Captain's Log – Entry 7
Date: 2373
Title: Blood-Soaked Eyes

Crew's dead. Ship's bleeding atmosphere from three decks, and the engine’s half-melted into the void. Doesn’t matter. I’m writing this because silence is starting to sound like it has teeth.

We were raiders, yeah. Not heroes. Not poets. Just desperate men running on bad luck and worse orders. I took this crew beyond the outer rim—beyond the trade lanes, beyond charted space. Thought we'd find ghost tech, maybe pick through the wreckage of some old war and limp home rich. Instead, we found ruins that looked like they’d been forgotten on purpose.

They were ancient, but not dead. Cold stone carved for something that wasn’t human. That wasn’t even alive, not in a way that made sense. One of the boys called it The Throne of the Lunar Soul before he stopped talking altogether.

That was the first to go. He didn’t scream or run. Just… stared out the viewport until his eyes bled. Then his mind went somewhere the rest of him couldn’t follow.

The stars shifted after that. At first I thought it was a glitch. Then the constellations bent, like they were being pulled toward something that wasn’t there the day before.

The rift came fast. Didn’t open—it tore. Like space itself was trying to scream. From it came nothing, and inside that nothing: gravity, hunger, will.

Not a predator. Not even a destroyer. Just a thing that was, and because it was, nothing else could be. Black holes began spiraling around it like priests dancing around a god they knew would eat them.

I saw the stars vanish—ripped inward, turned to streaks of red and white and silence.
I dream now of monuments burning, blazing monuments, they call them. I think they were warnings. Beacons built by something before us, long before us. They knew. And whatever they knew, they buried deep.

But we dug too far. We wanted to fathom the stars. We wanted to claim the cosmic keys to our creation.
All we did was unlock a door that should’ve stayed shut.

They don’t tell you what the night sky really is. Not majesty. Not beauty. It's teeth in the dark.

And now something's watching.

I don’t know if this’ll get picked up. But if you’re out there—if you're reading this—turn back. The sky is broken. The sea of stars is poisoned.

Something crawled through the wound.

And it’s still opening.

⠀

---

This collection includes a curated set of mods totaling around 13GB, selected for a more expansive and challenging Stellaris experience. It’s built for long-term campaigns with a focus on performance, balance, and emergent gameplay.

⠀

---

Load Order & Setup

To ensure proper functionality and compatibility, use the load order file with either the Paradox Launcher or Irony Mod Manager.

Download Load Order (JSON):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dP9TCknDq0TLikpsXWMsdcyWYiL55zHF/view?usp=sharing

Apply it exactly—some mods require specific ordering to avoid issues.

---

Recommended Galaxy Settings

These settings are tuned for slower pacing, higher difficulty, and a more defined early-to-late game progression.

AI & Difficulty

• Difficulty: Captain
  
• Scaling Difficulty: Mid Game
  
• AI Aggressiveness: High
  
• AI Empires: 30
  
• Advanced AI Starts: 15-30
  
• Fallen Empires: 5
  
• Marauder Empires: 3
  
• Difficulty Adjusted AI Modifiers: Enabled
  
• Difficulty Adjusted Technology Costs: Extreme

Galaxy Setup

• Galaxy Size: Massive (1250 stars)
  
• Galaxy Shape: Barred Spiral (L)
  
• Hyperlane Density: 0.5x
  
• Empire Placement: Distributed Players
  
• Advanced Neighbors: Disabled

Tech & Progression

• Technology Cost: 1.5x
  
• Tradition Cost: 1.5x
  
• Victory Year: 2500
  
• Mid-Game Start Year: 2300
  
• End-Game Start Year: 2400

Planetary Settings

• Habitable Worlds: 1x
  
• Guaranteed Habitable Worlds: 2
  
• Pre-FTL Civilizations: 0.25x
  
• Pre-Sapient Species: 0.25x
  
• Abandoned Gateways: 0.25x
  
• Wormhole Pairs: 0.25x

Crisis & Misc.

• Crisis Type: All
  
• Crisis Strength: 3x
  
• Voidworms: 3x
  
• Cutholoids: 3x
  
• Xeno-Compatibility: Disabled

---

This setup is intended for players looking for a slower-paced, high-stakes game with exploration, limited hand-holding, and a more dangerous late game. If anything breaks or needs updating, leave a comment on the collection.

---

Join the Paradox MP Discord (LINK):
https://discord.gg/paradoxmp

Join the Stellaris Modding Discord (LINK):
https://discord.gg/WpeXm2h

For inquiries, Ping/Mention @nekromaster on the Paradox MP Community Discord or Stellaris Modding Discord.