The Stormbreakers: A Stellaris Story

[HistoryDude]

Will you continue to comment on other AARs? Just curious.

Also, these reveal some dark things. Was the filicide bit of Levakian culture kept in, or not?

Also, do you have the version where you drove Mira insane in After Everything (the one you referenced when commenting on my one-shot)?

Nice to know that the Stellaris devs like AARs... I'm surprised that After Everything even has a physical copy.

 

[Macavity116]

Will you continue to comment on other AARs?

Certainly. I've been hearing rumors about a new Species pack for Stellaris, so I'm not going anywhere soon.

Also, these reveal some dark things. Was the filicide bit of Levakian culture kept in, or not?

Yup. Filicide remains a part of Levakian culture in the main story. (Levakians are lions, after all.) In the final version, though, Emerdon was going to do the killing by himself, and Empress Jemima would have had no part in it.

As for dark things... yeah... you can't begin to guess how much self-censorship I had to put myself through. I was constantly coming up with ideas that would have taken the story in a much darker direction. Sophie Ackermann's backstory might seem really f***ed up, but it's tame in comparison to some of the really dark stuff that got left on the cutting room floor. In fact, a handful of deleted scenes from both Faith in Chaos and The Stormbreakers were not featured in the Afterward today specifically because they were too dark or unpleasant to see the light of day.

Also, do you have the version where you drove Mira insane in After Everything (the one you referenced when commenting on my one-shot)?

I'm afraid I don't, and I searched long and hard for it, too. Best I can tell, it was lost when my main computer died and was hastily rebuilt just after the first chapter of Faith in Chaos went live.

In a nutshell, my computer runs a RAID Array, with three hard drives working together to give me maximum storage space. There used to be four drives. Used to be.

Basically, the primary Word files for After Everything and Faith in Chaos were stored on my computer's hard drive array, and all of my notes and unused scenes were scattered around in different folders. When one of the hard drives failed, the entire array followed suit and stopped working, meaning I almost lost all of my data. Faith in Chaos had just barely started at the time, so I recovered from the hardware failure so quickly that the Faith in Chaos AAR was unaffected.

That's why the Afterward section here has only one deleted scene from After Everything. The "Mira Visits Nagasaki" scene is still in the "Chapter 3.4" file. I cut the scene out on the same day it was posted to the PDX forums. All other deleted/unused scenes for After Everything are lost.

The primary files and folders for The Stormbreakers exist exclusively on OneDrive for this very reason.

I'm surprised that After Everything even has a physical copy.

It was a special project to commemorate the second anniversary of After Everything. I'll have to think of something different for Faith in Chaos, though. Lulu Publishing has made it clear they can't print a physical edition of Faith in Chaos. (Way too long)

 

[Nikolai]

And so it is over. What a ride it has been. I've been thinking several times when I've read this that it would fit perfectly as a hollywood blockbuster movie franchise. It really would! I'm happy I was able to follow it through the journey. Hope to see you around again as writAAR or commentAAR Macavity!

 

[Macavity116]

And so it is over. What a ride it has been. I've been thinking several times when I've read this that it would fit perfectly as a hollywood blockbuster movie franchise. It really would! I'm happy I was able to follow it through the journey. Hope to see you around again as writAAR or commentAAR Macavity!

It's been the best ride, friend. And you're not the only one who thinks this story could have worked as an action movie. In my head, I always imagined it as such. Thanks for reading, and I'm happy you enjoyed.!

do you have the version where you drove Mira insane in After Everything

I'm not satisfied with the first answer I gave, so I'll add to it:

There isn't much I remember from the original ending of After Everything, (It was almost 2 years ago now) but I do remember that at one point, I wanted to reference the way the Whisperers in the Void messes with the Player Empire's leaders in-game, driving them to paranoia and insanity. (and sometimes self-destruction) Mira was supposed to become obsessed with finding the answer to a question. Trouble is, she never knew what that question was. She would be terrified that Manaaki would learn the answer before her, and eventually Mira's motivations would change. She would be more interested in stopping Manaaki from learning "The Answer" than saving her own niece.

