Northern question

In Orenian history, the "Northern question" is the term used on the debate whether the Highlander people within Oren should have their own state independent of or under the Orenian sphere of influence. It is most commonly referred to the time within the Fourth Empire after the accession of Emperor John I Frederick following the Treaty of Metz and the Horen Restoration, who attempted to pass the failed Sigismund Compromise between the lordships of Courland, Alamar, and Carnatia. Later, Emperor John III Owyn made the controversial move of granting the titles of King of Ruska and King of Hanseti to the Carrion-scion Petyr Sigmarovic, effectively granting the "Highlanders" an autonomous realm with the Empire, though the concept of such is still debated.

The term is also used, while quite rarely, to express the conflict between the two significant Highlander peoples, the Raevir and the Hansetians, and whether the two peoples should share a single realm or both rule their separate states.