Some New Ideas From an Unxepected Place

The news today provided me with an interesting idea for my two fictitious countries. The
current dispute over the flow of natural gas from Russia through the Ukraine
and thus to the rest of Europe, with a little imagination, provides a good strategic scenario for the fictitious struggle between the Konigreich and the Duchy. Initially, I was thinking
that the location of the two nations would be astride Prussia's logistical line
of supply for Polish horses. This would give good reason for an ongoing dispute
as well as a reason for the large historical adversaries (Prussia and Austria) to
take interest in supporting the smaller countries. The events I heard on the news today gave me the thought that if I just flip the positions (east to west) of the fictitious nations on my map, and swap natural gas for horses, I can essentially create the strategic situation that is currently playing out now in "realtime". So since my nations are just beginning as fiction I figure I have the license to make a few structural adjustments before things become too firmed up in the narrative.

Thus we now have the map shown below with Prussia to the west, The Duchy of Grolstein astride astride the east bank of the Oder river bridges (at Frankfurt and Kustrin) where much of Frederick's horses must cross and the Konigreich of Blieherzen (aligned with Prussia) to the east of Grolstein in a position to deal with the Polish king for those critical herds but having to deal with Grolstein to get them through to the Oder River. Austria is to the south with control of Silesia and influence on Grolstein giving a reason for all the "nation-players" in the area to have some stake in the two small countries. You can see also that both Prussia and Austria have alternative access to Poland thus giving a more complex set of strategic possibilities on which to base some campaigns...and thus the latest "real world" news gives my fictitious world some dimension as well...(and, as I said in my Christmas post on Emperor vs Elector...)

revised map of the countries..

I also have been working on detailing the maps with towns, cities etc. in Adobe Illustrator so I'm able to make a layer of each bit of information and can more easily tinker with the maps later.