Of course there is the pressure to expand. Some nation guides I have seen say that by the end of the first year you should have around 10-12 provinces.
As to Blood Vines, I didn't send in a scout so on the map it looked just like a bunch of weakling forest dudes. Except in battle there were only about 8 of them and Blood Slaves made up the majority of units on the indies side. By the end of the battle this was not the case
