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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wik" data-source="post: 5024182" data-attributes="member: 40177">I can give you a few reasons:1)  Going to war is problematic.  Remember, in the original text, it is assumed the SK's war with each other, but these wars are more like minor skirmishes.  To actually go in and INVADE another City-State, even one without an SK, is dangerous.  Especially since Tyr is a very large city-state - only Raam is larger.  And Tyr is the best-armed state in the region, since they have access to Iron Weapons.  Any war against Tyr, even if Tyr is poorly organized, will weaken the army of the invader enough that they could find their own position endangered by the other five SKs.2)  The loss of Kalak is a good thing, anyway.  One less super defiler means there is more for the ones that remain, and less competition.  I imagine no SK looked at Kalak's death and felt it was a huge loss.3)  Arrogance.  The SK's are the height of power.  They see an SK fall, they do not thing "Hey, this could happen to me".  They instead arrogantly believe it was because of Kalak's foolishness, and that their own position is much stronger.  And, they likewise believe that a city-state NEEDS an SK, and that Tyr will probably implode within a few years or decades.  I imagine the goals of all six SKs have some variation of "have agents in Free Tyr, so that when the experiment fails, we can pick up the pieces for personal profit".4)  Iron.  Tyr supplies the Iron to the region.  Without Iron, things fail.  You cannot mine other materials.  Farming becomes even harder.  Eventually, without iron, you cannot enforce your rule upon your subjects.  Essentially - disrupt the iron trade for too long, and you lose, even if you win the war.5)  Profit.  Namely, what's the profit in invading Tyr?  Sure, you get the iron, but you're going to cut off access to that iron before you get it (which will make the other five SK's hate you).  There are no real economic benefits to Tyr beyond the iron that you don't have at home - it's in a desert, too.  And probably a distance away.  Athas is not a land of empires - it is a land of city-states, and no one has the means to rule multiple states.  It is best to play things from the shadows.</blockquote>

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