Ruled when and where? I don't see any mention of it in the Courthouse forums.
A verdict has been reached, and necessary IG enforcement actions have been taken. For anyone who desires to cite this case in the future, the final verdict was:
"The Magistrates decline to rule on the question of realm mergers generally and the secession of capital duchies at this time, due to ongoing discussions among the Magistrates, Dev Team, and Tom. However, the cession of the last duchy of Solaria to Luria Nova and the resultant realm merger was clearly in violation of this rule. Furthermore, it was only possible due to the exploitation of a known bug. Finally, the bug exploiter can reasonably be expected to know it was a bug and that his actions were prohibited given that he took part in a discussion of the issue on the forum in the days leading up to the merger. As such, the Magistrates find him guilty, and shall apply a 1-day account lock.
Magistrates voted 1-7 in favor of the guilty verdict, with 2 in favor of a warning, 3 in favor of a 1-day lock, and 1 in favor of a 3-day lock. A 1-day lock has been applied."
This thread will remain open for a brief time to allow for any questions for clarification regarding the verdict.
http://forum.battlemaster.org/index.php/topic,3396.75.htmlI'll note that the Magistrates have avoided addressing the deeper possible justifications for the rule in the past: so debates about why we should have this rule or not are probably non-starters. Personally, I think this rule is really dumb. But Magistrates don't get to make the rules.
Also, IMHO, this is different from a few lords changing regions because it's clearly orchestrated, and there's a clear intent to ease the transfer of the last region as much as is mechanically possible.