Ultimately, I think the original ending would have been much more nebulous and unclear. A mentally unhinged Mira definitely would have made a covenant with the End of the Cycle in haste, then once the final battle was over she would have stolen the Midak from its final resting place in orbit and flown off into the Galaxy, searching for that impossible answer.

 

[Macavity116]

Two announcements: The Q3 2020 ACAs and the Stormbreaker Spinoff series!

First, the Q3 ACAs are live and there is only half a month left until voting ends! Don't forget to show your favorite AAR writers your support!

Looking for other Stellaris AARs to give your vote? Try these:

1. War of the Stars: The Phantom Shroud Awakens by @Sinister2202
2. Songs of the Saiiban by @Chilango2
3. Brigid's Flame: A Gaia's Stepdaughters AAR by @Cora Giantkiller
4. Though the Dust of You is Gone by @HistoryDude


The second news I wanted to share is that I've launched a spinoff of the Stormbreaker Trilogy! These stories are going to be far shorter and less complex than what I've done before, but they do take place in the same universe as After Everything, Faith in Chaos, and The Stormbreakers.

For the time being, the spinoff series is located exclusively on my profile on the fanfiction site Archive of Our Own. However, I am exploring the idea of posting the new series to the Off-Topic forums on this site as well. (I've noticed that its kinda rare for people to post fiction in the OT forum.)

You can read the first chapter of the new story at this link: The Legend of Whetu Kealoha on Ao3

 

[HistoryDude]

Excellent!

I really need to get back to writing Though the Dust of You Is Gone.

These spinoffs sound interesting, but I don't have an AO3 account, so I'd only comment if they got posted in the OT forum. I have enough stuff to do without potentially draining yet more time on another site, lol.

 

[crisrko]

Man, this has been a wild ride, but I'm glad to have been here from the start of After Everything. I can't wait for your next story.

 

[Macavity116]

Man, this has been a wild ride, but I'm glad to have been here from the start of After Everything. I can't wait for your next story.

Thanks so much! I'm happy I found a place to share the stories I've been working on for so long, and it makes my day to know you've read all three books. Thank you again!

I'm not sure when I'll return to the Stellaris AAR forums, but if you ever want to read another one of my stories, the Stormbreaker Spinoff Series has quietly established itself in the Off-Topic Forums. These stories are shorter and less complex than the Trilogy, but they are in the same universe.

The Legend of Whetu Kealoha - 521 years before the events of The Stormbreakers, a group of Partogans and Levakians engage in the Wars of the Famine, a conflict that will end in the creation of the Kingdom of Partoga.

 

[Macavity116]

Hyperwave Relay Chat online.
Today's date is March 1, 2084.
Welcome. Now talking in chatroom: "Q&A w/authors - My Father's War"
This HRC chatroom is owned and operated by the Committee to Elect Blake Robinson. Use of profanity is grounds for a ban.
Host ID is "Blake Robinson"
Moderator ID is "Jay Lansing."


Varian Robinson: Hello?

Varian Robinson: Hello? Hello?

Varian Robinson: Like, is anyone else here?

Chihiro Tachibana: I'm here. Your grandfather is running late. Where's your mother?

Himawari Robinson: Just logged on. Dad says he needs to finish drafting a statement about whatever is going on in Florida right now, then he will log on.

Chihiro Tachibana: Alright, I guess we'll just have to start without him.

Chihiro Tachibana: Hello dear readers. We are the Robinson family, and we wrote My Father's War together. Thank you for joining us as the book begins its digital distribution throughout the Galaxy. To avoid the temporal issues caused by such aggressive use of the Hyperwave network, the book will be broadcast in a serialized fusion, one chapter at a time, with a new chapter being broadcast every three Earth days. All four of us will be here in this HRC chatroom to answer any questions you may have about our research or the narrative. We hope the results of our investigation can shed new light on this chapter of Human history.

Varian Robinson: And if you live in a Security Council country, tell your leaders to vote for Gramps!

