Getting started
As is often the case, before you can do anything, there’s quite a bit of research involved. Before we can claim sovereignty, we need to convince the game we’re capable of it by completing the Sovereignty and then Landholding and Socage researches. This will allow us to claim level 1 sovereignty on up to 20 squares. To actually make the square work for us, we’ll also need to research Serfs, which will allow 3 sovereignty buildings to be built on our newly-claimed squares. 
As you follow the researches along to the right, they open up the ability to claim up to level 5 sovereignty, build up to 20 sovereignty buildings, and claim up to 150 sovereignty squares. The rest of the tree is made up of the sovereignty buildings themselves. There are three categories: basic (Tier 1) resource production, advanced (Tier 2) resource production, and unit production. There are no sovereignty buildings that will decrease the production time of crafted (Tier 3) items. For that, you will need to build specialise buildings relating to the item you wish to craft. See the guide on crafting for more information. Reading the tree can be a little confusing, but it has essentially been broken up into two sections – basic/advanced resource production, and unit production, and each section is in alphabetical order. The below researches all relate to increasing basic resource production. 
The following are for armour, weapon and related item production time decreases: 
Finally we have the researches for decreasing the production time of the military and diplomatic units themselves: 
The building required to unlock each research line is listed in the first research. It is worth noting that once the first research of each line has been commenced, it is not required to keep the building that unlocked it – not only will the first research continue, but the remaining 4 researches will unlock as the previous one completes (it is also worth noting that this is not unique to the sovereignty researches). This is not specifically related to sovereignty, but to claim each square, you’ll also have make sure you’ve researched enough military options to make a small army and occupy a square.
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What Squares Can I Claim Sovereignty On?
Sovereignty can be claimed on almost every square on the map. Exceptions include any square designated “impassable”, although there are plans for lochs and lakes to allow food sovereignty only, in the same way that coastal squares currently do. The game will soon tell you if you are unable to claim sovereignty on a square, or unable to build a specific building type once you have claimed.
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What Does It Cost?
Many people will discourage newer players from claiming sovereignty until they have solid resource/gold/research point production, and/or have reached the higher levels of the town buildings related to their sovereignty buildings. There are two reasons for this – the first is that sovereignty buildings provide percentage increases or decreases of the related town production. As an example, 50% decrease in troop training time is fantastic, but if your barracks is still sitting around level 10, it might be more cost effective to raise that before claiming sovereignty for the boost. The other reason is the cost to maintain the sovereignty square and the building on it. Building costs will be covered a bit later, but the initial cost to have that glowing square starts at 10 research points and 100 gold per hour, multiplied by the distance from your town and per level of sovereignty claimed. For those more comfortable with formulas, it looks something like this:
100 gold and 10RP x sovereignty level x distance = hourly upkeep
Example: 100 gold and 10 RP x sovereignty level 3 x 1 square = 300 gold and 30 RP
100 gold and 10 RP x sovereignty level 2 x 2.24 = 448 gold and 48 RP
This map gives the distance values for the first two “rings” around your town. (If you wish to check the distance for squares further out, and the Pythagorean theorem is not one of your strengths, you can click on the square and choose to send an army or diplomat, and the resulting orders screen will specify the distance.) When you start to run the numbers, you’ll soon find that having level 2 sovereignty 1 square away costs the same as level 1 sovereignty 2 squares away, and that is where the recommendation of finding good sovereignty bonuses as close to your town(s) as possible comes from. Research points have a finite production limit, and will be a deciding factor when it comes to balancing sovereignty squares and taxes as you grow. In addition to the costs of claiming sovereignty on the square, sovereignty buildings cost resources to build, just like the normal buildings in your town, and the majority of them also have an hourly basic resource upkeep (excluding food), depending on level. Only buildings relating to increasing the production of wood/clay/iron/stone/food are exempt from this upkeep.
| Level | Basic Resource Cost (per hour) |
| 1 | 150 |
| 2 | 300 |
| 3 | 600 |
| 4 | 1200 |
| 5 | 2400 |
The cost to build each sovereign building varies depending on the purpose of the building. An incomplete list can be found on the Arcanum Illyria.
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How to Claim
You’ve done your research, you’re pretty sure you can afford it, and now it’s time to take the plunge and actually grab yourself some squares. First, you’ll need an army – just one commander and one troop will do the trick, they’re only going on a short picnic. Once you’ve got them all ready to go, head to the world map and make sure you’re centred on your town. Click on the square you want to claim, and choose Send Army: 
This will take you to the standard Military Orders screen, where you want to tell your army to occupy the square. The occupy time is not overly important, as long as it’s long enough for you to realise your army has arrived, and take the appropriate action. 
When your army finally arrives on the square, you can start the process of actually claiming. Click back on the square that your army is now occupying and choose Claim Sovereignty: 
This will take you to a confirmation screen, and this is your last chance to back out without having to wait for the claim to resolve. The screen will detail how much the square will cost, and how long it’s going to take to complete. If you’re okay with what you see, click Confirm Claim and settle in to wait. 
The time to claim sovereignty increases with each level, starting at 12 hours for level 1 to 5 days for level 5. Each time you wish to increase the level on a square, you will need to send your army out to occupy. They won’t be required to stay for the whole time, just to initiate the claim.
Building on Sovereignty Squares
Your claim has completed, and now you have a shiny new square just waiting to be built on. To do this, navigate back to the Sovereignty screen, where you’ll see all of your sovereignty squares, regardless of whether the claim has resolved yet or not. 
Click on the square you want to build on, and that will expand the list to show the square details. This is broken into a few sections. The first part shows the details of the square – where it is, which town has claimed it, and the costs. If the square is still in the process of being claimed, it will also show when the claim will resolve. 
