[Vynd]

OK, as I understand it, when the game does a temple check (or pretender check, etc.) in a province and it determines that dominion should go up, then it will always boost the dominion of that province unless it is at max. If it is maxed out, then and only then will your dominion (possibly) be pushed into a neighboring province.

If I have this correct, then I wonder if anyone has had success playing with a low-ish starting dominion and trying to get it to quickly spread beyond their borders rather than building up to very high levels within their nation.