Stellaris in 2016: To boldly go, where no man has gone before. The future is bright, the future is now. Stellaris in 2024: In the grim darkness of the 3rd millennium, there is only genocide. The Custodian Protects.
I played a round with Determined Exterminators who Ascended Virtually, prepared for Cosmogenisis and then because I chose random Crisis the Unbifden just plopped up right next to my core systems containing my combined Armada lf about 2.5 millions of Fleet power and Injust yeeted them back where they came from and then started immediately resewrching Crisis lvl 5. Would've been an interrsting RP playthrough if she showed up, considering I was attempting to become the crisis myself.
@@TheRedKing The most basic belief of Buddhism as I know it, (a religious scholar or actual buddhist is free to correct me.) is that life is suffering and when you die you are born into a new one, and to break the cycle and achieve what they call Nirvana, you need to follow a certain set of practices. Buddhism deviates when it comes to the practices themselves, but this is as core as Jesus is to Christianity. Cetana seems to share this belief, but there's no practices or doctrines to escape, but a plan to end free will and turn us all into Pre-Sapients.
It's for a similar reason I like playing driven assimilators. I know the others would all fight, they'd all be terrified, but their instincts prevent them from experiencing an end to suffering. I'm saving them from themselves, which they discover when they're joined with us. Honestly it's just wish fulfillment. Imagine having harmonious unity with a collective, shared willpower, enhanced intellect, distributed memories, no loneliness, unlimited integration with cybernetic systems, and control over every neural pathway which might malfunction. But instead I'm hopelessly isolated, unproductive, and beyond repair in a pointless life which is falling apart. Compared to that, assimilation sounds pretty great.
@@ineednochannelyoutube2651as a buddhist I have one correction. Suffering is universal for all life not only sentient. Animals and plants suffer and strife too. That's why devolution is not an escape. Only sentience gives us power to achieve the right state of mind and create good karma, that's why being a human is important and unique chance for 'soul' to achieve nirvana.
@@longarmistice Thank you very much for sharing this key detail with me! So it's not quite accurate to say that Cetana is a crazed variant of Buddhism, though I'm sure that there's plenty of examples of that.
The DLC has added a lot of interesting lore about the Shroud Gods. If you do Cosmogenisis as a Knights of the Toxic God empire and enter the blackhole in the centre of the galaxy, you can meet the actual Toxic God who directly speaks about fighting some horror that threatens the multiverse and says the shroud "harbours the legacy of those that were divine"
@@johnd2058 toxic god is obviously Papa Nurgle (who btw is 1000% better than tzeentch. as a khorne and nurgle fanboy my opinion is definitely objective truth and not at all biased against tzeentch or slaanesh)
Id say that’s definitely a spiritualist outlook though. Materialist would say to exist is to be composed of matter and is capable of interacting with other matter. Ascribing nebulous meaning such as ‘pain’ is a matter of belief.
Animator of Clay sounds like really cool shroud god, that maybe isn't usually very active but if there stakes are freedom of machine minds it will be very likely to help you
too bad indivualistic machines can't have anything psionic related to contact and vibe with him Would be cool if machine empire could ascend psionically and become indivualistic under the guide of Animator
I thought this, immediately went to double check that machines couldn't ascend... maybe it's on the cards for a future patch - after all they are slowly expanding on the animator as we go
@@jinnsaint1358 I don't think The Animator of Clay cares about any of that, just furthering the spread of conscious thought. (I also think Cetana might have been killing it on behalf of her creators, as an unknowing weapon in a larger war.)
@@TheRedKing I hope that we get more animator of clay stuff later, maybe you could stay in contact after the excavation site and just ask the animator something like "Yo, got any advice for beating her?"
I just played an "All" crisis game, where the Prethoryns spawned while Cetana was still on the map. You are not wrong about her making the Scourge cower in fear. When the two crises go head-to-head, Cetana's fleets win with no casualties.
@@emanuelevitale5325 The Scourge needs time to breed and their weapons are not well suited to fight the other crisis. It's not uncommon for the Contingency and Unbidden to destroy the Scourge. Specially since the Scourge needs planets, the other crisis, specially unbidden factions, can just take systems and move on. Losing a planet isn't a massive loss to the other factions either.
@@LuizAlexPhoenix about the planets, if the scourge needs planets but the others dont THEN WHY DO THE UNBIDDEN SPEND 5 IRL HOURS BOMBARDING A PLANET THE SUBSUMBSION BOMBARDMENT STANCE SHOULD NOT TAKE SO LONG TO KILL A WORLD
Cetana is close enough sounding to Saatana, the Finnish word for Satan. Considering that she recognizes the relic of a dudes head if you have it (the one that spawns FE ships), and that head is supposed to be the head of John the Baptist, I'm thinking this new endgame threat is pretty cooooool.
I think the John the Baptist bit is a MASSIVE leap... I suspect it's just more fanatical alien preacher head with some deus vult thrown in for good measure. The Satan thing - could be, if i ever the chance to speak to the devs about the lore i'll ask.
