Each War of the Avatars campaign has 50 realms run by players. The player realms start out controlling less than a quarter of the communities. There are also non-player realms controlled by the computer. These non-player realms consist of hundreds of neutral city-states, their troops, and wandering bands of units not located at any community. Some of these realms are considered friendly to all players, while others are distinctly unfriendly.

Uncommitted units and communities join your realm when your forces encounter them, as long as they are racially compatible with your units (orcish units won't join your group if you have dwarven units present, for example). If the uncommitted units are not racially compatible with your forces, there may be a battle. Hostile units and communities always oppose you, attacking on sight and defending furiously against your advances.

There are hundreds of non-player bands wandering across the map. These bands may be small (only one unit) or they may be quite large (as many as five or more units). Most of the bands are hostile and are never willing to join your realm. The larger they are, the more likely they are to be hostile. For those who wish a more in-depth understanding of the relationship between large numbers and hostility, imagine the following conversation between your human forces and a large band of orcs that they have encountered. While linguistic difficulties would certainly apply, we believe that the conversation would follow much along these lines: "Ya want us to join up with ya? Well me an' da boys o' da Bleeding Eye clan don't see it dat way. No, we think yur gonna spend da rest o' yur days fertilizing da ground. Pushin' up little flowers. Ya understand what we're talking about, human slime?"

Only a fraction of the communities on the map start the game controlled by players. All the other communities are either uncommitted or hostile. Waterdeep and all cities start the game as hostile (the leaders of these communities see themselves as the bastions of civilization in the North and view the rest of you as uncouth barbarians). Most of the other communities are hostile as well, but a few of them are willing to join your cause. Of course, you have to find them first and invite them to join up by having one of your units pay them a visit.