The Terraformer Wars: Hidden Lore of the X Universe
Vložit
- čas přidán 7. 07. 2024
- It took me over 40 hours to make this. Thank you (sarcastically), Egosoft, for your erratic timelines, paywalls, language barriers, and still-unresolved plot holes. And thank you (non-sarcastically), Egosoft, for telling some genuinely fascinating stories in the X Universe.
00:00 Critical Info
05:47 First Terraformer War
07:49 Argon & Terrans Diverge
13:00 Reunion & Conflict
18:30 Terran Invasion
23:12 Beryll Counterattack
25:56 Mystery of the Torus
32:14 Battlefield Earth
36:46 Recap
38:25 The Ultimate Sacrifice
39:28 Aftermath & Epilogue
Awesome video! Can't praise you enough for putting together all the puzzles pieces in such a coherent manner! Listening to it while taking a walk gave me the goosebumps. It's so much darker than I remembered it...
However, I do have a few corrections, and an explanation why the information is at times disparate.
First, the corrections: Saya Kho was NOT married. I have no clue who translated that part of the Encyclopedia and what gave him the idea, but it's not in the original German version! It frustrates me when translators inject their own ideas into things they have no business injecting anything into... This particular mistake has been bugging me for ~15 years.
So no, they weren't married. They didn't even know each other personally before they met up on the Torus. Sherman Hiatu was an (Earthborn) covert agent for the Argon. Furthermore, they did not come up with the plan to disable the Torus by themselves; it was a pre-planned and meticuously executed series of events... that ran into unforseen complications. It was also never planned as a suicide mission. It went awry.
When Saya asked Sherman why he agreed to the operation, he said "Because I like Ordano juice" (a declisious beverage that is available only in the Argon Federation, but not usually on Earth). Obviously, that was a BS answer by Hiatu, but it stopped Saya from asking any further. Her thoughts were elswhere at that time.
Now to the reason why the "canon wobbles". The Encyclopedia was written in 2009 or 2010; in-game events after then haven't made it into it. Half of the Encyclopedia was translated into English by the original Author (me), and half of it by someone else. My translation may have not the best English (because I'm German after all), but it's accurate. The other guys translation may have better English, but it contains inaccuracies. I'm also the author of all five official novels, and a large part of the back lore, but since I wasn't previously a permanent member of the team, I wasn't able to steer the direction of the lore at all times. The guys at Egosoft did their best, though, to coordinate with me from time to time.
However, I'm now, as of june, a permanent menber of the team, and we're determined to clean up the Enyclopedia, fill up the blanks, while attempting to retcon as little as possible... :-)
Keep up the good work, Captain!
The man himself! Thank you so much for your comment, corrections, and kind words. And congratulations on joining Egosoft full-time! I love the lore you've written and am very excited to hear it's getting the attention it deserves.
Thanks for putting this all together.
With your research you therefore earned your Bachelors degree in X-Universe History. Here you go! Well done!
🎖🏅🥇
Thank you so much for this incredibly informative and expertly assembled video!
The information in this is a very pleasant surprise as I was honestly gobsmacked by the beginning to Albion Prelude. It made it seem like there had yet to be a hot war at all save for the seizure of Heretic's End as creating a buffer zone for the Terrans which is a far smaller transgression that what the Terrans actually did. The intro to Albion Prelude made it sound like Saya was convinced that destroying the taurus (likely killing 10s of millions at least!) would somehow prevent an escalation which, at least to me, seemed like it would almost certainly do the exact opposite. This makes sooo much more sense and definitely makes Saya's actions understandable to say nothing of why things turned hot and the motives and methods behind the conflict.
Honestly Egosoft should just admit that they didn't have the time and resources to properly adapt the actual events at the time and just retcon Albion Prelude without trying to make it fit.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that while I remembered the intro showing the Xenon attack had occurred before the sabotage of the Taurus my confusion was because I did not remember it specifying that the attack was with Winters' Xenon working with the Argon intelligence.