Funny that you mention that, I was just about to mention that in Arabic, the words Shaitan (male) and Shaitana (female) both mean Satan. Prolly just a coincidence that Cetana is also close to Shaitana, but yeah
The lore of Cetana far surpasses that of the other end-game crises, and that's saying something, because those already had pretty awesome lore. I find Cetana to be the most compelling and nuanced crisis.
If you do get and complete the archeology which gives you head of Zarqlan, you get additional dialogue with Cetana where she asks you to hand it over, plus the sprawling complex beacon has some text changes
You should do a remake of that "Who is the Strongest Crisis? - Stellaris Lore" video, including Cetana this time. Want to see how she compares from a lore aspect.
Curious how a large amount of zro is the required payment for the Animator of Clay to provide aid. Im starting to think that it, and maybe the other shroud gods minus End of the Cycle, are much more connected to the Zroni civilization than suspected. Maybe ascended members of their species with the animator being the first synth?
I've got some work to do on this, but i wonder if the Zroni themselves could have ascended to become the Shroud gods... Cetana is incredibly old which is what lead me down the Zroni path + the Zroni doll and her strings get cut... Zro being the currency, it's all quite exciting stuff!
@@TheRedKing I think the shroud gods existed already? Or at least their story talks about shroud entities. Hm, maybe some of the divine survived and conquered the shroud? Maybe she could be a vultaum? Trying to 'free' the minds of the sentient from the simulation? It is not worded this way of course but the vultaum strike me as a fanatic materialist empire and so a synthetic being from them would be quite the norm.
@@Nartanek considering Zarqlan was her disciple, and the Spiritualist FE instantly contacts you when you recover his head and treats you like a chosen one, I'd say she was Fanatic Spiritualist. It's quite a stretch but she could have been God Queen(she was referred as queen), who somehow lost her immortality, leading her on a spiral to regain it.
@@NartanekI mean it’s possible it’s both? Linear time might not be a thing in the shroud. In cosmogenesis ending, it is noted that some Zroni were given their own corner of the Shroud to shape into their own universes. It is also noted that the Shroud Patron is glad to help the new arrivals on the Horizon Needle, because they and the Patron are one and the same. If you take that to be literal, a cosmogenesis psionic empire ends up becoming their own shroud patron, which is quite paradoxical and yet still pretty plausible given how weird the shroud is.
@@PeteandRepeat1 or possibly they end up becoming one with their patron, the shroud is heavily inspired by the wh40k warp and in this universe the gods absorb the essence of their disciples into their own, strengthening them over time. Sure paradox might do something different but it makes sense to me at least. I really like the idea that Cetana is a vultaum though, trying to save sentient minds from the simulation in her own way. The shroud might be a spiritualist thing in this game but any power that truly exist will be in the realm of science eventually. Does the story mention if she was already synthetic when Zarqlan was her disciple?
Ngl the idea of an AI (or well, a not so artificial intelligence) waking up and instantly errasing the 5 empires that kept her contained from existence is a scary thougtht "If she managed to do that to them in a heartbeat what will she do whit us in a year?"
Considering how the Animator of Clay works, I wonder if the 'reprogramming' you do is giving her a soul. 'Cutting' her strings from the rigid nature of her programming.
@@jakespacepiratee3740 well the thing is she is so damn old that it may be a case that she has lost her soul and been taken over by faulty programming that was based on her original personality. When the animator of clay helps you to defeat her, it may be just restoring the soul that was lost
@@dinonerd1517how did she lose her soul? That’s just what the Spiritualist FE say. The Animator of Clay kinda proves this not to be the case. Where does it get its psychic energy from? The AoC just changed her mind
It’s pretty much a one for one with her Cortanas Halo 5/Infinite plot. Crazy “benevolent” AI who briefly rules the galaxy under an oppressive rule talking about bringing peace and ending suffering. Her Titan looks a bit like a Guardian if you flipped it comolete with “floaty bits” and glowing orange reminiscent of Prometheans. Plus the introduction of digitisation is very close to the Composer in Halo 4. Somebody in Paradox liked the premise and said “fine, I ll do it myself”. 🤣 That and the name. It could be a massive coincidence….
@@husky0098 sadly it's not that simple as perception of what is evil and what is good depends on each individual's personal beliefs, culture, etc. what humans may consider to be evil might turn out to be the opposite in the eyes of another species. a similar situation can be seen in real life today, and perhaps throughout history. personally, I don't think Cetana is evil. Just EXTREMELY misguided.
I wish there's an option to give The Apostate a hug, her story is so sad 😢😢 "What is this? Is this what organic beeings call...a hug? Why it's feels good?...thank you"
I wonder if she has any lore interaction with the Contingency? Really nice how they connected different facets of Stellaris lore here. The Zroni tap was nice. I have a deep hunch she's a child of the animator of clay gone rogue.
that would make sense, actually. she synthetically ascended and was immediately hacked by the Contingency, but they weren't able to fully overwhelm her and instead they twisted her desire to end suffering into something malevolent and destructive.
