They'd have to. Otherwise the continent would properly stagnate this time and realms would start bleeding nobles. TMP isn't strictly needed when you recognize the fact that fighting a war means something to do for yonder knights and dames and therefore they're a bit more active, or don't disappear off every few days.
CE won't want to get everyone together in a big fluffy group though. My guess is Darka will feel the heat if and when CE can look up rather than down the map. Back when I was in the Imperial Senate, it was a question of Darka or Carelia. Darka was winning, by a long-shot. Someone needs to slap Leta upside the head. Course, Carelia has MS (and now a MS ruler), so it won't just be a bashing. It'll be Falasan. They'll leave Carelia with a diminished Duchy. Then Tara will take it while no one's looking. They take MS very seriously in there. Still, Darka can expect to be excluded from any peace deals unless they're doing the brokering. Strangely, as much as the Barony has probably earned a bit of dislike from CE, there was never any bad feelings towards them even when fighting against them way back when. Times may have changed, but Darka's nearer and of more use too.
Lets face it though. If nothing drastic happens to change things up, CE will simply burn and rape and pillage their way through Carelia as they've been doing (ouch with Suville about to take Wayburg) and then turn north. There won't be hugs for Darka, the Barony, Hammersett or MI though. On the case of Eston, if they're still playing as smart as they were, they'd try turn them against Darka. "How about your old Duchy back? And why not wait for Darka to be off fighting Tara before we move in and help you take it, eh?" Admittedly has a Red Wedding feel to the whole idea, but its not like the same didn't happen to Eston by Darka or Norland by Eston/BoM.
Strangely, every cunning plan I think up to win this war for one side or the other generally involves turning either Eston to CE or Coria to anti-CE. I guess its true that three things determine the value of lands: location, location, location.
Finn.
