Ruling class are the players. The ones who say all the time "you can't win BM", but haven't figured out that you can't lose it, either.
The ones who sit and work through every worst case, fringe scenario to convince themselves that "war would just be too risky", so they sit and do nothing but chatter in the council and ruler channels, at the detriment of all their "friends" in the realm.
(And then quite a few of them complain about a certain OCC group who is of doubtful intentions because they "play together and don't include anyone else". )
Yes, you mean they fear losing power and that is why they do not risk it. The risk of losing it by enemies jumping up and down on your realm is greater than the risk of rebellion or a duke in the realm-creating-mood. You can't be blamed if you don't do anything right?
But is that not just a natural impulse? A man always fears losing what has got. So in a world of no TMP, what does he fear? If he does not engage in war, his primary fear won't be other realms, it will be the dissatisfaction of his own nobles. Primarily the ones who do not hold one of the other three council positions or any dukeships because the forementioned parties feel like they've lots to lose too. The ones who hold normal lordships and those without even that, those are the ones with the least to lose.
So TMP could for example be replaced by more opportunities for the council and dukes to lose their powers.
