Board Thread:The Trials of Apollo/@comment-36801889-20181026175724

I recall hearing Meg tell this in TDP about how Nero and Caligula want to take the east and west coasts of USA respectively and keep Commodus in between. Why though? The Wikipedia article for "buffer state" gives me:

''A buffer state is a country lying between two rival or potentially hostile greater powers. Its existence can sometimes be thought to prevent conflict between them. A buffer state is sometimes a mutually agreed upon area lying between two greater powers, which is demilitarized in the sense of not hosting the military of either power (though it will usually have its own military forces).''

Now, this is quite weird, considering that Nero and Commodus are allies and not enemies to each other, nor is Commodus a neutral party here. In fact, all three of them are more-or-less the same empire with a division of region for each emperor to rule separately.

I had been talking to an irl friend about it and he told me the explanation of a flock of sheep, that tend to concentrate the weaker individuals more closer to the center in the flock, and the strongest on the outside. This ensures that the weaker ones are well protected. This explanation makes sense in the context of the emperors, but only against external forces. In a hypothetical situation, where an enemy were to attack Triumvirate-ruled-USA, they would have to get through Nero's forces if they attack from the east, or Caligula's if they attack through the west, both of them being more powerful than Commodus, keeping enemy forces from penetrating too deep inside the mainland.

However, the greatest threat to the Triumvirate is not an external agent, but rather internal. Apollo, Meg, various demigods, dryads, and others are present internally within the empire. In this case, it doesnt make any sense to keep Commodus in the center.

What could be the reason then, for Nero and Caligula to choose to have Commodus take the midwest, in between the east and west coasts? 