> Central Europe looked like my grandmothers patchwork blanket in those days.
> 
> I'm not sure I fully understand the concept of the RP. Are playing IRL principalities/kingdoms within the HRE or are we playing made-up nations within the HRE?

We're playing as royal houses within a single state in the HRE. Basically you fight for dominance in the state while allying yourself with other royal houses to further your own goals, fighting other royal houses for possessions (villages, towns, castles, mines, fields, etc.), all the while the country expands as time goes on. Our kingdom is like a small world on it's own where noble houses fight for power, but there's a whole other world outside of our realm's borders that is simultaneously evolving. In times of war, the noble houses of our realm unite to fight an outside power (or they can ally the invader) in order to expand our kingdom and give more space to fight over. It's kind of like any other RP but with the playground changing size every now and then.

I will make an enlarged map of our kingdom and that will be the main map we will use in the initial stage of the RP. I made this big one to show current standings in Europe and I will use it later on as well to graphically show results of other wars in the world.