Another times, I would say...
In the end, these realms were reduced to doubting individuals: Gabriela in Fontan (a torturer), the king of Westmoor (a wacky racist) or the Sultan who would never accept to be deposed, etc... for Erik, a realm that was not willing to kick these people did not deserve to survive to have the opportunity to fight against Sirion another day. Also, some of them asked for Erik's head while they had an advantage. Or, as was common, each new Ruler tried to ignore the whole history of his realm during the war. Erik was not willing to forget, as most of Sirion who always voted in favor of total elimination wars.
Luckily Perdan was far away and Atanamir was overthrown by greater forces, or they would suffer the same fate. And OI has always been very indifferent, some threats of bringing the Silver Legion up there and plundering everything down to the ground usually worked.
Ah... good times. Today I 'm trying to guide my characters differently, first because they do not have that level of power and influence and the game needs smaller realms and wars that do not end in a pile of dead realms. Erik was a result of his time and was directly affected by how his enemies dealt with him. Of all my RPG characters, he was the one who had the most interesting development.
