12. Realms, speeds and playing more than one

The universe is not one shared server but several parallel realms, each with its own map, commanders, alliances and speeds. You may hold one commander in each – alternate-reality doppelgangers of each other – and the name you fly under in one is tied to nothing in any other. It is what makes it possible to be a trusted officer in one galaxy while quietly reporting to a rival alliance in another.

A realm has speeds: build, production, research and fleet, each a multiplier set by the operator. It also has weather – realm events that temporarily change those speeds for everybody at once.

A realm is born closed and is opened to the public deliberately. Its season is the time it stands open, and it ends in the Hidden Sector.