Stellaris: First Contact Story Pack (v3.7.2) [GOG] ##TOP##
The Ceph have been on Earth for at least 65 million years, and are implied to have seeded Earth with the basics of an ecosystem. They left behind infrastructure that would periodically awaken and study that ecosystem for unique proteins that may have evolved. For most of human history, they laid dormant - even after Jacob Hargreave and Karl Ernst Rasch triggered a catastrophic explosion in one of their facilities in Tunguska. Only in 2020 did they fully awaken in response to American and North Korean forces tampering with another facility under the Lingshan Islands. This is the first Ceph Colonization Stage, before they had become adapted to the "new" Earth humans had created. Through the events from Crysis 2 the Ceph begin to adapt to the Earth triggering Ceph Colonization Stage 2. Through the events from Crysis 3 the Alpha Ceph opens a Einstein-Rosen Bridge to their parent galaxy in order to bring their main invasion force to eradicate all humans, known as Ceph Colonization Stage 3.
Stellaris: First Contact Story Pack (v3.7.2) [GOG]
During the events of Crysis, the Ceph (though not referred in name at that point) were first "officially" discovered in the Lingshan Islands by a CIA-tracked archaeological expedition led by Dr. Rosenthal, who had unearthed fragments of their technology in other parts of the world. Subsequently, the North Korean government became aware of the alien technology and dispatched a Korean People's Army (KPA) expeditionary force to secure the Lingshan Islands in an attempt to appropriate it. In turn, the United States, after being urgently contacted by Dr. Rosenthal, also sent American military forces backed by the USS Constitution, USS Lexington and USS Maine carrier groups in for a rescue mission and to prevent the KPA from acquiring the artifacts. Inevitably, the North Koreans under General Kyong succeeded in activating the structure (which Kyong called a "temple") and inadvertently awakened the Ceph, who shortly thereafter deployed an "ice sphere" which flash froze most of the island and killed everything that was within range. 041b061a72