The position you play in War of the Avatars (WA) is called a realm. You are the lord of your realm; all its inhabitants jump to obey your orders. A realm consists of communities, armies, garrisons, items, leaders, and Avatars. Note that throughout this manual, the term unit refers to armies, garrisons, and leaders. Your communities are the base of your power, the source of both income (gold) and new units. Your units are the means by which you conquer new territory. Units also enable you to defend your existing territory against the evil intentions of other players.

Renaming Your Realm: On your first turn Order Sheet, you can change your realm's name and banner. The banner that will be used as a flag for your realm. If you decide to change your realm's name, banner, or both, certain choices may not be acceptable. Socially unacceptable names (and banners) will, of course, be edited or ignored. The names and banners you choose must have a fantasy flavor. If you try to rename your realm Mutants from Pluto and change your banner to a green mushroom cloud on a pink background, you'll be stuck with the original name and banner. Fantasy-oriented names, such as The Creeping Doom or The Northern Hordes, are much more acceptable. Stay in character, folks!

After you've turned in your first Order Sheet, it's too late to change your realm's name or banner.

Orders: You control your subjects by giving orders. Each order is either a command for an unit to take an action (move to a community, follow another unit, etc.), a community action (increase production, muster a unit, craft an item, etc.) or a realm-level decision (ally with a realm, research an item, etc.) You write your orders down on the Order Sheet and send it to RSI every turn. The number of orders you can write depends on the size of your realm. Every player starts with 12 orders per turn and gains additional orders as he conquers more communities. For more information, see the Orders section.