Starfield: House Va’ruun Timeline Explained

Upon its release in September 2023, Starfield Represents Bethesda’s first new universe in 25 years. A massive open-world role-playing game set in the 24th century, the game sees players take on the role of a space miner in the employ of Argos Extractors two decades after the conclusion of a massive interplanetary war between Starfield’s two main factions , the United Colonies and the breakaway Freestar team. The protagonist finds himself in a hostile and chaotic universeSeek out powerful artifacts on behalf of a mysterious group of explorers known only as Constellation while narrowly avoiding squabbling factions and the enigmatic Starborn.

One of the many organizations that players will encounter in their time Starfield Is the secret house Varun, A sprawling theocracy in the settled systems that worships a hibernating deity known as the Great Serpent. Fervent believers in the impending awakening of the Great Serpent in an apocalyptic event they refer to as the Shrouding, House Va’ruun begins the game in seclusion after the end of the Colony War, having quietly ratified the Armistice before retreating to seclusion. But the House’s relative isolation compared to rival factions in Starfield hides over a century and a half of intricate knowledge, which has major ramifications for the game’s universe.

The Rise of House Va’ruun

The doomsday religion has humble origins

The roots of House Va’ruun lie in a colony ship, the ArchimedesOriginating from New Atlantis, the capital city of the United Colonies, in 2190, according to Starfields official timeline. One of the passengers on the ship was a colonist named Jinan Va’ruun. Like these Archimedes Entering deep space from Martian orbit, the colony ship lost contact with New Atlantis. A year later, when the ship arrived in the previously unexplored Kavnik system, Jinan Varun experienced a hallucinatory episode during the final serious jump where he climbed to commune with the Great Serpent. Like these Archimedes‘ Passengers began to colonize the Kavnik system, Jinan slowly accumulated a dedicated sect enthralled by stories of his purported encounter with the snake.

In 2193, the colonization of Kavnik Ib was spearheaded by Jinan, representing a massive power shift in the hierarchy of the colony ship, which had previously been tightly controlled by the Colonial Council. The prophet of the great serpent gives the name Dazra to the newly founded capital city of the planet. In thanks for his dedication to the development of Kavnik, The colonists name the planet’s moon Va’ruun’kai.

Over the next seven years, Jinan solidified his control over the colonists. In 2197, the colonial council – which still remained de jure Authority over the first passengers of the Archimedes – formal dissolution, Officially hand over the reins of power to Jinan. The prophet’s first task was to completely reform the colonial society he had inherited, to introduce a new hierarchy in the form of a noble family. Like the houses of Molen and Kadik. With the new order now fully beholden to him, Jinan finally completed his great social upheaval in 2200 with a complete integration of church and state, forcing all his subjects to become servants of the Great Serpent.

House Va’ruun enters the 23rd century

A violent introduction to the outside world

In 2207, members of House Va’ruun were alarmed by their rapidly dwindling supplies. Jinan’s main concern, however, remained religious, and The prophet occupied his time with a series of serious driving experiments in the hope of repeating his original encounter with the great serpent.. But the relative isolation of the house could not last. In 2230 – the 40th anniversary of the Archimedes‘ Disappearance – A ship appears in the Volii system with the original colony ship’s transponder code. That was it GriefHouse Varun’s flagship, which apparently arrived to establish diplomatic relations with large factions and corporations in the established systems.

But in the shadows, House Varun quietly prepared for a bloodbathGather information about rival factions in the settled systems while assembling an armada of ships. For the next decade, the House maintained cordial affairs with the outside world until suddenly cutting off communications in 2240 and declaring holy war on the rest of humanity in a bloody conflict that would come to be known as the Serpent’s Crusade. Thousands of non-believers perished in the face of Varun’s onslaught, and the Old Den, a star station of the United Colonies, was destroyed in the battle.

For the next 23 years, The crusade intensified until Jinan died suddenly in 2263 after a seven-decade reign.. His son, Jarek, immediately assumed control of the house and sued for peace, Recall most of his troops to the Kavnik system. For the next several decades, Jarek desperately tried to rehabilitate his house’s reputation, even constructing an embassy in New Atlantis as a sign of goodwill to the now deeply embittered rival factions. Jarek’s pacifist outlook was deeply unsettling to his noble underlings, fomenting tensions that would soon lead to chaotic conflict.

In 2270, Jarek’s twin brother, Jandar, rose up against his anti-war isolationist policy. In his opposition, he was roundly supported by House Malin, spurring hostilities that would erupt in 2274, when Malin officially separated from the House of War and formed an extremist faction of great serpent worshipers known as the Va’ruun Zealots. For the next 60 years, the Varun fanatics terrorized those who did not believe in the established systems, trying to continue the dragon’s crusade with a new, ultraviolent approach to the Varun faith.

House Va’ruun in the 24th century

The house’s status at the beginning of Starfield

In 2298, Jarek Varun dies and is replaced by his son, Anasco, as Speaker for the Great Serpent. In the fourth year of his reign, Anasco – much like his grandfather – Began a secret research program focused on Grave Drive technology. The program is shady and privately referred to as unorthodox in the House’s territories. After the armistice that ended the Colony War was confirmed, House Wa’Rwen remained relatively quiet until 2230, when one of its stations, the Oracle, entered the settled systems broadcasting a distress signal, the impetus for Starfields Shattered Space DLC.

House Va’ruun occupies a storied – if bloody – history in the Starfield Universe. Abandoning its violent tendencies and embracing a policy of non-aggression has left it divided but still strong, and as it continues through the 24th century, the House grapples with a deeply uncertain future. In the past after struggling to survive in a hostile future, House Va’ruun presents yet another fascinating Starfield Faction for players to discover.

Source: Starfield, Bethesda Softworks/YouTube