Colonies is suited for slower interaction and gameplay. Good for a long term conflict and also players who have lesser playing time. Even the travel time can be long indeed if we are to travel half the map. Maybe we can focus on the uniqueness of Colonies island to promote it
About the Empire. Should we to split off into many new realms, each realm will consist of around 10 nobles plus, maybe even lesser number. Good for keeping nobles in the realm as everyone will be talking more I guess, keeping my finger crosses for it. There will be even more politics, conflicts as everyone in the realm teamed up against other realms. Like Jaron says, we should join that guild and keep the wide island interaction ongoing. Empire will not last long indeed, sometime later it will break up. At least we have the legacy of it