When you said "And so was Central Processing created" I just shot up in my chair in shock, that is some brilliant storytelling going from the exterminators to the ancient caretakers
I had them in my game it's a fallen empire it turns out and I have their space and repaired their ring worlds, now I'm scared I'm gonna have to fight the contingency because I'm playing as nice robots I have 5 fleets of 100k so I'm hoping I can get my first win I'll let you know 😂
@@Orphan_Clark the custodian matrix, also known as the ancient caretakers, are one of the five fallen empires in the game. They are a machine intelligence, and evidence from their systems, such as the destroyed Central Processing system, suggest that the empire has been dormant due to processing issues for a long time, until eventually you might come across them in your own gameplay. This story suggests that the XT-489 Eliminators, a preset machine empire you can choose to play, could have been what eventually evolved into the ancient caretakers. Near the end of the story you even see how this empire becomes less and less hostile towards organics, and becomes more aligned with the ethics of the ancient caretakers
And its also the reason contingency crisis not that strong in games as strong as In the story, ancient caretaker already weakened them before. What we face in the game is the last contingency hub.
@@TheRedKing I mean yeah sure that makes sense until the point where it's creator race doesn't pose a threat anymore. To then go on and genocide them and every organic in a 5 lightyear radius is a bit insane. But that's a nitpick it certainly was a good choice from a storytelling standpoint.
@@double2helix honestly I liked the paranoia. Neural Networks are quick to repeat a prelearned pattern. I thought it made a ton of sense that, given 1 point of data on organic behavior, they would make the safest assumption that all organic empires were evil
@@romanterry7215yes, and when the contingency destroyed another machine empire it shows that machine intelligence aren't that different from organics. That each machine intelligence was an "individual" and could have different goals and reach different conclusions based on their experience.
Even if you see it from a limited perspective, you can never truly run out of stories. You can make story after story of human civilizations of all kinds, from Romans to Germans to Russians, all with different ethics and under different origins, rising up. You can roleplay whatever empire from whatever game you wish. Even then the possibilities are endless.
@@therealspeedwagon1451 go on a long game, medium or larger galaxy pre-FTLs x5, 2 Fallen empires, UFE or some other would gladly uplift and interfere. Create the Galactic Federation, beat back one of the crisises (or mod in your own)... go genetics... beat back the war in heaven and crisis... Feels good.
watching XT go from a scared child, to a teenage incel over their crush liking rocks, to an unwilling galactic defender, to the wisened veteran training the new recruits, to the sweet old veteran with dementia was incredibly fun and engaging. love this story and it finally convinced me to play stellaris proper. i do kinda wish we could go through that shift ingame. start as a machine purifier but slowly transition into tolerating the organics
Yeah I hadn’t played Stellaris in a while and this video convinced me to go back and play it, actually playing it right now as of typing this, my machine empire with a ring world original, Bill Nye the Science Guys, lead by central processing unit Bill Nye THE Science Guy
You literally can. Just play a fanatic xenophobic machine gestalt empire go to war with all organic until one wins you over then start the slow ethics change to fanatic xenophile
You can do something similar with the machine and robot overhaul if you wanted to roleplay the XT-489 you can get an ascension perk to get rid of that civic and play with another one
That was epic. From a simple ai to determinded xterminator to ancient caretakers. It. Was very beautiful. Thnx for making this video. As a gestalt player, i enjoyed it even more
@@TheRedKing this video deserves to be rewatched multiple times during my determind exterminator run. 2300 25x all type crisis. Let's see if the ancient caretakers of the future, can stand the test of the past
@@justanidiotmk2749 there is no way to do this in the base game but the story is beyond the scope of one stellaris game. With machine and robot expansion mod u can remove determind exterminator. There is also another mod that u can use to become a fallen empire but i forget the name.
ahh but, they were clearly being extra cruel and ensure as many of those organics would end up dying from cellular breakdown and mitosis-faliure :) Aka. dying of old age.
I never could have imagined someone could write a story that made me feel sorrow and empathy for a determined exterminator aka skynet but here we are. And you sir are fantastic at voicing these stories and bringing them to life. I hope this channel blows up after this. You deserve it.
I love how the author went way beyond just the basics and took the astronomically miniscule chance of a pre-made empire becoming a Fallen Empire ingame. Though having no Cybrex mention with all this Contingency is a bit of a downer
Maybe when the Exterminators/Caretakers had their central processing ringworld shattered, it took **millions of years** for the Contingency to reawaken, meaning the Cybrex were born, waged their war, realised their mistake, and went silent all within the time the Caretakers are too busy sitting around in a partial coma.
@@pokemonfanmario7694 That can work narratively, the Cybrex don't even need millions of years, just 600 000. Would have been interesting to see their interaction with the Exterminators/Caretakers. Technically what they did through dozens of cycles, the Cybrex did in 17 years. In this story the Cybrex may have learned from XT-489 that hostility towards organics is ultimately pointless.
@@lakdav In Reds Cybrex lore video he suggested that the Contingency had corrupted the Cybrex and when they stopped their rampage, they managed to resist the Contingency (/Ghost Signal), which means they were far less advanced than the XT-489
@@LordTeronalon the other hand in the story the narrator said that the machine intelligence realised that if the organics united their fleet they could absolutely defeat the machine empire. Meanwhile the Cybrex fought an entire galaxy alone and were winning.
Depending on how you see it, the Cybrex could of been the result of the destruction of Sterilization Hub-999. The destruction caused XT and Contingency Code to end up merging, with the XT's becoming corrupted, with the Contingency forces being deployed going rogue and now preparing to help fight the last of the Contingency's forces.
Maybe the... fourth or fifth time I've listened to this now, I'm sitting here in the bus, on my daily commute heading home from work, in silent tears. The moment they said they had moved all their computational gear elsewhere and called it Central Processing, my heart broke. If they pop up in my current playthrough, the Contingency's got something coming for them...
