Realms will just keep more of the army as police force/home defense force to counteract those effects.
the sympathy bleed is a nice idea, though am I the only one who's thinking that Diplomats are now playing a larger role in region maintenance than actual Courtiers (assuming that lords are holding court and doing their jobs).
You are not the only one who thinking Diplomats play a key and larger role than usual. Even Priest that has a lot of people following can play the same role as Diplomats. Both Diplomats and Priests have laud the realm and badmouth other realms. Even work much better than Courtiers. Ever hear the saying "Pen is mightier than sword"?
In my humble opinion, the key during peacetime is to run low tax on border region with your going-to-be competitor region, drawing away all their region peasants. Then you have sufficient peasants, your region Production will recover much faster. Speaking from my previous Region Maintenance Master experience of course
That is as much limited war as it can be, without war declaration at all.
