So... basically he needed CE and Tara's permission if he was ever going to be able to make an attempt to free Coria (and the island) of CE and Tara's domination?
That blows.
Calling yourself another Empire is always a bit tricky, but CE would have not really cared much in general if it wasn't for all the letters floating around about attacking Tara and other CE Allies and getting CE Dukes to secede from the Empire. Even then, a bunch of Nobles felt no desire to take any action until Merlin made the first move. Tara appeared more opposed to the matter then CE.
