In every game I've played, one race (I think always an evil race) has gotten the event that they're sacrificing citizens to an artifact that will one day make them super-powerful.
But in every case, that race ends up just sort of fading away.
What exactly does this event do? It makes it sound like you should go out of your way and wipe them out sooner than later, but in each game, left to their own devices, they've never been a power-player.