MJ2025 #562

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1. Elimdur commented on Jun 20, 2025

   

   Elimdur

   on Jun 20, 2025

   Last edited by TreeM4n

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   Holy crusade/Birthing of a God - Title "Theophany"

   Lore

   • story of a slow descent into madness driven by initially good intentions
   • a rather insignificant benevolent shroud entity "Benefactor" forms a covenant with your empire
     • Build your own god name by choosing from a selection x of y words (with slightly different bonusses based on the words)
   • it starts out as a benevolent entity (standing for order), maybe young and naive
   • the shroud leaks through reality and corrupts anything in our galaxy.
   • zealotry and fanaticism spiral out of control to ascend your god

   Resources and ways to get them

   • use the Divine Enforcer Colossus (this is likely one of the most "benign" things you do in the later parts of the crisis path)
   • turn planets into shroud worlds with Psionic Fireships
   • purge pops using the crisis unique purge type
   • have pops work sacrifice jobs similar to death cult OR just use synergy for this and encourage to use this civic lateron
   • build a megastructure (MSI station) in your capital system as the throne for the future incarnated god entity

   Perks

   • Stages unlock: via god ascendency momemts via? , trigger dialogue with portrait and afterwards unlock next tier, this way it makes sense to have perks "name your god"
   • Tier 1:
     • Perk 1: Unlock crisis resource
     • Perk 2: Pilgrim ship - Destroyer - caravaneer destroyer - still not a friend of 4 new ship classes, they need a more niche use case than "unity destroyer"
     • Perk 3: "belief" generates it / +resource from priests or telepaths
     • Perk 4: Corruption1: buildings
   • Tier 2:
     • Perk 1:
     • Perk 2: Crusader ship - Cruiser - caravaneer cruiser
     • Perk 3: naming your new god - not really a perk but something that happens druing the reaching tier 2 communication event
     • Perk 4: Corruption2: system wide- veil entire star systems in shroud storms
   • Tier 3:
     • Perk 1:
     • Perk 2: A new patron event/ leader hosts
     • Perk 3: Shard Worl - that one should happen when reaching this stage directly after the narative communication event with the entity
     • Perk 4: Corruption3: empire wide / corruption of leaders
   • Tier 4:
     • Perk 1: space jihad vassal wargoal
     • Perk 2: new civic with full government swap / god avatar
     • Perk 3: Shard World expansion options
     • Perk 4: Corruption4: leader traits empowered
     • hidden: on reaching tier 5 holy wars from all other psionics and pspiritualist declared - on reaching 4 no? vanilla has all out war on 5 and we too, but first only small crisis of faith war
   • Tier 5:
     • Perk 1: Endgame big red button on cooldown, throne megastructure?
     • Perk 2:
     • Perk 3: Psionic Fireship - caravaneer Freighter - suicide bomber + Beacon of Order - Titan - MSI station ship ( bf support ship)
     • Perk 4: Corruption5: galaxy wide - all affected
     • hidden: all out crisis war

   Corruption / "Shroud Taint"

   • leaks of the shroud into reality,

   • monthly tick for increase or decrease like control/ stability in total war games

   • different scopes: planet, system, leader with different effects

   • spread via different things: buildings, traits ( to all 3 on x effects), starbase module

   • e.g planet: decreased habitlitty , decreased happiness, increased psionic effi

   • policy to deal with it, contain, ignore, or facilitate its spread

   • shroud cults like crime offices pop up, dedicated to certain other shroud patrons, amplify corruption but give patron modifiers

   • Corruption1:

     • buildings which starts hidden situation, slowly drifting towards 100% taint
     • taint gives crime, - habitlity, +telepaths, +psionic effi

   • Corruption2:

     • Starbase building, zroni stormcaster, cooldown like lures, slowly corrupts the space around it
     • bonus to shields, less armor in corrupted systems, bonus for psionic empires

   • Corruption3:

     • traits to spread corruption can appear, "entering system add 20 taint" , winning space combat etc
     • situation to track empire wide corruption?

   • Corruption4:

     • traits gain secondary effect enable if high corruption

   • Corruption5:

     • random events on yearly tick
     • corruption leaks to everyone

   Shard World

   • 100% habitability like gaia
   • special district set
     • city district clone
     • support district 1 amenities - Pilgrimage Destination
       • All the holy sites a tourist could dream off
       • creates amenities and unity
       • Why would we need that?
         • If the planet grows really big, you may run out of building slots for amenity buildings and rather une a few of these districts instead
     • support district 2 trade - Indulgence Center
       • We make money by letting people tell us all the shitty things they did while charging them for it
       • creates trade and unity
     • support district 3 research - Shroud Sage Enclave
       • This is were a bunch of egg heads study the stoned ramblings of zro junkies
       • research of all three kinds + crime reduction
       • jobs 180 researchers (3x60) + 20 telepaths
     • Basic Resource zone spezializations for each support district so if needed the planet can fullfill its old role (you'd want to switch away from those, but the special zones should be limited to the crisis path user, others should only get the basic ones as the crisis ones won't fit for most but spiritualistic empires)
   • will grow by a few districts per habitable world we shroud (number up for debate)
     • Do we have to make countless planet modifiers that we exchange? (I think they can only be static, but i could be wrong here)
     • Is there a better Idea how to dynamically add districts to the world? (Is it possible with a special planet feature and variable?)

