OOC: I would like ...
*grin* Cass, thank you for those nice words ... and everyone, no matter how long they have been here, or how obscure their plans are, can participate. However, That doesn't mean to say that you will get exactly what you ask for. This world has been built on your ideas and input - just about every big decision has been thrown open to player input, and that really does change the way the world develops. However, it is a big like an ocean liner, it has a lot of momentum and there are no sharp tuns ...
So ... Cass wants another civil war ... I think I might be able to arrange that :) BUT, if you leave it to me, it won't happen fast. Let's face it, fast doesn't happen in this game :)
As for expiration date of the game. In my head, we are due for another few years yet. Group 1 are just finishing up the core story line of Book (of a six book AP) I may not run the last book, as I have never felt it is a good fit for the rest of the module (and in this format) a lot of the foreshadowing gets lost. Perhaps a shortened version of it.
However, I am already planning my next game - I love world and rules building, so I always have a project of that sort on the go. That too will have a world building aspect, with a new (and simpler) version of the Campaign rules - it is a mash-up of a colonization game and a Pirate game (at least in the early stages) - somewhere between the Conquistadors and The Golden Age of sail - with humanoid tribes (and empires) rather than other humans as the residents. It borrows bits from Kingmaker, Skull & Shackles, history and my not-quite-twisted Imagination.
World building will be slower than here, and tied into a few more RP elements - but one of the objectives will be to build a settlement in very hostile territory - A proper old-fashioned AD&D1 style stonghold.
And Cass, you will be welcome to participate in that game, when we get there.