Civilization VII allows you to take over any settlement on the map and find your own settlements in any untaken location. Whether you find a settlement through a settler unit or take an opposing leader’s city over, you can amass quite a large empire fairly quickly. However, large towns and cities won’t be the only settlements you find in a given world of Civilization 7.
There are also smaller Independent Villages, which present you with a few options regarding what to do about them. One of the options you have with Independents is becoming the Suzerain of them. Of course, this isn’t a word you commonly hear, so what is a Suzerain, how do you become one, and what are the benefits of doing so in Civilization VII?
What is a Suzerain in Civilization 7?
You can only become the Suzerain of an Independent Village, which is a one-tile settlement that has no affiliation with any other civilization on the map. You’ll randomly stumble into these across any land mass, but one is usually near your capital at the start of a playthrough.