Look at this way. Throughout the Middle Ages, England was more interested in acquiring parts of France than of Scotland. Likewise the US expended more effort in acquiring bits of Mexico than Canada. Just because the neighbour is aggressive does not mean the territory is worth taking.
That said there are a couple of methods that could be used to develop Balazar. The first is to grow maize with the attendant human sacrifices as is done in Bliss in Ignorance where the soil is just as unsuitable for farming. Rather than have large fields of maize, there would be small garden plots which could support as many people as an ordinary farm. The only problem is that the required corn rites are suppressed in the Lunar Empire making the crop somewhat useless.
That said there is one method of developing Balazar that doesn't involve farming. Having nomads graze their animals there gives a higher population density than just hunting and gathering. Praxians would find it better than Prax, the Opili nation from Pent lived there during the Seleran Wars, the Kastoki live nearby and even the Votanki have myths of goat-herding. Looking further I see the Balazaring Kings often raided for cattle. Even perusing the list of Votanki clan names reveals several suitable herd beasts. So why hasn't this been done?
My guess is that the Mostali of Greatway are responsible. There's been repeated descriptions of them shunning Dragon Pass in favour of mercantile interests in Balazar. Yet the sum observable total of that interest has been little more than repairing a ruined citadel. And these Mostali are supposed to be Openhandists!
I think that during the Seleran Wars, the Mostali were distressed by the presence of the Opili but were unwilling to make overt moves against them. So instead they poisoned the soil targeting herd beasts. Not an instant kill poison mind you but an insidious poison that attrits the herds slowly but surely over time. Thus within twenty years to forty, the population collapsed as people switched from herding to hunting and gathering. Nobody paid too much attention to the cause as it was drowned out by the bloodshed from the Seleran Wars.
Of course once the poison's in the soil, it takes a long time to work itself out and the Mostali are just waiting for the poison to work itself out (preferably into some elves) before they resume full-scale investing in Balazar once again.
--Peter Metcalfe
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