A ha-ha-only-serious crack-fic idea for anyone who wants to pick it up:
The biennial Battle-Convention of Toqat Luz, in which representatives of the Empire (which is to say, whoever wanted to turn up) meet with representatives of their good friends and allies, the Toqati Congery of Communes (which is also to say, whoever wanted to turn up); each side desperately tries to convince the other that they’re being oppressed, and fails, just like they did the last few thousand times; giving up on that, the rest of the allotted month is spend on enjoying the Battle-Convention Afterparty; and after a month everyone heads home with tremendous hangovers, files of swapped recipes and extranet addresses, and renewed promises of eternal friendship and alliance against all the quite-definitely-bastards out there in the universe, despite both sides’ continued fixed conviction that the other Just Does Not Get It, And Probably Never Will.