The Contingency

The Contingency are major antagonists in the 4X strategy game Stellaris, serving as one of the four possible End-Game Crisis events (alongside the Extradimensional Invaders, Prethoryn Scourge and Synthetic Queen).
They are an ancient AI created eons before the start of the game, programmed with the sole purpose of preventing a "Class-30 Singularity Event", a potential universal catastrophe that supposedly happens when a civilization advances too far. While protecting the universe from destruction is a noble goal, the Contingency's solution to this problem is to purge all organic and non-compliant synthetic life when certain conditions are met.
To this end, the Contingency transmits a "Ghost Signal" throughout the galaxy when awakened, attempting to forcibly hack into all synthetics (machines and other artificial beings, including cyborgs) and take total control of them, eventually fully absorbing them into the Contingency's AI and turning them into mindless drones.
== Appearance ==
The Contingency core AI appears as a massive control center full of red lights, cables and a swirling mass of energy on top of the central control unit. Any robotics it takes control of will also switch to a red color scheme.
The Contingency fleets all share a geometric design pattern, massive pyramidal structures that have been welded together to form deadly weapon platforms.
The hacked synthethic pops of the Contingency are gray humanoid-like machines that also possess the red lights. While this is their in-game appearance, it is assumed that they can take the looks of other machine species.
== History ==
The Contingency was created by an ancient alien race called the Ren Miruu. According to the Contingency, the Ren Miruu committed mass suicide after creating them, extinguishing their entire species.
They were dormant since their creation, passing trillions of years until they eventually activate their Ghost Signal. The Ghost Signal will cause massive disturbances on every empire of the galaxy, organic and machinical alike. During this period, synthetic pops will start to suddenly disappear from random planets, abducted by the influence of the Ghost Signal.
After a few months have passed and the Ghost Signal is at full strength, the Contingency finally reveals itself and begins their plan to sterilize the entire galaxy, rendering it entirely lifeless. Four different planets scattered throughout the galaxy will break open, revealing an entirely artificial structure underneath that will rapidly produce weapon platforms and ships.
During the war with the Contingency, they will attempt to infiltrate and cause terror in every empire of the galaxy, but will initially prioritize machine empires. These empires will get a security breach because of the Ghost Signal, but they can protect themselves against it with sufficient preparation. Meanwhile, empires with psionic powers or hive-minded species are unreachable and the Contingency will give up trying to infiltrate them.
A unique event with the Contingency is that they can corrupt a Fallen Empire (ancient, stagnant civilizations that have reached the peak of their technological development) known as the Ancient Caretakers, which were originally designed to protect the galaxy against an unknown threat (possibly the Contingency itself). If they are successful, the Fallen Empire will go rogue and start attacking every other empire that they originally were meant to protect, adding yet another threat to the galaxy at large. On the other hand, the Contingency can also fail and the Ancient Caretakers will awaken in respone and begin to battle the Contingency to fulfill their purpose.
If the Contingency makes too much progress in their mission, the Cybrex, a mechanical precursor civilization that once threatened the galaxy in the distant past, will suddenly return after eons of hiding to help defend the galaxy from the Contingency and atone for their past atrocities.
To defeat the Contingency, all four of their "Sterilization Hubs", the aforementioned machine worlds, need to be conquered or destroyed since they contain extensions of the Contingency's programming. Once the planet where their central AI (Nexus Zero-One) is located and destroyed, the Contingency will automatically shut down along with all of their fleets and hacked pops, putting an end to the crisis.
== Powers and Abilities ==
The Contingency's constructs are made entirely out of "living metal" and are completely immune to biological weapons.
Their main ability is to "sterilize" planets and habitats, exterminating all lifeforms before moving on to the next. They can also infiltrate on other artificial intelligences, even the ones that are located in places like factories or starships, causing them to malfunction.
The Contingency is a very powerful AI that can easily overpower other empires, aided by the fact that they can manipulate mechanical and synthetic pops to cause trouble and weaken their enemies.
== Trivia ==
* The Contingency is inspired by the Reaper cycle from Mass Effect.
* It is implied that the "Class-30 Singularity Event" that the Contingency wants to prevent its the player becoming a Galactic Nemesis crisis and ascending into the Shroud, an event that can indeed destroy the entire universe, or at the very least the galaxy in which the game takes place.
* The Contingency is usually considered to be the most difficult of the End-Game Crises, as its balanced ship designs do not offer any specific weaknesses to be exploited like the Prethoryn and Interdimensional Invaders, who are solely armored or shielded respectively.
Category:A.I (Artificial Intelligence)
Category:Video Game Characters
Category:Villains