Mysterious dig site

[Нагито Комаэда]

I've been surfing the TVtropes page on Stellaris and found mention of a rather mysterious dig site.

One Ancient Relics dig site reveals that the entire population of a planet committed suicide two hundred thousand years ago. The reason? They believed that "the Archenemy, the Shadow that Devours All, some cosmic foe of unfathomable malice" would one day arrive at their homeworld and devour the souls of anyone alive at that time. Sound familiar?

I don't think it's a Broken Gates site, since you need Leviathans DLC, not Ancient Relics, for it to appear, and I don't have the latter DLC installed. Also, as I can remember, there were mentions of lots of people corpses on the planet in Broken Gates site, but it don't recall that this was due to a mass suicide. So what is that?

[Biggs]

its a lore digsite hinting at one of the in game end game crisis. just another dig site nothing special except the lore

[Нагито Комаэда]

Originally posted by zil:

its a lore digsite hinting at one of the in game end game crisis. just another dig site nothing special except the lore

Let me guess, you mean the Ancient Robot World dig site?

[Cerodil]

I'm pretty sure that's from the "Any other Rock" site, I don't know which if any dlc it is from. I remember it cause it has one of my favorite chapter names "Floor is lava."

[Talbrys]

It's just a reference to what happens if you make a covenant with the shroud entity known as the "End of Cycle"

Once 50 years have passed since forming the End of the Cycle Covenant, the Reckoning will take place. All planets will be depopulated and turned into Planet shroud.png Shrouded Worlds. All leaders, fleets and ships will be instantly destroyed and all resources from that empire's store will be drained almost completely. The covenant empire will survive only in the form of a newly colonized planet of survivors, which will be named Exile. The game will pick any planet with 40% habitability or more, even if it is located within another empire's borders. If there is no colonizable planet, the game is instantly lost.

Every regular empire will gain a Diplomacy opinion.png −1000 opinion modifier with the remnant of the Shroud-Marked empire for "bringing the end", with a decay rate of 5 each year. All subjects of the Shroud-Marked empire will become independent.

Every previous colony will spawn a shroud manifestation. Finally, an immensely powerful Shroud entity known as "The Reckoning" will appear over the empire's former capital, and proceed to seek out the remaining life in the galaxy. It will leave Exile for last, although new colonies may be attacked at any point.

https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/The_Shroud#End_of_the_Cycle

[Нагито Комаэда]

Originally posted by Talbrys:

It's just a reference to what happens if you make a covenant with the shroud entity known as the "End of Cycle"

Once 50 years have passed since forming the End of the Cycle Covenant, the Reckoning will take place. All planets will be depopulated and turned into Planet shroud.png Shrouded Worlds. All leaders, fleets and ships will be instantly destroyed and all resources from that empire's store will be drained almost completely. The covenant empire will survive only in the form of a newly colonized planet of survivors, which will be named Exile. The game will pick any planet with 40% habitability or more, even if it is located within another empire's borders. If there is no colonizable planet, the game is instantly lost.

Every regular empire will gain a Diplomacy opinion.png −1000 opinion modifier with the remnant of the Shroud-Marked empire for "bringing the end", with a decay rate of 5 each year. All subjects of the Shroud-Marked empire will become independent.

Every previous colony will spawn a shroud manifestation. Finally, an immensely powerful Shroud entity known as "The Reckoning" will appear over the empire's former capital, and proceed to seek out the remaining life in the galaxy. It will leave Exile for last, although new colonies may be attacked at any point.

https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/The_Shroud#End_of_the_Cycle

I suggested that by "the Archenemy, the Shadow that Devours All, some cosmic foe of unfathomable malice" they mean the Dimensional Horror or Elder One, but I've already expressed my doubt that this is Broken Gates.
Surely, the End of the Cycle also fits.

[Cerodil]

Hmm, I always thought it was referencing the Gray Tempest when they tried to devour the galaxy.

[Нагито Комаэда]

Originally posted by Cerodil:

Hmm, I always thought it was referencing the Gray Tempest when they tried to devour the galaxy.

I doubt that cause the description does not really fit.

[Cerodil]

Okay so I found the event in an old save and reread it. I suppose it could be a mention to one of the shroud entities but I don't think end of cycle fits. The end of cycles leaves the worlds as shrouded worlds while those like the Eater of worlds just slurps up all the people leaving the planet untouched.

The event start with you finding a ruined world with no life and lots of tectonic activity.

The saying "the 4,444,444th turn of the tides will be the Last. Nothing will withstand Its rebirth." makes me think it's a Y2K or similar reference?

The next line confuses me though, I've never really thought about it much or maybe my dyslexia didn't catch it but I think there's a typo.

"Whatever that means, it seems that few of those who survived this deadly pilgrimage chose to return to the surface after reading it, instead giving themselves to the rivers of fire."

Shouldn't it say they "chose not to return?"

[Talbrys]

Originally posted by Cerodil:

Okay so I found the event in an old save and reread it. I suppose it could be a mention to one of the shroud entities but I don't think end of cycle fits. The end of cycles leaves the worlds as shrouded worlds while those like the Eater of worlds just slurps up all the people leaving the planet untouched.

The event start with you finding a ruined world with no life and lots of tectonic activity.

The saying "the 4,444,444th turn of the tides will be the Last. Nothing will withstand Its rebirth." makes me think it's a Y2K or similar reference?

The next line confuses me though, I've never really thought about it much or maybe my dyslexia didn't catch it but I think there's a typo.

"Whatever that means, it seems that few of those who survived this deadly pilgrimage chose to return to the surface after reading it, instead giving themselves to the rivers of fire."

Shouldn't it say they "chose not to return?"

It's never stated they permanently remain shrouded (even if mechanically they do due to the relatively short timespan a campaign happens in, though by the same token it's never stated they DON'T permanently remain) after best End consumes the populace.

"Shadow that Devours All"
EoC systematically devours the entire galaxy, leaving behind shrouded or "shadowed" planets. It leaves the covenanted empire survivors for last, and depending on how strong the rest of the galaxy is it can take a while so it's totally possible that it took long enough the origin story faded from said empires common knowledge and it fell into legend/myth.

The saying "the 4,444,444th turn of the tides will be the Last. Nothing will withstand Its rebirth." makes me think it's a Y2K or similar reference?

Tides are cyclical, and the "last" "turning of the tides" would be the end to a cyclical concept. That being said, I don't think the writers would have been trying to be that clever with their verbiage.

You could be right it isn't in reference to EoC (though I think it being a Y2K reference is a stretch), however it's the one I see as most plausible.