Treaties
Persistent named agreements built from real clauses
A treaty would be a real, lasting agreement you negotiate clause by clause — non-aggression, mutual defense, free trade, a peace settlement, a ceded province — where every affected country actually has to come out ahead on the deal, or you make up the difference with money or arms.
Design doc
Every clause has to be worth it to everyone
Each clause in a treaty carries its own weight for every country it affects — some clauses are simply off the table for a given country no matter what. A treaty would only go through once the deal is a net positive for every party involved. If it isn't quite there, a one-time payment of money or arms could tip a reluctant party over the line. Making peace would work exactly the same way — a ceasefire is one clause, a full peace another.
Design doc
Alliances and access would come from real treaties
Instead of a country simply declaring itself allied or granting access, those relationships would only exist because a live treaty — or organization membership — actually established them. No more standalone alliance or access buttons floating free of any actual agreement.
Design doc
Leverage
Leverage would measure how much one country can realistically force out of another — occupied territory, backed factions inside their government, the military balance, how exhausted they are by war. The more leverage you hold over someone, the less resistance they'd put up at the negotiating table.
Design doc
A pause is not the same as peace
A ceasefire would freeze a war in place — combat stops, the front line holds, occupied territory stays exactly where it is — without formally ending it. Peace would be the real, final settlement. Either side could still break a ceasefire later, at a cost.
Design doc
Where organizations fit in
An organization's leader could draft a treaty on its behalf, with every member weighing in for or against — it would only take effect if members support it on balance, and once it does, every member is bound by it. An organization would also be limited to the kinds of treaties that fit what it actually is — the World Bank, for instance, could never become a defense pact.