OOC: Sorry I've been gone so long. Family emergency. I had only had time prior to today to just skim quickly through the NESs.
Orders shall be done once I receive answer to the following diplo:
IC:
From Muscovy
To Silesia and Teutonic Order
Since you are now part-German, we do not know if you want to void the NAPs we had signed prior to the German entrance into your countries. If those NAP are void, perhaps we can renew them. While we're at it, we can discuss and figure out a way to resolve the matter of the Germans peacefully, and put an end to the slaughter that began unfortunately with our invasion of the German territory.
STORY:
For a long time - perhaps never - has Muscovy had a Tsar so inclined towards peace. Yes, Tsar Ivan III wanted peace. Peace with the Germans. Re-assurance of peace with the Teutons and Silesians who felt the full force of the German invasion and settlement of their countries.
When a messenger reported that Western Ukraine, post-rebellion, is practically dirt-poor compared to the rest of Muscovy, he actually lived on to see the light of another day and tell the tale of how his "confidence and charisma spared him the wrath of the Tsar." Of course it was only once someone badmouthed the Tsar as a weakling such as that messenger did that they bore the brunt of the tsarist wrath.
Schools, libraries, centers of knowledge had appeared across the empire. Even villagers now got at least the most basic, rudimentary form of education. And they visited at the libraries and small museums. Maybe they couldn't read or understand everything they saw, but they could still marvel at the glory and apparent knowledge that Muscovy boasts.
Meanwhile, in Western Ukraine, far south of Moscow and its glories, there was very high poverty rates. Schools and libraries had been built right after the end of the Scythian Insurrection, but only 1/3 of the people in Western Ukraine got even early elementary education, because by the time the region was stable enough to have schools built that weren't burnt down by nearby insurrectionists, the Rurik Educational Reform had come to an end.
Neighboring the prosperous Central Ukraine had not helped the stability and feeling of the people of Western Ukraine. Licking their wounds from the defeated Insurrection, they now still lived in poverty compared to their next-door neighbors, who boasted vast farmland and harvests.
Bad education standards and overall poverty had continued to make Western Ukraine volatile and a continuing rebel risk.
Tsar Ivan realized this from the report given by the above-mentioned conceited messenger. He came to the realization that things needed to be fixed there so that the people have confidence and trust in the Tsars of Muscovy. But it remained to be seen whether peace was possible with the Germans and negotiations with partially-German Silesia and Teutonic Order would succeed and funds would be freed up to build Western Ukrainian infrastructure... or if Western Ukraine needed to be put on the back-burner for just a little while longer while the military is strengthened a bit to face a possible German incursion. Ivan hoped it would be the former, not the latter.