Very seldomly leave comments, but this was such a well-produced, well put-together video. Hope to see many more like it on this channel, both in terms of lore and gameplay! :)
Been playing this game for years. Back since Albion. Thank you for all this😊
Very well done, I like how you classify which source material and extra's are in the franchise.
Thanks for the lore video, this never gets old ^^
Have fun Captain Snuggles
thank you for awesome X universe history :-) I have play X Universe since beginning X beyound frontier 1999
I do like to take an approach that the history recorded in a game universe is flawed like real history.
So the different versions recorded by the different factions are flawed by the limited Intel and propaganda.
So the discrepancies come from the imperfect recording of history in song.
*setting
* *Corrections Thread* *
Please post any corrections here so that viewers can find them all in one place. Please cite sources from the main timeline. And please be aware that even within the main timeline there may be some sources that contradict one another, especially when looking at things like NPC dialogue. If a piece of info is contradicted by an equal or stronger source, it won't make the cut.
Corrections that are verified and Snuggles-approved will be marked with a heart. Thank you in advance for your contributions!
First correction (originally submitted by @FortuneHunters): at 7:05, I say "In 2115, the first CPU ship gained self-awareness." I simplified that a bit too much. It would be more accurate to say "In 2115, the Second Terraformer Fleet began a pattern of erratic behavior, outwardly manifesting their previously-internal drift towards hostility and self-awareness."
The story here is that AGI experts on Earth ran some calculations and realized that there was imminent danger of the Terraformer fleets going rogue, potentially with violent results. They rushed out a patch to install a self-destruct command, but a dissenter, Marteen Winters, modified the patch at the last second to prevent it from being installed. His modification had the desired effect of blocking the patch, but it also had the unintended effect of disabling the Terraformers' "sandbox", which was an internal software environment in which their self-evolving AGI could test out new behaviors. Without the internal sandbox, the AGI had to test its new behaviors externally. Little tests like "I wonder what would happen if I lobbed a giant asteroid at Earth".
As evidenced by the calculations of Earth's experts and the later behavior of the Xenon, the Terraformers would have become both self-aware and hostile anyway, possibly not long after 2115. The X Encyclopedia is very clear on that point. But the botched patch allowed them to manifest those behaviors early.
Source: X Encyclopedia C-10-12, C-26-27, I-30
@@CptSnuggles07 27:35 The image used on the top left is of Miri Mariani. The redhead character that plays in X3 Reunion. The image is often wrongly associated with Saya, who had dark hair.
@@Ketraar The portraits of Saya and Elena came straight from the X Encyclopedia. Egosoft has been known to take some liberties with their character designs (e.g., Ban Danna), so I wouldn't be surprised if they recycled one or both of the portraits for other space ladies.
I saw a 40 min lore video by one of my new favorite X4 content creators. Havent even started it yet but im def gonna grab some popcorns for this one. (Still catching up on your new E variant destroyer video)
Thank you for all the research and video
Wow. Thank you I wish egosoft had more expansion on the story in x4
Nice one!
golden work, thank you! o7!
great job, thanks!
thank you
More Lore Please.
Thanks a lot, we can See that it has been a lot of work.
arigatou gozai masu. good job
Hey, thank you for putting this together. I'd read the wiki and such but it was nice to have all of it compiled together into a single entertaining narrative. I didn't know the connection between the Khos and the rest for example, and I enjoy that despite the plot holes. That said, my 2 cents: The Terrans are xenophobic authoritarians, yes, and maybe if they had more diplomatic savvy things might have taken a less tragic course. However, I do think they have a self-evident superiority going for them, as well as obvious concerns about being weighed down by the community of planets that it's not unreasonable for them to refuse joining. Additionally, without the sovereignty violation sparking a war the chance exists that Winters and AGI research would have found another crisis to exploit Argon naivette as to the extent of the threat posed by AI, and we would have a different resurgence of AI research and drone production. Either way the actual course of events I think you can say legitimized their fears, and the disastrous consequences for Earth proves their abundance of caution "right" in the end - not to mention the "creators" of the jump network also sharing their view that AI poses an existential threat beyond anything the meanie-beanie Terrans and their CIA meddling could ever do giving the "ends vs means" moral arithmetic a powerful nudge in the Terran's favor.
