Could be completely true, but still doesn't explain the divergence between continents.
The Colonies seem to have younger rulers. There's not a lot going on, so that could explain a lot of the population loss--The only war is a 4v1 gangbang on Giblot, led by the largest realm on the continent. So that's probably not too exciting for about 75% of the island--two week march in one direction, fight a battle against peasant militia, then return home.
To make matters worse, nobles in two of the attacking realms have told me that they are fighting primarily because of "too much peace" messages. Hardly an exciting place to be.
Lukon needs a nice secession to make the island really interesting.