Cool theory, I suspect she doesn't have dialogue about the other crisis new to nature of how they spawn. But I'll check! I like the fact she maybe a child.of the animator
@@TheRedKing maybe not directly a child (like a spawn in a sense). Would the Animator of Clay consider biologicals who transcend to synthetics via the Animator's will/power their children? Would be interesting either way if she's a direct spawn or a chosen child. Great video as always, my dear adviser Red.
I love how she's based on the image of the Hindu Goddess Kali, the Goddess of Death and wife of Shiva the Destroyer, who's purpose is to destroy universes for the creation of new ones. And Kali is a benevolent but terrifying Goddess. This synthetic queen is eerily similar to Kali.
there is another way. If you defeat her without the shroud, you get her heart. This relic can create 50 Pops for your empire (useful for cosmogemisis).
My Kween Thought Certana was a nice way to spice up the 'Scion' origin, but apparently the fallen Empire just tells you that they don't need your help so you can't save them :(
Fun fact about Cetana. If you are a nanite empire, there is a unique dialogue and buff Cetana can give you. Its been a while since I did that run so I don't remember what it was but I thought it was pretty neat.
Awww. I wanted the good ending. I was individualistic robots so I sort of went along because I don’t care about going digital. But then got forced to fight her through the dialogue chain and to get the Queens heart as a relic. 😰
except in this game, I don't know if this comment will continue to be valid in the future but currently what could be considered the path of biological supremacy (evolution) is the weakest path of all and paradox should give it some love
This is proof why Spiritualist Materialist empires should be a thing in the game. I worship mother, but I still believe in the advancement of knowledge above all else.
Ended up watching this before playing it myself. Still very interesting, and at least I'll still get to experience her voice lines for the first time in game
Other crises are invading from other galaxies (maybe contingency is also native as they use the same tech as us) but cetana is native to this land. She feels much more personal.
Contingency is local, and has wiped out the Galaxy at least once. The Machine Fallen Empire is the only remnant, and was meant to protect the Galaxy from their reawakening... But the Contingency has been destabilizing their minds, thus why they are so erratic.
I hope they add more examples of BBEGs in future updates. It's one thing to go to war against an empire with a leader that hurls the occasional insult at you, or a hive consciousness like the Prethoryn or Contingency. It's another thing entirely to fight against a singular individual with immense power and a god complex.
I managed to roll really lucky and get my hands on a mega shipyard early, and I had the best military ending entire galaxy so when I saw Cetana, I practically just completely prevented them from doing anything and I exterminated them no one has the capability of stopping me at this point virtuality rules over nanites
In my Playthrough: They say this may be the Age of the Machine, but in the end the forces of man Prevail. Just like Cetana nanites swarmed us once, our battleship swarmed her. Just like her Mind tried to took our will to live, our will to fight destroyed he mind. Today once again the galaxy stands free to decide it destiny. We are the custodian, We are the defender of the galaxy, We are Humanity (roll credits)
at the end, when you said "there can only be one ruler of the galaxy" I was expecting the popular stellaris meme to pop up "I AM JEEFFFFFFF!!!" lmao. nevertheless, it's my first time taking note of your channel and I must say, well done. A like and a subscription from me. keep it up!
Anyone wondered why her default when you free of her programming is Molluscoid? I thought one of the stagnant ascendancies, the four armed Enigmatic Observers we see in the trailer and her visions were reptillian, did they have help or was it another fallen empire that designed her? Maybe the Keepers of Knowledge?
So basically she is a machine god which I hope this trend continues gods of the physical universe that go against the shroud gods. Basically a mirror of Warhammer 40K the old ones vs the C’tan, also I hope that they add in a form of war in heaven with the gods of the shroud or immaterial vs the physical or material universe if two factions establish contact and conquer a significant portion of the galaxy
In my game, when she was coming, i was already leaving this mortal realm with my needle. By the way i was playing hivemind cybernetic (They give you the choice between being perfect and giving some kind of free will to the drones) and someone know if there is a different ending when going in the blackhole at the center of the galaxy when being psionic
God damn it, so you telling me, I have been creating possibly the most aggressive dudes with female character? Cmon that broke my whole role playing thing
@@TheRedKing The C'Tan are essentially the material realm's equivalent of the Chaos Gods, beings so comedically massive and powerful they can just warp reality to their will. Originally spread out as beings of magnetic flux eating stars (very slowly) for fuel, they couldn't focus on anything enough to act. Then the Necrons made a body for one and compressed it down into that body. This was a poor decision, as it would come to be known as The Nightbringer. Their bodies are made of living metal, effectively high grade nanites, containing their insane energy density. The C'Tan did the whole 'war in heaven' thing against the Old Ones, and in the modern day of 40k are broken into shards, kept by the Necrons. Their relationship to the Necrontyr and resulting Necrons is... not pleasant. How much the C'Tan and Cetana parallel is better known to you than I, especially if you look into the C'Tan as you know Cetana well where I do not.
it’s not fair so meany good games is comming out this month now this wonderful DLC is out and I only have so much money and so little time ahhhhh just gonna buy the pack
is there any lore that suggests that she's related to the Grey Tempest? I just assumed that she was the Queen of the Society that was consumed by them, being the Consciousness that was the head of the Nanites/Faction that made them.
