Yeah, but as much as Eston and Darka not attacking Coria and Talerium respectively doesn't particularly help, the real issue as I see it is Darka failing to disregard Talerium's military and, along with Eston's armies, march right through northeast Talerium to decimate Eaglin and the surrounding regions. Or hit Cagil. Or Calis. All three of CE's biggest cities are on the west side of that river and Darka and Eston together could well capitalize on that. It won't make the fight substantially easier for the anti-CE alliance given that CE are mostly terrorizing the poor defenseless (seems that way, at least) Carelia but long-term if there's a want to weaken or disarm CE, it's to hit its big gold production. Burning food won't, obviously, do much good with so much food producing land on either side of the river. Which does bring up the interesting point of rather than Eston/Darka hitting CE's fortified cities, they coordinate a looting raid right down the depth of CE on the west bank of the river with the northern realms hitting the eastern bank down to Esgalons or Vornion. Course, the northern realms would have to break through.
Tara is CE. The banners should give that away. Ottar is very close with his brother, a senior member of the Imperial Senate. While he's in power, Tara will be unquestionably loyal to their Federated allies. If those badlands of Tara's were rural regions, there wouldn't be a point of even bothering looting CE unless you've emptied Tara's warehouses first and burned their fields. And let's face it, a Tyranny makes for good army discipline
Inseperable as they are, Tara should be the primary concern of the north (Barony, MI, etc.) If you can't kill them, cripple them at the least. Send a properly loyal noble or two down who don't look too loyal to you. Join the underground. See if you can stir strife against Ottar. Or send traders down to Tara/CE to buy all their food to cause a little starvation. No one remembers CE doing that to Eston?
And speaking of Eston, I don't blame them for their diplomacy with Coria. I'm biased, but I'd see it as a nice little stepping stone. Hell, that's what I saw it as - much to my irritation at the time - when I was in CE. And not a good stepping stone. Coria likes its independence. It doesn't forget its masters, but it hates being viewed as CE's colony or buffer or domain. They like to feel more important than that - and not without just cause - and no doubt welcomes the thoughts of having their own diplomacy that isn't dominated by CE's foreign policy. But they know CE is better than you. Ask Mr. Dante there. But turning Coria's alliegence wouldn't be a bad thing. Think of their two big cities, their future mountain holdings, and consider the access that provides into Tara and/or CE? Hammersett has its problems with Coria, I acknowledge, but they're not a real realm and could even be gifted to Coria (read as bribery) at the start of their inclusion in the war against CE.
So yeah. I've had this building up in me for ages now but, y'know, loyalty to my first realm is hard to get over. This is, if you ask me, how you beat CE. The southeast is a mess. Ignore them. Heh, the problem is of course that this would require the level of unity CE and its allies rely on, not something the rest can really lay claim to. Still, people complain about Atamara being stagnant. I tend to disagree not because a lot happens or changes, but because its the status quo that most people readily accept. Stagnant? Maybe. But its not a necessary state for the continent, in my mind, because its something that could change if there really was all this devotion to taking down CE we see on the forums and the ruler channel. Course, now I'm starting to get why people say Atamara is stagnant. Who knows though? Maybe someone will work behind the scenes to do what I suggest or something else to shake things up. You can usually rely on ambition to provide such people. The usual problem is that the powers that be are quite happy with how things are, so one or two voices are drowned out in yawns. Stagnant, but because not enough people want more than what they already have. Sad. Nobles are meant to be ambitious and cunning not honourable and lazy.
Not that I feel strongly on this or anything...