I actually don't think either the Terrans or the Argon are "right" in their approach to the Xenon. No one except the Ancients fully understand the scope of the Xenon territories or the level of their technological advancement. The Ancients have kept the vast majority of Xenon sectors within the Jump Gate Network sealed off, and the infestation has spread beyond the Network as well. And even 200 years before X4, some Xenon groups could field tech far more advanced than anything anyone possesses in the X4 era (stellar manipulator). Point being, defeating the Xenon will require major technological breakthroughs and, IF it's even achievable through conventional warfare, will also require a massive military campaign with forces well in excess of all major X4 factions' navies combined. The Terrans have a powerful military-industrial complex and a strong anti-Xenon doctrine, but they're actively stifling technological advancement and haven't achieved any major breakthroughs since the X-Shuttle 200 years ago; if anything, they've regressed since then. Meanwhile, the Argon are maintaining the freedom to innovate and forging strong alliances, but their forces suffer from constant attrition, and they lack the focus to direct their technological or military efforts at the heart of the Xenon problem. The factions are going to have to resolve their differences and work together if they ever want to actually defeat the Xenon.
Thank you for this video!
I tried to get into the X lore but I just couldn't. Too many holes and not the interesting kind but the annoying and confusing kind. I really wanted to like it, the different races especially have so much potential but if I can't piece anything cohesive together then I just won't bother anymore, unfortunately.
the time between X³TC and X4 is to be regarded as a dark age
Even with your best attempts to clarify the lore, this Video just highlights the lack of a strict Timeline from Egosoft. An official timeline if you will.
I can't believe that the Terrans wouldn't be able to bring their Navy back to defend their Homeworld in 2 years. 2 years is a long time. Never underestimate 24 months/ 730 Days. Obviously this is just another lore hole. Not a big one mind you, but still there. The Torus Eternal was destroyed, either by the Terraformers/Beryll or Saya Ko.
Yes, it is extremely frustrating. I don't want to do another "deep lore" video ever again, although I probably will anyway. You mentioned "strict timeline" and "official timeline". There genuinely is an official timeline, but the problem is that Egosoft isn't strict at all with how it's developed or how it's portrayed in-game. That's led to a lot of plot holes and a lot of not-so-healthy disagreement within the community, and also a couple of gray hairs for me.
The Jumpgates are deactivating and Earth is cut off. From the Book Wächter der Erde and translated to english.
He paused briefly to look at everyone present, then continued: "Two days ago, twenty-nine enemy ships entered the solar system, most of them terraformers. After that, the connection to the other side was lost. It has not yet been restored." Elena was suddenly jolted. She jumped to her feet. "Excuse me?" "You see, Kho-san," the general concluded with a sour smile, "even if we wanted to help, any help would come too late. The solar system is isolated." "How far had the retreat of our forces progressed, General?" Lea Singer spoke up. "Unfortunately, not very far yet, Major Singer. Personnel twenty-seven percent, fleet only about eight percent." Lea gasped for breath. For a moment, she forgot that she was talking to her highest superior. "Are you kidding? Eight percent? Of - how much? Around three hundred? Three hundred cruisers?
Earth is however not defenceless. Been years since I ready the Book but the fate of the USC Africa is burnt into my brain. The USC Africa is the only Carrier in the Sol System and is being swarmed by a sea of drones. The drones unable to penetrate the shields start throwing themselves into the thrusters which on mass leads to a anti matter Explosion as the Africa is forced to fire its thrusters to prevent its decaying Orbit. If you have any further questions feel free to ask.
@@Pkkno07 Fascinating, thank you very much for the translation! That does make much more sense in terms of Earth's tactics. It seems like the timing of Lea's death and the start of the jump gate shutdown are slightly different in the novel compared to the X Encyclopedia. The differences aren't hard to reconcile, but it is strange considering they were written by the same author at roughly the same time.
