The Wrath approaching an opening Epic Bloom
Open systems are special - they have a large number of planets and can be entered by any race, no matter their RipCurrent network. Open systems provide greater revenue and greater reward, they also count as only 2 legs from your homeworld, allowing you to grow your RipCurrent network. They also have another, even more exotic feature.
Should the ships of more than one species be within an open system then it is likely that an Epic Bloom will appear. This bloom cannot be hurt or disabled. It will grow in size, by 1 per turn from it's initial size of 4. When it reaches size 16 it becomes 'enlivened'. When enlivened, any race which has it's ships within 5 of the bloom, and only it's ships within 5 will gain an Epic level for the fleet flagship.
If no ship is close enough, or ships from more than 1 race are close enough then the bloom will remain enlivened, awaiting the conditions for a flagship to gain the Epic Level.
Once the Epic is claimed, another Epic will only appear when a ship is driven out of the system and loses DarkLight.
The Wrath approaching an opening Epic Bloom
A ship that gains Epic Levels no longer counts towards your Fleet Support costs. Your homeworld so loves the vessel that they will support it purely for the joy of having such a great ship and crew fighting in the heavens for them.
Each Epic level on a ship will increase that ships Darklight by 1 per turn, even if the vessel is not within a gravity well. Epic ships enter combat with a huge advantage, able to harvest combat mass and Darklight at the same time.
The combat for Epic Blooms is the only focus for many species, who ignore the colonisation of the stars in favour of combat and Epic status ships.