Annex Plan

At the Design meeting on 13 SEPT 2015 the members present voted to replace the 1000 block rule with the following City Expansion by Annex Plan. Each annex receives the same WG flags and protections as the parent city. This rule also allows for active players to request estates of inactive players be declared abandoned, or to have settlements audited.

**City Eligibility:**

1. When a town reaches city level population, the leader can decide if the border will become 500x500, or if expansion by annex will be used (with the formal town border remaining 350x350).
2. Cities that choose to increase to 500x500 will be able expand by annex only after the population is triple the required minimum city population.
3. Cities will have to wait to expand by annex if the population decreases below the minimum required for the area of the city.

**Property Eligibility:**

1. PvP Stakes, Estates, and Masterworks can receive the same protections as the parent city by being annexed.
2. Except in the case of PvP Stakes (see below), the owner of the property must agree and be able to be counted as a resident of the city.
3. PvP teams are not be required to have a resident to maintain control of the stake, nor would a resident be required to maintain its status as an annex.
4. Each annexed property must either directly touch the formal city, or have a direct link of other annexes to the city.
5. An annexed estate will count as the owner's residence.
6. Each individual person is allowed to have only a single annex. PvP teams are allowed to have multiple Stakes annexed, and may have annexed stakes in multiple cities.
7. Each annex needs to be within 10 blocks of a means of travel (road, path, waterway) that leads to the formal city. The means of travel must be in place before the property can become an annex. It can go through the property if the owner desires.
8. Neither estates nor annexes are permitted to overlap other estates or annexes without written permission of the owner of both properties.

**Loss of Annex Status:**

1. If the owner decides to move to another settlement, the region will no longer be eligible to be an annex.
2. An owner can choose to sell or give away the annex. It will only remain an annex if there is a direct link to the formal city, and the new owner can be counted as a resident of that city.
3. Cities may claim ownership of an abandoned annex, but only if there is a direct link to the city, and the annex has a completed build that benefits the city.
4. An annex might be eligible to be used as combat stakes. If the stake is lost, annex status would have to be renegotiated with the new owners.

**Orphaned Annex:**

1. An annex will be considered orphaned if an annex that linked it to the formal city losses annex status.
2. An orphaned annex remains part of the city, but cannot be used to connect new annexes.

**Settlement Spacing:**

1. New hamlets and towns no longer need to move 1000 blocks away from existing settlements.
2. New settlements are not be permitted to overlap any city annex or existing settlement. This may limit their ability to increase their borders. Example: A hamlet increases in population to 5, permitting it to be a town but there is not enough room for the borders to expand without over lapping another settlement. It would not be able to expand.
3. Expanding settlements are allowed to overlap un-annexed estates.

1. Estates can be declared abandoned if the owner hasn't been on Galdur during the current or previous month.
2. Hamlets that have had less than 2 members on Galdur during the current or previous month may be reduced to an estate for the active member, or abolished if the member has an estate elsewhere.
3. Towns that have had less than 5 members on Galdur during the current or previous month may be reduced to a hamlet.
4. Cities that have had less than 12 members on Galdur during the current or previous month may be reduced to a town.