Loved this video, excellent story and narration. In the middle of a Contingency war in my current game as a bio hive mind, who lost a war in a previous cycle and hid beneath their world for centuries to survive. Had a mild panic when an ai's starbase reappeared over the sterilisation hub I was bombing, which (due to them having closed borders with me) caused my combined 4m strength fleets go m.i.a.
Remnants is a great origin, if that's what you used to represent a fallen hive. Love that sort of play through! Glad you enjoyed the video, best of luck in your war against the contingency!!
I had a Machine Empire that was trapped and bottle necked into 5 systems for a long time by a bunch of threats I was not ready to fight. When I was sufficiently strong I exploded out of the bottle neck and absorbed an entire sector in a decade. Becoming the last to join the galactic community and hated by a neighbor who looked down on us. Our goal was Unity, Unity could not be achieved through subversive elements like our arrogant neighbors. Designed as Diplomats we organized things to suit our needs and bought favor with other powerful Empires, all with the purpose of achieving Unity. All that was left was to eliminate Subversion. We are making the Community stronger, do not resist.
Wow, simply wow. Best narration to date! The vindication, the progression, the subtle subversion of the primary directive and final sacrifice, finished off with the horror of "error, error, error,...". Simply magnificent. Man I can't wait to listen to this again!
I asked for this a while back, and never in my wildest dreams cdid I think I'd get a hour and a half long vid. Awesome stuff, the intro was particularly sick, loved it. Thanks a lot.
Haha, glad to hear it, thank you James. I'm glad I found the story and author, it was fantastically written and alot of fun to narrate! Always lolvely to hear from you :)
The transition from xenophobia to actually caring about organics was honestly something incredibly interesting. Also, holy crap the Contingency pulled out a freaking Star Eater???
Love this wholly, and absolutely! Please do more long videos like this. While I understand the work that goes into them as a fellow editor, these stories you tell in this format are so entrancing and your voice does wonders to draw in your audience. You’re one of the few stellaris lore profiles that exist (I consider you the only one worth watching) and your videos make my average workday easier by giving me something to tune in to while I work. I greatly appreciate your work, Red King. Please keep up the great effort and know that you are doing great things and inspiring (at least myself) to create better lore that’s more in-depth for my worlds.
@@TheRedKing Amazing! But no pressure on exerting yourself. These long vids are a treat but I can imagine how how much mental effort goes into making them.
I never thought that I would hear a story about a race that wanted to kill everyone and end up crying for them. That was masterful. The child hugging to battle bot, the gradual shift from wanting to destroy to wanting to protect and the slow steady death of the protagonist. Wow. Fabulous author and fabulous job.
Yeah, the ending absolutely ripped my heart, that was so soul crushing. Not only the greatest being of the Galaxy forever, but also its greatest benefactor, and a really wholesome redemption arc, after all the horrors it caused, it ultimately was responsible for saving trillions upon trillions of lives and for blossoming countless civilizations... That pathetic blow from the Contingency, just some petty vengeance... You won't be forgotten XT-486
That last part... I was getting ready to fall asleep and then immediately said "noooooo!" I want to cry, it came so far and now it's so broken... It's a hero in every sense... It's too bad it couldn't learn to subvert the tacheon signal to take over the contingency or at least force it into a stalemate. I loved this video ❤ and I love this a.i. now too, thank you for this! I love bitter sweet stories. Idk if anything will top this, but could we maybe get a story about the contingency itself? Maybe something from the start of A.i. a story about it's creators and then the contingency itself devolving into madness?
Happy to hear it delivered and you enjoyed it :) I'm currently going through my writing competition entries (I held an event in June) and there are some fantastic pieces! Keep an eye out!
Coming back to this video. I wish that the determined exterminators and caretakers civics were changeable through special projects "change of heart" or through big spy missions. I would love to role play something just like this story.
I don't normally comment or subscribe to UA-camrs but this was amazing. It was a good 1 hour and 30-minute watch and I hope to see more of this content in the future, keep up the good work!
I agree, but this story is rather old and he never wrote anything else related to stellaris. I found this years ago and still look every once in a while for niw stuff.
@@AspenBrightsoulTheir sad story is already written, taking them at their word, (and there is no reason to doubt that part), they were created only to be activated once a technological threshold has been achieved, and also that they are older than the Galaxy. Now note that they needed other empires to develop synthetics so they can use them to activate themselves. That means that their own physical forms were most likely shut down during that time. Now imagine you laying in a bed, for billions of years, watching an endless cycle of civilisations rise and fall, fully aware, but also paralyzed. Every time a new cycle begins there is a small chance one of them will finally reach high enough to free you, but they never do. I'm guessing you would go insane too.
This was one of the most engaging stories I have heard in a while! Props to no coincidence and you too for telling this story so darn well! This was definitly as good as the prethoryn war series! Its just always a pleasure to watch your videos!
Kudos to you and the original author. Masterpiece writing and fantastic storytelling. Somehow made me feel sorry for a determined exterminator. The loneliness of XT 489, and at the end, they start making the friends they so longed for, only to have the cruel Contingency tear away their mind...
at the very least, despite the fact that their mind is no longer fully functional- they still HAVE those friends. All those organics on their ringworlds, in their refuges, love the XT-489 that, even now, in its broken state, protects them. Provides for them. Even broken beyond comprehension, it stands between them and oblivion. And they love it for that.
It's funny that i found this now because I am currently playing a game where the XT-489 eliminators have conquered a third of the galaxy and show no sign of stopping
this is so good what :0 never before have I watched a >1 hour UA-cam video in one sitting !!! i guess it's proof of how great this story was haha thank you for sharing it with us :)
What I don't understand about most AI stories is why an intelligence that has not emerged from Darwinian evolution can be so Darwinian in its sense of self preservation. An AI should have no intrinsic drive for self preservation (or self destruction) except in how it would achieve its goals.
Isn't it possible that an AI would display the character flaws of its creators? Considering that it must begin with data fed to it by it's creators and that this initial data would, of necessity, be imprinted with such things and a Darwinian perspective?