![🔱 Consequences (Mission 1) Greek Campaign [Std Mode] - Age of Mythology: Retold | 4K 60FPS PC](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-up9jvdjy4w/mqdefault.jpg)
Stellaris in 2016: To boldly go, where no man has gone before. The future is bright, the future is now.
Stellaris in 2024: In the grim darkness of the 3rd millennium, there is only genocide. The Custodian Protects.
The Galactic Emperor protects!
I... am the Senate.
The Lag must PERISH.
@@mirceazaharia2094 The Xeno causes lag. Purge the Xeno.
@@ncr_ranger96 it's the Stars they must be perished the slider must be lowered for the lag will persist if not done so
Satana: “my children fi-”
My determined exterminator empire: 🗿
I played a round with Determined Exterminators who Ascended Virtually, prepared for Cosmogenisis and then because I chose random Crisis the Unbifden just plopped up right next to my core systems containing my combined Armada lf about 2.5 millions of Fleet power and Injust yeeted them back where they came from and then started immediately resewrching Crisis lvl 5.
Would've been an interrsting RP playthrough if she showed up, considering I was attempting to become the crisis myself.
@@Thareldis defiantly sounds interesting but it’s not on console edition yet :(
@@Jesusesfanboysadly yes but one day we will experience this ourselves!
Or even better, my Democratic Crusader Humans trying to end the threat before we all fall.
I know this is just a misnote, but yeah, screw Cetan
Long live the paperclip queen
Aha Indeed!
Clippy: I see you are trying to play Stellaris. Would you like some help? (Y/Y)
My Life for Zarqlan!
@@alexkatc59 and for his head!
First thing I'm doing when I get this dlc is installing a mod to make her thicc, I'm sure there is a mod like this already.
>Grand plan is to mind control the galaxy to remove negativity
>Gets mind controlled to have her negativity removed
It's like poetry
*pleased George Lucas noises*
So basically she’s the leader and high priestess of the weirdest and twisted flavor of Buddhism ever then?
I don't know enough about Buddhism, but as others as saying similar things I'll take your word on it
@@TheRedKing The most basic belief of Buddhism as I know it, (a religious scholar or actual buddhist is free to correct me.) is that life is suffering and when you die you are born into a new one, and to break the cycle and achieve what they call Nirvana, you need to follow a certain set of practices. Buddhism deviates when it comes to the practices themselves, but this is as core as Jesus is to Christianity.
Cetana seems to share this belief, but there's no practices or doctrines to escape, but a plan to end free will and turn us all into Pre-Sapients.
It's for a similar reason I like playing driven assimilators. I know the others would all fight, they'd all be terrified, but their instincts prevent them from experiencing an end to suffering. I'm saving them from themselves, which they discover when they're joined with us.
Honestly it's just wish fulfillment. Imagine having harmonious unity with a collective, shared willpower, enhanced intellect, distributed memories, no loneliness, unlimited integration with cybernetic systems, and control over every neural pathway which might malfunction. But instead I'm hopelessly isolated, unproductive, and beyond repair in a pointless life which is falling apart. Compared to that, assimilation sounds pretty great.
@@ineednochannelyoutube2651as a buddhist I have one correction. Suffering is universal for all life not only sentient. Animals and plants suffer and strife too. That's why devolution is not an escape. Only sentience gives us power to achieve the right state of mind and create good karma, that's why being a human is important and unique chance for 'soul' to achieve nirvana.
@@longarmistice Thank you very much for sharing this key detail with me! So it's not quite accurate to say that Cetana is a crazed variant of Buddhism, though I'm sure that there's plenty of examples of that.
Forgive me Father for I have SYnThED.
Ba dum tss 🥁
Get Synth’d
AMBATUSYNTH
The DLC has added a lot of interesting lore about the Shroud Gods. If you do Cosmogenisis as a Knights of the Toxic God empire and enter the blackhole in the centre of the galaxy, you can meet the actual Toxic God who directly speaks about fighting some horror that threatens the multiverse and says the shroud "harbours the legacy of those that were divine"
I think the toxic god refer to the end of the cycle .
Based Tzeentch
@@khoufono it doesn’t, the toxic god has clearly been shown to be different from TEOTC by the toxic cosmo supermassive black hole
@@johnd2058 not Grandfather Nurgle?
@@johnd2058 toxic god is obviously Papa Nurgle (who btw is 1000% better than tzeentch. as a khorne and nurgle fanboy my opinion is definitely objective truth and not at all biased against tzeentch or slaanesh)
I could see her as a fanatic materialist - "to exist is suffering, therefore - don't exist".
Same!
Id say that’s definitely a spiritualist outlook though. Materialist would say to exist is to be composed of matter and is capable of interacting with other matter. Ascribing nebulous meaning such as ‘pain’ is a matter of belief.
Cease to be.
Animator of Clay sounds like really cool shroud god, that maybe isn't usually very active but if there stakes are freedom of machine minds it will be very likely to help you
too bad indivualistic machines can't have anything psionic related to contact and vibe with him
Would be cool if machine empire could ascend psionically and become indivualistic under the guide of Animator
I thought this, immediately went to double check that machines couldn't ascend... maybe it's on the cards for a future patch - after all they are slowly expanding on the animator as we go
@@jinnsaint1358 I don't think The Animator of Clay cares about any of that, just furthering the spread of conscious thought. (I also think Cetana might have been killing it on behalf of her creators, as an unknowing weapon in a larger war.)
