Conquest and Integration

Taking a town is a season's work. Making it yours takes years.

Occupation

A settlement you take by storm, siege or surrender is Occupied (a tag on the settlement). While occupied:

• it pays tax ×0.5;
• its unrest gains +10 each season;
• its local Legitimacy starts at 20 and climbs +5 per year of just rule;
• it needs a garrison of at least pop ÷ 4 Power, or its unrest gains +10 more each season.

Land ceded in a peace treaty arrives Occupied, but without the Legitimacy penalty, because the transfer is lawful. Land taken and kept without a treaty costs −5 Legitimacy, and every realm that hears of it takes −1 relationship with you.

The integration clock

Each occupied settlement gets an integration clock on the Works and Clocks tracker:

• 6 segments as the base;
• +2 if its culture differs from your realm's;
• +2 if its established faith differs from yours (Faith and Oaths).

The clock advances 1 each season while the garrison requirement is met and unrest is below 50. It advances 1 more in any season with any of these: a just Trial held there, a marriage into its elite, a Temple of your faith built there, or Light taxes there.

When the clock fills, the settlement is Integrated: it pays full tax, the Occupied tag is removed, and it counts toward your rank.

Other choices (each a grand decree, 2 Authority)

• Grant as a fief: give it to a vassal. It integrates at once into their realm, not yours, and the vassal gains +1 loyalty.
• Raze: gain one season of its tax and destroy its holdings and half its pop. −10 Legitimacy; every realm takes −2 relationship with you; a vengeance thread opens at 2.
• Resettle: move up to a quarter of its pop to your other settlements (200 gp per pop moved; −1 local Stability at both ends). Integration speeds up by 2 segments.
• Release: set it up as a vassal under its own lord. +2 Legitimacy; it starts at loyalty +1.

Culture

Each settlement and each realm may name a culture. The book names none; your table decides them. Shared culture between two realms is +1 on negotiation rolls between them.