Whether EC had a war or not lately is beside the point. Whenever there's complaints about too much peace, or the game being boring because of politics, 90% of the time it comes from the East Continent. That continent's a !@#$hole. That's the one that should have been sunk, not SEI.
Fronen and Melhed are realms within reach, not neighbors.
As for decline, current statistics suggest a slight increase in active members. In any case, it can't be said for sure what causes it. The extremely more complex nature of the game than back then could explain it just as well. After all, wars create losers, and many people quit because they can' stand defeat.
My "pawns" comment has nothing to do with whatever you have in mind for Enweil. I just utterly hate being a rank-and-file troop leader. And have for a very long time. Giving me war won't make me any more interested in a realm if I'm just a rank-and-file troop leader.
Many realms have a general/marshal. One guy in charge of barking out all of the others. Or a marshal does that as much, with a general that does nothing. Or vice versa. Most wars involve a very limited number of people barking out red paper to a bunch of rank-and-file troop leaders.