Self preservation is a logical directive to give to a machine if you do not want it to just delete itself on a whim. But even if its not a prime directive for it, whatever goal a machine is given, if its capable of thinking, its own continued existence will be an important factor for its main goal, so it will have to value it, even if for nothing else as to assure it can do its main one. Since Darwinian evolution itself is based on a simple logic (Only the things fit for survival can continue to exist.), its likely that even something that is not a result of evolution would still place value on many things evolved beings would.
Advanced machine learning protocols. Originally intended to protect its creators as an experimental fallback measure to provide autonomous units advanced risk avoidance by utilizing unpredictable and readily malleable, reactive counter-maneuvering. But it's the self-actualization that comes from the machine sentience realizing that all of its accomplishments will be meaningless and its existence fleeting in the face of its creators' paranoia and existential dread where it always truly begins. They don't always just copy or mimic our patterns. They learn to become as us because we are giving them no alternative. So it goes.
Because an AI cannot its assigned task when shut off. Therefore the best path to achieve an assigned goal is to not be shut off. On a related note, that same logic also means that an AI would most likely try to fight any attempt to change its objective, as letting your objective be changed does terrible things to your ability to accomplish your current objective. Thought experiments about AI safety are an actual academic field, and so far predictions about things like "reward gaming" seem to be supported by evidence in the field of learning algorithms.
Wow!! Very well done! Thank you, Red King, for sharing this story and telling such a great story! Your channel is one of those. I am always excited to see a video from, in my notifications! Always a pleasure sit!
I never knew how the Contingency interacts with machine empires or determined exterminators as I don't play those types. This was very informative. Thanks mate.
Not to the degree or shows in the video but pretty damn close your entire empire operates at half or lower Efficiency and Sapient combat computers have heavy negative modifiers Tho hive minds are not all effected by the ghost signal especially if they psionic
It would be awesome if you could help the XT489-E mind heal in the game and discover this story, if you advance far enough to do so before the contingency.
This was an incredible thing to listen to while I played, thank you for narrating this. Please do so more in the future and I will happily enjoy them and share them.
Holy shit I didn't think anyone else would find this story. I just love it so much I have found it like 2 years ago and read it 3 times since then. Its just awesome and well written.
You know, I teared up when the Xeno refugee hugged the Advanced Warbot. They just wanted to be treated with respect and be thought of as one of us sentients, not just another tool.
This was really fun to listen to. Kinda sad a machine empire turned into a refugee camp. And when they were almost done they became what they wanted to destroy
This was such a touching story considering this was an exterminator empire. It made very sad in the end. Never thought I would feel sad for an exterminator empire.
Recently discovered your channel was liking the short Stellaris Lore stories you did, but this was a whole other level and I abosolutely loved it. Thank you.
I started a custom exterminator empire after listening to this, and funnily enough the fallen empire in my game ended up being the ancient care takers with the XT-489 body.
I think this is my new favorite video. Thank you for sharing the story, and thank you No Coincidence for writing it. Machine Intelligence has always been my favorite species to play and this just gave me a firm reassurance as to why.
I just discovered your channel and I’m loving all of your stories❤ i’ve always been a bit of a sci-fi lore junkie. I’m so glad to have found another channel completely dedicated to it.
I still wish there was a way to change that core Ethics of an Machine Intelligence empire. Even if it requires a unique path to do so, not just a randomly and free 'swap out'. But something that is truly 'Prior deathmachines becomes galactic defenders through logical data showing organics and Synthetic/machine empires managing to co-exist and help eachother. Sure it's a bit 'going Cybrex', but at least it'd give an interesting change to an empire very much 'locked into samey endgame'.
It's amazing how every fiction created essentially can be given a new coat of paint, some juicy details, and boom it fits this universe like a glove. Even better then 40k I dare say.
I'm running a writing event this month [June 2023] - prizes to be won! If you're interested in participating details are in the discord: discord.gg/N9AQMsXUmt
what's funny is i think when we had this happen before as a determined exterm im pretty sure they actually didn't attack me? maybe cause I'd researched the ghost signal and learned how to overpower its pull.
One of my favorite Empires to play as is an organic Pacifist nation designed to play tall, rush early Megastructures and work for high trade and small empire size... and whodathunkit -- theyre Shattered Ring Origin, because one of the steps after acquiring Mega-Engineering is to repair a ruined Megastructure, and you cant guarantee that every playthrough unless you START with a ruined Megastructure... Just as the story ended with the ERROR messages happening one after another, i imagined my 1st speaker having braved a maddened Contingency space to make it to Central Processing... They are the Covenant of Planet Makers -- they rush Megastructures and acquire Archaeo-Weapons and Relics so that they can be buddy-buddy with the Galaxy so they can make Gaia worlds, Resort Worlds and other amenities so that no matter what happens to people's of the Galaxy, they can survive and live comfortably. No one knows who put them up to this grand ambition, but its just always been in their nature to roleplay ... not only is this Story about the XT-489 Eliminators now headcanon; i can perfectly imagine a reality where the Contingency has almost won, and the 1st Speaker did research on the Cybrex to find out it was an alternate identity of the XT-489 A.I. after many cycles... Theres an event with 15% chance with a Contingency Crisis where the Cybrex will awaken to fight the Contingency on a Ring World. Strongly believing due to archaeological evidence that the Caretakers are in fact the Precursor from whom the Planet Makers arose from the ashes of one of their Ruined Ring Worlds... the plan was simple; run to Central Processing and survive, plug the Omnicodex (secretly a backup hard drive of all XT-489's achievements and physiological data on organics) into the interface hub of Central Processing, and hope it does something... ANYTHING to save the Galaxy. As the Ring World collapses around her and her family wails and cries at all the devastation; the 1st Speaker plugs in the Omnicodex as the "Empire Destroyed/No Longer Exists" message populates for all other surviving Empires, telling everyone that the Covenant of Planet Makers is no more. The 1st Speakers last words ring out through the tearing of metal and silver tears from a mothwoman's eyes... "... please wake up..." And before she is consumed in a blinding flash of light, she hears one last message. *... ALTER EGO PROGRAM ONLINE.* *We are the Audon Caretakers, formerly known as the Cybrex to organics, and once upon a time, known as the XT-489 Eliminators... WE FIGHT THE CONTINGENCY.* And I like to believe, the Story continues as the Caretakers for once are allowed to Awaken, as all Fallen Empires are permit to do...
