In Glorantha I think borders can be much more palpable than in the real world because magic can be used to deliniate them. The Glowline is the most obvious example. In Sun County*, we have the square earthstones. They mark borders, and if maintained correctly, improve the fertility of the land within them.
*BTW, great map Stephen Tempest! Count Solanthos is of course outraged that your Lunar cartographers have factored his sovereign territory into Pavis County. He deposed his successor (Count Voranthos, but derisively nicknamed "Sor-Eel's poodle") to assert that the alliance between the Lunar Empire and Sun County was one of mutual amity and non-agression between co-equals.
Nick mused:
> Q: is anyone aware of a nation ever choosing
> to "retreat behind its natural frontiers"
> (rather than "expand until it reaches its
> natural frontiers"? :-)
Here on the Trucial Coast, in 1968 cash-strapped Great Britain announced to everyone's great surprise that they were unilaterally withdrawing all forces east of Suez.
The British Resident packed up and the local rulers, who up to this time had mainly survived on pearling, smuggling and raiding each other, were compelled to form the hastily cobbled together United Arab Emirates. Against expectations the UAE has thrived, a lot of which had to with it rapidly becoming the world's second-largest producer of oil. Good call Britannia! (Isn't it ironic they're now back in the region again as the poodling junior partner of the hamhanded Oil-Quest in Iraq...)
BTW, political maps are useful, even if they don't accurately reflect the situation on a micro-level. Colin McEveady's brilliant Penguin Map Guides always have demarcated borders that simplify (or should I say present clearly) what is then described in great, entertaining detail in his commentary. The borders might have lines, but check out any of his Map Guides (Medieval History 330 - 1470 is my personal favorite) and you'll see how fluid these borders are over even a relatively short period.
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