Those who have a city or more in TBL are fine poking their nose in BL politics and alliances as it may actually affect them, however the massive 20 city people who don't have a single city in TBL should keep their noses out of something that doesn't affect them and wont until they decide to move a city down to TBL.

The whole thing of we can't say who settles where is a BS excuse to try and keep a hold on how the entire server runs. All of the massive 20 city people do the exact same thing with the 10 square convention all we are doing is trying to prevent the situation of someone having to move out of an area we are already in just because we outgrew them.

So some overlap is going to occur, and some Elgean alliances should take an interest in developments in the Broken Lands. What those, and other, alliances need to realize is that just because we're not on different servers doesn't mean that we must all abide by the same conventions. Illyriad's gameplay, and the position of the Broken Lands offers us, the community, an opportunity to cater for many different playstyles and that's an opportunity which should not be squandered.

So, to my mind, it's not a question of interference or not but a question of approach. Should 'Elgean' alliances approach the political dynamic in the Broken Lands with the same mindset that currently dominates Elgea? No, but that doesn't meant that they should not engage with the Broken Lands.

Thus the question is aimed at about 5 players not having towns in BL AND posting in forums?  

Any alliance will choose as it thinks it fits best for that one alliance.

Similarly the opinions and preferences of players and alliances that have a presence in Elgea matter to the degree to which they can actually influence events.  There are quite a number of alliances that have a presence both in Elgea and in Broken Lands.

I have an alt that is in an alliance that exclusively exists in Broken Lands.  Should I have "more" of a say about how other people play in Broken Lands because of that?

personally i think if they want to let them.  the only way they can enforce it is via war and General Distance will be on the side of the BL alliance which will give the Major Elgea Alliance a disadvantage and if the Major Elgea Alliance makes demands that they cannot enforce that will decrease their diplomatic power at home, so in essance should the Major Elgea Alliances take the risk of making demands in BL?  that is up to the Major Elgea Alliance, personally i think they have a lot more to lose then they could possibly gain by making such demands since any concessions they get from the few alliances they can beat in BL against General Distance will have to be repeated against most BL alliances to be enforced at a server wide level and all they can possibly gain is the right to stick their nose where it doesn't belong, which they already have in the form of "free speech."  but as long as they proceed each statement they make about the issues with "i think you should" or "it would be better if" then no one would expect them to use military force to push their agenda and hence no inherent possibility of "diplomatic power" loss at home.

now if all the Major Elgea Alliance wants is a fight for the fights sake, get rid of all the diplomatic reasons and flat out say "we are attacking x alliance because we want to have some fun" it would be a smart idea to talk to that alliance first and set up some ground rules before the war starts which if i remember right SIN has a standing offer just contact them, they like short fun wars.

i am currently based exclusively in the bl.  if i were to insist upon zero influence from elgea, then i would need to forgo influence in elgea.  i am not so sure that would be wise.  besides, gc; kind of relegates  this question to the rhetorical.

also, sandbox

The thing is, that's not a reality.

The devs had the ability to put the BL on a completely different server (we could have been playing it on the "http://broken-lands.illyriad.co.uk/" subdomain, but we're not), and they also had the ability to make the Bitter Sea a vast expanse of ocean as opposed to something more akin to the English Channel. They didn't.

They could have also changed the game so that when new players spawn, they have a choice of which continent to spawn onto. They didn't do that, either.

Finally, when you look at the poll thus far, you can see that a majority of players -- likely ones who are more Elgean than BL -- do want to be involved in shaping BL gameplay. They think that, since the BL can be reached from Elgea, that they have a stake in it. And the game features bear that reality out. I don't think there is anything to even debate about this.

Remember that "friction" is a buzzword for GM Stormcrow. This is likely why the dev team chose to make Elgea and BL still within reasonable reach of one another. As a BL player, I accept the reality that Elgea has the right to try and influence/control the BL. It also has the "might" -- there are alliances and confed in Elgea that can bring to bear massive armies, no doubt. Usually in life, "might makes right." 

So this means that if BL-only and BL-dominant alliances want to assert themselves and create a different gaming environment, they need to think out of the box of how to achieve that -- without the use of overwhelming force and without the help of the devs. 

Again, great discussion topic, and it's a pleasure playing this game with you all -- Elgean and BL alike. :-)