Light's End is actually the lower border, where the galaxy ends, the bessadon and the Compact are all in the upper sectors.
-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Just throwing in a comment to mention how at least a large part of our dev team is following this. And because I wanna be notified about other comments on the Sheelikoi.
Gotta love how many similarities they have to my most-beloved Empire. Except for them being slimy, and not feathered.
But they're close enough to divinity still. *snickers bird-ially*
Gotta love how many similarities they have to my most-beloved Empire. Except for them being slimy, and not feathered.
But they're close enough to divinity still. *snickers bird-ially*
THIRD SCENARIO (2385 – 2395)
Poisonous Twilight
-There is an unnatural drive in all of this.- stated the Wise Prince from his litter. –This world has been claimed by Sheelikor already, it needs not Xirleekan to be recognized as part of our holy dominion.-
-It is not a question of need...- tried to answer Xidlor. –The First Slither can bring balance to the sheelikoi in these worlds.-
-So he can, from the great temple, as it has always been. The center of the universe is, logically, the optimal point to exert someone’s Will.-
It had been years since the pilgrimage started, but Xirleekan had yet to depart from Light’s End. The First Slither had spent many days hunting in the planet’s jungle with the new generations or alone; now that he had called for a meeting of the Slithers, the first to be held far from Xanaslisk, Xidlor was starting to wonder if he hadn’t changed his mind about permanently moving away from the old homeworld. Clearly Prince Cathiox had similar thoughts, and was disgusted by that possibility.
The reunion was held deep in the forest, in a sanctuary built just for the occasion. The litters of the various Princes were placed according to their ranks, and the tributes were consumed according to tradition.
-This holy covenant will discuss the consequences of our victory against the allied preys,- said Xirleekan. -but before this, I desire to see the progress made by the High Tecnarchs. Cabroxi, Morezac. Enlighten your kin, as you’ve often promised you would have in the past cycles.-
-It is as we’ve foreseen, First Slither: the power of the ancients is ours to unleash upon the weak preys. We’ve uncovered this secret. The next time the High Farseer Zacadliss will strike at the weakly ikaanan or the treacherous bessadon, his ships shall summon the light of the stars and turn our enemies into cinder, as it should be.-
At those words, Zacadliss himself leaned forward. –My architects are already working alongside the Tecnarchs, Xirleekan, our production lines will soon spawn these new machines of war, their poison shall surely enrich the lethality of the Slither’s Fang.-
-What else?- asked the First Slither,with clear urgency. –What other mysteries?-
-Our new knowledge has allowed us to reshape the surface of an entire planet in the Pollux System. Our Will shapes worlds, as it should. We foresee a greater control over this power in the future.-
-What else?-
The First Slither’s insistency revealed a tone of disappointment, but the High Tecnarchs had not much more to add. Morezac leaned forward.
-Our reach will soon increase further, Xirleekan. We’ve plans to build astrographic observatories above our core world. New academies where the Tecnarchs will study the mysteries of the universe and forward our ascension faster than ever before.-
-This is all irrelevant.- Xirleekan let out a low hiss. –More contraptions make us closer to the preys. Where is the coming ascension? How are we to perfect our forms and truly impose our superiority with these lowly creations?-
-We can be patient now.- Said Zacadliss, shrugging his tail. –The resolve of the preys has finally been broken. Our forces increase every month, whereas the herds of the ikaanan have been shattered into pieces. I foresee that another campaign could easily secure us one third of the Star Hive worlds. Let the bessadon truly know the price of their insolence. The pitiful Compact is a wounded prey, it is only natural for Sheelikor to dispose of it and feast on its remains.-
-It might be so.- Conceded the First Slither. –But for what purpose? Our ascension takes precedence over all else. The more resources we employ to sustain the warships and the new conquests, the less we have to forward our greater destiny.-
-In truth,- answered the High Farseer. –How could have High Tecnarch Cabroxi accomplished as much as he did, and, through him his colleagues, if it were not for our efforts? Through the remnants of our enemies’ fleets and the broken minds of their kidnapped scholars, we’ve enriched our understanding of the universe.-
-The means are important, as the Wise Prince would agree. This knowledge might be holding us lower rather than higher.-
After a brief pause, the Wise Prince decided to intervene as well. –Truly, knowledge must be sought regardless, o First Slither, it is the actions that we take after our understanding has increased that determine its value.-
Xirleekan clenched his teeth, moving his gaze to the other reunited Slithers. –My mind has not changed. It is necessary for this holy covenant to make its next step towards excellence. To do so, the High Tecnarchs are required to find a way to better our superior forms.-
From the echoes resonating within the minds of the Slithers, it was clear several amongst them had objections on the matter, but the First Slither dismissed them anyway, thus creating further friction.
