So, I did a bit of a dive through the mod's files to find as much of the lore as I could, and started to notice, like, a LOT of Stellaris references in it. Granted, Stellaris itself is just a bundle of references to every other sci fi story and concept under the sun, so it's hardly conclusive, but when you see enough of them, like Ecumenopolis, Psionics, Gene Warriors, and Gaia Worlds, you start to get a bit suspicious. Not to mention the cultist background sounds a lot like the cultist event chain from Stellaris.