21.20 Establishing sphere of influence: flags of a city.

There are three simple commands available to Field Marshalls, Colonels and the Marshall Aides to expand the sphere of influence. See HELP SPHERE for details on the sphere of influence, and passive/active occupation and the notion of town or village conquest; and HELP BATTLEFIELD for detailed insight into inter-legion conflict.

INFLUENCE, INFLUENCE HOME and INFLUENCE HOME SHOW
Use the INFLUENCE command, if you have sufficient rank, to review either summary of sphere of influence contributions, or location by location list of the entire sphere of influence commanded by your homeland.

FLAGFASHION
At the cost of two wood, one bronze and three cotton you can fashion an unraised flag depicting the emblem of your city. It is this flag which must be raised to claim a location as part of your sphere of influence. You must be in an appropriate location to issue the FLAGFASHION command, like the interior of a barracks, where suitable equipment is located.

FLAGRAISE
This command must be typed while standing in the location you wish to add to your city's sphere of influence. You must be standing in the open (not at a legion's command post or in a tree or hidden in some way). Then: assuming you have a loyal legion of twenty or more (i.e. at least a 'company' in size) in a location and that legion that has stood unchallenged for a whole Avalon month from the first day through the thirtieth, you may raise your home-flag and claim the location as part of your home city's sphere of influence. This legion must be assembled under a proper, designated banner and be loyal to the city whose sphere of influence is to be expanded.

Syntax: COMMAND <legion> CLAIM or DISPATCH SCRIBE <dispatch> CLAIM etc.
The CLAIM dispatch order is sent to a legion, to tell the 'company' to stake a claim to their current location. This is useful for marking the start-point of a claim (for subsequent FLAGRAISE) and will be logged to the legion's journal an noted whenever the legion is described in LOOK (i.e. that it is about the business of claiming a location).

Non-guild locations require sphere expansion to be raised in locations adjacent to existing sphere (or homeland soil). Guild occupation requires the guild's central location to be targetted; no other will do. Guilds can only be occupied when ALL defending guild legions are destroyed (or remove from guild soil).

See HELP LEGIONS for info on assembling men into legions. NOTE: this raising of the flag refers to a location unconquered and unoccupied by a foreign power.

FLAGLOWER
In the event of dispute or diplomatic agreement it may be desirable to lower your city flag and release a location from your sphere of influence. This is particularly useful for setting up buffer zones between centres of power.

To claim a location under your sphere of influence, you must have satisfied the requirements for the FLAGRAISE and successfully issued the command (see above). As soon as the troops have assumed control of a location, you may raise your flag and - immediately - your sphere of influence is expanded. Benefits will flow over the following Avalon months. You can only expand influence in locations adjacent to your homeland, or adjacent to existing areas of influence. See HELP FINANCES for specific gold coin revenue from sphere of influence. City/village locations outside home soil under your sphere of influence will enhance the number of men appearing loyal to your city and ready for enlisting into the military. To take back a location, remove the resident troops (if any) and place your own legion in its place for the same period. Then raise your own flag.

Many locations are considered points of special significance and bring with them extra benefits, and extra income for whichever flag claims them within their sphere of influence. A good number of these locations are obvious, like milestone locs, the 'Meeting Place' or 'Vale overlooking the western ocean' and those with sufficient privilege provide extra gold coin income and enlistable men monthly for whosoever has raised their flag to claim them. Moreover, in the case of the locations providing enlistable men, unlike the more unpredictable villagers and townsfolk whose whereabouts is difficult to predict, these special sphere locations will see an enlistable appearing in the location itself every Avalon month.

See HELP SPHERE and HELP TRIBUTES for further information. Type AFFAIRS for a summary of the continent's political and military situation. If you have sufficient rank you can type TRIBUTES to view your homeland's active tributes exacted and OCCUPATION while on the soil of a village or town to gain an inkling of the nearby 'key locations' and their military states (occupied, conquered, part of a sphere of influence, or independent).