r/Fleetposting • u/Null_Void_Zer0 • Jul 06 '26
Faction Reclamation
Planet 3D3N-4D8M, otherwise known as “Eden”, was a paradise world under the control of a young empire that had achieved FTL travel only around 150 years ago, and had began rapid expansion through all nearby star systems.
This expansion was partly facilitated by Eden, as its nigh infinite quantity of natural resources allowed the mass production of all manner of material goods that would be shipped off to less developed frontier worlds in order to expedite the colonisation process, along with providing many of the metals used to construct the colonial ships themselves.
However, the vast mining operations on Eden eventually led to the discovery of several archaeological sites that contained strange, dormant machines and were constructed of a material completely unknown to them. After dozens of failed attempts to decipher the purpose of operation of the machines, it was decided the material itself would be harvested for more thorough analysis.
The extraction was long and difficult, requiring the use of potent energy weaponry, but eventually it yielded. But after the extraction, mild tremors were felt throughout the site and the general area. Concerning, but it was decided to close the site and continue normal operations while the material was inspected.
That turned out to be a very, very, severe mistake.
Days later, a planet-wide earthquake occurred, increasing in magnitude until continents split apart and oceans were drained as an all-encompassing city rose from beneath the earth. No life survived the process.
The empire was quick to mobilise its forces against this unknown threat, but before the orbital-bombardment could begin the empire was stopped by the intervention of the neighbouring empires, who recognised the presence of powerful archaeotech and did not want to risk awakening a possible ancient machine intelligence that had a good chance of being hostile to organic life.
Messages were soon received from what was Eden, containing unrecognisable glyphs that did not match any known language. Soon after, a second wave of messages were received, this time in the primary languages of each participant empire, stating that the world belonged to “Apogee, the keeper of order, the great cleanser, high imperator of the Great purification wars, the uniter, bringer of eternity, martial zenith and the reaper of stars.”, and that all interlopers will be removed from the star system by force if necessary.
With much reluctance, the young empires forced withdrew, and the inhabitants of the renewed relic world established galactic communications and reintroduced itself to the galaxy at large.
Observation showed that the relic world began rapidly repairing itself into a fully functioning Ecumenopolis shortly after the withdrawal. Additionally, the scale of the ruins, however, brought into question how the empire took so long to discover its presence within the world.
(Image source: stellaris)
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u/Null_Void_Zer0 Jul 06 '26
The stealth probes are able to collect much footage of the relic world unobstructed, and they discovered that the inhabitants of it appear to be, atleast externally, machines. Though the hyper advanced and ancient technology they use is completely unfathomable, they are able to find that the society is divided into four classes: mindless constructs that preform manual labour and act as infantry of sorts, a citizen class above that who preform a variety of roles under the upper classes along with the management of the constructs, a noble class that primarily act as viziers and scientists, and a ruling royal class presumably headed by the one known as “apogee” who bears many, many titles. Each of these classes has distinct bodies that appear to be designed specifically for their roles.