And Zonasa had nowhere near enough outside support for that plan. The fact that anyone in Zonasa thought the coalition would have stood for that boggles my mind. There is no way that anyone in Cathay or Aenilia was going to accept Zonasa stymieing the war any longer, most of the coalition wanted to attack Zonasa if we couldn't come up with some way to get them to let us through, and Zonasa wanting a duchy out of it outraged even more people. Zonasa trying to just reduce Soliferum to the peninsula...Man, I wish I'd known that. Cathay would have gone ballistic.
Err, Tharion and James were consulted the whole time (although admittedly James said little). Tharion was pretty outspoken about it and Aenilia's role. But yea, Cathay knew about the whole thing and James gave his approval. Maybe it was just lip service to get Zonasa into the war. Ziode, who was Duke of Anacan at the time I believe, was put in touch with Ceolwyn about starting the new realm (in Hatdhes)... But of course, the whole thing blew up.
Zonasa really wasn't after Alanurs and really didn't want a duchy, persay. Zonasa's goals were really just to reduce Soliferum a bit and put a friendly realm in Hatdhes. That Alanurs fell to Zonasa was not planned in the slightest. If there was any expansion to be had, Zonasa was really after the strategic location of Masahakon (again, forcing the coalition across the straight and providing a strong defensive position from which to support the new realm in Hatdhes).
