Whoever says long-lived rulers don't take risks never had a character in Thalmarkin. There's a damn good reason Fingolfin is still in undisputed command, and it's because he takes every risk. He challenged the Overlord personally and brought down Netherworld's hordes on his kingdom... and broke them. He sends his armies out for week-long raids against neutral realms without asking for passage rights from intervening realms, he roots out and destroys religions he finds distasteful damn the consequences, bullies his closest allies into giving him land, and then he commands an entire continent to acknowledge him as king of all men.
Yes, he has a tight, seasoned crew standing behind him, and that helps a lot, but none of us in the various councils ever read a letter from him like "Oh we'd better not do anything to upset (insert realm)." I'm sad that Thalmarkin gets lumped in with CE and SA and other huge power blocs, but we earn that swagger, we fight like hell for it.
vvv It's not intended as a call-out to anyone in particular, just a blanket declaration. I appreciate what you're doing with Melhed, even if we're on opposite sides.
