I am none too sure about blood nations in this setting; you still have some research to do, and early expansion may be slower (making it harder to get the blood economy up and running). Feel free to mock me when/if my castle's gates are knocked down by a few happy go-lucky devils.
At any rate, it was the reason why I prevented myself from being able to say dibs on any nation. Not that I would have had a great idea, but...
Any comment about the PBEM matter? Is anybody against using PBEM? And are you fine with someone being both host and player?