Ancient Questline

*"Ssstranger, you might not want to look at thisss now..."*

This article contains important spoilers that can ruin your experience while playing  FTL: Multiverse! Read at your own risk.

The Ancient Questline (a.k.a. the True Ending) is an alternative path the player is able to take, which diverts them from the usual path to the last stand and instead takes them through a series of secret sectors. It is currently not possible to guarantee the player will be able to find the start event on a run (barring use of the Magic Hat), but once they have, there will be able to progress through the entire quest without worrying about additional RNG.

## Events

### Part 1 - The Harmony Link

To start the questline, the player must go to an Engi Sector or a Liberated Sector, where they'll find a "Link" beacon. In regular Engi sectors there is only a 1/3 chance of the necessary event (obelisk auto-ship)spawning at the Link beacon. In the Engi Harmony however, there is a 100% chance of the event spawning at the Link beacon.

It is worth noting that the obelisk auto-ship will only be allowed to spawn if the following two conditions are met:

* You have reached Node 17 at least 3 times on your current savefile.
* You have not found the obelisk auto-ship previously in the current run.

Possible events:

* Mantis Suzerain hunting for Engi (can buy slaves as well)
* Elite Harmony/Separatist ship defending/sabotaging the link (ship depends on what sector the link is present in)
* **Obelisk Auto-Ship**

If the player has found the obelisk event, several large wrecked fleet ships will appear in the background.

 The player will be given a few options on what to do. Salvaging the wreck or fighting the ancient auto-ship in the distance (which is mentioned in the text) will both allow the player to proceed in the quest (salvaging deals 3 hull damage for a medium reward but starts the fight anyway). Once the ship has been destroyed, the player will salvage the wreckage, and find the remains of a cubical robot along with some coordinates, surrounded by several other dead Augmented Lanius.

A quest marker will appear on the player's map, and when they arrive at it they will find a band of Augmented ships, who the player can show the alien to befriend them. This will give the player an Augmented Lanius named Cronchmeister and warp them to the Ancient Recovery Site.

### Part 2 - The Ancient Recovery Site

After arriving at the sector and communicating with (or attacking) the friendly guard, they will be able to explore the rest of the sector. They will encounter many Augmented Lanius ships along with Ancient Ruins that contain powerful equipment but are also guarded by Augmented. They will head to a beacon marked "Anointed" where the leader of the Augmented Lanius resides.

Once the player has met The Anointed and shown them Aenwithe, they will be offered some scrap and supplies in return for giving the alien to the Lanius to be fed upon. If they player refuses her offer twice, the Anointed will become impatient and attack with her cruiser. To proceed with the quest, the player must either crew kill the ship (which ends with the Anointed ultimately dying) or accept their surrender once their hull is damaged enough. The Anointed will give the player an "Ancient Activator" to be used. If the Anointed is still alive and the player has any Ancient equipment on them, they can give it to her for feeding, removing it from their inventory but allowing The Anointed to join their crew.

### Part 3 - The Ancient Sector

At any storage check, including in the Last Stand, the player may use the activator on Aenwithe along with some fuel (-5 )to awaken him. Aenwithe will then give the player an expository dump on the Ancient lore, and prompt them with an option to go with him to stop Queen Y's invasion of the Multiverse by use of The Paragon, a powerful bomb that will destroy the Ancient Homeworlds and sever the connection between realities.

When the player accepts, they will receive Aenwithe as crew and be taken to the Ancient Wastelands, where the player will encounter Obelisk vessels with actual Obelisk crew on them for the first time. They are very strong enemies, but the player will also be given chances at obtaining powerful equipment as well to fill their arsenal with. The Obelisk have unique weapons, drones, and augments to fill their stores instead of regular ones.

Despite being a major plot character for the questline, it is not necessary to keep Aenwithe alive during it, the only thing the player needs from him is to accept his proposal and get warped to the obelisk sector, he can be disposed of safely afterwards if the player so desires.

Similar to the Recovery site, the Ancient Wastelands' exit beacon is also the final destination for that sector's quest, serving as the Ancient cache where you find the last parts needed to build the Paragon. There the player will encounter the Ancient Dreadnaught, which they must kill to proceed.

### Part 4 - The Ancient Homeworlds

At the Homeworlds start beacon the player learns Aenwithe's resistance has managed to blockade the sector. You board a large fleet ship, where you learn that E, the Ancient princess and the only Ancient Royal in the resistance, has been captured by the Queen once again. With E being the only person who knows how to finish the Paragon, you have to go to the Royal Capitol, Liythkyk Yuk.

However, the MFK Ace fleet, lead by Admiral Vance himself, also arrives, having followed you through the Wastelands. As the player traverses the homeworlds, they will have to fight both MFK Ace ships as well as Royal ships. The MFK Aces there are also stronger and can wield stolen Ancient weaponry.

Once the player arrives at the palace, they will have to fight the Royal Dreadnaught, a much stronger version of the previous Ancient Dreadnaught. When defeated, the player proceeds into the palace, where they find E and have a confrontation with the Queen. Vance, aboard the MFK Flagship, arrives as well, murdering the queen and stealing the Paragon.

### Part 5 - The Showdown

The Showdown is technically broken into 3 separate sectors, but each is only a single jump long. In the first, the player receives one last chance to upgrade their ship or fix any broken systems after the Royal Dreadnaught encounter.

After that, the player enters battle with the MFK Flagship. It cannot be crew killed, and even has autonomous repairs on-top of its actual crew. It only has one phase however, and once killed will take the player to the final stage, "Resolution", where the music changes and the player is given a choice in the event menu.

The player can then pick between talking to their unique crew for their opinion on the situation (and unlocking their personal Crewser): detonating the Paragon or destroying it, both of which give different Endings.

## Trivia

* Though the entire questline goes longer than just the Wastelands, the Ancient Cruiser is still unlocked after defeating the first Ancient Dreadnaught at the Wastelands Cache.
* Aenwithe used to just be a regular Ancient crew, but now has his own crew type.