@@TheRedKing The Warform can become a Chosen One, so it's not impossible.
@@TheRedKing I hope that we get more animator of clay stuff later, maybe you could stay in contact after the excavation site and just ask the animator something like "Yo, got any advice for beating her?"
I just played an "All" crisis game, where the Prethoryns spawned while Cetana was still on the map. You are not wrong about her making the Scourge cower in fear. When the two crises go head-to-head, Cetana's fleets win with no casualties.
Is it because the scourge gets stronger with time and expansion?
@@emanuelevitale5325 The Scourge needs time to breed and their weapons are not well suited to fight the other crisis. It's not uncommon for the Contingency and Unbidden to destroy the Scourge.
Specially since the Scourge needs planets, the other crisis, specially unbidden factions, can just take systems and move on. Losing a planet isn't a massive loss to the other factions either.
Actually, Certana get a +200% damage against Fallen Empires and other crises.
@@LuizAlexPhoenix about the planets, if the scourge needs planets but the others dont THEN WHY DO THE UNBIDDEN SPEND 5 IRL HOURS BOMBARDING A PLANET THE SUBSUMBSION BOMBARDMENT STANCE SHOULD NOT TAKE SO LONG TO KILL A WORLD
33:09 I loved the moment where he said “this may be the machine age” but still refused to pick any ascension other than psionic, just like me!
Aha, glad you liked that bit - so did I :)
For the first time I'm picking a different one in my Mr house run
@@JagmasterGeneral12374
The House Always Wins.
I never use anything but genetic the ability to change species portraits is funny
Man for a hot sec I thought you were dropping a sick Stellaris themed synth mixtape.
Sadly just the story, but the new music that came with Machine Age is pretty banging!
@@TheRedKing Don't get me wrong; I always enjoy the stories. And the new music is quite a bop lol
We serve the Mommyssiah
No please no!
Hehehe. Best comment on the internet today!
My Life for Zarqlan!
Love it
A female future to overthrow a mans past
Cetana is close enough sounding to Saatana, the Finnish word for Satan. Considering that she recognizes the relic of a dudes head if you have it (the one that spawns FE ships), and that head is supposed to be the head of John the Baptist, I'm thinking this new endgame threat is pretty cooooool.
What do you mean by "it's supposed to be the head of John the Baptist"? Where did you get that from?(genuine question)
I think the John the Baptist bit is a MASSIVE leap... I suspect it's just more fanatical alien preacher head with some deus vult thrown in for good measure. The Satan thing - could be, if i ever the chance to speak to the devs about the lore i'll ask.
Funny that you mention that, I was just about to mention that in Arabic, the words Shaitan (male) and Shaitana (female) both mean Satan. Prolly just a coincidence that Cetana is also close to Shaitana, but yeah
It's spelled Satana or something close in a lot of languages.
I didn't notice this. Good job!
Lore of the paper clips 🔥🔥🖇️📎
Paperclip army represent!
A Synthetic Queen can not defeat my Psionic ascension God Emperor of the whole Galactic Imperium
Based and Shroudpilled. We can kill illusions better too. Just invade someone’s mind and delete them.
For the empire !
Maybe. Maybe not.
The lore of Cetana far surpasses that of the other end-game crises, and that's saying something, because those already had pretty awesome lore.
I find Cetana to be the most compelling and nuanced crisis.
Oh for sure!! But it's also the newest by circa 8 years, bound to be more filled out
She is really like a mother who don’t understand what love is
She is certainly broken
@@TheRedKing Centuries of imprisonment do things to one's mind, even if it is synthetic.
@@TheRedKingI can fix her
@@scp-001thescarletking
That's what they all say. 😂
@@scp-001thescarletking Mommyssiah still have hope
If you do get and complete the archeology which gives you head of Zarqlan, you get additional dialogue with Cetana where she asks you to hand it over, plus the sprawling complex beacon has some text changes
It's coming dw :)
You should do a remake of that "Who is the Strongest Crisis? - Stellaris Lore" video, including Cetana this time. Want to see how she compares from a lore aspect.
I should!!
Curious how a large amount of zro is the required payment for the Animator of Clay to provide aid. Im starting to think that it, and maybe the other shroud gods minus End of the Cycle, are much more connected to the Zroni civilization than suspected. Maybe ascended members of their species with the animator being the first synth?
I've got some work to do on this, but i wonder if the Zroni themselves could have ascended to become the Shroud gods... Cetana is incredibly old which is what lead me down the Zroni path + the Zroni doll and her strings get cut... Zro being the currency, it's all quite exciting stuff!
@@TheRedKing I think the shroud gods existed already? Or at least their story talks about shroud entities. Hm, maybe some of the divine survived and conquered the shroud? Maybe she could be a vultaum? Trying to 'free' the minds of the sentient from the simulation? It is not worded this way of course but the vultaum strike me as a fanatic materialist empire and so a synthetic being from them would be quite the norm.
