Colonization/ Attacking Inactive Players

OOC: This text contains the established guidelines regarding the invasion and eventually annexation of inactive or CTE (Ceased To Exist) nations, which will be referred to forthwith as "inactives".
These rules were voted and agreed upon by the community, and apply to each and every nation in the region.
These rules are non-negotiable and must be strictly observed. Failure to do so will not only invalidate one's attempted annexation, but may cause confusion and discord that would otherwise be avoided.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rule One: You must announce your intended target in advance
To begin the process, you must designate your intended "inactive" in a similar fashion to how one would declare war on another active player. For example:

"The mighty United Imperium of Seerathis hereby declares war on The Stratocratic Republic of Radecstein. They will soon join our growing empire!"

After announcing your target, there is a required waiting period of 1 day IRL before moving on to the next stage. This is to allow other active nations time to respond.

Rule Two: You must invest an adequate number of soldiers into the invasion
As with any war with an active player, you must dispatch troops to attempt to conquer their lands. The number of soldiers you must dispatch is relative to the size of the "inactive" in question. A tiny collection of islands like Radecstein from the previous example would only require roughly 25 thousand soldiers, while a larger "inactive" like The Empire of Tsauruvia would require 100-200 thousand. This step is a relies on the player's own judgement, as there is no exact criteria for troop requirement as of now.

Rule Three: Invasions take time
Once troops have been dispatched and the invasion has begun, there is a required waiting period of 1 week IRL before you can declare victory. This is necessary to allow other active nations time to respond to your invasion, and avoid any "knee-jerk" responses.

Rule Four: Victory
Once the 1 week waiting period is over, victory is yours. The inactive is now considered part of its colonizers territory, and may be used in the same way the colonizers original territory can. Unless pre-arranged as part of an RP, colonizing nations will automatically succeed once the waiting period is up.

Additional Rules

1. A nation willing to invade and subjugate an inactive must be willing to defend their claim.
Any nation that engages in colonialism must be willing to defend their claim against other active players. If an active player chooses to declare war against another over their colonial actions, the would-be colonizer must be willing to RP that war, and may not hide behind the "both parties must consent to the RP" rule. To put it simply, you must fight for your claims, or your claims are invalid.

2. Colonized nations can break free
To remain fair to inactive countries, in the event that a previously inactive country that has been colonized should return to active status (posts on the RMB, participates in RP), it must be considered a revolt or rebellion of the native populace IC. This "revolt" succeeds by default- once again, to remain fair to inactives- unless the former colonizing nation and the newly returned inactive work something out privately.

3. Prior Contact
Before beginning an attempted colonization, check to see if the inactive in question is merely inactive, or if they have CTE'd (Ceased to Exist). If they are just inactive, send them a telegram informing them of your intention to invade them a minimum of 3 days beforehand, although a weeks notice is preferable. Inactives that have CTE'd, however, do not require any form of notice.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Annexation

In order for a colonized territory to be fully integrated into the borders of it's colonizing nation, it must meet the following criteria:

1. It must either share a border with the original territory of its colonizer, or be linked to its colonizer by other colonized provinces.

2. The territory must have been controlled by it's colonizer for a period of two and a half weeks

3. the inactive nation that originally controlled the territory must have CTE'd (Ceased to exist), given their consent via telegram, or simply been inactive for a period of 2.5-3 weeks.

If all requirements are met, colonies may be fully integrated into their controlling countries over a period of 5 days. After this time, the area is considered a full part of the colonizing nation.

Additional Rules

1. Unless the colonizing nation is an island country, island and oversea territories (located on a different continent) may not be fully integrated, and must remain colonies. This is partially to prevent massive globe-spanning empires from arising easily, and partially to preserve realism.

2. Island countries must control mainland territories for 3.5 weeks before they can be integrated