The Host is now broadcasting - Hyperlink to follow: "My Father's War - Chapter One: Once More, With Feeling"

 

[Tim0307]

As I already have posted about the amazing world you have created and reading through alle the comments I have several questions though.

1) have you fleshed out more cycles than just the last two (as in not only references in the last stories but more complete timelines?)?

2) Besides what you already described about modding the game a bit to create the world you wanted, is this story's ending also played out in Stellaris?

 

[Macavity116]

Hello again!

1) have you fleshed out more cycles than just the last two (as in not only references in the last stories but more complete timelines?)?

As of right now, only the 115th and 116th Cycles have been seen in this series. That'll change soon when I start posting All Our Sins Remembered to this forum, as that story takes place during the 1st Cycle. (Alternatively, the Original Timeline)

2) Besides what you already described about modding the game a bit to create the world you wanted, is this story's ending also played out in Stellaris?

The ending of the main trilogy was played out in Stellaris. (namely the War in Heaven and the events leading up to it.) The save file itself was rendered unplayable when Stellaris V2.8 came out and was lost.

Tragically, the grand finale of The Last Heroes (which is the true ending of the story) is not playable in Stellaris. The Rescue at Cape Canaveral is purely a land battle.

However: you can easily recreate the world and scenario of The Last Heroes in Stellaris. Here's how you do it...

First, you need two custom Empires:

• United Nations of Earth:
  • Oligarchic (Authority)
  • Egalitarian, Materialistic, Xenophobe (Ethics)​
  • Police State, Shadow Council (Civics)​
  • Mechanist (Origin)​
• Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth:​
  • Dictatorial (Authority)​
  • Authoritarian, Xenophile, Spiritualist (Ethics)​
  • Cutthroat Politics, Philosopher King (Civics)
  • Syncretic Evolution (Origin)
    • Of course, the Syncretic species are the Levakians​
• EDIT: Fixed Earth's Civics and made them 3.0 compliant. I'm a few versions behind the rest of you guys.

Galaxy settings :

• Galaxy Size: Huge (1000 Stars)
• Galaxy Shape: Spiral (2 Arms)
• AI Empires: Between 10 and 15
• Advanced AI Starts: 0
• Fallen Empires: 0
• Marauder Empires: 3
• Tech/Tradition Cost: 0.75x
• Habitable Worlds: 0.25x
• Primitive Civilizations: 5.00x
• Crisis Strength: 5.00x
• Crisis Type: Contingency
• Mid-Game Start Year: 2250
• End-Game Start Year: 2300
• Victory Year: 2350
• Difficulty: Commodore
• Scaling Difficulty: No
• AI Aggressiveness: High
• Empire Placement: Clusters
• Advanced Neighbors: Off
• Hyperlane Density: 2.00x
• Abandoned Gateways: 5.00x
• Wormhole Pairs: 5.00x
• Guaranteed Habitable Worlds: Off
• Caravaneers: On
• Xeno-Compatibility: On

No mods required to create this Galaxy, however, if you want true accuracy to the events of The Last Heroes, you can use a mod or edit the game files to change the starting year to 2064. (This is the year the main protagonist, Inez Espinosa, was born)

And presto! You're now playing Stellaris in a near-totally-accurate recreation of the world of The Last Heroes - A Stellaris Story! Have fun!

 

[Prussian Prince]

Just got through reading this awesome tale! Mesmerizing! Thank you again for your time and effort in this!

 

[Macavity116]

Thank you for reading, and I'm glad to hear you enjoyed!

 

[Macavity116]

Also, is that a possible sequel hook I see?

It is now.

THE LAST HEROES
A Stellaris Story

​

 

[Macavity116]

Dear readers,

Today, The Stormbreakers crossed 100,000 total views on the PDX forums since publication in 2019.

Over 78,000 of these views came after the final chapter was posted on September 11, 2020.

I am deeply humbled and cannot thank you enough for reading The Stormbreakers, for reading any of my stories, really. I never have any expectations for the stories I post. I'm just out here to share a story and have fun along the way.

Thank you for reading!