编辑“失落帝国”（章节）

==Ancient Caretakers==
{{expansion|snd}}
[[File:Evt fallen empire.png|360px|right|thumb|Ancient Caretakers capital system]]
A {{iconify|Machine Intelligence}} Fallen Empire that is the truly enigmatic Fallen Empire, the Ancient Caretakers are the remnant of a great conflict in the galactic history. They have been part of something called the 'Custodian Project', an initiative to construct and maintain a number of ringworlds as a refuge for biological sapients fleeing some unknown menace. They have the [[File:Civic machine remnants.png|24px|link=Civics#Fallen Machine Intelligence]] Fallen Machine Intelligence and [[File:Civic custodian directives.png|24px|link=Civics#Custodian Matrix]] Custodian Matrix civics.

The Ancient Caretakers do not hold a personal {{iconify|Opinion}} of any empire (their opinion is simply listed as "?") and unlike any other Fallen Empire they are totally unpredictable. They may offer gifts for no reason or request assistance with tasks that can give a permanent bonus or a temporary but serious penalty. Ancient Caretakers do not declare wars but can be declared war upon. They understand neither insults nor rivalries.

Ancient Caretakers have a grey and orange motif for their ships, stations and cities, as well as a different texture featuring integrated circuit patterns.

{| class="mildtable plainlist" style="text-align: center;"
!Fallen Empire!![[Authority]]!![[Traits]]!![[Armies]]!!Colossus weapon!!Guardians!!Border access
|-
|'''Ancient Caretakers'''<br>[[File:Fallen machine empire 01 city l06.png|150px]]
|{{iconify|Machine Intelligence}}
| align="left" |
*{{iconify|Machine}}
*{{icon|trait point}} +3 Extra Trait Points
|
*[[File:Army assault m.png|24px]] Battle Frame Army
*[[File:Army assault m.png|24px]] Mega-Warform
|[[File:Ship part neutron sweep.png|24px]] Neutron Sweep
|{{icon|yes}}
|{{icon|yes}}
|}

===Contingency Awakening===
The previous great conflict the Ancient Caretakers refer to was a former [[Contingency]] cycle. As such, as soon as the Contingency activates, it will attempt to corrupt the Ancient Caretakers. They have a 66% chance of severing the connection and activating their Final Defense Protocols (Guardians of the Galaxy awakening) and a 33% chance to be corrupted by it and start attacking everything (Berserkers). Each Awakening has a uniquely named civic to differentiate them – [[File:Civic final defense protocols.png|24px|link=Civics#Final Defense Directives]] Final Defense Directives or [[File:Civic malfunctioning custodian.png|24px|link=Civics#Corrupted Defense Directives]] Corrupted Defense Directives – although the civics have identical effects. The chance to awaken as a Custodian or Berserker is decided at the start of the game so reloading a previous save will not alter the result.

Ancient Caretakers cannot awaken in any other way nor can they be the Ancient Rival and thus be part of a [[#War in Heaven|War in Heaven]]. Unlike other Guardian empires they will not try to form or join a federation.

===Requests===
#'''Allow inoculations:''' Sent to organic empires. Mean time to happen is 100 years. A negative happiness modifier is applied, until the results show themselves. 10 years later the results will appear and can be either positive or negative. The mean time to happen is shortened to 66% if they awakened in the meantime.
#'''Allow code changes:''' The machine empire variant of inoculations. Same rules for good/bad results apply.
#'''Provide worker units:''' With a mean time to happen of 50 years, a Machine Intelligence with at least 11 pops will be requested to give two pops to the Ancient Caretakers.
{| class="mildtable plainlist"
!Request!!Initial modifier!!Incompatible outcome (10 years)!!Compatible outcome (permanent)
|-
|'''Inoculations'''
|
*{{iconify|Happiness||−5%|red}} if not Xenophobe
*{{iconify|Happiness||−10%|red}} if Xenophobe
|
*{{iconify|Happiness||−20%|red}}
*{{iconify|growth time||−10%|red|Pop growth speed}}
*{{iconify|Leader lifespan||−10 years|red}}
|
*{{iconify|growth time||+5%|green|Pop growth speed}}
*{{iconify|Leader lifespan||+10 years|green}}
|-
|'''Code changes'''
|{{iconify|Robot upkeep||+10%|red}} Robot upkeep
|
*{{iconify|Robot upkeep||+5%|red}}
*{{iconify|Robot resource output||−20%|red}}
|{{iconify|Robot resource output||+5%|green}}
|}

===Tasks ===
#'''Attack Empire:''' With a mean time to happen of 100 years, an empire will be asked to attack a fellow empire. Unlike other tasks this one can target empires that refused requests or tasks from the Ancient Caretakers. The time for the attack is 20 years, with up to 1 year overtime.
#'''Colonize a planet:''' With a mean time to happen of 200 years, the Custodians request the colonization of a planet. The planet will be near or inside the player's borders and eligible for colonization, when the request is given. Within 20 years at least 5 grown pops must be on the colonized planet. Care should be taken if the habitable worlds setting was raised because this task does not add a point of interest on the galaxy map.
#'''Stop waging war:''' With a mean time to happen of 100 years, the empire is tasked to outlaw war. Empires that already do are excluded. If accepted, the policy must be changed to No Wars within 20 years.
#'''Stop colonizing:''' With a mean time to happen of 100 years, the empire is tasked with not colonizing anymore. This task can no longer appear after 100 years have passed. Empires with planets under colonization are excluded. If accepted, the empire must refrain from any colonization for the next 10 years.