This argument is getting old.
If CE is a puppetmaster of Talerium and Tara, then Eston was a puppetmaster of Darka and BoM. The relationships were fairly analogous as far as I could tell.
I'm starting to think that Kerwin's biggest mistake was to think that he was actually in charge of the Northern Alliance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FopyRHHlt3M
The Northern Alliance members have histories consisting almost entirely of warring one another. They united explicitly in response to the threat that the Empire posed to the island. If CE hadn't remained a threat, it would have broken apart with wars between the members -- just as it always has. Hell, do you have any idea the significance of Darka joining war
without a contract? CE posed (and poses) a threat
that serious.
When was the last time you saw one bloc realm fight another without CE's blessing?
The NA was formed because "the enemy of my enemy", while the Empire is a series of realms afraid of the big bully.
