Many Alone Sample

Jorden Erenberg

This is an excerpt from a short story I wrote for the Stellaris Player Stories Competition in 2020. In the story an alien hive mind known as The Pale Forest describes its history and the role it played in the galaxy to a member of a younger race, known as the Hyrethians. The story placed in the top 5 and was published on Paradox Interactive's website for a short time.. The full story is also up on this site on the “Stories” page.

Even on our home world we were a unique and strange occurrence; the result of a series of chance mutations which resulted in a species whose like we have never encountered. This is not intended as a boast, for of the many trillions of different mobile species on our planet less than one hundred evolved from flora. It takes a proper digestive system to provide the energy necessary to engage in any strenuous activity, photosynthesis simply does not suffice. Of those flora that evolved to walk and run, only thirty-six developed into omnivores capable of taking advantage of all of the available organic nutrition. We have learned from fossil records and ancient relics that only two of those thirty-six developed advanced intelligence. One developed in a fashion that resulted in a common race of individuals, like yours, and while the other's intelligence was the emergent result of a psionic connection which linked all of the individuals of that species. We believe that our early collective out-competed our intelligent rivals until they went extinct, but it is possible that they were marked as a threat and destroyed. This collective would eventually become us, but not until it grew larger in number. It was only when our species numbered in the thousands that an advanced sense of self emerged.

We remember when we first considered our self and our surroundings, when we became aware of our difference from the life around us. Though we were the only species connected by a unified consciousness we never felt alone. It was at this time when we took on our name, The Pale Forest. It was so long ago but we still remember our first attempts at tool use, our conquest of our world, and our rise to technological mastery. It has been over four thousand years but we still remember the day we completed the hyperdrive and ascended to the stars, eager to expand our territory and to learn about the galaxy we inhabited.

Our first forays into the stars were much like yours, Hyrethian. First, we sent our scientists to all of our nearest stars in search of planets to inhabit and even other life to interact with. We found planets that could be inhabited but early experiments revealed to us the nature of our fragile biology. We are considerably less adaptable than many of the other species we encountered and only planets which were of very similar classification to our home world would be able to comfortably serve us as colonies. We elected to choose our colonies carefully, rather than suffer the reduced efficiency of settling less suitable worlds, and we resolved to focus our efforts on technologies which would help us to overcome this obstacle in the future. To this end we would eventually become masters of terraforming and genetic engineering, creating ideal planets for our species and a stronger species to inhabit them. Even the soil you sit upon is not as it was when we first ascended to the stars. We changed our home planet to be incorporated into our hive consciousness so thoroughly that even the ground actively serves our interests.

We get ahead of ourselves. Long before we mastered any of these abilities there was our own first contact. We had taken many star systems for our own, and begun to believe that there was no other intelligent life out there, when at last we encountered another. We sense you are curious about their identities, but we are afraid that is something we will not be able to assist you with. We learned that, in the parlance of many of the cultures we encountered, we are what is known as "bad with names". We have but one name, after all, and all the myriad races and cultures we encountered have washed over us like water. We remember some of their titles and their ideals, but with few exceptions we have forgotten all of their names. We can tell you that most of the races that inhabited our closest neighbor empires now form The Union. Perhaps they will have records of the empires they used to be. We recall that our neighbors were largely amiable, but they were universally perturbed by our existence. Something about our unified nature disquieted most of them, and provoked outright hatred in two particular empires. They got along with each other quite well as we recall, and we largely ignored their animosity. Our unique collective consciousness and rapid expansion allowed us to gain an early technological lead on most of the other powers in the galaxy.

Very quickly we found ourselves completely unchallenged in military might and technological prowess with but four exceptions. There were four ancient empires which long preceded the existence of every other space faring species in the galaxy. They were to us then as we are to the Hyrethians now. We recall them as the Prophets, a highly spiritual race which resided on the far side of the galaxy from us; the Machines, an artificial collective consciousness; the Knowledge Keepers, a closer neighbor who exalted scientific progress above all other things; and the Ancient Hatred. Of the many empires we encountered it is the Knowledge Keepers and the Ancient Hatred who hold the greatest roles in our story, but all four of the ancient empires possessed technologies unlike any we had ever considered before.

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"You describe the other three ancients but not the Hatred, yet you also speak their title with such animosity. Why is this?" Trithiss was loathe to interrupt The Forest's speaker, but his need for more details was too great.

The Pale Forest was silent for many breaths before answering the question. "The other ancients held to some form of ideal which was admirable, even if we didn't agree with them as to that particular ideal's necessity. The Machines were created by some precursor, and they dutifully attempted to follow their directives. Their age caused many malfunctions, but on the whole they seemed to truly seek the betterment and long term survival of all the species of the galaxy. They are still here, we advise you to be kind when you encounter them. The Prophets held to a belief in a greater order to the universe, and sought to preserve that which they saw as sacred and beautiful. When we first became aware of our self, we too toyed with the idea of a greater order in the universe." The Forest speaker looked to the sky where the twin suns of their home system shone brightly. "We named the binary stars our planet orbits The Eyes of Life in honor of their necessity for all life on our planet. We imagined, for a time, that they were the eyes of a creator watching us and protecting us. As we ascended to the stars we abandoned these ideas, but we did not look down upon the Prophets for holding close their comforts. They are no longer with us, their species was wiped out in a calamity which they did not provoke."

"And the other two ancients? The Keepers and the Hatred?"