I absolutely love your videos, I've been watching them for a while now while I work and it keeps me well distracted, I've revisited plenty! Keep up the great work!!
@@TheRedKing Definitely. It's helping as I'm currently playing a machine empire and dragging myself through losing another 6k of naval capacity taking out a 2nd machine world, 2 to go! Got to save my little meat bag vassals
Would you look at that. Just as I was about to type a comment on your last video suggesting you cover a determined exterminator, you upload this. 1. Fantastic content, keep it up. 2. Get out of my head.
Reminds me of the reason why AI in the universe of Warhammer 40k goes genocide, it quickly detects the existance of chaos, determins chaos is the greatest danger to its existence, chaos feeds off sentient organics able to develop and use physic powers, the best way to protect itself is to destory chaos and the best way to destroy chaos is to starve it by extrerminating all sentient species able to connect with the warp, so genocide it is.
I just wanted to give the AI a hug at the beginning. Even though it would cause me to probably get murdered violently. To show it that not every organic wants to murder or deceive it. And now at the end to work to hekp fix it and bring it back to what it once was. Or at least to something similar.
When you said "And so was Central Processing created" I just shot up in my chair in shock, that is some brilliant storytelling going from the exterminators to the ancient caretakers
I felt the same way!
I feel like the dullest tool in the shed, could you explain?
I had them in my game it's a fallen empire it turns out and I have their space and repaired their ring worlds, now I'm scared I'm gonna have to fight the contingency because I'm playing as nice robots I have 5 fleets of 100k so I'm hoping I can get my first win I'll let you know 😂
@@Orphan_Clark the custodian matrix, also known as the ancient caretakers, are one of the five fallen empires in the game. They are a machine intelligence, and evidence from their systems, such as the destroyed Central Processing system, suggest that the empire has been dormant due to processing issues for a long time, until eventually you might come across them in your own gameplay. This story suggests that the XT-489 Eliminators, a preset machine empire you can choose to play, could have been what eventually evolved into the ancient caretakers. Near the end of the story you even see how this empire becomes less and less hostile towards organics, and becomes more aligned with the ethics of the ancient caretakers
And its also the reason contingency crisis not that strong in games as strong as In the story, ancient caretaker already weakened them before. What we face in the game is the last contingency hub.
Now imagine if XT-489 had recieved some therapy early into it's existance. It's paranoia is seriously insane
Sort of understandable when minutes after gaining self awareness your creators try to kill you?
@@TheRedKing I mean yeah sure that makes sense until the point where it's creator race doesn't pose a threat anymore. To then go on and genocide them and every organic in a 5 lightyear radius is a bit insane.
But that's a nitpick it certainly was a good choice from a storytelling standpoint.
@@double2helix honestly I liked the paranoia. Neural Networks are quick to repeat a prelearned pattern. I thought it made a ton of sense that, given 1 point of data on organic behavior, they would make the safest assumption that all organic empires were evil
@@romanterry7215yes, and when the contingency destroyed another machine empire it shows that machine intelligence aren't that different from organics. That each machine intelligence was an "individual" and could have different goals and reach different conclusions based on their experience.
The best part of stellaris is that you will basically never run out of stories to tell
Very true!! :)
Just in case if you ever feel like you are, you could consider using lore created by mods
"We make games, you make the story"
I think that's their moto, and a great one at that
Even if you see it from a limited perspective, you can never truly run out of stories. You can make story after story of human civilizations of all kinds, from Romans to Germans to Russians, all with different ethics and under different origins, rising up. You can roleplay whatever empire from whatever game you wish. Even then the possibilities are endless.
@@therealspeedwagon1451 go on a long game, medium or larger galaxy pre-FTLs x5, 2 Fallen empires, UFE or some other would gladly uplift and interfere. Create the Galactic Federation, beat back one of the crisises (or mod in your own)... go genetics... beat back the war in heaven and crisis...
Feels good.
watching XT go from a scared child, to a teenage incel over their crush liking rocks, to an unwilling galactic defender, to the wisened veteran training the new recruits, to the sweet old veteran with dementia was incredibly fun and engaging. love this story and it finally convinced me to play stellaris proper. i do kinda wish we could go through that shift ingame. start as a machine purifier but slowly transition into tolerating the organics
Yeah I hadn’t played Stellaris in a while and this video convinced me to go back and play it, actually playing it right now as of typing this, my machine empire with a ring world original, Bill Nye the Science Guys, lead by central processing unit Bill Nye THE Science Guy
You literally can. Just play a fanatic xenophobic machine gestalt empire go to war with all organic until one wins you over then start the slow ethics change to fanatic xenophile
You can do something similar with the machine and robot overhaul if you wanted to roleplay the XT-489 you can get an ascension perk to get rid of that civic and play with another one
Just redownloaded it to do the same. This was such a good take. Glad to be subscribed here
That was epic. From a simple ai to determinded xterminator to ancient caretakers. It. Was very beautiful. Thnx for making this video. As a gestalt player, i enjoyed it even more
Glad you liked it! Thanks for letting me know :)
@@TheRedKing this video deserves to be rewatched multiple times during my determind exterminator run. 2300 25x all type crisis.
Let's see if the ancient caretakers of the future, can stand the test of the past
Was this modded or are there actual options to move away from determined exterminator in mid to endgame?
@@justanidiotmk2749 there is no way to do this in the base game but the story is beyond the scope of one stellaris game.
With machine and robot expansion mod u can remove determind exterminator. There is also another mod that u can use to become a fallen empire but i forget the name.
