Slitherine

At first, I thought that the darkened area to the North of the playing map might be for future DLC's. However, while playing as Gothones, first one and then another region in the dark area came into play as the provence of Prussia. My questions are: 1. Does this happen only if there is an active nations nearby? 2. Will, over time, all of the darkened area come into play? Thanks in advance.

I don't know the answers to your questions, but I will add that new unexpected regions can pop up in the African sands to the south as well!