Gloria it is pretty much your word against his. You claim he forged the messages, he claims you are just lying. Since we KNOW you tortured at least twice from multiple sources, you'll forgive us that IC his claim seems the stronger.
Igelfeld two very interesting idea's. For the first my take on the Duchy splitting is that in MOST cases that would be an internal issue of the realm, not the empire. I could see the empire getting involved if the Duchy was not going to join, or if they broke some law like the ritual wars rules. In all other cases I would expect their survival would hinge on the same things a succession does now, power, relation with the old realm and allies.
With regards to the second, great question, I don't believe we have talked about it yet. To be honest unless the empire takes over the whole continent it isn't hugely important. I would expect that realms outside the empire will be deporting and executing as is the standard.