Did I correctly summarize the novel version of Saya Kho's death?
@@CptSnuggles07 The Events of the Torus Eternal are correct. My reading is that Saya did not intend suicide. Been ages since I read the book so I can not remember her exact motivation for destryoing the Torus and what she hoped to achieve by doing it. Kinda want to read the books again.
These are the last moments of Saya also from the Book "Wächter der Erde". So you can reach your own conclussion.
Excuse the formatting. Translation via Google because Deepl will only allow up to 1500 Characters.
In the last tether station, what Saya had been expecting and fearing all day finally happened. As Hiatu returned from a control cabinet with a module under his arm and walked past the terminal, he noticed the lock symbol at the top of the display panel. "Don't touch anything," he said, pointing to the symbol. "A silent alarm has been triggered. The system has just been locked. They may already know which tether station we are in. If not, just don't touch anything, okay?" "Does that mean our plan has failed?" "No!" Hiatu shouted from the other end of the room. He was already kneeling in front of a cabinet where he inserted the module. "My changes completely bypass the system, so they can lock whatever they want. Unless, of course, ATF and USC are right outside the door." Saya forced herself to calm down, as she had learned in the countless hours behind the controls of her fighter jet in the Argonian fleet. They had no weapons. If the ATF showed up, there was very little they could do about it. "Okay, done. Saya, that's it!" Hiatu called after a few minutes. He plugged in the optical link, switched it to the onboard power, and came over to her. "We have to get out of the station before we disconnect the tethers. Otherwise we'll be blown into space." "Someone's going to blow us into space anyway," she replied. "We're about to destroy the damn Torus Aeternal!" "It will be days or weeks before the Earth government can search the segments for survivors, Saya. The chaos will be indescribable. They won't find us, you can count on it. Nobody will die." Saya nodded. "Let's go then." She opened the door and looked around carefully. As with all the other tether stations, there was little public traffic here, especially since the tethers had been shut down for more than a day. There was no one to be seen. Saya climbed into the mobility scooter and turned to look at Hiatu, who was just leaving the station. Suddenly the area immediately in front of the station was filled with figures in black combat uniforms carrying projectile weapons with their safety off. Adrenaline ripped through Saya's body. "Sherman, back!" she screamed as she jumped out of the mobility scooter and stumbled back to the control room. "Stop!" someone shouted, then a shot rang out. Saya felt the projectile whizz past her head and hit the wall. She reached the entrance to the control room and dove in with a well-aimed jump. More shots were fired. They easily pierced the closing door and bounced off control cabinets and the observation window ten meters away. "Shit, shit, what are we going to do now?" screamed Sherman Hiatu. The technician hid behind a control cabinet. "Where is the trigger?" Saya asked as she crawled over to him. The door to the control room opened, boots thudded on the floor. "What?" Hiatu snapped. "Are you crazy? Are you crazy? Do you want to die? Do you want to die?" "Yes." She wrestled with him to get to the control device that he had tucked into the leg pocket of his pants, but he was surprisingly strong and fought back with all his might. "Come out, Saya Kho," someone shouted. "Hands over your head and get out. You have five seconds, then we'll get you." "I'd think about it if I were you, man!" she shouted. She cast a cautious glance through the gaps between the modules mounted in the control cabinet. "One step closer and the torus is history!" Hiatu was still fighting back. Panting, Saya hit him in the face; he fell unconscious. With one grip, she held the control device in her hand. An antenna symbol indicated the connection to the on-board network. "Then you're history too," said the man, but stopped. "That would be a shame, wouldn't it," she said, to stall the man. She definitely didn't want to give the impression that she was going to blow herself up. They would open fire immediately, regardless of losses, and the gaps between the modules were large enough for projectiles to reach them. The system