I’ve been playing a fair bit of Stellaris lately, and between each game, I find myself tinkering with my empire a bit to fit my preferences.  But, at present, I only have one empire that has made it reasonably far – The Vulpine Theocratic Hegemony, my race of spiritualist foxes.

What follows is a description of these people and how they fulfill their quest for the stars.

Here’s the empire screen in Stellaris:

Starting with the Vulpini people themselves, I chose the arid world of Vallgar as my homeworld because I was thinking of my own home.  I very nearly took desert, but arid seemed like it was somewhat closer to a fox’s natural habitat.  After playing around with it a bit, I settled on Charismatic, Conformists, and Sedentary as my species traits.  Charismatic, in particular, was one that I found fit my playstyle particularly well, and I quite like the idea of the Vulpini being well-liked by other alien peoples.

In terms of government, while Stellaris provides a lot of choice, for me personally, there are really only a few ethos that really appeal to me – for the Vulpine Theocratic Hegemony, I chose Fanatic Spiritualist and Xenophile. I chose Spiritualist first and foremost because I really like exploring faith in games – I work in a very secular environment, so I don’t get to express that aspect of myself in my life very much, and games are a space where I can do so much more easily.  I also chose Xenophile because, in terms of my empire design, I wanted to build this empire with the Vulpini at the core, but where many other were part of the whole.  My choice for Oligarchy as my authority type was primarily driven by the idea of leadership by the spiritual leaders of the people, which is backed by the idea that a few leaders would make the bureaucracy more efficient, and that those few leaders would be members of the church.

Lastly, with the flag, I always like to implement some sort of religious symbology in my flags for these kinds of games, usually a cross.  Teal and purple are my typical colors as well, hence the choice.

In terms of gameplay, I typically like to build broad, building outward, strategically carving out space to enable my growth into the late game.  While I generally play a peaceful game, and am as respectful as possible to those empires around me, I don’t really take well to being attacked, and, once an empire has proven that they are my enemy, I do not hesitate to destroy their empire (and then integrate their species into the hegemony).  I am also always on the lookout for primitive civilizations, so that I can uplift them and then integrate them into my empire – I love nurturing them through their early growth, then pulling them in as they get their space-legs.  As I bring in new species from wars, migration treaties, or integration, I use them to settle different types of planets and further grow my empire.

Overall, I’ve had fun with Stellaris, and especially the Vulpine Theocratic Hegemony.  I’ve built some interesting stories, and it’s definitely a game I’ll return to from time to time.