Rare Soil is this season's ranking resource, produced hourly by any City or Dig Site your alliance holds. Unlike Season 1, final territory ownership at season's end doesn't decide your ranking - it's the TOTAL Rare Soil accumulated across the whole season that matters, so holding ground early and consistently beats a late rush.
Around Week 3, the Faction Awards event locks every warzone into one of two factions (Rebels or Gendarmerie) based on player voting. This is a server-wide decision that reshapes the rest of the season's war landscape, so decide together with your alliance rather than voting individually without discussion.
Rare Soil Wars let alliances fight directly over banked Rare Soil - losing one of these can transfer soil to the winner, so treat them as high-stakes events worth full alliance coordination, not something to engage casually.