Hello everyone!While the devs are off frolicing in the sun, we decided this is a great opportunity to highlight (mostly) community mods! We wanted to change things up a bit this year, but we have such a hard time choosing between all the amazing mods on the workshop, so instead we made Michael~ do it. Michael has assembled several collections of mods each based on a theme, and then we tracked down the modders and asked if they had anything they wanted to share about their mods.So without further ado, I present:
-----The Friends We Made Along The WayThis mod collection is all based on the various storytelling aspects of Stellaris. From origins (letting the player create a unique backstory), to event mods (allowing you to create compelling narratives throughout the game). That's the reason why many people (including myself) got into the game, and that's the unique quality about Stellaris - the ability to create your own story, and fulfill your scifi fantasy. Darkspace By ExakanDarkspace is a vanilla+ and roleplay mod, not an overhaul. DarkSpace does not change basic game mechanics and players have full control over the content, the game will only change if you choose an option. DarkSpace offers a whole host of new, unique playstyles that vanilla Stellaris doesn’t.Features:

• +15 Origins with unique game mechanics & asymmetrical gameplay. Some of them even have their own category of multiple civics.
  
• Multiple new Civics for roleplay or game mechanics.
  
• Ascension Perks for all empire types.
  
• Unique playstyles (Eldritch, Plague, Nomads, Nanites, Crisis..)
  
• >25 Megastructures, dependent on perks, origins or crisis paths.
  
• Has the largest & most complex Nomad origin that exists right now.
  
• You can become a fallen empire, and create new civilizations by hand.
  
• Some portraits and shipsets (Unbidden, Organic, Fallen Empire) etc for roleplay.
  
• DS is made with great cross-mod compatibility in mind.
  
• Right now a story-interactive endgame crisis with multiple choices/paths is in the works

Inspiration:
DarkSpace is my personal playground. If I find an idea that I would like to play as in Stellaris, then I add it. With the "fun factor" secured for myself, I know Ill put the required passion into the project. I keep everything optional though, the player decides what the mod is doing with their game .I never expected the mod to "explode" that much, I expected like 1k subs at start. The Stellaris community is very friendly and it makes a lot of fun to mod for them :) Dynamic Political Events By caligulacaesarDisclaimer: When Michael~ was selecting this list of mods, he was not aware that Caligula works for Paradox Development Studios and was previously a developer on Stellaris. Caligula was recruited as a Stellaris developer after making this mod.Stellaris empires have never really felt alive. Imagine if we (us Humans) suddenly weren’t the only species on our planet – how we get on with the others would soon be one of the big topics. Or if machines produced half our output suddenly, one could imagine it might be difficult to adjust. These societal factors are currently not represented well in Stellaris - there are the factions, but they don't have events surrounding them. Even now, 8 years past release, we still have not had the fabled Internal Politics DLC that could, possible, change this.This mod was an attempt from 2018 to fill this void. It adds dozens of events - and some ridiculously extensive branching event chains - to give you further stories to experience and decisions to make about how you run your empire.Features:

• Events to do with integrating alien species, including tensions between species and your attitude towards interspecies marriages.
  
• Events focusing on pops’ and factions’ specific demands (e.g. emancipation movements).
  
• Colonisation Stories – your new colonists on a planet might choose their own leader or how they wish to organise themselves.
  
• Establish a ruler cult to your emperor.
  
• Various scandals and conspiracies.
  
• Events affecting interstate relations.
  
• And more (over 55,000 words of text in total).

Inspiration:
The original inspiration for my mod was twofold: firstly, I loved playing Stellaris, but the version in those days (1.6 or so) has relatively little content beyond the initial exploration, and I wanted to add more storylines to experience later in the game. Secondly, I was working a job I found very boring, and it was very nice to have a creative outlet.After doing that for a year, I ended up being hired by Paradox, and I'm still there over 5 years later, so I think that worked out for me!And I still keep the mod up to date, even though I don't add new event chains, because for the most part it still holds up well. Forgotten Empires By inny78Embark on a cosmic odyssey with this mod, where a tapestry of interstellar narratives unfolds for your science team amidst the boundless realms of the galaxy. Delve into the forgotten tales of ancient precursor empires, their legacies lost in the starlit void long before your celestial journey began. Uncover hidden dig sites and engage with enigmatic anomalies that beckon with inscrutable secrets. Every discovery and encounter weaves into the fabric of your empire's destiny, steering its path through the stars.Recommended DLC, but not required: Ancient Relics, Utopia, Synthetic Dawn, Nemesis and First Contact - these will provide additional rewards.Features:

• New Precursor chains
  
• New Dig sites
  
• New events

Inspiration:
When XVCV announced that he would stop modding, I decided that his amazing mods (Precursor Story Pack and Archaeology Story Pack) should not be abandoned. I added later some old mods that I enjoyed, with the permission of their authors Marky612 (Strange Worlds, resurrected from the Stellaris 1.6 era) and QUENTOPOLIS' Fires of Ziaskehorn.I wanted to preserve the stories told by abandonded event mods, and also create my own with more liberties than the constraints of Extra Events Continued. So I created the Stellaris Chronicles collection (Extra Events Continued and Forgotten Empires) and started creating Forgotten Empires with a curated selection of lore-friendly stories. These stories don't require any DLC but the events can make use of them if they are present. Now that I'm satisfied with the new precursors, my focus is now on creating shorter stories and unique systems. Basic Ordinary Origins By cybrxkhanBasic Ordinary Origins adds in several new origins that are just that - basic and ordinary. They are simple origins meant to provide alternative "default" origins to Prosperous Unification, with starting bonuses that are similarly mundane and not drastic. They won’t change gameplay significantly, but will hopefully add flavor and variety to your games so not every nation starts with the “Prosperous Unification” origin. Though this isn’t meant to be perfectly balanced, keeping in line with the vanilla origins' lack of balance, none will ideally be overpowered.Features:
20+ new "simple" origins; usable by both human players and AI empires:

• Antediluvian Knowledge
  
• Chosen Revolutionary
  
• Chosen Royal
  
• Clean Energy
  
• Former Scavengers
  
• Global Wars
  
• Great Khanate
  
• Legendary Friendship
  
• Lost Continent
  
• Mysterious Bonds
  
• One with Nature
  
• Post-Post-Apocalyptic
  
• Silk Road
  
• Slow Evolution
  
• Steampunk
  
• Survival of the Fittest
  
• The Gate
  
• Trekkers of the Stars
  
• War to End All Wars

Inspiration:
I started Basic Ordinary Origins (BOO) back in 2020 when the Origins feature was first added. A lot of vanilla's origins other than Prosperous Unification are complex and have deep storylines attached to them, so I felt there was a lack of simple origins to make things more interesting without needing the larger origins.I've been modding Stellaris since it came out in 2016. My major mods which I started back then, and which I still maintain, are Cybrxkhan's Assortment of Namelists (CANS) and More AI Personalities (MAP). CANS adds more (mostly fictional) namelists that both players can use and AI empires can randomly spawn with, while MAP adds new AI personalities. They're both compatible with and complement BOO well.-----That’s all for this week! We’ll be back in two week’s time with another Mod Highlight!