Derek wrote:
I believe what the OP really wants (and I agree with) is a mechanism in place to deter very large clans from easily controlling large swaths of land.

Think about it. If there is no downside to owning more tribal land, then it the largest clans can and will take over as much as the game lets them.

There needs to be a downside. It could be in the form of no instant travel so it becomes more difficult to defend all of your holdings the more you spread out. Upkeep would also deter this from happening.

For those worried about an additional timesink - the upkeep could be scaled up nonlinearly depending on how much land the tribe controls.
If the land is as big as it seems, it shouldn't matter if they take over large amounts of land. Let them formulate a town so players could come and trade with them. The limitation is people, most would like to do their own thing especially with their own friends.

There actually is already a downside for towns. The resources in each area is different then another. That means, smaller tribes will have certain patterns and crafts that you may not have. So those small tribes coming into a town will make a fortune because of their diverse items. The people who already live in the town will have useless items because of how common they are.

I honestly think that joining tribes/towns would just start players out. Eventually, they will want to move on with their learned skills in order to start a new town or tribe. Therefore I don't believe large towns will expand large enough to take over the whole world. So no, upkeep would be a very frustrating and useless time consumer. If I wanted to waste my time, I would have continued playing Wurm Online.

Besides that, I want to have fun and not have to worry about upkeep.