| “ | ...feeding ground reached... prey bountiful..., at long last... we shall feast... | „ |
| ~ Arrival transmission from the Unbidden. |
| “ | ...shabanash... so this is where you ran... this realm will offer you no shelter... we shall deal with you, and then claim this feeding ground for ourselves... | „ |
| ~ Arrival transmission from the Aberrant. |
| “ | ...dagaal... shabanash... you were fools to come to this realm... there is no escape from us... we shall destroy both your kingdoms... then... at last... the eternal throne will be ours... | „ |
| ~ Arrival transmission from the Vehement. |
The Extradimensional Invaders are some of the main antagonists of the 4X strategy game Stellaris.
As the name suggests, they are extradimensional entities made out of pure energy that invade the galaxy to feed on the energy present in the galaxy, draining both organics and synthetics of life and rendering entire planets uninhabitable in the process.
While the crisis refers to the invaders as a whole, the extradimensional entities are divided amongst themselves into three primary factions: The Unbidden, the Aberrant and the Vehement, all of which compete over their new hunting ground and are as hostile to each other as they are to the resident lifeforms.
They serve as one of the four potential End-Game Crisis events (alongside The Contingency, Synthetic Queen and Prethoryn Scourge).
Appearance[]
The Extradimensional Invaders are mainly represented as abstract humanoid entities made of swirling cosmic energy, standing apart only by the color of their glow: the Unbidden being blue, the Aberrant being orange/yellow and the Vehement being green. There is also a fourth extradimensional faction that are purple in color.
Beyond just their bodies being made of energy, their ships and architecture are as well.
It is implied that this is not their true form, but actually the only physical manifestation that can be seen in the 3rd dimension. Their true appearance only exists in their native 5th dimension, and is as such impossible to see in-game.
History[]
Astral Planes[]
Many mysterious phenomena can be found throughout the cosmos, but few are more mysterious than astral rifts, tears in space and time that lead into other dimensions and universes. Initially inaccessible to the local empires, the right technology would eventually allow for traversal into these realms, some so similar that it appears as though the explorers simply travelled through time, others so different that they defy comprehension.
As the empires continued to study the astral rifts, it became apparent that something else was also studying them. Those that made discovery of the astral realms a priority were eventually greeted with a message:
"we walk behind the rifts...
an endless war... an endless foe... your ancestors know them...
you... children of planes... can help us..."
Every time an astral rift was fully studied, these mysterious watchers came ever closer to making contact with one of the galaxy's empires. Once seven rifts were explored, a crystal sphere suddenly appeared above the skies of the empire's home planet. Researching this sphere revealed instructions inscribed upon it, which caused the creation of an astral rift unlike any of those before to be created inside the empire's home system: the Crystal Rift.
This rift was a direct link to the originators of those messages, transmitting new words and a kind of dimensional roadmap to the location of the watchers, who were identified as energy beings dubbed the "Formless". These beings were born from a combination of gases and energy that accumulated at a nearby astral rift. Their life cycle revolved around death and rebirth, dispersing into their particles at the end of their life and returning to their homeworld to be reborn once more. Countless civilizations rose and fell, each of which expanded upon the knowledge and power of the preceding one. A cycle that has continued for longer than the recorded lifetime of the universe.
These beings lived in what could only be described as a utopia, one day creating an inconceivably massive structure that allowed for easy travel across different dimensions. Their society used this to shape astral rifts to their needs and colonized a multitude of universes, but this inevitably led to catastrophe. They had expanded further than this conduit could maintain, which exploded under the strain and shattered their civilization. A dimensional war is what followed, different factions emerging to lay claim to what was once shared.
War of the Formless[]
Completion of the Crystal Rift's study and allowing the events to unfold made the rift collapse into a wormhole. The Formless were explicitly calling for aid, as they were being attacked by another faction calling themselves the "Aberrant". The wormhole led into the very center of the galaxy, where a new solar system had been pulled into the local dimension: azilash.
Upon arriving in azilash, the player will be faced with a fleet of Aberrant ships surrounding a colossal crystal that acts as the system's star. Further into the system is an energy construct belonging to the Formless, yet another kingdom of the same extradimensional beings that are in possession of something called the "eternal throne", which all factions of this species are trying to claim for themselves. Saving the Formless from the Aberrant fleets will cause them to send a brief transmission, warning that more Aberrant are to come and that they will need aid to defend themselves from them.
