Realm
The world of
Spirit Land is out to be conquered and settled by NPC
dynasties that will build
settlements whenever threat is eliminated from an hexagon.
After settling, NPC
nobles will try to gather more territory under their rule, forming realms.
Realm tiers in order (from smallest to biggest) are County, Duchy, Kingdom and Empire.
Each realm tier can exist in its independend form or can be part of a larger superior tier realm.
For example you can have an independent County or a County inside a Duchy and so on.
A realm has a capital, for a County it is the center settlement while for higher tier realms the capital is the same of the main lower tier.
For example a Duchy capital is also the County capital for the main County of the Duchy, and so on.
The main sub-realm of a bigger realm can be identified because it shares the same capital.
Each realm corresponds to a title that a noble can detain, more about that later in this document.
Hierarchy and Conquest
Realm hierarchy is strict, a settlement can only have a parent County directly, a County can only have a parent Duchy, a Duchy under a Kingdom and a Kingdom under an Empire.
This means that you cannot have a settlement directly controlled by a Duchy, for example, or a Duchy directly controlled by an Empire, the right realm tier must be in the middle.
And higher tier realm is created whenever new land acquisition would break normal vassals rules, forcing a realm to grow up to include the new conquered land.
A realm act as a single unit in its goals and new aquired land is integrated as best as possible, starting with the highest tier realm if possible, going down to lower ones if not, promoting conquering realms and creating new middle tier realms if needed.
Basically a realm can vassalize only those of one tier below and only if they're adjacent to the main realm of the same tier.
Remember that a main realm is the one sharing the capital with its parent realm.
A realm can conquer a single settlement or a whole other realm, if able to.
Of course based on current realm hierarchy and the aquired target, different things can happen.
Direct vassalization, vassalization by a vassal, realm promotion and so on, different scenarios which will be analyzed in more details in a technical section of this document.
It might happen that a realm conquers something that it can't really control, no matter what, and in that case an independent realm is made, but it's given to a member of the ruling dynasty so that to make a new ally.
To be noted that capitals cannot be captured as single settlements but they must be claimed as their whole main realm.
County
The first level of realms is the County and when founded its main settlement becomes County capital.
A County can try to control directly adjacent hexagons, through claim when they're empty or through politics and war if they're already occupied.
When conquered the target adjacent settlement gets vassalized by the County.
A County can claim an adjacent County and will become a Duchy right before vassallizing it.
A County cannot vassalize directly settlements in hexagons not adjacent to its own County capital.
In that case a new County is created for the new far settlement and it's vassalized by the first County, which becomes a Duchy in the process.
More about realm promotion on vassalization later in this document.
Duchy
The second level of realms is the Duchy, which gets founded when a County tries to extend beyond it's adjacent settlements or vassalizes another adjacent County.
The County sharing capital with its parent Duchy is the main County of that Duchy.
A Duchy can vassalize Counties only if they're adjacent to its main County.
More about realm promotion on vassalization later in this document.
Kingdom
The third level of realms is the Kingdom, which gets founded when a Duchy tries to extend beyond Counties adjacent to the main one or vassalizes another adjacent Duchy.
The Duchy sharing capital with its parent Kingdom is the main Duchy of that Kingdom.
A Kingdom can vassalize Duchies only if they're adjacent to its main Duchy.
More about realm promotion on vassalization later in this document.
Empire
The fourth level of realms is the Empire, which gets founded when a Kingdom tries to extend beyond Duchies adjacent to the main one or vassalizes another adjacent Kingdom.
The Kingdom sharing capital with its parent Empire is the main Kingdom of that Empire.
An Empire can vassalize Kingdoms only if they're adjacent to its main Kingdom.
More about realm promotion on vassalization later in this document.
Legitimacy
There are two kinds of legitimacy in regard of realms: realm hierarchy and dynasty claims.