Krandyke

The Duchy and Principality of Krandyke are two neighboring nations near the Imperial border in the west-south-west, also sharing a border with Radvidva on the Dutch side and with the Hegemony on the Principal side.

The curious dual-state situation arose some eight hundred years ago, when the then-Kingdom of Krandyke's regnant queen died at 56, and her only surviving child was the 12-year-old prince. Rather than allow the immature prince to rule the kingdom, or more likely to turn power over to a regency on behalf of his lowborn governess, the foremost of the queen's vassal Dukes claimed the throne in defiance of succession, and was backed by more than half of the military forces of the kingdom in this claim. Those who supported the prince, either out of direct loyalty or due to tradition, armed themselves as well, and the two factions nearly came to blows, but agents of the Empire who had been quietly operating in the court stepped in to negotiate a lasting peace between the two claimants.

The kingdom was divided into its two successor states, funding the relocation of a few fiefdoms whose political and geographic positions didn't line up with the split; a few resentments lingered, but nobody really wanted a war, so anybody who had a grudge chose to nurse it silently for decades thereafter, and in most cases they were eventually forgotten, with only a few small groups still pursing ancient plots to try and turn back the clock or avenge old slights. In the intervening centuries, the two nations have maintained a cool but friendly relationship, diverging in culture and religion and so forth, but maintaining a cordially distant relationship as trading partners.

Today there are several groups interested in recombining the two nations, but the majority remains opposed to such a combination, and the slightly smaller Principality's greater friendship with the Empire is one of the reasons why the Duchy resists incorporation, fearing that the Imperium plans to eventually absorb both nations. (This is of course true, but the Duchy's opposition is based on alarmist assumptions of what Imperial membership would result in.)