*****************
-O First Slither Xirleekan, Temple of Awe and Terror, Immortal Hunter- Xidlor continued with the titles as he approached Xirleekan in the middle of the jungle.
The First Slither, wrapped around a tree, dripped in the blood of a prey, lowered his gaze to him and leaned downward. –You come with a tumultuous mind, Ascendant Xidlor. What brings you to disturb my meditation?-
-Our spies have confirmed that the treacherous bessadon have left the ikaanan Compact for good. The preys are no longer allies. In fact, it seems their unnatural federation is crumbling entirely. The ikaanan themselves might have forsaken the uri and the havoll.-
Xirleekan moved back up, as his interest started to wane, but the Ascendant quickly continued the flow of consciousness.
-Yet, nefarious news from the star rings, o First Slither: High Tecnarch Morezac and High Tecnarch Rekaxir are no more.-
At that news, the First Slither unraveled his body, quickly descending to the younger sheelikor, with eyes wide opened.
-Why?- he asked.
-It is not truly known. The first was Morezac, Rekaxir followed him three days after. There was no violence, they were just.. found, by the other Tecnarchs. High Tecnarch Zoz wanted to inform you that the Zir twins have taken their place, and will continue their studies with little delay.-
-Do you not understand now, Ascendant Xidlor?-
-I am unsure, Xirleekan.-
The First Slither moved around him, before starting to crawl through the jungle.
-I’ve foreseen this. The twilight of the Slithers.-
Xidlor, unsettled by those thoughts, crawled closer behind him. –What do you mean, First Slither? Do you believe it a trick from the ancients? A fine substance? A hidden virus to exact a treacherous revenge upon their conquerors?-
-No prey can do such thing. We’ve shown our superiority over the pitiful guardians of the rings. No. This is our own failing. It is clear now, as it was years ago, during our last meeting. We have been unable to ascend.-
Xidlor was still confused. -How can that mean death for the Tecnarchs? A punishment?-
-In a way. One we will all share.- Xirleekan gave a glance at Xidlor and shook his head. –No, not you, do not fret. When we first opened our eyes to the abysses between the stars, we were eager to usher our species into excellence, for all preys to see and quake. Yet, the more we’ve interacted with these weaklings.. uv-xantt, uri, ikaanan, havoll, bessadon.. the more our perfect forms have been tainted. Our minds stopped looking inwards. We did not look anymore at how to make ourselves greater, but on how to make our prey smaller. Contraptions, nothing more. Useless to stop the inevitable. I.. have dreamt of my end.-
-How can this be? Slithers are divine!-
-The reach of our Will exceeds the power of our bodies. It made them strong, impervious to illness, wound or old age. Yet.. we’ve not reached true perfection.- The First Slither passed a claw over his snout, cleaning away the blood. –And so.. our generation shall not be eternal.-
Xirleekan continued to crawl in the thick of the jungle, in silence, leaving the Ascendant behind.
*****************
Xidlor moved cautiously in the vegetation, searching for the First Slither. The Ascendant had tried to meditate upon the ominous words of the old sheelikor in the past months, looking for clarity at the last reports coming from the other Prince, but it was all to no avail. Just as the First Slither had used his words to bring balance countless times during the course of his life, it had now shattered it with his thoughts of inevitable death. Xidlor did not care much for Xirleekan himself, a part of him craved for the departure of the old sheelikor, especially if it happened after all the other Slithers had gone as well. Yet, on the other hand, he had to think of his own future: if what Xirleekan had divined was true, then Xidlor was doomed to follow the First Slither eventually, if not in that century.
To worsen matters, not even half a year had passed before High Tecnarch Zoz joined his two colleagues into oblivion. The high caste of scholars had been deprived of its founding and most illustrious minds within a single season. Only Wise Prince Cathiox remained of the illustrious old school of Xanaslisk amongst the Slithers, but he was not a Tecnarch.