reported "ready" on the tiny display. Saya pressed the button that connected the five tether stations to the trigger via the on-board network. From now on, it would only take minutes until the on-board computer discovered the data connection and switched it off. She hesitated for a second before sending the command to uncouple the tethers. But then she boldly pressed the send button. "Don't!" Sherman Hiatu wheezed weakly next to her. "I don't want to die!" "Too late," she said quietly, then straightened up. "Here I am!" she shouted. "I'm going over to the window now. I'm unarmed. I suggest you come over and watch the spectacle." Five men stormed around the control cabinet, weapons at the ready. "On the floor, on the floor!" A crashing blow shook the entire room. Saya stumbled, but caught herself. The men shouted in confusion. Outside, a tether cable came rushing towards them, slipped under the station... and lost its grip on the frictionless guide, which had now opened. It slipped out, whipping around like an angry snake. The guides in the four neighboring segments had also opened. Tethers entangled themselves, separated again, splintered. Fragments shot off, some into free space, others hurtled down to Earth. The control room shook and wobbled, the noise was indescribable. Saya clung to the railing in front of the window and stared out in icy rigidity. The torus segments belonging to the five manipulated stations began to rise into a higher orbit. The orbital imbalance spread like a wave, soon reaching distant segments, which now also uncoupled their tethers and broke the bonds. The Torus Aeternal broke, the entire, massive station disintegrated! Partitions hissed down and sealed off adjacent segments hermetically. The forces acting on the transition zone became so strong that the glass of the window began to shatter. Saya took a step back and noticed that she was floating. The gravity generators had stopped working. Saya was shaking all over. "I'm sorry, Elena, I'm really sorry!" she screamed in sudden, wild fear of death, then the metal glass pane burst. Saya Kho was whirled into space.
@@Pkkno07 Great passage. Thanks again!
Thank you, that was so interesting. I had no idea of most of these things and I played since X:BtF .... Is it known what happens to Brennan and his son Julian after X3:Reunion?
Prior to the start of the Second Terraformer War, Kyle's last known location was Earth, and Julian was still listed as "in service with the Argon Federation". Unfortunately, there was no further info in any of the sources I referenced for this video.
What about the two 'good' CPU ships? I don't mean the DECA in Aldrin on which Winters hibernated. I mean the two that 'escaped' the known jumpgate network with the help of... probably the Sohnen? Their names were made up of 4 characters, letters and numbers. I think they were something like EFAA and DEFF? Don't remember if they were part of one of the books or an Add-On plot for X3. It's probably been over a decade since I read the books and played X3:TC.
"TF/CPU #efaa was to be absorbed by the Ancient's presence cloud, continuing its existence inside of it indefinitely.
TF/CPU #deff, however, was eventually destroyed by Yoshiko Nehla." - X Encyclopedia C-23-24. I'm still a little hazy on exactly what the presence cloud is, but basically #efaa transcended its physical form and its consciousness will live on forever alongside other notable beings from the X Universe.
@@CptSnuggles07 Thank you!
I still hope that the Xenon will eventually develop past their current 'pre-sapient' status. But... considering what happened with #efaa, every AI that gets to this point would probably be removed by the Ancients? So... the Xenon as a whole could possibly be artificially kept at their current point of development regarding intelligence and self-awareness.
Kinda strange behavior, since the Ancients seem to regard the Xenon as a genuine threat to organic life.
Did they perhaps 'absorb' #efaa into their 'presence cloud' to better understand how Xenon tick? To figure out how to deal with them or help them along in a potential future 'uplift'?
But honestly, I don't really expect coherent motivations in the X-Universe plot anymore. :D
@@kehrbaer90 Yep. X Encyclopedia D-29: "In an attempt to learn their secrets, the Ancients began to study the design and evolutionary model of the Terraformers in detail after virtualising several thousand VN units, including many TF/CPU ships and the self-aware TF/CPU ship #efaa."
