How the orb encodes each realm—readiness on color, difficulty on the coin, border policy in the scroll.
Country fills and realm-token glow follow realm readiness: the average of affluence, security, safety, quality of life, and language ease (same five bars in the briefing). Cooler reds mark rougher footing; greens mark stronger overall footing. Tokens keep a gold filigree ring; the core shifts with readiness.
The glyph inside each realm coin is the expedition tier—how punishing the authored difficulty curve is for heroes, separate from readiness hue.
Contested Ground and Blight March override the usual ladder when safety collapses into extreme hazard brackets.
Policy posture for entry—shown in tooltips and realm scrolls. These chips are not the map gradient; they summarize visa friction beside readiness.