Do I have to become a citizen of a land?

[Poppi Chullo]

What are the benefits?

[Ungod]

Unless you like the condition of metic, becoming a respectable citizen of a (more or less respectable) land is something to be desired. For starters, the beer will be free* and you will not have to mingle with the riff-raff of No Man's land (people with no loyalty to nobody) anymore. You will miss the times you argued about the number of pillars GoE has, but hey, there's plenty more pillars to be miscounted elsewhere as well.

The (sum of) benefits of joining a land are as diverse as are lands. This might be under the spoiler category, so I cannot detail too much, but from stat increase to regen timer decrease, there a number of things that alter your perception when joining a land. However, you will find heat gathering way easier inside your land and heat loss much more penalizing when outside your land.

Other benefits include the possibility of acquisition of shared tools, which usually require you to satisfy one or both conditions: loyalty points and citizenship. This comes in hand with fighting resource wars over who depleted what, when and why. 

Making your way up into the world also involves NOT bypassing citizenship, as to join an alliance and become a respectable whatever means being a citizen first and foremost; you also get to have a say in land votes and king decapitations. You can also become a KING and get that shiny medal which does not disappear after your kinghood does. 

Well, the benefits are too many to list here, but I think drawbacks exist as well, and some may prove equal to the benefits. For instance, you might not choose the best land there is and regret it bitterly afterwards (unfortunately, because it would count as publicity, I cannot disclose the name, you'll have to figure it out by yourself *wink wink*). Ponder the question, but remember there is no obligation to be a (respectable desirable decent intelligent full of potential) citizen. None at all!

^{*promotion restricted to a few first items}