adopting a policy of leaving all of those extra regions completely devoid of infrastructure in a deliberate campaign to make settling the more difficult,
Is that a thing that's actually happening?
In Riombara it's not. Riombara has been trying for a while to launch a new colony in these lands - there is simply no one willing to go. We were trying to ensure the infrastructure was good actually and it's been ruled illegal.
In Morek Luria is actually trying to take regions away from Morek. There was a serious raid where Luria bought a bunch of regions some weeks ago. It failed because Morek defended itself - and I expect they would. Even if the regions were rogue, I would expect Morek to assault any Lurians that would try to establish themselves in their backyard.
We already have a low enough density that grabbing land is not hard. If we make it any easier we will remove any incentive for war and we will be left with realms with no enemies and no reasons to make any.
