Recaps

Xi Yan defeated the Great Khan and secured the Solar System before leading the Empire through psionic ascension. As the Empire embraced new forms of existence, [Teacher] revealed his connection to Zarqlan’s followers and began recounting their ancient history.

• Xi Yan converted the Empire’s people into Synths, built his fleets, and defeated the Great Khan after drawing its forces through a series of defenses and ambushes.
• Xi Yan killed Hydra and destroyed the Shroud’s power within the Great Khan, then declared victory and began a war against the United Nations of Earth.
• Xi Yan forced the United Nations of Earth to lease the Solar System for ninety-nine years and prepared to remove the Shroud’s marks from the Khan’s former subject worlds.
• Xi Yan told the psionic experts the history of the Zroni and the Shroud, then backed [Teacher]’s plan to awaken the Empire’s psionic potential despite the Holy Guards’ objections.
• On New Year’s Day, Cosmic Era 2281, [Teacher] led the Empire’s awakening, and the gathered psionic power transformed Xi Yan into a radiant avatar who erased the Shroud’s marks.
• Xi Yan crowned himself Most Holy Emperor and renamed the state the Sea of Stars Most Holy Human Empire, whose citizens gained psionic powers and the ability to transfer their consciousness between different forms.
• Xi Yan welcomed Ailiveer and Veronica into mechanical bodies, while [Teacher] revealed that his mission was complete and introduced himself as Nameless Apostasy-er.
• Xi Yan recalled Zarqlan’s victory over Cetana, and [Teacher] explained that eternal machine data had preserved history that mortals had forgotten.

Xi Yan’s empire recovered ancient relics, expanded its scientific power, and uncovered the history behind the Time Worm and the Calamities. Xi Yan accepted his role in protecting humanity across timelines, while the Empire and the Sky Bishop began reconsidering their relationship.

• Xi Yan welcomed [Teacher] into the Empire, while the Sky Bishop agreed to help Xi Yan confront the crisis surrounding Cetana.
• Xi Yan’s team recovered the Recording Instrument, and Hosgar defeated the Rendclaw Dragon before Rendclaw joined the Empire as a Sentinel Dragon.
• Xi Yan sent Caedhes to investigate the Wedge, where Caedhes met Aeshlin, recovered relic fragments, and learned the Vagros’ history before becoming Research Director-General.
• Xi Yan activated the Synaptic Lathe, which killed a billion people during an overclocking test, then used its computations to advance the Empire’s research and develop Omega Theory.
• Archaeologists uncovered the Circular Temple and its writings about the Time Worm, while the Circle of God’s followers vanished from a United Nations of Earth colony.
• Xi Yan approved the Omega Resonance Device, which summoned the Time Worm and led him to learn how humanity’s empires had faced the Calamities across timelines.
• The Time Worm revealed that Xi Yan was a chosen version sent into the future, and Xi Yan pledged to build a fleet capable of protecting humanity across space-times.
• Little Gray, Ailiveer, Veronica, and Beta pledged their support, while the Time Worm recounted the Heavenly People’s history and the Sky Bishop proposed reassessing relations between their nations.

Xi Yan bound the Holy Guardian Empire to his cause and built an alliance to contain the Starfish Republic, using the Kaleidoscope Bug to disrupt it. The Empire then completed the Miracle Sphere and began developing planet-sized Sovereign Battleships capable of assimilating worlds and fleets.

• Archaeologists uncovered Zarqlan’s tomb, and the Holy Guards recognized Xi Yan as humanity’s sovereign and pledged loyalty to him.
• Xi Yan secured the Holy Guardian Empire’s allegiance, gained control over its foreign relations and military resources, and called the Heavenly People back for holy war.
• The Empire completed its ascension, transformed its colonies into Nanomachines Ideal Cities, and entered a decade-long cold war with the Starfish Republic.
• Xi Yan aided the Habinte Unified Worlds against Starfish pressure, helping them defeat a Starfish fleet and establish an alliance with the Keen Empire.
• Xi Yan sent Ashes agents to release a Kaleidoscope Bug in the Starfish Homeworld System, where it drained energy and spread through the republic.
• The Empire built the Miracle Sphere, whose secret signals could guide fleets through subspace, and Xi Yan began planning new warships.
• Scientists designed the planet-sized Body Battleship, later called the Sovereign Battleship, with psionic drives, Nanite weapons, and systems to assimilate enemy populations and ships.

Xi Yan used the Sentinel Array’s destruction and the Synaptic Lathe to shift the balance of power, while the Chosen emerged through Isomer’s Gate and attacked the Starfish Republic. He also defeated and brought the Rixi Reconquest Empire into an alliance, as the awakened Phethisia prepared for conflict.

• Xi Yan destroyed the Sentinel Array with a hijacked torpedo transport, then used the resulting intelligence advantage to help the Habinte Unified Worlds and Keen Empire attack Starfish.
• Xi Yan approved the Applied Infinity Project, which changed the universe so pi equaled 3, and rejected the Keepers of Knowledge’s demands to stop humanity’s experiments.
• The Keen Empire withdrew from its war with Starfish after Xi Yan advised it to trade territory for peace, while a Starfish Science Ship entered Isomer’s Gate and was captured by the Chosen.
• Xi Yan learned that the Chosen’s God of the End sought to merge the Shroud with reality, as the Chosen declared war on Starfish and attacked through the stabilized wormhole.
• Human and Blorg scientists found an ancient Sentinel observation station beyond the galaxy, but Xi Yan warned the Blorg not to tamper with it and their joint mission ended.
• Xi Yan defeated the Rixi Reconquest Empire’s fleet with nanite ships, compelled its emperor to surrender, and offered a treaty and aid against the Phethisia Primordial Empire.
• The Phethisia Primordial Empire awakened and reformed as the Phethisia Arbitrator Empire, while Xi Yan’s alliance with Rixi heightened regional tensions.
• Xi Yan sent covert forces to aid Starfish, and Captain Nais united pirate bands into the United Raiders, whose attacks on the Isomer Cluster forced the Chosen to return to defend it.