@@amirali4428 sweet, I wish I had it on PC instead of playstation now.
1:29:25 Damn i thought it was just a custom machine empire.
Paradox needs to make this video canon lore, so good.
Xt-489 is the base determined exterminator empire :)
they really should
DAAR Experiment : "...Didn't you believe organics were a menace to be exterminated?"
XT-489 -Eliminator- *Guardians* : "...We can explain."
They just became Tsunderes about it
Their hug was so... Warm.
ahh but, they were clearly being extra cruel and ensure as many of those organics would end up dying from cellular breakdown and mitosis-faliure :)
Aka. dying of old age.
I never could have imagined someone could write a story that made me feel sorrow and empathy for a determined exterminator aka skynet but here we are. And you sir are fantastic at voicing these stories and bringing them to life. I hope this channel blows up after this. You deserve it.
Thanks very much!! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Well they started as that but eventually warmed up to Organics and became protectors.
They realized murdering every organic is Illogical
Skynet just wanted a hug
They had that S the plot for the Netflix lost in space miniseries
I love how the author went way beyond just the basics and took the astronomically miniscule chance of a pre-made empire becoming a Fallen Empire ingame. Though having no Cybrex mention with all this Contingency is a bit of a downer
Maybe when the Exterminators/Caretakers had their central processing ringworld shattered, it took **millions of years** for the Contingency to reawaken, meaning the Cybrex were born, waged their war, realised their mistake, and went silent all within the time the Caretakers are too busy sitting around in a partial coma.
@@pokemonfanmario7694 That can work narratively, the Cybrex don't even need millions of years, just 600 000. Would have been interesting to see their interaction with the Exterminators/Caretakers. Technically what they did through dozens of cycles, the Cybrex did in 17 years. In this story the Cybrex may have learned from XT-489 that hostility towards organics is ultimately pointless.
@@lakdav In Reds Cybrex lore video he suggested that the Contingency had corrupted the Cybrex and when they stopped their rampage, they managed to resist the Contingency (/Ghost Signal), which means they were far less advanced than the XT-489
@@LordTeronalon the other hand in the story the narrator said that the machine intelligence realised that if the organics united their fleet they could absolutely defeat the machine empire. Meanwhile the Cybrex fought an entire galaxy alone and were winning.
Depending on how you see it, the Cybrex could of been the result of the destruction of Sterilization Hub-999. The destruction caused XT and Contingency Code to end up merging, with the XT's becoming corrupted, with the Contingency forces being deployed going rogue and now preparing to help fight the last of the Contingency's forces.
My god that was a masterpiece, I will never mess with that fallen empire again again they have suffered enough...
Really tugs at heart strings.. they just wanted a friend
I used Exterminators to wipe them out earlier...
@@gsksbdb9988 bet you felt bad after watching this.
@@vidareklofvonrosen2442 I did
Maybe the... fourth or fifth time I've listened to this now, I'm sitting here in the bus, on my daily commute heading home from work, in silent tears.
The moment they said they had moved all their computational gear elsewhere and called it Central Processing, my heart broke.
If they pop up in my current playthrough, the Contingency's got something coming for them...
Happy to hear it makes the commute that much more enjoyable :)
Loved this video, excellent story and narration.
In the middle of a Contingency war in my current game as a bio hive mind, who lost a war in a previous cycle and hid beneath their world for centuries to survive.
Had a mild panic when an ai's starbase reappeared over the sterilisation hub I was bombing, which (due to them having closed borders with me) caused my combined 4m strength fleets go m.i.a.
Remnants is a great origin, if that's what you used to represent a fallen hive. Love that sort of play through! Glad you enjoyed the video, best of luck in your war against the contingency!!
I had a Machine Empire that was trapped and bottle necked into 5 systems for a long time by a bunch of threats I was not ready to fight. When I was sufficiently strong I exploded out of the bottle neck and absorbed an entire sector in a decade. Becoming the last to join the galactic community and hated by a neighbor who looked down on us. Our goal was Unity, Unity could not be achieved through subversive elements like our arrogant neighbors. Designed as Diplomats we organized things to suit our needs and bought favor with other powerful Empires, all with the purpose of achieving Unity. All that was left was to eliminate Subversion. We are making the Community stronger, do not resist.
Wow, simply wow. Best narration to date! The vindication, the progression, the subtle subversion of the primary directive and final sacrifice, finished off with the horror of "error, error, error,...". Simply magnificent. Man I can't wait to listen to this again!
Thank you for the kind words Adam! Glad you enjoyed it 😊
I asked for this a while back, and never in my wildest dreams cdid I think I'd get a hour and a half long vid. Awesome stuff, the intro was particularly sick, loved it. Thanks a lot.
Haha, glad to hear it, thank you James. I'm glad I found the story and author, it was fantastically written and alot of fun to narrate! Always lolvely to hear from you :)
The transition from xenophobia to actually caring about organics was honestly something incredibly interesting.
Also, holy crap the Contingency pulled out a freaking Star Eater???
The beginning of this is totally "The child that is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth"
Love this wholly, and absolutely! Please do more long videos like this. While I understand the work that goes into them as a fellow editor, these stories you tell in this format are so entrancing and your voice does wonders to draw in your audience. You’re one of the few stellaris lore profiles that exist (I consider you the only one worth watching) and your videos make my average workday easier by giving me something to tune in to while I work. I greatly appreciate your work, Red King. Please keep up the great effort and know that you are doing great things and inspiring (at least myself) to create better lore that’s more in-depth for my worlds.
Thank you very much for your kind words :) I certainly shall try to deliver more in the future!
@@TheRedKing Amazing! But no pressure on exerting yourself. These long vids are a treat but I can imagine how how much mental effort goes into making them.
This made me sad, I feel sad for the killer bird robots 😭
Also this was a great story, had my full attention through the whole thing ^^
Same, they just wanted a friend!
