Clearing a Hex

What this is

Clearing makes a hex available for domain control. Hostile or uncooperative inhabitants must be neutralized so the controlling faction can extract resources and develop the hex without interference.

Invoked by: Travel, when an expedition declares clearing as its goal; a domain founder making a first claim; DM judgment.
Invokes: Wilderness Encounters; Combat; Dungeon Exploration (for dungeon threats).
Returns to: the invoking procedure, once the hex is cleared.
Bookkeeping: Activity Log (threats engaged and neutralized); hex status (cleared); FRS / DRS once the hex becomes controlled territory.

Step 1: Scout the hex

If the hex has not been recently scouted, invoke Scouting first to identify its threats.

Step 2: Neutralize threats

Identify the hex's hostile or uncooperative creatures and dungeons. Each must be killed, captured, displaced, or otherwise rendered no longer a threat to settlement or resource extraction.

Clearing does not require defeating every creature in the hex. It requires subduing threats that would interfere with controlling the hex. Wildlife, neutral parties, and beings that can be reasoned with may remain.

This is done through expeditions, parley, and questing — whatever combination of Wilderness Encounters, Combat, and DM-adjudicated play that the situation calls for.

Dungeons

A hex's threats may include a dungeon. Only a small team expedition led by at least one PC can clear a dungeon. Use Dungeon Exploration to enter and neutralize its hostile inhabitants.

Outcome

Once the hex's threats are neutralized, the hex is cleared. The controlling faction may begin domain projects in the hex — extract resources via the Monthly Domain Refresh, build a stronghold, settle citizens, and so on.

A cleared hex is also a candidate to become controlled territory for the faction, which changes the dispatch rolls in Wilderness Encounters for subsequent travel through it.