The Triune
Ithillid
The Shadowed Heirs
Hunting in the shadows for the artifacts their makers left behind
Species
Ithillid
The Ithillid are stealth-driven infiltrators with a direct inheritance from the galaxy's oldest technologies and a dangerous obsession with ancient artifacts. They move by secrecy, espionage, exploration, and concealment.
Society & Technology
The Nexus Legacy
Ithillid society is shaped by origin, faith, and function. They were designed by the Transcendent to assist with the construction of the Nexus, and they turned that inheritance into a mission: recover the artifacts, understand their makers, and finish what was left undone. They can educate new individuals with startling speed, though wisdom and command experience still take time. An Ithillid 'individual' is a pod of three with a shared, distributed consciousness, which makes their social and tactical behavior very hard for other species to read.
Ships
Fleets
Ithillid ships are built around stealth, distortion, ambush, and sensor denial. Their dark-warp technology bends electromagnetic radiation around a vessel, sealing it inside a mobile pocket of spacetime — at the cost of all contact with the outside.
In play
Across the eight aspects
These labels describe strategic tendencies, not hard limits. A “Weak” aspect can still become powerful through technology, alliances, player choices, and species-specific abilities; a “Very Strong” aspect may still come with costs, bottlenecks, or narrow specialization.
Population· Strong
Able to spread through hidden enclaves and maintain numbers, though secrecy shapes how they expand.
Exploration· Very Strong
Exceptional at stealth scouting, infiltration, hidden routes, artifact-seeking, and threat detection.
Research· Strong
Specialized in stealth, biological enhancement, cyberwarfare, and technologies inherited or adapted from older powers.
Military· Strong
Dangerous through ambush, sabotage, precision strikes, and guerrilla tactics rather than open attrition.
Culture· Weak
Secretive, controlled, and inward-facing; cultural expression is limited and difficult for outsiders to access.
Economy· Neutral
Stable and resourceful, often shaped around covert logistics, hidden trade, and operational needs.
Construction· Strong
Good at hidden bases, camouflaged facilities, underground structures, and cloaked stations.
Diplomacy· Weak
Limited, deceptive, and slow to develop; the Ithillid prefer leverage and manipulation over open trust.
Exotic matter
Shadow Quanta
Shadow Quanta are the exotic matter associated with Ithillid stealth systems and Shadow Jump travel. Their technologies make movement, detection, and even presence difficult for other civilizations to verify.
FTL
Shadow Jump
Ithillid movement is built on concealment, surprise, and positional ambiguity. Their routes feel less like trade lanes and more like gaps in certainty — a civilization that appears where it should not be, and is gone before the galaxy agrees it was ever there.
Trade
Ithillid trade is limited, indirect, and often indistinguishable from intelligence work. Shadow Jump travel lets them operate outside normal route expectations, making their exchanges more likely to involve artifacts, stolen knowledge, concealed logistics, or leverage than open commerce.
Planetary preferences
The Ithillid favor volcanic moons, lava worlds, obsidian-rich rocky bodies, silica deserts, low-atmosphere worlds, airless or near-airless moons, tidally heated planets, and geologically violent environments. Mars-like deserts, asteroid bases, cold airless worlds, metallic worlds, and engineered vacuum habitats are acceptable. Humid garden worlds, dense-atmosphere planets, deep ocean worlds, high-pressure biospheres, and warm wet environments are poor fits.
Stellar preferences
The Ithillid favor F/K binary systems, K-type systems, and tidally active moon systems. They prefer volcanic, geothermal, high-radiation, and marginal environments over lush habitable-zone worlds, making them well suited to harsh bodies most civilizations overlook.
Special Win Conditions
Collect All Transcendent Artifacts
Locate and secure the artifacts left behind by the Transcendent.
Activate the Nexus
Install the required artifacts over time and complete the Nexus.