Could be a great place, if it was a friendly secession. But then, what would they do? Can't fight Rio. Go after IVF? But they're too big, unless they had Rios support. That could be interesting, since Rio off otherwise occupied right now and couldn't got at IVF full force.
I can't see it surviving as a hostile secession. Unless maybe they had IVF support. Might work, since Rio is busy. But it still requires some way for the secession to happen. Ete could swap to IVF, have their ruler make it a duchy, then secede from IVF. Sounds awful gamey, though.
There are some options, i guess. Depends on how much support you can garner beforehand.