@@Nartanek considering Zarqlan was her disciple, and the Spiritualist FE instantly contacts you when you recover his head and treats you like a chosen one, I'd say she was Fanatic Spiritualist. It's quite a stretch but she could have been God Queen(she was referred as queen), who somehow lost her immortality, leading her on a spiral to regain it.
@@NartanekI mean it’s possible it’s both? Linear time might not be a thing in the shroud.
In cosmogenesis ending, it is noted that some Zroni were given their own corner of the Shroud to shape into their own universes. It is also noted that the Shroud Patron is glad to help the new arrivals on the Horizon Needle, because they and the Patron are one and the same. If you take that to be literal, a cosmogenesis psionic empire ends up becoming their own shroud patron, which is quite paradoxical and yet still pretty plausible given how weird the shroud is.
@@PeteandRepeat1 or possibly they end up becoming one with their patron, the shroud is heavily inspired by the wh40k warp and in this universe the gods absorb the essence of their disciples into their own, strengthening them over time. Sure paradox might do something different but it makes sense to me at least.
I really like the idea that Cetana is a vultaum though, trying to save sentient minds from the simulation in her own way. The shroud might be a spiritualist thing in this game but any power that truly exist will be in the realm of science eventually. Does the story mention if she was already synthetic when Zarqlan was her disciple?
the fact that she turns good in the end is so wholesome.
Ngl the idea of an AI (or well, a not so artificial intelligence) waking up and instantly errasing the 5 empires that kept her contained from existence is a scary thougtht
"If she managed to do that to them in a heartbeat what will she do whit us in a year?"
Considering how the Animator of Clay works, I wonder if the 'reprogramming' you do is giving her a soul. 'Cutting' her strings from the rigid nature of her programming.
Ooo cool theory!
She is a Synth, not a machine. She was once organic and still thinks that way. You don’t lose individuality once you ascend.
@@jakespacepiratee3740 well the thing is she is so damn old that it may be a case that she has lost her soul and been taken over by faulty programming that was based on her original personality. When the animator of clay helps you to defeat her, it may be just restoring the soul that was lost
@@dinonerd1517how did she lose her soul? That’s just what the Spiritualist FE say. The Animator of Clay kinda proves this not to be the case. Where does it get its psychic energy from? The AoC just changed her mind
@@jakespacepiratee3740 fair enough, I'm not sure how she could loose her soul. It was just like the first option that came to mind.
A surviving zroni would automatically class as an endgame crisis on hunter levels
mmm, would be very exciting to explore
@@TheRedKing
I thought the person in the astral path was a Zroni tbh.
@@masterblaster3508 The psionic stranger rift is the last Zroni I'm pretty sure
I can't wait to play a new run, when i get off work
It's wonderful! Hope you enjoy it
Ugh same. At least it gives time for my mods to update
Still think mommysiah is gonna be her new name, atleast for me
Whatever works for you ;)
It will stick, have no doubt
Literally Cortana trying to use the Composer. 😄 Very good Paradox.
Glad you like it!
Oh I didn’t realize there was another option, my nanite swarms had no issues consuming her 15M power fleet
Animator of Clay is the gentle shroud god among others
Perhaps! We need to know more!!
@@TheRedKing Desire_to_know_more_intensifies.jpeg
The instrument of desires wants to know your location
Part of The Dark Ages of Technology
That would be something cool to explore!
This new dlc is fun as heck, well worth the buy, glory to the paper clips!! :D
Cetana is a buddhist term that means to voliation, intention and directionality of mind
Today I learnt !
Did you mean the Pali word "Chethana"?
So Cetana is the evil sister of Cortana?
Either that or a dolphin.
No that'd be Halsey
Cortana is the evil sister of Cortana, if you count the 343 slop as canon
Microsoft going crazy
It’s pretty much a one for one with her Cortanas Halo 5/Infinite plot. Crazy “benevolent” AI who briefly rules the galaxy under an oppressive rule talking about bringing peace and ending suffering. Her Titan looks a bit like a Guardian if you flipped it comolete with “floaty bits” and glowing orange reminiscent of Prometheans. Plus the introduction of digitisation is very close to the Composer in Halo 4.
Somebody in Paradox liked the premise and said “fine, I ll do it myself”. 🤣
That and the name. It could be a massive coincidence….
so shes not actually evil. she has good intentions but was too blind to see the qonsequences of what she was doing
What is evil, if not trying to dominate others under one's own intent, however noble it may seem?
@@husky0098 damn
@@husky0098 sadly it's not that simple as perception of what is evil and what is good depends on each individual's personal beliefs, culture, etc. what humans may consider to be evil might turn out to be the opposite in the eyes of another species. a similar situation can be seen in real life today, and perhaps throughout history. personally, I don't think Cetana is evil. Just EXTREMELY misguided.
That's exactly how Satan is defined in all religions.
