Just some random propositions I made up to make the shit more transparent without wanting to make it too complicated.
This is not a vote and not a final proposition. Also, the wording is probably flawed because I didn't care that much.
Please discuss it on the discussion page. Feel free to propose your own rules.
Also, please read the other pending discussions on a Constitution and Criminal law system.
Note that I want the other rules to remain unchanged, so check them:
Battle Agreements | Nation Requirements | Staff Decisions
Settlements and City States
Settlements can become city states when they have at least five inhabitants.
City states can claim limited amounts of land outside the town - more than a settlement, but less than a nation.
City states are immune to politics and must not be associated with nations.
Citizenship of Individual Players
A player must physically live in a certain territory - settlement, city state or nation - to be considered a de facto citizen (inhabitant). Players are still allowed to live in multiple territories at the same time.
However, every player, regardless how many territories he lives in as an inhabitant, is entitled to represent only one nation or city-state as a legal citizen (citizen). Only inhabitants of nations can become citizens.
The citizen count for each nation contains legal citizens only. They must be listed on the nation's wiki page.
Players may change their legal citizenship only once within six weeks.
Secessions are an exception from this rule.
A player is considered an active citizen when he actively played on this server maximum six weeks ago.
Nations
A nation may contain multiple settlements, but it is not allowed to contain (sub-)nations.
Each player joining an existing nation must agree to the rules of engagement. The nation leader or another person responsible for the recruitment must inform the player about them.
The majority (and at least four) of the citizens of a future nation must agree to its status as a political entity and the rules of engagement.
Nations lose its status when no active citizens (see above) are left.
Wars
A nation can declare war upon other nations when it can provide a valid casus belli or another reasonable cause (like a contested territorial claim).
The validity of the war declaration is judged by the staff members who are not involved with the conflict. Wars for war's sake are prohibited.
A nation must pay nine gold blocks for an invalid war declaration to the staff.
During a war, players of a nation can kill members of its enemy nation on its territory at any time.
Every war must end in at least one organised battle, which is to be held after maximum three weeks after the initial war declaration.
A nation which defied international agreements its ability to start wars and to actively participate in them for at least two weeks and must pay reparations to its opponents. However, it can get attacked.
Raids
Raids are limited to one within five days for each side. During a war, each party is allowed to raid the opponent only up to three times until an official and organised battle was fought.
Each raid can last up to 30 minutes and must be announced at least 6 and at most 24 hours before taking place. The exact time does not have to be specified.
Players who are not citizens of a nation which is the party of a conflict, cannot participate in raids as attackers.
Land Claims
The validity of a land claim depends on the size of the settlement, city state or nation and the number of active inhabitants. Rough limits:
Settlements: 128 blocks around its borders
City states: 256 blocks around its borders
Nations: 256 blocks around its settlements, as well as undeveloped land
Individual players can claim land, but the claimed lands are not protected from other claims.
Claims of undeveloped land expire after a specified time.
Excessive or unfounded land claims (“land running”) can be contested by any other player or entity and are prohibited and can be overruled by the staff.