Would a BR realm be so different from later-life Ubent?
Except its neighbors would be more distant, and it's mountains even more difficult to assail?
Personally, if I could contrive an RP basis for my next character to go to a BR realm, I would. I just think it'd be really neat.
Ubent's close, but there are still some differences. The mountains around Castle Ubent were a lot wealthier than those around BR. One Ubent mountain probably had about the same gold output as all the Divides together. And by the time Ubent had shrunk to BR-sized proportions, it had been around for years, and used to be a lot larger and more powerful. I don't know how the realm was created, but I don't think it was through a CTO of a dirt-poor region surrounded by dirt-poor mountains, more likely through secession of a well-established duchy.
Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of a BR realm, but I make no illusions that BR alone would ever bring the realm to a level of power even close to its closest neighbors. With Morek, Corsanctum, D'Hara and Solaria creeping ever closer to the mountains, and the very likely scenario that a fifth realm will be established in Flowrestown, that's a lot of potential enemies. If a war breaks out in the area, BR would need to either remain neutral, or bet it all on picking a side and hoping they prevail.
They do have good defensive options, but travel times through the Alley of Swords are not as long as those through the Divides. A bottleneck, sure, but with the poor income they'll have, they can't withstand much enemy onslaught. They'd get pinned down in BR much like Thulsoma was pinned down in Storm's Keep, and from then on it's just a matter of time. Compare it to the battle of Helm's Deep from LoTR minus the Rohirrim arriving in the nick of time to save the fortress from falling to the Uruk-hai.
