There are vast tracks of wilderness in Salisbury, as there are in every county. The manors tend to line the rivers, roads or religious sites but even this fertile land isn't being fully utilised, there is plenty of space between each parcel of each knight's holdings that is not developed. I'm sure Hogarth himself understands the difficulty of establishing a new village however, given that he is attempting this himself at Cholderton. There is no shortcut. As for the manors themselves, they are nearly all full. While you might not have performed as well as you had hoped at St Albans, you did bring home nearly every knight who went and so continue to run at nearly full capacity. Only one manor stands empty with no heir who is not to be knighted in a year or two, and it is Sir Vorte's manor, now held by his father, the Earl of Jagent after his death at St Albans. He discovers a curious case, Draftbeck - a village who Earl Roderick granted the status of freemen, they were treated poorly by their knight and left his village. They built a new one, after their knight ignored several judgements of the Earl, who granted them freeman status so they could not be legally slaughtered by their old knight - though he did try several times. The knight in question is Sir Ogerious, it is rumoured he is being blackmailed, he squeezes his peasants constantly, he seems to take every opportunity to earn or take money but lives an impoverished lifestyle. The priests are generally welcoming, and indicate that very little is wrong - they all have their local concerns and politics - make an intrigue check for me.
