation later, they learn that they were actually correct. The Toxic God they met is either a younger or a lower ranking variant of the entity that attacked their world. Analysis shows that the true Toxic God has somehow merged with the black hole at the center of the galactic core. Reaching the galactic core cannot be done with any form of FTL ever invented, but the Knights resolve to pursue their god forever if need be.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Should you chose to invade their system after they shut down their hyperplane connections (by jump drive, quantum catapult or other means) they'll re-establish hyperlane connections and declare war on you... with ALL of your unlocked technologies and a fleet using 70% of your naval capacity. They'll even use the same ships you use.
** Of course, you can also turn this around on them by deliberately creating blank hulls while deleting all other configurations. This leaves them totally unable to retaliate, letting you seize their system at your own leisure.

* {{Terraforming}}: 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.

* LoveInterestTraitor: There is a chance that the Khan will be murdered by one of their concubines. Completely independent of the player's actions or influence. The exact motives for the killer's actions are unknown.

* CripplingOverspecialization: The Extradimensional Invaders and the Prethoryn protect themselves solely with shield and armor respectively. Only the Contingency has a good mix of both.

* 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.

* LogicalWeakness: Being a race of energy beings, Unbidden ships put all their stock into shield and nothing into armor. Naturally, this means that kinetic and missile weapons utterly shred them, given their anti-shield property. Consequently, it's rather possible for a 200k-strong kinetic fleet to absolutely devastate a 2 million-strong Unbidden fleet.

* MightyGlacier: Their ships are powerful but slow and extremely short-ranged. A late-game artillery fleet bolstered by a Juggernaut's aura can run laps around and fire at them with impunity, enjoying total dominance since their Matter Disintegrators are too short-ranged to shoot back and their ships are too slow to catch up. Expect an artillery fleet ten times smaller to utterly destroy an Unbidden fleet with no casualties.
* MuggingTheMonster: Unlike the other crises, the Unbidden could spawn in any random system all over the galaxy. That random system could be the capital of a Fallen Empire, causing the Unbidden to be stomped out of existence before they could set up their anchor and summon reinforcement.
* NoSell: The Dimensional Fleet from ''Astral Planes'' is implied to have come from the same dimension as them, so sending one after the Unbidden will result in your Dimension Fleet getting banished back home.

* SealedEvilInACan: Whoever destroys the last extradimensional portal gains the extradimensional warlock artifact, which is an Unbidden inside a tank.
* SkewedPriorities: They will prioritize going after psychic empires before anyone else, even if much stronger non-psychic empires are closer to them. Should the player be one of these empires, they will have ample time to build up and refit their fleet for war. By the time the Unbidden are done with their priority targets, they will likely have attracted the attention of their two Interdimensional rivals, leaving all three vulnerable to a galactic counterattack.

* {{Expy}}: Regardless of the ship models used, the Juggernaut's extreme size, massive wingspan (and relatively short front-to-back length), large and powerful weapons, and ability to service even the largest of conventional ships all call to mind the [[Film/StarWarsEpisodeVIIITheLastJedi First Order's Mega-class Star Dreadnaught Supremeacy]].