Aggrobiscuit
Recruit
Totally agree on number 1. Make the ability to lead army tied to clan tier level rather than being in a faction.
It's a nice idea, but who could you ask to join your army if not in a faction? Recruiting from major factions would bring up all kinds of problems, and you couldn't recruit mercenary factions either, because they don't spend any time as free agents, they immediately join a faction on leaving their last one.