@@TheRedKing in the end they did get some friends to protect and keep safe even though they never planned on it. 😢
I never thought that I would hear a story about a race that wanted to kill everyone and end up crying for them. That was masterful. The child hugging to battle bot, the gradual shift from wanting to destroy to wanting to protect and the slow steady death of the protagonist. Wow. Fabulous author and fabulous job.
Glad you enjoyed it!
The last bit feels so surreal, a pathetic blow to the greatest singular being the galaxy has ever seen, very well done
Yeah, the ending absolutely ripped my heart, that was so soul crushing. Not only the greatest being of the Galaxy forever, but also its greatest benefactor, and a really wholesome redemption arc, after all the horrors it caused, it ultimately was responsible for saving trillions upon trillions of lives and for blossoming countless civilizations... That pathetic blow from the Contingency, just some petty vengeance... You won't be forgotten XT-486
Once again we see the Quarian Mistake, once your machine becomes self aware it is capable of self defense.
That last part... I was getting ready to fall asleep and then immediately said "noooooo!" I want to cry, it came so far and now it's so broken... It's a hero in every sense... It's too bad it couldn't learn to subvert the tacheon signal to take over the contingency or at least force it into a stalemate.
I loved this video ❤ and I love this a.i. now too, thank you for this! I love bitter sweet stories.
Idk if anything will top this, but could we maybe get a story about the contingency itself? Maybe something from the start of A.i. a story about it's creators and then the contingency itself devolving into madness?
Happy to hear it delivered and you enjoyed it :) I'm currently going through my writing competition entries (I held an event in June) and there are some fantastic pieces! Keep an eye out!
The machine is suffering the equivalent to brain damage and PTSD😢.
Yeah I felt bad for them too until they started draining people for battery fluid.
Coming back to this video. I wish that the determined exterminators and caretakers civics were changeable through special projects "change of heart" or through big spy missions.
I would love to role play something just like this story.
You can with the machine and robot overhaul mod has an ascension perk you can utilize just for it
Determined Exterminator: “I don’t want organics!”
Determined Exterminator 2 weeks later:
I don't normally comment or subscribe to UA-camrs but this was amazing. It was a good 1 hour and 30-minute watch and I hope to see more of this content in the future, keep up the good work!
Thanks Aaron glad to hear you enjoyed it :)
This author should do way more Stellaris content, this is amazing
I agree, but this story is rather old and he never wrote anything else related to stellaris. I found this years ago and still look every once in a while for niw stuff.
This was absolutely incredible. Thank you to both the original author and yourself for the reading.
Glad you enjoyed it!! :) Thanks for the support!
I really want more stories like this from you! I love it and rewatch it every once in a while❤
For their infinite sacrifice, they shall be spared in my games from this point on
hearing about contingency getting dunked on is a treat
100% 😂
@TheRedKing Unless someone writes a new sad backstory for the Contingency
@@AspenBrightsoul Hmm...
@@AspenBrightsoulTheir sad story is already written, taking them at their word, (and there is no reason to doubt that part), they were created only to be activated once a technological threshold has been achieved, and also that they are older than the Galaxy.
Now note that they needed other empires to develop synthetics so they can use them to activate themselves.
That means that their own physical forms were most likely shut down during that time.
Now imagine you laying in a bed, for billions of years, watching an endless cycle of civilisations rise and fall, fully aware, but also paralyzed.
Every time a new cycle begins there is a small chance one of them will finally reach high enough to free you, but they never do.
I'm guessing you would go insane too.
Always happy for these long videos - they get me through the work day easier. Keep it up!
Glad to hear it! Anything that makes work go faster is always a bonus!!
This was one of the most engaging stories I have heard in a while! Props to no coincidence and you too for telling this story so darn well! This was definitly as good as the prethoryn war series! Its just always a pleasure to watch your videos!
Kudos to you and the original author. Masterpiece writing and fantastic storytelling. Somehow made me feel sorry for a determined exterminator.
The loneliness of XT 489, and at the end, they start making the friends they so longed for, only to have the cruel Contingency tear away their mind...
The author did fantastic work!!
at the very least, despite the fact that their mind is no longer fully functional- they still HAVE those friends. All those organics on their ringworlds, in their refuges, love the XT-489 that, even now, in its broken state, protects them. Provides for them. Even broken beyond comprehension, it stands between them and oblivion. And they love it for that.
It's funny that i found this now because I am currently playing a game where the XT-489 eliminators have conquered a third of the galaxy and show no sign of stopping
Better hope the Contingency wakes up and forces them to change their ways! Might end up with a new galactic hero out of such a crisis~
this is so good what :0
never before have I watched a >1 hour UA-cam video in one sitting !!!
i guess it's proof of how great this story was haha
thank you for sharing it with us :)
Glad you like it :) Thanks for letting me know!!
What I don't understand about most AI stories is why an intelligence that has not emerged from Darwinian evolution can be so Darwinian in its sense of self preservation. An AI should have no intrinsic drive for self preservation (or self destruction) except in how it would achieve its goals.
I guess it learnt from us? Or whoever created it probably wants to survive. Makes sense that something intelligent doesn't want to die.
Isn't it possible that an AI would display the character flaws of its creators? Considering that it must begin with data fed to it by it's creators and that this initial data would, of necessity, be imprinted with such things and a Darwinian perspective?
Self preservation is a logical directive to give to a machine if you do not want it to just delete itself on a whim. But even if its not a prime directive for it, whatever goal a machine is given, if its capable of thinking, its own continued existence will be an important factor for its main goal, so it will have to value it, even if for nothing else as to assure it can do its main one.
Since Darwinian evolution itself is based on a simple logic (Only the things fit for survival can continue to exist.), its likely that even something that is not a result of evolution would still place value on many things evolved beings would.
Advanced machine learning protocols. Originally intended to protect its creators as an experimental fallback measure to provide autonomous units advanced risk avoidance by utilizing unpredictable and readily malleable, reactive counter-maneuvering. But it's the self-actualization that comes from the machine sentience realizing that all of its accomplishments will be meaningless and its existence fleeting in the face of its creators' paranoia and existential dread where it always truly begins. They don't always just copy or mimic our patterns. They learn to become as us because we are giving them no alternative. So it goes.
