I don't mean to be picky here, but it was actually the "GOTLAND vs. CAELINT" war.
I agree with you there, but not that it was evenly matched. Caelint had Nothoi. Caelint however didn't die or disband, it changed it's name when it took in the other realms. Caelint by far won that war. They went from a tiny realm to a power of the North, that's a win, and a huge plus point for both the realm and the continent. Lots of small 6 man realms is really no good for anyone, but Irondale as it is now is a lot better.
But, at that time, anyone who asked on DISCORD about advice for joining a realm on BT, Obeah realm(s) and Thalmarkin were the "goto" advice that was given.
The reason Thalmarkin was recommended was because joining Thal would get them interaction. Many realms, on all continents, are silent. There are no prospects, and they are content with what they have. This might be good for the people there, but new players aren't looking to commit to a long term game of no interaction and idly sitting in capital. OS was recommended for the exact same reason despite being an enemy of Thalmarkin, so the IC bias was not there. It was purely recommended due to activity levels in the same way Perdan would be on EC. If your realm isn't being recommended, ask why, and try to see what you can do to make you realm more inviting.
You mention the "unofficial alliance block" of SV and Nothoi (and now include Irondale),
The quotation marks are disingenuous. This isn't speculation, there is one confirmed both IC and OOC. I haven't now included Irondale, it carried over from Caelint, as it is the same realm. In addition, SV was there during that conflict, they declared war on Thalmarkin quite early on.
I was not there for this, but I ask you this "what choice did they have?" I would think they really had no choice. Thal had, by that time, practically decimated every realm in the area that could have offered Gerhkia any type of assistance.
A realm of 6 people or less like Grehkia was, is going to die in any war. They could be against anyone, they're going to lose the war because they're just too small to really do anything. Merging was their best option and I am glad they took it and those players are doing much better in their new realm.
SELF IMPORTANCE.
Not so much importance, but responsibility. The players in Thal that you mention take their roles as community members seriously, and consider all sides fun when engaging with people. The OS war was fought almost entirely by 2 nobles doing role plays with them. The murder of their head priest was done entirely through roleplay. It was fun, it got people involved, and no one actually lost out. When people join the rebellion, the fun of those rebels is consider in action we take against them. When people protest, they are given a platform.
My point here, is that it doesn't matter if they are friend of foe IC, they are community members and we treated them like that to engage them where we could, through any medium we had available. It's not that no other realm could do that, they all could. But only Thal actually did.
You could spread all the players out, sure. But no. It isn't their job to all abandon their realms to go and put effort and time into your realm so you don't have too. Everyone should be putting in that same effort that they were. I am going to name and shame here, the players of Rea and Luitolf were especially positive. They have engaged more players on their own than many realms on BT have nobles, total. The idea that they should abandon everything they've set up to do that to come go make other realms more engaging so their nobles don't have too is a bit insulting.
And then you are surprised when suddenly most of the continent wants a piece of Thal
I made an active effort to balance things. Yes, I was surprised that the other realms on the continent, as players, chose to look at a realm that had administrated its own balance and see that as a weakness to be exploited. I don't expect everyone to care about everyone else's experience, as nice as that would be. But I do expect rulers too.
I have not played a noble on EC for a while now either, but when I was there, I know for a fact that the war could have been ended at the time by the "south" admitting defeat and giving up ONE city (Perdan) to end the war.
War over.
This is the exact issue. the North aren't winning, they are not gaining ground. Perdan is holding them without any issue and could go aggressive if they wanted, they don't want too. Perdan is a good realm irrelevant of that war. The fact you say the north would turn agaisnt eachother if this war ends is funny, because that's the point... half the continent should not be in eternal peace with eachother and doing nothing else.
If their entire identity revolves around a single war, that is a huge failure by those rulers and councilors and the lower down nobles should look to replace them.
Thalmarkin was quiet when I got there. It took work and time to grow it and make it into what it became. Same as with Perdan. It doesn't happen for free or because of OOC inviting. It happens because we created an environment that keeps people logging in. I absolutely agree that Thal and Sirion were similar. Both Northern realms, surrounded by allies doing nothing. But Thal turnt it around. Sirion refuses to do so.
I already had a clear picture of the other side, for I started OOC talks with Irondale's ruler the second I declared war. I sought to ensure we got on OOC so that we could make sure everyone's enjoying themselves and I also read EVERYTHING. Every IC letter, OOC letter, and discord message.
The vast majority of them trying to label it crying 'cause my realm lost a war, which is a strawman, and at this point has been explained so extensively how incorrect that is, that continuing to use that strawman is just embarrassingly transparent that they are trying to cover themselves.
