Universes: linked worlds and a shared codex

A universe puts related worlds on one public page. If you write sequels, spinoffs, or other stories in the same setting, it shows players how they connect. The page includes a suggested reading order and a codex they can browse before...

Creating a universe

Open Your universes from the creator area and click New universe. Give it a name to open the editor. The universe stays private until you turn on Published, so you can finish the page before anyone sees it.

Your page lives at playimagina.com/universe/your-slug. Its slug comes from the name, but you can change it in the editor. Changing the slug breaks existing links, so choose one you can keep.

The landing page

You can shape the page with these fields:

Hero banner: wide art shown full-bleed at the top of the page.
Emblem: a small square crest shown next to the universe name and on universe cards and lists.
Logo (optional): a transparent PNG or WebP of your title art. When set, it replaces the name text on the hero and on link previews. Wide shapes around 3:1 work best.
Accent: your choice of six colors for the page's buttons, chips, and highlights.
About: markdown rendered like a world description. You can use callouts and other formatting here, and place up to two full-width images from the gallery in the text with the toolbar's Insert image button, and add image rows (up to six gallery images side by side, in the order you pick) from the same menu.
Gallery: up to twelve images (concept art, maps, key visuals) shown in their own section on the page. Each one can have a caption, they display uncropped, and players can open them (and the images placed in the About text) full size. The gallery starts as a single scrollable row of thumbnails and expands with "Show all". Gallery images save right away, without pressing Save.
Author note: a short note shown in a speech bubble next to your avatar. Write it in your own voice.
Resources: outside links, such as a soundtrack, playlist, or artbook.

Linking worlds

Use the Worlds panel to add any of your worlds. The order you choose becomes the suggested reading order on the page. You can also arrange worlds into named groups such as "Main story" or "Spinoffs".

Each world can point to another one in the universe as a spinoff, sequel, prequel, or side story. This relation appears as a chip on the page. When a player finishes a journey, the end screen suggests what to play next. It favors a direct sequel, then falls back to the next world in reading order.

On the page, each world gets a landscape card with its art, a short description, and its play count, so visitors can pick where to start. 1-on-1 character worlds get the same card with their portrait on the left.

You can link unpublished worlds, but they never appear on the public page. NSFW worlds are only shown to players who have enabled mature content on their account.

The codex

The codex holds public information about characters, realms, factions, items, events, and concepts. You write every entry from scratch. It does not copy anything from your world definitions, so hidden instructions, secret lore, and ending conditions remain secret.

In the codex:

Use Realms for major places such as cities, kingdoms, and planes. Smaller spots belong in a world's own locations.
Mark an entry as a spoiler to blur it until the reader chooses to reveal it.
An entry can have an image, a one-line card summary, and a markdown body.

Players can open the codex from the universe page or use the book icon in the play header during a journey. During play, it is read-only and never feeds the AI. The codex is there for the player to reference, not as context for the story.

A world does not need a universe to have a codex. The world editor's Lore section has its own Codex panel, and those entries appear in play on their own. When a world belongs to a universe too, players see both sets together.

Worlds have a codex of their own too, in the world editor's Lore group, saved with the world like everything else. A world that belongs to a universe can also include entries from the universe codex ("Add Entry", then "Include from universe"): included entries show in that world's in-play Codex and stay in sync with the universe, even in journeys already underway, so you never write the same entry twice. The story engine never reads the codex. If someone copies your world, included entries become regular entries in the copy, since the copy is not part of your universe.

Publishing

When the page is ready, turn on Published in the editor. Member worlds then show a "Part of the universe" line on their own pages, and the universe appears in link previews and search. You can unpublish it at any time to take the page down without losing anything.

Once at least two of its worlds are published, the universe also shows up on the home page's Universes shelf, in the public index at /universes, and on your creator page. Link previews are a composed card: your hero image with the universe name (or your logo) and tagline over it, so a good hero is worth the upload.