Island Lifecycle

"The sea does not forget, but it sleeps. And those who sleep long wake as someone else."

— Marginal note from the Chronicler, page 4711

Short version: Your empire responds to absence. Pause, and it slumbers. Stay silent longer, and it loses its helmsman. Return is possible at any time — until the very last step.

- Four stages: Active → Slumbering → Rudderless → Old Empire Ruin

- Coming back heals any stage except the last

- Vacation freezes everything without losing a stage

- Deletion always comes with a seven-day reflection period

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Beginner Protection and the Points Tier #

New captains enjoy fourteen days of full protection from attacks and colonizations — no matter how quickly they grow. If you confirm an attack on an active captain at dispatch, or create or join a combined attack against a player or a player-held fortress, your beginner protection ends with that decision and does not return. A warning appears beforehand. Departing captains are leaving the world but count as active until deletion; attacking them also ends protection. Colonizing and attacks on slumbering or rudderless captains, ruins or unheld Corsair Fortresses do not end it.

Even after that grace period a limit remains: a captain who has grown overwhelmingly strong can no longer attack or colonize clearly weaker players. The sea demands a measure of parity. To take the field against a foe you must be able to look up to them — never only down.

The reverse path stays open: smaller captains may always stand against larger ones.

For individual attacks, the points barrier does not apply against slumbering, rudderless or voluntarily departing captains. War combined attacks still have their own eligibility rules; the combined attack page shows whether you can take part.

Section 1: Sleep and Waking #

Every island carries a breath. When you log in or act — build, research, dispatch fleets, speak in the alliance — it inhales. When you stay away, it exhales. And at some point, that breath becomes quiet.

Sailors call it: "He sleeps." After seven days without logging in or taking a game action your island starts to slumber. After fourteen days it becomes rudderless. After thirty days it crumbles into an Old Empire Ruin — a part of the world, severed from its captain's identity. Full days are counted. The usual absence clock runs from your last login or game action. There is an exception if you still need to verify your email: access can be blocked and your empire can become rudderless despite earlier activity. The game shows whether verification is required and the deadline.

• Active (0 to 6 days) — Business as usual.
• Slumbering (from 7 days of inactivity) — Can be plundered. Trade routes already stop at this stage. Secondary islands are now colonizable, the main island stays protected against a takeover. Beginner protection itself is unaffected: anyone still inside their first fourteen days stays protected even if their island enters this state — only the point-tier barrier lifts here, as described above. In the slumbering stage, your own alliance comrades may attack and take over secondary islands after explicit confirmation; the main island stays protected against a takeover. For an attacker that means: a colonization gives them the secondary island and the stock its damaged warehouse holds; the return trip brings no plunder -- a conquest here brings no colonization permit as a gift for the colony account, because that only counts against awake captains. An alliance and a non-aggression pact still protect a slumbering captain; only his own comrades may reach for him after a week of sleep. A slumbering captain's map pieces go into the display case automatically and can be taken there, except under beginner protection (chapter "The Treasure Hunt").
• Rudderless (from 14 days) — Fully attackable; secondary islands can be colonized, the main island cannot. Trade routes remain stopped. For an attacker that means: main and secondary islands alike stand open to attacks, including to alliances that hold a pact with his own -- here no treaty rests any longer. He gets secondary islands with their remaining stock, not the main island. There is no additional colonization benefit here either.
• Old Empire Ruin (from 30 days) — Identity anonymized. The island becomes part of the world — yet it is not lost forever: any captain can reclaim an old empire with a colony fleet and turn it back into a living island.

How you wake: A successful login is enough. A game action also wakes your empire — sending a fleet, queuing a building or posting in alliance chat. As long as your empire is not yet a ruin and no deletion is pending, you return to "Active". The clock starts over.

Section 2: Return and the Welcome Tide #

If you return after seven or more days, your next login shows a First Officer's report — an overview of what happened in your absence: attacks, plunder, lost islands. Alongside it, a Return Bonus lands on every island you still own. It only ever adds; never takes, never harms.

