Who decides the chain truth after a severe downtime?

Dear all,

this is a scenario that I tried to think through - let us use it for a healthy discussion regarding points i) - iii) below. We know from Bitcoin's case that after a severe downtime of the network the longest chain is set as the objective truth due to the energy put into creating blocks. This is a great detail of Bitcoin's network which makes it a great option for a hard monetary base layer for the world. Security and decentralization are the only two options that are acceptable for just that, a hard monetary base layer.

However with Ethereum's Proof of Stake ecosystem, things are different. From my understanding the largest validators that produce blocks set the truth for the history and current state of the blockchain.

i) Is this true?

Let us think such a scenario through. Ethereum, for whatever reason, experiences a severe downtime for a few days. When the ecosystem wants to re-adjust itself, there is a large group of validators that conspire and collude against the network. The history is changed and transactions censored. As for Bitcoin, the nodes also validate the chain (the term 'validator' is a bit unfortunate as nodes validate as well, but 'validators' also produce blocks).

ii) Most of the many thousands of global nodes would notice inconsistencies due to the collusion of the bad validators, correct?

If so, then the most probable next step would be a soft fork. In this case, the bad validators would also have their large staked amounts in the new and correct blockchain.

iii) As those validators would still hold a majority stake then, the whole process can be repeated again. Would they get slashed after the soft fork and if so, how is this determined? Do they lose all their stake? Any details on this are highly appreciated!

Thanks a lot!