In my playthrough the D'shar were rolling early, Sarleon folds, Empire looks bad early on and Ravernstern pushes onto both Fierdsvann and Sarleon.
But now on the late game, I had founded my own kingdom, wiped Fierdsvann out, those lords for some reason mostly went to the Empire and now the Empire taken all of D'shar cities (except Singal which is mine) leaving them with only Valonbray. So Empire is dominating in my playthrough now. I am now debating should I declare on the Empire before it gets worse or do I wait and see if Ravenstern and Empire go to war and I try to dogpile on