I meant Duke.
How are the NPC Dukes/Counts/Barons/Other Nobles going to work in relation to forming alliances and interactions etc? If we're playing this game I intent to play it properly and win, there's only two possible outcomes after all.
It's pretty much like the feudal system. The serfs are pledged to the Barons and Counts, who are pledged to the Dukes, who are pledged to the Archdukes or Grand Dukes, who are in turn pledged to the Sovereign of the nation. The Counts and Barons are Bannerman to the Duke who is Bannerman to the Sovereign. (A Bannerman is someone who rides to war with their liege lord and helps protect his realm.) So if the Duke of Urvaius went to war with the Duke of Alcaire, then the Counts under the Dukes would ride to war with them, and if Elysana went to war with Camaron, then their Dukes would ride to war with them, and the Dukes' Counts' with them.
So really the alliances between Duchies, Counties, and Baronies are already made since they're sworn to the same Sovereign. However they can get into fights, in which case they would take their own Bannerman to war against one another, which in a time like this is unlikely.
Each separate County, Barony, or Duchy is not fighting for it's own purposes, but instead fighting for the good of their realm and their Sovereign Lord.
This is heavily based off of the book "A Game of Thrones." if you've ever read it.