Demesne Limit
The rule binding land to power — a faction may hold at most one chunk per point of faction power.
A faction may hold one Claimed Chunk per point of Faction Power. The check is literally claims + newChunks > faction.power — power and land are measured in the same unit.
The rule in practice
The comparison is gated on the factions.limitLand configuration flag, so a server can turn it off entirely. When it is on, a faction that tries to claim past its allowance is refused with the demesne limit message and the count it is allowed, floored to a whole number.
The plugin's own language key calls this the demesne limit. A demesne is the land a medieval lord held directly, as distinct from land held by vassals — which is the same distinction Vassalage draws mechanically.
Why it is the keystone
This one inequality is what makes the rest of the simulation cohere. Because Player Power rises with time online and falls on death, and because Faction Power sums it, territory becomes a function of an organisation's living activity. Three consequences follow:
- Land must be staffed. A faction cannot claim an empire and walk away.
- War has a territorial outcome even without sieges. Killing defenders lowers their power, which lowers the limit, which puts existing claims over the line.
- Growth requires recruitment. The only sustainable way to expand the map is to expand the roster — or to acquire vassals, which is what Vassalage pays for.
Over-claiming
Because power is computed live and claims are stored, a faction can end up holding more land than its current power allows — the limit is enforced when claiming, not continuously. Related checks in the claim commands compare a faction's power against its existing claim count when land changes hands, which is how over-extended factions become vulnerable rather than merely capped.
Related
Claimed Chunk describes what is being counted; Faction Power describes what is doing the counting.