The next part shows you the benefits you gain from the basic resources on the square and any production bonuses gained if you have the corresponding sovereignty building, as well as any applicable upkeep costs for buildings on the square. 
Next is a list of all the sovereignty buildings currently researched (and therefore available to build), what it will cost to build them, and what their hourly upkeep will be if applicable and how long it will take to build in seconds. Choosing a building is as simple as clicking the radio button on the right and then Build Structure at the bottom of the list. 
While a building is in the process of completing, you’ll see the full building list disappear, to be replaced with a timer confirming when the building will complete. 
Once the building completes, the timer is replaced with the details for the next level of sovereignty building, as well as the demolish button. If you meet the sovereignty level/research requirements, you’ll also see an option to upgrade to the next level. Just like with buildings inside your town, each level must be worked through one by one to build or demolish. 
It is important to note that if you are running negative in resources, and your stored amount runs out, your sovereignty buildings will demolish just the same as buildings inside your town will. In the case of running out of gold or research points, the sovereignty level of the square (and therefore the building as well) will decrease until your production has been returned to positive numbers.
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Benefits and Bonuses
There are two aspects to sovereignty – what the square gives you by default, and what bonuses you can get. This varies by square type as well as what you’re building on the square. Sovereignty for basic resources gives an increase of 0.2% x number of plots x sovereignty/building level, for a maximum of 1% per resource plot at level 5 sovereignty. In more practical terms, this means that if you have a square with 10 food plots on it, and you claim level 5 sovereignty to build a level 5 farmstead, you’ll receive a 10% increase to your base food production. All other sovereignty benefits are calculated at a base 5% per sovereignty/building level, plus any bonuses applicable to the square. For example, if you claim sovereignty on a square with no bonuses, you get a flat 5% per level, but if that square also has a +2 for cattle sovereignty, if you build a cattle rancher on that square, you’ll receive 7% per level. You will have noticed that when scrolling around the map that to the right of the screen, there’s some information about whichever square has been centred on (or hovered over). This can be a really handy way to not only see what kind of bonuses you’ll get from a square (if any), but also what sovereignty has been claimed. The first image shows a square that has no existing sovereignty claim, and that will give a +2% bonus when training cavalry units, taking the total benefit of that square to 7% for training cavalry units if the jousting yard is present. All other sovereignty buildings on this square will receive the base 5%. 
This square, however, not only has level 2 sovereignty claimed, but has a level 2 cattle rancher built on it. With the base production of 5%, and the +3% bonus for Livestock, that gives a total of 8% production per level. Ninja quick cows. Please keep in mind that when looking at other player’s sovereignty squares, you’ll see the level claimed, but not what they have built on the square. That only shows for your own towns. You’ll also see that in both images, the squares show as unclaimed. This is a known issue. 
Looking at all of these percentages doesn’t really give you a good idea of what kind of decreases you’re getting in production. To see that, you’ll need to go to the production page of the item in question, where it will break it all down for you. Once on the production screen, when you hover over the little question mark, this pops up: 
This particular town has two cattle ranchers – one giving 16% and the other giving 10%, for a total of a 26% reduction in production time. As mentioned earlier, you can really see here that it’s not just the sovereignty giving a boost, but the level of the common ground as well. For comparison, a level 12 common ground with a bit of sovereignty to “help”: 
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Cancelling and Counter-claiming Sovereignty
Cancelling sovereignty buildings is as easy as going to the sovereignty screen, scrolling down to the building, and choosing the big red Demolish button. Just as building levels demolish, it will change to a timer showing when the demolition will complete. The higher the building level, the longer it will take to complete.
Cancelling sovereignty levels is just as easy, and much faster. Once on the sovereignty screen, choose the square you wish to cancel, scroll right to the bottom and choose Cancel Sovereignty.
This will take you to a confirmation screen:
Once you click Cancel Claim, the sovereignty level will drop immediately. If you have not already levelled down the sovereignty building on the square, it will also be reduced to the new square level. If you wish to increase the level again, you will need to send your army back to the square, and start the process over again. Counter-claiming sovereignty was a process available up until June 2013 that allowed a player to park an army on another person’s sovereignty square, and essentially steal their claim. Removing this feature was intended to be temporary, but has yet to be reinstated.
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Chancery of Estates
The Chancery is a building used to decrease the cost of level 1 sovereignty by 2% per building level, and is one of the buildings that you can build multiple times in your town. Keep in mind that this is a building that eats basic resources (800 wood, 3200 clay and 1600 stone per hour at level 20) as well as food (449 per hour at level 20), so you will need to make sure you can cover its costs as it levels up. 
While it seems like decreasing level 1 sovereignty only is not much of a benefit, it does add up, especially when you have 20+ squares claimed. As an example, if you have a level 20 Chancery, it will give you a 40% reduction of the gold and research points needed to maintain level 1 sovereignty. That decreases the hourly cost for a square x1 away from 100 gold and 10 research points to 60 gold and 6 research points. While the gold may not be important to you, you will soon find that you are running out of research points for higher sovereignty levels, and that’s when saving 4 points starts to seem like a really good idea. If you increase a square beyond level 1, you do not lose the benefits of the chancery. This is a town with level 5 sovereignty claimed 1 square away, and a level 20 Chancery: 
As you can see, that 4 research point and 40 gold saving is still there. This is very much a building that may or may not work for you depending on your town set up. You may find that the savings made is not worth the resources used, and will therefore skip it altogether, or maintain it at a lower level. As with everything else in Illyriad, do what works for your town and your playstyle.
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