Well, I still agree with Lelani about working ourselves into major faction status eventually. My main concern is staking territory on the map as sovereign territory that cannot be considered affiliated with the nearest major faction that controls the territory around it, which doens't make all that much sense to me. Hapes is a niche thing, though and I can tell some degree of concession has been made considering there is a group (albeit small) that represents it. However, it gives free reign for whichever major faction controls the outlying territory to just claim it and do whatever, by and large, which bothers me. We should get more active, unique, quality, and dedicated players to meet the minimum standards for major status, but still play defensively in that attempts at invasion would be met with defensive action that most likely would be taken more seriously at face value.
Yes, there is a thing where we are largely left alone, save for the times where we invite RP from outside, but there should be lines in the map's proverbial sand, which is what I think Lelani is on about.