If the player so chooses, they can gift some astral threads, harvested from astral rifts, to the Formless to make fleets of their own with, aiding in the defense. From the moment that azilash is entered, progressively stronger Aberrant fleets will arrive to attack the Formless every year to the day until the Formless can manage to seal off the crystal rift and deny any more of their kind entry to the system forevermore. Should their space station be destroyed, however, then the Aberrant will seize the eternal throne and the wormhole connecting to azilash can no longer be traversed. Bypassing it to enter azilash through other means will only lead to a ruined system, the crystal rift replaced with a black hole.
Should the player be victorious, the Formless will contact them to thank them for their help. At this point they will be presented with three options:
- Ally with the Formless, which gives them access to the legendary paragon commander zadigal, architect of the eternal throne. Every 10 years, the player can choose between gaining an extradimensional fleet, a physics-based technology being researched for them or 100 astral threads.
- Demand their servitude in exchange for having saved them. This has a 75% chance to succeed, which if accepted will convert the Formless into a special "Luminarium" subject type and gives the player the eternal throne relic, whose passive effect makes every single leader in the player's empire immortal.
- Attack the Formless to obtain the eternal throne by force. This is the only option available to genocidal empires like Determined Exterminators, Fanatic Purifiers and Devouring Swarms.
Should the Formless refuse subjugation or be attacked, they will immediately turn hostile and gain two extremely powerful fleets, becoming one of the game's four Mid-Game Crises alongside the Gray Tempest, the Great Khan and the Voidworm Plague.
Crisis[]
Regardless of whether or not the Formless situation is resolved, the Extradimensional Invaders can arrive in the galaxy on their own several hundred years after the start of the game. The first of the invaders to appear in the galaxy are the Unbidden, whose arrival is marked with the detection of a massive energy spike in a random star system, distinguished from others by a gigantic cosmic tear and the formation of an extradimensional portal through which the Unbidden pour into the physical plane. A brief, but clear message is intercepted by the local civilizations: they have reached a new "hunting ground" and are looking forward to consuming their "prey".
Immediately hostile to all other lifeforms, the Unbidden's fleets quickly spread into the surrounding systems, destroying any space stations they come across and draining entire worlds of their life force, killing anything living on the surface regardless of organic or synthetic. While their fleets are busy fighting, construction ships forge energy structures in the systems they've cleansed. While some of these structures are the expected starbases, much more important and concerning are so-called "dimensional anchors", which protect the dimensional portal from being destroyed while even a single anchor exists.
Should the Unbidden manage to gain a significant foothold in the galaxy, roughly 15% of all systems, a second energy spike will be detected as the Aberrant follow the Unbidden into the physical plane. A few years later, a third party in the form of the Vehement will appear as well. All three of these factions will wage war upon one another as well as the resident species of the galaxy. The only way to stop any of them from getting reinforcements is to destroy the dimensional anchors and then eliminate their respective portals. Any Unbidden, Aberrant and Vehement fleets will remain, but they cannot reopen the portals again and will effectively be stranded until they are also vanquished. Once the last portal is destroyed, the crisis will be declared as over.
Powers and Abilities[]
The Extradimensional Invaders have massive domination over cosmic matter and energy, being their main source of food, they can drain planets of their entire source of life from orbit, transforming them into barren worlds where no living thing can survive.
Aside from that, they are highly advanced and intelligent species that can easily overpower regular empires, including other space entities such as the Leviathans, they do not use mechanical technology, but instead focus on cosmic energy as main power for their spaceships.
They possess various beyond-human abilities, can manipulate dimensional powers, but only indirectly, and have knowledge and access to the Shroud, but they fear it.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Extradimensional Invaders are inspired by the Devidians from Star Trek.
- The Extradimensional Invaders will prioritize attacking psionically active empires over normal empires.
- The Extradimensional Invaders are the only Crisis that can appear before the endgame time is reached, which happens if the player completes the "Ancient Robot World" archaeological site or if the Galactic Community passes the Extradimensional Experimentation resolution.
- The Extradimensional Invaders are the only Crisis that will fight among themselves in addition to the rest of the galaxy.
- If the player has zadigal assigned as commander of one of their fleets and sent against one of the other Extradimensional Invaders, they will have special dialogue acknowledging this fact, reacting with confusion to his presence.
External Links[]
- The Extradimensional Invaders on the Stellaris Wiki
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 Villains
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End-Game Crises Other Crises Spaceborne Aliens Alien Races | ||