30. Future: Founding New Nations (post-launch, not in launch scope)

Status (decided v0.4)

Kept as an optional post-launch feature – NOT in MVP, Early Access or the 1.0 launch. It is described here so the launch architecture does not rule it out (Section 22.5). A go/no-go review happens once 1.0 is stable and at least one full Age has run with all ten nations above the viability floor [ASSUMPTION]; decisions on its open points are in Section 30.6.

Guiding rule: a new nation is a new instance of an approved template, never a new type of system invented by players. Pillar 2 still holds – once ratified, a new nation’s system is as immutable as the original ten.

v0.7: a new nation is also governed by AI like every other. Founders choose the template; the studio authors the new nation’s AI leader personas (or a persona set from the template library) and runs the eval harness before the Provisional period starts. Humans in the new nation are citizens only.

30.1 Two routes to a new nation

Aspect	Secession (break away from a nation)	Colonization (charter a new nation on unclaimed land)
Territory source	Frontier cities and squares of one existing nation – never Heartland, never the Commons	Unclaimed Wildlands reached by an Expedition (Section 15.1), plus a sea or road link to the World Exchange
Minimum territory	At least 3 contiguous cities and ~150 squares, and no more than 25% of the parent’s frontier [ASSUMPTION]	At least 2 founded cities and ~120 squares, held for 30 real days [ASSUMPTION]
Founding citizens	Verified residents of the seceding cities who opt in	Volunteers from one or more existing nations who opt in (see 29.4)
Parent approval	Required through the parent’s own system (29.3) – or won in a War of Independence	The chartering nation’s normal city-founding authority; independence then follows 29.3
Typical drama	Civil conflict, referendums, rebellions, negotiations	Pioneer saga, rival chartering nations, a sponsor that later regrets letting go

30.2 Requirements and the charter

Population threshold (revised v0.7): at least 50 founding human citizens [ASSUMPTION – twice the lowered per-nation viability floor of ~25], each at Verification Tier 1 with 60+ days of tenure, from at least 35 distinct link groups (Section 20), with no active moderation sanctions; AI citizens are added by the system and never count toward founding.
Activity proof: the founding group must keep the viability floor in weekly-active human citizens for the whole 30-day Provisional period.
Charter: founders choose a government template and an economy template from a studio-approved list, then fill in allowed parameters (office names within filters, term lengths within bands, tax bands). The initial template list is the ten existing systems; the studio may add new templates later (candidates: ‘managed democracy’, ‘emirate’, ‘cooperative commonwealth’) only after full design, balance and sensitivity review.
Compatibility matrix: only sensible pairs are allowed (e.g., full communism must take central planning; a mercantile republic must take a market). The matrix is published.
Identity: name, emblem (from an emblem kit), a currency (name plus a monetary regime from the approved list, compatible with the economy template), an official religious stance from the approved list (any of the ten existing stances; state faith chosen among the six world faiths), and a climate-based art kit; all pass name filters and human moderation review; no real-world nations, parties, religions, flags or extremist references.
Ratification: the founding human citizens vote on the charter (2/3 of founders; no AI bloc). The result is then locked: no later change of system type, ever.

30.3 Approvals

Stage	Who approves	Notes
1. Parent nation (secession only)	Through the parent’s own system (AI bodies decide; human referendums bind where shown): Kindle – regional referendum + AI Assembly 2/3; Hoarvale – regional referendum + Moot majority; Veldwood – Grove votes in the seceding Groves + federal double majority; Confluence/Meridian – Congress vote; Aurelle – royal charter of independence; Ilmar – Oracle’s Edict; Varkand – Directorate vote; Fulmara – Grand Council sale of the territory; Korund – no voluntary route	Every parent can also lose a War of Independence (normal war rules, Section 15) after a failed request; Heartland is never at stake.
2. World Recognition	AI foreign-policy authorities of at least 4 existing nations [ASSUMPTION], or a won War of Independence	Recognition unlocks treaties, embassies and the World Exchange; unrecognized states trade only via smuggling.
3. Studio review	Live-ops and moderation staff	Checks identity, abuse signals, shard capacity (the shard’s total nation cap), and art-kit readiness. Staff can decline without giving players power over each other.
4. Provisional period	Automatic	30 real days: Heartland of ~200 squares granted from the founding territory; war immunity except against the parent during an active independence war; fails if the viability floor is missed for 7 consecutive days.

30.4 Interaction with the one-account-one-nation rule

Founding Choice – one lifetime change (kept, v0.4). Beyond the onboarding grace period (Section 5.2, which does not count), an account may change nation once in its lifetime: either by joining a new nation at its founding (Founding Choice) or through Exile & Asylum (Section 16.2) – never both.
Secession: residents of the seceding cities choose within 7 real days: join the new nation, or stay loyal and be relocated to the parent’s territory with full property compensation. Doing nothing means staying with the parent.
Colonization: volunteers leave their nation when the colony becomes independent; they lose rank one tier, titles and nation-specific ladders do not transfer, personal property converts at the World Exchange rate. They can never return.
New players can enroll directly in a recognized new nation like any other; heirs inherit the new nation.

30.5 Anti-abuse rules

Abuse	Rule
Alt-account ‘nations’	Tier 1 verification plus 60 days of tenure, link-group distinctness and activity proof; linked accounts count once; AI citizens never count.
Escaping punishment	Citizens under Correction Duty, trial, investigation or moderation sanction are ineligible to found or join for 30 real days.
Griefing a parent nation	Heartland immune; 25% frontier cap; once a nation has lost territory to a secession it cannot be seceded from again for one full Age.
Nation spam	At most one new nation per shard per Age; a hard cap on nations per shard (e.g., 14) [ASSUMPTION]; failed attempts lock the organizers out for 90 real days.
Hostile ‘puppet’ states	Founding citizens from a single foreign nation may not exceed 50% of founders; recognition by the sponsoring nation alone does not count.
Real-money influence	No purchase can create, speed up or influence a nation’s founding; founding costs are paid only in in-game resources and labor.
Real-world provocation	Names, emblems and charters reviewed by moderators; no real nations, separatist movements, parties, religions or extremist symbols.
Dead nations	A recognized nation that stays below the viability floor for 60 real days enters Dissolution: its citizens get a one-time choice to join the former parent or any neighbor (an exception to permanence, applied only on dissolution); territory reverts to the parent or to Wildlands.

30.6 Decisions for this feature (v0.4)

Should it exist? Yes, as an optional post-launch feature behind the go/no-go gate in the Status box; the launch build only keeps the architecture open (nations as data, Section 22.5).
Templates: start with the ten existing systems only; the studio may add new templates (e.g., managed democracy, emirate) later, and only after full design, balance and sensitivity review.
Which shards: allowed on running shards under the anti-abuse caps of Section 30.5 (one new nation per shard per Age, hard nation cap); new shards may enable it from day one.
Founding Choice: kept, as the account’s single lifetime change, shared with Exile & Asylum (Section 30.4). Brand-new accounts and heirs can also enroll in a recognized new nation.