Did you lose every island while you were gone? The Frontier Respawn gives you a new island in a free space in the world. A young ocean is not guaranteed. A clean start without an alliance, but with full control. Even if your islands have already become Old Empire Ruins, you can give them up and start anew this way; the ruins you give up then disappear from the world.

Section 3: Letters from the Chronicler #

If you stay silent for a while, the Chronicler writes to you — but only once per break, between the third and the fifth day, and only when several pieces of news come together — such as attacks repelled, flotsam on the beach, new messages in alliance chat and unopened care packages. If you are verified with Discord and have turned on the weekly chronicle there, the letter can reach you as a direct message; otherwise it comes by email, with a single-use, secure login link (valid 72 hours).

Every letter carries an unsubscribe link; after that the Chronicler stops writing. Your email keeps its other functions (attack alerts, weekly summary).

Section 4: Anchorage of the Silent Current (Vacation Mode) #

For planned absence — travel, work, exhaustion — there is Vacation Mode. While active:

• Incoming attacks bounce (full return, no losses, no plunder)
• No fleet sets out for attack, espionage, colonization or treasure salvage; relocations to foreign islands are also blocked
• Trade stays possible, even with other players; so do relocations between your own islands
• Production drops to a quarter. Whoever is already on vacation keeps half until it ends. No new knowledge plans are laid down meanwhile — any stock already produced is kept
• The absence clock halts completely — no stage transitions during vacation. Vacation time never counts retroactively as absence; the clock only resumes from the end of your vacation
• Your map pieces stay in the chest: they are not displayed automatically, and nobody can take what is on display

Limits:

• Planned duration: at least 48 hours; you can end it earlier at any time
• Maximum 21 days in one stretch
• Budget: 30 days per rolling year. On activation the planned duration is reserved from this budget and shown to you. If you come back earlier, the unused remainder is credited back — but a minimum of 48 hours is always charged

You schedule vacation under "Settings → Vacation Mode". The earliest start is 24 hours later; until then you can cancel the request at any time. Repeated requests are limited. You cannot apply with deletion pending. The requirements are checked again at the start: if, for example, an outgoing attack fleet is still at sea, the request ends without vacation. Every departure for an attack, combined attack, espionage, colonization or treasure salvage cancels the request. If a foreign fleet that left beforehand is still heading your way when it is due, vacation begins after that fleet arrives. Only you (map, your island, your profile) and your alliance in the member list see your request. You may end vacation at any time; at least 48 hours are charged to your yearly budget.

Section 5: Farewell (Account Deletion) #

If you wish to permanently delete your account, there is a seven-day reflection period. During this time your empire appears on the map as "Departing" — dark red, with a tooltip hint. Requesting deletion means laying down the shield of your realm: other players can plunder, the points barrier no longer applies to individual attacks, and your main island becomes colonizable too. Reactivation letters pause. Trade routes stand still throughout the reflection period.

What the request does not do is cut you off from your alliance — reinforcements and the distress call keep working for as long as the account exists.

• Account and personal data: Your access is removed. The Privacy Policy explains how personal data is erased or retained for specific purposes.
• What stays in the world: Your islands weather away as ownerless old empires (like abandoned realms) — part of the living sea, but no longer carrying your name.
• Your map pieces: They go into the display case the moment you submit the request. A victor can take them from there; as long as your beginner protection is still running, they are safe from that. They stay there, even after the deletion: the old empire of your main island keeps them. If you withdraw the deletion, you put them back in the chest yourself — which is only possible once the deletion is withdrawn.
• What remains: Anonymized entries in the alliance log. A find in the Hall of Treasure Finders stays recorded as "Unknown captain" with the alliance tag.
• Cancellation: You can cancel deletion in settings. Accepting a Frontier Respawn after losing all your islands also cancels it. A login alone, including via a magic link, does not end the deletion request. After cancellation you are "Active" again and your main island is protected against takeover again.

After the reflection period, the deletion request is carried out. You receive a confirmation email if your registered address is verified. The Privacy Policy provides further information about how your data is handled.

"A captain never simply leaves. He gives the sea seven days to call him back."