Which is why we won't likely be calling a crusade.
Doesn't matter, you still lost. Either Niselur plays along and satisfies itself with knowing it is invincible, or they push their luck and mount a coalition against Astrum anyways just for the sake of it. Being the agressor decreases the odds of gaining enough internal and foreign support drastically, but they may very well be able to get away with even that anyways.
That is kinda the thing with the realms on these corners of the map... Aurvandil didn't need any friends, due to the weakness of their neighors and their cheating advantages. Niselur's got all the defensive perks of a corner, plus mountains to further isolate, AND a bunch of allies to act as buffers on all fronts.
Truth is, Niselur holds all of the cards, now. Whatever happens next is up to them. The Church overextended itself, and has lost this conflict before it even began.
I honestly don't understand how anyone could have seen that last crusade as being a good idea... Machiavel told Vellos, he told Mathurin... don't do this. It's a terrible idea. And the parts that I predicted paled in comparison to what actually came to be and what I did not yet know at the time.
'cause heck, if Niselur decides it doesn't want Terran to exist anymore... it won't. And the crusade will have had zero positive impacts for the church, and just a bunch of negative ones.
Niselur's king is one powerful dude right now. A pity he has to side with Luria Nova.
