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How would you show a Galactic Human Empire 'realistically' in scale?
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Just a question that I'm not sure how to ask an answer for.

Well galactic empire is not really the right term. But I guess I'm trying to show a Galactic Empire (called the The Solarian Confederacy) which is rules 25% of the galaxy. Yes that's 100 billion star systems. It's been interstellar for 750 years. There's 10 Billion humans for each of these star systems so approximately 1 Sextillion human beings in the entire galaxy. Interstellar travel is expensive but something the average human citizens can afford.

Like a one way ticket to the nearest star system in this setting takes a few days, and costs several months of wages. The nearest clusters and sectors takes a few weeks and several years of wages. Crossing the galaxy takes years and several decades of wages for the average human.

But you can.

The Solarian Confederacy is a moderately functioning society spanning a hundreds of billion star systems, populated by humans. It features decent but stagnant technology, political stability marked by occasional unrest, and a mix of cultural expressions, though a dominant culture often prevails. The military is adequately prepared but lacks advanced capabilities. Economic prosperity is stable yet uneven, with significant disparities. Social equality exists but needs improvement, and exploration is cautious, emphasizing sustainability. Environmental practices are average, and healthcare access varies regionally. Diplomatic relations with other civilizations are maintained, though tensions can arise, reflecting the empire’s ongoing challenges and quest for progress.

I'm just going to go with standard science fiction stuff and say that the average human being here lives to be 150 to 180 years. So mild life extension but that's it.

There's 40 rival alien empires in the galaxy and 100 different other sentient alien races.

The oldest known interstellar race that is still active is 20,000 years old but obviously used to rule most of the galaxy before something happened that nearly destroyed them.

And so on. So this is humans dominated galaxy.

There's conflict in this galaxy. For example just in The Solarian Confederacy own borders with human versus humans there are 1200 local skirmishes, 10 civil wars and 600 pirate-related conflicts.

Outside of the confederacy the humans are at war with 5 of the 40 rival alien empires.

That's not to say the aliens are themselves basically blameless. There's 50 other wars with aliens versus aliens, 8000 pirate and police actions and 20 known civil wars.

But obviously in a galaxy of hundreds of billions of star systems this is small scale.

But back to my main point. How would you show such a galaxy in terms of scale?

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This has been asked before.

The TL:DR answer is: Depends on what an empire means in this context. For example everyone that uses SI units over Imperial can be said to be part of the same entity if you think about it.

Maybe they all just fly one flag. Etc.

You need to read more history.

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