The Box

Historical Event

The Box
Start Date
2015-02-16
End Date
2015-04-17

At the beginning of the 5th universe, the playable area was reduced in an attempt to save server resources. The playable area was restricted to a cube the size of 9x9x9 sectors or 90x90x90 parsec. It was given the name "The Box" because of its cubic shape.

While this was plenty big for most players, many felt it was too restrictive, as it did not give much space to get away from other empires.

Outcome

The mighty Syndicate empire was among the first to create warp-capable starships, which allowed them to travel from one side of The Box to the other in around an hour. Being pretty much unrivaled, Syndicate quickly grew bored and decided to play the bad guys.

The Syndicate empire set a goal to reach one million loyal citizens on the Empire Standings. Rather than just colonize every planet they saw, they decided to also give people a reason to rebel and fight them by demanding that everyone submit to them.

The demands were not evil; simply vassal with 30% daily tribute or be subjugated. Some empires misunderstood or felt threatened by these terms causing them to abandon their empire.

Syndicate's starmap at the later stages of The Box.

Another image of The Box.

Another image, showing a lot more hostile empires.

End

Two months in, Haxus agreed to increase the size of The Box. Although, unbeknownst to everyone at the time, The Box limitation was actually removed all together, opening access to the whole universe.

The reveal after the box was removed was a little cryptic at first.
See: (Forum thread) The "Box"