: I'd go for option two. For one thing, the info on the
: Twenty Years War says that it was fought in and around
: Covenant. Covenant isn't strategically placed if
: you're trying to fight off a Cath Bruig army whose
: only means of reaching the Province is by World Knot
: or through the Cloudspine.
Good point, although we still must consiter that there is a World Knot in Covenant. But I disagree that Covenant wouldn't be stategically placed to fight off a Cath'Bruig army.
True, the best place's to do that would have been in the passes, but it takes a rather large army to hold both southern passes at the same time and it is doubtful that any rebelious force in the west could muster such an army. So the next most logical point of control would be Covenant; a city that in addition to being the greatest in the West, is also located smack in the middle of The Provence (if you think Madrical was origianly part of the Provence that is. I don't think that but for the sake of argunment we'll say it's true right now).
: Indeed, if the Province splintered from the Empire it
: would constitute political fragmentation, but I
: seriously doubt that a relatively minor schism between
: the two would result in either one being severely
: militarily weakened.
I disagree, the Provence is a huge strech of land, and different sources say it's population has thrived for centurys. Since the greater part of old age armies (after the fall of the Roman empire up to the 17th or even the 19th centrury in some cases) were made up of levies from different fifedomes, the loss of that population would have been a blow. Also, you must consiter the loss in terms of taxes from the nobles, and their complements of profecinal solders.
:If the fir'bolg could figure out
: that they couldn't survive on their own, then it's a
: sure bet that the Empire and the Province helped each
: other out, no matter what their relations.
Well, the Fir'bolg didn't have the population, industry, or arms that the Provence, or the rest of the West for that matter, had avalable. This might have made them realize that against a force like Balor they stood no chance. It could be that both of the great human states (Provence, Empire) thought themselves strong enough for any threat untill proven wrong. This is only speculation of course.
:Surely
: those relations may have had an impact upon how big of
: a response was provided by either side, but
: I think the advent of the fallen lords made many of these
: "fragmentations" easily forgotten.
Common threats do help to push past differences to the background, but rarely are they forgoten. I'd say that it took some time for the Provence to send even a little help eastward, and by then it was too late. Somewhere was it that I read, the first real expidition east into the old empire came many years after the sacking of it's capital. There were probably many reasons for this, but one of them could have been a lack of base support for such help from the Nobles.
: True, although here I nitpick. The Hundred-Years' War,
: for example, wasn't one big war (although it was no
: less messy). If there really was twenty years of war
: in Covenant alone, it would easily deplete the
: population. This would achieve quite a lot in Balor's
: favor, but it's only one city, and I have a hard time
: believing that they fought for twenty years nonstop.
: It might have been twenty years of constant
: revolution, one king being replaced by another, or a
: guerilla war, or a series of conflicts spread over
: twenty years' total.
Yes, names can be deceaving. But weather it was fought in one long stretch or in incraments, the effect would have been the same; That being the weakening of the big human states.
