First the facts
- We know the guardian society created AI
- We know The guardians/Thargoids encountered each other and were at war
- We know the guardian race was destroyed by the AI they created
- We know several sentinel surface and space locations remain active
- And now from the Proteus logs we know that guardian tech can emit a lethal burst of energy killing living organic matter
Sources:
Archaeological Info
Historical Codex
Proteus Logs
Now the speculation
If I was crafting this narrative Ram Tah and Salvation story lines would be the prelude to a full resurgence of guardian AI awakened by increased hostilities in the aftermath of recent uptick in Thargoid aggression and the 7 Martyr bombings. All of the above facts illustrate this is a legitimate possibility.
Aegis has proven itself a good early defense against Thargoids. Technology they helped develop has over the years turned the Thargoid crisis into a protracted border skirmish in essence. They push, we push back. That's been the status quo. Aegis wants the more guardian tech to continue their weapons research using Guardian tech and to further proliferate the availability of guardian weaponry (reduced unlock costs CG reward). It's the devil we know. Versus Salvation the devil you don't know. On the surface, Aegis should appear to players as the safe choice. There are some red flags though.
- Aegis admittedly doesn't fully understand Guardian tech hence the need for research
- We've seen how reliance on Guardian tech coupled with misunderstanding of it capabilities lead to the Guardians destruction after their tech gained sentience
- We've seen from the Proteus the consequences of the pursuit of alien weapons technology for both it and its sister ship.
Salvation on the other hand is a mystery. They have secret knowledge both of lost expeditions and advanced understanding of Guardian tech (engineered Guardian CG reward). The only leads we have on his motivation is a communicated belief Humanity is at risk and only he can save us. This is the quintessential expression of a leap of faith. Backing salvation is the obviously more risky choice for players. I'll list the red flags below but it's only through him that we recently discovered 2 lost expeditions, a Xeno battleground and a morality lesson on the dangers of pursuing Guardian weapons tech with rudimentary knowledge of its workings.
Red Flags
- Background and identity is unknown.
- Sounds a bit like a nutter, think Cassandra paradox.
Story Speculation
If I was crafting the narrative. We would be on the cusp of a massive Guardian resurgence which would significantly change the balance of power and calculus of Human/Thargoid conflict. This would be a predetermined outcome however the players in this CG would have a significant impact on the scale and devastation of such a hostile re-emergence.
For example, lets assume the Guardians maintain a connection and level of control over existing guardian technology. What if the that control extends to even Guardian tech modules because our lack of knowledge failed to identify the danger? A Guardian resurgence could like like this:
- Scores of previously unknown guardian sites simultaneously activate including several in Human occupied space
- The activated guardian sites begin to hum ominously until they discharge a pulse of energy killing anything in the vicinity of the site, relics or other Guardian tech. This kills untold millions stressing the super powers ability to respond.
- CMDRs are safe due to radiation shielding in ships/flight suits but quickly realize all installed guarding modules of deactivated and cannot be restored
- Simultaneously still functional Guarding skimmers and fighter drones perform limited first strikes on vulnerable Human/Thargoid targets with the bulk of forces consolidating defenses around their key infrastructure
- Guardian automated factories come online and begin mass producing sentries and fighter drones signally a exponential escalation of danger every moment these factories remain online
- Discover caustic missiles based on Thargoid tech are incredibly effective against the low hull guardian drones leading to a player driven research project for the develoment other Thargoid technology.
Backing Aegis would further proliferate the spread of Guardian tech and artefacts significantly extending the destruction of this hypothetical opening attack.
Backing Salvation, if we accept he's a Cassandra like figure could reduce the proliferation and with his advanced understanding of Guardian tech may make some modules resistant to the initial deactivation leaving the augmented shards cannons a still viable weapon against the Thargoids while a solution is found to restore the other Guardian tech.
In a scenario like above I'd have a million springboards to give players meaningful avenues to explore and shape the story.
- Hold the line against the Thargoids now that our Guass cannons are kaput
- Enemy of my enemy my friends? Maybe we should take a 2nd go at Thargoid diplomacy. They tangled with these guys before and made the ship loaded with this Guardian crap disappear after all.
- Investigate guardian firmware patches to restore existing tech to a usable state
- Join the front lines against Guardian incursions
- Strike teams to deactivate Guardian infrastructure (Shut down mission at Guardian factory or Space station assault on Guardian communication node using mega ship/ capital ship mechanics)
- Organize rescues. CMDRs are stranded in low star density fringes of space due to inoperable FSD boosters.
And so on and so forth...
That said, my imagination isn't limited my scripting and network speeds so we'll see what you come up with with the tools you have available
@Zac Cocken