A statement from the Dwarven Lords...

Was there a potential sovereignty conflict?  Did you bring said conflict to the attention of the alliance leadership?

I'm sure there is a potential for conflict over sovereignty if either city ever wants to claim a square more than four spaces away.  And since the response to my initial contact to their leadership was "eight squares is plenty of space for both cities and we expect you to be accommodating" I didn't see much use in arguing.  But that is beside the point.  The point is larger and stronger alliances making a claim of "If you want to settle within 10 squares of us you better ask first" on the one hand and "maybe, on a case by case basis" when asked if the same rule applies to them impinging on someone else's space.

I would much rather have been "asked" if someone could plant their fifth city on our doorstep as opposed to "hey, that's a nice building location, I call dibs".  Of course had we refused permission they are in a position to say too bad, I don't see a problem so we're moving there anyway, and that is very much the impression that I got from my brief conversation.

I don't fault Dlord for their position.  They have a dense, well-defined core area without a huge number of outlyers, and it is only reasonable that they don't want strangers crowding in on them.  I would not object to any major alliance that, having already settled in a tight area, told others not to get too close without permission.  But a lot of minor alliances have done the same thing, and it would be in keeping with the illusion we maintain here if the great powers extended the small fry the same courtesies they demand for themselves.

Bah.  Enough from me.  I'll shut up now before I offend someone big and bad.

Scott, is this only for people moving towards mCrow?  Or would mCrow also respect this with regards to other alliances?

In other words, I completely agree with Belargyle on this point.