Claiming Locations

I've been playing with the idea of overrunning a location and investing minions at that location in order to control a region and increase your Notoriety Rating.

I'm sure many of you have wanted to stand on a cliff and watch as your minions pour into a village, killing and devouring everything that moves. <insert cruel chuckle here>
I want that too, but I also want to claim the location as my own and hold that area so that nobody can retake or resettle.

Imagine this:

• The Order of Tyrus have a fort that is manned with soldiers, blacksmiths, traders, etc.
• You storm into the fort with your horde of 10 x minions and wipe out everybody in the fort.
• You walk up to the forts sign post/notice board and allocate 1 x archers, 2 x footman to the fort.
• These allocated minions are removed from your horde to become the new fort residents.
• The archer takes position on the ramparts to rain arrows on any foolish enough to approach .
• The footman take up position at the gates so that none shall pass.
• You reanimate more undead from the men and women you have just slain.
• You smile to yourself knowing word of this atrocity will spread far and wide and will thus gain notoriety. <insert maniacal laughter here>
• You mosey on out of the fort and onto your next quest secure in the knowledge that you have denied your enemies a strategic location and nothing living shall ever occupy that fort again. <insert bone chilling maniacal laughter here>

I am excited about this for so many reasons. Because it adds a new minion interaction (which is what necromancy is all about) and contributes to the ebb and flow of horde numbers.
It provides another way to increase your Notoriety Rating. It also allows us to add more Steam Achievements as titles for your character e.g. Butcher of Bal Adur, Scourge of Stormreach, etc.

Location Types
Only Forts, Keeps and Castles that belong to local lords or the Order can be claimed.
I especially look forward to defiling a temples of the Order of Tyrus

Stations and Allotments
Each location type would have a required allotment of minions of specific classes before it can be "claimed". For example, a fort might require 2 x footman, 1 x archer and 3 x zombies.

Restraint
The temptation is to allow the player to claim all types of locations. The temptation is to lay claim to every castle, fort, keep, temple, mage tower, city, town, village and isolated hermit shack in the land until all that remains is a lifeless continent with the crumbling ruins of civilisation occupied only by the loyal, decaying, shambling undead minions who serve you alone. <insert petrifying, bowel melting, maniacal laughter here>

We cannot do this for two important reasons:

1. Towns and Villages exist mainly as an endless soul factories so that you are never in a position where you have no souls, no horde and no hope of continuing the game.
2. The presence and daily routine of civilians gives life to the world and the game would feel empty and unpolished without them.

Anyway that's enough for now and my voice is hoarse from all this laughing.
Some game design hurdles still exist, but I truly hope we can greenlight this this feature and make it work soon.