There is discussion of the origin of the Grand Duchy somewhere, but you'll need to search the forun for the posts in question.
If my recollection is accurate, it was created _by_ the Church in the aftermath of the last Desnairian fiasco in the north, as a means of rolling back the Republic's gains in that war. So any interference with the Duchy would constitute direct defiance of the Council of Vicars. Not something Desnair would be likely to undertake at any time, much less during a Jihad. Mind you, it's entirely possible that some of the more optimistic among Desnair's great and good hoped that the destruction of the Republic would render the Grand Duchy unnecessary. However, I'm fairly sure that even Clyntzhn would have regarded the continued containment of the Empire to be a good idea - especially if he thought he might have left that _other_ empire a tad too powerful and didn't want any risk of distractions while it was pruned back a bit.
As for 'volunteers', I don't remember any mention in text or commentary, but I gather that Silkiahans were not thought much more trustworthy than Siddarmarkians, so any who were incorporated in the attacking force would probably be kept well back from the pointy end - where they were doubtless most happy to remain. Come to think of it, given that Thesmar had been held for the Republic there probably wasn't a great deal Silkiah could do to contribute directly in any case: all the logistics routes through there run to Thesmar, and they were effectively [or maybe even formally, I can't remember] demilitarized.
Robert_A_Woodward wrote:Salisria wrote:It's always struck me as odd that Silkiah was so little affected during the Jihad. Clyntahn's obsession with Siddarmark is a sufficient explanation for why the Sword of Schueller only chastised one of two major nations flouting the embargo, but it doesn't explain why Desnair didn't attempt to annex Silkiah during the Jihad or at the very least the Church didn't force Silkiah to raise "volunteers" for the Jihad.
Did Himself ever give an explanation for how Silkiah avoided the worst? Since the Grand Fornicator likely intended to carve up Siddarmark, I can't see why he would have thought he needed to keep it as a buffer state between Siddarmark and Desnair.
Well, Silkiah did have an immense army (including thousands of cavalry) pass through it. That can be a bit damaging in itself. I suspect that the Church wasn't interested in Desnair acquiring more territory.