"The Keepers held to an ideal which we also held high: the notion of pursuing science to its furthest extent and gaining power from knowledge. They also believed themselves the true judges of which knowledge the other empires should or should not have, and in this we disagreed. Their remnants now form part of the Union. But the Ancient Hatred," at once the escort drones standing attention at the grove's entrance emitted a hiss of anger. "The Ancient Hatred held only to the ideal of their own supremacy over anything which was different to them. Their behavior fostered in us an anger we did not know we possessed, an anger which has never faded. We do not mourn their loss, the galaxy is safer without them in it."

"What happened to them? What happened to the Prophets and the Keepers? Why are the Forest, the Union, and the Machines the ancients of our time rather than these others?"

The following is an edited version of the script for a scenario that appears in the game "Rank: Warmaster". This scenario would start at a random time early in the game, or possibly not occur at all to keep each playthrough fresh, and prompts the player to react to unforeseen events. The script includes dialogue and stage direction indicating <when the game should do something>, [what player action triggers the following dialogue], and (extra information, such as tooltips, which would appear when the player hovers their cursor over an option for a second). The dialogue takes place between Ares, an AI assistant, and the player, referred to as "Director".

Section 1.

<Reduce player sensor range across the entire empire by 25%>

Ares: "Director, a moment of your attention? While performing routine sensor calibrations, I discovered a strange signal interference originating from somewhere outside of sensor range. Something out in the desert is blasting a light wave signal so powerful that our sensors have been impaired as a result. The interference pattern is simple, but it is possible this is some sort of enemy action meant to prematurely cripple or blind us. I recommend immediate investigation."

• Player Response: "Very well, I'll prepare a scout."

o <Spawn a disabled capital ship in an unexplored area 45 miles from player territory>

o <Spawn a nav point 20 miles from the disabled ship, forming a triangle with the nav point, the ship, and a player city at the points>

o Ares: "I have the signal's rough direction, but not the distance. If you send a ship to these coordinates, I will be able to triangulate and calculate the exact source location."

 Player Response: "I'm on it." <Objective: Send a scout to the marked location>

• Player Response: "It's probably a trap, filter out the signal and ignore it."

o Ares: "As you wish, allow just a few minutes for me to devise a counter frequency."

 <End scenario and remove sensor penalty after five minutes>

Section 2.

[Any player ship equipped with sensors reaches the nav point]

<Remove nav point>

Ares: "Yes, I can start to triangulate the signal source now. I only need you to hold the ship in that position for a few minutes."

• Player Response: "Okay." <Objective: Hold position for 3:00> (The time counts down)

Section 3.

[Three minutes pass]

Ares: "Director, the interference signal contains more complex frequencies than first anticipated. Three data packets have been picked out from the noise. Transcripts are ready for you now."

• Player Response: "Packet One"

o Transcript: "[there is heavy distortion and static]...find us...hurry..."

• Player Response: "Packet Two"

o Transcript: "[there is heavy distortion and static]...engulfed...flame...falling to..."

• Player Response: "Packet Three"

o Transcript: "[there is heavy distortion and static]...outgunned...fear..."

• Player Response: "Have you located the source?" (Tooltip: Advances Scenario)

o <Spawn a nav point at the capital ship>

o Ares: "Of course, Director! Just send a ship to these coordinates and we're certain to unravel this mystery."

 Player Response: "We'll have our answers soon." <Objective: Send a scout to the marked location>

Section 4.

[Any player ship approaches the crashed capital ship, even if they skipped the other sections]

<Remove nav point>

Ares: "A shipwreck! It's all clear now! What we thought might be an enemy attack was actually light wave communications from this derelict. This may actually be a great boon to us, we need to scan the ship to assess our discovery."

• Player Response: "Let's get to the bottom of this." <Objective: Scan the derelict ship>

Section 5.

[After scan completes]

<Remove sensor range reduction>

Ares: "It would appear we've come across the wreckage of a manned Corporate Service Ship from the early Asteroid Engagements. The interference we've been tracking is a light wave distress call, the full transcript of which is ready for you now."

• Player Response: "Show me."

Transcript: "[A woman is speaking in an urgent tone] To anyone who can hear me, this is Captain Aria Taylor of the Corporate Service Ship Destiny Outgunned. Mayday! Mayday! We were ambushed in low atmosphere and our reactor was critically struck! Most major systems are damaged and many decks are engulfed in flame! We're falling to the planet and I don't know if we'll make it. If anyone out there can hear me, I'm begging you to send a rescue team to find us! Please hurry! Our projected coordinates are- [there is the sound of an explosion, then the transmission cuts off]"

• Player Response: "Disturbing..."

Ares: "The ship's entanglement communication was damaged in the ambush, forcing the captain to attempt a distress call by light wave communications. Sadly, those systems were ruined in the crash, and the signal decayed into disruptive noise only a few miles from the ship. Whatever corporation this ship served likely never found out what happened. All lives appear to have been lost on impact with the Martian surface."

Ares: "I have prepared two proposals for you to consider, based on our experience with the interference signals."

• Player Response: "We'll ensure this doesn't happen again." (Tooltip: Gain research progress for sensors)

o <Grant the player 30% progress on Tier 2 Sensors>

• Player Response: "We can repurpose this for our own military use." (Tooltip: Gain research progress for sensor jamming)

o <Grant the player 30% progress on Tier 2 Jamming>

Scenario End