#apparently in Nopes the Kingdom and the Church welcoming deserters is very sus and infriges on the Federation's sovereignty or something?

[randomnameless]

What do you think about the Leicester Alliance? Despite the instability regarding the Riegan house and their heir it seems to me like it's the least fucked up of the three countries

Oh!

I wanted to make a more detailed reply but I don't think I'll have the time before forgetting it lol

But in general, the Alliance suffers from the FE franchise's lack of interest in what I previously called "merchant republics". Let it be Jugdral's Miletos or Magvel's Carcino, they just exist to be rolled over, sometimes they have "corrupt Nobles (tm)" and that's it.

Leicester seems to be in a similar position, even if, by virtue of being Claude's homeland it would be more developed, right?

Well, no, Claude talks more about Almyra and has stronger ties to that country, so whatever Leicester development or lore we could have is just, three supports here and there about "Corrupt Nobles (tm)", a land where wealth gains more and more importance (Marianne's dad became a member of the council bcs of this iirc?) and where old Houses keep on having an ancestral feud even if it dooms the Republic/Alliance (Gloucester wants to get rid of Riegan, and sacrifices Raph's parents in the process?).

So with the minimum world building we have about the Alliance, I wouldn't say it's the least fucked up, rather it's the less developed, so by extension they feel like they're in a better state than the Kingdom - heavily developed - and Adrestia - which is kind of in a similar boat as the Alliance, but since the content focuses on Enbarr and the War afterwards, it's swept up.

But for what we know,

The Roundtable, before Nopes, was made up of 5 great families and minor nobles, while not sitting, could have their voices heard or at least taken into consideration (as opposed to Clout's Federation).

The Alliance apparently heavily dislike having a central authority or a powerful person ruling over them all... But only 3 minor lords riot when "we bow to no Emperor and to no King" is farted upon by King Clout of the Federation...

Lorenz tells us faith is performative in the Alliance, but some people are devout believers, which leads to no one giving a fuck, in Nopes, about their country going for the kill against the Archbishop.

And more importantly...

In the Alliance, through Raphael and Ignatz, we learn there is a "bourgeoisie" class, people who aren't born nobles or anobled and yet who manage to thrive and, if not for Gloucester Sr's gambit, live quite well, despite the "Crust system!!!!" the scripts hammer.

Leonie is a commoner and is in debt (tfw rl catches up to you in a vg!). Her village pays taxes to their Lord (Gloucester) and in exchange this Lord offers them protection (by hiring Jerry) against poachers - which is both textbook Noblesse Oblige hardbaked in Lorenz's character, but also, some kind of weird example of a system based on feodality - vassal offers an "hommage" to his Lord (here taxes) and in return the Lord protects his vassal - with the twist that Leonie's dad isn't a knight or a feudal vassal (afaik?).

Also, from the unused trading post data, Riegan should have been famous for its factories?

In a way, it feels like Leicester's organisation could have been something very interesting to explore - it's completely at odds with the Empire and the Kingdom and much more fragmented - but as usual, the FE series don't really develop those "kingless" factions...

And of course, they couldn't develop the "merchant nation" more else the "Church BaD bcs IsOlAtIoNiSm" falls apart or the "Crust SyStEm" argument as to why Supreme Leader has to change the world falls too, Edmund sr is at the roundtable despite having no crest, the Ordelias never were at this roundtable despite having a crest (iirc?), Judith is a Hero of Leicester and has no Crust, Holst is beloved by the world and has no Crust, despite having no Crust Ignatz's parents are implied to be rich as fuck and living the best life, crustless!Leonie and her entire village are helped by the "nobility system" Supreme Leader vowed to erase, etc etc.

Acknowledging Leicester's existence as something more than "that place Clout and some people hail from" blows so many holes in the leitmotiv of the war - thus the twist "you should feel bad for fighting your former student" - that the writers, imo, prefered not to shed any light no it (+ the context with merchant republics!) that it's no surprising the few crumbs we have aren't developped.

And before Nopes, the Alliance was the only slither free place, so all the "bad stuff" that happened, like Raph's parents, can be blamed on regular people and not "they were brainwashed!!". Ordelia's a different situation, I know a lot of people support the "Lys got her present because crust system", but I always have doubts - Lys got her "present" because Adrestia (Ionius) believed they could infringe on Leicester's territory, and the Agarthans needed to test their "present making" before gifting one to the Hresvelgs.

With Nopes, the Alliance disappears under a King with no fanfare, some people follow Clout, they dgaf about the Church, and that's it. It's just a blank cardbox, removed of the few crumbs that made it different from the other cardboxes.