Just tossing this out, but it may be that the Ralios region doesn't have the external enemy like the examples you site, exactly. Religiously, the Stygian practices in Ralios *are* the enemy as far as Rokari and (to a lesser degree, I think) Loskalmi are concerned. Think kind of Counter Reformation.
As far as political conflict, I've always thought of the Ralian cities like the Italian city states - too busy screwing each other to ever look up and see what's happening around them.
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