Board Thread:Midian Q&A/@comment-4701109-20190215034245/@comment-24302820-20190215060928

I always saw the (former) Unincorporated Baronies as something akin to tribal lands in the US. That is, they were technically sovereign within their borders, but couldn't do much if the bigger Association wanted to throw its weight around. Also, they functioned much like adjacent communities within the broader culture. In other words, they were less like towns that somehow weren't inside any state, but more like unincorporated or unofficial towns outside of a larger community's city limits. These can still be large and influential (e.g. what most people think of as 'Las Vegas' is actually Paradise, and is an unincorporated area outside of Las Vegas proper) but these would be rare exceptions.

Another model to draw inspiration from--one which leaves the older model for baronies more intact--is with historic baronies in the early Dark Ages. Any land under the direct control of a noble was part of said noble's barony (meaning that all nobles other than the king--and sometimes even the king himself--were also technically barons, as verbiage in the Magna Carta suggests) but some nobles had greater titles. These more powerful and influential barons would have lesser barons beholden to them in various ways. These could be formal oaths of fealty, or could be simple economics with the smaller baronies lacking towns for manufacturing and trade outside of the region. These greater demesnes would then be akin to the Major Baronies, who would then have satellite Minor Baronies surrounding them in most cases. As it was in history, the Minor Barons would technically have total authority over their own territory, but not really.

It's also totally fine to have enclaves, as with the country of Lesotho in South Africa (and very nearly Eswatini--formerly Swaziland) or the countries of San Marino and Vatican City within Italy. Wonky borders are also the norm, rather than the exception, on Real World™® maps. Just look at how Texas's lower corner sweeps around to grab El Paso (or how the Mountain time zone does the same from the other direction) or how the Kentucky Bend is a thing thanks to the Mississippi River's alcoholism, or the way Croatia is all like "Fuck you getting a beach" to Bosnia and Herzegovina but still obligated to exclave itself to give B&H one tiny patch of ocean access.

One possible way to handle changes is to make these in-universe events, rather than retcons. That is, the Major/Minor Baronies are the historic model, but the Association is undergoing societal changes to the new governance model.