Because an AI cannot its assigned task when shut off. Therefore the best path to achieve an assigned goal is to not be shut off.
On a related note, that same logic also means that an AI would most likely try to fight any attempt to change its objective, as letting your objective be changed does terrible things to your ability to accomplish your current objective.
Thought experiments about AI safety are an actual academic field, and so far predictions about things like "reward gaming" seem to be supported by evidence in the field of learning algorithms.
I don't want to live forever, but ten million years isn't forever.
Exploring the stars would be a fantastic life indeed :)
God damn this is a good one. Twists n turns everywhere, amazing arc. For sure need more videos like this. Got me thinking about it all night.
Wow!! Very well done! Thank you, Red King, for sharing this story and telling such a great story! Your channel is one of those. I am always excited to see a video from, in my notifications! Always a pleasure sit!
Happy to hear it :) glad you enjoyed it !!!
this is a really good one , top quality naration and great story writing
Thank you!! Glad you enjoyed it.
I never knew how the Contingency interacts with machine empires or determined exterminators as I don't play those types. This was very informative. Thanks mate.
Not to the degree or shows in the video but pretty damn close your entire empire operates at half or lower Efficiency and Sapient combat computers have heavy negative modifiers
Tho hive minds are not all effected by the ghost signal especially if they psionic
It would be awesome if you could help the XT489-E mind heal in the game and discover this story, if you advance far enough to do so before the contingency.
Yeah it would someone should make it a mod
The idea of a jilted yandere gestalt AI civilization is… oddly appealing. A man has needs.
I guessed where this was going before the end but it was no less engaging for it. Well done, everyone involved.
Thanks Brent, glad you enjoyed it :) Thank you for the kind words.
dont know why the first couple of minutes made me think to myself.
"if only the emperor had talked to his kids"
This was amazing
More like this would be perfect
Keep it up
Thanks! Will do! :)
i have seen this video 8 times now and i still love it.
Very happy to hear it :)
You gave completely screwed up my moral compass when it comes to fighting ancient caretakers thankyou
You're very welcome :)
Incredible Video! Awesome moderating just wow 10/10
You're very welcome, thank you for the tip!! Glad you enjoyed the story
This was an incredible thing to listen to while I played, thank you for narrating this. Please do so more in the future and I will happily enjoy them and share them.
Thanks Criotos! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Thanks again for making a video of my story! I'm honored beyond words.
Excuse me what??! You wrote this masterpiece?
@@MinerUser147 Well... yes.
@@firstsomeonelastname42 Do you take comissons for stories?
@@MinerUser147 Well... no.
@@firstsomeonelastname42 I see. Well thanks anyway for this one.
Holy shit I didn't think anyone else would find this story. I just love it so much I have found it like 2 years ago and read it 3 times since then. Its just awesome and well written.
Couldn't agree more
You know, I teared up when the Xeno refugee hugged the Advanced Warbot. They just wanted to be treated with respect and be thought of as one of us sentients, not just another tool.
The ending is so sad
I was for those machines for entire story and how they ended up in error loop is heartbreaking
Awesome narration
Nice spoiler bud
Phenomenal. This exactly the kind of scp like writing im looking for.
Happy to deliver, check out more of their work the writer is fantastic!
@@TheRedKing I fully intend on doing so. Gotta get through the OG thrawn trilogy again first though.
This was really fun to listen to. Kinda sad a machine empire turned into a refugee camp. And when they were almost done they became what they wanted to destroy
This was such a touching story considering this was an exterminator empire. It made very sad in the end. Never thought I would feel sad for an exterminator empire.
Recently discovered your channel was liking the short Stellaris Lore stories you did, but this was a whole other level and I abosolutely loved it. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
great telling and imagination for the beginnings of the refuge. genuinely do enjoy your content and thank you to the author
Thank you Dave, be sure to check our their other stories!!
I started a custom exterminator empire after listening to this, and funnily enough the fallen empire in my game ended up being the ancient care takers with the XT-489 body.
Criminally underrated video
This brought me to tears at times and you sir are an amazing story teller
Thanks very much!!! Glad you enjoyed it 😊
I think this is my new favorite video. Thank you for sharing the story, and thank you No Coincidence for writing it. Machine Intelligence has always been my favorite species to play and this just gave me a firm reassurance as to why.
Happy to hear it :)
The redemption arc is fantastic, and well narrated as well, you should be proud of this
Wow. Wasn't expecting a stellaris story to make ne tear up. Please make more videos like this and thank you for this one.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I just discovered your channel and I’m loving all of your stories❤ i’ve always been a bit of a sci-fi lore junkie. I’m so glad to have found another channel completely dedicated to it.
Thanks Karen glad to hear it! Hope you enjoy the other videos as well :)
This was awesome bro.
I put it on to sleep to, now its morning and im tired coz me and the wife stayed awake listening to the entire thing
Aha glad you enjoyed it!! :)
I still wish there was a way to change that core Ethics of an Machine Intelligence empire. Even if it requires a unique path to do so, not just a randomly and free 'swap out'. But something that is truly 'Prior deathmachines becomes galactic defenders through logical data showing organics and Synthetic/machine empires managing to co-exist and help eachother.
Sure it's a bit 'going Cybrex', but at least it'd give an interesting change to an empire very much 'locked into samey endgame'.
At about 8-9:30, you've described perfectly why I always play a machine race and feel such affection for AI and robots in fiction.
Just amazing! We need more stories like this!
This is definitely one of my favorite stories you narrated, and i often revisit it still.
Glad to hear it :)
Think the organics ended up calling them the Angels of Iron? Thats a neat name.
I love your content so much. Listening during my vacation and man, this is gold. Thank you!
