The game includes multiple nested worlds. The top-level world is a science fiction universe, but each character has their own inner world with internal characters similar to the concept of a plural system with tulpas. The inner worlds are more like fantasy RPGs. A character can enter their own inner world using the meditate command.

Multiple player accounts are allowed. Players can have multiple characters. Characters can have humanoid or non-humanoid species, with various different natural habitats. Starships typically have multiple habitats to support many different species.

Characters may belong to different factions. Each faction has its own economic system.

There is no universal currency for inter-factional trading or for interpersonal trading. All resources either belong to a faction, shared by all members, or are common property, free for anyone to use.

Interstellar travel takes a very long time, but there are a limited number of hyperspace portals through which spacecraft can travel and well as ground-to-space portals that link space stations with the planets below them. Portals can also be placed within starships, through which they are brought to their eventual destination, after centuries or millennia of deep space travel.