A letter from Franz von Tannen to Eisenfürst Fischler

My dear Eisenfürst Fischler,

It is clear that Eisen needs an Imperator, or at least that the Eisenfürsten need to form some sort of "league of government" if Eisen is to recover from its current sorry state.

Individually, many of the Eisenfürsten have strengths--Poesen has a massive standing army, Sieger is importing dirt(!) to restore his lands from the ravages of both the War, and his own foolhardiness.

But surely Poesen is struggling for finances to pay her men, and it is all too clear of the "cost" of Sieger's solutions. Freiburg is a sea of chaos in the heart of our glorious land, and shows perhaps both the greatest prosperity and the greatest sorrow of any area I have recently visited in Eisen.

Meanwhile, our splintered nation has no standing army beyond those of the individual Eisenfürsten (and it's doubtful that any would lend aid to another), and the cream of our fighting force have turned mercenary and travel abroad possibly because it is too painful to witness all the sorrow within Eisen.

I think I have been somewhat blinded by the strife within our borders (if indeed one can still consider Eisen a single nation) to pay much attention to the world outside, but having recently seen the struggle in Castille, I see our situation there reflected.

Obviously, to entice the other Eisenfürsten we must be able to offer them some benefit. Beyond the obvious benefits of unity, I have had the following thoughts:

We can perhaps tempt the northern Eisenfürsten if we set one of our goals to help find a new Hierophant for the Vaticine church.

As I believe much of Sieger's irrational actions to be a result of having lost so much of his lands, perhaps we could investigate ways of recovering some of the territory lost during the War.

You know that I do not make such suggestions lightly--you know that my family has no love for the Vaticine church, and only a madman would seek to plunge Eisen into another great war. However, I think first and foremost of my beloved Eisen, and would do much to see it fully restored to its former glory.

By helping to sort out the problems in the Vaticine church, I am hopeful that we may persuade Castille to return some of the territory they have annexed (since they seem to believe that the church is their property). Also, I believe that Castille is weakened by the turmoil in the church, and that Montaigne is taking advantage of the situation--coupled with the security of having an Eisen border that they can largely ignore--to push their border south. By aiding Castille to rally, we may be giving Montaigne more to chew on which can't be a bad thing.

I am hopeful that this course would also satisfy the second goal in a peaceful manner (if we can persuade Castille to restore some of our lands in return for our aid).

Should this not be the case, then I am hopeful that the added challenge of a revitalised Castille to Montaigne will provide an opportunity to reclaim some lands with little challenge. Prudence would suggest that prior to such a move we should examine the armed support within Eisen, and see if a more unified front can draw back some of our "orphaned" warriors from abroad to discourage retaliation.

There are many avenues to be explored which we can discuss when next I am in Fischler, but perhaps there is something here which you can use in the meantime.

Franz.