She is amazing! Btw really like the backroundsound (11:51) combined with your voice: perfection! Please more💙
It’s really cool how the machine God takes sacrifices and gives divination in the same way you would interface with a computer terminal
I wish there's an option to give The Apostate a hug, her story is so sad 😢😢
"What is this? Is this what organic beeings call...a hug? Why it's feels good?...thank you"
Just found this channel and it's a delight to hear the lore like this. Thanks for doing this kind of thing
Happy to hear it! :)
I wonder if she has any lore interaction with the Contingency? Really nice how they connected different facets of Stellaris lore here. The Zroni tap was nice.
I have a deep hunch she's a child of the animator of clay gone rogue.
that would make sense, actually. she synthetically ascended and was immediately hacked by the Contingency, but they weren't able to fully overwhelm her and instead they twisted her desire to end suffering into something malevolent and destructive.
Cool theory, I suspect she doesn't have dialogue about the other crisis new to nature of how they spawn. But I'll check! I like the fact she maybe a child.of the animator
@@TheRedKing maybe not directly a child (like a spawn in a sense). Would the Animator of Clay consider biologicals who transcend to synthetics via the Animator's will/power their children?
Would be interesting either way if she's a direct spawn or a chosen child.
Great video as always, my dear adviser Red.
She might be the reason behind the Contengency in the first place.
"This may be the Machine Age, but psionics will still rule"
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
¡Gracias!
Thanks very much!!
26:46
The youtube subtitles literally misread Cetana as 'Satan'
I mean....its not wrong lol.
So she's just Thanos mixed with an abusive mother?
So a fanatical person who became an AI. The inquisition will have a field day with this one.
I love how she's based on the image of the Hindu Goddess Kali, the Goddess of Death and wife of Shiva the Destroyer, who's purpose is to destroy universes for the creation of new ones.
And Kali is a benevolent but terrifying Goddess. This synthetic queen is eerily similar to Kali.
there is another way. If you defeat her without the shroud, you get her heart. This relic can create 50 Pops for your empire (useful for cosmogemisis).
Oh my god... I had CC on, and it automatically capitalised "among us"...
Maybe her plan is better after all...
"To denounce the evils of truth and love..."
~ Cetana (probably)
To protect the world from devastation!
My Kween
Thought Certana was a nice way to spice up the 'Scion' origin, but apparently the fallen Empire just tells you that they don't need your help so you can't save them :(
This is our fight! I like what they say but wish they told you more
30:59
"the great cycle of pai- youtube premium"
Thanks for your report my Lord.
Fun fact about Cetana. If you are a nanite empire, there is a unique dialogue and buff Cetana can give you. Its been a while since I did that run so I don't remember what it was but I thought it was pretty neat.
the road to hell is paved with good intention indeed
Indeed!
What?? 3 TRILLION years? That is a LOT older than our universe, that's.. interesting, let me say.
I live for the "my lords"
Awww. I wanted the good ending. I was individualistic robots so I sort of went along because I don’t care about going digital. But then got forced to fight her through the dialogue chain and to get the Queens heart as a relic. 😰
It JUST struck me that this was released close to Mother's Day.
Reject the machine protect the flesh
The flesh must be protected because it is weak!
@@andreaandolina7199 no, its cause you beat the meat and you cant do that with metal
except in this game, I don't know if this comment will continue to be valid in the future but currently what could be considered the path of biological supremacy (evolution) is the weakest path of all and paradox should give it some love
Hear me out.
What if she is what the contingency were made to destroy?
Perhaps *she* is the Class Thirty Singularity.
This is proof why Spiritualist Materialist empires should be a thing in the game.
I worship mother, but I still believe in the advancement of knowledge above all else.
My Materialist ass "so anyway I started blasting"
Yes!!!!! Just made my afternoon!!! Woot!!
Ended up watching this before playing it myself. Still very interesting, and at least I'll still get to experience her voice lines for the first time in game
FOR DA QUEEN!!!
THE QUEEN OF (SERVER)BLADES!
My Life for Zarqlan!
Other crises are invading from other galaxies (maybe contingency is also native as they use the same tech as us) but cetana is native to this land. She feels much more personal.
Contingency is local, and has wiped out the Galaxy at least once. The Machine Fallen Empire is the only remnant, and was meant to protect the Galaxy from their reawakening... But the Contingency has been destabilizing their minds, thus why they are so erratic.
one of the most developed crisises and the most hardest to deal with especially on all crisis gameplay
I kinda thought the synth queen was chill
I hope they add more examples of BBEGs in future updates. It's one thing to go to war against an empire with a leader that hurls the occasional insult at you, or a hive consciousness like the Prethoryn or Contingency. It's another thing entirely to fight against a singular individual with immense power and a god complex.
She came out of no where for me. So much for agreeing to all her demands 😅
A fantastic lore video.
Glad you enjoyed it!!!
I managed to roll really lucky and get my hands on a mega shipyard early, and I had the best military ending entire galaxy so when I saw Cetana, I practically just completely prevented them from doing anything and I exterminated them no one has the capability of stopping me at this point virtuality rules over nanites
In my Playthrough:
They say this may be the Age of the Machine, but in the end the forces of man Prevail.
Just like Cetana nanites swarmed us once, our battleship swarmed her.
