Before answering this kid, take a moment and recall if you remember anything about the Groutlendings from the history books.
I'll let this one slide, but I want to keep most history unknown to you. I do not want to make any big predictions or upset any other players. Other then that almost none of the orignal alliances and factions exist anymore. This is not out of spite, its mearly common sense. What kind of faction lasts for eight hundred years.
Rome, England, France, Egypt, Babylonia, China, Persia, Portugal...
I mean without any kind of seccessful large scale revolution or hostile takeover.
There are still nations on there, yes, but the list should be quelled largely.
Except, in the case of rebellion/revolution (and sometime takeover), the victors keep the culture of the previous nation. Politically, the factions may change, but they'll remain culturally similar. While the leaders may change, the nation will still exist as a whole. There will still be a Groutlending nation, or Groutlending peoples, even if the rulers may have swapped places.
True. Very true. But a great great many more nations did not survive the test of time. In order for a nation to live for so long would require great leadership, a very strong army, great diplomatic status, and a loyal people. If one of these factors is missing for long, then it will break apart. For example, near the Romans Empire fall, there was quite a few mediocre, tryantical, and just bad rulers. And another case of bad leadership is in the case of the British Empire and the American colonies. The British king (Can't remember his name right now) ignored the colonies needs, just using military force to subdue them, and in turn the colonies grew less loyal. Didn't work out so well in the end, did it? In fact, many historians believe that the American Revolution was the true fall of the British Empire
As you yourself have inadvertently pointed out, it does not take a good leader, a very strong army, great diplomatic status and loyal people for a nation to live. Losing the American colonies may have brought about the fall of the British empire, but there is still a nation of Britain that traces its roots firmly back to William the Conqueror. The nation of Poland was crushed and annexed many times, but managed to bring itself back to nationhood several times.
I believe that the argument between us is based upon our definition of a nation. You seem to view a nation as a political entity, that can be overthrown, while I view as a type of culture, that applies itself to many political entities. Rulers and political entities change relatively quickly, based on the rise and fall of their fortunes. However, their institutions and legacies will remain ingrained in their people' cultural history, bequeathed to future rulers.