| “ | The rats when squeak, squeak, squeak. Then their bones went crunch, crunch, crunch... Now it's your turn to tickle the insides of Shard's belly. Yes, you have been very naughty, little ones. The Rubicator belongs to Shard. | „ |
| ~ Shard explaining how she killed an entire race and threatening the player. |
| “ | Time passes, and with it my doubts. From small beginnings have I watched you: often despairing at your frequent impetuity, and yet always roaring in delight at your successes. Now, I find that you have grown, that your civilization has matured, and is ready to be entrusted with the ultimate responsibility: parenthood. It is time for you to rededicate yourselves to rearing my children. | „ |
| ~ The Sky Dragon contacting the player upon being able to do so. |
| “ | To be perfectly candid, I have long awaited this day. Longer than you can possibly imagine. When I set out from home, I was little more than a whelp. I journeyed far and wide before I came across a planet with the potential to produce a foster civilization that would one day be ready to raise my children. And so, I waited... | „ |
| ~ The Sky Dragon explaining her choice to defend the player's capital and system. |
The Space Dragons, or Voidwryms, are major antagonists in the 4x strategy game Stellaris.
They are massive serpentine creatures of a previous, dead universe, and are the last of their kind in existence, their biology incompatible with our current universe.
In game, they are extremely dangerous, but optional, and require a decently large fleet to even have a chance at defeating them. They are discovered either via a science ship stumbling upon them when they enter the system they reside in, i.e. a random Class F star for the Ether Drake, or the capital system of an empire with the Here Be Dragons origin for the Sky Dragon, or by completing an archeological site for Shard.
Despite their massive power, none of the Dragons ever leave the system they occupy with the exception of the Ether Drake if the player manages to remove 20% of its HP to destroy two random starbases belonging to the offender, and the Sky Dragon only leaving if the player refuses to raise her young with no hard feelings.
All three can be revived as a zombie if an empire has the Reanimators, Permanent Employment, or Cordyceptic Drones civic for normal empires, megacorporations, and hive minds respectively, or if they are a machine intelligence, by taking the Mechromancy ascension perk.
Biography[]
The Space Dragons are the sole survivors of the universe where they came from, where originally they were plentiful, but due to some big crunch event or other calamity, they are the only ones left of their species. All of them are scattered throughout the galaxy, requiring the player to explore and stumble upon them, usually sacrificing a science ship in the process.
An exception to this is the Sky Dragon, who is present in the capital system of any empire with the Here Be Dragons origin. She'll defend the system but only against those who the empire was at war with, and will require to land and feed relatively early in the game. An empire can either refuse, which will cause her to kill two pops and land, observe it, which will cause her to kill one pop and land, or you can allow it to land and feed with no casualties.
Shard on the other hand, is not present in the galaxy initially, and requires progressing through an event chain and an archeological site on a ruined planet-wide city for her to appear. Upon her arrival, she will destroy the science ship and threaten the player. You can either demand her to surrender the Rubicator or to beg her not to eat them. In the case of the former, she'll immediately turn hostile and destroy the starbase in the system, and in the case of the latter, the player will have a year before she turns hostile. In any case, the science ship doing the excavation and the colony on the planet, if there is one, will both be destroyed.
Appearance[]
All three Space Dragons are serpentine in appearance, with the Ether Drake and Shard having the same look as each other, numerous-eyed head with frills, only orange and blue for the Drake and Shard, respectively, while the Sky Dragon has eight eyes and looks more like a deep-sea creature than a reptilian organism, while still maintaining its serpentine shape. While the Sky Dragon's weakness is either unknown or not present, the Ether Drake, and possibly by extension Shard, possesses a weakness in its natural armor in the form of a response to certain percussive rhythms that have a relaxing effect on its shock-absorbing plates. While originally this would've had a use in social interactions, now it is an easily exploitable weakness for any would be dragon-hunting empire.
Trivia[]
- When the Ether Drake is defeated and a mining outpost built in orbit around Dragon's Hoard, an event will pop up that states that the body of a second Ether Drake was discovered on the planet, possibly the mate to the original, hence giving a reason on why it was so fascinated with this planet.
- One can hatch a new Ether Drake loyal to the player empire, although it will never fully mature.
- Killing any of the three dragons will unlock Dragonscale Armor for research, the strongest armor in the game.
- The defeat of any of three will trigger a parade to occur on a planet in the player's empire, providing various boons.
- Apparently, the Ether Drake's fang can phase out of reality.
- The universe of the dragons seemed to have been ended by a "big crunch" event, killing all except for these three. How they survived is unknown.
- Killing the Ether Drake or Sky Dragon grants the admiral who did so the Dragonslayer trait.
- The Ether Drake Trophy and the Rubicator are two out of four relics that drop from leviathans in the game, the others being the Maw of the Toxic Entity from the aforementioned Toxic Entity and the Scales of the Worm from The Worm.
Gallery[]
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 Villains
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End-Game Crises Other Crises Spaceborne Aliens Alien Races | ||