Root, Strand, and The Loom

Note

Developers do not operate Roots. That is Softfire’s infrastructure. This page explains the architecture so you understand what your game is connecting to, what guarantees the topology provides, and what would happen if Softfire ever ceased operations.

Root

The Root is the canonical authoritative hub for the Worldweave platform. It owns:

• Identity — Root accounts, authentication tokens, device linking, GDPR data portability
• Session authority — session IDs, Strand assignment, session continuity
• Living World simulation authority — the simulation runs on Root infrastructure and is authoritative; Strands cache and relay, they do not compute
• Platform data — achievements, ranked ratings, social graph, cross-game state

There is currently one Root, operated by Softfire. Game clients do not connect to the Root directly. They connect to a Strand, which relays to the Root for operations that require authority (authentication, Echo submission, Chronicle queries). Cached reads (world state, achievement status, social presence) are served directly from the Strand.

Strand

A Strand is a regional relay and cache node. It sits geographically closer to a subset of players and handles three responsibilities:

1. Session relay — routing encrypted game session traffic between clients, and between clients and the Root
2. World state cache — holding a replicated copy of Living World state for its region, serving delta frames to connected clients via The Signal
3. LAN/offline mode — a Strand can operate in a degraded capacity if its Root connection is severed, serving cached state and relaying LAN traffic until the Root connection is restored

The Root manages Strand assignments. When a client authenticates, the Root assigns the geographically optimal Strand based on the client’s IP region. Clients reconnect to the Root if their assigned Strand becomes unreachable, and the Root reassigns to the next-best available Strand.

Softfire currently operates Strands in EU-West, US-East, US-West, AP-Southeast, and AP-Northeast. Additional regions are added as player population warrants.

The Loom

The Loom is the distributed registry of Roots. It is a separate service, not tied to any one Root operator. Its purpose is to mediate federation: if multiple Roots exist, The Loom lets them discover each other so players on different Roots can interact.

Currently only Softfire’s Root is registered with The Loom. This is SingleRoot mode — the default and only publicly available mode. The Loom is fully operational and the registration protocol is stable; independent Root operators are architected but not yet publicly admitted.

The Loom does not sit in the critical path of normal game sessions. It is queried during authentication if a client presents credentials from a Root other than the local one. In SingleRoot mode, this path is rarely exercised.

Seed

The Seed is the deployable package to grow a new Root. It is a complete, self-contained implementation of:

• The Root identity service
• The Living World simulation engine
• The Strand coordination layer
• The Loom client registration

The Seed exists for resilience. If Softfire ever ceases operations, any party with access to player data exports can deploy a Seed and restore the platform. The deployment is not automatic — it requires infrastructure and a data import — but the capability exists and the Seed is maintained as a first-class artifact.

This is a deliberate architectural decision: the platform’s continuity should not depend solely on Softfire remaining a going concern. Players can export their own data at any time (see Player Identity), and the Seed ensures that exported data has a path back into a working platform.

Federation mode

Worldweave supports two federation modes:

SingleRoot (current, default) — one Root, operated by Softfire. All connected games and players share this Root. The Loom has only one entry.

Federated (architected, not yet publicly enabled) — multiple independent Roots, each registered with The Loom. A player’s Root account from one operator is portable to another via The Loom. Games can connect to any registered Root. Inter-Root session relay is mediated by The Loom’s federation protocol.

Enterprise customers interested in operating their own Root should contact enterprise@softfire.dev.