So, what about Centralization and Hierarchy anyway?
Those are ones where you probably
don't want to redline them in either direction.
how populated is the nominally independent plains between us and the TS just south of the mountains? And is there any possibility with us putting the screws to the TS and actually showing a presence in the Lowlands they might be willing to pledge fealty much like what happened with Northshore and Stonepens?
Everyone is talking about how we need to fight coherent civilizations where everyone fights for their land, and I correct in that a lot of these settlements have a history of being loosely attached to their respective civs and of changing hands? I think so many people are having our culture bias us, for the most part one distant ruler is the same as another.
The northern hills/plains far from the rivers are far less populated and are mostly goat and sheep herders, there are maybe a couple thousand of them with them giving way to more farms the further south and close to the major river systems you go. There are lots of independent or de facto independent villages scattered in the "unclaimed" or "partially claimed" territories within the lowlands, probably between 80k-100k all together. They tend to be the prize that the major powers in the region kick around between them. Culturally they are closest to either the Highlanders or Xohyssiri, depending on who is closer.