Allemagnian International Relations

### Gallia

Although one might expect there to be significant animosity between Allemagne and Gallia due to their lengthy shared border, relations between the two are actually surprisingly good. The most significant reason for this, of course, is that Allemagne heeded the call of Gallia when it launched a crusade against the orc kingdom of Uthman. While Allemagne doesn't quite have the same zeal as Gallia when it comes to the extermination of orcs, Gallia does see Allemagne as an ally in the war between humanity and orcs. Simultaneously, Allemagne isn't particularly interested in acquiring the lands of Gallia, since that would mean both fighting against the formidable knights of Gallia and ruling over the extremely passionate Gallian people. Even if Allemagne did win the war and acquire some Gallian lands, such an arrangement would surely lead to violence (and even bloodshed) over the religious differences between the Allemagne and Gallian peoples. As a result, current relations between Gallia and Allemagne can best be summarized as friendly and noncombative.

### Switzer

While Switzer is officially neutral in all matters of diplomacy, Allemagne considers it to be a valuable and friendly asset. Due to a combination of the high population of Allemagne and its comprehensive censuses, Allemagne produces a plurality of the magically-talented that go to study at Switzer, and subsequently, a plurality of the permanent inhabitants of the region that stay after their magical studies have finished. Thus, even if the region is officially neutral, its inhabitants generally lean towards Allemagne on political matters. This isn't particularly important at the moment, but if a war ever did break out across Europe, then Switzer would likely join the Reich

### Alb

One of the most important trading partners for Allemagne is the dwarven region of Alb, with goods flowing in both directions. Mana crystals, jewelry, tools, weapons, and armor flow from the dwarves to the humans, while modern crafting designs (but not techniques), luxury foods, information, and refined reagents flow from the humans to the dwarves. Due to the extremely isolationistic stance of the dwarves, these trades are generally performed either at the gates of the great holds or in small human and dwarven trading villages that have sprouted up in the region. While relations between Allemagne and Alb are not particularly warm, they are no better between Alb and any other humans, so Allemagne generally regards the dwarves as being an overwhelmingly neutral and predictable neighbor.

### Italica

Given the extremely large number of political players that make up Italica, Allemagne has had great difficulty in determining how to assess the region as a whole. While some princes have been responsible for raids and pirate attacks on Allemagne economic interests, others have come to Allemagne in search of investment and banking opportunities. Others still have traveled the lands of Allemagne in search of young men and women who will join them and train as professional mercenaries, while some have been accused of enslaving travelers and selling them for ransom. It can be impossible to determine the temperment, strength, influence, and legitimacy of a prince since princes seem to rise and fall on a daily basis. As such, Allemagne has classified Italica as a generally hostile environment with some dangerous and profitable business opportunities.

### Bohemia

The second annexation was not quite so peaceful, and thus there is still some resentment towards Allemagne in Bohemia. This negativity has died down over time as children have grown up under the watchful and relatively gentle guiding hand of Allemagne, but the older generations still tend to be quite bitter about the joining. Allemagne is confident in the continued integration of Bohemia, but still stations an enlarged garrison there just in case.

### Rakusko

The first region to be annexed by the Reich, Rakusko enjoys some special privileges due to being the eldest. While Rakusko still has a very unique culture, it has also become quite accepting of Allemagne customs and laws. In many ways, Rakusko is simply the ninth province of Allemagne, a status that may be codified into law in the near future.

### Lechia

The latest acquisition of Allemagne is Lechia, which is currently undergoing extensive reform at the hands of Reich officials and academics. While the process is sure to last many years, Allemagne is highly confident that Lechia will soon join the Reich as another valued province. However, the upper classes of Allemagne are highly divided on how exactly they will treat the issue of regional representation in the ever-expanding elector system. Regions annexed in the past have only been given a single vote, but those regions were coincidentally quite small, and thus a single vote was relatively proportional to their size and population. Lechia, on the other hand, has even more inhabitants than Allemagne, which means that a giving them a single vote may lead to intense unrest. However, the nobles are in agreement that Lechia should not be given more votes than Allemagne, and furthermore, that the total votes of annexed provinces should not exceed the total votes of Allemagne (8), a position that is meant to prevent the non-Allemagne regions from overriding Allemagne. The moderate position is to award Lechia 4 votes, while those in favor of greater local autonomy have suggested 5 or even 6 votes. At the other end of spectrum, those that wish to keep Lechia firmly under the control of the Reich see 3 or even 2 votes as the best solution. However, figuring out the number of votes is only the first problem, since they will then need to figure out how to divide the region among the number of votes that is settled on.

### Romanar

In short, Allemagne is terrified of Romanar and Romanar is essentially oblivious to the existence of Allemagne. The political reality of Europe is that if Romanar did decide to wipe out all of humanity on the continent, they could do so with relative ease. Naturally, this means that most of the human nations of Europe are scrambling to find any way to prevent that from happening. Ideally, many would like a way to put the vampires down if they did elect to wage war on humanity, but most are realistic and would settle for a means to ensure that the vampires never decide to join such a war in the first place, or if such a war is inevitable, to postpone it for as long as humanly possible. Allemagne is exploring both options intently through a variety of means, from quiet funding of guerilla warfare and weapons testing in northeastern Romanar to clandestine diplomatic meetings with powerful vampires that have a mutual interest in maintaining the peace.