High! I think what has happened here is perhaps an overestimation of the current TW engine. TW is not big on the subtlties of state-running, perhaps a major oversight on an increasingly more historicly informed core fanbase, but hey, those are the facts. Thus the model of Feudalism, cannot be truly re-created, thus, small Dukedoms and Republics are not accepted as part of a greater Feudal being, perhaps with too much ambition, but outright rivals, thus the idea od the HRE empire i laughable, especially without rebellions, the same can be said for the French nobles in Aquatain and Anjou. Thus the inclusion of these states would be detrimental to their proposed purpose, re-creation of the Feudal state. Therfore it is logical to leave most of them out and simply have larger more nationalised factions in Europe. I agree that this does make the MOD seem rather anti Eurpean, and simply wanting to include an Balkan or Muslim faction possible, for no reason at all. It is probably just smart balancing on the teams part. And yes there most definatley needs to be more powersharing in the east and more variety.

However the Feudal system can be reconciled to some degree for all you Euro fans, if the team uses something akin to EB's government and recruitment model.

But please, just take time to consider the reality of the TW engine.