I think the difficult part is that there was stratification of the alliances following the North South war, the change in Eponllyn's stance was an opportunity to split the alliances up and devolve the continent into what would very likely be a larger more disparate set of struggles.
I get why you wouldn't want Perdan or the new realm to be caught in the thin edge of the wedge, which may or may not have happened, and nobody will criticise you for doing what is right for your realm. Personally speaking I find the concept of war games a bit bland, that is what SI is for, when you buy into that you check into that type of game/fun. For me on EI, Bel or Dw there is supposed to be some decent intrigue leading into a war, so that there is something you can have some passion to fight for, that is what is supposed to add depth to the game.
What you wanted was to shake up the continent and its bonds, I get that. Things are pretty entrenched on EI and the coming war was looking like a place where the entrenchment may change things a bit. We'll just have to see what comes next and how we can craft things a little differently.
