Cogent and well reasoned. It's a good plan, though it could fall apart in any number of places even if you did manage to achieve unity in the north.
Unfortunately, the necessary political preconditions for this plan were not all in place at the time I made my decision. It's hard for me to remember exactly what was going on down south at the time, but Carelia was still alive and kicking (albeit definitely losing), Strombran had not yet been founded, and Caergoth was still in one piece if I recall correctly. Even if you advance the timeline in the south somewhat, I'm certain that most of the pieces you're playing with were not available.
Basically, it's easy to see all the parts necessary to your plan now. Back then, they mostly didn't exist. By the time they emerged from the fog of war, the die was already cast.
Any good plan can fall apart. They're only useful before the first battle begins.
However, much of the political situations needed to make such a plan successful were there. They were just hidden under the surface. You had to be a part of the CE alliance in order to see where the cracks were. My character knew about them, and made plans to use them if Coria was ever threatened.
King Kerwin was made aware of the cracks by my character which allowed him to trust Coria more. That's one of the reasons Coria and Eston grew closer together.
Its all irrelevant now. This plan wouldn't work anymore. Other plans would, but of course I can't reveal plans that would actually work, because then they wouldn't.
As to your point about preconditions. All of the preconditions that were *necessary* were available at the time when Merlin contacted the leaders of the Northern Alliance. Not all of the preconditions that would have been *wanted* were available, but the necessary ones were. That of course fell through. But hey, I'm playing a happy duke of a strong city.
