16. Migration & Mobility

Migration rules are one of the clearest ways citizens feel their system. ‘Migration’ here means moving between cities within your own nation; moving between nations is governed by the one-nation rule.

16.1 Internal migration by nation

v0.7: wherever a permit, leave or approval is needed, the decision is made by the nation’s AI (utility model, within the caps below); denials state a reason and can be re-requested.

Nation	Rule	Cost / friction	State power
Kindle	Free movement	Rent and housing market; moving fee	None; can offer relocation subsidies to frontier cities
Confluence	Household registration: move freely, but services (cooperative membership, banded-price markets) need a 7-real-day re-registration	Mild delay	Can incentivize moves to new cities
Meridian	Residence permits; SEZ entry permits easier for skilled workers	Permit queue; points system (skills, Standing)	Can open/close SEZ quotas
Korund	Relocation requires approval (request → AI Labor Bureau decision in ≤ 48 real hours)	Request may be denied; Suspicion if repeated	Mass relocation orders: the AI Chairman can relocate a work unit or a share of a city’s citizens to build a new city or fill a quota. Charter Limits: max one forced move per citizen per 30 real days; relocated citizens get housing, rations and a Standing bonus.
Aurelle	Commoners need their AI lord’s leave to move between fiefs; titled citizens move freely	Lord may charge a fee or refuse; Royal edict can override	Monarch can settle new fiefs
Ilmar	Mostly free; pilgrimage routes give temporary moves	Re-dedication at the new sanctum	Can assign clergy
Hoarvale	Free movement	Housing market; Trading House transfers keep seniority, quitting resets it	Can offer frontier subsidies
Varkand	Free at Green; internal pass at Amber (auto-approved within 12 real hours unless flagged); movement by order only at Red	Checkpoint delays; Suspicion for repeated denied passes	Closed Military Zones on the frontier; garrison postings move soldiers (max one forced move per 30 real days, as in Korund)
Veldwood	Free federal movement	Grove votes require 7 real days’ residency (federal votes unaffected); Groves may set local housing rules	Common Fund relocation grants to new Groves
Fulmara	Free; ship berths let citizens live aboard and move between port wards on sailing schedules	Port fees; housing bid up near the Exchange	None beyond charters; companies recruit settlers for new ports

16.2 Between nations: the one-nation rule

Default (respecting Patrick’s rule, confirmed v0.4): one account, one nation – no emigration, no defection, no second citizenship. Visits (trade, diplomacy, pilgrimage, espionage) are temporary and never change nationality.
Onboarding grace (decided v0.4): one free nation change within the first 48 real hours and before any political action (Section 5.2). It does not count as the account’s lifetime change.
‘Exile & Asylum’ – planned post-launch (decided v0.4; not in MVP, Early Access or 1.0): a citizen may request asylum in another nation once per account lifetime, requiring (a) 180 real days of citizenship, (b) no open investigation or penalty, (c) the receiving nation’s AI leadership’s approval through its own system, (d) loss of all rank, property and titles, and (e) a 60-day ban from voting and pledging in the new nation. To close the spy pipeline, an asylee also cannot enlist, inform or write state media in the new nation for 180 real days, and receiving nations may cap intake per game year [ASSUMPTION]. Korund, Meridian and Varkand treat applying as a crime (high Suspicion; desertion in Varkand); Kindle, Hoarvale and Veldwood accept applications by law; Fulmara sells residency to applicants who buy shares.
Rejected (v0.4): a second citizenship on a different shard – it would make ‘one account, one nation’ untrue and multiply spy accounts.
Future interaction: if player-founded nations are added, the one-time Founding Choice (Section 30) and Exile & Asylum share the account’s single lifetime change – an account can use one, never both.