   Possible God Names

   • Too many on the nose/ religious oriented, think of vanilla Whisperer, eater etc.
   • X of Y
     • X
       • Benefactor
       • Attractor
       • Harbinger
       • Harvestor
       • Herald
       • Enforcer
       • Sovereign
       • Lord
       • God
       • Adversary
       • Paramount
     • Y
       • Order
       • Doom
       • Souls
       • Salvation
       • Dreams
       • Passion
       • Blood
       • Terror
       • Turmoil
       • Furor
       • Light
       • Peace
       • Serenity

   Endgame big red button - Throne megastructure?

   What does it do and why wins it the game?
2. Elimdur commented on Mar 2, 2026

   

   Elimdur

   on Mar 2, 2026

   Last edited by TreeM4n

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   Theophany Origin - "Guiding Light"

   Lore
   Your people have always felt the presence of something beyond the material realm, pushing them forward, giving them the strength to overcome whatever stood in the way of their progress. But even after reaching the stars they haven't come any closer to meeting their mysterious benefactor. All the while occult groups as well as religious sects push for a different approach - the research into higher planes of existence.

   Your system is cursed to be a gateway to the shroud, a wound in time-space where the shroud spills over. Over aeons your homeworld formed. And not so long ago you with it. While actively developing higher sapience your ancestors connection to shroud manifested a new entity along with you, ying dormant in your solar system. Now as you explore teh stars, your decisions shape what will happen to this patron born of your races thoughts and feelings.

   • cannot have Chosen civic (since that one starts our with selecting a shroudpatron to follow which doesn't fit with our quest to find our god)

   ---

   • a rather insignificant benevolent shroud entity "Benefactor" forms a covenant with your empire

     • Build your own god name by choosing from a selection x of y words (naming mechanic can be taken from crisis path)
     • chivalric quest for your leaders? do x gain x pilgrim jobs on shardworld?
     • special resource you obtain by doing x -> can be traded for more shard districts, god upgrades, special powers, more pilgrim jobs, "unshackling of god"
     • shroud entity is semi controllable hero ship

   start effects:

   • shard world start
   • unique ambient object in system ( shroud entity caged in somehing - could be some crystal thing - think formless connected from the riftworld origin )
   • after some time a unique first contact there
   • latent psionic trait
   • what if you are an extension of the entities manifestation and linked via a shroud bonded trait. if you progress you can upgrade it with additional effects

   Effects:

   • stage 1:

   • start in system with neutral local near immrotal shroud entity

   • custom first contact, does not reveal much proceeds to..( grants boon towards psionic theory )

   • find a real way to communicate: either going psionic or special project - if we have it start with latent psionic trait for pops, who wouldn't take the origin with psionic ascension in mind? so having psionic ascension should be necessary for real communication BUT we could have the first contact initiation without that where it is a rather vague meeting via dreams or visions and then you can only progress from there if you have the ascension.

   • Psionic lock needs overwrites. and if we dont what happens if you dont go psionic?

   • option 1: what if psionic only unlocks the true meaning of events aka 2 desc per event: 1 with plain text the other with messy impressions / garbled nonsense?

   • option 2: dual ascension, partial psionic benefits and player chooses another in tandem

   • stage 2:

   • establish real contact and patron UI if DLC new minor patron

   • lock out other crisis paths here and give player choice to proceed with communing or not - if not, what is going to happen? will the entity go insane and rage, destroying large parts of your system or something?

   • boons via hidden sitaution

     • sharding/shrouding via building, planetkiller weapon, shroud aura, bombardment ?
     • naimg god for effects? different combis = different boons?
     • final boon: wish for something
     • that all?

   Shard World

   • 100% habitability like gaia
   • special district set
     • special city district specialization(s)
       • slots unlocked after enough shards, locked at gamestart
     • unlimited rural districts ( or standard and random features get added when new shards are added )
       • unlimited is predictable and straightforward, standard with random features added when a shard is added may add a dice roll feeling (could also have the small chance to add valuable features)
       • maybe steal features from planets which get shrouded? motes, doorway betharian?
   • ways to add districts:
     • sacrificing districts on other owned/subject-owned colonies (limited to one time use)
     • special bombardment against enemies (adding same effect as above option once)
     • completely shrouding a world making it uninhabitable - bigger gains but with heavy drawback diplomatically like using a colossus
3. Elimdur commented on Apr 14, 2026

   

   Elimdur

   on Apr 14, 2026

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   Story Arc
   The focus of the origin is not the shroud entity itself, but how your empire interacts with it.
   Your people are shroud-touched and thus are influenced by the shroud entity, but without themselves knowing yet also able to influence it.

   Phase 1
   In a narrative driven situation over the course of multiple events choose the name of your god indirectly by choosing your people's ideology, views on its god and its domain

   • all available options to choose are based on country ethics and civics offering various modifiers in line with their theme
   • at the end of phase one you have established your people's faith and gained the full modifier
   • should be finished within the first few years of the game

   Phase 2
   Spread your faith to the stars in a way that fits its belief system.

   • leaders gain "questing" traits that get their full modifier only after specific requirements are met (this should encourage the playstyle fitting the belief system so there need to be fitting questing traits for various settings)
   • quest to gain aura and then spread it

   Phase 3
   Establish actual contact with the shroud entity at which point its true nature is revealed. This can either allign with or contradict your empire's former view on it. In this phase you choose how to deal with these possible contradictions and whether or not to try to further your god's goals.

   • possible goals of the shroud entity:
     • kill everything (purifier)
     • ascend to rule the shroud (gain power)
     • subvert and rule from the shadows (espionage focussed stuff)
     • bring peace to the galaxy (politics, federation, custodian)
   • if you do not align with your god's true nature you can:
     • hold on to your old beliefs and supress the truth
     • compromise and meet in the middle
     • change to align with it
   • each of these choices should have consequences that can be expanded on later