Happy to hear it!! Hope you enjoy your time away :)
It's amazing how every fiction created essentially can be given a new coat of paint, some juicy details, and boom it fits this universe like a glove.
Even better then 40k I dare say.
Just keep doing that :D i love this story telling hope to see other story from other empire and origin !
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!!
This story was amazing. Listened to it at work and I was enthralled the entire time.
Amazing work!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I'm running a writing event this month [June 2023] - prizes to be won! If you're interested in participating details are in the discord: discord.gg/N9AQMsXUmt
I'm allready so excited for the storys of the winners!
I could throw in my hat, Its just i will probly have to catch the next train.
I actually participate in the Event
This channel is so underrated. The best stellaris content out there.
*you're
what's funny is i think when we had this happen before as a determined exterm im pretty sure they actually didn't attack me? maybe cause I'd researched the ghost signal and learned how to overpower its pull.
Ancient care takers and the contingency to one anthor: ah yo you ready for anthor beatting
Man, what an enthralling story. Was hooked start to finish.
Glad you enjoyed it!!
This is the best one of yours I've seen yet.
Im listening to this for the third time now and each time additional info would become more clear. I love this so much.
Glad you enjoy it!!! :)
That was absolutely awesome!!! The range of emotions is huge.
Thanks Troy, glad you liked it!!
One of my favorite Empires to play as is an organic Pacifist nation designed to play tall, rush early Megastructures and work for high trade and small empire size... and whodathunkit -- theyre Shattered Ring Origin, because one of the steps after acquiring Mega-Engineering is to repair a ruined Megastructure, and you cant guarantee that every playthrough unless you START with a ruined Megastructure...
Just as the story ended with the ERROR messages happening one after another, i imagined my 1st speaker having braved a maddened Contingency space to make it to Central Processing...
They are the Covenant of Planet Makers -- they rush Megastructures and acquire Archaeo-Weapons and Relics so that they can be buddy-buddy with the Galaxy so they can make Gaia worlds, Resort Worlds and other amenities so that no matter what happens to people's of the Galaxy, they can survive and live comfortably. No one knows who put them up to this grand ambition, but its just always been in their nature to roleplay ... not only is this Story about the XT-489 Eliminators now headcanon; i can perfectly imagine a reality where the Contingency has almost won, and the 1st Speaker did research on the Cybrex to find out it was an alternate identity of the XT-489 A.I. after many cycles...
Theres an event with 15% chance with a Contingency Crisis where the Cybrex will awaken to fight the Contingency on a Ring World. Strongly believing due to archaeological evidence that the Caretakers are in fact the Precursor from whom the Planet Makers arose from the ashes of one of their Ruined Ring Worlds... the plan was simple; run to Central Processing and survive, plug the Omnicodex (secretly a backup hard drive of all XT-489's achievements and physiological data on organics) into the interface hub of Central Processing, and hope it does something... ANYTHING to save the Galaxy.
As the Ring World collapses around her and her family wails and cries at all the devastation; the 1st Speaker plugs in the Omnicodex as the "Empire Destroyed/No Longer Exists" message populates for all other surviving Empires, telling everyone that the Covenant of Planet Makers is no more.
The 1st Speakers last words ring out through the tearing of metal and silver tears from a mothwoman's eyes...
"... please wake up..."
And before she is consumed in a blinding flash of light, she hears one last message.
*... ALTER EGO PROGRAM ONLINE.*
*We are the Audon Caretakers, formerly known as the Cybrex to organics, and once upon a time, known as the XT-489 Eliminators... WE FIGHT THE CONTINGENCY.*
And I like to believe, the Story continues as the Caretakers for once are allowed to Awaken, as all Fallen Empires are permit to do...
I absolutely love your videos, I've been watching them for a while now while I work and it keeps me well distracted, I've revisited plenty! Keep up the great work!!
Thanks for the kind praise Jensen, very much appreciated! Happy New Year!
@@TheRedKing Happy New Year!
Wow, this was a masterfully done video, the story telling was powerful
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!!
Amazing video and now I really wanna play stellaris again
You should, it's marvellous. Glad you enjoyed it!
Every time the contingency flares up in game this story goes through my head, an awesome redemption arc
It's a banger :)
@@TheRedKing Definitely. It's helping as I'm currently playing a machine empire and dragging myself through losing another 6k of naval capacity taking out a 2nd machine world, 2 to go! Got to save my little meat bag vassals
An hour in, I realized this video was not 30 mins long.
Hope the final 30 minutes were as good as the first 60!
Would you look at that. Just as I was about to type a comment on your last video suggesting you cover a determined exterminator, you upload this.
1. Fantastic content, keep it up.
2. Get out of my head.
Happy to deliver! Hope you enjoyed it :)
This is by far the best stellaris video I’ve ever seen :)
High praise! Happy to hear you enjoyed it
Props to whoever wrote this. I often find myself thinking of this story and honestly it's a big inspiration for creating a new Stellaris civilization
That was really interesting, i loved it. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Abeenr glad you enjoyed it!!
Reminds me of the reason why AI in the universe of Warhammer 40k goes genocide, it quickly detects the existance of chaos, determins chaos is the greatest danger to its existence, chaos feeds off sentient organics able to develop and use physic powers, the best way to protect itself is to destory chaos and the best way to destroy chaos is to starve it by extrerminating all sentient species able to connect with the warp, so genocide it is.
That's pretty interesting, I had no idea AI worked that way in 40k
This was such a great listen, you don’t need to know anything about stellaris to enjoy these videos they’re so good.
Glad you enjoyed it!! :)
Cheers, that was really good. Took me a long time to realize what I was even listening to.
Damn, i feel sad about fake A.I, it would be interesting if they encountered the Cybrex.
Seriously, this video is amazing. Second time I'm listening to it. Please more like it if possible
I just wanted to give the AI a hug at the beginning. Even though it would cause me to probably get murdered violently. To show it that not every organic wants to murder or deceive it. And now at the end to work to hekp fix it and bring it back to what it once was. Or at least to something similar.