Here's the current map focused on the northern part of our empire. There are the two Ulmish forts. We've held the bordering provinces for a couple of turns and as can be seen the eastern 'choke point' is held very thinly. We may have to abandon that province as a large longdead army is probably heading that direction led by the Ulmish Prince of Death pretender (see red dot - the arrow is my scout and also indicates a likely direction for that army to take).

Meanwhile just off the map to the left are Pythium and Abysia who appear to be at war with other nations (perhaps even each other), thankfully. What they do is actually the most important single factor determining how much further we'll be able to expand in the next turns. Obviously we'd like to continue to fight one nation at a time!