I didn't mean blight, cut off or remove regions. Just start merging some of them if and when noble density gets too low on a closed off island. The island remains the same size even if the region divisions are larger. Sort of a bit like how the East Island and Far East are essentially identical except the Far East has bigger regions. Ideally though whichever island gets closed of remains intact as it is now for a good long while. I would guess that the noble count would decline only slowly but if any realm should collapse or fall, at least the players are doing it themselves. To my mind that is far better than having a GM or AI push you into the sea with massive hordes.
I see. This would probably have to involve both map changes and changes in the DB (for example, which regions border which would change). You're also probably going to end up picking winners and losers to an extent in the process. What stats does the merged region have? Which lord gets to keep his title? Which regions get merged? Seems messy, but maybe less heavy handed than many of the other suggested alternatives.
