Developed for the Stellaris 2020 Mod Jam which was hosted by Paradox Interactive and sponsored by Nvidia. The requirements of the mod jam were to develop a single empire origin for Stellaris. The Lost Spawn origin had a focus on two features in Stellaris, archaeological dig sites and leviathans.
Lost Spawn has the player uncover the history of their civilisations by exploring other worlds touched by their creator. The player's efforts finally culminate in tracking down their creator which is one of two leviathans. Mechanica, a planet-sized, malfunctioning robot leviathan; or Veteris, an arrogant artist leviathan who sculpts worlds. Upon encountering their creator the player can ask them questions and is presented with a choice, protect their creator or destroy them. The player is receives a reward based on their choice and which leviathan they had.
The jam's development time lasted 4 weeks from 09/11 - 06/12. Volunteers tested the mod during it's development and all entries were combined into one mod a released to the public on 19/12. The public then voted on which origins they liked the most to determine the winner of the jam. Lost Spawn received 179 votes (14.6% of the total) and came 10th out of 16 entries.
As of 23/06/21 the Stellaris 2020 Mod Jam mod has over 23 thousand users subscribed to it on the Steam Workshop with over 49 thousand views.

Lost Spawn had room to be improved and expanded upon, however the scope remained fairly limited due to the time constraints of the mod jam. If Lost Spawn was to be revisited and updated the differences in the dig sites' narratives could be improved and made more flavourful. Because of the origin's design and structure Lost Spawn could also be expanded upon to include additional potential leviathans, although this would have diminishing returns.
Upon reflection there are design issues with some of the rewards players can obtain from their creator. Rewards such as the unique tech-priest building and the old scales relic are significantly more dynamic and interesting for players compared to passive empire buffs or resources. These more mundane rewards could be revisited and changed to be more unique or interesting for players.

The origin was designed around utilising the leviathans feature as no existing origin with Stellaris incorporated it. Prior Stellaris modding experience and observations made by Paradox Development Studio suggested that players enjoyed narrative elements within the game and that archaeological dig sites were an effective method for implementing narrative content.
Two distinct leviathans with multiple potential rewards were designed to give the origin extra replay value and some flexibility in how players could role-play their empire.