Sorry if this has already been answered, but I'm not even sure how to start searching for this one.

I noticed that shards don't seem to go away, just "drift down" don't know if they will eventually drift into Chaos and be out of reach if I don't fight over them, but that's a separate question :)

So say I'm fighting over a Small Shard with Oinor. If I win it - does Oinor not get any new bonuses / glory while all the other Masters grow stronger by conquering shards which are not accessible to me? And if so, do they fight each other over unseen shards?

Well, for a start, I think that it's you rising up rather than everything else drifting down. I like to assume that time is working in a different fashion in the Astral Plane, so if you choose to attack a shard at some point, and Oinor attempts to take it at some later 'time' in the astral plane, then you'll end up fighting for it.

On the other hand, your relative positions in the Astral should (by the lore, at least: I'm not sure if this actually is true) give you an idea as to how many shards you've taken compared to other Masters. The others don't seem to move, so it could be surmised that they aren't taking (many) shards.

Either way, I don't think that it's necessarily true that everyone takes turns at the same time on the Astral Plane, according to the lore, so your question is somewhat irrelevant.

Hmm, well it's stated out right that if you decide to skip a turn without attacking a shard, other masters will continue conquering them - was that a fib? Otherwise you could just keep skipping turns accumulating energy till you can use all your bonuses against every shard.

Ok, thank you :)

I think it depends on when the shard becomes available. I often leave the shards with the demesne shops behind, and then when I attack them much later, they are ridiculously easy.

AI gets bonus to difficulty when it attacks your shard.
You must deserve your right to live, as author once said.

Heh :)

Only had to defend my shard the one time so far, but it was fun. I was playing on Beginner then, have switched to Skilled since.

I forget though - you don't get any bonuses other than Glory (and avoiding Game Over of course) from winning a defensive battle, right? Are there any penalties from losing an assault (beyond the wasted energy and worsening relations with the master you attacked)?

I've been playing a "good" character and only attacked and taken out two Masters so far - Doh-Gor, the one who attacked me first, and L'Anshar since Vianta convinced me (and offered aid.) Kinda regretting the last one, since he was fun to talk to. Now just met that "lying engineer" dude, and kinda apprehensive about facing him in battle.