My experience playing multiple endings with the Archonexus

For the full Rimworld experience I recommend playing through multiple endings with the Archonexus Campaign if you have the time and energy to do so. I’m treating it like multiple seasons of a TV show with recurring characters and a larger overarching plot

I am on my third and final portion of the Archonexus and this shit has gone in some incredible directions (some forced by me, but most organic).

Sorry for the long read but I have to write it out somewhere.

My five original colonists (tribal start) had a rough time of it but from humble beginnings they built a powerful colony, snagged some real heroes from the growing colony population, and raised some amazing kids. I didn’t even touch the Anomaly, choosing instead to focus on building the ship and getting my season 1 hero colonists off the map. These consisted of:

Red - My Duchess and the colony’s leader, an original colonist.
Canbargo - A war chief, our moral leader, and Red’s husband, an original colonist
Doask - My gay colonist and the lead fighter/researcher of the group. I downloaded a mod to give every colonist a sexuality because I wanted him to find love (I posted about this pawn earlier). An original colonist.
Dotell - Bass’s husband and a one-eyed melee fighter. The search for him was a major Season 1 subplot.
Grandma - A 96 year old Ytakkin with cataracts and bad back who I desperately tried to get rid of after a join event. She survived the long caravan I sent her on and almost died defending the colony children from manhunters so now she HAS to have a happy ending.
Sam - My first non-starter colonist and a waster sharpshooter. She saved the colony multiple times with her legendary sniper rifle. 

With the ship activated and with only a handful of casualties, my hero characters left the planet, taking only their youngest children behind to the stars. The remaining colonists worked to build back up to 350K in funds and the second season began with the best bet I could take, the eldest children of my hero colonists.

Birch - The son of Red and Canbargo. A man bred for leadership and the defacto tribal leader of my pawns. He wields a monosword relic from the first colony and is a sanguine brawler.
Shy - The biological son of Red and Doask through IVF and the younger brother of Birch. He ended up gay just like his father and while similar to Birch in stats is pessimistic and tough, making him the second fighter of my group with a similar monosword. I imagine him a little like Loki to Birch’s Thor.
Tamera - The artsy, kind, and beautiful eldest daughter of my two unlisted original colonists. Has held a long-time crush on Birch.
Maria - The intelligent and iron-willed young daughter of my two unlisted original colonists. Formed a relationship with Cato right before leaving.
Cato - The wild-card hybrid son of Sam and Croumera, a deadly half-waster sharpshooter and the inheritor of his mother’s sniper rifle.

For Season 2 I wanted to explore the Anomaly ending and raise up some new kids for my group to send off on Season 3 but the storyline went off the rails. We added three new colonists within days of touching down to add to the main cast: Brad - a gay male space trooper from the ancient danger and lover of Shy, Annie - a leathery stranger with the power to transmute metal, and then the real villain of my colony: Sebara - a psychopath bloodlust Highmate (didn’t know this was possible) who almost immediately romanced Birch, undercutting Tamera and establishing herself as the moral leader of my group.

The story went in directions I didn’t know possible. With Sebara’s psychic influence it became hard for Birch to leave the base, making Shy the defacto leader of all Caravan and quest travels while Birch sat on his throne with his Cersei-like wife.

Tamera, my most beautiful colonist, lost her shot at love twice when her new partner succumbed to a Chimera attack leaving her alone yet again.

And Poor Maria died during a raid leaving her son Caius behind with Cato. To add insult to injury Sebara raised her as a ghoul for the frontlines.

With the way things were going I felt like the colony was falling apart under Birch’s leadership. I imagined him and Sebara becoming obsessed with the Anomaly and when the time came to choose an ending, Birch chose to forsake his companions and embraced the void, ending the anomaly on a terrifying note for this map and the formerly happy and social Birch a shell of himself.

I’m starting season 3 as if my favorite colonists had to flee this map and I intend to close the anomaly for good. My final five now being:

Shy - The scarred second-son and the new leader, he wields the sword of his brother, having stolen it while fleeing the base.
Brad - Shy’s husband and the survivor of countless raids, Half of his body is bionics from the battles he’s survived
Tamera - A woman grieving the loss of the two men she loved most and her sister. She’s taken on a motherly role to her nephew Caius
Cato - The grieving widower and sharpshooter.
Caius - The 10 year old son of Cato and the only child that made it to the end without joining the death cult.

I have a plan in mind for this round but I know the game is going to throw me for a loop. I can see any of the colonists above choosing to close the Anomaly for good before the rest leave to join the Archonexus.

I love this stupid game.