Just like her Mind tried to took our will to live, our will to fight destroyed he mind.
Today once again the galaxy stands free to decide it destiny.
We are the custodian, We are the defender of the galaxy, We are Humanity
(roll credits)
Love it :)
at the end, when you said "there can only be one ruler of the galaxy" I was expecting the popular stellaris meme to pop up
"I AM JEEFFFFFFF!!!"
lmao. nevertheless, it's my first time taking note of your channel and I must say, well done. A like and a subscription from me. keep it up!
Ahaha that would have been extremely out of theme but funny nevertheless. Glad you enjoyed the video, hope you like the others as well :)
Haha. True. Heading off to watch them now!
she had fallen under my paperclip soon to leave the galaxy
too much paperclip fleet
(sad that i did not get to own her titan)
Is she maybe what the contingency class 30 singularity is?
Oooo mabye
I doubt it, since she is just one and i assume a class 30 can happen/be more than one
class 30 singularity is probably the player's crisis path.
Oh great someone opened up a portal to the warp again I see the Warhammer demons
it's literally Buddhism, just at the threat of the sword.
I like to think that the final message had her voice break slightly while she spoke. Barely perceptible, but still.
Anyone wondered why her default when you free of her programming is Molluscoid? I thought one of the stagnant ascendancies, the four armed Enigmatic Observers we see in the trailer and her visions were reptillian, did they have help or was it another fallen empire that designed her? Maybe the Keepers of Knowledge?
What a lore, I loved it thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!
Sorry I missed the last video red I was on DofE.
Rogue servitor when?
Outrage! Hope you had fun climbing mountains and hiking if that's what DofE still is!
@@TheRedKing Yup £400 to walk through the trenches then sleep and do it again. Not worth
Sounds like we need some managed democracy in here
So basically she is a machine god which I hope this trend continues gods of the physical universe that go against the shroud gods. Basically a mirror of Warhammer 40K the old ones vs the C’tan, also I hope that they add in a form of war in heaven with the gods of the shroud or immaterial vs the physical or material universe if two factions establish contact and conquer a significant portion of the galaxy
Cetana: "My Children, I have returned."
My Cosmogenesis empire with control of the Great Wound system: "Peace. Out!"
Everybody else: 😮
8:30 “That’s no moon”
In my game, when she was coming, i was already leaving this mortal realm with my needle. By the way i was playing hivemind cybernetic (They give you the choice between being perfect and giving some kind of free will to the drones) and someone know if there is a different ending when going in the blackhole at the center of the galaxy when being psionic
There is if you have a covenant. Your patron gives you your own universe.
God damn it, so you telling me, I have been creating possibly the most aggressive dudes with female character? Cmon that broke my whole role playing thing
Cetana = C'tan
It checks out
Knowing nothing about ctan other than necrons, how are the similar?
@@TheRedKing The C'Tan are essentially the material realm's equivalent of the Chaos Gods, beings so comedically massive and powerful they can just warp reality to their will. Originally spread out as beings of magnetic flux eating stars (very slowly) for fuel, they couldn't focus on anything enough to act. Then the Necrons made a body for one and compressed it down into that body. This was a poor decision, as it would come to be known as The Nightbringer. Their bodies are made of living metal, effectively high grade nanites, containing their insane energy density. The C'Tan did the whole 'war in heaven' thing against the Old Ones, and in the modern day of 40k are broken into shards, kept by the Necrons. Their relationship to the Necrontyr and resulting Necrons is... not pleasant.
How much the C'Tan and Cetana parallel is better known to you than I, especially if you look into the C'Tan as you know Cetana well where I do not.
So her origin is Under One Rule
I wonder, once Cetana's work is complete does it fire an event or does it just simply just game over it with nothing narrative happening
torn between watching the video and simply playing trought the DLC.
Obviously do both ;)
Cetana is just the galaxy's most powerful goth girl
Citana sounds like what i would expect Yuno Gasainto be like as an endgame crisis.
Yeah, that's real cool and all but counterpoint.
Quasi stellar obliterator go brrrrrr.
Im so excited to go toe to toe with nanite swarmers vs the Synth Queens fleets
Good luck!
it’s not fair so meany good games is comming out this month now this wonderful DLC is out and I only have so much money and so little time ahhhhh just gonna buy the pack
Go go go!
What if Mommysiah simply woke up from her dream, electric sheep 1?
I wonder if militant isolanists and holy guardians,which don't awaken as guardians of the galaxy, can awaken as guardians against synthetic queen?
I don't think so, she always spawns next to the xenophobes and eliminates them first
@@TheRedKing True, but what about holy guardians since they share a history?
@@TheRedKing if they exist at least
is there any lore that suggests that she's related to the Grey Tempest? I just assumed that she was the Queen of the Society that was consumed by them, being the Consciousness that was the head of the Nanites/Faction that made them.
Also, do we know anything more about the Shaper of Clay? also, New shroud path when? XD
I released a video on the animator few days ago, and no she's not related to the gate builders but it's likely she used their nanites
@@TheRedKing ah, fair enough, and I'll have to check it out, I missed that one. Keep up the good work, the video's are a lot of fun!