I imagine there's a twofold issue with the Ancients formulating a "solution" to the Xenon problem. First, the Ancients operate on an enormous scale of space and time. Them eradicating the Xenon is like humans eradicating a virus or bacteria; they have no way of killing them through conventional means because they're simply too small. They have to do tons of research and come up with some sort of tool to deal with them systematically. And second, the Xenon aren't monolithic; they have numerous "sub-species" in various stages of evolution, meaning the Ancients need to understand their entire evolutionary process as opposed to just the current state of a single group. So killing them off is less like eradicating a single pathogen and more like eradicating every single strain of the flu all at once.
That is all my interpretation though.
@@CptSnuggles07 I think the ancients also don't want to actually exterminate the Xenon. I believe it was mentioned somewhere that they give every sapient species the right to ascend to a higher plane of existence, so they just want to prevent biological and synthetic species from wiping each other out.
Ok, this explains why we dont See the Kho family anymore and fixes some gaps I didnt understand between X3 and X4 but I still have questions.
what happened to the Brennan family?
The X Encyclopedia says Kyle Brennan returned to Earth but that "what befell him during the Second Terraformer War and his whereabouts since then remain unknown." It lists Julian as "in service with the Argon Federation" at the time of the jump gate shutdown, but there are also no details about exactly what he's been up to.
@@CptSnuggles07 The last mention of Julian Brennen is along with boron scientist Mi Ton, if I remember, they are mentioned in a log you find when tracing their expedition in a Xenon sector - They found the gate hub installation that you can take ownership of in X3 Terran Conflict. And probably built the interface on the Gate hub to interact with it. But noone heard of them after. (Conjecture from me: The Hub is devastated and its cities in ruin - probably from millennia ago, they might be lost somewhere in it exploring - or Some Sohnnen guardian of the installation took them away (unless they were fried by the Xenon, but that would be anti-climactic)) - At least I´d like to think that Julian would pursue mysteries of gate network origins after coming in personal contact with Sohnnen (X3 Reunion) instead of taking part in war between human brethren.
The song that plays in 7:00. is that inspired by rah xhephon, or is that also adapted from an OG song?
The song title is "Wings of the Wind (Variations on a theme of Borodin)". It's from the X4: Cradle of Humanity soundtrack. Not sure when/where it plays in-game.
@@CptSnuggles07 That songs seems to borrow a verse from a theme song in Rah Xhephon, an anime that aired years ago. I wondered if it was a remix of it or one that came earlier than that. I forget the name of it but the similarity are uncanny.
I'm not familiar with Rah Xhephon, but it's very possible that the composer borrowed from it. Egosoft isn't always subtle about their sources of inspiration!
@@CptSnuggles07The clue is in the X4 title - the song originally comes from Alexander Borodin’s opera, Prince Igor (Polovstian Dances)
It was worth it… for the player who makes billions off it all 😅😊
Ancients?
A hyper-advanced civilization that's transcended their physical forms. "Godlike" is an understatement. They created the Sohnen, who themselves are pretty godlike, to look after their affairs in the physical realm. They have great plans for the supercluster, which were thrown off somewhat by the rapid technological advances of Old Earth. Oh, and they're trying to fight off an invasion by a civilization several orders of magnitude more advanced than them. The war is fought on such a massive scale of space and time that we can't even perceive it. Real cosmic horror stuff.
Thanks
@@CptSnuggles07 Do you have any recommendations for reading material in this regard?
@@peppershakergaming3793 The X Encyclopedia Section D deals entirely with the Ancients. That's where I've gotten almost all my info on them. It isn't exactly light reading, but it's organized pretty well.
How can Albion Prelude not be canon? The Events of that game are the Foundation of Rebirth and X4. For example you can still find the destroyed Torus fragment in X4, we can see the destruction of the Torus in Prelude. You can find the Albion system and the Albion Skunk in Prelude? What is your source on Albion Prelude not being canon???
All sources are listed in the video.
Just remember, if it wasn't for Terran arrogance and poor foresight to begin with when they basically created the Xenon, we wouldn't have a game to play.
Technically that would be human arrogance and poor foresight, since that was before Terran and Argon split. But I agree with the sentiment!