If it was like you suggest we would instead have empty castles and villages. The cities act as hubs so that people can actively roleplay and not have to run around looking for people. Charters were a way to make a small settlement near or away from cities and in the past groups bought regions (with mina) that were purchasable. However most of these groups got bored and went inactive or couldn’t keep up with activity checks and died that way. After awhile staff said no more and removed the charter system I believe. Lastly Helena does not host half the server, and if you have not been around the map I sugget you visit the other cities during peak time.