The Ascendant was still caught within his thoughts, when he finally smelled the First Slither. He stretched his mind further, trying to establish a link with him, but found nothing. With growing fear, Xidlor crawled among the ferns, tracking the scent up to the slope of a small pond, where the First Slither was laying, unmoving.
As he closed in, Xidlor noticed the little scavengers already trying to find their way in the sheelikor’s exoskeleton, and he scattered them away with a few threatening clicks, coiling around the corpse.
“O First Slither..? Xirleekan?” he hissed, lowering his head closer to him. The more the certainty of his death grew, the tighter the grip of his coils became, until he finally heard the crack of the exoskeleton and there could be no doubt. After giving a wary and quick look around himself, the Ascendant plunged his snout inside the crack in the First Slither’s neck and started to eat.
Last edited:
Xirleekan may dismiss it, but the Sheelikoi should be happy with their recent technological advances. Considering how far behind they were for awhile, every breakthrough is good. Still, I wonder how the strange society will react to their great leader's death.
The Righteous Compact breaking up is good for the Hypercoil and bad news for the rest of the galaxy. United they fell... divided won't do much better.
The Righteous Compact breaking up is good for the Hypercoil and bad news for the rest of the galaxy. United they fell... divided won't do much better.
Yes, it's a question of perspective, he was interested in tecnology that would have improved the sheelikoi as a species.
Yes, we'll see in the next chapter.
Certainly not good for the previous members of the Righteous Compact, several of which have spent most of their resources in the past two wars, but for the Galaxy at large, that's an entirely different matter...
There was little mention of the Ikaanans in the Second Coalition War, are they still a major threat, or are they decimated from the first war?
In terms of naval power the Havoll have the dominance now, the ikaanan remain the largest of the coalition members. They have more planets than the others and their population is made up of members of all the species of the Compact.
SERVICE COMMUNICATION:
As some may have already noticed, I've had to stop this AAR, due to the slavery bug which has come out in the last vanilla patch of Stellaris (which, makes sector AIs automatically release all slaves if the empire is not Collectivist).
I hope to restart it as soon as possible, but, in the meantime, I've started a new Stellaris AAR, here: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-asari-web-revolution-mass-effect-aar.955114/
As some may have already noticed, I've had to stop this AAR, due to the slavery bug which has come out in the last vanilla patch of Stellaris (which, makes sector AIs automatically release all slaves if the empire is not Collectivist).
I hope to restart it as soon as possible, but, in the meantime, I've started a new Stellaris AAR, here: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-asari-web-revolution-mass-effect-aar.955114/
Yes, it was unfortunate. I would have just rolled back if I hadn't already played a few decades in the new patch before realizing what was happening (there were other distractions).
In any case, I'll try to keep the new AAR going regardless of new updates, at worse I'll just rollback if there's further problems.
Once the Sheelikoi are playable again, I'll restart this one.
In any case, I'll try to keep the new AAR going regardless of new updates, at worse I'll just rollback if there's further problems.
Once the Sheelikoi are playable again, I'll restart this one.
I know, it is pretty annoying, but I think this isn't going to be a permanent end.
In the meantime, there's a new one to keep making something for the readers. Though it is a different culture and government, I would hope it to be as entertaining. For this one I'm going to be more cautious around updates, to avoid the issue representing itself.
Oh, lawd; well, this sucks. For what it's worth, I've played non-collectivist slavers before, and I'm not sure the sectoral governors were any better about it before Asimov. I played a game as the Dominion of the Spidrine Queens (Militarist / Fanatic Spiritualists who got their slavery tolerance from Divine Mandate [let me tell you, *that* game was wrecked soundly by Asimov - we also happened to be Decadent]) and I never managed to have my sectors maintain slaves.
The sheelikoi got it both by being spiritualist and being decadent xenophobes, and, before Asimov, the enslaved aliens remained such. After Asimov, the Sheelikoi are tecnically an unplayable race (they don't appear in the rooster anymore), since "Decadent" requires slavery tolerance, which spiritualist doesn't give anymore.
Spiritualist gave slavery tolerance before? Huh, never noticed. Also, *that* must be where those other races in my roster went.
The Divine Mandate government gave slavery tolerance, not the ethos. This is why he didn't pick collectivism for the Sheelikoi.
Yes, that's too bad, but they might return, in the future.
In the meantime, if you haven't checked it, I've started another Stellaris AAR to compensate.
In the meantime, if you haven't checked it, I've started another Stellaris AAR to compensate.